Mr. Orlando and I had an exhaustive talk last night. He kept asking me very specific questions like "What's the deal?" When I asked what he meant, his reply was "You know what I mean."

Um, no.
Turns out after more probing, he was referring to asking if we were still 'dating'.

Well, when you're in a long-distance relationship, is there really any form of dating?
So he didn't like when I then asked what he meant by that.

Apparently, he meant that we were still being romantic.
I'm not sure how I feel about that.
I didn't tell him that.

I told him that I wasn't going out to solicit gang-banging a group of peeps tomorrow.
I thought that  pissed him off. But instead he found it okay.

When the new boss came in, he promised us he'd keep meetings and such to a minimum. Mondays mornings from 8:30 - 10, and Fridays from 10:30 - 12. The meetings have been an improvement, and having consistency is good. His theory was that if the meetings were good, people would WANT to be there.

Then 2 weeks ago, he said everyone HAD to be in the office at 8am. (Not a problem for me since I"m already there at 6:30 but a lot of folks stroll in around 8:45, 9ish and don't start working for a while) He would literally sit at the door with a watch and give people crap about showing up at 8:03, etc. It seemed petty.

Yesterday, he announced that we HAD to be in the office booking appointments on the phone from 8am - 10am EVERY day. And we can book client appts at 11am, 2pm and 4pm.

This latest one was because people were only doing 4-6 appointments a week. I did 19 last week. I usually have a 7am appt, and an 8:30 or 9am appt. I get most of my appts done in the morning. I had four appts yesterday before 11am. I don't have a need to book more appts - I'm already booked beyond capacity to follow up with current clients and other stuff. And when you've been pursuing an atty and a very prominent doctor for MONTHS and they say they'll meet with you at 8am, your ass is there at 7:45.

I didn't want to make a big deal about it in the meeting - he acknowledged that I'm a meeting fiend and I am working my posterior off. But yesterday afternoon, 5pm, when no one else was in the office, I sat down with him for a few minutes to see if there could be some bending of this since I'm already exceeding all things (except revenue) that is required of me.

And that I recently paid $455 for a morning networking group.

His response.

No, I have to be in there booking appts.

I love what my company does. No one else does it. (And I'm signed to a stringent non-compete anyway) I love my customers. It's just my office. I am usually out of the office most of the time seeing clients/potential clients so I don't let the rest of this bother me too much. I'm in an activity-based sales model - so the more appts I do, the more potential clients I have.

Now, I have to be in the office for 12 hours a week for this 'setting appts' and meetings. That's 1/4 of my official work week. Mathematically speaking, if sales rep A is already doing 2x as many appointments as everyone else and cannot feasibly run more during the week - cutting back her time in the field to set MORE appointments when she won't have time to run the amount she was running before...?

Please tell me that I'm not justified in being pissed that this guy is screwing with my paycheck?

It's a rainy day. I've got much to do but little energy and even less inspiration.

So I had a visitor.

Monsieur Patron.
(Tequila)

Woo woo!
I think I'm a little more inspired to get some things done.
Lush!

For Sale:
Two kittens. Fixed.

Yesterday morning, I was out picking tomatoes on my deck. I let the felines prowl around the back yard. Since Tuxie made a jump last time - I was keeping an eye on them.

Dumb me.

I went inside for less than 30 seconds to put the tomatoes inside. And he disappeared!

I searched the yard - looking in the hiding places, up the trees. I climbed the peach tree to see if I saw him in my neighbor's yard. Nope.

I went inside and swept the house to see if he had come in and was hiding upstairs.
Nope.

I go out the front door, going to my neighbors' yards looking for Tux's white tail.
Nope.

I walk around the subdivision, looking in the yard of the neighbor behind me - in case he wandered back there.
Nope.

Where the *#)!@ is Tuxie?
It's 7am.

I'm looking all over the place. Calling him. Have treat container - shaking it to see if that would call him.
Nope.

I'm walking back to my house after going back around to the neighbors behind my home and I see a frolicking white tail running. I call him and shake the treat container.

He starts to run toward me. Then runs away.
That little #@!*

I lure him finally with my treats and grab his fluffy ass.
Take him inside and put him in 'time out' - the downstairs bathroom with water and litter box.

Later, I go back out in the back yard. I have the door blocked so they can't get out. But he still squeezed through. And once again, he made a jump for it.

Couldn't find him again. Searching again for more than an hour.
On the phone with a friend while I'm standing in the front yard scanning for him. And I see his tail again.
He jumps back over the fence INTO my back yard. And Velvet is on the fence ready to jump out!

Both were scolded and Tuxie was put in time out.
Their nails are clipped short. (And I re-clipped them last night.)
I hate that I can't let them outside to enjoy the yard - no the neighborhood.
I'm not going to put chickenwire around the proximity of my fence. But they are not very well-trained. I can't get them to listen to basic commands like "Down", "No!" and others.

REALLY FRUSTRATED. Is there a Cat Whisperer?

I'm 'breaking hearts'.
On Friday, I told Kiltboy I'm smitten with Mr. Orlando. He wished me well.
Doc Xray is leaving to go to a new assignment next week - but he called yesterday. I'll break the news to him today - not that it really matters. I never got reimbursed for the expensive dinner he didn't buy.
I told Radio Guy - who I haven't seen in years - but we still talk all the time. There's been a 'spark' between us. He's super happy for me. Says he hears something different when I talk about Mr. Orlando.
Turkish photographer called - wants to get together for 'lunch'. Do I even bother to do it face to face?

I wonder, what else would guys say?

No, I haven't told Hot Stud yet. Partially because he's been down lately - dare I flatter myself to think my news would crush his heart  - no. We just haven't talked about personal things in a long time. And since I inadvertently sent that text message to him instead of Mr. Orlando, he hasn't made a single sexual suggestion.  I will always love him and be indebted to him.  I'm very protective of him.

Mr. Orlando has been a lot more enthusiastic about 'us' - he told his sister before we had our date that he had met someone really special. I'm surprised he hasn't rented a plane to fly a banner about it.

Shespecies and I were talking last night. She's pleasantly surprised with how this is developing. I told her that she'd probably be the only girl for my Bachelorette party - we'd have to go to Vegas. (Since most of my close friends are guys, can I have them at a Bachelorette fiesta?) We were kidding about the wedding discussions, so relax. (But, I would totally elope to a beach wedding and not tell you until it was done.)
 

Mr. Orlando and I had a long discussion about the smoking. I told him that I had concerns and I really was beginning to feel like pulling back because of the smoking. That I could not be involved with a smoker.

He said that he wanted me. That he knew his future would be with me. And that he would stop. That he didn't quit in the past because he was living with smokers (his ex/wife) and trying to stop then would have been particularly difficult.

I said - she's been out of your home for more than a year. So why not for yourself and your son then?
(He didn't really answer it but said he needed to find some sort of distraction to help him ease the transition.) I don't remember exactly what he said but it was something along the lines of - consider it done.

Then he started talking about how he was figuring how we were going to work the transition - with his son - when he comes up here. Me, being the 'fixer', came up with a strategy. Haven't shared it with him yet. I've always felt it was wrong to live together before marriage. But, since we've got a distance issue and the money issue, that I think I might have to bend on this.

He owns a home near Orlando. His ex and his son live about 45 mins west of Orlando. He's not making a lot of money with his current job and he doesn't even get vacation time - after five years.... He needs to get a roommate. He's said he's going to get a 2nd job -he gets off work at 3pm, so he can work in the evenings. Save up money. Get some savings. Get a better car (for road trips). Get his resume ready. I can do some legwork to get him some interviews for better jobs. Challenge will be time off for heading back to Orlando to visit with his son on weekends. Or when his son is a little older - have him fly up here some. If Mr. Orlando shacked up with me, he wouldn't have to be paying for a 2nd living situation. His house would have someone there to take care of things.

No, I'm not talking about doing this in the next few months. We're talking next year - but it will give him a framework to work towards. (And for me to figure out what sort of closet space I could potentially manage sharing!)

I think it's important to see how things go on a more day to day basis. In a LDR, you're dealing with idealistic situations. Granted, he's the only person that I've spent such concentrated time with and wasn't needing a break from at all. (That says a lot.)

Thoughts? Discuss.

Busy morning and for some reason I woke up at 4:15 -but I'm tired. Online thanks to a fairly decent wifi signal from someone else around here. (Thanks!)

Never crossed paths with Hot Stud the other day. He called me to tell me that he had decided to trim a tree in my back yard over my porch that I had been 'training' with its growth. Again, this was something we hadn't discussed. I got rather miffed with him and begged him NOT to do things that we hadn't discussed. He apologized. I called him later to apologize. (However, I hoped I had made a point.)

Have to blog separately about the event I went to. O.M.G.

Hot Stud called me yesterday afternoon to give me a summary of one of those original things I asked him to do - he suggested an alternative but wanted to get my approval beforehand. (THANK GOODNESS!)

Evenings are spent on the phone with Mr. Orlando.  I'm still really intrigued by him. No clue what's to come of it. He's talking about renovating his home to make it more comfortable for his son. I guess that said to me that he's not really considering coming up here. But then again, he sometimes says something totally different.

I dunno.
I need more beach time.

I have litter boxes beckoning me.

Went to see my regular GYN today because I'm still not recovering from the kidney infection. I have one more day of medication.

First they told me I had a balance from 8 months ago. I reminded them that I drove all the way over to their office and then the doc called me on my cell phone to say he was tied up delivering a baby. So I never saw him. And they told me this morning that I'd have to pay the balance due before they'd see me. I told them I've responded three times to the invoices and each time they said they'd fix it. I asked them to show me in my chart notes from that day's appt - they couldn't.

Still they said I had to pay the balance.

Grrrr.

So I wait another hour before seeing the doc.
And I've seen him since I was 19.
He was a TOTAL ass today.

I told him I wasn't getting relief and was there any other meds or suggestions... He belittled me. I've had 3-4 UTI's and been hospitalized a couple of times for kidney infections, so I'm sorta familiar with how things roll. I'm still running a fever - not really indicative of things clearing up... (Not to mention I'm feeling like I'm going to pee all the time)

He pretty much gave me the medical version of an airline attendant as they push you out the door. I asked his nurse what was up. I told her I'd been his patient for almost 20 years and this was not acceptable behavior from him.

She said "well, he's had a bad day."

Well, I have bad days too - but I do not let it impact my clients.
I told her that I was going to start looking for a new doc that listens and gives me the time of day.
 This wasn't the first time he's been such an ass. I was complaining about an issue last July for several months. He was totally blase about it. Told me he didn't know and blew it off.

I think it's time to find a new hoo-haa doc. He's fired.