Thank you Space Shuttle Crew (all of them)

I grew up in South Florida and am a space geek.  Yes I admit it proudly.  Most launches I have run back and forth between my TV/Computer and the outside where I sometimes could catch a glimpse of the shuttle heading up into space.  I was thrilled as technology advance and I was able to feed my geekness more! 

So today let me say thank you to ALL the Space Shuttle Crew from the astronauts, scientists, engineers, cleaning crews, landscape folks & more - really everyone for a wonderful ride.  I and many others were able to peak in while you boldly went where no one has gone before!




www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov



It’s all in the timing

In today’s marketplace it is a delicate balance when material is ordered for a project, especially hardware.  I don’t want to bring it in too early and have it sit here but I want to make sure that I have time enough to tag each piece with the door number and react if something is incorrect.  The most important balance I try to achieve is to bring the material in the same month I am invoicing the customer.

Case in point: I ordered hardware for 107 openings and asked for it to be shipped on July 8^th.  Two pallets of hardware showed up on July 1 and the invoice was dated June 28^th which was the ship date.  I was not a happy camper and neither was my boss.  My vendor gets the big billing in June but we don’t.  I am not sure how to discuss it either because this particular vendor is in my top 5 “go to” vendor list.

I discussed this issue with a few cohorts and one said she absolutely picks up the phone and calls the vendor to express her displeasure.  The other was more laid back and figures it all washes out in the end.

What I ended up doing is calling my outside representative and discussing the matter with.  He offered me a 30 day extension due date which worked for me. 

Do you have a discussion with your vendors or figure it all washes out in the end?

 

Never enough….or is it?

My day job is getting a lot of my energy these days and I while I am grateful it does make it tough to keep up with the things I enjoy doing.  One of which is writing – who would have thought!  Last week I managed one blog post, I am not going to hold anyone’s interest that way!

During a conversation with a fellow blogger he mentioned he was also crazy busy with work and he was writing late at night so his sleep schedule was much shorter.  I have to give him and many other bloggers kudos to be able to write at night after a long day of work and family.  I only have the work part and my brain seems to turn off at 10:00 pm.    

Eight hours of sleep is recommended but so is a 40 hour work week.  Few Americans follow these suggestions if we are lucky enough to have jobs.   Does it hurt my quality of life? Probably.  Do I need to do a better job at balancing work, life, fun and health? Yes.

I do know I need to create more opportunity to allow my brain to relax and drift.  I remember lying on a seesaw when I was a kid watching the clouds go by and delighting when I found an animal lookalike in one.  Why was I in such a hurry to grow up!

A book club I belonged to was started to study the Artist Way by Julia Cameron.  Everyone enjoyed it and felt the suggestions were helpful to their lives.  I was working from home then and was able to dictate how my day went.  Now, not so much.

I am not complaining I am just trying to figure out how to organize my life better so I get 8 hours of sleep a night, have fun and work.  Feel free to offer what works in your life in the comments section below!  Now I am off to..zzzzzz.

Let’s Blog Off – Traditions

Every two weeks Bloggers unite for a day to write about a communal topic.  This week LetsBlogOff asks the question: What traditions do you keep?

Growing up my family didn’t have a lot of traditions.  Ours was a tiny family: mom, dad, brother who is 8 years older and me.  It got tinier when my dad left when I was 8.  My mom did her absolute best with little money to spare in giving my brother and I what we needed. 

The only tradition I remember to be honest, are the money cakes.  Each birthday my mom would bake a cake from scratch and in the cake would be money!  She would wash pennies, nickels, dimes and one quarter and carefully wrap wax paper around each one.  After she poured the cake batter into the round cake pans she dropped each coin into the batter. 

When dinner was done, the cake presented, candles blown out and Happy Birthday sung she always said to be careful biting down and swallowing, you never know what you may find in your cake!  Whoever found the quarter was always the lucky one for the night.  Of course whomever birthday it was always seem to find it ;)  It was like a treasure hunt! 

My birthday fell 6 weeks after my mom died when she was only 50 years old.  My best friend at the time had heard me tell the money cake story many times so in honor of my mom she baked one for that birthday, my 22^nd.    To this day it is one of the sweetest things anyone has ever done for me.

Below you will find all the participants in this week’s LetsBlogOff.  The list magically grows throughout the day so check back often!

Wrapping Up

Six months ago I inherited 2 jobs with a specific general contractor (GC) when my department was downsized.  I also had just been awarded a project with the same general contractor before the downsize.  Two projects were run by the same Project Manager (PM) but different job superintendents  (JS) and the third had a different Project Manager and job supr.   All three jobs were at hospitals, installation was included but each had different quantities of doors.  The smallest job has 11 doors and the largest 45.

Amazingly all three seem to be finishing up at the same time which is making my installer and myself time challenged. It has been very interesting experiencing how the different PM's and JS run their jobs though working for the same GC.  I also have other projects that are in mid gear, though not iwith installation, thankfully.

Something I find hard to juggle is being able to quote new projects while wrapping up existing projects. Most of my day is spent fielding phone calls from my installer or the JS's looking for material at the last minute, research to determine that yes the material was signed for back on __, and change orders to get new material that is needed at the jobsite asap!   It is hard to be able to concentrate on a new project, yet if I don't make the time to quote there will be no new work.

For this week I have put quoting any bid work on hold while still being available to my end users and other customers.  It will free up sometime so I can wrap these three projects up - hopefully! 

How do you handle it?

Highs and Lows Part 2 – Take Care

I will be the first to admit I do not take care of myself.  I am overweight and don’t exercise.  I have no clue how to fit it into my day to be honest.  Five years ago I was working out with a trainer, could run up and down stairs and do a lot of sit ups.  When I had to tighten up the budget and let my trainer go she showed me all the ways I could continue doing the same exercises at home – and I don’t think I ever did any.   

I don’t eat chips, doughnuts, or snack food.  I drink maybe 4 diet cokes a year.  I am all about water but do have the occasional glass of wine.  Breakfast and lunch during the week I am pretty good.  Dinners and weekends I am terrible.  When I plan I do well but for the longest time if it was easy – say popped in 3 mins (popcorn) – that was dinner.  

Well all that came to a screeching halt last week.  I had been having chest pressure for a few weeks that increased when I walked across a parking lot or walked up stairs.  My left arm was very uncomfortable and felt tingly.  I started having indigestion which is highly unusual for me. 

Wednesday morning I woke up feeling very poorly but went to work.  The pressure was really bothering me and heart attack did float through my head but of course it couldn’t happen to me.  I texted a friend who is a nurse practitioner to see if she could stop by my house on her way home from work to listen to my heart.  She asked my symptoms and when I texted back my cell phone started ringing.  I was on the phone with a customer and didn’t pick up so she texted me – fast and furious.  I finally got a second and called her and she scared the crap out of me.  Nothing short of going to the ER was going to work for her and I should have thought the same but didn’t.  But I did promise I would go immediately.  I have been to the ER one other time in my life and that was for a terrible cold that was affecting my asthma.  I felt foolish and honestly was worried about money.  I informed work what I was doing and left.

Hearing how long a person can wait in an ER I called a friend who lets my dogs out twice a week to ask if she would be around for a just in case.  B insisted I pick her up on the way as she was equally concerned and felt someone should be with me.  I was instructed my NP friend to tell the ER I was having chest pains and let me say they whisked me inside.  I was stuck and hooked up to machines before I had a chance to run. 

What I didn’t know is the hospital I went to has a requested 23 hour watch program if you have chest pains.  Apparently the enzymes can elevate at 6 and 8 hours after an attack.  Even though the EKG, chest x-ray, and first enzymes blood test were normal they admitted me.  I was an unhappy camper.  I have never stayed overnight in a hospital for me.  Thank goodness my friend B came with. 

Every cliché I ever heard about a night in a hospital were true except I didn’t see any ghosts.  The medical professionals were amazing, having never been in a hospital before I asked about EVERYTHING.  If they wanted to give me meds I asked what it was – what it was for – and refused many.  The nurses were great even though I was a pain in the ass.  Don’t assume they know what is best because only you do.  Speak up!  Being on the cardiac wing I had special food apparently.  I was shocked when I was brought processed white bread with my turkey sandwich.  Seriously?   B kindly went down and brought me a salad, piece of rye bread and ice cream from the cafeteria.  Once I knew my dogs were at my friend L’s I could relax (relative).   

Allowing your body to rest and reset itself is one of the best things a person can do to recover.  A night in the hospital is not conducive to rest.  Personally I feel everyone should have a private room.  The Dr. made a sleeping pill available if I wanted it but I didn’t.   When the nurse came in at 2:00 am and asked why I wasn’t asleep I told her I was used to sleeping in the dark and with quiet.  My roommate had her lights and TV on though she was snoring away.  The nurse kindly turned both off.  I think the only hour I didn’t see was 3:00 am. 

The next morning I was up early waiting for the treadmill stress test.  Thankfully I was the first one in.  I had the distinction of being the only patient who had sneakers on to walk on the treadmill.  Think about footwear before checking into a hospital.  The cardiologist watched my heart and gave me a clean bill of health.  I did not have a heart attack and my heart was not damaged.  Big sigh of relief.

What was it?  Acid reflux!  WTH?  According to the cardiologist both mimic the exact same symptoms.  People that have had heart attacks can’t always recognize the difference.   It also explains my many bouts of laryngitis last year.

What is the point of this personal post?   Take care of yourself – really.  I scared a lot of very wonderful people and myself.  If you find yourself in the hospital ask about everything they are doing to you and giving you.  Don’t assume the medical profession knows best.  You know best about you.  Don’t eat the hospital food unless it comes from their cafeteria.  Eat right and exercise.  The eating right I am doing but I am still trying to figure out the exercise.  People love you and they want you to live a long time to share laughter and joy.  I am grateful people love me too.

30 Minutes

I am always on the lookout for new products for my customers.  I have a few hospital end user customers so whenever a door company says they have manufacturered an indestructible door I am all over it. 

Maiman recently came out with a thermally fused door that is supposed to hold up to tough environments.  The doors are fused to a substrate core using high heat and pressure which creates a durable door that will not delaminate or telegraph.  The key word for me was durable so I called and asked if they offered a try me door and thankfully they said yes. 

The door arrived and my customer hung the door in a soiled laundry room.  Well darned if within 30 minutes someone moving one of the large blue fiberglass carts scratched the door.  I couldn’t believe it. 

I emailed my Maiman representative the next day and told him what happened.  Apparently Maiman has a repair kit that will help with most scratches, similar to a furniture stick.  The repair kit finally came in and last night the very wonderful rep and I went out to the jobsite and gave it a try.

The door was a custom finish to match the hospital standard so none of Maiman’s standard color sticks were an exact match and a darker color stick was sent.  Next time it might be better if both a dark and light color stick were sent.  We worked on the scratch for about 30 minutes and while it certainly isn’t perfect it did look better. 

I will be honest I am not completely sold on the Maiman door.  The pro - it is reasonably priced and except for the 1 scratch the door looks good.   The con – it only took 30 minutes before it was scratched.

Here are before and after pictures of the scratch - what do you think?