Social Networking Sites vs Real Life

It's funny how before the age of computers, internet and social networks, we used to make friends the old fashion way. We would walk up to the girl/boy and either punch them in the arm, throw dirt at them, call them a stupid head and then become fast friends after that. I made MANY recess/playground friends that way. LOL!

As we grew up, we just pretty much walked in the cafeteria or hall way and just strike up a conversation and thus become life long friends. However, making friends is the hardest thing to do because it's hard to tell if you can trust someone or not.

Back in the day, if you had a crush on someone, you told your best friend. That best friend would usually do one of two things. One, go behind your back and flirt with said crush, or two, help you get/talk to said crush. If that "best friend" did number one, you would cry, call her a stupid head, say you never want to see her again and that you were no longer friends. Then one of two things happened after that, one she would say "fine, I didn't like you anyway" and walk away and never talk to you again become a life long enemy; or two, "I'm so sorry please forgive, gals before pals?" And thus, BFFs again.

Sometimes, it takes years to develop a true friendship, a friendship that can withstand the boys, crushes, parental disasters, high school, college, greek life, etc. And even longer to trust that friendship to last past college years. But sometimes, after so many years goes by, something happens and you see the "true colors" come out and you stop being friends. Something so horrible that it just can't go past the years of friendship.

But there are those RARE true friends that stand behind you, no matter what. They never leave you, they never hurt you (well they do but it's always something mendable), they always are there for you when you need a shoulder, or an ear, or even a kidney at that! They are there through the worst of the worst relationships, they are there through the best of relationships, they are there through the "children years" and even become "aunts" or "godmothers". They are just there through thick and thin.

That's the real life version of "social networking." But let's face it. We are in the 21st century. It's so much easier and faster to meet new people, make new friends and even to get stalkers and enemies! But what's even crazier is how that best friend you've known since 1st grade, or even the friend you've known for 10 years, 5 years or 2 months, becomes an enemy almost overnight! Social networking sites weed out the fake friends at warp speed where as before it would take almost a lifetime to figure out.

So is social networking good or bad? I think I'd like to know who my true friends are, but for some reason, it just doesn't seem natural to find out your true friends through a social network. So since we are in the age of technology and emails and instant messaging, we just have to take it in stride. But it is sad though.

Now in the real life when a friend turns out to be a "fake" friend, we usually just ignore them, made talk smack about them and be done with it. Move on. But with social networking, people take it to the EXTREME!!! They will backstab you, change profile names or make up new identities and try to befriend you or your friends and try to get some dirt on you, etc. Ok, this is just childish... no beyond childish, because I don't know of any 1st graders who do that! Seriously, if you don't want to be someone's friend anymore then just let it be. Delete them, ignore them, and go about your merry little way. If you want to reconcile with that person, well, do it tactfully. I know that for the person on the other end, they are shocked, yes, hurt, yes, but they move on. They just think "ok, so and so doesn't want to my friend anymore, that's ok, I have other friends." And they never think anything of it anymore. At least that's how it should be, unless of course we're talking about anti-social behavior here, but that's a whole other issue which we won't go into.

So the moral of this blog is: If you don't want to be my friend, fine, but leave everyone else out of it!

Afternoon Office Antics!!!

So I'm in my office, working hard {like I do everyday, ;o) ;o) } and then I get a text message from a coworker from down the hall! Like she couldn't call my office, walk to my office or send an email, LOL! The text reads, in part, "Did you know that Johnson & Johnson personally tests and sanitizes their rectal thermometers". WTH??? She had me rolling! OMG! I didn't think I'd finish my work I was laughing so hard. But she was being serious!

My boss is even a character! She sends out the quirky interoffice emails that really makes you laugh, but she too is trying to be serious. She sent an email the other day to us that read, in part, "By the power invested in me by the company of MSIL, I here by grant you an extra minute to remove the plastic rings from the coke cans before you place them in the refrigerator. Thank you. Signed, Middle Management" How can you NOT laugh at that?! To make matters funnier, the office manager responded to the email by stating "I'm guilty of placing the sprites in there without removing the rings. But give me credit for placing them in there so that the will be nice cold for the next person! Thank you. Signed, Upper Management" Oh, it gets worse! A coworker responded "What's the status on the margarita machine? Signed, No Management"

Last week we got an email from the boss lady that read, "E Coli called and is looking for a new place to live in the Microwave. His pal, Sal Minella is also looking for a new place in the fridge. Do your part and lets evict these residents!"

A few months ago, we got an email that read, "At the end of the day will you please remove your science projects so that we will have room for the covered dishes tomorrow? Thank you. "

Do you see what I put up with? On a daily basis?? It's like a circus there! LOL! But I love those ladies and I'm truly blessed to have such a great place to work at! The fellowship is outstanding!

Ode to the Fall TV Line Up

Yes, it's that time again. The new fall season line up on TV has begun. I must say, WOW!

MONDAY NIGHT:
I watch you, CSI: Miami and let me tell you, I'm quite disappointed. It's rumored that Eric will be leaving the show. I say BOO! BOO to you, you unholy writers of the show! Do not let Eric leave! What ever will Callie do now? They just started their relationship!

Two and Half Men, what the hell? You've turned Charlie into a homebody, monogamous gob of goo! And turned Allen into the man whore! No wonder this is your last season!

Accidentally on Purpose, I can't seem to bring myself to watch such a ridiculous excuse for a show. Could you have chosen a more demeaning role for a woman? Puh---lease!!!

Big Bang Theory... The jury is still out on you. I don't know if I like this whole Penny and Leonard dating thing. It was much better when it was all awkward and stuff. But I still love you none the less and will continue to watch you!

How I Met Your Mother... Ok who is the mother already?????!!!! Will Ted EVER find his future wife? I mean seriously? And why the hell did you have to put Barney and Robin together as a couple? Seriously? Have you run out of that MANY ideas for a show?

House... I love you. But come on! Give House his license back already! And Thirteen, quit being such a whiney two-old, witch who's on a perpetual period! Take the job back and get over yourself! It's not all about you! It's all about House, that's why it's called House!!!!

TUESDAY NIGHT:

NCIS... Jury is still out on you as well. Ziva will you quit being such a martyr?! Swallow your pride, grow a pair and tell your father that you are no longer with the Masaad and that you are now a permenant member of the NCIS! Seriously!

NCIS: LA... Chris O'Donnell... enough said

WEDNESDAY NIGHT:

Crininal Minds... Doin' good! Going strong! No complaints in this department!

CSI:NY... I don't know... ever since Danny got shot and lost the use of his legs and now that he's a father, it just seems weird! He's so bitter all the time...

THURSDAY NIGHT:

Grey's Anatomy... Izzy, you're such a drama queen. Big deal, you beat cancer, good for you! Now quit acting like a freakin' martyr and act like a doctor and a newly wed wife! Meredith, ever since she got married (on a post-it note! i'm so tired of hearing about that as well) you've become like the "mother hen" of the group! Just because you got married, doesn't mean you have to sell out and act like a "mother hen". OMG! So the hospital merged with another hospital, BFD! Get over yourselves and quit whining! You won't lose your jobs!

CSI... You just HAD to bring back Sarah didn't you? And what the hell is up with Sarah starting to act all intelligent and knowledgable... just because you married Grissom! WTH?!

FRIDAY NIGHT:

Medium... love the new network, love the new enhancement on Allison's gift and love that the girls are starting to get their gifts!

Ghost Whisperer... Love the leap to 5 yrs in the future. Melinda's little boy is adorable!

SUNDAY NIGHT:

Dexter... looks like Dex has got his hands full this season! I really wish Rita would grow a pair and quit whining to Dex everytime the baby cries! It's her fault he got into an accident and nearly got caught for his last kill!!! Rita quit being a whiney baby! I love the new serial killer plot! This is going to be a great season for Dexter... as long a Rita will stop whining!!!!!

Cold Case... still love you! nothing significant has changed which I LOVE!

Desperate Housewives... UGH! You always suck me in! You can have the cheesiest and stupidest story line but somehow I still get sucked in! Kudos to you for causing my brain to rot!!!

Saturday nights are reserved for LSU games!!!!!!!!!!

When Good Doctors Go Bad

Well I haven't posted in awhile. I'm such a slacker! But I've been mad busy! Charlie is growing like a weed... he's now 7 months old and weighs at a whopping 66lbs! My big boy is growing so fast... I've now decided to start selling Avon again. I have to pay for school and a growing lab somehow!

Ok, so now to blog about what the title suggests.

Charlie has been feeling ill lately. He's had little buggies in his poo, a growth on his tongue and a rash on his belly. So I called, made an appointment for the vet. As always, I was going to drop him off in the a.m. and then pick him in the p.m. when I got off work. The office hours used to be 7am to 6pm. So I arrive at the good doctor's office at 7:15 a.m. and there's no one around. Hmmm. So I waited and waited and waited. Finally, I walked up to the door, thinking maybe one of the employees was dropped off. The door was locked and a sign was posted that read "As of June 1st our new business hours are 8am to 5pm and will now be open on the 2nd and 4th Saturday of each month." WHAT!!!!??? I was not informed of this! So, being pissy, I took Charlie back home, broke all the speeding laws and finally made it to work at EXACTLY 8am on the dot! I called the office, they were like, "well Ms Cramer the sign has been up for awhile." I explained, "the last time I was in there was back on April the 18th, there was no sign up then!" She then says, "Oh, yeah, that's my fault, the sign wasn't up then, I'm sorry for not telling you. We can reschedule Charlie's appointment for next week if you want." I said, "that's no good for me, I have to be at work at 8am as well!" She said, "well you can bring him in the evening, we'll keep him overnight and then you can pick him up the following evening." "What and be charged boarding fees?! No." She explains, "no, we won't charge you, we do it as a courtesy for our patients who have to be work early. But I have to inform you that we don't carry the medicine for a dog Charlie's size. You can go to a feed & seed store and purchase the medicine there." WHAT?! NO!

SO, I made an appointment for my dog who has worms and they 1. don't tell me they changed the hours and 2. don't carry the medicine that my dog will need! They want me to bring my dog in KNOWING they don't have the medicine for him!?! WTH!!!

Oh, it gets better! So I break open the yellow pages. I then search for a new vet. I decided to take Charlie to a vet that my parents used to use for our dogs we had when I was in high school. They were so kind, so polite, had manageble hours and was just right down the street from my apartment! I made the appointment. They even called me the day before his appointment to remind me of his appointment! How cool is that!?! My regular vet never did that! They would send a postcard with pets' names on it. They even would put my dead dog's name on the freakin' postcard! So I was definately impressed with them calling me!

So I dropped Charlie off, they were so kind to Charlie. Charlie loved them! They took good care of him and assured me that they would take good care of him and if I wanted, they would call me after the doctor saw him! YES!!! After lunch, sure enough, they called me and told me about Charlie. They said he was doing well. He had tapeworms, a bacterial infection that caused the rash and the place on his tongue was just from him biting it. Here's what set me off though! They informed me that Charlie was due another round of vaccination shots. WHAT! NO! He's caught up on his shots! I told them this and asked if they contacted the previous vet. They said yes, they got his medical records from them and that he had another round of shots due now. I told them that I was totally unaware of this and that the previous vet never told me he needed more shots. I even specifically asked the vet after he got his rabies vaccine if he was done with the shots and she said yes and that she would see us in a year! I was soooooooo pissed!

I talked to a coupld of people who used the same previous vet. They all had complaints on her. They all said that she seemed to be going down hill. And that they too all knew of other people leaving her and going to new vets. They all stated that she just doesn't seem to care as much as she used. Don't get me wrong. She's a great vet and she did a wonderful job with Lil' Max before he died and was very caring a loving towards Osiris and Rosie. But here recently, she just seemed to be either too busy to give everyone the amount of attention as she used to or she's pre-occupied with other things outside of work. Either way, I'm not ever going back. I was going to use her to neuter Charlie, but I'm too scared for her to operate on my baby. So now, I have a new vet that I'm very happy with and Charlie loves him!

Just another Manic Monday...

I think my co-workers are to get me. I'm not trying to sound paranoid or anything but, I swear they are trying to get me fired or something!

I had JUST clocked out for lunch when the manager finds me in the lunch room and proceeds to chastise me! Apparently I'm not scanning in the "No Pay EOBs" fast enough for the work comp department and they went whining to her. I was floored!

This one particular individual had emailed me earlier and had asked me to help her find a certain EOB (Explanation of Benefit for you non-medical persons out there). I informed her that I was behind on the scanning but she was more than welcomed to come and get the EOB from my folder and make a copy of it and that I would get the rest to her ASAP.

Well that individual's partner decided that that wasn't good enough and decided to take a step further. WHen I was confronted about the whole situation at lunch, I calmly explained that I had been behind on posting, the secondaries, the returned mail AND the scanning. I explained that in order for me to get the posting, secondaries and returned mail caught up quickly, I had to sacrifice the scanning. I even explained that I had on numerous occassions asked my supervisor if I could come in on Saturdays and get the scanning caught up but was denied. That was not good enough. The manager proceeded to tell me that from now on, work comp posting and scanning is primary to all other things except the deposit. WTF?! So work comp gets their way AGAIN! That department is like the golden child. They can do no wrong and what they want, they get. It's not fair!

Later that day, one of the Work Comp individuals (there are 4 in that department) came in my office requesting a certain batch of unscanned EOBs. I was soooooo pissed off, I curtly said "you know if y'all'd have just been a LITTLE bit more patient, I would have had these EOBs scanned in tomorrow." She acted like she had no idea what I meant. She looked at me like a dog with it's head cocked to the side and said, "what are talking about?" I told her, "well ____ confronted me about the scanning. It'll be done first thing in the morning." She said, "I didn't know it would go that far." And walked out. WTF?! She didn't think it would go that far?! WHat do you expect when you go above me, above the supervisor and go straight to the office manager?????

Ok, I'm off my soap box now.

Sometimes I feel like I should start my own business, in what I don't know but at least I'd be my own boss. But then I talk to my aunt and she tells me how much she struggles with her own business (She's owned her own coffee service for businesses for over 5 years now) and she tells me it's not all it's cracked up to be.

Shameful plug here!
Check out Louisiana Roasting Company, LLC and My Friend's Coffee. They are in the Yellow Pages.

Somebody's Knockin'

The other night, I was SOUND asleep with Charlie at my side. I wake up to hearing a deep growl coming from Charlie. He all of sudden sits up. Then there's a knock at my door! Charlie JUMPS completely over me and clears the bed. He is barking like crazy! Keep in mind, it's 11pm and I have to be up at 4:30 am! I don't even open the door or peep through the peep hole. I just yell out "Who is it?" It was one of my exes that I wish to have never MET! I yell back "I'm in bed!" And the asshole has the audacity to be pissed at me! And he yells at me "Sorry!" and stomps off and SLAMS my balcony door. Charlie is looking out the window the whole time growling and snarling and watching to make sure my uninvited visitor leaves the premises! I thought Charlie was gonna go through the window! I was so proud of him!

Life is what you make it...

Life is what you make it. Well I'm making my life boring and uninteresting. If you don't like it then shut up and leave me alone! I'm soooooooo freakin' tired of people being so freakin' judgmental! Let ME live MY life the way I want to!

I won't pretend to like caviar because you prefer it. I won't pretend to like Old English literature because you like it and it makes me look more sophisticated! Hell No!

Love me for me. Like me for me. Be my friend for me! I don't like sushi. I don't like seafood. I don't like caviar. I don't like oysters. I don't like wine. I don't like sophisticated classical music from symphonies. I don't like wearing dresses and make-up and pantyhose everyday of my life. I don't drive a fancy car. I don't pretend to like something because someone else likes it. I'm me.

I like beer. I like cokes. I like candy. I hate gum. I love law enforcement type TV shows. I love comedies. I hate romance novels. I love to lay around and do nothing. I wear old t-shirts and blue jeans and flip flops. I like to cook but I don't cook 5 course meals on a daily basis. I'm not a gourmet chef. I love cats and dogs. I have a cat and 2 dogs. I pick up my dogs' poop, yes, I clean up after my dogs and don't rely on someone else to do it. I don't care if I get dirty, that's what showers were made for, to wash the dirt off. I don't pretend to have a lot of money. I shop at Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Big Lots, Family Dollar, Super One Foods, Kroger's and on occasion, Target. I'm far from a red neck, but I shop frugally. I'm not above hanging out at a bar or going to a night club (I prefer NOT to go to a night club, but if friends want me to go, I'll go with them, IF I feel like it or IF I'm being kidnapped and dragged to it, lol, but I will still go!).

So if you don't like me for me, well screw you! I like being boring and dull and unintresting. That's who I am. I love me! SO if you don't like it then well, you don't have to be my friend. I don't care anymore.