Different Kind of Christmas

Christmas this year is a little different...David is working night shifts at his work and Michael and Renee could not stay past the weekend.  So, Mom, David, and Mama did Christmas with Michael and Renee over the weekend (David's regular day off) and they only opened their gifts to each other. 

Jeff and I came up last night and got up each this morning so we could watch David open his presents from us before he had to go to bed.  David has to go to work tonight so he cannot be with us while we open presents.  Mom, Mama, Jeff and I will be opening presents tonight, and we'll be doing Christmas dinner tomorrow.  David will be getting up a little early tomorrow to be able to eat dinner with us before he  has to go to work.

It's just a little off this year since we cannot all be together for the holidays. 

Thanksgiving in many ways

On Thanksgiving this year, I headed down to Galveston for the day.  Jeff had to work, and I was off with nothing to do.  We had celebrated Thanksgiving the night before, so Jeff could cook on his day off. 

It has been a little over 2 years since Hurricane Ike ravaged the Galveston area.  Many things have been repaired, but they have not forgotten the storm.  It really is a blessing that the town is rebuilding, even if it is a little bit slower than expected.

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This picture shows the line across the door, indicating where the water line was during the flooding of Hurricane Ike.

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Some markings were crudely drawn onto the sides of buildings.  But, the point is very clearly made!

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Just as a point of reference on how high up the water really came on the buildings.  I am standing on the sidewalk next to this building.

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Some companies/people made more of a permanent marker on the side of their buildings in the Strand District.

Bleh

What a week.  First, we were supposed to meet up with family in Fort Worth, but most of the family we were supposed to meet with did not even show up.  But, we did meet up with my uncle and cousins, and my dad.

Then, I go into work today and find out that a co worker that I sat 10 feet from every day died this morning...massive heart attack in  his sleep.  Everyone in the entire office got real quiet all day after hearing the news...those in his department cried today as well.  Definitely glad today is over with.

Scare

I had noticed recently that my headches were coming back, and very frequently at that.  I also noticed that I had nausea and dizziness, and could not see because of blurry vision...Jeff left work early last Thursday and took me to the neuro-opthamologist for some tests.  The doctor could not find anything wrong, so he is sending me to a neurologist on Tuesday for more tests...the opthamologist thinks it is stress related, but wants another specialist to see if it is something else.  We'll see if it is anything major this Tuesday.

Nasty Grams

It absolutely amazes me to know that there are completely irrational people out in the world, and that they have somehow managed to work their way into high management positions. 

I love doing work for the band.  I deal with being the person that everyone goes to, to complain about this or that.  At least they have a point person, who will direct them the right way or will handle it.  I get that, and don't mind being that person.

But, then we have instances like this past Sunday.  I had gotten an email from one of the band members earlier in the week asking for me to call him, but gave no other specifics.  I called on Friday, and he informed me that he had fired our previous music director (the band member, Carlos, hired him shortly after Carlos joined the band).  He didn't go into specifics on the phone as to why he had fired him, but told me that he would let me know the details at rehearsal.

Sunday's rehearsal came and went...I spoke to Carlos after rehearsal about the firing, and everything seemed fine.  We joked for a few minutes, and he left laughing.  I waited for the Brass Ensemble to finish their post-rehearsal run through so I could go to dinner with one of the ensemble members.  On the way out the door, the ensemble member completely dumps on me, saying that Carlos had confronted him (sometime between the end of rehearsal and when I spoke with him) and completely lashed out at him for not being asked to play in the ensemble.  So, I spent dinner trying to calm down my friend since he was quite upset from it.

Monday, I get up and check my email and lo-and-behold there is one big nasty gram in my inbox from Carlos.  He lashed out at me for my friend not asking him to play, although my friend is the founding member of the ensemble, purchases all the music, and coordinates with the Music Director on when/where/what they will be playing for concerts.  He can choose who he wants in the ensemble.  Carlos wanted me to send the email to the full board, so they can see Carlos lashing out at me and my friend...I think not.

I ended up getting 4 emails from him that day, all nasty grams.  Finally after 10:00 pm, I responded to him, telling him that his issue is not a board issue, bu rather a membership/personnel issue and that he needs to take it up with his section leader and the person who he felt did him wrong.  He wanted me to call him again to discuss, but I was having no part of it.  I told him the conversation was through, he got his response, and needed to leave it alone...if anything else, go form his own ensemble out of members in the band.  We don't care!

I hate having to deal with crap like that!

Better Times

Seems like baby steps are needed sometimes to get back to better times. We'll see how this goes. Jeff and I went to Dallas earlier this month to site-see and also went to dinner with Michael, Dad, and Sharon. I think it was a good first step in getting our relationship on track. One never knows what is around the corner, but we will see as we go along. Jeff was impressed with the dinner meeting, as were Michael and I.

I would really like to see our relationship get back to being right...or moreso getting right to begin with. I don't think it was ever right to begin with. Too much stuff happened growing up to rehash, but it wasn't right. I think we are both wanting it to work now, and hopefully it will.

Not so kind surprises

Last week seemed to be of the normal kind. I went to work as normal, spent the evenings with Jeff as normal, and had way too many projects started at home as normal. Saturday morning I went in to work, as normal, only to find out that the Security Manager, Daryl Hunt, at work had passed away the evening before from a massive heart attack.

I had known Daryl, and spoke to him every single day. In fact, I had joked around with him at work the day he died. He was a big guy...as in football player big, not big big. I just could not believe that he was gone, and I'm still having trouble coming to grips with it.

Daryl had been a Houston Oiler for 6 years back in the Luv Ya Blue days of the early 80's, playing under Bum Phillips. He still holds the record for most tackles in a season at the University of Oklahoma, where he studied before being drafted in the NFL. He would go play golf all the time since retiring from the NFL, and starting work at Grocers Supply, where he has been since the mid 1980's.

I'm not sure why I'm having such trouble accepting that he is gone. Maybe it was because it didn't seem like there was anything wrong with him. Maybe it was because I had spoken to him a mere 2 hours before his death. Maybe it was because he was one of those people who instantly became the center of attention the moment he walked in the room...and not intentionally. People just naturally gravitated to him. I'm sure I could have accepted it more if there had been an official memorial service or funeral here in Houston, but alas, there was not one. Everything was held in his hometown of Odessa, Texas.

I don't have the shoulda/woulda/coulda-said-something-important-to-him-before-he-died syndrome. I think it was just how he lit up the room as he walked through that I will miss the most.

Do Something

I do not know what is going on here. I have not been wanting to do much of anything lately. It seems like all I want to do is just get out of the house for the day. I keep putting off all the things I need to do around the house, hoping that they will somehow get done.

I'm supposed to go eat lunch and do some shopping with Mom tomorrow. Then tomorrow night, Jeff and I are driving down to Texas City to spend time on Tuesday with his family. I'm really looking forward to the driving being done the next two days...seriously.

What I need to do is take a trip to Galveston. I've been meaning to do that for 2 years now. I haven't been down there much, if at all, since I started dating Jeff. I need to go clear my head and get my priorities straight. Yep, that's what I need to do!

Life Changes

Some things change, and some things stay the same...I have noticed that!

Tonight I am giving my State of the Band Address to the band. It is our first rehearsal back in the new year. I'm excited, but extremely nervous too. I have not had a chance to write up anything for the speech yet, and do not know quite yet what I am going to say.

Work has gotten more chaotic lately. I am finally starting to live route, but a certain someone makes things so freaking difficult that I almost can't stand to route. The weekends are a lot better for me in live routing, because I don't feel so constricted.

At Christmas time, Jeff proposed to me! We are planning on getting married in a couple of years, so we can save up enough money for a trip to Hawaii, and everyone else can too. We are inviting all of our family and closest friends.

So, good things and not so good things happening right now. I am anxious for it to level out though. It's making me very tired!