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American Innovative Teach Me Time Talking Alarm Clock and Nightlight

American Innovative was founded to pursue the development of innovative new products that should exist, but don't. "Products that make sense" is our motto and the execution of this philosophy can be seen throughout the company's product line. Teach me Time! is the educational bedside clock that advances as your child grows. From ages 3-5 Teach me Time!'s color-changing nightlight teaches kids to stay in bed until its "Ok to wake!" The nightlight timer is programmed to turn on and off at any time of the day. Parents can customize the "Ok to wake" time, when the glow color changes from yellow to green.... "Green means Go!" From ages 5-7, the Teach me Time! interactive, talking game helps school age kids learn to tell time on both anaolg and digital clocks. The game is designed to create a dialog between you and your child about time, keeping you involved in the learning process. The Teach Me Time! game is fully adjustable - five difficulty levels allow you to restrict which times are displayed (for example, just "round" hours) so that you can start simple and progress in difficulty as your son or daughter matures. For children ages 7 and above, Teach me Time! is a fully functional alarm clock with a snooze function- just like mom or dad's! Teach me Time! is white with interchangeable colored bezels (blue, pink & yellow included). Safety-certified external AC adapter and optional 2x AAA batteries (included). Teach Me Time! has been tested for lead paint content and has passed all related tests as defined by the ASTM F963-07 sec. 4.3.5.1 safety specification.

Well, where do I start?

With an overzealous British immigration official? Yes, that will have to be it.

Anyone who has traveled to England and arrived at Gatwick understands the drill, but I will describe it for everyone else. I arrived at the Gatwick North terminal shortly after 6 am (scheduled for 6:55 but a 100mph tailwind helped put us ahead of sked), and after deplaning had a long hike to the immigration control point, along with a couple of hundred other people. I wasn't rushed for time, my rental car was reserved for 9 am, plenty of time to go through immigration, pick up my bags, go through customs, and head to to the car rental desk.

The wait in line didn't seem too terribly long, and I was summoned to a woman at the end of the line of officials. She began asking the typical questions, what is the purpose of your visit (business or pleasure), my response - to visit friends. As she looked through my passport she asked more questions about previous visits, now this gets more tricky trying to remember all the details of the past four years and visits I made. What sparked her enthusiasm was my request last January for a visa to stay longer than the six months allowed as a visitor. My request was based on a desire to do more volunteer work at Fordhall Farm, a 140 acre community owned non-profit organic livestock farm in Shropshire (which I had become involved with during their campaign to save it from development). The request was denied, evidently because I had spent too much time there without a visa, and then some other regulation was quoted with more or less said that such volunteer work (volunteer implies unpaid) is not allowed on such a visa. $170 donated to the British bureaucracy in New York and no visa. So I went back to spend the next few months tying up loose ends and preparing to move back to the US. Well, this official said that the visa denial also meant that I was denied entry, period! That wasn't the way I understood it, because as a US citizen one is allowed to visit without a visa. In fact, the immigration official who let me in on my return said nothing to that fact.

I am then asked how much money I had on me - $21, plus a debit and credit cards that gave me access to plenty of money as needed during my visit.

The interview then drifted to my current job employment (which I started 3 Jan). She didn't believe my company would let me go for two weeks on unpaid leave (I showed her my return ticket as well). I showed her my information I brought with me which had all sorts of stuff pertaining to the new job, along with a phone number of one of my bosses. Of course, at this time of day in the US nobody would be around.

I am then escorted to a temporary holding area where others are being similarly detained, including a cowboy-looking gentleman with a thick American country accent who mumbled something about having lived here 40 years, and needing to be on stage next week.

I'm then escorted to collect my bags (which needed to be inspected) and moved to another more secure holding area. At baggage claim one of my pieces of luggage didn't arrive, so I was put through the indignity of my stuff being unpacked and searched, knowing my third piece might be lost.

When the immigration officials are finished dismantling my baggage I am then taken to the holding area where my bags are tagged and all my 'stuff' (cell phone, PDA, etc.) are taken and I am left with only my wallet. There are a few other people there as well, including a woman from South Africa.

After a few hours of waiting I am summoned to an interview room by another immigration official (a black man) who was very abrupt in his demeanor. He first asked me if I was ready to answer his questions (I was very polite and responded 'yes sir' or 'no sir' appropriately to each question). He repeated many of the same questions the first lady had asked, and I responded with the same answers. I also told him that during previous visits my retired Navy pay supported me while I did volunteer work at the farm. He also asked me why I stayed for six months after I had been denied a visa (do I look like a terrorist, or someone who is trying to scam the British government?). I even paid council taxes for the area where I lived, so I was not a burden to the government, in fact, my approximate retirement income of ?1200 per month is much better than the average Brit who has to work their ass off just to scratch a living. During all of this I maintained I never got paid for my volunteer work.

Well, three pages of chicken scratch later (because I couldn't tell what he was writing down it looked so bad, nothing personal, it was totally illegible handwriting) and that part was over. Back to the holding room, where a loudish TV sat up in a corner with plexiglas protecting it, and benches and shelves fastened to the floor or wall (so an upset person couldn't use them as weapons I suppose).

More of a wait before

Day 52/365

This was something I probably should have carried with me all day. Sometimes I have days where I just... ugh.

I booked 2 orders today. 2. My minimum is supposed to be an average of 13. I only booked 2 because I spent my whole day ... My WHOLE day, dealing with late cars, and things exploding on my desk. I walked away 3 times out of sheer frustration, I spent my lunch hour trying to step away, reading my book in my car away from the office, but in the back of my mind-- trying to figure out what to do about a difficult rental situation (which didn't end up getting resolved by the way).

And even though I worked my tail off all day, stayed after our meeting to finish a few things, and didn't even end up leaving the office until after 7... I still did not get done everything I needed to. And tomorrow...

Tomorrow it won't even start all over again... because it will just be me trying desperately to make up for the bookings I didn't get done today, while trying to resolve all the issues I couldn't resolve today, or didn't even have time to find out about.

And I know I am stronger than this job-- but I am struggling to find that peace. I've come leaps and bounds from where I was last summer... if I were still in that space I would probably STILL be working (albeit from home) trying to catch up ... a tempting idea to be honest. If I were still in that space I wouldn't be talking about it. If I were still in that space I would be having panic attacks. If i were still in that space I'd be cutting. I'd be questioning myself. I'd be doubting myself. I'd be desperate.

But I am not there anymore. I am stronger. I am calmer. I am more in control. Because I have released some of my control and accepted that not everything will get done. The problem I have is that in my head-- I still have the unrealistic desire to GET everything done-- even though I know it's just not possible.

Tonight at our weekly meeting, I was praised. For my empathy with my customers. For my ability to take a bad shipping experience and turn it into something that a customer can still be positive about. It was said that others could learn from that-- from the empathy that my customers can sense in me. And empathy is the right word-- and it's sort of the crux of a lot of my problems with this job. I am an empathetic person. I am an emotional person. I am a caring person. I get vested in my customers, vested in their needs. And although I can separate better from it now than I could over the summer-- there is only so much of that that I can turn off, and in truth there's only so much of that I WANT to turn off.

I don't want to be an automaton.. I don't want to be robotic. I want my customers to know that I DO care, that I DO understand, that I DO empathize with them. But somehow, I have got to believe I am STRONG enough that being empathetic doesn't have to mean losing myself in every issue, every hitch, every hiccup. I have to learn to balance caring with professional reserve. Which is a great idea in theory... but how do I create a wall between my head and my heart? I care. It's part of me. Do I want to have to separate from that piece of myself-- just to survive in a job?

I am stronger now than I think I have ever been. But somehow that peace portion... still eludes me when it comes to work. Because even when things are going relatively smoothly-- I just can't seem to be at peace with what I do. I need to get that back. I need to go back to being at peace with my job. I'm just not sure how to do that.

Matte Finish Sunscreen Makeup - SPF 21 - .5oz (15ml) Squeeze TubeAn oil absorbing matte finish, broad spectrum UVA/UVB non-degradable sunscreen makeup in one. Will not rub off or sweat off, is highly water resistant and will not block pores. Will not change color, lasts all day without creasing and provides medium coverage to even skin tone and conceal blemishes. This is the formula to use if you have oily skin and it will keep you shine free and natural looking all day. No need for additional powder or blotting! For normal to dry skin types who desire an all day, non-transferable matte finish, apply an oil-free moisturizer underneath.