I Need to Vent

I'm the fitness leader at work for about 80 military people. I have other fitness leaders that help me out with running the three fitness sessions a week that I have to do. Well, I should say I USED to have other fitness leaders to help me out. You see, I had 3 other guys and between the four of us, nobody had to do much. Then I turned control over to one of the guys, Ed, around January. Well, he moved to another group, so he handed it back over to me in April, and he's no longer around to help out. Another one of the guys also left to go to school at AFIT (the place I'll be going in August). So, that left me and Ben. Now Ben has always been pretty unreliable, but since I took back over, he has been scheduled to run a total of 8 sessions. Only 1 of those sessions, did he actually show up. 2 of those sessions, he called right before hand and said he wasn't going to be able to make it. And 5 of those sessions, he just didn't show at all. Now that is pretty frustrating, especially since he's the only other guy certified to help me out with this fitness stuff. So, today, I got this information together, asked if he had some time to talk, and went down to his desk to tell him that his performance is unacceptable. I was very nice about it. He really didn't care though, and said his job is more important than the fitness stuff, so it's always going to come first. I said that he was right, his main job should come first, but maybe he could look into some time management skills or something, because he has made a commitment to the Fitness Program that he is not fulfilling. That wasn't so bad, it's what happened next that really made me upset...The guy sitting next to him in his cubicle says, "I'm gonna butt into your conversation real quick." Then he proceeds to tell me that this was not an appropriate conversation for 2 Lts to be having. I should have had this conversation in private. I was way out of line to be talking to Ben that way. I said that I thought this wasn't a public setting, but he said it's completely public to all the cubicles around. It wasn't like we were shouting or anything. We were talking barely above a whisper. Anyway, I finished my conversation with Ben and went to the bathroom and cried. I absolutely HATE confrontation to begin with, so going down to talk to Ben was hard enough. Then getting berrated by some civilian guy for the way I did it made me feel like a huge failure. I talked to Armand later in the afternoon, and Armand was pissed at the guy for doing that to me. He pointed out that the guy completely contradicted himself about me not reprimanding Ben in public while he belittled me right in front of Ben. Completley undermining my authority. So with Armands prodding, I wrote this civilian guy an e-mail explaining how wrong he was. It was pretty nice, but got the point across that he did exactly what he was accusing me of doing, but worse. I just did it in front of random people that I did not think had anything to do with the Fitness Program or his leadership. This guy on the other hand belittled me right in front of someone he new I was in a leadership position over. Blah. Thanks for reading this far. Let me know if you think I was in the right or wrong on this...

On a lighter note, my brother-in-law (pictured with Legend) graduated from Medical School last weekend. He's now an official Docter. Pretty cool. Armand and I got to meet up in Little to see the graduation and spend some time with my family. It was an awesome weekend. A2 and the rest of my family got to meet Legend. Everybody loved him. It was really nice to have Armand there with me, too. I love that man!!! :)

Nothing New Happening Here, Just Need Advice

Legend and I are getting along pretty well. He really is a most well behaved dog. I took him to the Vet on Sat. just to make sure everything was ok with him and get his tick and flea medicine, etc. The vet and nurse were very impressed with him. They said he was one of the most well behaved Min Pins they had seen. They immediately fell in love. I gave him his first bath with me, too, on Saturday. It was great. He just stood perfectly still in the bathtub while I washed him up. I've got a great dog...So great that I showed him off to my whole family last night over the web cam. My parents, grandparents and sister and her family. They thought he was adorable. Well, wouldn't you know that that night after I had bragged about how he was already house trained and never messed in the apartment, he pooped on my carpet. Blah. I was so mad at him when I found it this morning, but knew that since I didn't catch him in the act, I wasn't supposed to reprimand him, so I just silently fumed and cleaned it up. It was kind of my fault, I guess, 'cause he got up at like 3:30 this morning, so I took him out just in case, but I didn't not want to be awake, so when he didn't go immediately, I brought him back in and went to back to bed. I won't do that again.
The advice I'm asking for is about clipping his toenails. They're extremely long since he was a stray, and the vet said his quicks are really long too, since he hasn't had is nails cut in so long. He even cut the quick when he was demonstrating to me how to do it. The problem is, he only did 3 nails, so I tried to do the rest. It was awful. I couldn't do it. He wouldn't sit still. The vet had the nurse to hold him tight when he was doing it. Cheater. My sister suggested I try it while he's asleep, but I don't think he'll stay asleep if I start playing with his feet. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
I wanted to say a little something on Armand's behalf. I know he hasn't posted a blog in a while, but it's for good reason. He's been swamped with studying for his pilot training. He barely has time to do all of that and still manage to eat three meals a day, so blogging is low on his priorities. You'll have to forgive him. He's still alive and kicking, though. I get to talk to him over the web cam...it's wonderful.

(Test picture I took with my webcam. Ignore the messy bed in the background.)

Second Chance Legend

I brought him home yesterday! Second Chance Legend, the miniature pinscher. He's so adorable. I've posted pictures for your viewing pleasure. Thankfully, he's house trained already. I just need him to like his crate. I hate leaving him in there while I'm gone...he seems so sad. But my mom reminds me constantly that he's only a DOG. Anyway, we had our first night together last night. He whined like crazy, but I stuck it out. It didn't help that it was storming all night. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep. I love having him here with me, though! It's wonderful. I can't wait till Armand gets to meet him. He already did over the webcam, but I mean in person. Gotta go to work now.

So Much to Catch Up On

Wow, where should I start. It's been a while, I know, but I think I've got rather good excuses for not blogging. Well, I'll start with some pictures of my 4 bedroom house while I was down in Wichita Falls. It was a pretty good class, but I was glad to be done so I could go see my hubby and new house. I did end up getting to use my 4 bedroom house to through a party for my class on our last night. I cooked some spaghetti for everyone. It was a pretty fun time. They all thought the spaghetti was great (but it's kind of hard to mess up pasta).
As soon as class was over on Thurs. I drove back to OKC to attend dance rehearsal for Swan Lake and to unpack and repack. The next morning I headed to the airport to go to Omaha! Yeah for visiting your significant other. If you've read Armand's blog, you know how wonderful he treated me. Here are some pictures from the weekend. It was the best weekend I could have even imagined. Armand Gene is so awesome!
All good things come to an end, though, so I had to leave him and my wonderful new house Monday evening. Because of my wonderful luck with United Airlines my flights were delayed of course, so I didn't get home till 12:30 Tues. morning. I then had to get up and go to my job that gives me no satisfaction. I did get to tutor the 5th graders that I tutor in Math every week. From work, I went straight to my dress rehearsal for Swan Lake. I missed the first dress rehearsal hanging out in the airport. On Thursday we performed opening night. It went ok, but it was kind of depressing for me, since it was the first performance I've ever done without anyone I know coming to see me. It felt more like a second dress rehearsal. On Friday, though my parents and in-laws came to see the ballet. It was wonderful. Here's a picture.
On Saturday, me and my parents hung out. Armand's parents had to drive back home on Friday night. I made my parents come with me to the pound to see if I could find a dog to buy, 'cause they were having a brown bag special (any animal with brown on it could be adopted for $25. I found one! It was perfect. Just what Armand and I were wanting. A male Miniature Pinscher that was black and tan. He's a year and a half old, so I'll miss the puppy experience, but I think that's best in the long run, since I don't have all day to devote to the little guy. I went ahead and adopted him, but won't be able to pick him up for another week or 2 since he was a stray and needs to get shots and surgery. Sorry I don't have a picture for you. I'll post one as soon as I get to bring him home. This being my first dog ever, any advice you pet lovers can give me, I would greatly appreciate it. Another thing my parents did while they were here was buy me a web cam. Daddy set it up for me and everything. Armand went out and bought one too, so we've been able to see and talk to each other. It's been awesome!!!!! Thus, if I don't post more often then I have been, it's because I've been busy hanging out with my husband on our webcams. I think you are now caught up on my life. Sorry you had to wait so long. Have a great day!