Today is Friday, and sooo glad that it is.. It's the end of the week & looking so forward to a quiet weekend, & its also the end of the 1st UPS quarter. At the office today, I believe that I managed to complete tackling the 40 vendor invoces that have been taunting me as they rolled in for the last three weeks. I got them all cost control coded, charge to locations figured out, 2 signatures for approval, and on Monday I will finish sending off the last few original invoices to the Finance dept for payment. Who ever knew what the heck it took to get a vendors invoice paid before.. next big accomplishment for Monday will be logging each of these invoices into the March PO log that is used for forecasting expenditure plans.
Today I on a whim decided that a few of the supplies that had been ordered on March 10 & 14 should have been delivered or we should have received some kind of notice... So I started digging, no idea what I was doing but started with calling the Unisource supplier. They tell me that because of the price changes that occurred on the 11th, that the order was cancelled by UPS's online middle man we order through of Ariba. WHAT THE H:!!? And so they give me a number of the finance dept for UPS to contact.. Needless to say after 4 back and forth phone calls, a few questions, as it was not my fault but we are out of can liners, and numerous cleanser items.. BUT they were willing to ship them by next Thursday.. Uh, no YESTERDAY since they are already two weeks late..... And I look inept to the porters who keep asking "when" are they coming in.... They tell me I need to get from finance dept an emergency PO# and contact them.. Now Bob has been over hearing the conversations and he asks if I need any help, so I put it on speaker phone and he than says in his less than tactful way.. "I DONT CARE WHAT IT TAKES ~ GET US THE SUPPLIES WE ORDERED"..
Dealing with finance dept website, they email you and than you email back, than they send you an email confirming that they got your email... Geez 15 of these and I FINALLY get an email that THEY placed the order of what I had requested, all arrives NDA Monday. hahahahahahaaa what a relief that I thought to call on it, or I'd still be waiting...
Next week will be moving into more new things coming my way off of the supervisors who've been covering some items while I acclimate to ready take them on..
Just as a side note.. Greg added up the number of hours of sleep I lose with this position and it's 12.5 hours a week. Not to mention the amount of not so good sleep that is mixed in
there with what I am getting which is god.. I love my sleep, and so it takes a lot of getting used to how it's changed some things..
Friday, March 25, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
New job working out... Whew~!
Three weeks ago, I was at a cross roads of a sudden change in whether I still had a job or choose to end the 29 years at UPS by refusing the opportunity they were offering. It was nerve wracking few days as it unfolded. But now I couldnt be happier that it has occurred and am thankful. I moved from the sweet facility of Cerritos to the ghetto of Vernon never imagining that it would be a blessing.
2.5 weeks ago on March 7th, I started my new commute at 5:15am to the Vernon industrial area outside of Los Angeles for the position as Admin Assistant in the Grande Vista Plant Engineering dept. Now you might be asking what is Plant Engineering actually? Well, "plant" means anything relating to the facilities mechanical maintenance & housekeeping & the employees it takes to fulfill this. So my responsibilities are completely different than when I worked for 29 years in the Industrial Engineering dept in the moving of physical packages based on zipcodes, time in transit, truck volume, and training all the Hub employees.
Now I oversee 27 employees payroll & benefits, keeping them paid correctly, days off and vacation scheduling, and in uniforms. I order every supply that is required for people (like toilet paper, hand soap, etc),supplies for the porters to clean, bag trash, etc..amazing what all goes into that process. And I order everything mechanics need to repair or upkeep the machinery, from wire, iron, rivets, batteries, etc most of it comes out of three suppliers and I am learning who provides what and/or the fastest. I create the PO#'s prior to a vendor providing a service like plumbing or electrical, bringing us iron or steel, or compacting our trash. And then I process the invoices when they come in to us by snail mail, email or fax, get the approval signatures (2), and than send to the finance dept in Sandy Ut for payment to each vendor. Last step is 3 weeks later I verify payments have actually been made. (cuz we want them to keep providing the services for us) Other duties are processing Haz Mat Manifests for the Federal and State requirements after they are picked up by a company from Missouri every couple of months. What a process separating all of this material is and how it is handled, and the paperwork required to avoid hefty fines from the government.
Yesterday I went through the certification training for Hazardous Material Manifesting which is a complicated and confusing process. With my supervisor Bob, he explained it first in conversation and then we went through the slide show, verbal test aced with a 100%.. Whew...
Later that day he was on the phone with the PE Division Manager and they were discussing how I was doing......... And Bobs comment to him was that I was catching on quickly and doing much better than he anticipated, that I had just taken the HWM test and aced it first time through.. he told him that he feels that "we were very lucky to get this smart gal and she will work out very well". First let me say that just his using the word gal, made me feel younger.. Ha ha
It's been nerve wracking in taking this job saving position as to who and how you will get along with the new management, but I have two supervisors and a manager that are easy going individuals to share an office with. bob is the main supervisor I work under, Randy is less seniority and new to his job also. Bob is a salty individual, very conversational, outgoing, fair minded and devoted to his work. his personal life is rocky as he's in the middle of 2nd divorce. The salty part is that he has the use of profanity down to a worn out consistency.. The damns and shits I haven't much of a problem with, but it's the persistent taking of the Lords name in vain that has me cringing. He uses JC and G-dammit often and not in anger, just bad habit I think is how it came as his habit.
It has been a relief to be so pleased with this job, and since I have 3-5 more years left before retirement occurs it won't be a counting of the days till then just yet. Now let me share a funny story that happened on day six.
Two of the women porters have a history of cat fighting with each other, one is Chinese and the other Hispanic. So they come into the office or are calling Bobs cell phone griping and complaining about the other, what one did in the others area to dirty it up or what they said.. He repeatedly tells them to settle it and knock it off.. The Chinese woman comes ini to the office for Bob to request a last minute day off for the next day and he's giving her a line of questions as to why of late notice. She then walks over to the corner where my desk is and begins to start in what would appear to be a conversation with me that I didn't take notice of right away. But she begins with "I wasn't here when Bob introduced you last week but when you told the women that you don't speak Spanish, they all hate you and" at this point I have turned towards her and have held up both hands and in a stern voice to snap her to attention said "whoa, whoa, please, do not EVER feel that you EVER have to come into this office to tattle ANYTHING that ANYONE should tell you about me, because two things 1) I DONT CARE and 2) I don't do that kind of high school thing in my personal life and won't be doing it here on the job, so let's get this clear between us, and you can go back to work." It had my heart racing, but Bob agreed it's what she needed to hear, as they are all like high schoolers even though they are in their 40's & 60's...
So while I am more inclined to be a night owl rather than a early morning riser, I now rise at 4am and am generally in bed by 9pm hoping the 5mg of melatonin will knock me out into lala land pretty much when I hit the pillow.if I want to feel good for a full day.. I enjoy getting off at noon and my lawn/flowerbeds looks great with all the time attention they get. Love that.. God is good...
2.5 weeks ago on March 7th, I started my new commute at 5:15am to the Vernon industrial area outside of Los Angeles for the position as Admin Assistant in the Grande Vista Plant Engineering dept. Now you might be asking what is Plant Engineering actually? Well, "plant" means anything relating to the facilities mechanical maintenance & housekeeping & the employees it takes to fulfill this. So my responsibilities are completely different than when I worked for 29 years in the Industrial Engineering dept in the moving of physical packages based on zipcodes, time in transit, truck volume, and training all the Hub employees.
Now I oversee 27 employees payroll & benefits, keeping them paid correctly, days off and vacation scheduling, and in uniforms. I order every supply that is required for people (like toilet paper, hand soap, etc),supplies for the porters to clean, bag trash, etc..amazing what all goes into that process. And I order everything mechanics need to repair or upkeep the machinery, from wire, iron, rivets, batteries, etc most of it comes out of three suppliers and I am learning who provides what and/or the fastest. I create the PO#'s prior to a vendor providing a service like plumbing or electrical, bringing us iron or steel, or compacting our trash. And then I process the invoices when they come in to us by snail mail, email or fax, get the approval signatures (2), and than send to the finance dept in Sandy Ut for payment to each vendor. Last step is 3 weeks later I verify payments have actually been made. (cuz we want them to keep providing the services for us) Other duties are processing Haz Mat Manifests for the Federal and State requirements after they are picked up by a company from Missouri every couple of months. What a process separating all of this material is and how it is handled, and the paperwork required to avoid hefty fines from the government.
Yesterday I went through the certification training for Hazardous Material Manifesting which is a complicated and confusing process. With my supervisor Bob, he explained it first in conversation and then we went through the slide show, verbal test aced with a 100%.. Whew...
Later that day he was on the phone with the PE Division Manager and they were discussing how I was doing......... And Bobs comment to him was that I was catching on quickly and doing much better than he anticipated, that I had just taken the HWM test and aced it first time through.. he told him that he feels that "we were very lucky to get this smart gal and she will work out very well". First let me say that just his using the word gal, made me feel younger.. Ha ha
It's been nerve wracking in taking this job saving position as to who and how you will get along with the new management, but I have two supervisors and a manager that are easy going individuals to share an office with. bob is the main supervisor I work under, Randy is less seniority and new to his job also. Bob is a salty individual, very conversational, outgoing, fair minded and devoted to his work. his personal life is rocky as he's in the middle of 2nd divorce. The salty part is that he has the use of profanity down to a worn out consistency.. The damns and shits I haven't much of a problem with, but it's the persistent taking of the Lords name in vain that has me cringing. He uses JC and G-dammit often and not in anger, just bad habit I think is how it came as his habit.
It has been a relief to be so pleased with this job, and since I have 3-5 more years left before retirement occurs it won't be a counting of the days till then just yet. Now let me share a funny story that happened on day six.
Two of the women porters have a history of cat fighting with each other, one is Chinese and the other Hispanic. So they come into the office or are calling Bobs cell phone griping and complaining about the other, what one did in the others area to dirty it up or what they said.. He repeatedly tells them to settle it and knock it off.. The Chinese woman comes ini to the office for Bob to request a last minute day off for the next day and he's giving her a line of questions as to why of late notice. She then walks over to the corner where my desk is and begins to start in what would appear to be a conversation with me that I didn't take notice of right away. But she begins with "I wasn't here when Bob introduced you last week but when you told the women that you don't speak Spanish, they all hate you and" at this point I have turned towards her and have held up both hands and in a stern voice to snap her to attention said "whoa, whoa, please, do not EVER feel that you EVER have to come into this office to tattle ANYTHING that ANYONE should tell you about me, because two things 1) I DONT CARE and 2) I don't do that kind of high school thing in my personal life and won't be doing it here on the job, so let's get this clear between us, and you can go back to work." It had my heart racing, but Bob agreed it's what she needed to hear, as they are all like high schoolers even though they are in their 40's & 60's...
So while I am more inclined to be a night owl rather than a early morning riser, I now rise at 4am and am generally in bed by 9pm hoping the 5mg of melatonin will knock me out into lala land pretty much when I hit the pillow.if I want to feel good for a full day.. I enjoy getting off at noon and my lawn/flowerbeds looks great with all the time attention they get. Love that.. God is good...
Monday, March 21, 2011
Blessed Assurance of eternity ~ does matter
My best friend in life Bonnie, her father has been for over 9 months diagnosed with brain cancer and fighting it with all that medicine can throw at it.. It was also discovered in his lung as he was being treated. the first 6wk round of chemotherapy he sailed pretty much right through, although it should have made him sick but for Lou it didn't.. in spite of them recommending that he limit his diet to subtle and really bland foods, he prefers Mexican and so that is what he continued to indulge in..So the way Lou handled life, his way. By the end of treatments, what shouldn't have made him sick, did. The tumors disappeared in the brain and he functioned pretty normal in his routine, driving himself to the treatments, meeting Bonnie there each time where she would sit with him through the hours it took and them just talking. She eventually had to pick him up as the treatments started to be more difficult on his body and weakness set in.
Bonnie's father Lou is the best kind of dads in that he has loved her well, she was his princess (after her mother) and he loved her 3 brothers Scott, Patrick, Michael. As a man he was generous, compassionate, caring, giving, community servant to the city of Paramount. He supported his family in whatever they wanted to pursue for their life, defended them in their choices, whether they worked out for success or they had to learn from a failure in what they pursued. He shot straight, told you what he was thinking in his southern drawl of West Virginian. He imparted a ethic of hard work, fear of nothing, contributing to family, society and being of the highest integrity. Lou is the oldest of 15 kids in his family having the responsibility of helping to raise many of them from a young age financially and emotionally. He went into the Air Force immediately after graduating from High School, where at nineteen he was fighting in Korea as a communication specialist, & became a POW for 34 months at the mercy of the Koreans.. When he returned to the states, he courted and married the love of his life, Norie. The unpleasant memories of war led him to become a substantial drinker, functional, yet medicating the memories, but it slowed him down in no way from performing his life very well in all aspects.. Lou took care of his family, providing, being a great baseball coach, and his home was opened to those who stopped by at dinner time or needed a place to get back on their feet with a roof over their head. While he's been sober a lot of years now, Lou was never a religious man, but he made sure his family was always "brought" to church although he wasn't much for attending himself. He might have had some religious instruction in his youth before the war, but he was struggling with how a God of love could allow the war to linger on and he enduring what he went through.
While he's had decades of heart problems, etc, yet, while in this cancer fight which had a no cure prognosis, only lengthening his life from months to a couple of years. The urgency of knowing whether he is saved has been of many thoughts, prayers and attempted conversations...... But the conversations were not long as he didn't want to talk about it.. Many people have Lou's thinking that I've been as good as I can be and hopefully the Lord will take that into account against the bad when life is done.. And so that makes the uncertainty of whether eternity is that persons or not, a pain in a loved ones heart that leaves you hoping that you will be assured that they do believe in Jesus Christ before they have breathed their last. Many prayers for assurance were prayed to this end.. and God is good...
Well, that assurance did come, praise Jesus. Lou's youngest sister Emily and her husband Charles visited Lou about 3 weeks prior to his death. And while he had previously in life been stand offish at anyone speaking to him about Jesus, Charles made the bold conversation of talking about God, others who had died in the family, and how the assurance of eternity is through Jesus Christ only. Lou acknowledged his belief, and that he had made things right with the Lord in these last weeks. Those who were there that day prayed together, and cried tears of joy and relief. As Hospice came in to take care of him, he had a christian nurse, and the hospice has a priest who came to see Lou, and he told Lou he was their for conversation and to pray with him would he be okay with that. Lou was very open to having the priest pray with him now, offering his hand out to him. When the priest was leaving, he asked Lou if he could come by and visit him in 2 weeks, and Lou answered in a very Lou kind of way with "well yes, if I'm still around then".. unfortunately, Lou was not. After numerous weeks of being lovingly cared for by his children and hospice, he quietly in his sleep passed from this life into the arms of Jesus for eternity.
Lou Adkins June 18, 1931 - March 13, 2011.. He leaves behind a wife, 1 daughter, 3 sons, 10 grand kids and a slew of family and friends who will miss him greatly. He was honored on Friday March 18th with a military service at Riverside National Cemetery where our nation does an awesome tribute to servicemen. Lou had earned many medals, but the Purple Heart and Distinguished Service are highly regarded. Saturday a memorial service and dinner of his favorite foods Tri Tip /mashed potatoes / steamed vegetables / a variety of desserts. His children each spoke tremendously honoring words and shared stories of who their dad was to them, their children, and how he impacted their lives. Many of his friends also shared some good stories, laughs, and a group of four men shared collectively how he "was their father" when they had none, and how they were mentored, encouraged and instructed how to be men.
I've known for a long time that my friend Bonnie's strength, her emotional & spiritual gifts came from who her dad raised her to believe she was. I was truly impacted by how the depth of who he was at the end of his life. I knew him for a short time, but it was an absolute privilege to love him for who he was..
Bonnie's father Lou is the best kind of dads in that he has loved her well, she was his princess (after her mother) and he loved her 3 brothers Scott, Patrick, Michael. As a man he was generous, compassionate, caring, giving, community servant to the city of Paramount. He supported his family in whatever they wanted to pursue for their life, defended them in their choices, whether they worked out for success or they had to learn from a failure in what they pursued. He shot straight, told you what he was thinking in his southern drawl of West Virginian. He imparted a ethic of hard work, fear of nothing, contributing to family, society and being of the highest integrity. Lou is the oldest of 15 kids in his family having the responsibility of helping to raise many of them from a young age financially and emotionally. He went into the Air Force immediately after graduating from High School, where at nineteen he was fighting in Korea as a communication specialist, & became a POW for 34 months at the mercy of the Koreans.. When he returned to the states, he courted and married the love of his life, Norie. The unpleasant memories of war led him to become a substantial drinker, functional, yet medicating the memories, but it slowed him down in no way from performing his life very well in all aspects.. Lou took care of his family, providing, being a great baseball coach, and his home was opened to those who stopped by at dinner time or needed a place to get back on their feet with a roof over their head. While he's been sober a lot of years now, Lou was never a religious man, but he made sure his family was always "brought" to church although he wasn't much for attending himself. He might have had some religious instruction in his youth before the war, but he was struggling with how a God of love could allow the war to linger on and he enduring what he went through.
While he's had decades of heart problems, etc, yet, while in this cancer fight which had a no cure prognosis, only lengthening his life from months to a couple of years. The urgency of knowing whether he is saved has been of many thoughts, prayers and attempted conversations...... But the conversations were not long as he didn't want to talk about it.. Many people have Lou's thinking that I've been as good as I can be and hopefully the Lord will take that into account against the bad when life is done.. And so that makes the uncertainty of whether eternity is that persons or not, a pain in a loved ones heart that leaves you hoping that you will be assured that they do believe in Jesus Christ before they have breathed their last. Many prayers for assurance were prayed to this end.. and God is good...
Well, that assurance did come, praise Jesus. Lou's youngest sister Emily and her husband Charles visited Lou about 3 weeks prior to his death. And while he had previously in life been stand offish at anyone speaking to him about Jesus, Charles made the bold conversation of talking about God, others who had died in the family, and how the assurance of eternity is through Jesus Christ only. Lou acknowledged his belief, and that he had made things right with the Lord in these last weeks. Those who were there that day prayed together, and cried tears of joy and relief. As Hospice came in to take care of him, he had a christian nurse, and the hospice has a priest who came to see Lou, and he told Lou he was their for conversation and to pray with him would he be okay with that. Lou was very open to having the priest pray with him now, offering his hand out to him. When the priest was leaving, he asked Lou if he could come by and visit him in 2 weeks, and Lou answered in a very Lou kind of way with "well yes, if I'm still around then".. unfortunately, Lou was not. After numerous weeks of being lovingly cared for by his children and hospice, he quietly in his sleep passed from this life into the arms of Jesus for eternity.
Lou Adkins June 18, 1931 - March 13, 2011.. He leaves behind a wife, 1 daughter, 3 sons, 10 grand kids and a slew of family and friends who will miss him greatly. He was honored on Friday March 18th with a military service at Riverside National Cemetery where our nation does an awesome tribute to servicemen. Lou had earned many medals, but the Purple Heart and Distinguished Service are highly regarded. Saturday a memorial service and dinner of his favorite foods Tri Tip /mashed potatoes / steamed vegetables / a variety of desserts. His children each spoke tremendously honoring words and shared stories of who their dad was to them, their children, and how he impacted their lives. Many of his friends also shared some good stories, laughs, and a group of four men shared collectively how he "was their father" when they had none, and how they were mentored, encouraged and instructed how to be men.
I've known for a long time that my friend Bonnie's strength, her emotional & spiritual gifts came from who her dad raised her to believe she was. I was truly impacted by how the depth of who he was at the end of his life. I knew him for a short time, but it was an absolute privilege to love him for who he was..
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Peculiar week to end comfort zone
Last week we were in Maui, returning to work on Monday. A couple of hours after arriving at work I get a phone call from my manager (Louis the terrible) with whom I don't have a very good respect for. He's a mumbled, ever so meek, and not a shred of inter personal skills... So what he softly utters is that he heard of a job opportunity that might allow me to pick up some hours, although he didn't have any info about the job being mentioned. The HR person Debbie I was to contact was someone that I knew from decades of working in Cerritos.
I than send an email to Debbie expressing "some" interest in the job if I didn't lose pay.. Because at this point I though I had a yes or no option.. She phoned me back and said she would find out about the position as the person doing the job now, was moving to Ohio etc.. The next morning I open an email from Debbie that explain while nothing is final, I am the only one being offered the job BECAUSE my job is being "displaced" as of Friday... UH! WHAT THE HECK are you talking about is what I'm thinking, how come my manager the day before didn't tel, me this???????? I'm in shock at what I'm reading.... The only option is to take the job or quit! My hours were cut back from 6.5-7 to 4 about a month ago by the same individual.
The new job being offered is a detailed and fresh amount of NEW to instill ones curiosity for sure. But nonetheless, the way it has been handled is not professional, courteous, or following protocol for being as they put it displaced which is another way to be "eliminated outright"
So while it only doubles the miles in my commute, the direction it heads in the morning is one of nasty roads for traffic if or when you are on them. So the start time of 6am will have me on the road early until I find the appropriate safe time to arrive ahead of the start time.. Now I am NOT much of a early morning person beyond throwing on walking clothes and a hat at 6am but not for being dressed professionally and commuting to arrive at 5:40am.. That has me most nervous not so much the job (will wait till I have a reason on that note)
So pray that I manage to learn to like being a morning person till at least the 11:15 hour when I'm off the clock..
I than send an email to Debbie expressing "some" interest in the job if I didn't lose pay.. Because at this point I though I had a yes or no option.. She phoned me back and said she would find out about the position as the person doing the job now, was moving to Ohio etc.. The next morning I open an email from Debbie that explain while nothing is final, I am the only one being offered the job BECAUSE my job is being "displaced" as of Friday... UH! WHAT THE HECK are you talking about is what I'm thinking, how come my manager the day before didn't tel, me this???????? I'm in shock at what I'm reading.... The only option is to take the job or quit! My hours were cut back from 6.5-7 to 4 about a month ago by the same individual.
The new job being offered is a detailed and fresh amount of NEW to instill ones curiosity for sure. But nonetheless, the way it has been handled is not professional, courteous, or following protocol for being as they put it displaced which is another way to be "eliminated outright"
So while it only doubles the miles in my commute, the direction it heads in the morning is one of nasty roads for traffic if or when you are on them. So the start time of 6am will have me on the road early until I find the appropriate safe time to arrive ahead of the start time.. Now I am NOT much of a early morning person beyond throwing on walking clothes and a hat at 6am but not for being dressed professionally and commuting to arrive at 5:40am.. That has me most nervous not so much the job (will wait till I have a reason on that note)
So pray that I manage to learn to like being a morning person till at least the 11:15 hour when I'm off the clock..
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