Beautiful Roses!

One of the graduate students that I have worked with for the past 5 years successfully defended her dissertation on Tuesday. Today, she brought me these beautiful roses to say thank you for all the help I had given her during her time in the department and for always greeting her and everyone else with a smile and with respect. I am so touched...

Sick of Being Sick

I have been struggling with chronic IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) for the past couple of years and for the last few months it has really been debilitating. In fact, I am on FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) protection which means if I am sick and out of sick leave, I can be absent from work and my job and benefits are protected. This is truly a blessing to us... because although my paycheck suffers (big time... I normally take home $1900 per month and for April I took home $537. Gulp!) my job is safe and my benefits are still provided. However, it is very stressful to be sick - Take last week, I was out for 4 days... Yikes.

The hardest part is that stress and anxiety exacerbate the condition - so, it wasn't pleasant to come in to work this morning and have one of my co-workers give me the silent treatment. Apparently, she thinks I get sick just to make her life hard... Which is hurtful to me because I try so hard to be a team player and to leave work on my desk with thorough and complete notes or instructions... Oh well, what doesn't kill me makes me stronger... Right?

Let's try this again...

I am trying to decide whether to switch from LiveJournal to an outright blog and so, since I have this account, I figured I would give blogging a try here for a bit before making a final decision.

I am hoping to be consistent with updates and I am hoping those updates with be entertaining and witty but, don't be surprised if they aren't...

I am at the end of another day at work (i.e. The Pleasure Palace). My current supervisor has an extra HR gene and has decided that even though I have 10+ years of experience and seniority, that I am her Whipping Boy - her Scape Goat. It has made a job that I have absolutely adored and loved coming too every day, almost unbearable. In fact, most days find me crying in the shower at the very thought of going to work... I have tried and tried for over 2 years now - hoping that she would get bored (since she never fails to tell us that she doesn't have to work and in fact, it would be better for them financially if she didn't) and quit, but as that hasn't happened to date and as I am not sure I can survive this situation much longer, it now seems that I am going to have to put real effort into trying to find another position here on campus to move into. Wish me luck!

On the home front, Jim was a major grouch yesterday - he said he woke up on the wrong side of the bed - and unbearable. I love him to pieces, but when he gets like this I just ignore him and let him be a grumpy old bear. He took today off so maybe when I get home this evening, the real Jim will be there. Of course, I have been grouchy all day today - must be contagious - so he might not be too excited when I get home. LOL!