Congratulations!

I just got word that my sister Eloise got promoted at the Trader Joe's supermarket she works at. Ellie has worked there for at least a couple years now. Last year, they accepted her into their management training program because of her right attitude, hard work and dedication. You must go through this training in order to become an assistant manager and full time employee at Trader Joes. Once you complete the training, your name is put on a list. As new stores open or assistant managers quit, they offer the new or open positions to those on the list. Ellie's name finally came up and she got her well deserved promotion. Many congratulations to her on her promotion. I know she worked very hard for it and I'm delighted she got it. Way to go girl!

Job Probation

One of the roughest things employers do in Maryland when they initially hire you is have a period where you're on probation. During this probation, they can fire you for any reason at all. In theory, if they didn't like the color of your hair one day, they could fire you for it and wouldn't even have to tell you why they fired you. With the Post Office, I heard they were different. Their probation was supposedly 90 WORK days vice 90 regular days. This made sense since a substitute carrier might only work for them one day a week. They wouldn't get to observe them very much in that case during a normal probation period. Yesterday, I found out I was wrong on that. It turns out the Post Office does the probation period like anyone else. For me, it was good news as it means I'm in the clear with them. I've been working for the Post Office for over 5 months. I also found out that they have a rule where I can't become a regular i.e. full time carrier until I've worked for them 1 year. Realistically, a substitute carrier can expect to wait a lot longer than that. Also, a sub has to wait until they are number 1 on the list for the next route that opens up. All the other substitute carriers that hired on before you will be ahead of you on that list. Right now, I'm the last one on the list as I'm the last sub they hired and who has stuck with it (there were six of us initially).

Concerning being a substitute carrier, I've found out that there are some plusses and minuses to it. Minuses, a sub gets no benefits and no guarantee of hours barring that they will work one day a week. A sub is also considered a temporary hire though in their case, they can work temporarily for the Post Office for 7 YEARS. A sub also doesn't get paid unless they work. Next week, the Post Office will be closed Tuesday in honor of former President Gerald Ford's passing. Full time carriers will get paid but subs won't. We only get paid for the hours we work. A sub also doesn't accrue any vacation time. Plusses, unlike regular carriers, a substitute carrier can get as much overtime as the Post Office will give them. Regular carriers can only get overtime if they're willing work six days a week instead of taking their weekly day off. Substitute carriers also get to work a number of routes which keeps the job from getting boring. A regular carrier can only work their assigned route. Lastly, substitute carriers get paid for all the hours they work as long as they go over 40 hours a week (see note). Regular carriers get paid a flat salary. If they have to work extra long hours in order to complete they route, they have to suck it up. They don't get paid more for working any extra hours. Note: if a sub is assigned to work a route that is assessed at 9 hours and they take 12 to do it, the sub will have to suck it up for the extra 3 hours unless they work 40 or more hours for that week. The Post Office pays the sub the number of hours of what the route is assessed however, if the sub works 40 or more hours then, they will pay them the total number of hours worked. This is where it can pay off for the sub to work a number of routes as in my case where I sub on three routes every week. Subbing on a number of routes makes it more likely you'll get paid for the actual number of hours you work vice the number of hours the routes were assessed. If the sub is going to be short a few hours of the 40 hour point, they might want to see if they can do express mail deliveries for their Post Office. This could help them hit the all important 40.

News at My End of the Woods

My friend Harvey pointed out to me that I needed to update my blog. I spoke with him on the 26th and he pointed out that on my blog, I had a marquee saying "two weeks till Christmas." Oops! I confess I've been very busy the last couple weeks. Here's why:

Post Office

I've been working 40 hours plus a week at the Post Office. We've been loaded down with packages (presumably Christmas presents) and catalogs. People sometimes slam the Post Office but they really do try to serve their customers. I worked this past Sunday delivering gifts that had arrived at the last minute. We also had a sub come in on Christmas day and deliver express mail. Things should slow down now that the Christmas rush is over. I continue to slog away at the job and feel I continue to improve. I still don't know if I'll stay long enough to get my own route. The pay, benefits and job security are very appealing but, I'll have to wait a long time to get them. We'll see what happens here.

Medieval Times

I've continued to enjoy my job in sound & lighting. I really like playing the role of castle guard and I continue to find operating the spotlight a challenge. I've earned kudos from various folks because I strive to go beyond the minimum. I'm always willing to have my picture taken with customers or their kids. I try to answer any of the customers questions and I strive to ensure they have an enjoyable experience at Medieval Times. It seems some of the bosses have noticed. I know my supervisor is very pleased with me. This week promises to be hectic at the castle as we have two shows every day till New Year's Eve. We also have a New Year's Eve show at 9:30 p.m. I'll get to work the castle that night and will bring in the new year there. It'll be my first time to do that and it should be interesting. For any squire wannabes, I've heard a rumor that the castle is short squires so now might be a good time to apply. The job is demanding and you must be in good physical shape. You do a lot of running and you constantly hustling during the show. Still, you get to be in the show and if you show you have the right stuff, it could be your ticket to becoming a knight in the show. If you're interested, see the folks at the ticket counter for an application.

French

Since I received the Rosetta Stone software I ordered, I've made it a point to study some French every day. I feel I'm making progress though I am getting kicked a bit with the written part. It can be very difficult to catch everything when they speak the various phrases. You really have to listen to catch everything so you can figure out exactly what the speaker is saying. I continue to be really pleased with Rosetta Stone's software. It really does a nice job of teaching whatever language you want to learn.

Airmiles

When I've had some free time, I've dined out and played the airmile game. By my calculations, I'm short about 7,000 airmiles so I can get a free ticket from Baltimore Washington International (BWI) Airport to Newark Liberty Airport. I should be able to earn the airmiles and get my free ticket. I've also made a down payment on the Scandanavia tour. So far, every thing looks good for me getting to go. Hopefully, it'll happen.

Conclusion

That's all at my end. I'm doing all right and have found the faith to leave my worries in God's hands. I don't know what the future will bring but feel confident that God will ensure things work out. Hopefully, 2007 will be a better year than 2006. We'll see. Cheers all!

Packages

With the Christmas season, a new headache has emerged at the Post Office: the deluge of packages. Mind you, it is a good thing business wise for the Post Office but, for the mail carrier, packages can be a royal pain. The Christmas season sees their package load double to quadruple in volume. This creates problems as the packages take up lots of space in their mail trucks which aren't super big to begin with. They also slow down the carrier as they have to organize the packages, stop their truck at the delivery address, may have to scan the package if someone paid for delivery confirmation and, collect a signature of the package is insured. If the carrier can't get the required signature, the carrier has to take the package back to the Post Office and drop it off in a section for packages going over to the regular Post Office. Later, someone will load up all the those packages and take them over to the regular Post Office so their owners can pick them up.

One thing the Post Office will do to make things easier on their carriers is have one or two substitute carriers (subs) do package delivery. The subs will take almost all the carrier's packages and make a package only run. Yesterday, I did such a run. I ended delivering over 50 packages during the morning. It's a huge help for the regular carriers. It also has a side benefit for the Post Office in that it can help teach the subs new areas of their city. There are parts of Laurel I've never had need to visit. However, I need to know all parts of Laurel so if necessary, I can deliver mail in any part of it. Thanks to doing package runs, I've learned a number of areas in the western part of Laurel. Learning these new areas will help me when I do express mail runs. With express mail, you must deliver all your mail by noon. You need to know exactly where you're going as you don't have any time for mistakes. Conversely, with package runs, you're not under the time gun so you can make mistakes though you try not to. Thanks to doing package runs, I'll now be able to deliver express mail on time to parts of Western Laurel. The package runs have been a win-win as I've gotten some invaluable training and helped make things easier for the regular carriers.

Postal Job

I set a new record hour wise for myself Monday. I worked nearly 16 hours in one day. What happened was first, the primary carrier for route 7 called in sick. As I've previously mentioned, we are short as far as substitute carriers. All of them were already assigned to various routes so we had to stretch them that much further so we could cover the additional route. I was assigned to route 10. I really pushed hard to get it done and managed to finish at 6 p.m. Then, I picked up outgoing mail from two other carriers who were busy delivering mail. All outgoing mail must be turned in by 7 p.m. on weekdays for it to catch the truck going to the mail processing center in Capitol Heights, Maryland. Neither carrier would've made it back in time so it really helped me picking up their outgoing mail.

After that, I helped out one of the other substitute carriers on route 5 for 45 minutes. Once I finished there, I drove back to the Post Office expecting to be finished for the day but it was not to be. To the horror of my boss, Clinton discovered a mistake the made it necessary for me, Clinton and our boss to go back out and deliver some more mail. It ended up taking us over an hour to deliver it. I ended up clocking out at the Post Office at 10:21 p.m.

Tier 1

I received word Sunday that I'd made the necessary number of dining outs to keep my tier 1 status with Northwest Airline's reward dining program. It's been fun working toward that. I've tried just about everything on the menu at Remomo's. From eating there so often, I would recommend you not get their pizza as it is overpriced. Also, you can get better pizza at Papa John's or Pizza Hut. I would recommend you get their chicken parmiagiana as they give you a huge serving of parmiagiana and pasta. I would recommend the plate of mussels as you get quite a few mussels. That said, do plan on getting something to eat if you order the plate of mussels as they won't fill you up. I would absolutely recommend you have their prime rib as this cut of meat has been consistently outstanding. I've had this twice and it is something to savor. The soup of the day has been consistently excellent though I think the bowls are a bit small. For $5, I feel you should get more soup. Their soft drink deal is a nice deal with unlimited refills. I've taken full advantage of that. The smoothies are average priced and good but at $4.50 a pop, I have to cool my smoothie addiction when I'm at Remomo's. I can't say anything about their desserts as I haven't tried any of them in ages. The deal with the tier 1 was I had to spend $20 to get the airmiles. With an appetizer, entree and drink, I had no problem spending over $20. Plus, sometimes, I was so filled up from the meal, I didn't feel like having any dessert.

Airmile wise, the dining has paid off nicely. I have almost 14,000 airmiles with Northwest and may get myself up to the 25,000 I need. 25,000 airmiles will get me a free round-trip ticket from Baltimore Washington International Airport to Newark Liberty Airport so I can catch my flight to Copenhagen for the Globus tour. I could buy the airmiles through Northwest but they would cost more than the flight. I still think it sucks that it costs so many airmiles for such a short flight (163 miles). Oh well. At least the signs remain favorable for me going on the tour. We'll see if it happens.

Rosetta Stone Language Software

Before I begin, I have to put in a disclaimer stating that I haven't received any gift or remuneration for my recommendation of Rosetta Stone's language software. Also, if you should buy the software and you have problems (though you shouldn't), I won't be responsible for those problems. Nuff said on that.

The reason I'm mentioning Rosetta Stone is because right now, they are offering what is probably their best deal of the year on their software. You can get $46 off their level 1 or level 2 software and $80 off their combined level 1 and 2 package. You can get $100 off their level 1, 2 and 3 combined package BUT that is only offered for English and Spanish. Shipping wise, you get free 2-day shipping. Also, if you order by December 18th, you can get a free headset and microphone. In order to get these discounts, make sure you enter in promotion code EMC126. When I placed my order today, I nearly mucked that up and almost missed getting my discount.

Concerning the software itself, I've tried a number of language learning programs and the one I've liked the best is Rosetta Stone. It's easy to use. It helps you pick up the language quickly and it's presented in a nice format. Also, it helps you practice on different aspects of the language. You get practice speaking, writing, and hearing the language. You start out with very basic sentences like "the man runs" and work up to more difficult ones. You also get lots of lessons for your money. Level 1 in French gives you 92 lessons alone. One other plus about Rosetta Stone is they let you try out their software for free. They have demo software that you can download off their website or you can order the demo CD and install it on your computer. The demo software gives you a chance to try out the product and see if you like it.

Lastly, Rosetta Stone participates in Northwest Airlines' Worldperks Mall. What that means is that you can also earn airmiles buying the software. In the case of Northwest, they're offering 9 airmiles per dollar spent. In my case, for the combined level 1 and 2 package I ordered, I'll receive over 1,800 airmiles. If you belong to a different airline frequent flier program, if they have a shopper mall program, you might want to see if Rosetta Stone is a member of their program. Not only could you get a nice deal on the software, you could earn some airmiles that might help you travel to a country where you'll be able to use the language you're working on learning.

Medieval Times

I recently found out about another benefit a person gets working at Medieval Times. Once they pass their probation period, when Christmas comes, Medieval Times awards them a gift certificate they can use in the gift shop. This year, we were given $75 gift certificates. I thought it was really nice of them. I used mine to buy a fleece lined sweatshirt type jacket, a hat and three decks of playing cards (I like to fiddle with cards when I'm bored). I was very pleased with the stuff I bought thanks to the certificate.

Work wise, the my job in sound & lighting continues to be fun. I still enjoy playing the part of a castle guard or dungeon master. Working one of the spotlight continues to be a challenge as you have to work to maintain concentration during the show. After you've seen the show as many times as I have, it's easy to let your mind wander. I also strive to help out where ever I can. Yesterday, I saw they needed help taking chairs down from the tables and setting up the candles and condiments. I jumped in and did what I could until it was time for me to take one of the posts as a castle guard.

People wise, I continue to marvel at the high turnover we have in people. Part of it is that a number of the employees are kids (17 or 18 year olds). They get bored and decide to move on to something new. Part of it too is some of the jobs aren't everything the folks think they're going to be. One kid I know who was working as a squire decided to quit. I suspect he found out that the squire job is demanding and not all fun. As a squire, you groom and tack the horses, during the show you're constanting running to get weapons for your knight or setting up various contests (small ring spear, large ring spear and jousting lanes) and lastly, you get to scoop up all the horse poop (Yuck!). It isn't all glamor being a squire.

Broadway Show - "Mary Poppins"

The finale to our trip to New York City was to see the new Broadway musical "Mary Poppins." It's the same story as in the movie with some new songs thrown in. From the very beginning, the show was a delight. All the actors and actresses did a fantastic job. Ashley Brown played a particularly good Mary Poppins. She was able to deliver some great lines beautifully while embodying the wondrous magical nanny who changes the lives of the Banks family forever. The show offers great laughs, wonderful songs and fantastic dance routines. The sets and costumes were perfect for the show. The show is an excellent example of what is great about live theater. The audience was able to interact with the cast and let them know by their applause or lack of whether they got it right. The show was also perfect for all ages though I think kids will like it in particular.

Overall, I was delighted with the production. It made a great ending to a fantastic trip to New York City. If you're going to make a trip to the Big Apple anything soon, this is one show you'll want to see, particularly if you have kids or are a kid at heart. It will warm your soul and delight your heart.

Tavern on the Green

During our second day in New York City, Harvey and I scouted out where the Tavern on the Green was. From the outside, it didn't look terribly impressive. My friend May Jackson swore that it was an outstanding place to eat. We were to find out that she was big time right!

We had to make reservations in advance to eat at Tavern on the Green. Our reservations were for 1 p.m. We showed up a little early and checked our coats. I was immediately struck by the professionalism of the people working there. All the employees were very well dressed and gave an impression of competence. We made our way to our dining room which was impressive. Nine chandeliers hung from the ceiling and various stucco drawings adorn the ceiling. All waiters work green suit coats and bow ties with the captains wearing black suit coats and bow ties.

The menu was a set menu that we'd prepaid for. We had a choice of appetizer, entree, dessert and cup of coffee or tea. Harvey chose a wild mushroom fricasee which he loved. I tried the Tuscany white bean soup which I found very good. For our entrees, Harvey had broiled salmon with thai purple rice. I had range raised turkey, green peas with pearl onions, sweet potatoe and cranberries. We found both of our entrees to be excellent. For dessert, Harvey tried the chocolate cake while I tried their cheesecake. Again, the food was outstanding.

Our only complaints were our waiter got our orders mixed up TWICE and they charged us $5 for a glass of ice tea and $3.75 for a glass of 7-up with no refills. I thought the charge for drinks was steep.

Overall, the food was outstanding both in taste and presentation. The seating and serving staff seemed competent. The restaurant is expensive. It cost us $48 each for lunch but both of us felt that the food was well worth the price. Dress is upper casual i.e. a nice pair of slacks and shirt for men and a nice dress for women. I wouldn't recommend wearing blue jeans here. If you want an excellent dining experience in New York City, you should definitely try out Tavern on the Green. For further information on them, you can check out their website at http://67.59.176.121/tg1003/newsite/index.asp?headinfo=home. Bon appetit!