Car accessories and too many umbrellas

My car is pretty close to being empty. I simply have car manuals in the glove compartment.

I am excited to get my new car several hours from now. My first stop after getting my car is likely Walmart. I need to get some blind spot mirrors and some adhesive for my phone mount. Yep, I need to accessorize!

Remember my previous post about finding four umbrellas in my car's trunk? The situation was actually worse. In the hidden trunk storage where the spare tire is, I had three smaller umbrellas there. I had a grand total of seven umbrellas in my car.

I could have used a different on every single day. Insane!

Sign and sell manuals

Even though my guy and I had an hour together yesterday, we made the best of it.

"I got you gifts. I have training manuals," he said, handing them to me.
"Ooh, they are for me and my students," I replied.
"Yes," he said, smiling because I was smiling.
"Thanks, sweetie. Can you sign them so that I can sell them on eBay and make some money?" I teased.

Dead silence. We then both laughed. It's the realization that we won't make any money selling them.

Multiple visits at work because we miss each other

This post is slightly out of sequence. I was going to talk about part 2 on Tuesday. Instead, this post is about Monday.

I can always tell when my guy misses me. When we are in the office, he visits me multiple times.

In the afternoon, he came by my desk and dropped off a couple of manuals that I needed.

"Ooh, are those manuals?" I asked, happy to see him.
"Yes, they are," he replied, looking happy that I was hugging the manuals with glee.
"Thanks so much!" I said.
"You're welcome," he replied, smiling.
"I was going to say that it's like Christmas in July, except that it's June," I admitted.
"Yes, but it's only for one product instead of two," he confirmed.
"That's okay. I'm still happy," I replied.
"So, it's Christ, without the mass," he joked, which made me laugh.

My department is hiring another writer. I actually had to ask my manager what this person would be doing. At long last, this person would be taking over some of my work.

"You know that we are hiring another writer. You could join my team. The problem is that you'd be working for me," I said to my guy, smirking.
"You're really tough, though," he said, smiling back.

It was a nice pick-me-up moment in the afternoon to see him. We both loved seeing each other.

Just before I left the office for the day, I sent him a text message, wishing him a good night and to drive home safely. He reciprocated.

As I was putting my bag into my car, my guy pulled up in his car. It was great. We chatted for a bit. I reached in his car and caressed his perfectly uniform head. He has started to grow his hair, so it's short and soft to the touch. 

I went and gently caressed his left cheek. He liked that so much that he kissed my hand twice.

I thanked him for making my day by letting me drive his car. He was beaming, loving this moment before we both headed home.

Offloading items and being sweet

My guy and I had this conversation before I started my vacation:

"Do you have any extra training manuals that I can take off you? I need the beginner-level ones," I asked.
"Sure. I like when you take them off me. I like offloading things, as you put it," he teased.
"You know that I like when you give me stuff. I still have the sleeping mask that you gave me. I remember wearing it and you kissed me," I said, fondly.
"Yes, I always love kissing you, with or without the blindfold," he remarked.

As usual, he's sweet.

D is for downstairs seeing my guy #AtoZchallenge

Mondays are typically blah. The countdown for the weekend kicks in immediately.

I tried to keep my work-related stress down. The morning went pretty well, even though I was in three meetings. It's nice that half the day blew by.

I had just finished eating my lunch. I was unwinding by watching a video podcast on my phone. My phone rang. It was my guy.

"Hey!" I exclaimed. "Where are you?"
"Hey, I'm downstairs in the lobby. I am here to fetch my car, but I have some manuals for you," he said.
"You just came in?" I asked him.
"Yes, I had to spend an unexpected couple of days in Frankfurt due to flight delays and cancellations," my guy explained.
"Sorry to hear. I'll come downstairs," I replied.

It was nice seeing him. Although he travelled a fairly good distance to get home, he was happy and in good spirits.

"Do you like my new coat?" he asked me, modelling a grey coat.
"It's woolly!" I exclaimed, caressing the fabric around my guy's chest area.
"It is," he confirmed.
"It suits you. It's the perfect length," I stated.
"I agree," he said.
"It's nice to have the real woolly. I cuddle up next to purple woolly. I love him," I told him, which made him smile.
"Do you hump him?" he teased.
"No, he's a plush! I'd rather hump you," I replied.

He nodded. He obviously approved. It was such a nice pick-me-up to see him.

Manuals from sleepyhead

Before my guy left for his trip, he managed to leave me a stack of training manuals. Most of them are for my students. Two of the manuals are for someone who works on a different floor of our building. We both know each other. He used to be a quality assurance person, but switched over to being an application developer.

My guy left me an e-mail, apologizing for the delay in getting the manuals to me. Although my guy is busy, he remembered getting them to me, which is great. He also asked if it was okay to have this application developer fetch the manuals from me. Naturally, I was okay with this gesture. It's better to drop off manuals in one location than deliver them on two different floors when your mind is on getting to the airport to catch your flight.

This application developer has yet to contact me. I suppose that if he doesn't, his manuals are mine!

My guy is doing well. He doesn't handle jet lag well. He has a seven-hour difference, but he does manage to get his nap in during lunch.

He misses me. He told me that he hopes to see me soon. It's definitely mutual.

Sweet reminders of my guy when he is away

At work, most of us have lockers that are on wheels. Many folks who get moved from one software development team to another tend to roll their lockers closer to where they sit.

In my case, I have been practically on every team that you can imagine. My locker has always remained where it currently is. I can't be bothered rolling it.

The other day, I decided to do some spring cleaning. I waited until most folks were out of the area, so I could go through everything and toss out items that I no longer needed.

I felt good after I was done. I didn't need to keep resumes that I had printed out of prospective candidates. I decided to take some tea out of my locker and place it on my desk. They are tea flavours that both my guy and I purchased.

My guy's thoughtfulness appears in my locker. I have many teas that he had brought back from his travels to Istanbul, Dubai, and Chennai. I also have a couple of his training guides. Unfortunately, our company still likes printing out training manuals, so he can't share his soft copy of the materials.

I miss my guy already, but appreciate his gifts to me. He is always thinking of me when we are apart. I am thankful that he is in my life.

He told me that he got me the purple sheep plush toy so that I could cuddle it like I do with him. He does help. As always, the real deal is always best.

Contractor nightmare is over and my spanking is coming

The nightmare at work (that is, the male contractor who yawns and is nonproductive) ended on Tuesday. My manager gave him two weeks to complete an assignment remotely and declared him terminated from the company after he hands in his work.

Part of me felt relieved. I was having my lunch when my manager escorted the contractor from the building. It has been highly stressful to work with someone who is clearly there to earn money and to not learn. The other part of me does not like to see him lose his job less than a month before the holidays.

He spent nearly a week editing a single Word document that was well under 100 pages. He had a deadline originally set for two days to get it done.

He doesn't retain much that I have taught him. Oddly, my manager told me that this contractor remembered that I had said that he was doing a good job. Um, that was during his second week. It wasn't as of late. My boss said that he is clueless. I have to concur.

My manager stated that everything that he does ends up having mistakes. He is right. Every time I had to review his work, including early Tuesday morning, I found mistakes.

He could not get processes in order. They were not difficult to follow!

Frankly, I wasn't too thrilled after interviewing him with my manager nearly two months ago. I didn't like the idea that he wanted to learn what everyone else was doing around him. My boss regrets hiring him. I also didn't get how this contractor scribbled notes on the side of his writing test that he had completed just before his interview with us. Why?

My manager left the contractor's training manuals and his notebook. I leafed through the latter. He included his monthly expenses. He had thirty bagels going for a dollar each. As someone who loves bagels, he was paying too much for one. I ended up ripping his notes out of the notebook and shredding them. His notes were not detailed.

My guy wrote the training manuals. He is always helpful when I ask him for them for my co-op students and new hires.

My guy is busy preparing for his trip. He flies out on Friday. It's the same day where I receive 34 x 4 smacks across my backside. And, yes, it makes me happy just thinking about it.

Seeing my guy and wishing moms a nice Mother's Day

Early last week, I had to send a work e-mail to my guy. I needed a few training manuals for the new hires.

My guy told me that he had a few left and that he'd bring them in this week. It works out that we get to see each other practically every day this week.

I miss him tonight, though.

It helps that it's Mother's Day. It's time to change my focus on my mom. 

Naturally, you don't need one day out of the year to celebrate your mom. It's much easier to make her feel special every day and to let her know how much you appreciate her. 

Happy Mother's Day to all moms!

Tuesday dinner date -- thank goodness for his GPS!

Typically, when my guy and I are both in the office, we have more time to have lunch or hang out after work. This past week was completely hectic for both of us.

My guy was delivering a course, but had a fellow trainer who would be delivering this advanced course down the road. As my guy put it, he had to "babysit" the new trainer.

As for me, I had to get a new writer settled in. I also had to host and partake in a writing workshop with two visiting writers from Sweden.

My guy thought that we could meet after work on Monday. I couldn't, for I was accompanying another writer and our guests to the Leafs game downtown. Instead, we decided to have a date night on Tuesday evening.

Towards the end of the workday, my guy pinged me and said that he had some manuals for me. I asked that he come up to one of the meeting hubs that we have. I was alone at the time until my boss decided to work with me on an e-mail project that we are both working on.

My guy dropped off eight guides and separated them as my boss worked next to me. Finally, he saw my guy and talked briefly.

I asked my guy to help me bring the manuals over to my desk. I had way too much crap with me to do it all by myself. He was more than happy to carry the manuals, as if we were in high school and he was carrying my books.

My guy and I talked about where we would have dinner. We both agreed that the closest Chinese restaurant would be good.

So, I left work before he did. My guy was too busy yakking up a storm with other developers. I headed off to the restaurant and waited in my car.

My guy texted me and asked where I was. I told him that I was at the restaurant. He asked me for the address. I had to giggle, because he is directionally challenged and is dependent on his GPS to get around. I gave him the address and included the country, to tease him.

He finally arrived and we sat down. It was a nice dinner date. We talked, laughed, and ate delicious food.

We held hands at the end of our meal. We hugged quite a bit before we headed out separate ways.

I asked my guy if he wanted to join my writing guests and me at the outlet mall tomorrow evening. What all four of us have in common is that we all like to shop and get great deals. Of course, my guy, Cheap Bastard, was completely up to the challenge.

Although we were rather busy last week, it was nice that we both made the time to see each other.