At the end of July, I had foot surgery. For at least 3 weeks or more I would not be able to put weight on that foot. I moved the guest bed down into the dining room, put a small table on wheels next to the bed for my laptop computer. I could use crutches to hobbl
e to the bathroom off the living room. Ken came over every morning to get breakfast for me and set me up with an ice chest with lunch in it for the day. He came back after work to feed me dinner and set me up again for the night. I could work when not sleeping. The first week was tough, but I built up calluses and muscles in my arms using the crutches. Since the shower is upstairs, I’d sit on the stairs and pull myself up because I didn’t trust using the crutches on the stairs! After 3 weeks of working from home, Ken would take me to work and pick me up. I’d take taxis to my follow-up doctor appointments. I was on crutches for a long time. It was a long haul, but eventually I walked in regular shoes just before the first snow fell in early October!
Under my cast was a boot that hooked up to a machine that circulated ice water through the boot under the cast. Icy cold and painful, but it helped the swelling so it would heal faster.
August 2008
Started working with a few people in a study group to study for the GPHR (Global Professional in Human Resources) certification exam. Since I’d spent much of the year so far studying, I thought I should keep going and take the Global exam before I lost the study habits I’d built up. This exam would be in December, so again, I was giving myself plenty of time.
September 2008The new Subaru Forester arrived. Ken drove it for me since I was still on crutches and couldn’t drive. It’s slightly larger than the 2003 one I had, which makes it more comfortable. It’s an automatic but it has the ability to be driven like a stick shift, which is what I do in winter with slippery roads. I love the heated seats! I had an auto-start put on it so I can start it while I’m on the 8th floor at work, looking out the window at the car, and it’s warmed up by the time I get downstairs to the parking lot.
October 2008First snow on 6 October, but they were big fluffy flakes that didn’t last long. This was the earliest snow since I moved here. The next day it snowed a bit more. On 16 October, there were several man-moose playing in the snowstorm in our back yards. Those of us who have backyards facing the greenbelt behind us don’t have fences, and I love it that way.
November 2008Ken and I celebrated Thanksgiving by going to dinner at Simon and Seafort’s restaurant downtown Anchorage. We’d gone there for dinner last Thanksgiving too and enjoyed it. We didn’t overeat and we didn’t have a big mess in the kitchen to clean up. We decided this would be a “new” tradition for us!
December 2008Passed the GPHR exam on 23 December. It was a great Christmas present for myself.
January 2009Volunteered/Elected to be Government Affairs/Legislative Director for ASHRM, the Anchorage chapter of SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management).
Volunteered/Elected to be Government Affairs/Legislative Director for the Alaska SHRM State Council. (It’s the same position for both organizations.)
March 2009I attended the SHRM Annual Legislative Conference in Washington, DC. ASHRM and the Alaska SHRM State Council paid for airfare and hotel costs for the trip. Because I’m on the Alaska SHRM State Council, registration for the conference was waived.
I loved the conference; it was energizing. There is so much new legislation expected in the next few years, and it was interesting and exciting to learn about what is expected that will impact HR and business. The group of us from Alaska had a chance to meet Senator Lisa Murkowski as well as Representative Don Young and his wife. Begich was testifying that day and wasn’t available at all. We never did receive the photo with Don Young, but the photo with Lisa is included here.
My long-time friend Jane Howard picked me up when I arrived at Dulles and I stayed with Jane and Neil for a few days. They both still work for Bechtel although Neil did try retiring for a while before he was talked back into returning to work.
Flowers were poking up out of the ground and compared to Anchorage, the world was so green there! After the conference, I stayed a couple more days, and I also went to ASRC’s Maryland office for part of a day and met with a couple of people there. It was nice to meet some of the people I had been talking to by phone. I drove to the ASRC office, but I didn’t get on the road until 10am and I started back home at 3pm. Still hit bumper-to-bumper traffic, and I am thankful we don’t have traffic in Anchorage!
I didn’t get a chance to see long-time friends Marilyn and Nigel and their kids on this trip; there just wasn’t enough time. I hope to attend the conference next year, and I will plan to get together if they have time. I’m sure I won’t recognize their daughters by now.
April 2009ASHRM’s monthly meeting topic this month was legislative issues, and EFCA (Employee Free Choice Act) was a hot topic at this time. I invited the Alaska President of the Alaska AFL-CIO and the AFL-CIO National Membership leader, who was in town that day, to participate in the legislative panel we had at our meeting. They are both exceptional speakers, and I felt fortunate they agreed to participate. We had several lawyers and a couple of senior HR leaders from Anchorage along with the Union leaders. Any discussion about union and non-union points of view is apt to be a bit heated, but everyone remained respectful while at the same time engaging in an energizing and spirited dialogue.
May 2009At the end of May, my older brother and his wife, Bill and Marian, and Ken and I made an emergency trip to Soap Lake, Washington to visit my Aunt Jeanette. She is 93 years old and still lives by herself in her home in Soap Lake, Washington. She’d fallen off her yard scooter while working in her garden and she was in a bad way so we all made a quick trip. She decided she needed to go into an assisted living facility. But during the course of the week Ken and I were there and the subsequent few months Bill and Marian, who are retired, stayed with her, she refused to move to assisted living. She did get Meals on Wheels set up and Marian’s good cooking helped her gain back some strength she’d lost as she hadn’t been eating very much when by herself. So she’s still living by herself in Washington and we just hope she keeps going strong.
June 2009
In early June, I transferred from the ASRC Corporate HR group into Petro Star Inc. (PSI), one of the ASRC subsidiaries. Their HR Director, who had started with PSI almost 24 years ago, retired, and I took her spot. It’s a great group of people and I really enjoy it.
We don’t get a whole lot of popular entertainers up here. OK, yes, Elton John did come to Anchorage in April 2008, though we didn’t go to his show, but he was the biggest name to ever come to Anchorage so far. Comedian Jeff Dunham was in Anchorage for one show this month, and we got tickets and enjoyed his show.
This summer was by far the most beautiful warm and sunny summer in Alaska since I’ve lived here. I think it actually was the best summer in about ten years or more. Last summer I hardly could use the convertible with the top down since it rained so much and was so cool all summer. This year was a great year to have a convertible! Now I’m spoiled and I’m going to want all the summers to be like this one, which will not happen I’m sure.
July 2009Petro Star has operations in Fairbanks, and this month I got a chance to go up for a few days and se
e what we have. We have a small refinery in North Pole. In Fairbanks, we have Sourdough Fuel gas stations with convenience stores in them, and we also have some heating oil and lubricant sales. Fairbanks had a very bad fire season in the outlying areas this year, and the first day and a half I was there it was difficult to breathe. On the 2nd day it rained very lightly and that cleared the air for the rest of my trip. It was warm and sunny and one of our stores is outside of town a ways, sort of at the start of the haul road. (If any of you watch Alaska Ice Road Truckers, maybe you’ll know what I mean!) The fireweed was in full bloom everywhere and it was spectacular. It reminded me a bit of fields of lavender in France. I found the photo here on the Internet; I didn’t take it. But that’s how it looked along the roadside.
August 2009Little Bit (my cat who is 18 years old) woke me up one night this month when she tumbled off the bed on the floor. She was walking crooked and seemed as if she had lost her balance and ability to walk a straight line. She couldn’t jump up onto the bed. When trying to jump down off the bed, she’d fall off. It was about 4:00am. I thought she might be having a mild stroke and as soon as her vet’s office opened, Ken and I were there with her. The vet agreed that it was either a mild stroke or a brain tumor. Of the two choices, a mild stroke would probably be the better choice as cats usually recover completely. Within a couple of days she was pretty much back to normal. The only lingering thing I notice is that her balance is not as good as it used to be; it’s just slightly off. Overall, she’s been doing well since then and has actually been eating better. She was never a big eater, so it’s nice to see her eating a bit more. She has a slight kidney malfunction that she’s had for a few years now, but fortunately, it doesn’t seem to be progressing much. So I’m hoping that this mild stroke was a one-time thing and she’ll be find now for quite a few more years.
We signed Baku, Ken’s dog, up for 6 weeks of dog training classes. Ken and he did pretty well. Most of the other dogs were young. Baku is about six years old and has a good disposition and is kind of laid-back, but it would be nice if he learned a few commands better. Ken admits he’s not very consistent when training, so the classes were as much for Ken as for Baku!
Ken took advantage of the Cash for Clunkers program on the very last Saturday it was available. He’d been looking since the program began, but at 6’ 6” tall, he can’t fit in a lot of the lower-priced vehicles. We’d just about given up when we went back to the Subaru dealer where I got my new car last year. He can drive my Subaru Forester, but it wouldn’t be comfortable for driving all the time. The dealer had one Tribeca, in a very classy looking dark smoke gray color, and quite a few people who were trying to buy a car before the program ended were looking at it. But Ken got it. I’m sooooooooooooo glad his old Dodge truck with 4-wheel drive is gone and he has a nice comfortable and safe all-wheel drive Subaru. His truck guzzled gas like crazy and “basic” is too nice a word to describe how plain it was. He’s thrilled with the Tribeca and everyday he says something about how much he loves driving it. And I’m glad he has something that doesn’t take 30 minutes before the heater works.
October 2009
At the end of October, Rob (my brother) broke his leg at work. He thought it was his ankle that he’d hurt, but it turns out he fractured a bone in his leg. He’s had the cast on for 6 weeks. He goes back to the doctor 14 December and he’s hoping he’ll be able to walk then. He’s getting workers compensation so he’s not without some income. Ken’s been getting groceries for him and both Ken and I have gone over most weekends to pack up all his trash from his trashcans in bathrooms and kitchen and Ken takes it out to his community trash bins. Rob bought a condo a few months ago, taking advantage of the $8,000 incentive for first time buyers. The trash bin is a long walk toward the back of the complex, and there’s no way he can make that hike with crutches. He is anxious to get back to work as it’s pretty boring sitting and not being able to do anything at all.
I’ve been working long hours at work (I know, what else is new?!). The HR Generalist in my group is out on maternity leave. We have a new HR Assistant taking the payroll duties over in the meantime, so that’s handled well. But she hasn’t any time to help me so while Jennifer is out on leave, I’m buried. I hope to have a part-time temp come in this week to help until mid January when Jennifer returns.
Ken rented out his house to a long-time friend of his this month, making it possible for Ken and Baku (his dog) to move in with me. Little Bit, the cat, doesn’t like Baku, but she tolerates him. She was raised part time with my mom’s little dog, but Baku is a big dog and wants to play. She pretty much stays upstairs except to eat and visit us when we’re downstairs eating or watching TV, and the dog stays downstairs. But since she is eighteen years old, she sleeps a lot. She misses the sunshine in the winter too! The dog sheds buckets of fur and Ken is vacuuming the downstairs every couple of days. (We have a Dyson – it’s a ‘power tool’ you know!) I had the carpet replaced over the summer with hard wood so it’s much easier to vacuum up the dog hair. All in all everyone, including Ken and I, are adjusting well.
November 2009Ken and I celebrated Thanksgiving again this year by having dinner at Simon & Seafort’s restaurant in town. And it was just as good as we remembered from last year !
December 2009And all of a sudden we're speeding toward the end of this year.
We had our Petro Star company Christmas party the first Saturday evening in December in a private room at the downtown Hilton, and it was wonderful. Ken actually bought a sports coat, nice pants and a new shirt. One of the people at work set up his photography equipment to take photos of us by the Christmas tree, and I’m glad to see that all my chins were with me that evening!
Ken hasn’t been bicycling to and from work since he got his new Subaru Tribeca, because he loves driving it too much, but he’s planning to start to ride to and from work on his bicycle again this week. Unless we get new snow. When it snows, it takes a couple of days for the sidewalks and bike baths to be plowed.
I’m still working long hours this month. But hey, at least I’ve updated my Blog which was way overdue. Embarrassingly overdue. I’ve got my SAD light at work so every morning I have it shining on me for several hours. The shortest day of the year will be here soon, and everyone thinks that it heralds the start of winter. I view it as the start of spring since the days will start getting longer. By the end of January, I’ll be able to tell that there’s more daylight and by mid February I’ll begin to stop needing so much more sleep on weekends ! I’m hoping we have a lot of sunny days this winter to combat the darkness. We’ve had our white icicle Christmas lights up since just before Halloween, and they’re cheerful and bright when I drive in the driveway after work every night !
Every year I say I’m going to go “outside” (meaning out of Alaska) in January – go to Vegas for a couple of days to get sunshine. But I haven’t gone. Winter really is beautiful here and air travel is not easy or much fun anymore. The planes are crammed full and there’s no leg room … and there are few good discounts to fly in or out of Alaska.
I think I will start going for tanning sessions weekly for about 10 minutes. Yes, you Californians reading this are thinking, ‘oh, that’s so not healthy.’ But up here the doctors recommend it since we don’t get enough sunshine, and here it’s healthy. Funny how perspective changes!
Looking forward to 2010, I’m hoping to attend the SHRM Employment Law and Legislative Conference again. It will be held March 17 – 19 this year.
At the end of May, Ken and I are going to my nephew Jonathan’s college graduation from Sonoma State. Can you say “California Wine”? Ken wants to take his bicycle along on this trip and do some riding. I’d like to stay overnight in San Francisco for a night or two and rediscover what real Chinese food is supposed to taste like. I plan to introduce Ken to dim sum at Yank Sing, which I’m pretty sure he’ll hate, but then I’ll just have to eat his portion too!
At the end of May 2011, my niece Rachael is getting married in the Palm Springs area, and that’s marked off on our calendars and we’re looking forward to that even though it’s still a long way off.
If you’re out there in social network land, I’m on Facebook, Linked In and Twitter; though I honestly don’t see the point of Twitter ! But I spend so much time on the computer at work that when I get home the last thing I want to do is sit down in front of a computer. But I do check it all a couple times a week.
Have a wonderful holiday season and HAPPY NEW YEAR.
e to the bathroom off the living room. Ken came over every morning to get breakfast for me and set me up with an ice chest with lunch in it for the day. He came back after work to feed me dinner and set me up again for the night. I could work when not sleeping. The first week was tough, but I built up calluses and muscles in my arms using the crutches. Since the shower is upstairs, I’d sit on the stairs and pull myself up because I didn’t trust using the crutches on the stairs! After 3 weeks of working from home, Ken would take me to work and pick me up. I’d take taxis to my follow-up doctor appointments. I was on crutches for a long time. It was a long haul, but eventually I walked in regular shoes just before the first snow fell in early October!
e what we have. We have a small refinery in North Pole. In Fairbanks, we have Sourdough Fuel gas stations with convenience stores in them, and we also have some heating oil and lubricant sales. Fairbanks had a very bad fire season in the outlying areas this year, and the first day and a half I was there it was difficult to breathe. On the 2nd day it rained very lightly and that cleared the air for the rest of my trip. It was warm and sunny and one of our stores is outside of town a ways, sort of at the start of the haul road. (If any of you watch Alaska Ice Road Truckers, maybe you’ll know what I mean!) The fireweed was in full bloom everywhere and it was spectacular. It reminded me a bit of fields of lavender in France. I found the photo here on the Internet; I didn’t take it. But that’s how it looked along the roadside.