Background con't

CA by way of Vegas!

There is life after divorce. On with my adventure!!!!

 

I am proud of the fact that I started as a factory laborer, moved up to supervisor and once my boys were grown, I went back to school, studied hard and got a promotion and an office with a view. OK, so the view was a parking lot and some pine trees. Still not bad for a girl who grew up poor and quit school at 16 to raise a family.

 

I did the bar scene for a while, did some dating, learned to 2 step, met a guy, 16 years later we're still living in sin. Life is good!

 

During our 16 years he has helped me to finally find the adventurer inside me. We have gone white water rafting, taken allot of dance classes. I've skydived a couple times, talk about an AIRgasm. I have to say that if it wasn't for the fact that my other half had a back issues and just starting to get away from it, I probably would have stayed with it. I looked into the cost off a rig but that was as far as it got.

 

I started powder puff racing at the same clay track that my best friends dad raced at when we where teenagers. Back then we went every Fri and Sat. Not so much to watch dad race but to check out the boys. This time I went for the thrill of racing myself. I even managed to get a first place and several 2nd and 3rd place trophies.

After a few 2-up bike trips, CO in 1994, TX in 1995, Canada in 1996, I decided it was time to get into the action on my own bike. I first bought a Yamaha 400 and actually rode it up to WI. Talk about getting beat to death. I was only 110 lbs at the time. It wasn't long and that had to go. I was ready for the big time. I got my 1st Harley. A pretty, red, 1200 Custom Sportster. We did Daytona and Sturgis and I rode it to PA. Again came the time to go bigger. In 2003 I bought a 2003 Harley Low rider and rode to CA.

 

I would ride to work and then change into my office attire and high heels. It was fun to watch all the guys at work gather around my bike and drool, I would open my window and yell, "you boys need to get your own toys".

 

In 2004 I had to sit it out due to surgery. 2005, back in the saddle and off to CO, 2006 was Laconia bike week in NH and on to ME, 2007 was MT and ID, 2008 was Nashville and Chattanooga, then a solo trip to KY, IN, MO. I used to get 6 weeks paid time a year and my other half only got 2 weeks so he was not able to go. I am lucky enough to have someone who encourages me to go chase my dreams.

This year we went to Blues fest in Eureka Springs, AR and soon we will be headed to WI.

 

Back to my former employment:

 

In the good old days the Company I worked for was 165 employees strong with more than a few million dollar accounts and loyal repeat customers. It was a great place to work. Moral was good and the people where the best. It was a place we all enjoyed working at. There was allot of pride in working there. Then came 911 and the airline industry; where most of our work came from, really took a hit. The internet was quickly taking over and we were losing our niche.

 

Then comes the owners son. An arrogant spoiled brat with no respect for anyone. With his BRILLIANT leadership and "NEW DIRECTION" the Company is now a whopping 22 employees with annual sales of less than 3 million and employees who dread going to work everyday and hope for something, anything to keep them out of his radar for the day. It got so bad that when ever we saw his car pull in, someone would get on the intercom to warn everyone of his majesty's arrival.

 

He started laying off his most experienced people first. They made too much money and after all, who needs experienced employees when he was much more knowledgeable and could get people to learn from him and do things his way for less. I was in the  3rd big layoff. One of 22 to go, leaving only 22 to carry on.

 

After he let the girl who did payroll go, we found out that he actually layed people off on 2 different occasions and raised his own salary $20,000/year both times, all the while telling his employees there was no money for raises and by the way, there will be no more company picnics and we are cutting your personal days in half. Gotta pay for those $20.000 raises! But in all fairness, he is leading the company in a "new direction".

 

I do realize that times are bad, but the company was thriving before he came into the picture and I have more years in it than he has on this earth. And if you have to lay people off, cut benifits and freeze wages, shouldn't he freeze his own wages too? Some times I think that the ones that are still there are the unfortunate ones and we are the lucky ones. We will all find work as soon as the economy comes back. When he has to close the doors he will never be able to hold a job and will have to go back to living off Daddy.

 

Well, that felt really good to get that off my chest.

 

I am going back to school in Aug. I was approved for a grant. I'll have a full schedule with 7 or 8 classes. I want to get it done in 4 semesters. I have got my expenses down to a minimum, my car and bike are paid for. I plan to work part time while going to school to help bring in food and put gas in my car and pay my insurance. Hey, if it's worth having it's worth working for. I am grateful everyday to have someone who is so supportive in my life. He didn't pay for my toys or my car but he made it possible for me to get it myself, and to me, that really is better than having someone give it to me.