Monday, July 09, 2007

corporate readjustment and other general chaos

So I think I am finally over the intial shock of the announcement that the powers that be (read: the money hungry executives in corporate America) have decided to sell off my division of our company. Now there are several things that are strange about this decision (irreverent of its effect on me personally and my immediate coworkers)
We are the Gulf Coast Division of my company. Our company now has several offices, including a large one in Tulsa which covers a different region. We are in the corporate office in Houston which houses the executives and another region besides the Gulf Coast.
Our executives and HR just recently moved their offices to the 58th floor of our building (from the 8th) and the other region to the 55th (also from the 8th) The Gulf Coast is on the 57th and the Accounting and IT Depts are on the 56th floor. This has been within the last month. The announcement about the sale of our division came about 2 weeks ago. Now why would they spend and invest all kinds of time and money on moving to sandwich the Gulf Coast if they knew they were going to put it on the market??
We may be bought out all together and not have any jobs going forward, or we may all have jobs with the new company or some may go on with other positions in our current company or some may not be offered jobs with either company.

I just know that I can't afford to be without a job or medical insurance.

This announcement was made a few days before my birthday. My birthday itself SUCKED!
There were high points: I went to lunch "off-campus" at a favorite restaurant with my co-workers, but there was really no "celebration" as the pall of the the announcement made us all a little off kilter. Last year I got balloons and confettia and a card and and and. This time, I didn't even get a cake on my actual birthday, even from my family (mom and dad were in Israel, to be fair) and that's pretty yucky! Kids love birthdays and I want to do all of them up special, but mine was lacking - definately not one for the record books. Eran did bring me some beautiful roses which he had to walk home with from the store, but it garnered us a dinner invitation for Shabbat where the hostess went out of her way to get me a parve triple chocolate birthday cake and surprise me with it! That was so NICE that it saved my birthday from being a total wash.

And of course, I have been thouroughly lambasted by my internist for having the insides of a 57 year old, considering the amount of high blood pressure and cholesterol in my body for such a long time. I think she hates me since she rushes around as if she is SO busy and its a huge incovenience to see me - and I hate going to the doctor as it is. I hate the fact that I am now on so much damn medication, I hate the fact that I now have a "condition" or two that just adds stress to my life!
And she took me off the meds that make it easier to take, claiming they induce weight gain and that is contra to the other health issues I should be facing. So I joined the gym and have even been once during lunch.

Then of course there is the fact that we were overextended from the renovations of half of the Houston Levine homestead. They went to Israel and we went to work (or at least Eran did) Eran went a little crazy and just kept going with all the changes...Luckily, I talked him out of painting over the wooden kitchen cabinets. It would have been a disaster!

So there you have it - Thank goodness my beautiful children are growing every day.
Yaeli is crawling quite nicely now and babbling "da-da" and waving - mostly to herself. She can squeal with delight and always lights up when she sees me, even when I came in the middle of the day to pick up Yoni. She is desperately trying to walk, pulling up on everything and getting frustrated when her legs give out.
Yoni is still struggling lately with laboured breathing but because of his runny nose and being off his asthma medicine. There have been a lot of issues with his camp class being out of control and not such a great environment for all of the kids. And to illustrate that point there was one morning (before nap time and right before Yoni got really sick from his lymph gland - which is still pretty swollen and sometimes tender to the touch) when the counselor called and told us that Yoni had hit a kid, bit someone else and choked a kid with his hands so hard that the other child was shaking. That is simply NOT the child I know and love. They always present it in such a way that you never know what exactly happened and which children were involved, but it was a definate reflection on the chaos that abounded in that classroom. There have since then been several staff changes, which is also difficult on this age group, but a lesser of the evils at this point, unfortunately, but hopefully the dynamics of the staff are now such that the overcrowding in the room won't be such an issue.

1 comment:

Miriam the Mommy said...

Whew, I think I'm caught up now!!

1) welcome home!

2) hope the Yon-man behaves himself and starts breathing (meaning, breathing = behaving. No comment on the alleged camp behavior - I'm not mekabel such lashon hara about that sweet boy!) And you feel good too!

3) good luck on the employment front. You know, we have great health care in Israel (ooh, that's hitting low...)

4) post more pictures!

5) Yaeli is practically the same weight as my daughter! (she's 16 months and JUST hit 20 pounds... at least we can turn her car seat!)