I HATE FEDEX!!!!!!!!!

I hate Fedex reason # 5....
Getting an interrogation every single time I go to pick up a package that one of my co-workers ordered. Even though the package says NCR on the box and I am wearing an NCR badge and I have the specific tracking # for that box.
I hate Fedex reason # 10....
If you don't pick up your package in 5 days they ship it back to sender. I went to help out up in Boston and stopped to pick up some supplies that the TM had ordered to help me out. They shipped them out the day before I got there. At least DHL would hold them longer and if they were not picked up within a certain time they would just forward them on to our ESL.
What about vacations or trips out of town. I am not coming to Fedex to pick up my packages when I am on vacation and I spent 3 weeks up in Boston helping them out, who knows how many packages got sent back.
I hate Fedex reason # 32....
Being that I work for NCR, we have tons of stuff shipped to be held at fedex locations around the country. I was working out of town and went to Fedex to pick up a package that another one of our techs had ordered. I told them the name of the tech and the approximate size of the box. she came out with a tiny little package saying that this was the only package for him. I gave her the tracking number and she then managed to find teh correct package. The other Techs name wasn't on the specific Fedex label, it was on the part ID label. she then told me "Your company needs to get its act together!"
I cannot stand the lack of respect I have gotten from every single Fedex I have been to. Warwick, RI. Cincinnati OH, Hebron, Ky, Dayton, OH,
I hate Fedex reason # 65....
I went to drop off packages today and even though the office was staffed, they refused saying that they had stopped shipping out at 3pm. pickups only from 3-5pm. I don't even have room in my van to pick up all my stuff. Looks like more stuff that'll get shipped back due to the 5 day rule.

possible new job.

Well I was running a Dell call the other day and my mind was totally frazzled and the first board I installed didn't fix the problem, so I had to come back the next day. and wouldn't you know that even though I didn't quite get it right (shhh, they don't know I made a mistake), they offered me a job. I had some over the phone screenings and today I went in for a formal interview, and it feels like a strong possibility. I really wasn't looking but I just don't want to wait around for my current boss to leave (he graduates in a year and a half) and then find out that I'm not going to get his job.
Paywise it is a lateral move, and I might even be making less if you were to take my current pay and add in the company van, cellphone and laptop. Although I am trying so get a little more money than the average starting operator. and 7p-7a isn't exactly a dream shift, but it is more in my field and I may get some time to study and update my certifications. Maybe if I get it, in a year or so I can look for something either within the company or something better out there.
Good news is that I won't be falling asleep at 10pm on my days off so I can actually stay awake on poker night.

Grrrr!

Did I mention that I hate wild goose chases? Monday I didn't have anything to do in the afternoon, so at 3pm, Paul sends me to Fedex in Framingham Ma, to check if some parts for an install are in. I drive an hour to fedex and find out that there are no parts to be had. what a waste of time. So, I get halfway back and he decides to send me to yet another Fedex, this time in Raynham to check for parts. I did get some there but I didn't make it back to the Hotel till 7pm. grrr.

Went out to eat last night at Carrabas and had some wonderful Veal Piccata. Yum!

Didn't do much of anything today. had two hours worth of work and I was done by 11am. Sat around in the hotel the rest of the day.

Week 2

Well, it's been a while since I blogged so i'll write a large one that hopefully encompasses the whole week.

Monday was rather boring. I got three stores done and we basically stayed in the hotel that night.

Tuesday We went up to Scituate and saw Ellen. I was not feeling well at all that day. Camille went out to dinner with Ellen and Freddie so you'll have to ask her how that was. I went to sleep instead and was fine after laying down for a bit.

Wednesday I felt great. I was in North Kingstown and called Leslie to try and arrange lunch. As luck would have it the Whole IRD department was having a luncheon that say for a going away party for the Master Chief. I got to have lunch with 6 of the Civilians that I had worked with when I was stationed there and about 20 other people who I didn't know. A lot has changed since the good ol days.

When I left Newport, Leslie was preggers and now her boy is 8 years old. wow. Enlisted personnel now only server two years at NWC. so they get short timers attitudes right after you just start to get to know them and then sometimes they're gone before you even get to know their names. Sometime in 2007 they will lose all of their enlisted staff. Gotta love the military. As I had been feeling bad the day before I decided to have something easy to digest. good ol clam chowder and a fish sandwich. hard not to get clam chowder when i'm up here at a good restaraunt. I managed to stop by the Mansions gift shop before lunch and picked up two books on the mansions. one was more pictures and the other was a tour guide which went over some of the history of 5 of the mansions. I wish i could find something more comprehensive.

We went out to a place called Legal Seafoods for dinner. I asked the clerk at the hotel desk what kind of place it was casual or upscale, and she told me she had never been there but thought it was just casual. I guess our ideas of casual and upscale were off. she mentioned that they didn't have a dress code. Well that doesn't make it casual. It was upscale along the lines of Mitchell's Fish Market or something similar. I had some more chowder and a fish called Scrod. never heard of it before but it wasn't bad. For dessert we went to friendly's and had some sundaes. Camille had the PB&J, peanut butter ice cream with black raspberry ice cream. in that combination it really did taste like PB&J. I don't remember what I had but I didn't care for it.

Thursday I took Camille to Providence Place and we looked around and ate in the food court. everything is upscale here. This mall was three levels with Macy's, Nordstrom, Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, Williams Sonoma and others. It's funny how every food court has bourbon chicken. At florence mall it's made at the Chinese place, at Tower Place (best ever) it is at Big Easy Cajun. At Providence Place it's french. lol. Bourbon Chicken right next to wonderful salads and sandwiches.

Friday was mainly boring for me. Paul couldn't decide what he wanted me to do and almost let me go at 3:45. it would have been nice until he decided that I needed work to keep me busy until at least 5pm. So he gives me a call, something easy, hah, just replacing a monitor. real quick. whatever. I'm in southern R.I. and have to drive almost two hours to Raynham, Mass, to pick up the monitor which is another 40 minute drive to go to Attleboro to replace it. Grrr. so not only am I working late but when I get to Lowes to replace the monitor, whoever it was ordered the wrong damn one. I hate wild goose chases.

Camille had gone to Plymouth earlier in the day to see her Aunt Linda, so we met that night at yet another Uncle's house Richard (Jody) Andrew and his wife Kim took us out to eat at Barkers Tavern. More Chowder and more fish for me. this time it was some wonderful swordfish. I'd never had swordfish before but it was great and it was huge. It looked like a giant piece of New York tall cheesecake. We stayed the night at Jody and Kims and had our best sleep all trip. I never was a fan of pillowtop mattresses until now. aaahhhhh. Marissa who is their 16 yr old daughter made us pancakes in the morning in a cast iron skillet. I don't know what she did different, but they were good and seemed almost crispy in a good way. like when you caramelize sugar.

We lazed around today, watched TV and had more Bertucci's pizza and salad. nothing eventful, just relaxing. Tomorrow we're going to try and get up early to go tour the mansions.

First Weekend

Well Camille and I got a later start than I wanted today. We drove down to newport and after a quick drive through tour, stopped for some doughnuts before getting started.

We parked at the beach and went on the Cliff Walk. A lot has changed in the last 8 years. I guess it was a project to fix erosion, but the majority of the cliff walk was redone. unfortunately, now most of the mansions now have tall hedges at the edge of the walk so you can't see them anymore. it SUX!!

We went to the Breakers and were going to take a tour but it was already 3pm and there would have been another hour before the tour would have started so maybe we'll go next weekend and take the premium tour, which covers 5 mansions with lunch at one of them.

I was hoping to walk around downtown Newport with Camille but she was pooped. So I drove us back to the hotel while she slept. We had some really good pizza for dinner tonight.

Days 4 and 5

Days 4 and 5 were more of the same. Although I did manage enough time to drive through the Newport/Middletown area. It was cool to see how things have grown up. There is a CCRI (Community College of Rhode Island) campus now across the street from the base. If it had been there when I was stationed there, maybe I would have gotten some school out of the way. The Newport Mall is gone and now there is a nice looking shopping center with a Walmart and Stop and Shop. Newport itself hasn't changed too much. Camille and I are possibly going there tomorrow after we pick up a rental car for her to use during her stay.

I had to go to Westerly yesterday and got a couple pictures of some beach houses. It was rather cool outside so all the beaches were empty and some were closed.

Today (Saturday) I sat in the hotel for most of the day. Camille will be here in a few hours. I just didn't want to get stuck away somewhere when she arrived. I think we are going out to eat somewhere tonight. We'll see how she feels.

Day 3

ok, so today was really not all that. I only got one store done. I drove an hour to Fedex to pick up some packages that they decided to return to sender on Monday. Idiots. Then I drove about another hour to the store. I got three machines done before the store decided to have a fire drill. although it was a beautiful day out and the sun felt just right when I was outside sitting on a guardrail. It was funny just how mad some people got. One guy had to leave his stuff at the SCOT and when he got back, he rang it out and cussed out the cashier. Because of the drill for the first few minutes, they had someone outside checking receipts. the guy threw his stuff on the ground and cussed out that guy too.

So for each store I have to fill out a checklist. Today I used my last one. I had my laptop so I drove all around quicy looking for a hotspot to try and download it not knowing exactly how I was going to print it out. I couldn't find a single free/unsecured one. I found a couple starbucks but they now use Tmobile and you have to pay for the connection. I wound up driving back to the hotel for a connection only to be able to find the checklist anywhere on the company network. I had to email my boss to get a copy which I then printed out at the hotel.

Went out to the Providence Place today. It's a giant 3 story upscale mall. Macys, Nordstrom, Crate and Barrel, Williams Sonoma and such. Had dinner at Dave and Busters which wasn't bad, but it wasn't all that either. I did have some wonderful Ben & Jerry's afterwards.

So I got an email back today, it turns out that one of my favorite restaraunts in Newport is long gone. East Side Marios is now a TGI Fridays. YUCK! I wonder what other changes I'll find when I eventually get down there. I also don't know if Sam and Tammy Kanai are still in the area. Tammy used to work at NWC and Sam was one of my navy coworkers. they got married shortly after I left. But I guess they have different jobs and moved a little closer to Boston.

I haven't really seen anything good to take pictures of. This place is relatively flat compared to home and I have't really been around any historic spots yet. Although I did see a church today that looked pretty old.

Well, maybe I'll get some tomorrow.

Jeff Foxworthy on Kentucky..............

If someone in a store offers you assistance and they don't work there, you might live in Kentucky.

If your Dad's suntan stops at a line curving around the middle of his forehead,you might live in Kentucky.

If your town has an equal number of bars and churches, you might live in Kentucky.

If you have had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you might live in Kentucky.

YOU KNOW YOU'RE A TRUE KENTUCKIAN WHEN: Vacation means going north or south on I-75 or I-65 for the weekend.

You measure distance in hours.

You know several people who have hit deer more than once.

You often switch from heat to AC in the same day and back again.

You see people wearing camouflage at social events including weddings.

You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both doors unlocked.

You carry jumper cables in your car and your girlfriend or wife knows how to use them.

"Down South" means Tennessee to you.

Your neighbor throws a party to celebrate his new pole shed.

You go out to a tailgate party every Friday.

You actually understand these jokes, and you forward them to all your Kentucky

SSDD

Well, I was debating even writing a blog tonight as not much happened. Fixed a couple of Home Depots and sat around in the hotel.

I did however go out to eat at carrabbas and had an awesome Veal Piccata.

I emailed an old co-worker of mine from the War College. Hopefully, i'll get down to newport sometime while i'm here and we can go out to lunch.

I spent some time tonight browsing Myspace and looking for people i went to school with. through one person, i found another who had an I hate Oprah blog. it was cool, he was talking about how his wife wanted to go to boston for some workshop this weekend. I just thought it was so interesting and that its such a small world with be being up here and Camille coming up here this weekend. I know that if her flight came in a day earlier, she'd probably try and go.

Anyway, at least I did manage to find a couple more people from my class who didn't put in their graduation year for some reason or another.

Day 1

Well they hired a new TM for south Boston/Providence and I think he was the old lead tech for the territory. It seems like he's really over his head so far, I could be wrong having never actually met the guy.

I have to do preventative maintenance on the SCOT (self checkout) lanes for a bunch of stores, and right now he's got me scheduled doing maybe one per day, and sometimes two. I would have thought that if he was the previous lead tech he should know just about how long one of these takes. It takes me about 30-45 minutes max on each machine, and there are usually 4 in a store with the exception being Walmart Supercenters. even then, they only have 8. so that's still about 4 hours max.

that's all the work he has scheduled for me for an 8 hour day.

He didn't know what territory code i'd be closing my calls under, it's what allows me to see the calls in my blackberry. I didn't find that out until about 2pm. the story is the same with the contractor here from pittsburg. he has even less work than me to do.

I'm taking my camera out tomorrow to try and take some pictures in the afternoon.

I made it!

Well, I've ridden several airplanes throughout the last 10 years and never really thought much of flying. However lately it seems that the more I fly or the older I get the more apprehensive I get about it. Maybe it's just the recent crashes in the news, like the one that had the tire blow out on landing or the flight from lexinmgton that took off from the wrong runway. I don't know if it's just apprehension or fear, but i'm beginning to not like flying.

We hit just a little turbulence on the descent, and it really wasn't that bad but still it was enough to notice the plane tilting a couple degrees to the left and then all of a sudden a couple degrees to the right and back.

My hotel isn't bad, a comfort inn, but there is a contractor here that is staying at an extended stay hotel. he's here just as long as me and has basically an efficiency apartment. I don't even have a fridge. sheesh.

There is a nice restaraunt outside the hotel though. Bertucci's Brick Oven Pizzeria. It's like an upscale Italian place that is big on pizza too. They've good some good looking dishes and some tempting desserts. I had a really good pizza tonight while I watched the Bengals lose.

Boston - take II

Well, I was supposed to go to Boston in August but things just didn't work out. wound up spending 10 days in the hospital. yuck! doing much better now and I once again find myself with a chance to go. I leave tomorrow for a three week stay. Hopefully everything works out.

I think they have already hired a new TM for South Boston, so it doesn't look like I'll be moving there. However, all the bigwigs will be in boston this week. My boss will be there, as well as his boss and the head of the company and the TM's from a lot of other regions. Being as they are all in the same hotel, looks like I may get to hang with the bigwigs. Maybe it'll get me noticed and I'll get thought of when another TM position comes open. I checked the other day and there are openings in Pheonix, San Fran, and Moscow. Unfortunately I don't speak russian, can't afford SF, and Camille hates the heat. Boston would have been great because of Camille's family.

Camille will be coming up next week and will get to spend two weeks with me and her family from up there.

I'll have my laptop for email and such and i'll try and keep a daily log of what goes on.

Boston

Well today the boss asked if I wanted to move to Boston. Turns out that the TM up there got fired today. He said to think about it and if i wanted it he'd reccomend me for the job. So when I go up to work, i'll also be contemplating a move. housing prices up there are crazy and i'm not sure if i want to give up the house i'm in but at the same time it means a substantial pay raise and promotion. hmmm.

Going to Boston!

well the boss said we needed to send people up to Boston for a couple weeks and I volunteered. this is so sweet because Camille has family that lives up there and one uncle is getting married on our last night there. Camille has already booked her flight going into Logan Intl.

So I just checked my travel information. Ha! had to call the boss to make sure that it was correct. turns out that FLT has two teams in Boston, north and south, and both teams are double the size of our cincinnati team. So anyway it looks like i'll be flying into Providence, RI. not Logan, and I'll be staying in North Attleboro, which is about 40 minutes south of downtown boston. hmmmm. Looks like camille may have a little wait at the airport unless a relative can pick her up. fortunately I get to Providence at 5:06 and then get my rental car and she gets to Logan at 6:10.

Then the other issue is what is she gonna do when I'm working? in hollywood at least there was good public transit, subways and all. I don't know about North Attleboro to Boston.

Updates to come....

Update 1. Well it turns out that when camille first heard about the trip she thought she would have to book both flights and then the company would pay me back. it doesn't work that way. so I had her cancel my flight right away. I went today to check if I could change her flight, and as luck would have it, they canceled both tickets not just mine. So I rebooked her flight, and this time she is on the same flight as me both ways. SWEET!!!

Update 2. I called the Hotel in North Attleboro and they say that the train station is about 10 miles from the hotel. so at least Camille has a way into Boston even if she can't get to Scituate on her own.

Cat is up to no good.

Well, another day of the cat getting into mischief. today Camille caught him drinking out of the toilet. his hind legs were on the front of the seat and his front paws were in the basin. We can never seem to get him to drink out of his bowl and rarely will he even want to eat his own food. he usually has a go at the dog's food and water. what i don't get is that this time he's drinking out of the toilet when both of the other bowls are full.

He fell in the toilet a couple weeks ago and now this. even the dog doesn't drink from the toilet.

SSDD

Well i finally get a day off. it's about time. yesterday wasn't so bad, it was a pretty easy day

Not much new on the home front, it looks like it will be a really nice day today so i might just have to break out the grill for dinner.

Can't stand being on call.

Well it was yet another night with no sleep. damn wally world. I didn't get home until nine this morning, got a measly 4 hours sleep and then this evening i was grocery shopping and got called out again. I drive 45 minutes to the store and the damn problem is already fixed. CHARGE!!! its like a minimum 6 hour charge at somewhere in the $200/hr range.

So anyway after that store i have to go to another and stayed till 2am, had to get back up at 6 to go pick up a part and fix the crap. i'm just winding down and falling asleep at 4 and they call me and want me to fix it right away. bastards. I'll get there when i get there. i'm going back to sleep and turning my phone off.

Had a job interview at a software company yesterday, more like just filling out an application and taking some weird tests. but maybe they'll actually call me back for a real interview.. wish me luck!

The boss took me out to lunch today for my hard work the past couple days and i ordered the most expensive thing on the menu. some filet mignon and shrimp. my body was so screwed up from work for the past couple days that i couldn't even eat it. oh well, not my money.

hopefully tomorrow turns out a little better.

I hate work

I was just getting starting to fall asleep last night when I got a call that for some stupid reason just had to be run right away. Damned scanner scales showing the wrong weight on one display and the correct one on the other. I was so mad for most of the night. I thought the store wouldn't even be using them yet as the produce and other sections that might need them don't open for a couple more days(under construction). then just as i'm finishing the last one 9 hours later i hear that somebody tried to buy a pound of coffee beans and it rang up like $90. damn that's some expensive coffee. All I could do then was laugh and try not to fall asleep on the hour drive home. so much fun being up for 26 hours straight.