We're working a new schedule now. The floating managers, that are here helping us, wanting us to go on the manager's schedule so we gave them Wednesday off to do the turnaround for the new schedule. Our days off will now be Fridays and Saturdays. We finish work around 3:30 on Thursday and have to be back at work to open Sunday morning.
This weekend Linda went up to her grand-daughter's "dedication ceremony (like a baptism). She left Thursday right after she got off work. I stayed here and worked on shampooing carpets in our vacant apartments to try and get ahead on all the projects that need to be done around here. I accomplished quite a bit over the last two days so I feel good about what I can check of the daunting list we have. Linda got back about 7:30 tonight. Took her around 5 hours to drive to Virginia Beach from here.
On Thursday one of the maintenance guys, that works at another property like ours, came to help us with getting our vacant apartments refurbished. He left this morning but in those 2.5 days he got several apartments totally painted and most of the things done so they are ready to rent. He was a maniac ! Worked like a whirlwind...if we could only get everyone to work at that pace, we'd have all the vacants done in no time at all. Whew ! He expects to come back at the end of this week to help us again. Good thing..as we learned Thursday that our maintenance guy is going to have surgery on his ankle on the 30th and who knows how long he'll be out.
His bombshell comes on the heels of hearing from our activity director that she needs to go on medical leave, due to her pregnancy and won't return till after the baby is born (due date is in December). Oh great ! So...two key positions and they'll both be out on medical leaves. On top of getting rooms turned around, with all kinds of carpet replacement, painting, and odds and ends to be done...we have lots of personnel issues (like these) to take care of. Not sure I've ever worked in a place that is such a train wreck ! Linda is doing a great job coordinating all of the carpet installs, ordering of lighting, etc.
I think we will like this new schedule. We only have three overnight on-calls to handle..the rest fall on the co-mgrs schedule. Plus our long days are our first two days...get 'em out of the way right off the bat..then a couple partial days. Should be a piece of cake. Will let you know how it goes...
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Sunday..
Saturday had been a busy day at work. One our newest residents had her housewarming party and 40 people attended. She had a great time showing up her apartment and Linda and I were busy giving tours of our community. After supper, one of our favorite performers...Levon Myers..entertained the residents. One of the benefits that our residents get to take advantage of, when they move into a Holiday community, is the travel program. This entitles them to travel to almost any other Holiday community, in the US and Canada, and stay for up to a week free. The only community where it wouldn't be free is in Hawaii. Since it's a premium property, the residents would need to pay $75/night...still a great deal! Anyway...a resident from our sister property in Florida is staying with us, while he is visiting his family in the area. He came back to the property, from dinner, while Levon was playing. He marched right out onto the dance floor and started dancing....He had a blast ! Eight members of his family, who came back from dinner with him, stood there and cheered and then they joined in. It was so much fun and the female residents enjoyed taking a turn as his dancing partner.
The other couple told us on Thursday that they'll be leaving at the end of this week to go work at another Holiday community in Durham. While we're happy in one sense, there are still a number of things that we have not been shown how to do so we're hoping that some floating managers will be assigned to our community to help us out. The days and week will be really, really long if we don't have any help.
Some of the new residents have been having housewarming parties in our private dining room. Linda and I set the room up for one such party to take place today. Here are some pictures...
Tomorrow Linda has a medical test at the hospital. She's been prepping for that all day today...not much fun. She'll be glad when it's over. Then we'll come back to the campground to finish our days off. We got word this week, at work, that the Chief Operating Officer for Holiday, will be coming to visit the North Carolina properties this week. He'll be at our place Wednesday afternoon. I'm interested to see what sort of man he is and how much he interacts with the residents. Stay tuned....
Sunday, August 15, 2010
A Day of Rest....
Yesterday was a killer day at work so we are so glad that today is our day off. The week felt incredibly long !!
Friday night one of our servers quit without notice so Linda and I spent some of Saturday interviewing. We conducted five interviews, interspersed with a server calling off for breakfast and supper and two of the three servers, for lunch, were fifteen minutes late which really threw service off. On top of that, we had sixteen guests for lunch (thirteen of which were there for a new residents' house warming party)so it was not a good time for the servers to be late. That meant Linda and I had to jump in, after pouring coffee and tea, to get things started. Other things in the mix yesterday was taking down a defective smoke detector which set off the alarm the previous two nights (waking us and the resident in the wee hours of the night when we were sound asleep), giving a tour to a family, setting up for the house warming party and tearing down and washing the table cloths...putting away, making marketing calls and sending out mailings. While all of that was going on, our regional boss calls and asks what we're going to do to get move ins. He had already asked that he be e-mailed at 10, 3 and 6 with this info. Well, with all that our day consisted of, he didn't get any of those e-mails from me. We are getting increasingly frustrated with this company and their focus on numbers and nothing else, like resident satisfaction or facility readiness. We have a sprinkler system that hasn't worked in 2.5 years (yes, the grass tends to die without water), carpets that are in dire need of shampooing (but that requires labor dollars), a dishwasher that doesn't get the dishes clean (but dang new washer arms are awfully expensive), filthy balconies and patios that need pressure washing but that would entail getting a lift (yep, you guessed it...that costs money). So, Linda and I are the best dang coffee pourers we can be and hang in there. We love the residents but it's really tough to stay positive when they pay so much as it is and get slapped with annual rent increases of over 4% and don't get the services they should for what they pay. This week we won't have our shuttle bus running cause the bus driver is on vacation. When we were trained our trainers told us that there always needs to be transportation to take them to their medical appointments. Call a cab if you have to but that is something that needs to happen. We asked why a cab wouldn't be used and yep, it costs too much.....Just another day at the office. Whew !! Come 9 p.m. we were ready to go to our apartment and collapse !
Today started out rainy. We ran into rain on our way up here, from Winston Salem, and it was coming down pretty good while we set up. Yep, we were pretty much soaked to the skin. Pretty crowded in the campground when we arrived but as usually happens, they start pulling out mid morning. There is a late checkout on Sundays (3 p.m.) so that makes it really nice for the locals to stretch out their weekend as long as possible before returning home. We were told that there is a really large rally next weekend so our rig will be on a different site when we come up next weekend. They like to keep the groups together so they can use the pavilions for their pot lucks and gatherings. Not a problem for us....just so we have a space somewhere. Last weekend we met a couple, from Florida, who came up for a week or so...just to get away. They are taking advantage of the storage plan ($1 a day to store your rig here and they will put it onto the site, hook it up to electric and start the frig for you before you arrive) so they'll come up again this fall. The husband wants to sell the sticks and bricks home and full time it but she says she isn't ready to do that. We chatted about the FT lifestyle and he got even more excited about the idea just hearing our stories. Penny's body language (arms folded across her chest) told me she wasn't budging....
No definitive plans for the rest of our time off. We went last week to get our annual check ups and need to make some follow up calls tomorrow on some of the results. Hopefully my new eyeglasses will be in tomorrow so we'll pick them on our way back into town Tuesday. Other than that, chill out...relax and regroup.
Friday night one of our servers quit without notice so Linda and I spent some of Saturday interviewing. We conducted five interviews, interspersed with a server calling off for breakfast and supper and two of the three servers, for lunch, were fifteen minutes late which really threw service off. On top of that, we had sixteen guests for lunch (thirteen of which were there for a new residents' house warming party)so it was not a good time for the servers to be late. That meant Linda and I had to jump in, after pouring coffee and tea, to get things started. Other things in the mix yesterday was taking down a defective smoke detector which set off the alarm the previous two nights (waking us and the resident in the wee hours of the night when we were sound asleep), giving a tour to a family, setting up for the house warming party and tearing down and washing the table cloths...putting away, making marketing calls and sending out mailings. While all of that was going on, our regional boss calls and asks what we're going to do to get move ins. He had already asked that he be e-mailed at 10, 3 and 6 with this info. Well, with all that our day consisted of, he didn't get any of those e-mails from me. We are getting increasingly frustrated with this company and their focus on numbers and nothing else, like resident satisfaction or facility readiness. We have a sprinkler system that hasn't worked in 2.5 years (yes, the grass tends to die without water), carpets that are in dire need of shampooing (but that requires labor dollars), a dishwasher that doesn't get the dishes clean (but dang new washer arms are awfully expensive), filthy balconies and patios that need pressure washing but that would entail getting a lift (yep, you guessed it...that costs money). So, Linda and I are the best dang coffee pourers we can be and hang in there. We love the residents but it's really tough to stay positive when they pay so much as it is and get slapped with annual rent increases of over 4% and don't get the services they should for what they pay. This week we won't have our shuttle bus running cause the bus driver is on vacation. When we were trained our trainers told us that there always needs to be transportation to take them to their medical appointments. Call a cab if you have to but that is something that needs to happen. We asked why a cab wouldn't be used and yep, it costs too much.
Today started out rainy. We ran into rain on our way up here, from Winston Salem, and it was coming down pretty good while we set up. Yep, we were pretty much soaked to the skin. Pretty crowded in the campground when we arrived but as usually happens, they start pulling out mid morning. There is a late checkout on Sundays (3 p.m.) so that makes it really nice for the locals to stretch out their weekend as long as possible before returning home. We were told that there is a really large rally next weekend so our rig will be on a different site when we come up next weekend. They like to keep the groups together so they can use the pavilions for their pot lucks and gatherings. Not a problem for us....just so we have a space somewhere. Last weekend we met a couple, from Florida, who came up for a week or so...just to get away. They are taking advantage of the storage plan ($1 a day to store your rig here and they will put it onto the site, hook it up to electric and start the frig for you before you arrive) so they'll come up again this fall. The husband wants to sell the sticks and bricks home and full time it but she says she isn't ready to do that. We chatted about the FT lifestyle and he got even more excited about the idea just hearing our stories. Penny's body language (arms folded across her chest) told me she wasn't budging....
No definitive plans for the rest of our time off. We went last week to get our annual check ups and need to make some follow up calls tomorrow on some of the results. Hopefully my new eyeglasses will be in tomorrow so we'll pick them on our way back into town Tuesday. Other than that, chill out...relax and regroup.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
The Long Haul....
We came off duty yesterday around 4 p.m. and today we go in at 11:30. We then begin our long haul till our days off. We'll be on call, 24/7 and work 12 hour days on Friday and Saturday. The early part of the week just flies by but as we get to the end of the week, this is the hardest part.
Linda went out this morning and joined the managers for breakfast while I slept. She found out that one of our residents passed away last night, at the hospital. He had gone into the hospital last week....was 97 years old and his body was just worn out. His daughter arrived, from Michigan, to see him and he died soon after. This is the first resident to die since we've started here. I'm sure the other residents will be affected for the next few days with the news of his death.
Linda called this morning and made an appointment for Boomer to get a haircut and get his nails trimmed. I know the haircut will go fine....not so sure about the nail trim. He has become very temperamental about getting them cut so am hoping this new place has some magic powers to make it happen. Maybe they will hypnotize him or something....
We also made an appointment to get our rig worked on before we take it out camping. Just before we left New Jersey the air conditioning died and we still have the situation with the grey valve letting water past it when closed and the black tank leaking around the top. We're hoping this place can get all of those things resolved. With 90 degree temps here, we can't go camping without having a working AC unit...no way...no how...would make it too sticky for sleeping. The humidity has returned....Monday and Tuesday were awesome days of low humidity and temps in the high 70's but we are now back up to the 90 degree mark and the humidity is back. Thank goodness that there is a little bit of a breeze today.
Well time to get ready for work....
Linda went out this morning and joined the managers for breakfast while I slept. She found out that one of our residents passed away last night, at the hospital. He had gone into the hospital last week....was 97 years old and his body was just worn out. His daughter arrived, from Michigan, to see him and he died soon after. This is the first resident to die since we've started here. I'm sure the other residents will be affected for the next few days with the news of his death.
Linda called this morning and made an appointment for Boomer to get a haircut and get his nails trimmed. I know the haircut will go fine....not so sure about the nail trim. He has become very temperamental about getting them cut so am hoping this new place has some magic powers to make it happen. Maybe they will hypnotize him or something....
We also made an appointment to get our rig worked on before we take it out camping. Just before we left New Jersey the air conditioning died and we still have the situation with the grey valve letting water past it when closed and the black tank leaking around the top. We're hoping this place can get all of those things resolved. With 90 degree temps here, we can't go camping without having a working AC unit...no way...no how...would make it too sticky for sleeping. The humidity has returned....Monday and Tuesday were awesome days of low humidity and temps in the high 70's but we are now back up to the 90 degree mark and the humidity is back. Thank goodness that there is a little bit of a breeze today.
Well time to get ready for work....
Monday, May 10, 2010
Work...
We're on the second day of this work week and these two days are our long days. We open the building at 6:30 and get done about 8:00 p.m. The days go really quickly though and there is usually a lull during the day where we go up to the apartment for a little while. Linda and I were discussing today that this work is relatively easy compared to the last couple of jobs we've had. I can see where it can be hectic if a number of residents need something throughout the day or there are multiple walk-in tours, etc. Overall, though it's not that rough physically or mentally. I'll give you my final thoughts on it when we finish our 6 weeks of training. Maybe I'm missing something....
Today we had a server/housekeeper out so I served. Linda was my trainer since she served on another day. It seemed a little hectic at first but then I got into a rhythm with it. First the beverage/salad cart goes out. We have iced tea/lemonade/tomato juice and milk on the cart.(The coffee and hot tea service goes out prior to this cart.) The salad choices are a tossed salad( with and without cheese), cottage cheese (with and without fruit), applesauce and a featured salad of the day. After we finish with this cart, it goes into the kitchen and we take a tray stand and large tray into the dining room and start taking orders...one table at a time. You put your stand in the middle of four tables and work that "quad" until you finish and then move it up to the next quad. There are always two main choices, plus a featured salad, sandwich, baked potato and a pasta choice. Today choice # 1 was pork loin, brown rice pilaf and broccoli or choice #2..chicken cacciatore with peas. The residents can mix and match items and they can choose from a regular, small or large size portion. With four residents at a table and each picking all types of combinations (and no paper to write it all down on) it takes a good memory to remember it all till you get to the kitchen and back to the table again. It's kind of fun though....sharpens your mental acuity by matching the entree choice to the resident. It's also a workout !! Have to carry the large tray above your shoulder which I haven't done in a really long time. Overall it was fun.
This afternoon the manager took Linda and I on a tour of the facility, showing us mechanical rooms, storage areas, the unique design of this property in relationship to the surrounding wetlands and up to the roof. On the roof the manager showed us a smoke extraction system that would be used, in the event of fire, to pull the smoke out of the building. In the center core, that extends up through all three floors, metal curtains would drop down and seal this atrium area to create a chimney of sorts. The fan would suck the smoke up through this area and out of the building. I've never heard of such a system and it was really impressive. Our initial impressions of this company, when first interviewing with them, was that they are a class act. After seeing and hearing about the quality systems and upkeep to these properties, it truly sets this company apart from any other competitor. We're very impressed !
We also got to look at four different floor plans of rooms for the residents. Each property has around 26-28 different floor plans to choose from....wow ! We looked at a one bedroom unit that was huge! It was very impressive and would hold a ton of furniture. Was nice to see a few of the units that are available here.
Tomorrow we open again but get done mid-afternoon. We keep plugging along in our workbook....learning more of the things we'll need to know to run a property.
Today we had a server/housekeeper out so I served. Linda was my trainer since she served on another day. It seemed a little hectic at first but then I got into a rhythm with it. First the beverage/salad cart goes out. We have iced tea/lemonade/tomato juice and milk on the cart.(The coffee and hot tea service goes out prior to this cart.) The salad choices are a tossed salad( with and without cheese), cottage cheese (with and without fruit), applesauce and a featured salad of the day. After we finish with this cart, it goes into the kitchen and we take a tray stand and large tray into the dining room and start taking orders...one table at a time. You put your stand in the middle of four tables and work that "quad" until you finish and then move it up to the next quad. There are always two main choices, plus a featured salad, sandwich, baked potato and a pasta choice. Today choice # 1 was pork loin, brown rice pilaf and broccoli or choice #2..chicken cacciatore with peas. The residents can mix and match items and they can choose from a regular, small or large size portion. With four residents at a table and each picking all types of combinations (and no paper to write it all down on) it takes a good memory to remember it all till you get to the kitchen and back to the table again. It's kind of fun though....sharpens your mental acuity by matching the entree choice to the resident. It's also a workout !! Have to carry the large tray above your shoulder which I haven't done in a really long time. Overall it was fun.
This afternoon the manager took Linda and I on a tour of the facility, showing us mechanical rooms, storage areas, the unique design of this property in relationship to the surrounding wetlands and up to the roof. On the roof the manager showed us a smoke extraction system that would be used, in the event of fire, to pull the smoke out of the building. In the center core, that extends up through all three floors, metal curtains would drop down and seal this atrium area to create a chimney of sorts. The fan would suck the smoke up through this area and out of the building. I've never heard of such a system and it was really impressive. Our initial impressions of this company, when first interviewing with them, was that they are a class act. After seeing and hearing about the quality systems and upkeep to these properties, it truly sets this company apart from any other competitor. We're very impressed !
We also got to look at four different floor plans of rooms for the residents. Each property has around 26-28 different floor plans to choose from....wow ! We looked at a one bedroom unit that was huge! It was very impressive and would hold a ton of furniture. Was nice to see a few of the units that are available here.
Tomorrow we open again but get done mid-afternoon. We keep plugging along in our workbook....learning more of the things we'll need to know to run a property.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Holidays Just Around the Corner....
We're trying to finish up projects around the site before the new managers arrive so they can start with a clean slate. I had to work at the North Bergen site yesterday for a while (about 3 hours) and then returned to our site. Today I was playing catch up to try and get the place looking great for us being closed for 1.5 days. Tomorrow we work till noon and then we're closed (the office is closed tenants can still access their units) until Saturday. Saturday I have to return to North Bergen for a while and that will be my last stint there. Once we finish work tomorrow, we need to buy some groceries for a dish Linda is making at her brother's house. We'll go there for supper tomorrow night...Linda will spend the night and I'll return home to hang out with Boomer. At some point Christmas day I'll go back to get her. Linda hasn't seen her niece and her partner for quite some time as she is currently living in Greece.
We are anxious to leave and go to a warmer area for a little while. I contacted the RV Doctor in Inverness, FL today to see if they are able to work on the issues we have and if they deal with extended service contracts. Yes, they are very familiar with extended service plans and I'm awaiting a call about whether they can do all of our repairs. I'm guessing they can do at least two of the three things we need to have done. Seeing how they are a mobile RV repair service, they may not be able to adjust the bedroom slide while sitting on a RV site and not being in a garage. We'll see....we had the RV Doctor do some work for us last year and he does good work. It would be a benefit to us to be able to go directly to a park and have him come to us rather than schedule an appt at a garage somewhere.
For now we are thankful to have two days of rest. I don't know about Linda but I feel exhausted...I need some serious "down time" to rest, do nothing and watch football. Anything that would represent mindless entertainment...not having to think about repairs or cleaning. Sigh....can't wait...Here's hoping that all of our friends and family have the same relaxing experience wherever you are !
We are anxious to leave and go to a warmer area for a little while. I contacted the RV Doctor in Inverness, FL today to see if they are able to work on the issues we have and if they deal with extended service contracts. Yes, they are very familiar with extended service plans and I'm awaiting a call about whether they can do all of our repairs. I'm guessing they can do at least two of the three things we need to have done. Seeing how they are a mobile RV repair service, they may not be able to adjust the bedroom slide while sitting on a RV site and not being in a garage. We'll see....we had the RV Doctor do some work for us last year and he does good work. It would be a benefit to us to be able to go directly to a park and have him come to us rather than schedule an appt at a garage somewhere.
For now we are thankful to have two days of rest. I don't know about Linda but I feel exhausted...I need some serious "down time" to rest, do nothing and watch football. Anything that would represent mindless entertainment...not having to think about repairs or cleaning. Sigh....can't wait...Here's hoping that all of our friends and family have the same relaxing experience wherever you are !
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Happy Thanksgiving !
Wanted to post something as it's been a while since I've put anything on here. We have been working hard, getting ready for a Vice President's visit to our unit next week. Yesterday and today I put several coats of wax on the office and restroom floor. Our store/office is really quite large so it took almost a gallon of wax to do it all and I had to divide the space into thirds before getting it all done. Since I was doing the largest part of the room today, I locked the door that goes from the office into the hallway leading to the storage unit and placed a sign on it that said they needed to use the side door to get into the office. Well, our cranky postman arrived and came to that door and do you think he read the sign....heck no. He tried the door, then yanked hard enough that I thought he was going to pull it off its hinges. All huffy, he finally came around and in the front door. This is the same postman that couldn't bother to deliver our mail to us when the rear gate was broken. He said he wouldn't drive on Rt 1 to access us although our address is 1004 Rt 1. He's a real piece of work....one of our wonderful federal workers at the postal service.
Anyway, got the floors done shortly after lunch today. Boy, do they look awesome ! Nice and shiny like a new penny. Then it was time to start working on month end reports. I am off now till next Tuesday. I'm heading out early in the morning to go to my mom's for Thanksgiving and will stay there till Sunday. My daughter and son are coming up too from Philly. My son will have to go back home tomorrow afternoon but my daughter will stay up and I'll give her a ride home on Sunday. It will be fun to see each of them. I haven't seen my son in quite a few months. My daughter has already given my mom a list of things she "wants to learn"...how to make candy, canning, etc. Sounds like we have a busy few days ahead of us.
On this Thanksgiving day, what are you thankful for ? I am thankful for the love, guidance and wisdom of my mother. For the great relationship I have with my kids. For Linda's love, friendship and support. For a circle of friends that we've gathered in our days of full-timing in this wonderful RV'ing lifestyle. Here's hoping that all of our friends and family have a blessed Thanksgiving and safe travels ahead of them ! We love you all and think of you often....
Anyway, got the floors done shortly after lunch today. Boy, do they look awesome ! Nice and shiny like a new penny. Then it was time to start working on month end reports. I am off now till next Tuesday. I'm heading out early in the morning to go to my mom's for Thanksgiving and will stay there till Sunday. My daughter and son are coming up too from Philly. My son will have to go back home tomorrow afternoon but my daughter will stay up and I'll give her a ride home on Sunday. It will be fun to see each of them. I haven't seen my son in quite a few months. My daughter has already given my mom a list of things she "wants to learn"...how to make candy, canning, etc. Sounds like we have a busy few days ahead of us.
On this Thanksgiving day, what are you thankful for ? I am thankful for the love, guidance and wisdom of my mother. For the great relationship I have with my kids. For Linda's love, friendship and support. For a circle of friends that we've gathered in our days of full-timing in this wonderful RV'ing lifestyle. Here's hoping that all of our friends and family have a blessed Thanksgiving and safe travels ahead of them ! We love you all and think of you often....
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Time For Work...
Am up and getting around to go to work. It's nice that I only have to walk out of the rig and into the office....makes for a short commute to work. Been a really long couple of weeks though. Between Linda and I we've been working everyday since our assistant quit. Linda is getting a break this weekend. Mine comes later this week. Can't come soon enough. We got word on Friday that the second highest in command, for Dahn Corporation, is coming here on December 2. So I'll have been back to work one day and he'll arrive, with the lenders for our property, the next day. Will have to scramble to get last minute tidying done. We are in good shape though. The property looks great. I put up Christmas lights yesterday so the office has lights across the front and down the side of it...should look nice from Rt 1 that runs by us. Today will be a short day at work....glad for that. Today is last NASCAR race of the season and want to watch that at 2:30 although it's pretty certain that Jimmie Johnson will take the championship AGAIN. ...He's won it several years in a row now. Time for someone else to get a turn. Well, off to shower and get in there.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Sunday
We had a gorgeous day today ! Temps hit 70 degrees, sunny, very little wind. Was a really enjoyable fall day. We went grocery shopping and got supplies for the week. Takes alot of food when we prepare three meals a day here....We'll start out with the pantry full today but come next weekend, it will look like old Mother Hubbard's cupboard. Also got our propane tank filled while we were over that way at the grocery store. It's $33 for a 30# tank....ordinarily I'd hate paying that much for propane but since we get reimbursed by the company..it doesn't sting so bad. Washed up the Xterra before the sun went down so it's been a good day. The NASCAR race is winding down on TV....
We can tell that it's getting close to the holidays cause when we went to Sam's Club, they are now carrying the white stilton cheese with cranberries that we love so much. We first tried this when we went to our friend's Carolyn and Elliot's for dinner and they had this as an appetizer with crackers...it's delicious but you can only find it at holiday time. We've been watching for it and today was the special day when it showed up in the display case.
Well, the drilling of the locks took a total of three days. The assistant and I worked on them two different days and after having two of them be real son-of-a guns and not being able to get them out, I decided to call in the "big guns" to finish up...got our friend Roger to come over from the Hanover site to tackle the last six (and 2 partial ones). He made it look easy but at last we are done. Also had an interview Saturday morning that went well...I think we will have a couple picked very soon. Have another interview on Wednesday and I think at the completion of that, we will be ready to make our final pick. I have a couple in mind...need to see how they make out in their second interview with Peggy. I'm ready to move on...
We can tell that it's getting close to the holidays cause when we went to Sam's Club, they are now carrying the white stilton cheese with cranberries that we love so much. We first tried this when we went to our friend's Carolyn and Elliot's for dinner and they had this as an appetizer with crackers...it's delicious but you can only find it at holiday time. We've been watching for it and today was the special day when it showed up in the display case.
Well, the drilling of the locks took a total of three days. The assistant and I worked on them two different days and after having two of them be real son-of-a guns and not being able to get them out, I decided to call in the "big guns" to finish up...got our friend Roger to come over from the Hanover site to tackle the last six (and 2 partial ones). He made it look easy but at last we are done. Also had an interview Saturday morning that went well...I think we will have a couple picked very soon. Have another interview on Wednesday and I think at the completion of that, we will be ready to make our final pick. I have a couple in mind...need to see how they make out in their second interview with Peggy. I'm ready to move on...
Thursday, October 29, 2009
The Rest of The Story (a.k.a Captain Morgan Ain't No Friend of Mine)
Well...guess who our first customer of the day was this morning. Yep, the 6'.... 300 plus pound brute who attempted to climb over the gate, be obnoxious, yell expletives at Linda, etc. Looking over near the fence, this morning, we had found an empty bottle of Captain Morgan so it didn't take too much deductive reasoning to figure out who that belonged too. Being now sober it didn't occur to him that he had spoken to either of us last night so he rehashed what he had told Linda last night, through the gate. Only this time there were more details to his story. Turns out his brother, who is with him out in the car, just got out of jail yesterday and his clothes were put in his brother's storage unit when he went to jail. Why he thought any of this information would endear us to want to help him is anybody's guess. His unit had just gotten overlocked this morning so if he had come into the office yesterday by 6 p.m. and paid his bill, alot of this would have been avoided. But, as is pretty prevalent in society today...."The lack of planning on his part should result in a crisis on my part"...NOT !! After telling him AGAIN that once he pays his bill, the overlock comes off....he will have access....he left to figure things out. He did come back later and pay so junior did get some clean clothes. It's these warm, fuzzy times when Linda and I can help our fellow man that give us the greatest pleasure.....
As if the morning didn't start out weird, it's actually got off to a firecracker start at 11:00 p.m. last night. Before I went to bed (after seeing that the Phillies clearly were going to clean the Yankees clock, I checked our e-mail one last time. We had gotten an e-mail from corporate that our tenant, who had rented the truck, was stranded. The truck apparently wouldn't start and he couldn't finish his move into his unit. We would need to make alternate arrangements in the morning for another truck, get our truck towed, etc.
So, we came in and had e-mails with three possibilities for borrowing trucks from area Mini U's. I started calling them and discovered that North Bergen was our best bet. Called the tenant to find out where the truck was. Linda called a tow service to get them to go get it. I leave around 10 to go get the other truck as another person was coming this morning to get our truck (and seeing how our truck was indisposed, that wasn't gonna happen). I get to N. Bergen...Linda calls...the tow truck jumped our truck and got it going so our tenant could finish the move but just couldn't shut the truck off for fear it wouldn't start again. I leave our car at N. Bergen and head back to our store with the Mini U truck. Oh, did I mention that Linda had an on-line webinar from 11-12 that she needed to participate in. Not a problem...slow morning...
That was pretty much the way our day went today....I had an interview late in the day that lasted till we closed at 6. The tenant finished with our truck so it could finally be shut off and parked out front until I check it over tomorrow. The tenant, using N. Bergen's truck, finished up at 7:00 so Linda and I took it back to North Bergen as it is scheduled to go out first thing in the morning. Now, safely back home, we are nestled in to watch another rousing World Series game while Boomer naps on the floor. Peace and quiet.....ahhhhh......
As if the morning didn't start out weird, it's actually got off to a firecracker start at 11:00 p.m. last night. Before I went to bed (after seeing that the Phillies clearly were going to clean the Yankees clock, I checked our e-mail one last time. We had gotten an e-mail from corporate that our tenant, who had rented the truck, was stranded. The truck apparently wouldn't start and he couldn't finish his move into his unit. We would need to make alternate arrangements in the morning for another truck, get our truck towed, etc.
So, we came in and had e-mails with three possibilities for borrowing trucks from area Mini U's. I started calling them and discovered that North Bergen was our best bet. Called the tenant to find out where the truck was. Linda called a tow service to get them to go get it. I leave around 10 to go get the other truck as another person was coming this morning to get our truck (and seeing how our truck was indisposed, that wasn't gonna happen). I get to N. Bergen...Linda calls...the tow truck jumped our truck and got it going so our tenant could finish the move but just couldn't shut the truck off for fear it wouldn't start again. I leave our car at N. Bergen and head back to our store with the Mini U truck. Oh, did I mention that Linda had an on-line webinar from 11-12 that she needed to participate in. Not a problem...slow morning...
That was pretty much the way our day went today....I had an interview late in the day that lasted till we closed at 6. The tenant finished with our truck so it could finally be shut off and parked out front until I check it over tomorrow. The tenant, using N. Bergen's truck, finished up at 7:00 so Linda and I took it back to North Bergen as it is scheduled to go out first thing in the morning. Now, safely back home, we are nestled in to watch another rousing World Series game while Boomer naps on the floor. Peace and quiet.....ahhhhh......
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Dreary Day...
I didn't think it was supposed to start raining until later today but it started last night and didn't stop for most of the day. Temps aren't bad though....was in the mid 50's, almost 60 degrees. I'll take that as opposed to the snow they are calling for out west. Ten day forecast is saying close to 60 degrees too with some rainy days ahead.
Calm day at work which was a good things as Linda had alot of "fixing" to do of mistakes or outright failure to do things while we were off. We are getting pretty exasperated with our two assistants. It usually takes our first day back to fix what they've screwed up while we were off. Today was no different. Linda worked on making these corrections while I started making contact with a new batch of candidates for the site manager position. There are several couples that have previous self storage experience so I'm hoping there might be some potential in this group so that we can get someone hired for here. It will be 2 months that we've been here, on Nov. 8th and we're ready to move on. We'll see how it goes. The unemployment situation, in this country, doesn't really equate to hard and fast numbers until you start to talk to people or see people's resumes where they've been in what would appear to be "stable" positions only to be laid off. That is the case with some tenants we've talked to and I'm seeing it in the resumes I'm reviewing. Sad situation indeed ! There are a ton of talented people out there that are out of work. It gives me pause to wonder how long it will be before our country has totally rebounded from this recession to get everyone back to work. A long road ahead....
Calm day at work which was a good things as Linda had alot of "fixing" to do of mistakes or outright failure to do things while we were off. We are getting pretty exasperated with our two assistants. It usually takes our first day back to fix what they've screwed up while we were off. Today was no different. Linda worked on making these corrections while I started making contact with a new batch of candidates for the site manager position. There are several couples that have previous self storage experience so I'm hoping there might be some potential in this group so that we can get someone hired for here. It will be 2 months that we've been here, on Nov. 8th and we're ready to move on. We'll see how it goes. The unemployment situation, in this country, doesn't really equate to hard and fast numbers until you start to talk to people or see people's resumes where they've been in what would appear to be "stable" positions only to be laid off. That is the case with some tenants we've talked to and I'm seeing it in the resumes I'm reviewing. Sad situation indeed ! There are a ton of talented people out there that are out of work. It gives me pause to wonder how long it will be before our country has totally rebounded from this recession to get everyone back to work. A long road ahead....
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Caught Up....
We've been pretty crazy this week at work and we're so exhausted when we get home that we watch a little TV, eat supper and head off to bed. Exciting life, eh ? Today was the first time that we've had to work a Sunday and we liked it. It's a short day...open 9 - 3. Nice to have a short day and still see sunlight when you get done with work. We watched the race and I spent alot of time catching up with our friend's blogs (the links are all in the lower right corner of our blog). They are all in different corners of the country, it seems, but we feel like we stay up to date with their lives when we read their blogs.
Remember when I mentioned in a previous post about the young man who was killed two weeks ago, on the highway out front of our store ? Well, it turns out that "texting" may have been a big contributor to his wreck. Linda was talking to the local police officer who reviewed the video footage from our cameras on the accident and texting to or from his phone had occurred within the last minute before he wrecked. How sad....we are hearing more and more, in the news, of how texting has been involved in so many deadly mass transit crashes that have claimed innocent lives. It's certainly a big problem and one that will only continue to grow as more and more people use their cell phones while driving. People...please be careful when you are behind the wheel. There are other people on the road with you !
We have the next two days off....might head up home to visit my mom. Will be nice to get out and about, take in the fall foliage and see the sights between New Jersey and Pennsylvania. I bet the leaves at the PA Grand Canyon are getting really pretty. Hmmm.....
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
That's What I Get For Thinking...
Just when I thought that things were calming down at work and we might be able to get ahead and get some of the little projects done, we get an e-mail today that the next auction has been scheduled....UGH !! And not much time to waste....we have to mail certified letters tomorrow (over 50 of them)to stay in the proper time sequence and then get the legal ad typed up to send to the papers for publication. There isn't any time to spare....our auction is November 12. Hopefully we might be somewhere else at that time...LOL...This is the first auction that we've had to get started. Once before we came in right after the certified letters went out but left before the auction and then at this location we came in the night before the auction and worked till 2 a.m. getting ready for the auction. So, I guess now we are seeing the front end of the process.
Weather has taken a chilly turn lately. Have the furnace running tonight....didn't get much above 60 degrees today. At least the wind died down today so I could pick up trash around the property. Yesterday it was so windy that it was a futile project. In fact, the bucket I had on the back of the golf cart, half full of already picked up debris, blew off the cart and all the contents blew away before I could even get to the bucket. Now that's windy !
There are some good, new shows on TV this fall. Last week I watched Cougartown with Courteney Cox. It was really funny. Missed it tonight but am now watching Eastwick, which is equally as fun. I also love Shark Tank, where budding entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to five rich venture capitalists to see if they buy into their business. I enjoy seeing the ideas that people have come up with and have turned into businesses. Last night there was a college student who developed a soy based Playdoh type of product that kids with wheat allergies can play with safely. The "sharks" went crazy over it and several of them were pitching him. This young man cooks up the product in his mom's kitchen but can only make 12 tubs of dough at a time. The makers of Playdoh have approached this young man to buy his patent. How cool is that ? Well he took a deal, from one of the sharks, and will probably be rolling in the dough very soon.
Weather has taken a chilly turn lately. Have the furnace running tonight....didn't get much above 60 degrees today. At least the wind died down today so I could pick up trash around the property. Yesterday it was so windy that it was a futile project. In fact, the bucket I had on the back of the golf cart, half full of already picked up debris, blew off the cart and all the contents blew away before I could even get to the bucket. Now that's windy !
There are some good, new shows on TV this fall. Last week I watched Cougartown with Courteney Cox. It was really funny. Missed it tonight but am now watching Eastwick, which is equally as fun. I also love Shark Tank, where budding entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to five rich venture capitalists to see if they buy into their business. I enjoy seeing the ideas that people have come up with and have turned into businesses. Last night there was a college student who developed a soy based Playdoh type of product that kids with wheat allergies can play with safely. The "sharks" went crazy over it and several of them were pitching him. This young man cooks up the product in his mom's kitchen but can only make 12 tubs of dough at a time. The makers of Playdoh have approached this young man to buy his patent. How cool is that ? Well he took a deal, from one of the sharks, and will probably be rolling in the dough very soon.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Too fast...
Early Sunday morning Becky awoke and saw lights flashing outside on Rt 1. When Linda took Boomer out for his morning walk she saw several cop cars and wreckers out at the intersection in front of our store. I looked on-line for some news of what had happened but couldn't find anything. Today, Linda and I went up to Wal-mart and Sam's Club and while going north, I pointed out the bouquets of flowers that were piled up around the light pole at the intersection. That wasn't a good sign...sure enough Linda researched on-line tonight and found where at 4:10 a.m. Sunday a 19 yr old young man was killed there when his car veered off the road and struck the light pole. He had just dropped his girlfriend off and was headed home. How sad ! People drive way too fast on this road...sad for an outcome like this, especially for this young man's family.
Watched "The Secret Life of Bees" with Becky on Sunday afternoon. Great movie...not what I thought it was since the book has been around for a while. Great cast of characters and a "2" on the hanky scale (out of 5) for sadness.Wonder if my brother, the beekeeper, has seen this movie since it deals alot with the life and habits of bees. He has many, many hives and makes a ton of honey products to sell. He also taps maple trees and processes maple syrup to sell. The characters, in the movie, seemed very comfortable handling the racks in the bee infested hives...they must have had some good training to not be nervous or good stand-in actresses taking their places. We tried to return the movie to the Red Box drop off at Wal-Mart but the machine was out of order. I'm going to look tomorrow for another location in the area where I can take it to.
Back to work tomorrow....good thing. We are getting bored. Did laundry all day today. Although we can do it for free here (since the apartment is empty), it takes all day to do it with only one washing machine. We got all of our bed linens washed up though...an inordinately large amount of laundry for this week. Tomorrow we have training on a new scanning system for checks in the office. Wednesday the carpet cleaners come to do the apartment and lots of other projects going on in between. Weather is turning more fall like....rained off and on all afternoon. We were hoping to get out today and try our hands at geocaching but didn't get to it. I looked up on the site for locations of "hidden treasure" around here and there are quite a few spots so we will save that adventure for another day.
Watched "The Secret Life of Bees" with Becky on Sunday afternoon. Great movie...not what I thought it was since the book has been around for a while. Great cast of characters and a "2" on the hanky scale (out of 5) for sadness.Wonder if my brother, the beekeeper, has seen this movie since it deals alot with the life and habits of bees. He has many, many hives and makes a ton of honey products to sell. He also taps maple trees and processes maple syrup to sell. The characters, in the movie, seemed very comfortable handling the racks in the bee infested hives...they must have had some good training to not be nervous or good stand-in actresses taking their places. We tried to return the movie to the Red Box drop off at Wal-Mart but the machine was out of order. I'm going to look tomorrow for another location in the area where I can take it to.
Back to work tomorrow....good thing. We are getting bored. Did laundry all day today. Although we can do it for free here (since the apartment is empty), it takes all day to do it with only one washing machine. We got all of our bed linens washed up though...an inordinately large amount of laundry for this week. Tomorrow we have training on a new scanning system for checks in the office. Wednesday the carpet cleaners come to do the apartment and lots of other projects going on in between. Weather is turning more fall like....rained off and on all afternoon. We were hoping to get out today and try our hands at geocaching but didn't get to it. I looked up on the site for locations of "hidden treasure" around here and there are quite a few spots so we will save that adventure for another day.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Saturday...
Our work week is done so now we can relax for two days. My daughter, Becky, came last night...arriving at the Rahway train station about 7:30 p.m. Downtown Rahway, near the train station is quite pretty.From the drop-off area, outside of the train station I could see Becky's train arrive and it was only two minutes overdue from its schedule. Outside the train station was an exhibit called the "Mom Memorial". There were upright cut-outs of soldiers and on each one were broken hearts with the word Mom written across them. The memorial displays the impact that the death of every soldier from the Afghan/Iran conflict has on the soldier's family. The family's heart is broken and the mother is the central figure in the family. There was a broken heart for every soldier killed in the current war. Was really something to see...
Raining tonight off and on....much cooler today and it was very windy. The area around our building seems to have its own vortex going on. One of the assistant managers was telling me about the time that they had the sandwich board(that displays our current move-in special) out in front of the building, the wind picked it up and over the six lane highway and sent it through the windshield of a brand new car at the dealership on the other side of the highway. Holy cow ! That must have been some wind !! I can imagine that was an interesting conversation with our corporate headquarters when we got THAT call from the dealership..."Hi, this is Sansone Motors and we have your sign over here...Ah, actually it came sailing across the highway and went through the windshield of one of our cars." I've been a little reluctant to put it outside if there is any wind and there ALWAYS seems to be wind here.
I feel like I've accomplished alot this week here at work. Today I worked in the apartment and replaced the door knobs and some of the hardware on the bedroom bi-fold doors. On Wednesday the carpets will get cleaned. The other day I got some oven cleaner and tackled the oven and broiler pan....it was really nasty. We hung a new light fixture in the dining room, cleaned the light fixture in the kitchen and I took measurements so we can replace the vertical blinds in the living and dining room. The apartment is just about ready to go ! Now we just need to find the right applicants to work here and we will be all set.
Raining tonight off and on....much cooler today and it was very windy. The area around our building seems to have its own vortex going on. One of the assistant managers was telling me about the time that they had the sandwich board(that displays our current move-in special) out in front of the building, the wind picked it up and over the six lane highway and sent it through the windshield of a brand new car at the dealership on the other side of the highway. Holy cow ! That must have been some wind !! I can imagine that was an interesting conversation with our corporate headquarters when we got THAT call from the dealership..."Hi, this is Sansone Motors and we have your sign over here...Ah, actually it came sailing across the highway and went through the windshield of one of our cars." I've been a little reluctant to put it outside if there is any wind and there ALWAYS seems to be wind here.
I feel like I've accomplished alot this week here at work. Today I worked in the apartment and replaced the door knobs and some of the hardware on the bedroom bi-fold doors. On Wednesday the carpets will get cleaned. The other day I got some oven cleaner and tackled the oven and broiler pan....it was really nasty. We hung a new light fixture in the dining room, cleaned the light fixture in the kitchen and I took measurements so we can replace the vertical blinds in the living and dining room. The apartment is just about ready to go ! Now we just need to find the right applicants to work here and we will be all set.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Big Bang...
Day at work started out pretty normal. Decided around 9:30 to go to the bank and then to Lowes, Wal-Mart, etc. to get some items that I need for projects around the facility. Was driving up Route 1 towards Staples, with Boomer in the back seat, and all of a sudden I hear a big bang. I sensed that I had been hit by something but it didn't feel like someone had rammed into the truck. In that split second, my mind raced through a dozen different thoughts...Did i drift out of my lane into another car ? Did I blow a tire ? Oh God, I hate to even look at the truck if there is damage to it.....I look over and see that the passenger side mirror is against the passenger window. I was driving in the middle lane and I look over to see another large cargo truck in the outer lane next to me. He appears to have been the one involved in whatever caused that big bang so I keep an eye on him. He pulls off on the berm and I find a side street where I can pull off.
He gets out of his truck and walks over towards me. I am really ticked at this point. I ask him "What were you doing ? Why did you hit me ?" He says that he drifted into my lane as he was trying to make a wide turn into a side road. Luckily the side mirrors extend beyond the width of the truck so when he got too close the mirror was the only thing to take the "hit" and it swung over next to the cab (the mirrors have multiple positions that they can lock into and are not fixed in one spot). I took down his information and continued on my way to finish my errands. I swear the drivers here are crazy....I had another harrowing experience as I was headed to the bank. At that point I was about ready to go home, climb into bed and pull the covers over my head. Sheesh ! We constantly hear the screeching of brakes as cars try to come to a stop at the red light out in front of the store or the shrill whine of motorcycles as they fly down the highway. Seemed to be a particularly hazardous place to drive. Glad we don't have a commute to get here and we only have to walk to work....it's just when we have to go out to do anything that it makes me nervous. The mirror just suffered a little gash on it....nothing serious. Thank goodness for that...don't think we could stand losing any more of our stuff here in New Jersey. Losing our bike was enough.
He gets out of his truck and walks over towards me. I am really ticked at this point. I ask him "What were you doing ? Why did you hit me ?" He says that he drifted into my lane as he was trying to make a wide turn into a side road. Luckily the side mirrors extend beyond the width of the truck so when he got too close the mirror was the only thing to take the "hit" and it swung over next to the cab (the mirrors have multiple positions that they can lock into and are not fixed in one spot). I took down his information and continued on my way to finish my errands. I swear the drivers here are crazy....I had another harrowing experience as I was headed to the bank. At that point I was about ready to go home, climb into bed and pull the covers over my head. Sheesh ! We constantly hear the screeching of brakes as cars try to come to a stop at the red light out in front of the store or the shrill whine of motorcycles as they fly down the highway. Seemed to be a particularly hazardous place to drive. Glad we don't have a commute to get here and we only have to walk to work....it's just when we have to go out to do anything that it makes me nervous. The mirror just suffered a little gash on it....nothing serious. Thank goodness for that...don't think we could stand losing any more of our stuff here in New Jersey. Losing our bike was enough.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Girls Night Out....
Since Linda B had to work on Sunday, she got to have today off while I worked with one of the assistants. There is always lots to do. Today I had a bunch of locks to drill out. These are locks that the locking mechanism is too large, for some odd reason, and we're not able to get them out of the opening. Kind of hard to rent the unit out if we can't get into it...ya think ? So there are 19 units like this. I've got over half of them done....will finish them up tomorrow.
Nights are getting cooler and is getting darker earlier. I keep setting the timers, on the exterior lights, to come on earlier and shut off later, due to the changing season. Today was the first day of autumn and a pretty day it was. Temps in the 70's...and tomorrow it's supposed to hit 82.
Last night Linda and I went up to her sister in laws house to have dinner with her. What fun we had...went to a restaurant literally across the street from their house and had a great meal. Was a fun girls night out ! We laughed and had a good time. Was just what we needed for a day off.
Missing all of our friends....wish I could gather all of them up, with a snap of my fingers, and bring them all together. We stay in touch with all our RV'ing buddies but it has been anywhere from six months to almost a year since we've seen them all. They are scattered all over the country, doing all sorts of things. Many of them are headed back to Amazon.com to work for the Christmas season. I was thinking about the 16 miles a day we used to walk at our job at Amazon, picking the orders, as I was walking through the hallways at work the other day. I'm sure I don't cover 16 miles a day, doing this job, but I cover alot of territory in a day's time. We won't be with them this year in Coffeyville, Kansas but we will sure be thinking about them and will be with them in spirit. We hope that they have a great time there and that the cold weather stays away till they get out of there.
Nights are getting cooler and is getting darker earlier. I keep setting the timers, on the exterior lights, to come on earlier and shut off later, due to the changing season. Today was the first day of autumn and a pretty day it was. Temps in the 70's...and tomorrow it's supposed to hit 82.
Last night Linda and I went up to her sister in laws house to have dinner with her. What fun we had...went to a restaurant literally across the street from their house and had a great meal. Was a fun girls night out ! We laughed and had a good time. Was just what we needed for a day off.
Missing all of our friends....wish I could gather all of them up, with a snap of my fingers, and bring them all together. We stay in touch with all our RV'ing buddies but it has been anywhere from six months to almost a year since we've seen them all. They are scattered all over the country, doing all sorts of things. Many of them are headed back to Amazon.com to work for the Christmas season. I was thinking about the 16 miles a day we used to walk at our job at Amazon, picking the orders, as I was walking through the hallways at work the other day. I'm sure I don't cover 16 miles a day, doing this job, but I cover alot of territory in a day's time. We won't be with them this year in Coffeyville, Kansas but we will sure be thinking about them and will be with them in spirit. We hope that they have a great time there and that the cold weather stays away till they get out of there.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Stuck...
Yesterday was the day for people getting stuck at work. About mid-day we had a couple of guys get stuck in the elevator, while the distraught wife was outside the elevator. She buzzed us in the office about the same time that the elevator company called us saying a man had just called them, advising them that he was stuck in the elevator. Roger, from the Hanover location, was over at our site doing some work so he and I went to see what the problem was. The more minutes passed, the more distraught the wife became. She was asking her husband if he had enough air in there...clearly not a problem unless he was stuck inside a ziplock baggie. Roger did some things to the doors and the doors were pried open so the two men could climb out. They had gone about 24" above the first floor when the elevator stopped. After this ordeal the couple had lost their enthusiasm for having a storage unit on the second floor so we got them set up with a first floor unit. I'm sure it will be a while before that woman steps foot in an elevator again.
Later on, that same day, I was walking back to the office through the back corridor. I could hear someone banging and yelling so I went out the exterior door to see what was going on. Nothing there.....came back inside and continued on towards the office. Again...banging and yelling. Now I could see a woman outside the restroom door and as I approached she told me that her son was "stuck" in the restroom. I asked her how old and how tall he was. Our door doesn't have a locking doorknob (probably so the key can't be locked inside the restroom) so a sliding bolt was installed but it is about 2/3 of the way up the door. This 5 yr old had jumped up to slide the lock over but then couldn't get it unlocked. I told the mom to have him turn the garbage can on its side and to carefully stand on it to reach the lock. He did so with much fanfare and dramatic "ooohhsss" and groans, coming from inside the restroom. He was successful and got out of the bathroom in one piece and armed with a story for his friends. Bet he won't be locking that door anytime soon.
Yesterday Linda and I received the gift we had bought for ourselves....a new laptop. It is great !! I'm not sure how to act since I don't have to wait 20 minutes for the computer to start up.....I barely have time to get my slice of bread in the toaster mornings and the computer is "ready to go"....WOW !! I can watch videos like the "turkey rappers" without any additional hiccups inserted or the stopping and starting of the video that usually happenes. We got an Acer Aspire....$399 on NewEgg.com. It has the Vista operating system which I've heard good and bad things about. So far it's OK....not a big deal that I can see. We do have the option of getting Windows 7 when it comes out in about a month. We'll see whether we will want to change over when the time comes. The screen is super crisp....nice big keys on the keyboard (reminds me of those large button phones)..has a separate numbers pad on the side,a webcam, 4 USB ports ( a huge improvement from the one working one we had) and is lightening fast ! Life is good....
Tomorrow is supposed to be our day off but one of our assts. has her EMT class tomorrow so Linda will go and work with the other young lady. She is new and not able to handle things yet on her own. I'll work around the house, getting some things done. Will be a short day for Linda....we close at 3. I'm hoping to watch the NASCAR race too....might be a relaxing day.
Later on, that same day, I was walking back to the office through the back corridor. I could hear someone banging and yelling so I went out the exterior door to see what was going on. Nothing there.....came back inside and continued on towards the office. Again...banging and yelling. Now I could see a woman outside the restroom door and as I approached she told me that her son was "stuck" in the restroom. I asked her how old and how tall he was. Our door doesn't have a locking doorknob (probably so the key can't be locked inside the restroom) so a sliding bolt was installed but it is about 2/3 of the way up the door. This 5 yr old had jumped up to slide the lock over but then couldn't get it unlocked. I told the mom to have him turn the garbage can on its side and to carefully stand on it to reach the lock. He did so with much fanfare and dramatic "ooohhsss" and groans, coming from inside the restroom. He was successful and got out of the bathroom in one piece and armed with a story for his friends. Bet he won't be locking that door anytime soon.
Yesterday Linda and I received the gift we had bought for ourselves....a new laptop. It is great !! I'm not sure how to act since I don't have to wait 20 minutes for the computer to start up.....I barely have time to get my slice of bread in the toaster mornings and the computer is "ready to go"....WOW !! I can watch videos like the "turkey rappers" without any additional hiccups inserted or the stopping and starting of the video that usually happenes. We got an Acer Aspire....$399 on NewEgg.com. It has the Vista operating system which I've heard good and bad things about. So far it's OK....not a big deal that I can see. We do have the option of getting Windows 7 when it comes out in about a month. We'll see whether we will want to change over when the time comes. The screen is super crisp....nice big keys on the keyboard (reminds me of those large button phones)..has a separate numbers pad on the side,a webcam, 4 USB ports ( a huge improvement from the one working one we had) and is lightening fast ! Life is good....
Tomorrow is supposed to be our day off but one of our assts. has her EMT class tomorrow so Linda will go and work with the other young lady. She is new and not able to handle things yet on her own. I'll work around the house, getting some things done. Will be a short day for Linda....we close at 3. I'm hoping to watch the NASCAR race too....might be a relaxing day.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Work
Not much going on here. Just working and trying to get caught up. With there being an auction as soon as we got here, that threw alot more work into the mix of things right off the bat. Today I had about 20-25 units to clean, eleven of those from the auction. Seems to be a busy time for people moving out although we did have a couple of move-ins today. Linda is still trying to resolve things from the auction but it is a struggle to work that in between the phone ringing and people coming into the office. It is very busy at this location. I spent time on the phone getting more bids for cleaning the manager's apartment, steam cleaning the carpet, doing some handyman things and work for a plumber. On top of that, the old managers left alot of stuff in the apartment that I had to haul to the dumpster. The golf cart comes in handy for hauling stuff around.
Other than that we're trying to learn some of the back roads to get to different places....such as shortcuts to the supermarket, etc. A few nights ago we went to Shannon Rose...an Irish pub that has a huge billboard right outside our front door. It looked interesting and our asst. mgr recommended it so we went there. Very neat ! All the food was excellent too.
Such a bummer that it's getting dark earlier and earlier. I adjusted the timer on the exterior lights so they come on at 7:00 p.m. I hate this time of year when it starts to get dark by the end of the work day. Nothing is more depressing than coming home in the dark :(
Other than that we're trying to learn some of the back roads to get to different places....such as shortcuts to the supermarket, etc. A few nights ago we went to Shannon Rose...an Irish pub that has a huge billboard right outside our front door. It looked interesting and our asst. mgr recommended it so we went there. Very neat ! All the food was excellent too.
Such a bummer that it's getting dark earlier and earlier. I adjusted the timer on the exterior lights so they come on at 7:00 p.m. I hate this time of year when it starts to get dark by the end of the work day. Nothing is more depressing than coming home in the dark :(
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Home Sweet Home...
A day off....yeah...beautiful sunny day and warm temps. We opened up the windows and lounged around for some of the day and then about 4:30 I thought I probably better accomplish something so I went outside and washed the rig and truck. Was good to get that done since we've been pretty busy and haven't had time to do it.
Did I mention that we are next to a football field....yeah...well, we had end zone seats to today's football game. While I was washing the backside of the rig, I was watching the game. Those coaches were screaming their lungs out at those kids. My oh my....hope their wives like sweet nothings whispered in their ears cause those boys aren't gonna be able to do anything OTHER than whisper the next day or so. Screamin and hollerin'...The first game was pretty much a blow out...43 - 0. Not sure how the next game turned out.
And then on the backside of the property we've got "the projects".I think that is where our carts are disappearing to. Hmmmm.....And then on the other side of us, across the highway, we have the Rahway prison. It has a pretty colorful background...appearing in a variety of movies and housing some famous inmates. Click on the link to learn more about our "neighbor". If all of that isn't enough, we went to ShopRite to get some ice cream (not because we needed to cure any recent problems but just because we had a hankering for it)and inside the grocery store is a police substation. I think the officer sitting at the desk must have seen my jaw hit the ground when I saw him....looked down at the front of the desk where it said "District __ Police Substation" and then back up at him. Must admit I was pretty amazed....we just don't see that in the grocery stores in Pennsylvania. You might see a horse and buggy tied up out front but no police stations inside.
We were out walking on the back of the property and saw where someone jumped the curb, drove across the grass for about 50 yards and then ran over the stop sign outside of our gate.No damage to our property....We thought initially that they had hit the corner of the property fence cause it was really smashed in but found an incident report in the office of a previous hit and run that damaged the fence. They did a number on the fence...can't imagine what their car looked like.
Have tomorrow off too....probably get some laundry done and get ready to go back to work tomorrow on Tuesday.
Did I mention that we are next to a football field....yeah...well, we had end zone seats to today's football game. While I was washing the backside of the rig, I was watching the game. Those coaches were screaming their lungs out at those kids. My oh my....hope their wives like sweet nothings whispered in their ears cause those boys aren't gonna be able to do anything OTHER than whisper the next day or so. Screamin and hollerin'...The first game was pretty much a blow out...43 - 0. Not sure how the next game turned out.
And then on the backside of the property we've got "the projects".I think that is where our carts are disappearing to. Hmmmm.....And then on the other side of us, across the highway, we have the Rahway prison. It has a pretty colorful background...appearing in a variety of movies and housing some famous inmates. Click on the link to learn more about our "neighbor". If all of that isn't enough, we went to ShopRite to get some ice cream (not because we needed to cure any recent problems but just because we had a hankering for it)and inside the grocery store is a police substation. I think the officer sitting at the desk must have seen my jaw hit the ground when I saw him....looked down at the front of the desk where it said "District __ Police Substation" and then back up at him. Must admit I was pretty amazed....we just don't see that in the grocery stores in Pennsylvania. You might see a horse and buggy tied up out front but no police stations inside.
We were out walking on the back of the property and saw where someone jumped the curb, drove across the grass for about 50 yards and then ran over the stop sign outside of our gate.No damage to our property....We thought initially that they had hit the corner of the property fence cause it was really smashed in but found an incident report in the office of a previous hit and run that damaged the fence. They did a number on the fence...can't imagine what their car looked like.
Have tomorrow off too....probably get some laundry done and get ready to go back to work tomorrow on Tuesday.
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