Whew- April flew by in a work-induced haze - a trifecta of employee appraisals, a presentation for the "Big Boss" and a trip to Japan made the month fly by with hardly a blink. There was also the annual company open house, but mercifully all I had to do was show up.
Good news is that other than the usual "my appraisal isn't fair" and "Olivia is out to sabotage my career" grumblings, things went pretty well. The "Big Boss" liked the presentation, and even went out of his way to metion it to me when I saw him a week later in Japan.
The trip to Japan was a bit of a mixed bag - the HR staff over there isn't really HR...they're the poor souls who got stuck with the administrative stuff that goes along with HR. Good news is that our president is much more interested in HR than any of his predecessors, so they're starting to try and bring their heads up out of the sand. Alas, I think that progress in this area may be quite painful.
Ava is doing really really well - more talkative (is this possible?) every day, and is now actually starting to make sense! ; ) She's loving every second we can spend outside, with the only downside being the inevitable tears when it's time to come inside.
Casey and I are really going to need to start pushing the whole Stranger Program soon - Ava likes to flag down any man, woman, child or other that passes our house with an extremely cheerful "Hi! What's your name?" Sometimes, if her quarry does not immediately answer, she gives chase. I don't think this falls into the don't-talk-to-strangers thing. While I personally believe that our wonderful media turns all of us into overly fearful misanthropes, I know that I'd never be able to forgive myself if something were ever to happen to Ava because I didn't teach her to be less friendly. This, again, ties in to my child-predators-should-be-shot arguement, but I won't subject you all to that rant at this time.
As for May, lovely, beautiful May, I'm really enjoying it. The first week was "Golden Week" in Japan (a week long holiday), and as a result the office was really really quiet, and I was able to catch up after the trip. It was also good, as I generally slept so little/poorly on the trip, I was loopy and off my game for several days.
The weather has been phenomenal (thank you global warming!) and I have been planting. A friend of mine hooked me up with a few hundred dollars worth of perennials (she divided up her stuff) and I went to town. Now we'll see the true battle for survival happen out in our clay-blighted yard.
We have a wedding this weekend, Mother's Day, a special showing of Shrek 3 and Flower Day at the Eastern market next weekend, so things are really moving! Then, it's anniversary time. 5 years, who can believe it?
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