Big Changes at Work ??

There might be some big changes at work. The entire thing started during my Thanksgiving Vacation. My direct superior and I do have a very good working relationship and we do know each other on a personal level as well. So she called me Tuesday during my vacation to inform me that there has been an incident. And begged me not to overreact when the boss is going to talk to me next week. I promised that I will try my best not to overreact. The one thing she is afraid of most is that I get so pissed of and quit my job.
Here are the details. I kinda aware of the fact that certain account statements have not been recorded for a number of month. It would have been my co-workers responisbility to make me aware of that fact. Yes, it could have occured to me as well...but it really isn't my job to control those kinds of things. Face is, that about 3 weeks ago my co-worker and I were looking for those account statements everywhere. And the statements were nowhere to be found. So I told my co-worker to get copies of the statements from the credit card company and then do the recording of the statements himself. He got the the replacement copies but didn't record the expenses. Another co-worker needed the information, but instead of talking to one of us he had nothing better to do than to talk to the boss himself. That's in my opinion just childish. Suddenly the original account statemnets appeared in my trays where I specifically know that I didn't put it there and I know as well that I looked through that tray 3 weeks ago. Someone had them apparently and doesn't want to take responsibility for it.
I do have a good idea how that conversation is gonna go next week. The boss is gonna yell around...and as soon as he does I don't listen to him anyways. The he's gonna try to tell me about accounting procedures and I will tell him what is fact and what isn't. And will be pointing out indirectly how little he actually knows about accounting. That the boss doesn't like that, is something I can understand. But the truth has to stay the truth, regardless of the consequences. And knowing how conversations like that have gone with other co-workers in the past, I'm pretty sure at some point he's gonna result to personal insults. And that's something I'm not going to stand for. Besides that personal insults are explicitly forbidden by law. And if my boss tries to tell me something about the quality of my work I will have to tell him, that he has neither the knowledge nor the qualification to evaluate the quality of my work. And things might go downhill from there. So there is a good possibility that I'm gonna quit my job. Criticism based on facts is one thing, yelling and personal  insults is an entirely different thing. And I'm not gonna stand for the latter one.
But I'm not a guy of rash descissions. I know enough about workers comps and unemployment comps to figure out at what time and with what amout I would be able to collect unemployment. And I also looked into regs for giving notice to quit my job. Fact is I can only do that by End of December without getting any penalties. With that being said I have enough vaction days left that I would probably only have to work for a couple of days in Demcember and the rest I would be using my paid vacation days. And of course I calculated how much unemployment I would be able to collect. And it turns out it's enough to pay for housing and untilities. The rest of the living costs would have to come out of my savings. But fortunately I do have a nice savings account and could afford that.
And the more I thought about it, the more positive aspects I could find. Being 2 month off work would mean that I could have my VAT & Corporate Tax Specialist Certification much sooner than while working full time. I do know the direction I want to go and fact is that from the point of my career my current job isn't getting me anywhere. I've reached the maximum that I can reach in this company. Lots of the stuff I know I can't really use in my current job and not using a knowledge means that you slowly start to forget it. And that's not somehthing I'm particularly fond of. And truth to be told there are currently quite a number of job openings in accounting in Vienna. So I really wouldn't be scared to take that step.
Taking a couple of month off would allow me to focus on developing and setting up a second stream of income, that might become quite important in the near future.
You might say that I'm currently at a crossroad. It's not entirely clear where it's gonna go, but it's definitely an interesting place to be in.

Finding a new Boarding Facility for Daisy...

Today I was going to check on the reservation of Daisy's Boarding facility during my XMAS vacation. Turns out that there was a miscommunication and that they only reserved a spot for her for December 22nd to December 26th. That really didn't help me. And end of November being a little late already..so they couldn't find a place for her for the rest for the duration. So I canceled the entire reservation. Good thing that I have travel insurance just in case I can't find a boarding facility for Daisy. Even sent one my best friends a text message if she knew a bording facility she can recommend, but didn't hear back from her right away.
So I called up quite a number of boarding ficilites in Vienna, but they all came back with the same result: "We are full". So I managed to to find 2 boarding facilities outside of Vienna. The closer one couldn't tell me right away if the had a spot left, but promised they would get back to me within a day. So I called the one further away. Is about 40 miles from Vienna. And they did have a spot for her. If time hadn't been of the essence I would have waited. But in this case I booked the place for as well and got a booking reservation back within 1 hour. So now Daisy is set to go to a boarding facility while I will be on my XMAS vacation. Still haven't figured out the details on how the get Daisy there. Not having a car in that situation sucks. So I have to choose if I want to take a rental car for one day or if I rather want to take public transportation, what means that a 40 mile trip is roughtly gonna take 2 hours. Still not sure what route I'm gonna go...and it will depend on the weather for December 22nd as well.

Final Dentist Appointment...

Today was the final dentist appointment and both, upper and lower dentures, would be put in. The appointment was at 3pm and I got there about 20 minutes early. So I thought I would have plenty of time to catch up on my social media. But that wasn't exactly true. They called me in right away and I only had to wait for about 5 minutes or so.
We put in upper and lower dentures. The upper onces were a prefect fit and they had already been perfect the day before. The lower dentures were a much better fit than the day before. But they still didn't fit perfectly. Took some adjustments at the dentures themself and a little grinding down of one thoot. where one of the metal brackets will be sitting. And it was a way better fit this time. Of course it feels weird. Not so much the upper dentures. They're fine and not that much different from the cosmetic fake tooth I used to have. The lower dentures are a different story. It just feels like you're having an aweful lot of metal in your mouth. According to the dentist it take quite some getting used to that. Can take up to 30 days. And yes it sounds weird hearing yourself talk with the dentures. And yes you do have to practice a lot of talking. Got thing that I love to have conversations with my dog. And I don't think I'm having that many problems talking, since those are only partial dentures.

Truth to be told it's going to take some getting used to talking especially with the lower dentures in, since they don't fit that tightly by nature as the upper ones. And this tooth replacement I am even supposed to wear during the night.
When I got home I had the dentures in for some time and they felt actually OK. Later that evening I tried my first meal with them. OK, it was a rather soft meal. And it worked somewhat OK. Still feels a little weird, but it's gonna take time to get used to it. Can take up to 30 days to fully get comfy with the dentures when eating meat. But so far it has been OK. The only thing that I'm not particularly fond of are the tiny bits of food under your dentures...that's just not much fun. But I guess that's a small price to pay considering that I was loosing my fillings every couple of years because of those missing molars.

Round 6 with the Dentist...

Today I was supposed to have my final appointment with the dentist. But we all know that things don't always work out as planned. This appointment was at 11.30 am. This didn't bother me since I had taken this week off. On the one had I've over 50 paid vacation days left and needed to take some of them before the  become void. After all if you haven't taken your vacation days in quite some while, after 3 years they become void. And the second reason was that I like to have the Thanksgiving weekend off. That's something I've gotten used to doing since I moved back from the States.
So I got to my appointment in time. And I didn't even have to wait long. First we tried the upper partial dentures. And they were a prefect fit. And that was the real biggy for me. Since I really don't like the missing front tooth. It's one of the reasons why I'm not smiling in many pix. The lower partial dentures weren't that good of a fit. The brackets just weren't fitting over the teeth the way they were supposed to.
So we did have to cast another mold of my lower jaw and the dentures had to go back to the dental technician, to have the problem taken care of. And we did set up another appointment, that hopefully will be my last dental appointment at least regarding the partial dentures.

Round 5 with the Dentist...

Today I had another appointment with the dentist. This appointment was at 8 am in the morning. Usually I don't like appointments in the morning just in case he needs to drill in one of my teeth and I opt to have a local anesthesia. That's why I prefer my dentist appointments in the evening. But this time they were only going to put in the crown, so a morning appointment didn't bother me.
I got there right on time and they romoved the temporary crown and put in the new on. That went off without a hitch. But turns out it wasn't completely perfect so the dentist had to make some minor adjustments to the upper teeth in order to make it perfect fit. It was done in about 20 minutes and headed into work.
The one thing I didn't expect was that my gums were going to bother me for the next 2 days. But finally the pain wore off and everything was fine.

Picking up Daisy...

Today was finally the day that I had planned on picking Daisy up from the boarding facility. But of course I couldn't do that in the morning, since I really didn't want to pick her up and drop her off at my apartment again. So I had planned on doing that in the evening after work. What I didn't plan on was having an dentist appoint right after work. But since that was an appointment regarding my dentures...I really didn't want to re-schedule that.
I left work around 4 pm and headed to the dentist. Turns out that the crown they had planned to put in wasn't ready due to a screw up the the dental technician. So the dentist looke if there were anything else to do. But luckily for me there wasn't. By the time I was done I was almost certain that I could pick up Daisy. So I called a cab and headed for the boarding facility. Rush hour traffic actually wasn't bad at all and I arrived at the boarding facility just in time. I got to talk a little with the owner and they really liked the absolute senior resident of the facility. I walked into Daisy's room...and boy was she pissed. She didn't even look at me. No wagging tail no greeting...nothing. I put colar and leash on her and walked her to the cab. Still no reaction from Daisy. Put her into the cab and headed back home.
We than walked through the apartemnt and Daisy checked things out. She finally went to drink. I realized how badly Daisy was smelling. Like a dirty dog. And Daisy doesn't smell that way even if she hasn't taken a bath in  month. But that was something that had to wait. I took her for a long walk and Daisy slowly started to come around again. Familiar sounds and surroundings did the trick. But not sure why she really had quite some diarrhea. I really felt bad for her. Once we got back home it was bathing time for Daisy. At first she didn't like it...as usual. But then she just let it happen. Lots of water and lots of doggie shampoo finally wached the stench out of Daisys coat. After that of course she got a couple of doggie cookies.
Slowly Daisy was even up for some petting. But for that she has to come on her own. And she did. Didn't take too long for her to finally go on her doggy bed an crash in a deep sleep. Then I knew everything was fine again...my old girl was finally home again and feeling secure. And it looks like Daisy's separation anxiety is not back with a vengeance.

Business Trip - Day 2..

Day 2 of my business trip to Germany started off with me having a fairly lengthy breakfast. Way more than I eat during a regular breakfast during my work week. But boy did that hotel have a lot of stuff to choose from. And I did so take advantage of that. During my breakfast one of my co-workers showed up and joined me. And we did have some work related chat during the breakfast.
After breakfast we checked out of the rooms and waited for one of our colleagues who was running a little behind. We than took a cab to the comapny that were in charge of your accounting software. Found the place without many problems and soon thereafter we sat down in the company's conference room.
They started with their basic introduction about the software. Many of the things they were talking about were complete news for 2 of my co-workers. At least that's much as I gathered from their facial expression. My superior and I had a couple of questions during the period of the software introduction.
But the more we moved on to more complicated taskes of the software the more I stopped the guy and asked him one question after the next. At times I thought I was really slowing him down. But the point was to get as much information out from this business meeting as possible. My 2 other co-workers seemed to be at a loos about the subjects we were talking about. Good thing lunch break was about to start.
We headed over to a local restaurant and had sume very jummy food. And it's always fun having a conversation about non-work related topics. After about 45 minutes we headed back to the conference room.
As it turns out the company who did the inital setup of our accounting software screwed up several times royally. And it will take some convincing to make the boss see, that there are some serious changes necessary. Including changing the company who does the tech-support for the accounting software. We than ventured into mor difficult areas of the software. Especially when it cam the tax related task and tasks of the autu-payment feature for accounts payable and receivable, I really had the impression that 2 of my co-workers were kinda bored. That don't know anything about that. But I asked that guy tons of questions and I really got a stuff of information out. And even while we were there I knew of a nuber of procedures that have to change in order to make things run more smoothly. By 4.30 pm we were done and the cab waited already to pick us up. We headed during rush hour to Stuttgart International airport. Took us about 1 hour to get there. We checked in and grabed a completely overpriced snack to eat. My co-workers did some shopping in the duty free shop and than we headed to the gate. Just to find out that the departure of our flight was going to ge delayed for about 30 to 45 minutes. That really didn't make me a happy camper. But there's noting you can do about that. We did finally make it onboard the plane and it took about 1 hour to get to Vienna. We then got another cab to get back to our company where 2 of my co-workers had their cars parked and I to the cab to my appartment.
By the time I was finally home it was about 9.30 pm. I put some of the clothes away and then grabbed a cold beer out of the fridge and relaxed a little on the couch. But I couldn't really relax at first. There was something very important missing. Daisy was still at the boarding facility. Although Daisy is 17 1/2 years old and her excitement only lasts for very short periods of time...the apartment felt just weird and empty actually. After a late evening snack an a second beer I finally headed to bed. I'm so looking for ward to picking up Daisy from the boarding facility tomorrow. And yes, I really don't like a apartment without dog. It's just too weird.

Business Trip - Day 1...

Today was the day that I had to go on a 2 day business trip for my company to the get all the details about upcoming changes in the update of our accounting software. And it was also time to voice some things of that software that I wasn't particularly happy about, if there isn't a differnt way to address certain accounting issues. This was the reasin a couple of co-workers and I had to go on a business tripp to Karlsruhe/Germany.
The day started as pretty much every other day I have to work. Got up went with Daisy for her usual walk and then I had breakfast. I had already packed the suitcase on Sunday. I had booked the cab to pick me up at 7.15 amd and they were supposed to call me 5 minutes prior to their arrival. The one thing that didn't happen was the call. So the cabbie rang I still had to get fully dressed. Grabbed the suitcase and called for Daisy. But she was so confused that it took some convincing that she was going to come with me. Put her into the back of the cab and off we went to the boarding facility on the outskirts of Vienna. It took us about 40 minutes to get there.
I walked with Daisy into the facility and we had to wait a couple of minutes for Daisy's room to be ready. But all the doggy smell and all the barking got the better of Daisy. She just set down on the floor and peed. Although she had just been out 1 1/2 hours ago. I dawned on me that this place might bring back some distant memories of her time at the shelter. She walked with me to her room. I stayed with her there for a couple of minutes, but she so didn't show any interest in the room or the fact that a little garden area came with that room. She didn't even care about me petting her and she didn't even look at me when I had to walk out of the room. That was actually pretty hard for me, as it made my heart heavy. I then filled out all the paperwork and arranged with the facility manager, that I would pick up Daisy on Wednesday between 6 and 7 pm.
I than took the cab to work. The entire fun with the cab cost about 50 bucks. Lucky for me it was a kinda busy workday and that way my thoughts weren't constantly with Daisy. By 3.30 pm my co-workers and I had to leave for Vienna International Airport. A cab picked us up at work and we got to the airport in no time. We had already checked in online prior to our arrival and were going to check our suitcases as carry-on. That way we didn't have to stand in line. All the security requirements are getting more and more ridiculous. Most of the requirements I'm still used to from my time living in the States. But to take a way a persons shaving cream when there's barely anything left in the can...well that's just pointless. I joked about it..."and so I will be unshaven for 2 days..". And I don't that serious anyways. We than sat in the transit area and enjoyed a drink, while waiting for aur flight to be ready for boarding. The flight was uneventful. But I still love the taking off and landing part of flying. The snacks you get on the 1 hour flight to Stuttgart are just a joke. Before offering me the choice between an apple or a small bar of chocolate...don't offer my anything at all.
At all that time we were never asked to show our passport. But you still have to carry it with you, since you can be checked for your passport. We got off at Stuttgart International Airport in Germany and had to figure out a way to get from there to Karlsruhe. The don't offer a Airport Taxi Driver service between those 2 cities. So one of my co-workers found a cab for a reasonable fair and we went to Karlsruhe. Took us about 45 minutes to get there and then we checked into the hotel.
After we had checked in we agreed to meet 15 minutes later for dinner. So we went to a local beerhall nearby and had some good German food and some tasty beer and got to talk in a non-work setting. All in all day 1 of the business trip went of without a hitch. Around 11 pm we called in the night and returned to the hotel. I checked my eMails, Twitter and FB and was very happy that the Roaming Feature of my cell worked without any problems. Before heading to be I got to chat with my special guy a little and that made it less weird not having Daisy at my side. And I really did miss her company.

Dentist Appointment Round 4...

Today I had another "fun" appointment with the dentist. First up was to have one of my molars grinded down so that the crown could be placed on it. Of course I opted for novocine and the dentist suggested it by himself, since he was going to work in very close proximity of the gums. With the the novocine it actually wasn't a big deal at all. He was done pretty quickly and then the put the temporary crown on it. This took some work until it fit properly.
Next the took moulds of my upper and lower jaw from which they will be forming the the partial dentures for my upper and lower jaw. Since I'm missing 1 tooth in the front of my upper jaw and 2 teeth on the side of my lower jaw. Taking the mould of the upper jaw was no biggy at all. But the lower jaw was a little bothersome. It didn't hurt exactly but it was definitely annoying. Once I was done I heade back home. It was all fine until the novocaine wore of. Then I realized how clow to the gums they had worked. As my gums were quite sore. That they would stay that way for another 2 days is another story and not something I was particularly fond of.