Bad Bernie!

I know it's been way too long between updates but I've been keeping busy with mundane things like work.

The trip to Maryland was great! I got to see my cruising cronies and had a fabulous time. The surprise guests were Steve & Arline Holub, all the way from Lakeland, Florida. I had been secretly hoping it would be them but knew that it was a long drive from FL. Arline doesn't fly unless she has no choice. I think I'm getting too old for these mini-vacations. For the most part, I just wanted to eat and sleep while I was there.

At work we still have more questions than answers regarding the FedEx purchase. The SEC imposed "closed mouth" period, ended last Tuesday. Hopefully will have some answers this week but I won't count on it. Rumors have been flying around regarding our Personal Time. One rumor is that we will be able to use our accrued PT until a certain date. On that date, we lose whatever we have for PT OR they could buy it back from us. The other rumor (I don't like this one) we will simply lose all accrued PT without having a chance to ever use it. I haven't heard any rumors about Vacation time, yet.

On 8/1/06 we will receive New Hire packages from FedEx. We, in essence, need to reapply for our current jobs. While this is simply a formality, it will be a PITA because of the timeline. We have only 1 week to make sure about 150 employees fill out the forms and they must be done on-site, no taking them home to fill out. Later in the month we'll need to go through all this, again, but with the Benefits package. No one should have this much fun at work.

This weekend I drove to Manchester, NH for my cousin's (Maxine) wedding reception. Maxine & Matt had the ceremony on Friday night and the reception on Saturday afternoon. The drive up was long and very tiring. Torrential downpours plagued me for the whole trip. At some points the top speed on the highway was 45 mph. Visibilty was near zero during these downpours.

I arrived at the reception 30 minutes late but still ready to have fun. This was a very untradional wedding and the reception was more of party. We entertained ourselves while listening to a local radio station. The cake, instead of traditional tiered cake, was a sheet cake. The dinner was a simple buffet. It was great to see several cousins that I hadn't seen in way too many years and catch up with them.

After the reception was formed a mini caravan to the hotel. After checking in, several of us were going to continue the party at a local "watering hole". Once inside the hotel is when the troubles began. First to check in was Cote/Perry. Ok, Perry reservation is good! Woohoo! Oops, no reservation for Cote. Ut oh -- not good. Next to check in was Nash but two rooms. Hmm, there are 3 rooms booked under Nash. Ok, they give one of the rooms to Cote, afterall we're all family. Next come my parents - 2 rooms for Damboise. Wait, there's only booking for Damboise. The girl is frantically searching for the 2nd reservation and there is none and the hotel is booked solid. The clerk wanted me to wait because someone else was having a problem with their credit card and that room MIGHT become available. I nicely explained that if it wasn't available, I have atleast 2-hr. drive to get home so I wasn't hanging around for a "maybe room". While everyone headed to their rooms and then to the watering hole, I drove home last night! Thankfully I had only had 1 glass of wine at the reception so I was capable of driving that distance. I made it home, thankfully without torrential downpours, about 9:30 last night.

Needless to say, the management at Fairfield Inn by Marriott, in Manchester, NH will be on the receiving end of a complaint. I don't fault the clerks, there was simply nothing they could do. I do fault the sales person that handled all the room reservations. When we told the clerk who the sales person was she shook her head and called him "her problem child" and "I should have known it was him". Those statements alone, tell me they have problems with him on a regular basis.