Saturday, February 28, 2009

Old friends and a dog




Had dinner with some old friends, some I hadn't seen for thirteen years. Time hadn't made us shy, we picked right up. People don't really change, but time changes people. Regardless, we had a blast.

Friday, February 27, 2009

It's All About Me

I am recently retired. Underscore retired, remove the “ret” and replace with “F”—Laid off, downsized, right-sized, whatever. I’m not bitter.

I started in Portland working for Pacific Northwest Bell, moved to Seattle about the same time they changed the name to U S West. When I moved to Omaha, the name changed to Qwest. After that, the CEO, Joseph Nacchio, and his gang raped the retirement fund and laid me off along with thousands of others. I’m happy to say, the man is now in prison.

All of that took thirty-one years of my life. That’s a chunk of change, so I certainly can’t trivialize it by not mentioning it. That would erase those untold hours in my life as insipid, which they were, actually.

It’s the few waking hours away from work that define me. My husband, my daughter and son who have given me five grandchildren between them, the many friends I’ve encountered through the years, some only memories now, others with me for life. In addition, the lessons, and mistakes I’ve enjoyed have pooled to enrich my life.
Why am I blogging? I love to write and I want to share my journey with you. It’s a journey that lay dormant in me for, dare I say, fifty-five years. I’m going to enjoy the trip.

I am recently retired. Underscore retired, remove the “ret” and replace with “F”—Laid off, downsized, right-sized, whatever. I’m not bitter.

I started in Portland working for Pacific Northwest Bell, moved to Seattle about the same time they changed the name to U S West. When I moved to Omaha, the name changed to Qwest. After that, the CEO, Joseph Nacchio, and his gang raped the retirement fund and laid me off along with thousands of others. I’m happy to say, the man is now in prison.

All of that took thirty-one years of my life. That’s a chunk of change, so I certainly can’t trivialize it by not mentioning it. That would erase those untold hours in my life as insipid, which they were, actually.

It’s the few waking hours away from work that define me. My husband, my daughter and son who have given me five grandchildren between them, the many friends I’ve encountered through the years, some only memories now, others with me for life. In addition, the lessons, and mistakes I’ve enjoyed have pooled to enrich my life.
Why am I blogging? I love to write and I want to share my journey with you. It’s a journey that lay dormant in me for, dare I say, fifty-five years. I’m going to enjoy the trip.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Verda Deos-Hart



My mom is on my mind a lot right now. I looked at her the other day and saw, not an old white headed woman, but a, still, beautiful woman. I live fifteen hundred miles from her and it's hard not to be closer.

I’ve written a tribute to my mother, as a reminder, in the sidebar of this blog.

Elizabeth

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Coming out of the Dark Ages


When blogs first came out, I said, "What's the point?" That was back during the dark ages, five to ten years ago, before I had my first laptop. So here I am, behind the times trying to catch up. Reading all the how too's of creating a blog others will read. So I thought I'd write about my learning curve. It's not even a curve at this point. But one of the things I learned just today, to relax and let my fingers do the talking. I also learned not to make my blogs too long. Most people's interest span is a paragraph or two and if you're like me, that also applies to the stuff that really interests me.