It's been 20 years since Alaskans have felt its rumble or the grit of its ash, but Augustine Volcano has roared back to life, erupting three times in the past three days.
 

It sure does look cool though 

After 10 days of relative calm, Alaska's Augustine Volcano erupted twice Friday, three times Saturday and once on both Sunday and Monday. Here, a view of the volcano on Jan. 24, 2006. The photo looks toward Augustine's south flank, located in south-central Alaska about 175 miles southwest of Anchorage. The volcano, 4,134 feet tall, poses a hazard to Anchorage and the trans-Pacific air traffic around it.
 

Well, it was only a matter of time and it has finally happened. The winds have shifted and the ash is headed our way. It should be here tomorrow. And OF COURSE ythe damned volcano HAD to erupt twice this morning, so it is going to make it all the way up here. They are saying not much will be left when it does get here but come on, even a little is too much. Stupid Augustine.



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I hate January. Its so gloomy and miserable and friggin' cold! I have NO energy. I feel like a blob of jello. I am so lifeless. It is currently -11 degrees. Yep -11. Thiks thats bad? Our low will be -19. Tomorrow we MIGHT see a high of 0, yes thats 0. The HIGH! No wonder no one wants to leave their house! BUT on the bright side, by Tuesday it will be in the 20's. After this week that gonna feel down right tropical.

So one of the girls lost the gate keys to the store today. I have been on the phone with everyone trying to hunt them down. Ashley keeps calling cuz she cant leave the store with the gate unsecured, and Danae (the one with the keys) wont answer the phone. Ralph is pissed at them so he wont go down there, and I sgree with him. This is their mess. Why? Because Ashley has a key to the gate, for this VERY reason. So should anything haooen to the key, she would be able to secure the gate. Well, Ashley didnt feel it necessary to bring her key because she didnt drive today. So what!? You have a key for reasons just like this! And where is the key to our store? Hello? Out where anyone could take it? That is a MAJOR liability. So She is calling me, "What should I do?" Get some one to bring you your key. Ralph isnt going to come down there and I dont have a gate key, you have the spare. I suggest, you best be findin a way to get it to the store. Yeah, she wasnt happy. So she calls her aunt to bring it down, and she has to go let her in the mall cuz the doors are locked at 9. So she goes to meet her aunt, cuz Juan the computer guy is in the store, and she looks and the keys are hanging in the damn gate lock. Can you believe that? In the gate lock. Now if she had her key they would have noticed that an hour before when they started calling me. I mean, are you serious?

Alright, to add to my plate of things I feel I must do this second, Tara has guilted me into going to WW meetings with her cuz she doesnt want to be alone anymore. So we made this WONDERFUL ( slight hint of disdain) decision to lose wieght together, and she is making me go through with it. Damn her. So she calls me tonight and wants me to go with her cuz tonight was her first meeting. I'm a bit scepticle only because I have tried this twice before. But whatever to break this plateu of laziness I have buried myself into. I was doing so good and then I got lazy. big surprise. But On the other hand I would like to look nice when I go back home for Sarah's wedding.

ON a not so much lighter, but different note, Matt says that there is rumor going around that they are going to demolish the housing that we live in and they are transplanting us into the new housing they are building. I dont want to move again. And definately NOT into a BRAND NEW COMPLEX WITH TWO CATS! They are going to be so anal about those new houses, I dont want to deal with that! BUt as of now it is still a rumor. SO we will see what happens. Matt is talking about moving back off base into a town house so we can go back to pocketing some of our houseing money. I dont really want to leave base, but the extra money would be nice... We'll see if they are really kicking us out or not. I'll keep you updated. Well, I should go to bed. I was gonna try to wait for Matt but he just HAS to work out after work so he'll be another hour or so. big poop head.

So I kinda used Amanda's advice and tweaked it a little. I had to make a list of what the girls' strengths and weakness are and then assign them responsibilities according to my list. So instead Amanda gave me a better idea. I started out by making a list entitled "Things Emily does but SHOULDNT do" and I wrote everything done that I should be having the girls do. Then I divided the store into sections and assigned the girls each a section. And they are responsible for those things and the "Emily" list for their area. For example. Making sure there are label clips in place and correct, their area is clean, signs are posted, low stock is monitored and taken care of, shelves are stocked, etc. And then at each quarter they will switch so no one is stuck in one area.
I believe it to be a good plan. And it will work as long as we are constistant, and guess what we will be because no I dont have anything else to do, but stand over their shoulder and make sure they are monitoring their areas. I am so excited. I cant wait for this to start producing results. I'll show them that I can do this! I'll show them that I can be an effective, productive manager without being a bitch. I was told you cant be a successful manager by being nice, and I just dont agree with that. I know I can do this without being harsh. I will be if I have to be, but I dont believe I have to be.

i have no idea what I am doing. No one in their right mind would let me go back to school. And let me tell you this GMAT stuff sucks monkey balls. I guess I need to think this trough a little more.

Today is going to be a rough day. Smith leaves today for Salt Lake. His term up here is finished. MAtthew is not doing well with it. I'm not really doing well with it. Smitty is downstairs asleep on the couch. I am going to let him sleep a little longer. More so that I can prepare myself, then to let him get more rest. You just dont realize how much someone means to you until you have to say good bye to them. Add on top of that the fact that he means so much to my husband, makes this doubly hard for me. I just want to get this over with, but it is too early to wake him and too early to leave for work. At least there I can keep myself busy and not think about it. I should have waited to do my makeup at work. Oh well, too late now.

I got my evaluatiuon yesterday. It didnt go well. I was disappointed. And a little upset. In my eyes, I am doing so much and that should be praised. In lori's eyes, I am STILL not delegating and doing too much and not anything of the stuff I SHOULD be doing. I can see her point. But she has to understand mine. It got kinda heated. SHe was mad and I was mad and Ralph was kinda stuck in the middle of these fuming females. But we are going to meet in the middle. In a month we are going to come back together and evaluate each other. I will delegate more tasks to my employees and I wuill not be so soft on them, and she will give more direction in where I need to step it up and where I'm doing a good job. So I'll keep ya posted. I should go wake Smitty.

Woo hoo. I am so drunk. Heehee. This is the first time since I left IA City that I have gone out with just the girls to a bar and got hammered. I had SO much fun. I need to lrt loose and have fun more often. I miss going out and having fun. I have been so wrapped up in work that I dont do this any more. I am about 3 tequila shots passed drunk. Tomorrow is gonna be a PAINFUL day at work. WEoohoo. But it was SO worth it.

So I figured I should prolly update. Since it has been a while.

Joey is leukimia free so he and Jackie can be around each other. Yay. So they have free reign of the house. I am so glad that they get along. And Joey is giving Jackie a workout! So is trying to keep up with him, which is good. She needs the exercise.

Everyone up here is flipping out cuz St. Augestine is errupting. There isnt supposed to be too much ashfall up here, but you know they have to make it a big deal. We do need to get a tarp for MAtt's car cuz the ash can scratch the paint. And everyone is out buying air filters so there are none to be found up here and the ones they do have have been marked up. Bastards. Hopefully it wont be too bad. I guess I'm gonna get to experience it all up here!

Work is work. I'm officially at the spa 1 day a week now. Fridays. Boo. I lost my two days off in a row. Bastards. So now for those of you who care I am at the salon Suns & Mon 9:30-6ish Tuesdays off salon on Wed 1-9 and Thurs 9:30-6ish and Friday at the spa. It's not permanent, or so I'm told. I would like to have my days off together, but oh well.

Really that is all. Back to the hum drum of my life. But I need to go. I want to take a bath and go hand out with Matt.

We made hima tiger! HeeHee 

This is Joey. You can see his goatee really good in this picture 

Just chillin (A rare occurance!) 

I cannot freaking wait till this kitten gets declawed! So I can work on the computer without these sharp little needles digging into my leg! He is going to kill me. Okay now he is going biserk and spraying litter all over the room. reat. What a spaz! I think he just ate some of his litter. Are you serious? Stop it, man.

Anyway. I just LOVE being back at work. Yipee. I got to sit in meetings all day, cuz "It's a new year and we need to make changes." "Its a new year" people. Whatever. New year, poo smear. Big deal. A new digit doesnt change the shit thats been goin on. Just means we are gonns try to impliment the procedures that I have been trying to put in polace all along and these bozos are gonna laugh in our face cuz we been letting do it their way for so long. And on top of that Anatasia's work permit expired and her lawyer failed to mention it to her, so she has to file for new one with immigration. And of course it HAD to be her. The one who Comes to work and WANTS to work, now cant. So she has to wait for her permit or her green card which ever comes first. This sucks.

have to say it is nice to be home. It was hard to leave, though it is getting less painful, not easy but less painful. BUt it is nice to be back. In my own bed and my own house.

I guess I should mention for those of you who dont already know. We have a new addition. Joey makes us four. He is a tuxedo cat just like Jackie. He looks so much like her except he had less white on his face and a goatee. I will try to get a good picture of his face so you can see. He is so small compared to Jackie. I cant wait to get his claws out though. Yikes. I have scratches all over. Anyway. I thought I would tell ya.

So we had a great Christmas. It was so wonderful to be home. I kinda hid this time. I didnt go out and see a lot of people this time around. This trip was more for family than
anything else. I feel a little guilty for not spending more time with friends but like I said this was about family. ok, Joey wants to help type so I am going to cut this short. I have to get to bed early. tomorrow its back to work for me.