Stephen's Birthday
06-14-2001,

Stephen's Birthday...

June 14, 2001

Today is Stephen's 31st Birthday. Happy Birthday Honey. Stephen is so funny sometimes because he totally does not like it when alot of people know it is his birthday. He get's mad at me if I say Happy Birthday to him in front of other people, LOL. He does care if those close to him remembers though, and he likes the attention from them, just not from people he doesn't know or care about. Me, I want everyone in the world to know that it's my special day, and to acknowledge it too, giggle.

We are going to the Sox game tonight with Cory and Jim to celebrate and we are really looking forward to it. It is a fireworks night too, which means that they have a firework display after the game. I told him that I ordered it up just for his birthday. As if I could, LOL. What he doesn't know though is that Cory is having them put a Happy Birthday Message up on the board. It will be up at the end of the 2nd inning, and I am going to be bouncing in my seat around then, hehe. I can't wait to see him see it. I need to stop and get some more film for my camera, as you know I am going to want to take lots of pictures, hehe.

We are leaving work early and going to dinner first, just Stephen and I. I would have liked to invite Cory and Jim to that, but they will be rushing as it is just to make it to the game on time. I hope that they don' t hit lots of traffic. I was so hoping that we could stop and pick up my car too, but it looks like they've run into a little bit of a problem. I need this new rod which is bent, and what is keeping the window from rolling down. Well, when they called to get the rod, they were told that you need the whole locking assembly to get the rod. HELLO, the whole assembly is 400 bucks, and all we need is the little freaking rod. I did need another piece too, but they got that (and it cost 60 bucks, sheesh). They are going to try to just fix the rod, and maybe weld some more metal onto it to stregthen it, instead of me having to buy the whole assembly that I don't need! See, this is why I like this place.. they are very honest and upfront with me, and never make me have to buy things I don't need. They said to call at 4, that they should have it done or be close. I am going to call at 3:30 and if it's not close, then I will probably have to wait until tomorrow morning to pick it up. I just want it to be done, ya know. I want my carrrrrrrrr....

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So I got my yearly evaluation at work today. It was wonderful, and I am so proud of it, and of myself. Stephen read it and said, what are you trying to do, get them to erect a statue of you, miss almost perfect, LOL. Most of the chairs don't give almost perfect evaluations, because the thought is that you need to have room to grow and to work towards getting better. Over the past 11 years, I've improved in my evaluations, and now I am 2 points away from perfect score. As it is, I fall into the highest range, Outstanding. I really feel good about it. And some of the things that he wrote about me were just so wonderful. Some of my favorites were....

"Vicki does most of the typing and word processing for 5 faculty. This includes lecture notes, grant applications, manuscripts, etc. She does a tremendous volume of work."

I think this means a lot to me, because I know how much time I spend goofing off with email and on the internet too, and you wouldn't guess how much work I actually do if you saw how much I play, but I do tons of work, and I am proud of that.

Vicki's work is almost always top-quality, with very few errors... Vicki is exceptionally reliable. She always completes her work in a timely manner and rarely misses work for illness or other reasons".

Vicki has an excellent overall knowledge of her job. She has excellent computer skills and excellent people skills. She knows how to work with people to get things done. Vicki gets along very well with faculty, staff and administrators. She is always willing to help others, particularly with problems related to computer usage. Vicki readily accepts increasing responsibilities, particularly in the area of computer technology".

I could go on but it's just more of the same. Hehe, I was pretty impressed. My boss was laughing at me. He said it's enough to bring tears to your eyes, and that they should make me the first female pope after they read this. LOL. I am just glad that he appreciates me and that he acknowleges how hard I work. I think this came at a good time too, I was starting to get burned out with this grant stuff, but reading all those wonderful things makes me want to work harder. Maybe he planned it that way... LOL.