SO FAR IN 2011...

Hello there, Blogging Buddies!!

Well, the holidays are (finally!) behind us and I have already been working to remove those extra pounds. Sigh. Why does that happen?!? Fortunately, the extras have been kind enough to begin going away and there weren't that many so I am happy with my efforts. I will keep it up as long as I continue to see results... even small ones.

I have been going to Physical Therapy for the past five weeks and have one more week to go. Once I got back to walking in the mornings and began doing stretches/moves/exercises that address my lower back situation, there has definitely been improvement. I remain optimistic about the situation and have decided I am simply going to have to live with the back I have. (I don't think they are doing back transplants yet.) So... it's okay.

We have been in the house here for 20 months and there are a few things I have decided I don't want to live with any longer. (These are the words that strike terror into the heart of the spousal-unit!) However... none of them are major or terribly expensive... so he has decided to be part of the solution. :) There are a few "home improvement" projects in the near future to while away the remaining winter hours. I will keep you posted as we go along.

The "tax organizers" have arrived... one from my CPA and one from the aunt's CPA. It's that time again. Oh goody. I have begun compiling the "Important Tax Information Enclosed" envelopes that begin arriving this time of year. Could we really start thinking about a "flat tax?" Please? It would make everyone's life SO much easier!! Oh... I forgot... what will we do with all of those IRS government employees?!?!? Never mind. It will never happen. Sigh.

Oh... and I want to tell you about a Customer Service experience that was a GOOD one. One of my aunt's friends, who recently moved to Florida, sent my aunt a big box of oranges from a local (Florida) provider. We opened them up and they were just awful. Seriously awful. There was absolutely no juice to them. They were a mess. So... I fired off a letter advising them of the lack of quality along with my opinion that their customer (my aunt's friend) would not be pleased to know this. I suggested they owed her a refund at the very least. It was only a short time later that a second box of oranges arrived at my aunt's house. While they still weren't stellar, they were certainly usable. I have used a few for smoothies and they are peeling them for my aunt to eat since they are edible. :) Now that I have confirmed the improvement, I will be sending the provider another letter letting them know of my appreciation. That was a nice experience. Too bad it isn't the norm!!

So that is what has taken place thus far this year with us. We will see what remains. There is lots of time!

Finally, a quick moment to remember my friend, Donna Hull, who left this world on January 14, 2010. I hope her family is doing well and is adjusting to their new world without her. She remains in my heart and they remain in my thoughts.

Love you, Donna!!

Until next post...

GOODBYE TO MY FRIEND, DONNA

Hello again, Blogging Buddies. I am afraid this post is not fun nor is it humorous.

During my tenure as a Project Manager at AT&T Wireless Services, I was privileged to meet a lot of folks from all over the U.S. I was part of a National team within the IT department and we handled our call centers which were in a lot of places! We held two National team meetings while I was part of the organization and it was great fun to put faces with names and voices we had heard on conference calls.

I will tell you that there are a LOT of those folks with whom I remain in contact even now. Some subscribe to this blog. Others I hear from sporadically... but I do hear from them. The network was large and spread-out... but we all felt like family and we shared the good times and, unfortunately, the bad.

I had been on calls with a young lady named Donna who was located in the Pittsburgh area. She struck me as someone who was thorough, demanding, inquisitive, and sharp. While I would not have wanted to be on the receiving end of some of her more pointed questions, I enjoyed working with her. When we were finally able to meet in person, it was great fun. Here was this TINY little brunette with "big hair" whose voice simply did not match the person!! The voice was WAY bigger than the person!! Most of us will draw a picture in our heads of folks we talk to but have not met. Donna just flat-out did NOT match my head-picture!! LOL!! Of course, she was now meeting a big ol' brunette with "little hair" so perhaps she was just as surprised as I. I don't know.

At any rate, we worked together on some projects during my tenure there. We were in contact on a business level... but also on a personal level. Oh... I didn't mention that she discovered she was pregnant with her third child during one of our National team meetings, did I? She wasn't feeling well. I took some food up to her room and we bemoaned her "illness" which was intruding on our ability to have a good time!! We were both surprised and laughed heartily when we later discovered her "illness" was Kevin. :) Kevin is nine years old now. His older brother, Eric, is 15. His older sister, Samantha ("Sam"), is 17. All three lost their mother last night and I cannot even imagine how they are handling that.

You see, Donna was diagnosed with cancer on June 23, 2008. Interestingly enough, I had called her, on a whim, on June 25, 2008, which is when she told me about the diagnosis. She underwent surgery in July 2008 and endured chemo and radiation. She discovered the cancer had spread in October of 2008. She endured more treatments. She returned to work in February of 2009 but the cancer returned in April. In June of 2009, the docs advised 8-10 months without chemo... maybe 2-3 months more if chemo was used. Donna decided the treatment was just too hard and took too much from her so she opted to skip it this time. I applaud that decision. I understand it.

Donna had a lot of faith and believed that God would do whatever was His plan for her... but she would fight hard to live just in case that's what He wanted! :) She and her husband kept their children very much in-the-loop about the situation and she indicated they drew strength from each other throughout the ordeal.

Donna scheduled vacation for July 21st through August 4th to visit with her family in San Diego. We emailed back and forth and I know she had a great trip and enjoyed seeing everyone. By early October, there were problems that required another surgery. Donna sent out a prayer request to a lot of "Prayer Warriors" she knew were pulling for her. I sent her a short response to let her know I was thinking about her. Her response to me was "LOV YA!"

I received a funny Thanksgiving email from one of my many crazy friends. I forwarded it to Donna as I knew she enjoyed a good laugh. Her reply to me (which I did not know would be the last one I ever received) was "You always find ways to make me have such good laughs! Hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful!"

I sent an email on December 23rd and, when I did not hear from her, I called her home. I spoke with Gary, her husband, who advised they were in the process of bringing her home from Hospice. That was pretty much all I needed to know. I told him to have her call me if she felt up to it. If not, I understood.

On January 5th, I sent Donna a final email. It was one of my usual, rambling, totally disconnected emails about life, liberty, and the pursuit of something. :) I made certain she knew how much she had meant to me over the years. I am hopeful that Gary was reading her emails to her if she was unable to read them herself. I feel pretty sure that was the case.

So, today I received an email from another former AT&T pal. He had gotten word from yet another AT&T pal that Donna had passed on to her next project on Thursday, January 14th, 2010. All I know for certain is that if there is ANYthing in Heaven that needs to be improved, Donna will be lining up the appropriate personnel and making calls to those impacted in order to get that improvement up and running as soon as possible!! In the meantime, since I can't be part of that particular project, I just want to say Goodbye to my friend, Donna.


I'll miss ya', toots!!! Save me a place!

Until next time...