Catching Up

Several people have mentioned they'd like me to write a little more often. What? Once a month isn't enough?

My new job is going well. One of the first exciting things I got to do was ride in a fire truck. It was a quarter mile, tops, when the local fire department was doing their annual inspection of our facility. I've also now been through First Aid/CPR training and AED (Automatic External Defibrillator) training. We've finished our update of the "Hazardous Materials Management Plan" (HMMP) for one county and will be finishing the HMMP for the other county. I'm still struggling with the alphabet soup of regulatory agencies and reports. Did you know that the RMPP is now the CalARP, and there's now a federal version know as the RMP? RMP is Risk Management Plan (or is it Program?). The others are the same general thing, but different words. We have an Emergency Response Plan (ERP) and an Emergency Response Team (ERT). This is only the tip of the iceberg. There are probably at least a dozen more.

Monday is Cat's birthday and Thursday is Liz's birthday, so on Monday K is taking us all (including Jerm) to dinner to celebrate. I know we'll have a grand time!

I've pretty much finished my Christmas (and birthday!) shopping. If I'm not seeing you by Christmas Day, I don't have your gift yet! I'll be doing a last-minute run to K-Mart on Thursday for various bits and ends. For those who know me and know how much I hate K-Mart, let me explain that it is the closest store to my office. And Thursday happens to be payday, so there's the other connection. Cat and I are driving to Jeannette's Friday morning, and I'll be driving back on Monday. I think Cat is staying the week and I'll be picking her up New Year's weekend. If anybody's going to visit us between Christmas and New Year's and wants to see Cat, you'd better speak now or forever hold your peace!

Time to go put up the tree. We're listening to Christmas music -- something about "You're a Nasty-Wasty Skunk, Mr. Grinch." Next comes Michael Jackson singing, "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus."