What A Day

We are finally in the grip of summer here and it's wonderful. Today was a hot day and there was nothing better to do than spend the day by my Dad's pool. The pool was at a warm 80 degrees and it felt perfect. I enjoyed just floating in the water chatting with my Dad and Stepmom.

It was also a day for a variety of conversational topics. From gun safety to family drama, world events and commentary on the wide variety of the natural world we could see in the yard. From the mud wasp that almost flew into me while I was in the pool, to butterflies, bees, hummingbird moths, dragonflies, barn swallows, mourning doves and the highly poisonous monkshood plant that is ready to bloom by the pool. The flowers are usually a beautiful blue and overall it's a pretty plant that belies it's toxic nature. All of this was punctuated by the sound of apples from the ancient apple trees falling to the ground with an alarming thud. It would be advisable not to stand under that tree without a hard hat right now.

Overworked

The above photo was from the fierce storms a week ago Friday. They had cleared out and the sky was alternately pretty and ominous with such an odd red color. This past Friday was the polar opposite - calm, sunny, pleasantly warm. Weird how varied the weather has been this summer.

While I am done the near constant travel, work has not let up at any rate. I am still doing battle with my clueless boss and carrying a job that would require about 2 more people to accomplish. It's frustrating and I can really feel it starting to burn me out. Luckily this week brought a full house at work of salespeople here for various trainings. A lot of them were people I had just seen at the recent Siebel training and it was helpful they were there to ask questions or for help with some technical issues. One was even so nice as to give me a huge gift bag of candy and other fun desk toys! She was so sweet though I have eaten far too many Charms Blow Pops! It was nice catching up with some of the other reps I know and provided a nice respite from the stress of being my group. At least some people appreciate me and thank me for the hard work I do.

It was a physically demanding week as I was significantly more active than the sit on a plane, sit in a conference room workout that I have been getting. It also brought another first. I have never seen anyone try to sort out a relationship issue using a flip chart. Granted, the database side of my brain thought this eminently practical. But in matters of friendship and/or love, sometimes things defy explanation. Even in you write them on a flip chart.