Event at Work

Today at work we got to celebrate a good year last year. In our Customer Focus program, we finished 8th place in the district in 2009. This meant we got to have a car give-away and a bit of a lunch party.

The car is a brand new Chevy car or truck. I think it's a 2010 model, loaded. The way it works is they draw 10 names of workers in the store, they all go up on a stage. Then, those 10 people have their names drawn again, and whoever is left up there at the end, wins the vehicle. It's not bad odds, with basically a 10/100 chance of your name being called, and about a 1/100 chance of winning. My name was not called unfortunately, but the girl who won this year, deserved it in my opinion. She has had a tough time the last couple of years with her life, so it made me feel good that someone won who deserved it.

The downside to this is the whole lead-up to the event. The entire district management staff comes to the store and does a "walk" before the fun. This means, for the last few days, they have been driving everyone crazy with cleaning up the store to perfection. Our store looks better than most other stores in our area, but it's never good enough. I am just glad I don't have to close anymore. Last night, they were there until about 1am, when the store closes at 10pm. I have done that before, and I am very glad that I don't have to again.

All-in-all, it was a good day and everyone had fun.

I Love Spring!

Today, it was a very warm day here in Texas. It was about 76 degrees F (or 24 degrees C). Back home where I am from in Canada, it was 54F (or 12 degrees C). Not a bad day for Toronto, but I love the warmth here.

Back up north, spring wasn't officially well underway until late March or Early April. Sometimes it was not even feeling like spring until May. Here it is already in full swing. The grass is turning green again, flowers are showing up in gardens, some trees have begun to bud. Life is returning to the plants and it puts a great smell in the air that is not present during the winter.

People were coming in all day at work commenting on how great it felt outside. Contractors can finally start to get some work done and it is putting them in better moods. This is good because I have to deal with them all day.

I am hoping the spring has some good storms hiding in it this year as last year, the spring was lacking in interesting weather. It cam for a few days at the end of the spring, including a big hailstorm, but that was all, and the summer was HOT.

This weekend, the clocks go ahead an hour, which means I lose an hour of my weekend. Sucks, but at least the sun will be setting after 7:30pm once again. The only thing I am not looking forward to right now is I am going to have to cut the grass this weekend. Ah well.

Spring has finally arrived?

Finally, after an unusually harsh winter for North Texas, it looks like the cold and snow has finally ended for this season. With spring officially only a couple of weeks away, we have started with much warmer temperatures and the long range keeps us in the warmer trend.

I have a feeling the grass and trees will spring back to life fairly quickly since I think they have been waiting for this weather.

Business is picking up at work also, very suddenly, with more and more people wanting to get out and do some spring work. The beginning of March is what our store terms the "100 days of hell". This means that spring is the busiest time of the year for us, and for the next 100 days, we will go through a LOT more selling, restocking, cleaning, moving things around, than we do at any other time of the year. Working in a hardware store, spring is big business.

I am glad spring is really starting to come in now, as I was getting tired of the cold. Now I am really looking forward to the beginning of the storm season here in the southern plains of the USA. I love a good thunderstorm. hopefully with my new work schedule, with only working till 2pm, I will get off work before most of the "fun" weather starts up in the day. Time will tell, but if we get anything interesting, or drastic, I will be sure to report on it here.

Sometimes I get so tired

My life right now has its ups and downs. Right now, I probably have one of the best schedules at work, but many times i just wish I could sleep in. My shift is 5am-2pm Monday through Friday. Weekends and evenings off. This may not seem like something so special, but this is in a "big-box" retail store. Most people have rotating schedules, but mine is consistent. It lets me enjoy my family since now I am home when they are home.

My one good day to sleep in is now Saturday. Sunday I try to get up earlier, so I can be more ready to sleep Sunday night. Getting up at 4am for work means going to bed by 9:30 pm. My whole life so far I haven't had to go to sleep so early every day. I guess I am getting ready for retirement, when it's early to bed and early to rise hehe. It is very hard for me to go to sleep by 9:30pm. This leaves me a bit more tired each day and by Friday, by around 8pm I am ready to crash. It's a price to pay, but the evenings and weekends off deal is way too good to change things around. This is the kind of schedule I have been wanting for a long time now, so I can be home when family is home. I can live with being a little more sleepy each evening if it means being with my wife.

Family is all we truly have in life, enjoy it!