Toll Booth Collector Girl is Tired

Who would have thought that being a toll booth collector could be stressful and VERY tiring??! Certainly not me!!!!

I must admit, I'm one of the legions who always believed a toll booth collector's job was pretty cushy. I mean, seriously... collecting money for 8 hours? How hard could that be? Getting state wages and retirement benefits? I always thought it was a great job and I envied those people with that easy job.

Trust me. Not easy, not cushy. It's a good thing I'm part-time right now. An 8-hour shift leaves me beat to the ground the next day. I need a day off just to regenerate some energy so I can go back the next day!!!

Since I work at the south terminal of the Kansas Turnpike Authority, there is rarely a minute to relax. (Check out the link to their website... the photo in the header shows the terminal where I work, so you can get an idea of what  my "office" looks like.) We are busy the entire shift, whether it's daytime or evening. I'm sure it probably slows down considerably in the overnight hours, but I haven't worked the night shift. Yet. I'm told the onslaught of summertime bugs will make up for the relaxation time that the "hoot" owl workers enjoy.

I'm not complaining. Nooo, actually, I rather like this job. If only because it is so different from what I have done my entire life. In my previous tenure, I served as office manager and media buyer for a small advertising agency. Prior to that, executive administrative assistant at a large corporation-type business, and prior to that, a senior administrative assistant and marketing coordinator at an architectural firm. So you can see I'm used to being in a nice temperature-controlled office on a plump, comfy chair.

Now I fight the bees as the bee trucks head north from Texas, slam my little booth doors shut as the livestock trucks go by, and crank the air conditioning to 55 degrees just to get some cool air circulating when it's almost 100 outside and the booth doors are open almost all the time. My feet hurt from standing all day, as does my lower back from the constant reaching ~ up to trucks, and down to cars.  There are K-Tag issues that must be dealt with -- tags that don't read, people who think other state tags WILL read (they don't), people without tags who think they can run the lane -- there are also people who think they don't have to pay at all and run the lane, people who lose their tickets, accidents, disabled cars, possible drunk drivers, ticket readers that decide not to work when you have a stream of cars waiting to pay, and of course, people who decide to empty their piggy bank and pay with a plastic bag full of pennies!  (Yes, that just happened to one gal last night!!)

I will say that I've discovered 90% of the people in our world are friendly, nice and polite.  They understand the purpose of a turnpike, what their ticket is for, and they have their money ready to pay upon exit.  But as you well know, there is always that other 10%.  I guess that's what will keep my job exciting!

Bonus ~ I am allowed to bring my camera with me to work. So I'm going to start doing so, perhaps as soon as tomorrow. I'll give y'all a peek into my world on the interstate highway.  And if you are ever driving south through Kansas, keep an eye out for me at the south terminal and say hi...  as a side note, you will find that the Kansas Turnpike keeps their road in top-notch condition.  It's such a pleasure to drive; I usually receive at least 2 customer compliments each shift that I work.

It's certainly a DIFFERENT job.

I did say that's what I wanted, RIGHT????!!  :-)

The newest addition to our animal menagerie...

another story, another day!

Springtime Giveaway Winner{s}

Our giveaway winner is............ Nezzy of Cow Patty Surprise!! Congrats, Nezzy!  Send me your address (suzgarten@yahoo.com) and I'll get the doll out later this week so your sweet grand-girls can take proper care of her.  :-)  

Now after I drew the winner of the giveaway, I had a thought.  Seems like so many of you wanted that danged ole bird book.  So I thought.... why not draw a 2nd name from amongst those who want the bird book?? Soooooo, our bird book winner is.......... Julie of Midlife Jobhunter!  Congrats Julie, I hope you enjoy your bird book as much as I'm enjoying my copy. (Send me your address!)

Starling mama in our backyard... see more pics on my photo blog

And if y'all haven't visited Nezzy's or Julie's blog, well, you totally need to stop by and say hi....  I'm jes sayin'.  They are BOTH seriously fantastic writers, and that's no bull.

I will be back soon this week.... I want to give y'all an update on Micki Kohler and the benefit that was held for her a week ago.  The benefit had a huge turnout, and I'll put up some photos for y'all to see.   Thanks to everyone who donated to help out Micki and her family, words cannot express the family's appreciation as they travel through this difficult period in their lives.

I'm a little scarce and harried right now because I finally .... HAVE A JOB! Yep, I'm now among the ranks of the employed after 1.5 years of job searching in Kansas.  What's that, you want to know what I'm doing?  Welllllll..... if you decide to travel through Kansas on I-35, you just might meet me at one of the southern toll booths.  Yessiree, I am now a toll booth collector for the Kansas Turnpike Authority.  I've been in training since last week, but I think they will throw me to the wolves just in time for the Memorial Day weekend, and you just know I'm going to be one hopping girl that weekend!!  I'm already eating less (can we all say YAY!!) so I'm hoping that a side benefit is that I'll lose about 20 pounds.  That would sure be a blessing.  :-)

Thanks to everyone who commented on my giveaway, and stay tuned for the next giveaway.  There's always a chance to win something fun here at Oz Girl's place.

Have a great week y'all!

Oz Girl Update and an Owl in the Barn!

The job search is going rather well. I've applied to two county jobs; both seem promising, and one in the DA's office in Wichita sounds really interesting. I realize that quite possibly hundreds of people are applying for these positions, but I'm hoping my qualifications will put me on the interview list. Let me tell you, searching for jobs online everyday takes oodles of time, as does creating new cover letters and tweaking the ole resume every time I apply to a new job. I'm winded and I haven't even gotten up out of my computer chair! :-)

Hubby made it home from Seattle on Friday. The grass was clamoring for attention; he replaced the belt on his riding mower, and hopped to it. The yard looks lovely now!

Saturday afternoon and evening were full of thunderstorms with heavy rain and high winds. The weather radio woke us up all Saturday night, sometimes 10 minutes apart, with new thunderstorm/tornado/flash flood warnings. Often we would get up and look out the windows, just to make sure there were no serious threats, before we would very tiredly crawl back in bed. It was a long night with little sleep.

Today we travelled to Wichita - Tom to fill out paperwork at Spirit for his broken crown (long story there) and me to shop for some new dress shoes for job interviews. I found a great lil pair of BCBgirls black button pumps at Dillards, normally $89 marked down to $58.80 AND in my size... 5-1/2!! Let me tell you, it is very hard to find big-girl shoes when your feet are still little-girl size!

And finally, our big excitement for the day... a barn owl in our shop/barn, entangled with fly tape. We caught him without much incident and got almost all the fly tape off, and he flew to freedom just a little while ago.

The fly paper wrapped from his front side to the
underside of his left wing and tail feathers.

I think this was one very happy owl when he flew away! :-)

Update on My Life....

Ok, so I've been most terribly remiss in keeping everyone up-to-date on my blog. Let's see, who or what shall I blame? The beautiful Kansas weather this time of year (up to 60 degrees today Dec. 2), the family that was here off and on throughout last week, the job at South Central Kansas Regional Medical Center that lasted just shy of 3 weeks, or the Mobsters game on Myspace???? Hmmmm, take your pick!

I will say that Mobsters can be quite addictive -- I play it for the strategy angle (should I buy more income-producing territory or more equipment for attacking other mobsters?) rather than joining some of the clique mobs that populate the game. And trust me, some of these mobs can become quite antagonistic at times! No, I prefer to play on my own, attacking those who do not belong to big mobs and making $$ off them so I can advance to my next level. I guess that mirrors my place in life -- I always prefer to take the lonesome road, or at least the road less traveled, as I excel by myself!

The job at SCKRMC was not for me. I was getting all the different medical insurance plans down pat, even though it can be extremely difficult and confusing. What finally pushed me over the edge and made me decide this job wasn't for me -- being alone on the 3-11 shift in ER, not only responsible for registration of all ER walk-ins and emergencies alike, but also responsible for answering the switchboard, calling code blues or reds and gathering appropriate staff as needed for these code calls, handling the fire alarm if it went off and following all protocols and processes involved thereto, etc., etc. The hospital's business is increasing rapidly, plus they just received approval to build a new hospital on the edge of town, which will cause their business to increase even more. I had a discussion with the Business Office Manager upon my departure, and she agreed with me on many counts that there should be 2 people staffing the ER registration desk, not just one. Just think how these patients must feel as the registrar stops to answer the switchboard multiple times as she is trying to get the patient registered!!

WalMart called and I just couldn't go through with that one!! They wanted to hire me as a cashier for the holiday season -- sure, it would have been some income, and perhaps I would have been retained after the holidays and even managed to move up in the ranks due to my most excellent abilities and experience (LOL), but I decided I just could NOT deal with the holiday mobs. Nope, not for me. I served my time in the retail world in my 20s!!!

And so I search for the next job. I just applied for an Accts Payable clerk with Sumner County. This job pays relatively well, and obviously would have great benefits as it is a gov't job. I decided a few years ago I really like working with numbers, so I think I might like this job. The only drawback -- full time 8-5, so I wouldn't see Tom much during the week, just on weekends. I just can't worry about that right now, maybe I could transfer into another position within the county later down the line. I'll cross my fingers and hope I hear from them.

We are less one horse as of yesterday. No, we haven't put paint horse down (yet). Tom's daughter Missy took Mike (Tom's former roping horse) back to Wyoming with them. Mike's roping days are over due to his age, so he will be pampered and get tons of attention from Missy and Jason and the kids.

The vet came by on Saturday to look at paint horse. He's been limping much worse the last 3 to 4 weeks. The vet thinks that he may actually have some hoof trying to grow under the old hoof growth. So Tom trimmed his front hooves and he seems to be walking a bit better, altho still limping. He lays down out in the pasture more during the day. I'm still going to try to get him into that sanctuary in eastern Kansas. He may still have the potential to be used as a training horse for kids; time will tell.

Tom was in WA state at the Boeing plant for the two weeks prior to Thanksgiving. There were some defective nut plates that had to be replaced; seems they didn't get anti-corrosive material applied to them before installation. So Tom got to work 12 hr shifts while he was in WA, and bulked up his paycheck for 2 weeks, for which he was very thankful. He was off all last week, and just returned to work at Spirit today, but he is still on the 3-day work weeks due to the recent Boeing strike. I hope he finds out some good news today when he returns to work -- such as they are going back to regular work shifts, or they may even want him to go to WA state again. I guess there are still some Spirit guys up there this week.

I think that's about all since October. I must say I love living out here and have never felt isolated or lonesome. It is so rugged and beautiful, and quiet. I do miss everyone back home in Ohio and I'm hoping I can drive home for a visit very soon. I'm trying to work something out, so we'll see.... I know it would be easier for me to do before I get a job!

Oh, re: pics........ I'm crossing my fingers that I can get a new camera real soon. My old camera just doesn't have the focus that I want or need. So IF I get that new camera, I promise there will be new pics coming. I didn't even get any pics with Tom's family here last week. :-(

I have been remiss...

in writing any updates for my blog. For this, I apologize. I started my new job at South Central Kansas Regional Medical Center on November 3, so it's been a whirlwind two weeks. So much to learn, and then throw medical insurance into the equation, and you just know I'm ready to pull my hair out!!! I promise, I will update my blog in detail this weekend. I'm also going to update my music, add some more songs. I will say, this is the first time since arriving in Kansas that I'm ever thankful the weekend is here!!!!