Various Updates

So I haven’t updated the blog in quite some time. Don’t know why this is really, other than being distracted with other things and probably more than a little lazy. And besides, not all that much to report. Life is very good, though a bit routine at present.

I suppose the biggest news is that I finally procured some living room furniture from the Ikea up in Northern Virginia. It looks very good and is functional and was reasonably priced, The latter is proving to be important since the cats are already turning the sofa into their personal play toy/scratching post/bed. Other assorted acquisitions were side tables, a coffee table, a leather chair and matching footstool. The leather chair I keep in the study until I find a proven cat attack deterrent.

Now that I have the foundations of the living room out of the way, I can begin the task of decorating. This is where the fun begins, though I probably won’t do much with this until I get back from Honduras at the beginning of January. I leave on vacation in just over three weeks and have much with work and research and day to day activities to wrap up between now and then.

OH YES…how could I have forgotten about this. Even bigger news that furniture: I am FINALLY getting an assistant manager at work!! The department underwent some restructuring this month, the result of which was shifting of some vacant positions to my division. We interviewed for the assistant manager last week and they start on Monday. From the administrative perspective, this is a wonderful event as we’ll be able to take on more projects and enhance most of our core functions. Some of my staff is considerably less excited about this than I am as indicated by a few long faces and bit of grumbling with the announcement at staff meeting today. The heart of the problem is that the restructuring and management addition constitute change and I’ve mentioned in previous posts just how difficult change can be for some. Medusa, (the bitter old employee for whom change is feared more than death), once again threatened to quit. Such irrational behaviors are difficult to handle in such a group setting without it becoming a spectator sport for everyone else present, though I discovered the statement “Then I expect your resignation on my desk” will bring to a quick end such outbursts.