Browse Category: *grr*

pulled in all directions

Grrr…work is so crazy right now. Being the only occupational therapist on staff at my preschool, I manage about 80 kids. It’s a saga of reports, goals, treatments, meetings, consults, more meetings, and more reports….it just doesn’t stop. To make matters worse, I have an upcoming trip to Florida lurking around the corner and I’m trying to get things done before I leave. In fact, I will have to get off the plane on Tuesday morning and get my ass to a 1:45 meeting next week. I hope my flight is on time.
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Another funny thing about being the only one of my kind is that I somehow appear to be the super therapist who has an abundance of time on my hands to take care of every need that comes along. This is one of the reasons why I don’t eat lunch in the teacher’s lounge. I’ve come to realize that each time I pass a teacher or administrator on my way to somewhere on campus, I get bombarded with questions such as “did you get the email I sent about so-and-so?” or “have you gotten a chance to observe so-and-so?” or “will you be able to attend a last minute parent meeting and come with a progress report in 5 minutes?” What ever happened to, “how are you?” and “how was your weekend?” Let me growl a little more for a second…grrrr…ok. That’s when I feel very fortunate to have a portable on the other side of the school to myself where I can blast my music, eat my oatmeal, and write my reports in peace. I may like this “new” job but I certainly do miss PTN sometimes.

Tricked again!

Back in May, Jes and I attended an Irvine Planning Commission meeting to oppose an incoming ARCO project in our neighborhood. We just don’t think a gas station/car wash/mini-mart is really necessary in this location. Couldn’t we get one or two more restaurants instead? Well, it got approved and I became rather skeptical of the process.
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Now it’s July and in hopes that our petition of 258 signatures would help this time around, I went to the Irvine City Council meeting last night to see if our appeal would go through. I’m so stupid. We got there at 7:00 pm, and sat through speaker after speaker. It took me 3.5 hours to figure out that they really don’t care, again. I didn’t get home until 10:30 and was pissed as ever! *sigh* So much for trying to break out of the bubble that is Irvine.

my first taste of democracy gone sour…

I just got back from a City Planning Commission Meeting to decide on whether or not to approve a Conditional Use Permit for the ARCO AM/PM that is proposed for our Shopping Village (see entry on 5/10/05). Well, because of our efforts last week, we actually got residents to show up at the meeting to speak in opposition of the project! I was optimistic. I was proud of our neighbors who had gotten up to speak. I was cheering on Jesse as he spoke. The Commissioners appeared to care.
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Unfortunately, I had to learn the hard way how powerful the Irvine Company is. Basically, all 5 of the Commissioners (appointed by the City Council and probably owned by The Irvine Company somehow) already had a decision before they even started the meeting. They pretty much had this meeting/public hearing to sort of humor the residents. It was 2 hours of listening to the applicant’s proposal and then each resident got only 3 minutes to speak for or against the project.
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After the recess, they closed the public hearing and allowed the applicant and The Irvine Company to answer questions. The Commissioners practically handed them loaded questions such as “so how are you going to ensure that minors will not be allowed to buy alcohol?” I thought, “what kind of stupid question is that?!” Of course the applicant comes back with, “well, we participate in the ‘We Card’ program and take our liquor license very seriously.” By the end of the meeting I was so frustrated because it was pretty obvious that we were getting scammed. I couldn’t help feeling like a fool…especially since one of the Commissioners who came around the neighborhood on Sunday to get our point of view. He seemed like a guy who would help us out but oh no…he flipped on us and straight up voted for the project without a flinch. So much for the democratic process.

No gas station, please.

We have a shopping center in our neighborhood that opened just last year. It started out with the standard grocery store, pharmacy, and dry cleaners. They later added little restaurants, the Starbuck on the corner, of course, and even a boutique pet store. Now they are proposing to build an ARCO/AM PM gas station/convenience store/car wash. Well, there are several neighbors who have roped us (mostly Jes) into joining their opposition to the project. They are worried about the light/air pollution, transients in the neighborhood, unnecessary traffic, and declining home values. Since he’s had a lot of time on his hands, Jes has been writing letters to the City Council, he’s been attending the informational meetings, and now we have a Yahoo Groups site. To kick it up a notch, this afternoon we walked around the neighborhood stuffing flyers into people’s doors! I’m curious to see the turnout at next week’s City Planning Commission Meeting. Click here to check out the group site.

Home Visits

Today was my day to make my long-over-due home visits to my “new-mom” friends. First stop was Westwood. I went to Patti’s apartment to meet her little girl, Katie, who is now 4 months old and has lots of hair. Holly also came so we all got a chance to hang out with the baby and catch up.

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Next stop was Marie’s house. Her little boy, Cole, is 1 month old, has gained 2 pounds since I last saw him, and got to go on an outing with us! Marie got her first taste of sushi since her pregnancy and the toro was melty-good.

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What I learned today: 1) babies fart, poop, eat, and sleep a lot, 2) their moms have a tough job, and 3) I’m really not ready to have my own.

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One more thing…watch how fast you drive on Orange County streets. I got a speeding ticket on my way home from Marie’s for going 60 on a 45…booooooo.

Is it Spring Break yet?

This week has been crazy at work. So many reports to finish before Spring Break and I’m so burnt. I’m looking forward to a week of sitting, relaxing, and maybe some more skiing.