You were expecting this last night – I know and once I explain to you my week and weekend I think that each of you will understand why it didn’t go out. As you know I am helping my niece get her father’s house in order to sell – they have lived there for 29 years so I don’t think I need to tell you what it means to have to go through everything in this very large house. I have been spending 2 to 3 days a week helping sort and clean through each room. Last Thursday I worked from her house and between conference calls and responding to email messages we started on the spare bedroom upstairs because her father was coming home for the weekend and would need to use that room. We didn’t get it all done ad Siobhan had committed to transfer some kittens to their new home that afternoon – I was expecting to return on Friday morning after my workout. On Thursday at 5PM I received a call from my boss advising me of a meeting the next day that he recommended that I attend – there went my early morning high intensity workout. I went to the office and before my meeting began at 11AM, I completed a presentation on my organization for my boss and the new budget for our “All Hands” meeting scheduled for November - YEAH. Right after our meeting ended I headed to Siobhan’s, changed out of my business clothes and helped finish cleaning the bedroom and setting it up. By the time we were finished with that her brother arrived with the boys (Ryan and Callum) who were spending the night at my house since both parents were working on Saturday.

We got to my house a little after 5PM and I immediately started cooking dinner for us – dinner done, dishes in the dishwasher and it is already 7PM. By 8 that evening Callum was ready to go upstairs to bed; but, did not fall asleep until 11 – I never rest well when he is with me because I am always attuned to his movements. I was awake by 7 and showered and I could hear that Ryan was up and had headed downstairs. Callum woke up at 8:30 and was ready to have orange juice while for Ryan it was pancakes, bacon, orange juice and tea.

What was nice about having the boys is that Ryan likes to help around the house – since I had not changed my house over for the fall, I recruited him to help me. He was unbelievable in that he assisted in turning the mattress, putting on the bedskirt, changing all the comforters, throw pillows, rugs in the three bedrooms and updating the bathrooms. We then came downstairs and he helped me roll up the area rugs in the living and dining rooms and put down the fall/winter rugs. By now it was 1PM and I needed to drive the boys back down to see their Grandfather and get picked up by their Dad. I visited with Gerry for a few minutes and then came home to finish what I had started. I stopped by the cleaners to pick up the curtains that I had given them for storage – well they were supposed to be ready on Friday and here it was Saturday at 3:30 and they were not done yet – they were being pressed could I come back. I went home ate some chicken quickly and then gathered all the spring/summer decorations and went into the storage room to start pulling out all of my autumnal and Halloween decorations. Before I knew it was 5:40 time to run to the cleaners and pick up those curtains before they closed at 6PM – they were ready – now home to finish up. I got the downstairs rooms all decorated – I hung up the curtains and folded the ones I took down to take them to the cleaners on Monday morning after my workout. I then ironed the curtains for the powder room and the shower curtain and got those hung up – needless to say I finished decorating the house, every room by 10:40 – I was exhausted and ready for bed. I woke up a couple of times during the night and when I got up and stepped away from my bed I got very dizzy – I am unsure if I had not eaten enough that day or if I was dehydrated; but Sunday morning I was fine.

Sunday was no slower as Gerard, the boys and I were going apple picking; but, before I did that with them I had to run to the grocery store and pick up the last few items I needed for dinner that evening. It was a beautiful sunny day with just enough of a breeze to enjoy trudging through the orchard. This year Callum enjoyed picking apples – he would select a red and then a green one. He enjoyed saying “apple – DELICIOUS”; with just one problem he doesn’t eat apples. Well, we picked a bushel – got them to the car then headed to their store to pick up the requisite apple butter, apple cider and to choose our pumpkins. Then to the bakery were we bought apple cider donuts, a cherry and an apple pie for dinner. Once at home with everyone having cider and donuts – I began on the salad then the appetizers since Gerry, Siobhan and Matt were joining us for dinner. It was an Italian dinner with baked ziti and garlic bread and pies for dessert. It was great to be all together and the family left at 7 and my house was back in order by 8 last night.

Now am I forgiven? It was a very busy, fulfilling weekend and I enjoy the time with my family and doing different things with the boys – now I need to learn to be a little less hard on myself and not try to set up the house in one day when I normally do it over three days. But, it is done and I am more at peace with myself because of it.

As they say, “To each their own” and I am not sure I will be changing anytime soon.

Are You Ready for Some . . .

I LOVE this time of season; but, probably not for the reasons you are thinking.

You are thinking it has to do with the crisp, cool mornings – NOT. It was 45 degrees the other day when I got in the car at 5:45 to drive to work. I had to put on the heat in the car and the seat warmer. Also, if you dress for when you leave in the morning you will roast in the middle of the day when it gets to 85. Also, at night if I don’t have the down blanket on I can’t sleep because I am cold; if I do have the down blanket on I can’t sleep because I am too warm. There is no happy medium.

You are thinking it has to do with apples and pumpkins – NOT. I don’t like apples; not whole, not apple pie or muffins and very little apple juice; I will eat apple sauce with pork. Nor do I eat pumpkins – not pumpkin pie or anything else you can make with pumpkin. I have never carved a pumpkin or decorated one. Having said all that next Sunday we will take the boys to go apple and pumpkin picking; I will make an apple cake and I will choose a nice big orange pumpkin to decorate the steps to my front door.

You are thinking it has to do with pulling out sweaters and cords to wear – NOT. I would prefer to wear less clothing and not more. I am happy just wearing a sleeveless dress with a cotton cardigan to the office. For the weekends I can throw on a tee shirt over a pair of shorts or Capri workout pants and go about doing my errands. Nowadays I have to throw on a long sleeve tee and a jacket to hit the gym. I have to start bringing out my long sleeve shirts to wear under my office suits and I go through the dilemma if I want to throw on a raincoat when I head to the office in the morning.

You are thinking it has to do with my being ready to change my house into its fall wardrobe – NOT. Although I enjoy doing this it is several days of work where every curtain, rug, comforter and accessory is removed, put away and the new ones are brought out for the season. It means that I am rotating my queen size mattress, rolling up and laying down a 6’ x 9’ foot rug in the living room and a 5’ x 7’ rug in the dining room by myself. It is no small task and it takes all my strength, coordination and creativeness to get it done.

Okay, it will tell you what it is – FOOTBALL. Last weekend the professional football season began and I have become devoted to my television on Sunday afternoons. Everyone asks me if I have a team I root for – NO, I don’t. I like the Jets to win because my cousin is a Jets fan; I like the Giants to win because his son is a Giants fan; but, me I want the teams to win that I have chosen for the football pool.

Yes, being in a football pool is my vice. Other people smoke, drink, gamble, etc. – I don’t do any of that except I annually join a football pool and give my requisite $85 or $170 for the season and then do my picks. I just don’t randomly pick – I have a spreadsheet and I analyze who I think is supposed to win given their wins/losses and average points scored. Is it a science – NO – maybe, if I followed who was injured, etc. I would be more accurate; but, I don’t.

Do I want you at my house on Sunday – NO. It is not a pretty site as I will be having verbal tirades with the television yelling at a team if I feel they did not do everything they could to cover the spread so that I could win. You see this is the only time it becomes all about ME and how I am doing in the pool.

So this is a little bit of insight into how I approach autumn – not for the turning of the leaves, the crispness of the mornings or the smell of apple pie. It is for FOOTBALL.

Last Two Weeks - Family

Let me give you a recap of what has been going on for the last two weeks in me and my family’s life. My cousin and his wife are now in Delaware – we made the move on Labor Day weekend and I am glad to report that both of them are acclimating nicely to their surroundings. My cousin’s wife, Eilish is in a Nursing Home in Delaware and she did extremely well during the drive from New York to Delaware in an ambulette. She is smiling and enjoying the music and entertainment that they offer at the Home – that is all we can ask for.

Gerry is renting an apartment in Dewey Beach until Siobhan and Matt’s home is built by the end of the year. Although the street below his window was very busy last weekend and we could hear the people from the various bars – on Tuesday it became very quiet. The summer season is over and Dewey Beach which for the summer time is busy with the single young 20 year olds now has become a quiet town with cars going from Rehoboth Beach to Bethany Beach or Ocean City. What Gerry did notice was that by Wednesday many stores had closed – not to open until next summer.

Now that we have that done – we are preparing the house in New York to be placed on the market. We got much done this week – the entire downstairs floor is clean and staged to have pictures taken for posting. Siobhan will take the pictures. This week we will tackle the garage so that it is sectioned into an area to place boxes that have been packed and marked to go to Delaware, a section for items for donation and a section for garbage. We will then clean and stage the upstairs. The goal is to have this completed by next weekend so that the house can be listed then.

I am hoping that someone can see what a great house it is, the room that is there and will have wonderful memories in it as we have had for the past 29 years.

By having completed everything next weekend I can focus on getting my house clean and decorated for autumn with my numerous and multi-colored pumpkins. I am looking forward to selecting a date that Gerard, the boys and I will go apple picking. Perhaps we can do that before we visit Gerry for Columbus Day and I can bake an apple cake to take with us. So as you can see we are coping with the changes happening in the family.

Work has been wonderful and busy. We have an Executive event that we are supporting almost every week. We have been deploying web ex and MOVI accounts on a daily basis and we (my team and I) are working on an “All Hands” meeting that my boss will be conducting for his department. We have grown 50% over the past year and are located in three different cities; it has come down to we do not know each other so this would be a wonderful opportunity to meet each other, understand the strategies for the next year and to understand the transformation of our organization.

The Visual Communications Industry Group conference is coming along. We have all the logistics completed, the concurrent sessions set and almost all the panel speakers. Now to promote the HECK out of it so that we have attendees in the seats. To that effort I will be doing many postings in Linkedin for every group that I belong to.

That has been my life for the last two weeks in a nutshell, no I didn’t have children to get off to school or college and I didn’t spend Labor Day weekend at the beach; although, technically I was at a beach town and I did not do anything extreme like kayaking or zip lining.

What I did was more important – I was with my family helping them start on their new adventures. Remember, family accepts and loves you with all your warts and idiosyncrasies.

Changes

The past week has been more of the same – work continues to be wonderful and I am blessed with a great team that gets along very well. They “GET IT”, with it being that what we do has a direct impact on how our Clinicians are able to serve our ultimate customer, the patient. What we enjoy the most is that for us no two days are the same – we can be at different facilities, meeting different parts of the hospital whether it is Talent Inquisition, OB-GYN, dentistry or the Executives. The diversity of our jobs is what keeps it interesting and challenging.

We will soon begin our busy season as after Labor Day many video meetings begin their sessions again. Our Residents and Fellows join us at that time and video conferencing is one of the many ways that they receive some of their education. You can understand how important it is to have this work every time.

Last evening my niece, Siobhan hosted a party at Annie Moore’s in Manhattan for her father’s friends to say good-bye to him. It was a “surprise” party and for once he was truly surprised at seeing what had been pulled together. He couldn’t believe that not one of his friends, his son nor I had ‘spilled the beans’ or even hinted at it.

This coming Tuesday I will stop at my cousin’s house and will take him, his daughter and son-in-law to a restaurant we have wanted to go to for the past year. With Gerry moving to Delaware on Friday it will be a while again before we have this opportunity. I believe in fate and this time it came in the form of Groupon – there it was $85 for dinner for four with 2 appetizers, 4 entrees and 4 glasses of sangria at Sofrito, a Puerto Rican restaurant. This is a fantastic price given that this meal would normally cost $200. Not only does the restaurant focus on Puerto Rican food; but, the last name of the Head Chef is Maldonado – same as my cousin and our mother’s maiden name. We are all looking forward to that time together.

Then on Friday morning I will head to Gerry’s house and be there at 7AM – I will drive down with him to help first settle his wife, Eilish in the new nursing home and then we will go to the house he is renting to get him settled in. He will stay at the rental until he sells his house in New York and he can have the house built in Delaware. Siobhan and her husband will come down on Saturday and we will stay with Gerry until Monday morning when I will come back with them to head back to work on Tuesday.

I keep going on to the Port Chester school district web site to find the 2012-2013 school calendar. I am trying to figure out when the boys (Gerry’s grandchildren) will have off so that I can plan a day off from work and take them down to visit their grandfather. As I said there are many changes happening – the one that will probably be most difficult is that Gerry is used to seeing his son and grandchildren every Sunday for dinner – this will no longer happen. I am hoping that we can still have our monthly family dinners if we can arrange them around the boy’s time off from school.

I am fortunate to get 27 days off per year – I also am able to work from home on Mondays and Fridays so I can easily take the boys down to visit their grandfather on Thursday evenings and head home on Sundays; or, if Gerard joins us on Saturday evening he can drive the boys home on a Monday and I can head home Sunday on my own. We will figure out a schedule that will work.

Regarding the Visual Communications Industry Group (VCI-G) we are entering the final phases of conference planning. We just need to confirm some panel speakers and become aggressive in our promotion to get individuals to come to the conference. This week we will start a “calling campaign” and I will need to place some posts on the various Linkedin groups that I belong to that are industry related. I know that we have pulled together a strong and interesting program – NOW to get the message out to everyone.

Lastly, I am looking forward to meeting up with two friends. One of them we will go away for a weekend – we haven’t decided whether it will be to a beach site or we may go to Rhode Island and visit the mansions. My other friend we will meet in the city and find a Broadway show that we will both enjoy – the new Broadway season begins in October so there will be much to chose from.

Well, I want to let you know now that I will not be writing a blog next week. As I mentioned I will be in Delaware with my cousin, his daughter and son-in-law coming home on Monday.

Enjoy this last unofficial week of summer, get the children ready for school and have a wonderful Labor Day.

What Happened to Summer Being Slow?

I was originally told that the summer would be slow at the Health System. It was last year; but, it is not this summer and in a couple of weeks we will be at full strength as everyone comes back from vacation and most programs begin again. So what happened this year?? When did it become so busy??

I guess that being busy is a sign of success; OR, at least I want to look at it that way. We currently have several projects going on from some very straight forward, very simple video conferencing installations to a massive boardroom for the Executive offices in Manhattan. It seems that every day we receive a request for a video conferencing system within the Health System – but, there are some challenges.

We are always asked for a quote that has “the works”; unfortunately, when our client sees the cost of what a video system with “the works” costs – they then provide us with what their budget is and that is usually one-third to one-half of what we have quoted. We are a non-profit and we really watch the dollars so it has been a trying week to ensure we can provide the needed system features at the dollar amount that the customer has.

Besides the new systems that we are quoting and installing we are also fixing some rooms which have not worked well for several months; and, in one instance several years. It is a case of fixing one thing and then seeing what else isn’t working. I am fortunate in that I have a very strong team – the last member of my team joined us on Monday and each one of them has very quickly hit the ground running and has made an impact on the Health System and what we offer to our clients.

It is hard to believe but at the Health System we are a collaborative team – we all work to make the organization successful and as my very best friend would always say, “there is no ‘I’ in team” and we exemplify that. Each of us has worked for Fortune 100/500 companies and it was never for the greater good of our client; but, to ensure that we satisfied the stakeholders, the Wall Street Analysts and ensured the CEO received his salary and extremely inflated bonus. At the Health System we are beholden to our ultimate client, the patient. Our jobs are all focused to ensure that the patient’s experience is excellent so we do what we can for the Clinicians, the Hospital and the Administration to ensure that they can provide that excellent experience to our patients.

As we managed the various challenges posted to us this past week, my team and I also enjoyed a wonderful lunch with my boss in Manhattan. We were all in the city on Wednesday and my boss offered to take us out to lunch. We went to Le Train Bleu which is located on the sixth floor of Bloomingdale's. It is decorated like a train car and serves French food – we enjoyed a wonderful meal, lively conversation and were labeled, the “white glove team”.

That was work this past week – a good week that had its highs and then showed us some things we need to work on.

On a personal level it has been a very quiet week – my instructor who teaches the High Intensity workout was on vacation so the classes were not held; instead I took a Zumba class on Friday, did my aqua aerobics class on Saturday and this morning another Zumba class. Tomorrow it will be back to normal and I will be at High Intensity at 7AM. I do have to mention that the knees are beginning to ache – don’t know if it is from the jumping in Zumba or if I should just be lying in the Jacuzzi tub a couple of nights a week allowing my muscles to be stimulated by the jets.

We are getting prepared for my cousin, Gerry to leave us and be the first to go to Delaware. He leaves on Friday, August 31st at 8AM and has found a place to rent until he sells his house here in New York and can have them begin to build a house for him in Delaware. I will miss him – I am hoping to take him, his daughter and son-in-law to dinner next Friday at a Puerto Rican restaurant in White Plains called, Sofrito.

I am now looking at my great nephews' school calendar to see when they have some days off so I can take time off and take them to visit their grandfather in Delaware. Our monthly family dinners will now be focused on the holidays.

Lastly, on Friday it would have been my mother’s 77th birthday. All day I thought of her; and, taking Zumba that day was in honor of her. My mother loved to dance and had no problems (like I do) of moving her hips and sashaying her body to the music. So when I dance I think of my Mom and how she loved a good party.

Do that which you enjoy, makes you happy and lets you smile.

What a Week with Requests and Life Changes

I am sorry for not writing last night; but, we were celebrating two birthdays in the family – mine which was last Monday and Callum who will turn 4 this Wednesday. I left the house at 3 in the afternoon and didn’t get home until after 8 in the evening after having spent a morning of doing my Zumba class, running to the cleaners, the bank, Toys R Us for wrapping paper and a gift bag and to the bakery to pick up a specially ordered cake with a “Mike the Knight” stencil on it. Hopefully you can understand my reason for not writing.

The week has been hectic and focused on various projects at work. Many things have been creeping up to do which have been totally unexpected. I was very happy to have completed instructions with pictures on how to use the SmartBoard in our conference room; only to find out that our VP would now like instructions on how to connect a MAC Notebook to the SmartBoard and what are the settings. WHOA!! I don’t even own a MAC Notebook – and I know I need a dongle to connect the MAC to the VGA cables. I spent a good deal of my Thursday morning tracking down the lone departmental notebook and finding who might have a dongle that I could borrow so that I could connect to the SmartBoard and detail the instructions for our End Users.

If that wasn’t enough this same VP has decided that we should go out to RFP (Request for Proposal) on the current video equipment that we purchase. I spent several hours on Thursday and Friday putting together a spreadsheet with all the devices that we order for each of our conference rooms – I was never so happy as to get that off my plate.

Then Thursday I was trying to help one of our Dentists put together his Web Ex account so that they can start their lecture series this week. I was able to set up his account and show his team how to use it – the kicker is that he will not be there for the lecture series and I will need to be a “host” on his account to support the meeting this coming week. I received the instructions on how to do that – now I need to set up a meeting to show his team how this function works and on Thursday I will be at his offices at 7AM to set up the first lecture. What is wonderful is how well everyone has embraced the technology and can see its value in their everyday business lives.

On a personal note a lot is changing. For the first time one half of the family will no longer be in New York. Both my cousin, Gerry and his daughter (Siobhan) and her husband will be moving to Delaware. I am happy for both of them as it will bring to them a better life style at a much lesser cost than New York. The difference will be that they are no longer 40 minutes away – no longer can I use their house as a “potty break” on my way home from work and I will now join the many individuals who travel to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas with their families.

What I love is that Delaware is the state that I would like to retire to – I know the type of house I would like to buy and the community I would like to live in. The weather is temperate; but, not with the terrible winters we can experience in New York. But, I am not looking to retire for another 10 years so in the meantime I will get a taste of life there through them.

Oh, I do have to tell you about my Saturday. I met a friend who I have known for more than 25 years for lunch in New York City. May and I used to work together for Citicorp’s Remittance Services (Official Checks and Money Order division) back in the early 1980’s – I had not seen her since my 50th birthday party seven years ago. We chose to meet at the clock in Grand Central and we went to Chelsea Market hoping to find a place to have lunch. The Market was crowded with people just touring, having lunch and there really was no place to sit and enjoy a leisurely lunch. We decided to walk on 9th Avenue for a couple of blocks until we came across Serafina’s and since it was getting hot out we decided to eat inside the restaurant. We had brunch and caught up on the past 7 years of our lives: who had married, graduated from colleges and dispersed throughout the US. The various jobs we had during that time period, etc.

After our meal we walked the Highline. For those of you not familiar with New York – the Highline is between 9th and 10th Avenues and was built alongside subway tracks where the subway no longer exists. It runs from the teens to 30th Street and along the way there are plants, shrubs, lounging chairs and even a sidewalk waterfall that people dipped their toes in. I felt great that I walked over 10,000 steps and over 4 miles on Saturday since I didn’t go to my aqua aerobics class. It was amazing to see the various buildings on the West Side and how eclectic, modern/contemporary they are. I would recommend anyone who has an afternoon to do this.

May and I are looking to get together in the early fall and this time we will either see a play or go to one of the various museums that I happen to be a member of. It is always great to connect with friends and to be able to pick up the relationship where it last ended.

Well these are the dog days of summer and it is slowly coming to a close – I hope that each of you have enjoyed this wonderful season and are able to squeeze some lasting fun and memories before fall makes her debut.

Each season has a reason; love it for what it offers.

I'm Baack!!!

I’m BAACK!! Vacation is over and it was WONDERFUL!!!! Not just for me; but, for all of us.

Our flights were uneventful – the way everyone likes them nowadays and I think Ryan just got spoiled all over again by flying first class. Seattle was cold and dreary; but, we were able to walk to Pike Street Market and watch some fish get thrown around, and then we took the tram to the Seattle Space Needle and could not believe the view of the city from on high. On Monday we were counting the hours until we could board the ship; and, as expected Disney had individuals pointing us in the right direction and we got through the lines quickly.

On ship we had lunch and then Ryan had already found out that there was a party on Deck 9 as we were about ready to leave – we were all on Deck 9 dancing and laughing and I knew this was the right vacation.

Eight days later I knew that this trip was well worth it. Alaska is beautiful – it is full of intense colors; green, glacial blue and grey. We had the opportunity of going through Tracy Arms – icebergs on all sides and they are not white; but, blue. The ice is so compressed that the only light that it can absorb is blue – and, did you know that small ice bergs are called “bergies”; I did not make that up it is true. Well, leave it to us to also hit a bergie – you could hear it crunch; the part that was worrisome was when the Captain and the Engineer kept looking at the side of the ship that hit the bergie; but, we finally took off and we knew that all was good.

Other things that I learned was that cities like Juneau and Skagway only have around 800 residents throughout the year and then they grow to about 3,000 during the tourist season. Both cities are extremely expensive as everything is either shipped or flown in so a gallon of milk cost anywhere between $5 and $6. There is no doctor – he visits once a month; but, there are Nurse Practitioners and just about everyone has flight insurance so that they can be airlifted to Seattle if they had something seriously wrong with them.

If we were disappointed about anything it was with not seeing any whales – next time I would definitely book a whale excursion. Also, neither my cousin Gerry nor Ryan caught any salmon when they went fishing. The salmon were plentiful as it is their spawning season but they managed to elude their lure. In Ketchikan there were people who were just fishing on the bridge over Creek Road – a local who snared a salmon let Ryan reel him in and the smile on Ryan’s face was priceless. He also got chosen to participate in the Lumberjack show and actually won the two man saw – I have to say that Ketchikan was one of his favorite days.

Every evening after dinner Ryan and I would attend the show – it is Disney’s version of a Broadway show and it would last an hour – Ryan really looked forward to them and thoroughly enjoyed them. I think I am cultivating a future Broadway attendee.

He also enjoyed the Oceanear Lab where he would play games with other children on the ship. It gave him time to be a kid away from us and it gave us an opportunity to do adult things. Okay admittedly the adult things were drinking and Gerry and I attended three (3) tastings. The martini tasting, the wine tasting and the mixology tasting – at each you are given five (5) drinks (no food) and it only cost $15. I also signed up for boot camp and attended 2 of the 3 sessions – I didn’t attend the last because it was our day to have our Character breakfast and I wanted to be there to enjoy Ryan’s reaction. My cousin went down to the Cadillac lounge a couple of times to enjoy the piano player, talk with other passengers and have a couple of Jameson’s.

Victoria in British Columbia is a very pretty town. We had high tea at the Empress Hotel and then toured the city – I would have enjoyed being there for the day instead of the evening; but, it was still a great experience.

Would I do this trip again? ABSOLUTELY and by the way there is another great nephew, Callum who I hope to introduce to traveling and appreciating each city and state for what it has to offer.

Very quickly it was back to reality by unpacking, doing laundry and paying bills. That was home life; and, it was time to get involved in reading all the email messages, responding to them and attending conference calls. The worst of it was that I caught Gerry’s cold and was really feeling awful. I am now much better and my life is back in order. I am also very proud of myself as only back 6 days and I have already worked out 4 times – so it really did help out to walk up and down the ship’s decks.

I will have these memories for a lifetime – I will now be able to cross off my bucket list “go to Alaska”.

Now to the next item.