Some OT, Some Not - LOOOOOOONG

OK, it's time I picked myself up by my bootstraps and make some positive
changes in my life!

I went to my first Physical Therapy session this morning (OUCH) and was
given instructions for doing the exercises at home (this involves a wide
swathe of stretchy material they gave me that needs to hang from various
heights for me to pull on in various ways). Now these people must not know
anything about cats. I can see that wide swathe of stretchy material
swiftly becoming shredded strings for cats to swat and make dance for their
enjoyment. What? Shut the door? Ahahahahahahaha - have you not read any
of my "Samazon" stories?

Now, my main man, Archer, is already into the program with me. I've been
doing my own slow stretching on the living room floor for some time now -
and as soon as Archer sees me spread out on the floor he'll quickly run over
to join in the session. I don't know if he's following along with the
stretching to be companionable or if he's mocking me by showing me what
stretching can *really* be like. Whatever, dude, roll over and give Mommy
some room!

I've already made some positive changes at work. I took down all the "crazy
cat lady" stuff out of my cubicle and made it look more professional and
efficient - everyone already knows I love cats, but they need to know that I
know my stuff and can get their job done for them better than anyone else
possibly could. BAH to all the time I had to take off because of my illness
and my granddaughter's illness (and the "dings" that got me on my annual
evaluation) - I'm still the best they've got!

Now this gets long and boring so for those who hate business stuff skip this
part...

===============
I just saved the company hundreds of man-hours... They wanted all of
Retirement Practice to set up the same email rules that send copies of
client correspondence (both incoming and outgoing) into the correct public
client folder - and they wanted it done retroactively so that all the
correspondence that each actuary had on their personal email folders (going
back to the beginning of time) needed to be copied into the public email
folders. And then all that correspondence, going back to 1/1/2008 (and back
to 1/1/2007 for one company), had to be printed and filed into paper files.
and this had to be accomplished in JUST THREE WEEKS time before the auditors
come a calling.

We have 42 "active" clients - and believe me there is a lot of email going
back and forth between them and our actuaries. So that meant we had to have
84 Outlook rules set up (one for incoming client email and one for outgoing
client email).

We have 34 actuaries, all of whom need those 84 Outlook rules set up on
their laptops. So, 34 actuaries times 84 rules is 2,856 rules - the
creating of each rule takes approximately 3 minutes and that gives us.....
8,568 minutes, or 142.8 man-hours to complete this task (and how likely is
it that, when creating those 2,856 rules, a typo will crop up and make the
rule useless?).

Their solution was to let *me* go around and create the rules on all the
actuaries laptops (because the actuaries know nothing except how to crunch
numbers and figure out death trends).

Now, 142.8 man hours is almost FOUR WEEKS of work, *IF* I could do this and
only this non-stop for all that time, 8 hours a day (which, of course, I can
not since it is government forms time of year and all those 42 clients need
their Form 5500s to get filed on time).

But even *after* we get all the rules set up on all their laptops, we would
still have to RUN the rules retroactively to put those THOUSANDS of emails
into the correct public client folder and then PRINT the emails and then
FILE the emails - all before the auditors come in three weeks.

So what I did was set up those 84 rules on my computer (it actually only
took me about 2 hours, not the 4+ hours I was expecting it to take),
exported them to a file, then sent the file to all our actuaries with baby
step by baby step instructions on how to import and run the rules - a
process that takes about 10 or 15 minutes for them.

That still left me with thousands of emails that had to be printed out and
filed, but by finding out you can buy 2-hole-punch paper (for files that
have those metal prongs on the top) - and by using the fastest printer
available, I still managed to get all my project done in less than two weeks
with time to spare before the auditors get here.
===============

So, I'm feeling better about my job now - the sting of the bad evaluation
has been taken away a bit.

And with all your good suggestions on meeting new people and finding new
friends, I'm feeling better about my social life too.

Now, if I could just figure out how to make Da Boyz stop peeing all over the
place every time they see a cat outside I could almost be happy with my
life! (We did move the feeding stations so they're out of view from any
window or door of the house, but both outside cats love to sit at the
windows or doors and peer inside.)

That's one really big thing that's really bringing me down lately - those
two little boys outside.

One of them, Shadow, has had a really bad limp ever since he found us as his
sole source of food (about 4 or 5 months ago now). His left front leg is
twisted at an odd angle (his lower leg sticks out forward) and he won't put
any weight on it when he walks (although he does manage to run on it and to
jump our 6 foot wooden fence to come get his breakfast and dinner every
day). We can't tell if it's from an injury or if it was a congenital birth
defect (there is no sign of scarring or missing fur or any of the
after-effects you would expect from that bad a break, if it was from a
break). He doesn't *seem* to be in pain from it, but you know how stoic
cats are about hiding their pain.

And Tiger is a *very* young male cat - he came to us all skin and bones too.
I worry about him because he pants so hard in the heat (and he sleeps,
during the day, by the cracks under my French doors outside my bedroom - we
think it's to try to take advantage of the air conditioning leaking out from
under them (it's been in the 100s for weeks on end here in Houston). There
is lots of shade and fresh water in the back yard, and a HUGE dog house from
when Erin was living with us here with Gypsy and Digger (who had to stay
outside, except in the coldest of weather, because of the cats). The
decking is high enough off the ground that a cat can get underneath and
sleep in the cool mud - and it stays warm in the winter when the heater for
the spa stays on.

I would LOVE to vet them both, get them both snipped, and give them both
homes, but we just can't. Ben is still out of work (and since our brilliant
Governor Perry refused the Federal money offered some months ago, Texas has
to try and get a "grant" from the Feds or unemployment will VERY QUICKLY
have NO MORE FUNDS to give to those still out of work MONTHS after
lay-offs). And we're in the middle of claiming bankruptcy - we're trying to
hang on long enough to not lose our home, but after hearing that my HR firm
is having a "merger of equals" with another HR firm, I'm very afraid that
I'll be one of the "redundants" when everything is all shuffled out (it's
"funny" how it always seems to be the older workers who are the ones to be
the first to go - it makes financial sense for the company because they're
usually paid higher than the younger workers and they'll be the ones to
claim (their much larger) retirement sooner).

DH refuses to bring them to the no-kill shelter that operates out of our
local PetsMart - he says he's seen the some of those same cats in those
cages for years now and he wouldn't want to confine either of our little
outside boys to a cage barely big enough to stand in for the rest of their
lives (they supposedly get "fostered" when they're not being shown at
PetsMart, but some are always left there in the cages all night when the
rescue is closed, and most of them are kept in those same cages at the
fosterers' homes because they have so few fosterers that each have to take
on 40 or 50 cats at a time and just keep them caged up in garages or
storerooms. I agree that would be a horrible fate - and SO few people are
adopting pets because of this stupid economy that I'm afraid that would be
what would happen to them for the rest of their lives.

It's all just too heartbreaking - and I know it's the RSD messing with my
limbic system, but I always find myself crying all the way home from work
just thinking about how cruel the world is to its most innocent inhabitants.

But, as I said, it's time I picked myself up so I'm not going to think about
how bad it is for them but how much better they are now with full bellies
twice a day and a safe place to sleep (behind a 6 foot wooden fence where
dogs can't get to them). As soon as we do find some money not needed for
absolute necessities - if I find out that I'm *not* going to lose my job,
we'll get them vet care they need. In the meantime we'll just keep doing
the best we can for them, which is a thousand times better than the life
they lived before they found us.

Until I know one way or another whether I'll be able to keep my job, I'm
just going to assume that I will. Until I know one way or another whether
we'll be able to keep our house, I'm just going to assume that we will. And
I'm going to assume that the new physical therapy will work to help control
my pain (since my pain management doctor has decided to cut back on the
dosages I've been on for months now - he didn't say why he's doing that).
And I'm going to look into finding a free "leisure living" class at our
community college, and a lot of the other suggestions you've all given me.

So, if you're still reading after all of that, thanks for "listening" - it's
been a great help to get all of that off my chest. Any other advice or
feedback you have would be most welcome.

Hugs,

CatNipped

"CatEyes" wrote in message
...
OK, it's time I picked myself up by my bootstraps and make some positive
changes in my life!

ONYA, CatNipped! (That's Ozzie for "You go, girl!") A positive attitude
doesn't solve everything, but it can help. A lot.

Hugs and Purrs,
Joy

i can assure you, that if you can make yourself do the pt, and not kill the
medical sadist, it will eventually help, i hated going and really hated the
next day but for two days my leg was greatly improved, so stick with it.

as to the cats, a vet tec gave me the best advise ever, it cut way back on
my guilt and drive to help every animal possible, she said..." if at the end
of the day your interaction left the cat better off, and if the end of the
day you did your best, given time, money and emotional limits, G*D will
surely reward you and the animal is grateful, be happy with your best G*D
is,"

i try and remember that when i get down, then i think about harriroadcat,
amber, who used to be patio jo, toni bennit and many others and i know she
is right.

Lee
"CatEyes" wrote in message
...
OK, it's time I picked myself up by my bootstraps and make some positive
changes in my life!

I went to my first Physical Therapy session this morning (OUCH) and was
given instructions for doing the exercises at home (this involves a wide
swathe of stretchy material they gave me that needs to hang from various
heights for me to pull on in various ways). Now these people must not
know anything about cats. I can see that wide swathe of stretchy material
swiftly becoming shredded strings for cats to swat and make dance for
their enjoyment. What? Shut the door? Ahahahahahahaha - have you not
read any of my "Samazon" stories?

Now, my main man, Archer, is already into the program with me. I've been
doing my own slow stretching on the living room floor for some time now -
and as soon as Archer sees me spread out on the floor he'll quickly run
over to join in the session. I don't know if he's following along with
the stretching to be companionable or if he's mocking me by showing me
what stretching can *really* be like. Whatever, dude, roll over and give
Mommy some room!

I've already made some positive changes at work. I took down all the
"crazy cat lady" stuff out of my cubicle and made it look more
professional and efficient - everyone already knows I love cats, but they
need to know that I know my stuff and can get their job done for them
better than anyone else possibly could. BAH to all the time I had to take
off because of my illness and my granddaughter's illness (and the "dings"
that got me on my annual evaluation) - I'm still the best they've got!

Now this gets long and boring so for those who hate business stuff skip
this part...

===============
I just saved the company hundreds of man-hours... They wanted all of
Retirement Practice to set up the same email rules that send copies of
client correspondence (both incoming and outgoing) into the correct public
client folder - and they wanted it done retroactively so that all the
correspondence that each actuary had on their personal email folders
(going back to the beginning of time) needed to be copied into the public
email folders. And then all that correspondence, going back to 1/1/2008
(and back to 1/1/2007 for one company), had to be printed and filed into
paper files. and this had to be accomplished in JUST THREE WEEKS time
before the auditors come a calling.

We have 42 "active" clients - and believe me there is a lot of email going
back and forth between them and our actuaries. So that meant we had to
have 84 Outlook rules set up (one for incoming client email and one for
outgoing client email).

We have 34 actuaries, all of whom need those 84 Outlook rules set up on
their laptops. So, 34 actuaries times 84 rules is 2,856 rules - the
creating of each rule takes approximately 3 minutes and that gives us.....
8,568 minutes, or 142.8 man-hours to complete this task (and how likely is
it that, when creating those 2,856 rules, a typo will crop up and make the
rule useless?).

Their solution was to let *me* go around and create the rules on all the
actuaries laptops (because the actuaries know nothing except how to crunch
numbers and figure out death trends).

Now, 142.8 man hours is almost FOUR WEEKS of work, *IF* I could do this
and only this non-stop for all that time, 8 hours a day (which, of course,
I can not since it is government forms time of year and all those 42
clients need their Form 5500s to get filed on time).

But even *after* we get all the rules set up on all their laptops, we
would still have to RUN the rules retroactively to put those THOUSANDS of
emails into the correct public client folder and then PRINT the emails and
then FILE the emails - all before the auditors come in three weeks.

So what I did was set up those 84 rules on my computer (it actually only
took me about 2 hours, not the 4+ hours I was expecting it to take),
exported them to a file, then sent the file to all our actuaries with baby
step by baby step instructions on how to import and run the rules - a
process that takes about 10 or 15 minutes for them.

That still left me with thousands of emails that had to be printed out and
filed, but by finding out you can buy 2-hole-punch paper (for files that
have those metal prongs on the top) - and by using the fastest printer
available, I still managed to get all my project done in less than two
weeks with time to spare before the auditors get here.
===============

So, I'm feeling better about my job now - the sting of the bad evaluation
has been taken away a bit.

And with all your good suggestions on meeting new people and finding new
friends, I'm feeling better about my social life too.

Now, if I could just figure out how to make Da Boyz stop peeing all over
the place every time they see a cat outside I could almost be happy with
my life! (We did move the feeding stations so they're out of view from
any window or door of the house, but both outside cats love to sit at the
windows or doors and peer inside.)

That's one really big thing that's really bringing me down lately - those
two little boys outside.

One of them, Shadow, has had a really bad limp ever since he found us as
his sole source of food (about 4 or 5 months ago now). His left front leg
is twisted at an odd angle (his lower leg sticks out forward) and he won't
put any weight on it when he walks (although he does manage to run on it
and to jump our 6 foot wooden fence to come get his breakfast and dinner
every day). We can't tell if it's from an injury or if it was a
congenital birth defect (there is no sign of scarring or missing fur or
any of the after-effects you would expect from that bad a break, if it was
from a break). He doesn't *seem* to be in pain from it, but you know how
stoic cats are about hiding their pain.

And Tiger is a *very* young male cat - he came to us all skin and bones
too. I worry about him because he pants so hard in the heat (and he
sleeps, during the day, by the cracks under my French doors outside my
bedroom - we think it's to try to take advantage of the air conditioning
leaking out from under them (it's been in the 100s for weeks on end here
in Houston). There is lots of shade and fresh water in the back yard, and
a HUGE dog house from when Erin was living with us here with Gypsy and
Digger (who had to stay outside, except in the coldest of weather, because
of the cats). The decking is high enough off the ground that a cat can
get underneath and sleep in the cool mud - and it stays warm in the winter
when the heater for the spa stays on.

I would LOVE to vet them both, get them both snipped, and give them both
homes, but we just can't. Ben is still out of work (and since our
brilliant Governor Perry refused the Federal money offered some months
ago, Texas has to try and get a "grant" from the Feds or unemployment will
VERY QUICKLY have NO MORE FUNDS to give to those still out of work MONTHS
after lay-offs). And we're in the middle of claiming bankruptcy - we're
trying to hang on long enough to not lose our home, but after hearing that
my HR firm is having a "merger of equals" with another HR firm, I'm very
afraid that I'll be one of the "redundants" when everything is all
shuffled out (it's "funny" how it always seems to be the older workers who
are the ones to be the first to go - it makes financial sense for the
company because they're usually paid higher than the younger workers and
they'll be the ones to claim (their much larger) retirement sooner).

DH refuses to bring them to the no-kill shelter that operates out of our
local PetsMart - he says he's seen the some of those same cats in those
cages for years now and he wouldn't want to confine either of our little
outside boys to a cage barely big enough to stand in for the rest of their
lives (they supposedly get "fostered" when they're not being shown at
PetsMart, but some are always left there in the cages all night when the
rescue is closed, and most of them are kept in those same cages at the
fosterers' homes because they have so few fosterers that each have to take
on 40 or 50 cats at a time and just keep them caged up in garages or
storerooms. I agree that would be a horrible fate - and SO few people are
adopting pets because of this stupid economy that I'm afraid that would be
what would happen to them for the rest of their lives.

It's all just too heartbreaking - and I know it's the RSD messing with my
limbic system, but I always find myself crying all the way home from work
just thinking about how cruel the world is to its most innocent
inhabitants.

But, as I said, it's time I picked myself up so I'm not going to think
about how bad it is for them but how much better they are now with full
bellies twice a day and a safe place to sleep (behind a 6 foot wooden
fence where dogs can't get to them). As soon as we do find some money not
needed for absolute necessities - if I find out that I'm *not* going to
lose my job, we'll get them vet care they need. In the meantime we'll
just keep doing the best we can for them, which is a thousand times better
than the life they lived before they found us.

Until I know one way or another whether I'll be able to keep my job, I'm
just going to assume that I will. Until I know one way or another whether
we'll be able to keep our house, I'm just going to assume that we will.
And I'm going to assume that the new physical therapy will work to help
control my pain (since my pain management doctor has decided to cut back
on the dosages I've been on for months now - he didn't say why he's doing
that). And I'm going to look into finding a free "leisure living" class at
our community college, and a lot of the other suggestions you've all given
me.

So, if you're still reading after all of that, thanks for "listening" -
it's been a great help to get all of that off my chest. Any other advice
or feedback you have would be most welcome.

Hugs,

CatNipped