Friday, September 11, 2009

A Quiet Friday Morning

It's my off Friday...had a nice short week with the holiday on Monday. George is working so I am making good use of my time at home alone, catching up on blogs and doing some laundry in between. I've been awake since 6:30 and I've got three loads of laundry washed and waiting on the second load to finish drying so I can put the third load in. Once that is dry I will remake the bed and my chores will be done. I plan on grabbing my book a bit later on and making a nice dent in it. I am reading Duma Key by Stephen King. I am about 150 pages into it and it is pretty good, so far. But I know how he writes and I have a feeling the story is going to take a left turn pretty soon. Hopefully I won't end up disappointed as I have been in previous books. I have had this book for quite some time and had been putting off reading it. I had been reading books by Christopher Moore lately and he is a riot to read. He has a very unique and comedic writing style and I find the silliness refreshing sometimes.

Work has been very stressful lately. A sign of the times I guess, but still scary never knowing who is going to be laid off or terminated next. I work for a government contractor who manufactures optical gear for the military. Night vision goggles, mountable flashlights and infrared sighting systems that our soldiers need to protect us and themselves. All the budget cuts have been tough on everyone. The orders have been dwindling down and so must the work force. At one time our comapny employed almost 2000 people and since the beginning of this year management has had to lay off or terminate well over 500 people. It began as getting rid of the dead weight, mainly people with negative work records, bad attitudes and discipline problems. Then it moved onto individual departments, thinning the herd so to speak. I've heard that another 150 people will be gone by years end...but that could just be a rumor. In any event, it's a little scary. No one is safe and everyone is dispensible it seems. I continue to carry on, hopefully for a long time but you never know. I've been there almost 7 years but seniority doesn't matter here either. I'll just keep my nose clean and my attitude pleasant and show up for work every day and hope that is sufficient.

It's kind of cloudy and cool today. I guess summer is over. We didn't have much of a summer this year. June and July were very rainy and the only heat and sun we had came the first couple of weeks of August. The last 2 weeks were very comfortable and sunny, but not particularly warm. I guess we saved money on electricity where the Air Conditioning is concerned but I dread having to turn the heat on. I guess it's inevitible living in the Northeast but maybe we'll have a nice Indian summer.

Of course, everyone knows today is the 8th anniversary of 9/11. We all remember where we were and what we were doing when this horrible event took place. I had just landed at Manchester NH airport from a 7:30am flight from Newark, NJ when I saw the news on the monitors at the luggage carousel. It was 8:55am...just minutes after the first plane struck the World Trade Center Tower and it didn't make sense to me until I was in the car heading to work from the airport and the reports were on the radio. By the time I got to work (which was just on the opposite side of the airport), I knew I had to make some calls because my family knew I was flying that morning and they would be frantic. I called the high school to get word to my daughter so she wouldn't freak out and I called my parents. Then I called my son, who had been asleep and was totally oblivious to what was going on. I then made a few more calls to friends who would be worried and was very tightly hugged by some co workers who were extremely happy to see me. At that time, we didn't know exactly what impact this whole catastrophe would have on our Nation, but we would find that out in the coming hours. I personally didn't lose anyone close to me but a lot of people did and for them I pray. May God Bless us all.

7 comments:

Intense Guy said...

*hugs*

I'm glad YOU, my friend were safe that fateful day eight years ago.

Someday, the products your company makes will find their way into day-to-day ordinary commercial uses...the technology tickle-down/over effect in action. But then they will probably all be made in China and sold in Walmart huh? :)

I've glanced at that Stephen King book... if you give it two Lainie thumbs up - I'll tackle it (King is soooooo wordy!)

Deanna said...

Hugs Lainie. I, too, remember exactly where I was. Am glad you were not in the wrong place on that fateful day.

ChicagoLady said...

Hmmm, Night Vision Goggles are an item used by people in Mafia Wars, I wonder if Zynga would be interested in buying a few million? lmao

I'm so glad you were safe on this day 8 years ago.

junyah said...

I was comeing out from a dose of radiastion treatment at Maine Medical Center,after i had gotton dressed i was about to pass by the waiting area and there was several people standing and setting all watching the tv,so i stopped to look at what they were all looking at,one Dr, said a plane hit one of the towers ,just then the second plane hit, and he says can you imgime that,two dumb pilots in a row, i told him theyer not dumb, we'er under attack man...Jr (ps) im glad lainie wasnt one of those poor people..

AliceKay said...

I'm glad Lainie wasn't one of those poor people too, Jr.

I hope you enjoy your weekend, Lainie. *hugs*

Anonymous said...

That was a very sad day Lainie, I remember being at work and telling a co worker when I saw the TV I said OMG that plane just flew right into that building and then later after we realized what happened its like everything stopped work was slow everyone was just sad, I dont think anyone will ever forget that day. Thankfully, you were ok girlie and to change the subject I am keeping my fingers crossed about your job because I know how it is, hubby faces that fear everyday with his job. Hugs you tight!!

LadyStyx said...

*HUGZ*