So what’s new with me? Not much really. While I was in Hawaii, some stuff happened at work. Our workforce became slimmer. I’m so sad, although it was inevitable I suppose. Some did get placed into new positions already so that’s promising. My ex-boss, Dana, who I consider a wonderful friend, was one of the casualties. She had an infectious laugh (she was always giggling) and was upbeat and positive. I’m going to miss her but fortunately we’ll stay in touch. There’s still life after work.
After we returned from Hawaii, on the following weekend, we enjoyed the 3 days for Memorial Day. I mean, we really needed the time off.
Most recently, I returned from a long weekend in Fort Myers, FL. Mom’s health hasn’t really cooperated with her to travel to me. She’s having a hard time with getting fully into dialysis. It would seem she has one issue after another with her dialysis catheter. That’s another story. Anyway, I worked a half day Thursday (6/1) and returned on Monday afternoon. Just me. Jim and I typically travel to Fort Myers separately. It’s just easier so we don’t have to worry about CJ. Another advantage is that I can focus on my family and he can focus on his. Besides, we see his family more often than mine. His lives in or travels to Georgia where we’ll usually rendezvous for a visit.
I like to stay in a hotel when I visit. My parents don’t really have the room for me and although my cousin, Carissa, does and offers every time, I just prefer to stay in a hotel. It feels more like a vacation. I can come and go as I please. I go to sleep and wake on my schedule, not someone else’s. There’s a pool and/or hot tub, which I typically don’t use.
I still haven’t uploaded the Hawaii pictures to Facebook. It’s time consuming. I want to clear out dupes and label the photos. I typically take multiple photos of the same thing except that I like to pick the best one out of the bunch. No one wants to look at the same photo (including me) with just an ever-so-slightly different angle or something. Or so many people post a blurry photo and then the same thing only clear. That drives me a little nuts. When I do get them all done, I’ll post a link to the album. Facebook allows using their site for photo sharing even if others don’t have a Facebook account. It’s an actual option within the album to share a public link. Did you know that? Well, as GI Joe said, knowing is half the battle. That comment is funnier if you watched the 80’s cartoon. You know, when cartoons and TV in general did PSA’s to help build the moral compass.
June is Gay Pride month (I think it’s been renamed to Pride Month so as not to leave anyone out). I’ve been working on different things for work. Teams were given supplies (tissue paper, crayons, markers, poster board, streamers, colored paper, tape, glue stick, etc) and challenged to use only those supplies to create a panel “showing your support of Inclusion and Diversity”. There were some amazing panels. I was paired with my project’s leaders. The 4 of us collaborated and made it happen. I did a lot of the grunt work (I probably have the least work to do as our project winds down). We’ll also be having a small social that all employees can come to and grab a snack. My company does something like this each month for special groups/clubs we have. We have one for military, women, etc.
OK, a couple of more things on this topic. HRC (Human Rights Campaign) has a list of where your state stands on certain topics/laws. Visit the site, scroll down about half way and you’ll see a section that says “See what’s happening in your state”. Select your state. The page will change. About half way down is this section:
And one more. Here’s a list of some companies who are publicly supporting LGBTQ equality. If they’re not on the list, I don’t think it means they’re haters. It’s not just names but rather, social media posts of short videos, animated GIFs or just a simple photo. There’s some good ones! I’m proud to say my company is listed there!
MA of course supports all 7 topics. Yesterday I attended an all-day conference about Suicidality & Substance abutse in the the LGBTQ community; a lot of the speakers focused on kids and adolescents, in particular. All of them noted that living in the "safe haven," per se, of MA, as we do, we are often unaware and surprised to find out how different and lacking things are in other parts of the country -- on a related but different issue, friends of mine who had a baby born w/a congenital heart defect in April just posted yesterday that the baby had a successful first surgery and how thankful they were that so much is required of health insurance companies in MA -- they realize that if they lived in a lot of other states, they would have been on their own for so much of the cost of not only the procedure but the hospitalization and ancillary services that insurers are mandated to pay for here. I will be forever proud that MA was first in the nation to legalize same-sex marriage and I talk to my daughters frequently about the importance of living in a place where they know they will always have access to health care, birth control, safe and legal abortion; where religion has no place in schools or businesses and where human and civil rights are protected.
Thanks Norma. And because you've been so involved in the MMA over the years, everything I read in your comment I thought MA = Martial Arts at first and then when it wasn't making sense about insurance, I realized you were talking about Massachusetts. LOL.
I hope you said hi to mom for me.
ReplyDeleteI read her comments from Facebook. :-)
DeleteMA of course supports all 7 topics. Yesterday I attended an all-day conference about Suicidality & Substance abutse in the the LGBTQ community; a lot of the speakers focused on kids and adolescents, in particular. All of them noted that living in the "safe haven," per se, of MA, as we do, we are often unaware and surprised to find out how different and lacking things are in other parts of the country -- on a related but different issue, friends of mine who had a baby born w/a congenital heart defect in April just posted yesterday that the baby had a successful first surgery and how thankful they were that so much is required of health insurance companies in MA -- they realize that if they lived in a lot of other states, they would have been on their own for so much of the cost of not only the procedure but the hospitalization and ancillary services that insurers are mandated to pay for here. I will be forever proud that MA was first in the nation to legalize same-sex marriage and I talk to my daughters frequently about the importance of living in a place where they know they will always have access to health care, birth control, safe and legal abortion; where religion has no place in schools or businesses and where human and civil rights are protected.
ReplyDeleteThanks Norma. And because you've been so involved in the MMA over the years, everything I read in your comment I thought MA = Martial Arts at first and then when it wasn't making sense about insurance, I realized you were talking about Massachusetts. LOL.
Delete