blah blah

I don't relly have anything exciting to blog about right now. I just feel like blah-blahing for a bit.

~My friend continues to panic and freakout over we wedding. One day the wedding is on, the next its not instead she wants to elope, then she doesn't, then she'll go for an actual wedding if she can get the numbers down to under 75 (from over 110), she wants to sell her dress, then she doesn't........that sound you year is my head spinning on my shoulders. I'm starting to lose patience. I've suggested she go back to see her therapist, who she hasn't seen since a few weeks before Christmas. She says she's thinking about it. She's just not coping very well.

Ummm...what else...

~Still plugging away at school. Still haven't gotten that first assignment back, but thats OK...I didn't do so well on it anyway. My first test went very well: 92%. Not bad for someone who doesn't study very well! I have a major assignment due on Friday that I haven't even started yet. But do plan to start today.

~I miss my nieces like crazy. I haven't seen them since Christmas. I've tried to get up to visit them but the darn weather has gotten in the way every time. If the weather is bad here you can bet its 3 times as bad there. I'm hoping to go this week, hopefully the weather will cooperate.

~work continues to go well. We're finally starting to get busy. We're so used to be dead for months all winter that this is a definite change of pace for us all. Apparently when your sales team, and management team do what they're supposed to do, the hotel functions as it should. Who knew?

~started a Flickr account yesterday (link to it is to the right of this blog). I also started a blog about my photo taking, just as somewhere to ramble about it, really. If you want a link to it, I'm more than happy to share.

and I think thats it for blahing right now.

Whats in a name?

I've been thinking about this for awhile (months, actually) and have been giving it some serious thought since learning people have been taking my photos without my permission.

You'll notice I've left some of my photos just as they are. But some of my personal faves and the ones that seem to have generated the most feedback, I took off FB temporarily, added borders and a signature to them to make it, hopefully, a little more difficult for people to just take them. Or at least if they take them it'll make it more difficult to do with them what they want.

Right now they're signed with "E. Page", which is fine. But I want something else. I want a fun name to stamp my photos with.

However, my creative juices floweth not.

I seriously can't come up with anything. I know a lot of people opt to stick with JOE BLOW PHOTOGRAPHY as it links the photo to a personal name. Which I get. I'm not looking to start a business or anything, I just want something fun to use instead of "E. Page".

I know of a photographer around here whose name is "Century Classic Photography", there's also "Flashback Photography", and "Scuffed Boots Photography". I like them all. Mybe I could amalgamate them into one? Classic Boots Flashback Photography? No?

Any thoughts? Throw 'em out there. A creative brain I have not. I can't come up with a single one.

But they're mine

It has recently come to light that some friends have been taking my photos off of Facebook and using them for personal use. Which I suppose is a compliment of sorts. I'm glad they like my photos and I'm more than happy to share with anyone who asks nicely. I just wish they would have asked first before just taking. I'm really not angry, but it does make me wonder if my friends are taking them who else is? Yes I can change my settings so only friends can see them but I do (or, did) have photos on various groups around FB. How many of my photos are floating around out there without me knowing?

And I do realize how vain this sounds. Its not that I think my photos are so great and wonderful that everyone and their dog want a copy of their very own. Its more of the fact that I enjoy my photos and would really like credit for them, if they're going to be used by others. And I'm always happy to print any for those who would like a copy of anything they see. All you gotta do is ask.

So, over the next little while you will notice some of my photos disappearing off FB. Some will reappear, only with signatures and borders. Most I will have saved on my computer without signatures, so should anyone want a copy its available.

If you are one of those people, I'm really not angry. I really really promise I'm not. All I ask is you ask before taking, thats all.

I've always known it was easy enough to snatch photos off FB but I never really gave it much thought as I didn't/don't think mine are snatch worthy. Guess I'm pleasantly surprised to find out they are! ;-)

My brain might just explode

I've gone back to school.

Totally last minute. Went into it completely unprepared. But I'm there.

(and by back to school I really mean I'm only doing one course, online)

Course started Monday. My login details for the course didn't get sent to me until very late on Monday. Naturally I was at my parents' all week in the land of no internet. They're on dial up still, so getting anything done was impossible. So I tried the library. Nope. (yeah, my hometown is light years behind when it comes to technology) Maybe our lone coffee shop will have a WiFi connection. Nope. So what I'm getting at here is I got NOTHING done all week on my course. I read the first chapter in my text, made a few notes but that was it. I get back to the city yesterday morning, login to see my first assignment is due today (today being Friday)! Seriously. So I was up until 2am last night (this morning?) reading a long-winded 8 page article, answering the related questions, reading another short article, doing those questions. The part I'm now stuck on is writing a summery of that short article. Its 3 paragraphs long. Its very short. How do you summaraize something that is already very well summeraized? Ugh.

I'm still in a rut as far as weightloss goes. I haven't gained any, so thats a good thing I guess.

My friend S is getting married next year. She's in full on planning mode now.
Dress? check.
Save the date cards? check.
DJ? check.
Photographer? check.
Invites? check.
Bobble for her hair (instead of a veil)? Check.
Venue? Check.
Flowers? Check (well, sort of. His aunt is going to look after the flowers for them)

We're going cake sampling tomorrow. She's doing all this pretty well on her own: her fiance is out of town frequently for work for months at a time sometimes. Her wedding party is mostly all in Ontario, the only one here is me. So I'm trying to help as much as I can. We're trying to do all this on a tight budget. She is panicking it won't happen. I assure her it will. I've already found her killer deals on a DJ and a photographer. Her $1200 dress we got for $500. We're going to do our own makeup on the big day, which is fine. And quite possibly hair as well. This worries me. I don't know how to do my own hair. I'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

I don't mind helping. I really don't. I used to work at the resort where she is getting married. I know the people and the place. I will be of any help I can be (since her MOH is being less that supportive and helpful right now). But I'm going crazy. Everyday its something about the wedding. Don't get me wrong here, I'm super excited and happy for them both. She's been waiting for him to pop the question and finally he did. I love her, she is one of my favorite people. Her and I together always leads to (good) trouble! I'm just tired of having to pull her down of the ledge when she starts freaking out over the wedding, and not being able to get everything she wants for her wedding. I've tried to tell her she'll have a fabulous wedding, but she also has to realize that when you're on a budget some of the finer, fancier things may not happen. And to have a great wedding you don't need a ginormous budget - she's got one of those wedding planning books that she is taking word for word. I'd like to throw that book of a bridge. And of course for what she wants the book says she'll need $10000+, which isn't an option for them. So, even though I'm going internally crazy I bite my tongue and lend my assistance to her.

What else....ummm......work is going well. Ironing out kinks as we go along. I'm still trying to deal with being lied to and mislead for the past 2.5years that I've been there. Its always night to know after such a long time you've been told to do things the wrong way. Yeah, its just about as great as it sounds. We're having our first department staff meeting in a year on Monday. I'm interested to see how it goes and what our new manager has to say. So far, things are goin well. Work sucks SOOOOOOOO much less now. Oh, and that school stuff I mentioned earlier that is driving my blood pressure up? Work is paying for that for me! Apparently this is something they encourage, but it was never made known to me. Go figure. And the email I got from my former boss asking how work was going and saying he misses us all wasn't the least bit awkward. Nope. Not at all.

Ok, now I'm off to try to stop my brain from oozing out my ears and write that summary that is due today.

Hi, my name is Erin....

...and I'm a carbaholic.

Diet week 1- hahahahahahahahahahahahaha.......

If you didn't catch that, that translates to "not going well". Like, at all.

Carbs? Yes please. In mass quantities? Oh, yes please!

I do realize that carbs are not the enemy all the time, in moderation they are OK. This week has been carbs with a side of carbs.

No, I'm not kidding.

I haven't had any pop, no candy, chocolate, chips....none of that stuff. So in that respect I'm doing OK. The rest of it, not so much. And I'm not entirely sure how to get it under control either.

Oh, and I haven't started exercising yet. My new DVDs came in and remain in the box in which they were shipped.

UGH.

Day 1

My diet starts today.

I hopped on the scale this morning. Oh lord. What a craptastic way to start the day. I put on 12lbs over the holidays. Lovely. (and I feel every single one of those extra 12lbs) The number staring back at me was shocking: (this is SO hard for me to admit) 223lbs. I NEVER admit my weight to anyone. Ever. When I'm asked I'll ball park it for them: "Oh, somewhere around Xlbs", but I won't admit specifically.

I ordered some new workout DVDs online the other day, and now see via the tracking they have finally landed in my city. I should have them by the end of the week to get started on them.

The goal, workout wise, is to exercise at least 3 days a week to start with.

So, the battle begins.....

I ate my last cheeseburger last night.

T-Minus 24hrs:

Today is my last day of mindless eating. Tomorrow I revamp things and start paying attention. No more oatmeal for breakfast with a side of Kinder Surprise and Lindors. (the oatmeal part is OK though) Overhauling my diet has worked before, I lost 8lbs fairly quickly the last time I tried. Exercise will also start again once my new DVDs arrived: they've been shipped they're just not here yet. The weather outside is cold, snowy and slippery so hoofing it out to a DVD is the way to go for now.

My friend is getting married in a year and a half. Her engagement party is in July. I refuse to go to either looking the way I do: at least 50lbs overweight. She says she doesn't care about the way I look, whats important to her is I'm there (I'm in the wedding party), and I do believe her, however I'm not going to be the fat girl in all the photos. I'm not aiming for itty bitty, I'm just aiming for more reasonable. While I should realistically drop 50-60lbs, I'm aiming for 30-40lbs. and I have 7 months to do it.

30lbs = 4.2lbs per month
40lbs = 5.7lbs per month

Doable, right?

Books of 2010

In no particular order:

House Rules - Jodi Picoult
61 Hours - Lee Child
*The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes - Diane Chamberlain
If I Stay - Gayle Foreman
*The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
*Half Broke Horses - Jeanette Walls
*The Glass Castle - Jeanette Walls
Plain Truth - Jodi Picoult

I'm reasonably certain there are a few more that I just can't remember. I do know it isn't a lengthy list as I am a painfully slow reader. So I would have only read 10 books tops anyway.

* = titles I most enjoyed. The rest were good reads with the exception of 61 Hours and If I Stay. Neither were all that great. Not horrible, but nothing to write home about.

Change + Work

Things at work are FINALLY changing. Finally. And not a moment too soon.

In effort to try to keep things simple:
D = my fellow supervisor
G = former boss
K = my new boss
C = hotel manager
KM, J, C = rest of my department team

Ok, I got a phone call yesterday morining saying G has been released from his duties effective immediately. No big surprise. We've all been waiting for it to happen. While I like G his management is craptacular. There has been a list of stuff a mile long over the past few months that he has done (or not done) that hasn't sat well with myself and D, and when C started a few months ago he started to notice the same things. Essentially D and I were being handed the shitty end of the stick over and over and over.....always working weekends, every single holiday, having a set schedule (which does have its benefits - but gets boring quickly) blah blah....the list could go on. C announced that K would be our new department manager. She's been at the hotel for about 5 years (her and I went to school together).

Anyway, C called D and I in for a meeting yesterday afternoon with himself and K. The first thing C said to D and I was "Firstly I want to apologize to the both of you for the mistreatment you were put through over the last two and a half years. It wasn't fair and it never should have happened. While I can't change it I can apologize for it." Wow. He has only been with the hotel for just over 4 months and he's apologizing for the behaviour of past management. Like I said to him its nice to know at least someone noticed things haven't exactly been fair. He also said that what happened to us this past Christmas (schedule wise) WILL NOT happen again.

C says we have a fantastic desk team, which is true, however he feels we were all being held back. And its true. We went in, did our job but that was it. There was nothing new. No learning was taking place. It was the same thing day in and day out. And communication between G and I was almost nil. We weren't being told things we should have been, leaving us to often fly by the seat of our pants to figure stuff out. Not good. It frustrates us and doesn't provide the guest service we want to give. So now that the "thing" that was holding us back is gone, he wants to see us grow and see great things come of it.

So, things are changing. It'll take some time for K to learn the ways of the front desk but it'll be good when we get there. D and I are also going to be learning more about why rates are set they way they are, how to change them etc etc, so it'll be good. And these changes couldn't have come a moment too soon. Both D and I have been finding it REALLY hard to care about work lately. Personally, I was finding it hard to care when clearly our leader (G) didn't care. Because G didn't care and D can be unapproachable sometimes KM, J and C were all coming to me with their frustrations and concerns over the past few months. Which was fine. If they needed some support I was willing to give it, however the same wasn't being given to D and I. D and I both really like what we do, its just been hard lately.

We're both looking forward to the changes that are coming. I'm excited to learn more and to FINALLY start getting some weekends off. Also some of the stress has been taken off us by us not being the only MODs (manager on duty) in the hotel. We have been the only two MODs but in the next few months the MOD shifts are going to be shared out amongst us and other managers in the hotel, K included. It'll be nice to be able to work a few shifts and not have to worry about deal with staff drama in other departments and being able to call on someone else to deal with the crazy, irrate guests.

It'll be bumpy for a bit while K adjusts to us and we adjust to her but in the end I can only see things getting better by leaps and bounds.

Add to that list...

something else to add to my list DOING for 2011:

Make at least 2 out of province trips (and do it on the cheap). Since I can't really afford to travel AWAY I figure a couple of days outside of NS a few times will suffice for now. This will likely take me to NB and possibly PEI. And will likely only consist of 2 or 3 days.

Also, spend as much time as possible wandering around my own province. Its a beautiful province and there is so much of it out there to explore.