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bydolem
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Country: United States
Interests: Practicing and studying Christianity (I'm a work in progress); spending time with my family and friends.
Expertise: Incessant hopeful romantic and lifelong positive thinker about everyone but myself.
Occupation: Administrative
Industry: Real Estate
Message: message meEmail: email me
Website: visit my website
Member Since:
3/26/2006
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| The Low Down on the Holiday SeasonI cannot believe how long it has been since I updated!
I hope someone noticed 
So December 14th was our annual Holiday Luncheon. My employer rents out the Indiana Roof Ballroom and caters a meal for all 1000+ employees. We all bring a canned good and they are delivered to a local food bank. I think it is kinda cool because we give food before receiving food. :)
But that morning our department had our "Secret Santa Revealing". For the previous three days, those who participated were tasked with placing a small trinket of some type (candy, etc.) on the desk of the person they had drew the name of in our drawing along with a clue about who they were. Gathered in a conference room, we snacked on these yummy holiday bagels:
and mimosas  Yes I passed :)
It was fun watching people discover who their "Secret Santa" was. Many people had no idea and only a couple guessed correctly. I coordinated the event and I had people begging me to reveal who theirs was. :)
Anyway, each year the holiday luncheon theme is different. Last year there were these huge gold record (remember those) on the walls. I think it was a "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" kind of theme but I'm not sure. This year the theme was obvious:
See Santa and Mrs. Claus? :) Also, if you look closely at the stage, you will see a Raggedy Ann and Andy. They were *real people*. Very stealthily they would change position, creep along the stage, etc. At first their movements were so slight I couldn't be sure if they were different or if I simply was imagining things. When they ended up at opposite ends of the stage I knew for sure, but it became quite the game for us to try to figure out if they were truly moving or not. :)
On the table were these beautiful centerpieces. Nestled among evergreen boughs were wooden blocks, train whistles, yo-yos, pick-up sticks, trains, etc. The person with the most years of service at each table was awarded the centerpiece at their table. As I was standing in the elevator on my way out, I commented to a coworker who had received one about how neat they were. She looked at me and said, "Here" and gave it to me.  I tried to refuse but she insisted. She said she was going out of town for the holidays and would not be around to enjoy it, and all her chidlren/grandchildren were well beyond toy age. It was kind of sad in a way, but she said that my son would enjoy it (and the first thing he lifted from it was the train and yo-yo).
As always, the food was delicious, and I just sat there basking in the realization that I work for a really, really great company. Oh and they announced at the luncheon that they were giving us New Year's Eve off with pay. :) :) :) A standing ovation took place upon that announcement.
They gave away over $55,000.00 in prizes. I didn't win, but several people won $1,000 and $500 gift cards, computer systems, hotel packages, airline tickets, etc. It was a lovely end to the week and I left feeling very, very full in tummy and heart. :)
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| It was a good day right until I ate the shrimp.On Thursday our delivery guy comes by my desk and brings a box from Heartland Steaks. I assume it is just a reused box, but delivery man tells me, no, it really is from them .
It is addressed to B., who is in a meeting with P. Once the meeting is over, I tell B. "Hey, you got steaks!" He says excitedly, "Oh really. Merry Christmas to me!" Then he peers over my wall and sees the box and he looks genuinely surprised and says "Oh" in a surprised kind of way.
We had three triangle shaped UPS boxes delivered too, which turned out to each contain a big rolled up wad of drawings. B. tells me we now need to ship them to a vendor. So, I begin the search for similar DHL containers, as that is the service we use. I end up going down to my old floor and find three such boxes, bring them up and find out that they are not wide enough  So off I go back to my old floor where they hand me what looks like oversized Penn Station sandwich bags.
I head back upstairs with my three oversized sandwich bag looking containers and see that I have a voicemail. While a potential vendor waxes on about how great his company is, B. walks out of his office and says, "Do you like lobster?"
I pull the bottom of the receiver away from my mouth, shrug and say "I dunno." He looks at me incredulously and says, "You've never had lobster????" He turns around and goes back in his office and returns with the Heartland Steaks box, placing it at my feet.
And then my boss, the holder of the account from whence cometh my paycheck, says, "You can take these home. We just bought a side of beef and I have nowhere to put these. There are filet mignon and lobster tail in here."
Oh.My.Goodness.
Last night was our mix 'n' mingle...an evening gathering which is basically for the purpose of socializing with our coworkers. This year it was located on the floor above mine which has a terrace over looking the city. Beautiful.
There were too many people, not enough hors d'oeuvres, but apparently plenty of alcohol. 
A gal I used to work with (we'll call her "T") arrived and was chowing on a plate of food. I went over to say hello and decided to be spontaneous. I grabbed a shrimp off her plate and said, "Hey! Thanks!" Just as I got it into my mouth, she looked up at me (she was sitting down I was standing up) and said, "You know, that was the last shrimp here and I have only had one so...thanks for that." (and no, she was not seriously thankful).
I cannot even imagine the expression that was on my face. I vaguely remember looking up at the ceiling to avoid seeing the expressions on the faces of those around me, saying "Sorry" and walking away to the other side of the room. In a vain attempt to save face, I tracked down one of the circulating servers and asked, "Ma'am, are there anymore shrimp?" She shook her head and with a thick accent said, "No. No shrimp here. All gone."
That pretty much killed the evening. For me anyway.
So I went back down to my floor to gather my things, and ran into a coworker, R., a very nice and quiet fellow who along with his wife is in the process of adopting a child from Guatemala. R. also happens to be have lots of muscles and a head cold. I asked him if he is leaving and he says yes. I asked if he would do me a favor and he said yes.
Did I mention he is very nice? 
So he carried this box, which weighed every bit of twenty to thirty pounds, down ten floors on our building elevator, through a revolving door, across the street to the parking garage where we took another elevator to the sixth floor, and placed it into the trunk of my parent's car (that's blog entry fodder for another time).
Did I mention he is very muscular?
As quiet R. and I were walking to the intersection (and might I add it was freezing outside) we saw a marching band. Yes, a marching band was walking to the intersection. I asked R. if he played an instrument and he said he played the saxophone for six months in middle school and he was so bad that finally his Mom said she didn't care about how much money they spent on the rental it was going back. R. said, "I was that bad" He also told a story about how his sister-in-law dated a fisherman somewhere and they sent R. and his wife fresh salmon, tuna and king crab legs. He said it was really good.
I thanked him profusely for helping and he just brushed it off. As I started up the car belonging to my parents (more on that later), I realized that I had become indebted to three people that day: B for giving me the steaks and lobster tails, T for...well, you know....and to R. for carrying said steaks and lobster tails to my car. Then I realized it wasn't my car...the car belongs to my parents (more on that later) which was loaned to me over a week ago so including them I was now up to five people.
On my way home I kept reliving The Moment Of The Shrimp and I decide more than a mere "sorry" was in order. So I whipped into WalMart in search of a hot/cold bag I had seen there before. It looks like this:
Do you know they do not carry apology cards at Walmart? 
Kroger doesn't have them either, but they do have shrimp. In pretty little circular plastic serving platters with cocktail sauce in a little container in the middle. And they were on sale...$2.00 off! They look like this:
Walgreens has apology cards. Well, actually just one. I mean only one type of card that is for apologizing, but several copies of it. It isn't a graveling type apology card, but more of a I-hope-this-card-makes-you-feel-sorry-for-me type of apology card. The front says "Will you do one small thing for me?" and on the inside it says "Will you forgive me?" Which bugs me because *I* messed up and the card asks *her* to do something for *me*.
Maybe that's why most stores don't have apology cards. People either 1) don't make mistakes 2) make mistakes but simply move on or 3) make mistakes and a simple verbal apology suffices.
So tomorrow I am taking my friend "T" (or former friend "T", depending on how much she drank at the mix 'n' mingle) some shrimp cocktail:
and an apology card. In the neat hot/cold bag:
That way she can eat shrimp while I eat crow. *sigh*
M
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| Praise!Today my boss P. sent out an email and carbon copied me on it. She said "I think ______ is doing an incredible job for us and is probably to the point that she can begin to take on special projects. We would like to get her more engaged with Excel and she is ready to learn. My experience with her is that she is a "thinker" not just a "doer." If you have projects you can send her way, I think she's up to and looking forward to the challenge. "
I really like my job even though a lot of it I cannot talk about due to proprietary information. Let's just say that I know what is going on at our malls looooong before you do!  | | |
| Flora and FaunaMy boss attended a kick-off meeting for a fundraiser at work, and they had these as centerpieces. She brought one back for me.
She is *such* a great boss! | | |
| 24th Annual Young Audiences Chocolate FestivalOh.My.Goodness.
I managed to scheduled a ninety minute meeting with nine attendees today. So to celebrate, I treated myself to a walkabout at the 24th Annual Young Audiences Chocolate Fest, held each year in the Artsgarden. Chocolate Fest is a fund raising event that supports arts education programming in Indiana schools.
The event typically draws nearly 5,000 people seeking a slice of chocolate heaven. Some of the best chefs in the metro area donate their time and the fruits of their labor for this event.
The event benefits Young Audiences of Indiana, which reaches more than 300,000 children as the state's largest provider of professional arts education. The group works with more than 100 teaching artists and arts organization to offer performances and workshops to schools, libraries, parks, and community centers throughout the state.
The programs are conducted at no cost to the children.
Last year I went later in the day and alot of the booths were empty of samples, some even sold out of goods. This year I went at noon and I was not disappointed. There were cookies, brownies, cakes, truffles, turtles, ice cream cups, mousse, even Moon Pies. Fancy Moon Pies but.....Moon Pies just the same. It was unbelievable to walk around sampling desserts from restaurants that I will probably never be able to afford to eat at. But really, all I wanted was their chocolate. 
I made a couple laps around the tables, admiring the creativity and presentations, especially those from Ivy Tech Community College with their Chocolate Truffle Cake. It was so good..mmmmm...slurp...oh excuse me. 
Finally I settled on some Ghyslain Chocolatier Turtle candies which are shaped like turtles. I don’t think I could ever actually consume these beautiful works of art. I bought these for my new boss, P.
Each turtle is made by hand-painting a delicate milk chocolate shell with their own special blend of vibrant-colored pure cocoa-butter. The color indicates what type of filling the turtle has. Cool no?
I purchased an Awesome Gismo, an extra large turtle for my hubby from Abotts Also Candy Shop
 They make their own caramel, and were handing out samples wrapped in wax paper. Something was so nostalgic about eating a caramel...soft, chewy, buttery caramel. Mmmmm.
In a pretty box!
Now if I had seen this first, I probably would've spent all my money at this table. Why, you ask? For one thing, one ticket got me TWO chocolate bars that look like this
and tell cool facts about endangered species, such as the leopard and the jaguar
More importantly, they only purchase cacao grown in the natural shad of rich, diverse forests. So by purchasing these products, you support sustainable forest farmland and the species that flourish there. They use ethical trading practices to ensure farmers humane working conditions and a fair price for their cocao. Ten percent of their net profit goes to support species, habitat and humanity, including:
The Peace Learning Center - an Indianapolis-based community educational institution teaching peace building and conflict resolution skills to youth and adults. PLC establishes safe and common ways to deal with conflicts and differences.
The Humane Society of Indianapolis - providing shelter and care to animals in need on their way to loving homes since 1905.
To kick-off their community outreach program, Endangered Species Chocolate helped Indianapolis Public School #65 clean up their outdoor lab. They spent the morning weeding, mulching and pruning.
And did I mention they are based in Indianapolis?
Oh, and then while I was talking to the chocolate bar lady, a photographer from the Indianapolis Star took my photo and interviewed me. How cool is that! :)
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