#1 Working Pet Peeve

WARNING: Read with Caution -- Rant about to take place...

Allow me to explain how one simple action from a coworker can absolutely ruin my day!

When I first started my job, I of course, started at the bottom of the barrel. Since then I have worked my way up removing myself from the endless, meaningless tasks of office bitch and onto a more project related position. Hurrah, free from tasks that drive me up the wall! Or so I thought...

My boss always travels, therefore leaving me to tie up loose ends and deal with things she "cannot" (I use that term loosely) deal with from where ever she is. She'll give me the most cryptic tasks... "Call the phone company and tell them my phone doesn't recieve emails". Ok. Call them and they tell me what I suspected "you need the phone on hand to physically solve this problem". I call my boss and relay the information only to be met with a counter offer "here is all the information you may need to know. Call them back". This goes on for a couple of calls back a forth between my boss and the phone company, until the phone company finally gives in and gets the problem solved, as well as reminds me they have 24 hour customer service available so my boss can call when she gets a chance if any other problems come up. Good to know! Thanks!

A month later...same thing happens and I go through everything again. Now honestly, my boss is still in the country and has the time to call me to ask me to call someone else to fix her problem which always results in me having to call both parties over and over again to fix. Wouldn't this problem be fixed much more quickly if, say, she were to just call on her own? Yes. I think so.

This happens with so many other things as well and I'm the one who comes out looking like a complete tool.

Another situation that just drives me up the wall is when someone is dealing with a situation from the beginning and then decides to hand off the final part to you. You don't know the background of this situation, an email doesn't really do it justice considering they have been talking to this person on the phone as well throughout the process. You then have to do the same with the above annoyance. Finish off the task with no idea as to what was discussed previously and constantly go back and forth between the two parties.

What is the point?? Why can't people just deal with their own shit? Why must everyone have to feel important and delegate at the last minute? A word to the wise....be responsible for your own crap...delegating is only effective when you do it right!

Fourth Clue on a Stroke

I received this in an email, so it isn't my personal story but is interesting information, and important!

Blood Clots/Stroke - They Now Have a Fourth Indicator, the Tongue

STROKE:Remember the 1st Three Letters....S.T.R.

STROKE IDENTIFICATION:

During a BBQ, a friend stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) she said she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes.They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food. While she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening.

Ingrid's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6:00 pm Ingrid p assed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ.

Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today. Some don't die. They end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead.

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke...totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.

RECOGNIZING A STROKE:

Thank God for the sense to remember the '3' steps, STR .

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke. Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:

S *Ask the individual to SMILE.
T *Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently)(i.e. It is sunny out today)
R *Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call emergency number immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

New Sign of a Stroke

Stick out Your Tongue: Ask the person to 'stick' out his tongue. If the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other,that is also an indication of a stroke.

Life in General...

God I am bad at keeping up with this!

Starting Tuesday morning, I have decided to try and live with more of an open heart. I'm hoping this will work out for me, but who's to say? You may be asking what brought this on. Well here you go...

When I was at work on Monday night I had to help someone who I think was having a heart attack. This man had collapsed and was blue all over and not breathing for an extended period of time. I had called the ambulance and tried to stay as calm as possible afterwards (which is incredibly hard when you are expecting the worst). Running back and forth between the entrance and where the man was, waiting for the ambulance and trying to explain to others what was happening (as I really had no idea) proved to be very stressful and incredibly difficult.

Luckily there were many helpful people around to lend a hand and their expertise (CPR and First Aid), and thankfully by the time they reached this man he had started breathing again and didn't need CPR. The ambulance finally arrived, which really isn't as long as I felt it was at the time, and took care of the situation. As far as I know he is ok right now, hopefully recovering where he has the help he needs.

Everything was adrenaline based during the time. I was scared but mostly moving quickly to get things accomplished and sorted out. It was only about an hour and a bit afterwards that I really felt the intensity of the situation and started to feel more traumatized than relieved.

So now, when looking at how real things can be without you knowing it, I am starting to work on taking advantage of the time I have and the people around me. Why not say something you would hold in before? Maybe the results will surprise you. Maybe telling someone how much they mean to you can make their day, or week, and no doubt it will certainly make you feel better.

Now, I'm sure I will lose this new look on life as time goes on, but as for now, I'm going to embrace it and love the crap out of all of you! I suggest trying it out for yourself!!

On another note: I am posting some interesting information on strokes. Not to worry, it's not all scientific! The information may help you in the future, and really it's just good to know these things!

Time Change

I haven't written for over a week, and for good reason- I've been crazy busy with work! I work two jobs and just happened to pick up an extra shift at my part-time job for the last two weeks. Not a good time to pick up extra work if you ask me!

The time change almost killed me! It amazing what losing ONE hour can do to you. Of course I had an excellent night on Saturday, which resulted in me sleeping in on Sunday morning. Realizing that I not only slept in way too late, but also that I had to add an extra hour on there, destroyed my day.

I found myself awake at 2:00am unable to sleep because I was really only awake for a few hours during Sunday. Then an entire week of two jobs, an extra shift, and meeting up with people provides for some long days.

I understand the time change is meant to conserve energy, but I have a question: Why do we decide to turn back the time halfway through the year? Have we decided it's time to be wasteful again? I'm sure there is some underlying reason for it, but at this point it makes no sense to me. If Saskatchewan can stay with the same time year round, why is it necessary for everyone else to mess with it?

Give me another month and I'll feel rested enough to explore the logic in this...

Proposals for New Yukon Signage

Ok so I was looking through the Yukon News the other day and came across this gem. It's freakin' halarious and pretty spot on!

STOP or Get Out of My Way: I have the luxury of working in a pretty great office overlooking a busy intersection in town. The fantastic thing about this intersection (for viewing purposes only) is the lack of lights and the presence of the stop sign instead. Now, for the times in the day that I decide to forget about what I'm working on and stare out the window...more often than I'd like to admit...this intersection fully backs up this "proposal".

More times than not, I see people drive up to these stop signs, not even pretend to brake, but just plow right through. It's just interesting how people in the Yukon believe they just "know the streets" and the rules don't fully apply to them. Coincidental to the fact I read in the paper that Whitehorse has the most vehicle fatalities per capita in Canada? I think not!

4-Way Dash Through: We had one...I repeat...ONE main 4-way stop in downtown Whitehorse and this proved too difficult for many of the drivers. I had to use that stop quite regularily and each time was unique. Either people weren't paying attention, or believed they had the right of way because they had the bigger vehicle, or were just too timid for the road. Regardless, lights were added and now turning left coming from downtown is a pain in the ass! Good job City of Whitehorse, add lights but don't add a turning signal...so much fun at 5pm!

Close to Store Parking: I have personally been tempted to park in these spots. I mean come on, they are always empty and when I just need to run into a store I wonder if it would really make a difference. You'll be glad to know I have yet to succum to my temptation.

Speed up Ahead: I'm usually pretty good with the pedestrians around town...but the winter of course makes it so much more difficult! And then you get those street rockstars that decide they are going to walk up to the corner and just keep up going. But wait! They put their arm out in the process so it's totally legit! Eff that!! Your magic arm is not going to stop my car from skidding on the ice and hitting you, you freakin' dumbass!! Stop on the corner like normal people and wait until it's safe to cross!

Overall, these proposed signs are fantastic! But just think about what would happen if they were really put into place. Imagine how far us Yukoners would push the "meaning" then!

Obligitory Numero Uno

Well I can't say I have anything incredibly important to say. However, this doesn't imply that I never will. If you are interested in listening to a Yukoner ramble on about just about anything, well, I do believe you have found the perfect blog!

I can't promise you'll agree with everything or anything I will say. I also can't promise that I will be the most educated and informed person in what I am discussing at the time. The point of this is typically to send out your own priceless opinion, is it not?

I will promise that I will endulge you in bitter rants, happy and not-so-happy observations, stories of what intrigued me during the day, rediculous stories of life growing up in Whitehorse and my time outside of Whitehorse, my endless lists of favorites, likes and dislikes, and much much more.

I welcome you to join me on this journey! And who knows...maybe after I publish this I will discover I really don't have anything to say and this is actually my last blog.

Parking in Downtown Whitehorse

As I sit looking outside my office window, I am reminded that the loonie I deposited in the parking meter at 1:30pm has long since expired. I just paid off two parking tickets and am not eager to head outside and pry the newest one out from under the fallen snow and my windsheld wiper, let alone figure out when I am going to pay this one!

I remember when the parking meters used to need only a quarter for 30 minutes. Now a quarter will get you 15 lousy minutes! Don't even get me started on how the dimes and nickles aren't even relevent in the whole "parking extravaganza" anymore. Now what am I going to use them for?!

There is always the other option of the "free parking" which is typically a two hour limit as well. There I have to decide if I should get outside and find a new spot for my car, or just pray to the gods that Mr. Parking Meter Man hasn't noticed that my car has been sitting there for 8 straight hours!

For the amount of people who work downtown, whether it be for Government, Tourism, privately owned businesses, etc...you would think the city would look at the facts and maybe cut us all some slack!

Once summer rolls around and the tourists rear their RV-lovin' heads...well...let's just save that for another special day, shall we?