What's Been Going On?

Apparently this has been the question of the month..."what's going on with Leslie? She needs to update her blog." So, this blog post is for all of you dedicated people who check in on my blog from time to time.

So, first update is the job! HCA is a wonderful place to work. The only thing I don't like is the drive. One day during my first week at HCA I was talking to Keith and telling him all about the little perks like on-site oil change, dry cleaning services, manicures and pedicures and massages on-site, on-site clinic, on-site CVS, 2 gyms, 4 cafeterias, on-site car wash service, discounts on movie tickets, verizon, AT&T, ATM machines in the buildings, etc. Keith paused and said "It sounds as if they don't want you to leave, ever. Are you a member of a cult?" The next morning on my way to work Keith called and he asked "Are you on your way to the compound?" I told that story to a few of my co-workers and we've now started calling the office "The Compound."

My first audit with HCA was in Tampa. I'm on the SSC Team (Shared Services Center) which means I don't travel to the hospital but rather to the regional business offices which tend to be as large as a hospital. Anyway, there are 15 of us on our team and all 15 of us travel together. On this past audit we rented 5 silver volvos. When we would pull into the parking lot we looked like a gang. I kind of felt sorry for the SSC.

Our last night in Tampa we ate at a really nice restaurant where Perry ordered the largest bowl of coffee I have seen in a long time. It was so funny I took a picture of him.

The second update is Keith. Things are great with us. He's met Margaret, Mary, Jenny, Terry, and Nate and Keith is still around. The first weekend he was in town I took him to Opryland Hotel and showed him around. The second weekend he was here we went to Cenntinial Park. I took Keith to Memphis with me and met the family. Kevin and I took Keith to Graceland for the all night Elvis candle light vigil. He was a hit with the family. I took some of Nelson's ribs and bar-b-q for Labor Day and he loved it. I knew he would.

Opryland Hotel

Opryland Hotel

Parthenon

Parthenon

My New Beau

Ok Dinah...here it is...the newest post (just for you and I even used your title)

Yes, the rumors are true...I do have a new beau. His name is Keith and he is absolutely wonderful!! He graduated from Georgia with a degree in Agriculture. Don't hold it against him that he is a Georgia boy. We've had plenty of "arguments" over Tennessee vs. Georgia. Anyway, I've been in Athens for about 2 weeks. Since I returned from Honduras I have only spent 2 nights at my house and I am NOT complaining. I can't wait for everyone to meet him. Funny story, he plays golf every once in a while with Lana's husband. Keith and I are meeting Lana and her hubby tonight for dinner. It is such a small world. Hopefully I'll have a few more pictures from this weekend when we go to the mountains with his family.

I am leaving my house in about an hour for Terry's house and then it's ok to Honduras for 2 weeks. Everyone cross your fingers...I have no idea how old I will be once I return to the States.

Today for lunch, Dad and I went to a hot dog place in Memphis that served Chicago style dogs. I love hot dogs, especially Chi-town dogs. While we were waiting on our food I started to read the back of the menu and because I'm a St. Louis Cardinals fan what i read made me smile. I thought I would share it with the world...

20 Major Events Since the Cubs won the World Series

1. Radio was invented; Cubs fans got to hear their team lose.
2. TV was invented; Cubs fans got to see their teams lose.
3. Baseball added 14 teams; Cubs fans got to see and hear their team lose to more clubs.
4. George Burns celebrated his 10th, 20th, 30th, 40th, 50th, 60th, 70th, 80th, 90th, and 100th birthdays.
5. Haley's comet passed Earth twice
6. 6. Harry Caray was born....and died. Incredible, but true.
7. The NBA, NHL, and NFL were formed, and Chicago teams won championships in each league.
8. Man landed on the moon, as have several home runs given by Cubs pitchers.
9. Sixteen U.S. presidents were elected
10. There were 11 amendments added to the Constitution.
11. Prohibition was created and repealed.
12. The Titanic was built, set sail, sank, was discovered and became the subject of major motion pictures, the latest giving Cubs fans hope that something that finishes on the bottom can come out on top.
13. Wrigley Field was built and becomes the oldest park in the National League.
14. Flag poles were erected on Wrigley Field roof to hold all of the team's future World Series pennants. Those flag poles have since rusted and been taken down.
15. A combination of 40 Summer and Winter Olympics have been held.
16. Thirteen baseball players have won the Triple Crown; several thanked Cubs pitchers
17. Bell-bottoms came in style, went out of style and came back in.
18. The Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox, and the Florida Marlins have all won the World Series
19. The Cubs played 14,153 regular-season games; they lost the majority of them.
20. Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, Oklahoma, and New Mexico were added to the Union.

"Potentially...we're the greatest softball team out here but we're only good for 1 inning though." Chris Patterson, 2nd Baseman

My brother has been playing softball/baseball with a few teams in Memphis but the funniest team is HOWSYOMOMANEM. They are a slow pitch softball team that plays on Sunday nights. Among his teammates are Will and Chris Patterson. The best way I can describe them is to share with you an exert from their facebook page...

"Come support the greatest softball team ever assembled. Our pitcher may walk 17 batters a game, we may miss 6 out of the 4 balls hit to us (think about it..we're that bad), we may never touch homeplate, we may even swing away on a 3-0 pitch over our head and pop out to the pitcher just so we can say "I refuse to walk in softball", some of us will wake up an hour before the game and still play, heck we may throw a ball onto another field...but when we start playing for real...watch out Bartlett...Howsyomomanem is gonna bring it! "

Only on HOWSYOMOMANEM do they allow cargo shorts as part of the uniform.

Kevin


Kevin and Will talking to the General Manager of HOWSYOMOMANEM. I think will is trying to get a contract extension.

These guys fun to watch as well as listen to their witty banter. These guys actually have a fan base that comes to watch every Sunday.

HOWSYOMOMANEM fans. Judy, the lady in the white shirt is "the figment."


Kevin after he slid into second. For the rest of the night I kept calling him Pig Pen from Charlie Brown. Every time he moved there was a cloud of dust.

Chris

I think this was Will's 2nd home run of the night

Kevin

Kevin's homerun swing

Will

This is a picture of Kevin and Chris. I think Chris is the first base coach but the glove is throwing me a bit. Maybe he's playing first base...

Club Mormon

Here it is...a few months late but better late than never...the blog about Temple Square

You know it's never a good sign when you pick up your rental car and see this in the front seat.

Yes, It is an ice scraper. The mountains were still covered with snow.

In April I had to go to Salt Lake City for an audit. The first night we were there we decided to take a guided tour of Temple Square. The tour was ok. I had to fight the urge to laugh every time the tour guides spoke of the Golden Tablets and how the tablets went back with the angel Moronai when he left earth. I would say he went up to heaven but I doubt if that's actually where he went. I think he may have his own planet. Anyway, I was respectful of the tour guides and their religion which is more than I can say about another girl in our group who was from Georgia, the country. She was rude and disrespectful of the two tour guides and the religion. If i had to venture a guess she was probably catholic.

Part of the tour took us to the tabernacle where we were able to see the needle, newspaper, and nail demonstration. They like to demonstrate the incredible acoustics in the tabernacle. We sat in the very back and another "sister" was at the front on the podium. Without a microphone she ripped a piece of a newspaper and it sounded as if she were standing next to me. Then she dropped a pin, needle, and a nail into a wooden box. It was so clear. When she dropped the nail it sounded as if someone had dropped a stack of books right behind me. It was really incredible. I can only imagine how awesome the Tabernacle Choir must sound in this unusual building.

Later on we went to the visitors center where I saw a painting of Noah building the ark. I actually chuckled out loud because Noah was using an ax to chop wood. The blade on the ax was more sharp than a new blade at Home Depot. Actually, the entire ax looked as though Noah had just bought it at Home Depot. I was expecting to see him with an ax from Fred Flinstone (you know, with a piece of rock held together on a stick by some rope).

Obviously we did not get a tour of the temple because you need a membership card to get in. It's like a country club.

We went to dinner in the Joseph Smith Building which has a massive statue of Joe. My two staff dared me to hang my purse on Joe as well as stick my head through his legs. The girl taking a picture said, "We better leave before God strikes us with lightening." Then at the same time we all laughed and said "I doubt it."

Jill

my purse was heavy so i had Joe hold it for me

After the picture session I tried to storm the temple. You can't really tell but I am hanging onto the door and trying to pull it open. After a few minutes we left but for some reason came back to temple. They mormons had closed the gate around the temple. I did scale the gate but it was too dark and the picture didn't come out. I stormed the temple for Margaret.

Judy, I tried to see if they could solve the whole polygamy thing while I was out there but it didn't work. Apparently they don't take too kindly to outsiders. I gave them Keith Fussell's name and number to call him for family counseling. Ha ha ha.

So, Monday as I was driving to work and I noticed that my car's transmission was slipping. Since I was only a few minutes from the office I didn't panic...until 5:00 that afternoon. You see, I had forgotten all about my car problems during the day. My plan was to get my car home and check the transmission fluid. I guess I didn't check it in the parking lot at work for fear of someone actually calling me "bubba." Anyway, lucky for me I take back roads to and from work which means the speed limit is 40 mph and in some places 30 mph. Let me just say this, it's bad enough when you transmission wont change gears but it's even worse when you have hills to climb. My poor car could only go 25 mph but my gage was showing 4 RPMs - NOT GOOD!! I got about 10 minutes from my house and decided that I would drive the rest of the way on the shoulder of the road in low gear. My car made it home but it did not have enough juice to make it into the garage.

So, I called my dad and told him the transmission had plenty of fluid. Long story short, I get to have my transmission rebuilt. God has blessed me with the best dad in the world. Dad drove up Tuesday with a trailer and is going to haul my car home and rebuild my transmission. (This is the second car my dad has hauled back to Memphis from Nashville - the first time I was in college and wrecked my car). Luckily for us, my car had just enough juice that we could drive it up onto the trailer which saved us a lot of time (because we had a baseball game to go see). My high school was playing in the state tournament at Lipscomb so dad and I went to the game.

My car is sitting on a trailer in my yard b/c dad was actually on his way to Kentucky for a reunion which i am going to tomorrow. I put a sign on my car that said, "NOT for sale." I wanted to make sure no one thought I was selling my car.

Anyway, Judy - there's your updated post. Oh, as far as helping the mormons...I have pictures from that trip and a funny blog that I will try to post tonight. Yes, I did storm the temple...