Ranting about Adelphia...AGAIN

Adelphia...a fine example of management at its worst. Arghh. Just when I was starting to somewhat calm down about this, something else happens to yet again bring my blood to a boil. Although this has yet to be substaniated by anyone of real authority, rumors are abound that the customer service department will again be sharing desks. When we moved to our new office close to a year ago, we were all promised that we would have our own desks and, for the most part we all do. Leave it to Adelphia management to go back on their word. One of the apparent reasons behind this idea is that they want us to all be in the same section with a lead cssr in every row. Another reason which is something that makes absolutely no sense to me is that they have set up a new backup phone system that only backs up a certain row of phones should there be a loss of power. Why the hell would they not spend the goddamn money to have all of the phones backed up? If power goes out in the daytime when there are probably 20 or more people answering the phones at a time, there are going to be one hell of a lot of people twiddling their thumbs when only about six phones will be active. To be honest, I really don't care what their reasons are. I deserve and will have my own desk. I swear to God I will find a new job if I don't. I have been a dedicated and well liked employee of that company for almost six years. For the past six months I have been doing the job of a supervisor without any additional pay or recognition. I have worked overtime for them when the phones were out of hand (yes, of course I get paid but I could have said no). I have assisted fellow employees and management numerous times and in countless ways through my knowledge of the cable industry and my willingness and interest in helping others. I deserve my own desk, at the very least. I am not one to rock the boat and to be honest I usually do not stand up for myself in most situations. I have had it though. I have reached my boiling point and this time, come hell or high water, I will stand up to them. None of this is a shock to me. Adelphia does eveything wrong. They screw their own employees (never mind their customers) and they have never given me personally the credit I deserve for being the smart and dedicated person that I am. I will not stand for it anymore. I will have my own desk or I will leave. Simple as that.

7:08 p.m. - 2002-02-26

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Fun in The Sun

Here it is...the long awaited, much anticipated Florida Review. I did this on purpose I will have you know...wating so long to post this. I figured I would let the suspense build up a bit, add a little drama. I said what the hell?

So it sucked. HA! Just kidding of course. We had a great time. Its hard not to have fun when you visit the most magical place in the world.

Weather: 70 degrees, sunny everyday

Plane rides: Boston to Atlanta: smooth ride, very crowded plane

Atlanta to Orlando: Smooth ride, nice plane, about 1/2 full.

Orlando to Boston: SUCKED HARD. Very bumpy...bad enough for the pilot to apologize. Plane was only about 1/4 full but there was still not enough room for me to get on my knees and pray to God that I wasn't going to die. It was that bad, really.

Ok, rather than give you a day by day, blow by blow, I thought I would just point out some of the highlights, as well as tell you the rides that kicked some serious ass.

We started off at the rental car agency which, although I did not find that overly exciting, Ryun did so I thought I would share it anyway. We rented a 2001 Pontiac Grand Am. The exciting part? It had a dash board ignition switch...which is apparently something that appeals to Ryun.

Anyway, after he was done drooling, we drove to our hotel and checked in. It was nice, our room was good size. Only complaint? We went back in time a few decades to the 1970's. The room was decorated in brown, yellow and puke green. It was lovely, really.

We spent the night and the following day at Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, and CityWalk, all owned by Universal.

Must sees: Rides: JAWS...scary but well worth it!

Back to the Future: Not for those with a weak stomach but if you are not one of those, go on this ride without a doubt.

Earthquake: very well done and worth the wait there may be.

Twister: IF YOU DO NOTHING ELSE DO THIS. IT WAS UN-FREAKING-BELIEVABLE!

Kongfrontation: King Kong gets loose in the streets of NY. Very cool ride.

Jurassic Park River Adventure: Awesome...you would swear that the dinosaurs still walked the earth. Be prepared to get wet though.

Places to eat: Jimmy Buffets Margaritaville: Its Jimmy Buffet...enough said.

Hard Rock Orlando: same as any Hard Rock but a fun place to go just the same.

On Monday we went to Disney's Animal Kingdom. This is Disney's newest theme park and it was simply amazing. Exotic animals, beautiful waterfalls, wildlife preservation at its best.

Must sees: Kilimanjaro Safari's: There may be a long wait but it is soooo worth it. Get up close and personal with a giraffe, elephant, alligator. The ride brings you right through "Africa". It is just beautiful.

Its Tough to Be a Bug: This was just unbelievable. The best show I think I have ever seen. Great effects and very funny.

Kali River Rapids: Fun fun fun...wet wet wet!

Dinosaur: "The only thing between you and extinction is a seatbelt." Enough said.

When we finished at Animal Kingdom we went over to the Magic Kingdom. I swear you can actually feel the magic in the air. It really is the happiest place on earth.

Must sees: Hall of Presidents: A Disney original and still one of the most popular attractions there.

The Haunted Mansion: same as above.

Thunder Mountain: A rollercoaster. Doesn't go upside down but its fun just the same.

Buzz Lightyears Space Ranger Spin: Long wait time but again, worth it. Fun, interactive ride which I might add, Ryun kicked my butt in. His score? 73,000. Mine: 2300...um yeah.

Splash Mountain...didn't do it but hell, it had a wait time of over a freaking hour. Must be good.

That night we went over to Downtown Disney and ate at Planet Hollywood. Similar idea as hard Rock Cafe but based on TV and movies instead. If you ever play trivial pursuit with my husband, be on his team. He is an overflowing fountain of information on a variety of subjects, but especially anything even remotely related to television, movies and animation. He is amazing, I mean it.

The next day we went to MGM Studios. Ryun (the one with the actual nerve)went on Aerosmiths Rock n Rollercoaster. 0 to 60 in 2.8 seconds...YIKES. He was like a little kid when he got off the ride. Too cute.

Must sees: The Backlot Tour: Very cool special effects and informative too.

Pizza Planet: Just like in Toy Story.

Fantasmic: Disney magic at its absolute best. It's just beautiful...beyond words.

Where to eat: The 50's Prime Time Cafe: a 50's cafe set up with 50's televisions and kitchen tables. Very fun place to eat. Make sure you eat all of your vegetables though, or Mom will be mad.

On the last day there we went over to Epcot. Unfortunately, we were pressed for time so we did not get to see as much there as we would have liked. Here is the list of must sees from the things we were able to do...keep in mind there may be more.

Test Track: GO ON THIS RIDE. It was awesome. I can't tell you how much so. It rocked, it was my favorite ride ever. I CAN NOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH. Go on this ride or you won't be my friend anymore. Point made?!?!?!

Body Wars: Again, not a ride for those with a weak stomach but a ride through the human body at unheard of speeds. Its great.

Universe of Energy: Awesome.

The Spaceship Earth: really cool...much better than the school planetariam trust me.

Italy: Yummy. Eat here in the World Showcase. Good food and for those of you who enjoy Italian men, great waiters!!

The American Adventure: If you have any pride in this great country at all, see this show. Its wonderful and really makes you proud.

I really have to say that one of the best parts of the whole trip was the weather. It was gorgeous. I love the feeling of the hot sun on my face. I love looking up and seeing a blue sky. I love feeling the light breeze as it brushes by my body. It just made me feel so good.

I am looking forward to taking Emily and Katie in a few years. Although it was nice to have a week of peace and quiet, there were many times that I wish I had them with me. I missed them of course but I mean because of how excited they would have been at some things.

So there you have it. Incidentally, the monorail broke the day after we left and they had to rescue people by ladder. Also, on that same day Adam Vinatieri, the Patriots kicker was there. Yeah, so we missed some excitement. You know, because the rest of the trip was pretty boring.

END OF DICUSSION.

Just a quick little thing that I found hilarious. For all of you male readers who generally get "grossed out" by this topic, I apologize...this was just too good to not put here.

I casually mentioned to Ryun that I could tell I was getting my period because I was cranky and feeling "fat". Emily was in the room but paying attention to whatever she was doing, or so I thought. She said to me, "I know what period means Mama." I said, "Oh yeah, what?" She said, "Period means (voice escalating) BECAUSE I SAID SO!" I almost fell of off of my chair.

Nostalgia

Today was a good day. Emily and Katie got along well, I cleaned the house, finally went through the massive amounts of pictures I want to put in a scrap book and, last but not least, I completed five interviews for one-on-one.

I took out the infamous "Craft Box" for the kids today which was fun. I sat down and worked with Emily on gluing foam pieces on a piece of paper while Katie scribbled on paper with crayons. She actually drew on three separate pieces of paper before she started to eat the crayons. This is beating out her own personal record, which I think was about three lines on a paper then chomp chomp chomp. Glad she is getting over that stage because crayons..ummm...yuck.

So, I finally put all of my pictures in chronological order, as well as I can remember anyway. I am now going to put then into scrap books. Maybe not now because, well, it took four years for me to get my pictures straight so I doubt the scrapbooking will go any quicker, you know? It was one of those things that I kept meaning to do and just never did. For those of you who know my obsession with pictures, you can I am sure visualize the amount of work getting them in order was. ARGHHH. Well, at least that part of the massive project is out of the way. My luck I will drop the box and have to start over again.

Anyway, looking through the pictures got me all nostalgic. Thank God Ryun was at work or he would have been harrassing me no doubt. I am one of those Mom's who gets all weepy when looking at pictures of my babies and seeing how grown up they are now, or when going through clothes to see what will fit who. "Ohhhh...I can't believe she was once this small" is a phrase you will hear quite frequently when I am doing these types of things.

Time goes by too fast. Katie is about ready to vacate the crib for a bed. A bed, my baby in a bed. Christ I am going to have a heart attack.

Time for a new baby you say? I think not. I am not that "nostalgic." For a while I thought I wanted another one but I don't know. Things just get easier the older they get...at least until the teenage years strike. Two teenage girls will I think be quite enough for me...yeah definitely.

Can you hear the music play?

My sister Suzanne is getting married in October. A few weeks ago, she asked me to make a speech (similar to that a best man would make) at her wedding. I happily agreed and just finished writing a poem which I will recite at her reception. I would love to share it with my readers however, since my sister is one of them and I want it to be a surprise, I will not be able to!

I just bought the latest Garth Brooks cd called, "Scarecrow" a few days ago. I am already hooked. I just love his music. Some of his lyrics have such meaning.

My favorite Garth Brooks song is called, "The River." It was on his release titled,"Ropin' The Wind." It is about following your dream despite the "rough waters" that you may encounter. It is about learning from your past and looking ahead with hope. It is such a positive song, and that is exactly how I feel each time I hear it.

Lately, music in general has taken on a more personal meaning for me. I have been going through a rather trying time in my life and certain music just makes me feel...well, better. Some music is just so beautiful and some has such deep meaning. It is hard not to get lost in it sometimes.

"Trying to learn from what's behind you, and never knowing what's in store, makes each day a constant battle just to stay between the shores." -Garth Brooks, The River