Garbage (in more than one sense of the word)

For the past 12 years that we have lived in Gwinnett County, we have had the choice of several different sanitation companies to use for picking up our trash.

About a year ago, I learned of a plan by the County Board of Commissioners to divide the county into eight zones and award the trash service for those zones to competitive bidders. Initially, the plan was to award no more than three zones to any one bidder. Also important to note, this plan was conceived and put into place by the Board of Commissioners and was never voted on by the citizens of the county AND the plan is for a private, non-governmental agency (non-profit corporation) to run the whole thing. Something I forgot to put in earlier - normally, there is a $150,000 performance bond required for a business to operate and respond to these bids. However, on these contracts, the County upped the requirement to $2M, which effectively prevents smaller businesses from bidding on the contracts because they cannot afford a $2M performance bond.

About a month ago, we received a letter from our new sanitation company, informing us about the terms of the new service. A week or so ago, we received our first bill for the service, which is a few dollars higher than we are currently paying. We will have to pay for the service out of pocket for the first six months, then it will be added into our property tax bill.

Sometime during the process of putting this plan into place, they changed it by reducing the number of zones from 8 to 6. Then when contracts were awarded, only two sanitation companies received contracts, and both of these companies are out of Florida.

In the meantime, two of the sanitation companies that are effectively being run out of business by this plan have challenged the whole thing in court, seeking an injunction to stop the new plan. I just learned this morning that the challenge has been successful and the judge did decide to put an injunction in place against this plan.

I am in favor of the injunction because I am opposed to not having a choice in this matter and I am also concerned that this plan was put in place without being voted on by the citizens of the County. On the other hand, I'm wondering what happens in two weeks - who is going to be picking up our trash? Anyone? Are we even going to still have a trash can (currently provided by the sanitation company) or will that be picked up and we'll be left with nothing?

Trash pickup is something I've always kind of taken for granted and just always assumed would be there. Never gave it much thought. Now the thought of trash possibly piling up and having nowhere for it go is kind of daunting.

Another good reason to move somewhere else!

Some things end...

I just learned this morning that my boss has resigned and is leaving at the end of the month. I will miss her because she has been inspiring and encouraging to me in learning new skills and developing skills further.

At the same time, I am jealous because she is leaving and I am not. I've been looking for other opportunities and will continue looking. And I'm not looking forward to what it will be like there without her. The three Ms are a real pain to deal with, and it will only get worse without her there.

And today was my 8th anniversary with the company.

Not blogging enough

My darling daughter says I don't do enough blogging. Perhaps if she knew what actually goes on in my head, she would be thankful that I choose not to share it all.

Frankly, I have a LOT of negative thoughts that I work really hard on controlling. And a fair amount of anger and frustration. So now tell me, should I blog more, or just keep it to myself?

Feeling frustrated

I'm feeling rather frustrated right now. I think that after Christmas there will have be to some changes taking place in my household. I know I'm "bitching and moaning" but sometimes it's just necessary to vent. So once the holiday is done, I will be moving into assertive mode and straightening out some things. No more "Hotel Moon."

May sound morbid, but....

I've found a lovely piece of instrumental music (an oboe piece) that I want played at my funeral.

It's called Gabriel's Oboe and it's on Amy Grant's "A Christmas to Remember" album. For some reason, I get a little teary-eyed whenever I hear it. It's a beautiful piece.

Catching up

I didn't really post while Nathan was home. It seems like the time just went by so fast. He left this past Wednesday (the 22nd) to go back to Afghanistan. That was a difficult day but I got through it. Tabitha got an e-mail from him, and it seems he thinks his sergeant is going to chew him out when he gets back to his FOB. Apparently his sergeant was under the mistaken impression that Nathan was supposed to leave the States on the 19th instead of the 22nd to go back. And it seems that they thought for a few days that he had gone AWOL. He shouldn't get into trouble because it was on his paperwork that he was to leave to go back on the 22nd but that won't stop his sergeant from giving him a hard time about it.

Kellyn did something interesting one day this week. Jennifer had put her in her bumbo seat on the living room floor. She was doing something in the kitchen (right next to the living room) and when she turned to check on Kellyn, Kellyn was in the floor on her tummy, just looking around. She's not sure how she managed to get out of her seat and onto the floor. She wasn't fussing so she didn't get hurt in the process.

Tara likes to occasionally accompany me to the bathroom, and when she does, she always stands on the scales and proudly announces "20 pounds!" She actually weighs about 27 pounds but it's a lot easier to say "20 pounds" than "27 pounds." She is so funny sometimes!

Kellyn's newest entertainment

The most recent thing that has tickled Kellyn's fancy is a mylar balloon. Michael bought it for Tara to play with since she loves balloons. It has a pumpkin design on it. The other night Jessica's little boy was playing with it and he accidentally tapped Kellyn on the head with the balloon. She started giggling and laughing and just went on and on. It got all of us laughing because she was so cute! She was sitting in her bumbo seat at the time and she laughed so much that she ended up leaning to one side. I wish we had had a camera ready and could have gotten some video of it, but this was one of those unexpected things that happen. She has such a cute laugh. :o)