Pre-Christmas Week

7

Storms brought snow and cold all weekend but sent the stage for Christmas. I wussed out and drove my van all the way into work. I was just going to drive up to the train station I was so late getting out of the house this morning that I would have been late if I trained in, even driving to the station in my van. I was also, unsure how accessible the path to the station would be after the storms of the weekend. Looks pretty clear though and I will take my chair up to the train tomorrow. Even if the temperature is cold I don’t mind too much having warm clothes and especially a hat, I should be OK.

I was thinking this time next week it will be Christmas day. This means this whole week is a lost week all most as bad as nest week. The calls into our Call Center drop off precipitously; other offices we need support from are staffed with only skeleton crews statewide. Work related Christmas parties and open houses are just about finished and the temperature dive pretty much insures no one is going to be out unless they have to.

Today is the office Christmas/Holiday lunch: lunch at a local steak house. We were supposed to have left an hour ago but we had to wait for an out of town person to get here and the boss and one of the board members had unscheduled meetings this morning with members of the Governor’s Staff, which ran longer then expected, naturally. So the office is on hold we wait and “stage” for the trip to the restaurant. This is an office only lunch. In the past we have had catered dinners here at the office and included board members and spouses of staff or other Christmas Pasts we have met at the bosses house for an evening affair which I always found t be a lot of stress. I am glad we are doing this restaurant thing—the lunch is down and dirty over and done with. I wish we would just get going.

Diamond Lil’s is where we had the lunch and the lunch was very good, I have to admit I was surprised The lunch was weird though with two of our long distance staff coming in an one of those staff is in a current battle with cancer, brain cancer, WoW!! What a challenge. The person with cancer’s sister drove her up from Central Utah. Actually she had to be up in the vicinity anyway for he cancer treatments. The power chair I use puts me way up in the air and I find getting under a table difficult, so I end up sitting quite a way from the table. I end up feeling awkward. So, I was sitting at the end of the table quite away from everyone else. Add to the mix one of our consumers who is also council chair, this year, and who tends to yammer away. The event was OK not stellar but alright. Back at the office I am full as a tick and fighting to stay awake and counting down the clock.