Work From Home

Hi everyone

I had some disturbing news on the work front and although I am not at liberty to share any details I will say that my days of working from home seem to be numbered. Working from home is the #1 perk of my job and its why I am willing to put in such long hours during our busy season. I am crushed to learn that management, in their wisdom,  feels that “we” can be more productive working 9-6 in an office.

OVERWORK-facebook

I suppose I should be thankful I have a job these days and one that pays enough so that I can enjoy life a little but I’m at the point in my life that I no longer want the stress of a morning or afternoon commute. It feels like wasted time to sit in traffic and traffic there will be since we’ll be working prime hours.

boston-traffic

If you search “work from home” jobs you find a long list of cottage industries and self employment “opportunities”. They may work for some but I’ve tried a lot of those with varying degrees of success. At this point I don’t want to be self employed or an entrepreneur. I just want to do a job , from home, and be left alone, not involved in office politics and get my paycheck. The only stress I want is from whatever the job entails, not the  commute, not from who is stabbing who in the back. I prefer not to know.

I’m always one of the top producers so there’s never been a performance issue.

Anyone out there work from home? Any suggestions for someone almost 65 who is not ready to retire yet?

I really don’t want to leave my job. It’s been a good run and I like it a lot but my stomach just goes into knots when I think of commuting every day again.

Any ideas?

The Festival of the Lion King

DSC_1891 copy

A trick I’ve learned from having back problems is that if you rent the electric chair to get around that you survive the parks much better than walking. Call me lazy but I like ending the day with a little energy left instead of exhausted , hot and aching.

DSC_1896 copy

Anyway, I had rented the electric scooter at Animal Kingdom so when we arrived to the Lion King show they asked me if I wanted to keep it or walk in. I said I’d keep it and boy was I glad I did. There are no bad seats in the Lion King Theater but with the scooter I was floor side, practically on top of the performers…or maybe they were on top of me!

DSC_1886 copy

Perfect for low light shots.

DSC_1890 copy

So rather than try to describe the action I’m going to share a few of my photos.

DSC_1892 copy

Simba:
I’m gonna be a mighty king
So enemies beware!

DSC_1898 copy

Zazu:
Well, I’ve never seen a king of beasts
With quite so little hair!

DSC_1903 copy

Simba:
I’m gonna be the main event
Like no king was before
I’m brushing up on looking down
I’m working on my roar!

DSC_1909 copy

Zazu:
Thus far, a rather uninspiring thing

DSC_1912 copy

 

Simba:
Oh, I just can’t wait to be king!

DSC_1914 copy

Simba:
Oh, I just can’t wait to be king!

DSC_1917 copy

Everybody look left
Everybody look right
Everywhere you look I’m
Standing in the spotlight

DSC_1919 copy

The Lion Sleeps Tonight

In the Jungle. the mighty jungle

DSC_1854 copy

The lion Sleeps tonight

DSC_1855 copy

In the jungle , the quiet jungle

DSC_1859 copy

The Lion Sleeps tonight

DSC_1861 copy

AND HEREEEEE’S SIMBA!

DSC_1896 copy

 

Ebates

Have any of you used the web page Ebates.com?

I’ve been using it off and on for about a year. I use it when I think of it. Sometimes I’m shopping and find the item I want and forget to go to Ebates first. That’s my mistake. There are so many stores in Ebates that chances are you’ll find the same store you just searched there.

ebates-logo1

I’ll give you an example. I like to buy diabetic crew socks. They are so comfy but they can be expensive and hard to find. I used to get them a Walmart but they haven’t had them the last couple of times I looked.  I tried my local CVS store and struck out too. Anyway, Saturday I had a list of things I was going to try to find but before I went out in the cold to shop I decided to search the internet one more time.

I found some rather expensive diabetic socks…$9.99 for 1 pair. Walgreen’s online also had diabetic socks. They were $5.49 for 1 pair. Armed with that information I moved over to the Ebates site and entered “Diabetic socks” and bingo, there they were. I placed my order through Ebates. That particular order carried a 2% rebate. That goes on my account.

In about a month I’ll get a check in the mail for all the rebates I’ve earned since the last check. I think they send it monthly but I really haven’t paid that much attention. The cost to me was the same whether I ordered direct or went through Ebates so why not go for the rebate?

But what I really want to mention is that I also ordered from another store. I ordered some slippers. They have a hard sole so they were not inexpensive. I got an email from Ebates Customer Service saying they had tracked me to the store but did not receive the order from the store. That was a surprise. They asked me to send them a copy of my order receipt. I followed their instructions and copy/pasted the info in the form.

Believe it or not I got an email right back explaining that they still didn’t have the order from the store but that with my documentation they were adding my rebate to my account. If they did not get the order from the store , they would follow up with the store! WOW, a pro-active customer service department.

Big-fat-check

I’ve always enjoyed getting Ebates emails saying “Your Big Fat Check is on the way” and opening the mail to find a check waiting even if it’s only $9 or $10 but throw in this customer service and I think I will make an effort to use the website more often.

Have any of you had any experience with them?

Animal Kingdom At Christmas

With the Orlando Eye down for the count  Joe and I put our heads together to come up with a plan B. Now when you are in Orlando and your BFF works for Disney World, what is the most logical conclusion for a Plan B?  Why, go to one of the parks , of course!

DSC_1816 copy

My very favorite park is Animal Kingdom because of the animals.  We figured we could get The Kilimanjaro Safari ride in and maybe the Lion King Show before the park closed for the day.

DSC_1817 copy

I love the bridge where we can see the Mountain. I always have to stop and take a picture there. Usually there’s a park photographer too because its such a popular vista.

DSC_1824 copy

The park was pretty slow so we were able to get on the safari ride pretty quickly.

DSC_1834 copy

A lot of the animals were out of sight waiting for the evening feeding but that meant that I got to see some that I’ve missed in the past.

DSC_1829 copy

There was a lovely bright colored bird. The driver told us its name but I don’t remember it now.

DSC_1827a_edited-1

Of course the elephants can’t hide

DSC_1843 copy

and there were giraffes.

DSC_1831 copy

The best were the big cats and of the big cats, the lions.

DSC_1855 copy

We even got a roar out of the male before he laid down for his nap!

DSC_1859 copy

Too soon it was time to move on if we wanted to see the Lion King Show.