Time to deploy the soapbox. Sound the alarms!

For days I've been hearing bits of phone conversation from my supervisor mentioning Barack Obama. It was starting to make me wonder if he was coming here, which means I would have to make sure I was well away from this place before the ensuing media circus pitched their tent and readied the sideshow. It turns out he won't be visiting here (as in my actual workplace), but will instead be having a town hall gathering at one of the high schools nearby to discuss his economic plan. They're giving away tickets tonight at the campaign office downtown. I think I'll pass. Personally, I'd rather not get another "stimulus" check, which is central to Obama's economy platform. Why? Because it's just like getting tax return - this money was paid to the government from me - and every other tax paying citizen - in good faith, and it just serves to remind me every time how much of my pay actually goes towards politically motivated programs, initiatives, and projects with little to no redemptive value. This isn't the government doing me a favor. This is them giving me back my money before they have time to waste and squander it. I would have been better off not having to pay it out to them in the first place.

As part of the impending local visit by a potential president, the city has again decided to come down hard on the local homeless population. While I find the increase in pandhandling that has become a serious problem in the last couple of years a minor annoyance (they're on the medians of all of the major roads and every interstate off ramp, and I'm starting to see them clustered in packs as well) , true homelessness in this city is, for the most part, an "invisible problem". The Mayor, in his infinite wisdom (<-- sarcasm), instead of acknowleding the issue and using city resources to fund services - shelters, rehabilitation, employment assistance - just approves statutes and codes that push the homeless more and more into the fringes, or out of the industrial areas and into the middle class 'burbs, continually causing a sort of social discord and class warfare. When the movement began to "gentrify" downtown with these million dollar condos pandering to an upscale yuppy lifestyle, a number of services and facilities for the indigent, the mentally ill, and those with drug and alcohol problems, were lost in the development crush. Now the city is threatening to kick a group of homeless out of an overpass area, and to have code enforcement - assisted by police - remove their meager posessions (that will then have to be claimed from city storage within 30 days...somehow.). See, I have a problem with this mainly because there are limited shelter services within the city limits and, no matter what happens, the poor are always on the losing end of the deal. People will find whatever safe place to sleep that they can, aesthetics and right of ways be damned.

Continually forcing the homeless from one area to another absolutely does not solve the problem - it doesn't even begin to address what the root of the problem is. Employing code enforcement and law enforcement personnel to evict the poor from public areas and confiscate their worldy goods is an incredible waste of the city's time and money. We have actual crimes being committed daily. My next door neighbor's house is disappearing behind a mountain of piled up newspapers and boxes, and I haven't seen a code enforcement officer in my neighborhood for months. These city employees have so much better things to do than "clean up" a small group of people minding their own business because the city leaders are afraid that Barack Obama might see that not everything in this town is booming. I hope he doesn't decide that as part of his campaign stop here he wants to visit Bennigan's for a delicious Monte Cristo sandwich.

Wonderflonium!

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog!!

I hear that Whedon will release a 4th installment. Hopefully, it will feature even more horribleness (because he has a PhD in that)!


Also, the new Half Blood Prince trailer is out. This is not just Dumbledore whispering sweet nothings to Harry, people!

Things that make you go hrrrmmmm?

I can never read the scathing - yet oh so pithy and often brilliantly spot-on - commentary offered up on Go Fug Yourself while I'm at work. Aside from the obvious (hello - I'm at work...oh I know that's never stopped me before, now shut it!)...the audible l o l-ing that would be coming from my werk-kloset would result in my career growth measuring in negative integers. And the imaginary dialogue that was most recently posted on the site between Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny at the premier of the new (And totally unecessary! Why, Chris Carter? WHY?!) X-Files movie had me in a fit of giggles and '90s nostalgia. Also, it made me wonder...what the hell happened to Fox Mulder?!?

Lately I've found myself watching The Soup on E! an awful lot. I used to love Talk Soup when Greg Kinnear was on, back before it got kind of...not so funny under Skunk-Haired Man Whose Name Escapes Me and Aisha Tyler before she made the totally logical leap to playing the best friend on that show about the woman who dated John Mayer talking to ghosts. Anyone who doesn't remember the original incarnation of Talk Soup needs to get off my lawn with their hippity hop and their stupid emo haircuts. I normally don't watch obnoxious channels that bows down at the altar of celebrity, but The Soup specializes in ripping to shreds the false importance of those same shows and individuals that make up the livelihood of its parent channel, using the twin blades of sarcasm and satire. Think Best Week Ever meets the late shows minus boundaries and the capacity for feeling shame or remorse. And through the show's website and blog I discoverd that host Joel McHale and I have something in common that puts us in a very elite segment of the population - we both list meeting Mr. T as part of our life's accomplishments. Every time I revise my resume I consider putting "Have met Mr. T", but I never do because it seems like it would be kind of braggy and no one wants to hire a shameless braggart, no matter how awesome they truly are.

My cat is mystified by the answering machine. Every time a message is being left she runs over to the table and just stands there, entranced, staring at the phone. Is she wondering how they get the people in the little machine? Is she puzzling over why we don't pay our bills on time? Maybe she's secretly plotting a way to figure out the logistics of using the handset and ordering herself a pizza with extra anchovies?

And a belated happy birthday to Snooty, the oldest known captive manatee, who recently celebrated his 60th year of being mistaken for a mermaid!

He may not be pretty but he sure is sweet, and has a very interesting story to boot. If you're ever in the vicinity of Manatee County Florida you should visit his home, the Parker Manatee Aquarium.

Just like Jell-O, there's always room for drama

This morning I got pulled into my boss's office so that he could ask me about a rumor that was brought up at the supervisor's meeting yesterday. Somehow my name got dragged into this whole issue of someone supposedly maybe making a threatening comment towards or about someone else at some point last week - according to a supervisor who heard second hand that I was party to the original comment, which I assured my boss that either I was not or if the statement was made in my presence I must have passed it off as innoculous (or ridiculous) enough to have not even registered it, since I don't remember such a statement having been made at all. I barely remember what I did yesterday, let alone anything anyone might have said to me in passing about someone else a freaking week ago. You know...I have worked too hard for too long at this place to have my professional reputation sunk because someone has so much time on their hands (and so little sense in their heads) to go yapping off at the mouth or making crap up completely. It is bad enough that I've been reluctantly brought into the festering pile of seething resentments brewing under that same supervisor, now people want to associate my name with hearsay. That's just great! Thanks so much, coworkers who I have wasted valuable time and energy attempting to mentor and motivate and help succeed, for you will be the tools of my inevitable downfall, apparently. And here all this time I thought my doom would be a result of my extreme procrastination and my overwhelming personal and professional apathy. I guess I've just got to work even harder at not trying and not caring...

Wednesday - now with twice the awesome

I actually won a poster. I can't believe it. This is the best day ever...so far this month.

In all seriousness, a million thanks got out to the generous man behind the curtain over at the CDP for the whole thing. I'm all atwitter with anticipation of receiving something totally sweet in the mail.

I just sent my son to bed, and my husband is undergoing a sleep study tonight, so I effectively have the night to myself. And how do I choose to spend my precious alone-time? Flipping around between a Jon and Kate Plus Eight marathon (that's a guilty pleasure show for me - don't judge!), Ghost Hunters International and Supernanny. Not incredibly productive, sure, but kind of mind numbingly relaxing. I have several books I'm in the middle of reading - Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan (I always call this book by its subtitle for some reason), The Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison Weir, and last week I borrowed Anarchy, State, and Utopia from one of the managers upstairs. Not exactly light reading, so none of these books interest me tonight. There is a Spanish language film on starring Javier Bardem...rawr. But...no. Not in the mood for Javier, either.

So maybe I'll just continue to mess around on the internet...

• The trailer for the BSG prequel Caprica can be found on Sci-Fi channel's website. All I'm going to say about it is...ohmygoshwhattheheck - are they serious!?
• Mark Bauerlein hates the youth of the nation and wants them to get off his lawn.
• The worlds of online gaming and comic books collide!
• What does the Chicago county commisioner have against octopi?

I should probably post about my recent vacation, and at some point I really will, but I'm too tired to put in much effort tonight...which would be why all of the above links are from Fark. I suppose I should tidy up and get ready for an early bedtime. I suppose I will.

More mayhem, with broken everything

It figures that once we undertook the financial burden of purchasing a new shed that this would happen: my washer decided, after eight years of dutiful service (or as we like to call it: abuse), to up and go kaput late Sunday night. At some point while I was washing a load of darks the transmission went out and the drum stopped spinning. The result was a soaking soapy load of unrinsed and unspun clothes at the bottom of my washer at 10:00 PM. I had to take shirts covered in a thin film of soap and wring them out by hand before putting them in the dryer. The jeans had to be laid out on the lawn furniture to dry, since we'd taken down our laundry line a few years ago. That will be remedied this weekend, since we decided we could save a little electricity (and save wear on the appliances) by line-drying some of our clothes on the weekends. It'll have the added bonus of giving us Green-Trend cred - now we can be haughty and superior about the fact that we carpool, recycle (sort of), and use energy saving measures and so should you oh won't you think of the polar bears and save the whales and blah blah blah. But I refuse to buy into the Hybrid mentality. But anyway...yesterday evening after work a couple of my husband's coworkers met us at the hardware and building supply mega store and helped us haul and install our new washing machine and send the old broken one to the curb. Where it sits waiting for some poor sap...I mean thrifty handyman type to take it off of our hands. There were some complications in installing the new machine - a bad electrical outlet that had to be switched out and a couple of leaky water lines - but it went pretty quickly. Then we all went out to dinner, where we ended up talking about work a lot more than we should have.

Speaking of which...I was just assigned a project by a manager who could have - and should have - been thinking about this for several months. And they need it done by Friday. Of course. If they had set up a new account as they were supposed to have done before the summer this wouldn't be a problem (the manager asked to be allowed to take care of this and totally dropped the ball). There's a chance that very very soon this won't be my problem anymore...I'll just have a new set of problems. In which case, goodbye frying pan...hello fryer. Although, there's an equal chance that what I'm being told is in the works (and is to be implemented within 30 days) is a no-go, because now my boss seems to be having second thoughts about something that was supposedly his idea from the beginning. So great - now maybe I'll get to be some kind of pawn in a politically motivated game of tug-of-war. If bickering over me nets me higher value to either party, I'll just stand back and watch the fireworks. (*BOOM* Oooooh. :kablam: Aaaaaah!)

There's a story on CNN.com about Christian Bale *maybe* having been arrested for assualting his mother and sister at a London hotel on Sunday - the day before The Dark Knight was to premier in Europe. But it's unconfirmed. And he attended the premier yesterday. So lets hope this bit of potential scandal is unfounded accusation and media rumor-mongering as part of the incredible hype surrounding this movie.

What's that sound? Millions of geeks squealing like joyful little girls...

I *just* watched trailer for The Watchmen, which comes out next year. This might end up being, from the looks of it, one heck of an adaptation. And Jeffrey Dean Morgan is in this?! Well okay then!




Of course, it's not as universally known as the Batman series, I don't suppose, so there *may* be a bit of a marketing problem. At the least it will put some coin in Alan Moore's pocket, from all of the uninitiated running out to buy the novel after seeing the movie.

I also saw the teaser trailer for Half Blood Prince. Settle down - it was nothing to write home about, just the title graphic and Dumbledore saying one line of dialogue. If you really must see it, I've got you covered. I know that M is really looking forward to that one, so I hope that she's home to go with me when it comes out.

And we all know what movie everyone will be seeing this weekend. Everyone except me. I'm going to wait until some of the hub-bub dies down, and then drag my totally disinterested spouse out on a "date night" against his will. I may have to ply him with alcohol. It's gonna be good times! For those enduring the hype blitz to see The Dark Knight promptly upon release - have fun! Please try to avoid spoilers for the rest of us lagabouts, pleasekthnx!

Brusha brusha brusha with the new Ipana

THIS is my absolute new favorite video:



It has everything I could ever possibly want in a music video for a catchy tune with silly lyrics: stage theater props, Greek comedy/tragedy masks, frilly tuxedo shirts, chainsaws...Oh, yeah. This rocks.

And they have a couple of versions with the band "performing" the song in a bathroom while brushing their teeth.



Although Andrew's is more than a little...disturbing. Have you ever wondered what an unmedicated psycho with rabies might look like? Well wonder no more!

To sashimi, with luv!

On the heels of the news that M still can't comment on my blog because of whatever inbred internet she has access to in the backwoods of Virginny* - somehow I suspect a ramshackle contruction comprised of actual tubes may be involved - I would like to offer my congratulations on her internship. I think that's totally awesome. Even though I'll miss our late night crime fighting and random mischief for a little while. We'll just have a little trouble to make up for when you get home. Have fun and stay safe!

Now it's time for a little pop culture gibberish! I know I haven't done a non-personal post in a long while, so if you need me to take it slow just say so...

• Ryan over at the CDP is giving away Dark Knight theatrical posters. For all of my three (or is it four?) regular readers who may not already be CDPeons, please go hence to yon link and test your witticism mettle.

• So Jaromir Jagr (now sans mullet) has signed with the Russian team Avangard Omsk. This is slightly old news - I just like talking about Jagr's glorious mullet and it makes a good lead in to talk about the Lightning's new ownership and their deal with Vinny Lecavalier. You can tell I'm a fan of the team (and also that French Canadians make me all blushy) because I didn't have to look up how to spell his name. I just can. He's now on the team's roster for 11 years (through the 2019-20 season, when Lecavalier will be 40 - assuming he's still playing then), and all told the deal is worth every penny of the $85 millions dollars stipulated in the contract. As a fan, I believe that Vinny is the cornerstone of the team and gives them a direction. I am so excited by this. I just hope they can build a solid team around that foundation and that all of the skill he posesses doesn't get negated or cramped by Barry Melrose's coaching style. Melrose, coincidently, has a mullet. And so we've come full circle with this topic.

• In yet *more* hockey news, there is an outdoor Winter Classic game scheduled between the Red Wings and the Blackhawks at Wrigley Field on News Years Day '09. Although I am admittedly not a fan of either team - and I don't expect this to be as engaging for me personally as when the Pens beat the Oilers in a similar event in '03 - outdoor games completely kick ass. I'm wondering if it's too early to set my DVR?

• For those who don't have the opportunity sometimes to play the full version of Portal (like those whose computers won't suport the graphics :coughmecough:) the Flash version of the game is a fun time waster - when stuck, remember our motto: there's a hole in the sky through which things can fly...

• Why M and I both loves us some Val Kilmer, oh yes we do...and "bat nipples" have nothing to do with it.

• Today commemorates the day we entered the Atomic Age. We've been teetering on the brink of our own imminant destruction ever since, so if this isn't a date that should become a drinking holiday I don't what what is.

*It's actually Montpellier, which is quite beautiful. The internet there just seems not terribly reliable...

Clockwatching

I woke up in the middle of the night with an incredible pain in my right eye. I tried everything I could think of to make it stop (short of hunting down the drug-of-last-resort [Vicodin] in the medicine cabinet), but it's still there. I think I may have ruptured a blood vessel. It's about as attractive as it sounds, trust me. And just as painful, too. Nope. It's official - I have hives. This is awesome. :(

Yesterday during a meeting that I'm subjected to every week the topic of the office hours and everyone's "timliness" was brought up. It would seem that someone has been keeping tabs on whether the doors are open promptly at the time that they believe they should be. My response? I smiled and stated that if this comment was in any way addressing me, said people should bring this up with me directly - and my actual boss as well - and we can talk about the times I'm here beyond the time the office officially closes. Or the times I've eaten at my desk. Or I've worked though lunch completely. Or I've taken work home and not marked it as time worked for earned comp. In short - if people really want to push this particular issue, I'm more than happy to start getting in everyone else's business and nickel and diming the company for every single minute beyond my 9-to-5. And see, it's not just me. The new receptionist has been late a few times (and basically has taken several instances of "personal time" in the middle of the day), and she hasn't even worked here a month yet. The bosses are almost never here right at the start of the workday...and one of them quite often doesn't even make it through a full eight hour day...but they're salaried management, so the rules are different, of course.

The receptionist didn't make coffee yesterday. I guess because the boss wasn't here to see it? She was very surprised when she was asked to go through the process of getting a company credit card - apparently she was under the impression that the boss would never ask her to purchase anything. Yesterday she asked me what she should do to get the food the boss requested for an upcoming meeting. She is his executive assistant, who according to him makes the whole world go 'round and the sun rise and set, yet a simple task like ordering food seems beyond her problem solving skills. Sometimes I'm not sure what reality she's living in. It sure as hell isn't the same one I shuffle through every day and that will slowly and inevitably break my indomitable spirit.

And once again I fixed a problem with the fax machine - this time it was low on toner. Luckily I'd ordered an extra one last time. It is becoming painfully obvious that I seem to be the only one making sure things actually work. Regardless of when I get here and when I leave...

5PM Next Week, on Survivor!: Corporate America...
Desk rat: Oh... We're out of coffee. (pause) I would rather kill everyone in this building than make a new batch.
(everyone turns to stare)
Desk rat: What? I didn't say anything that you weren't all thinking.

Baltimore, Maryland
via Overheard in the Office, Jul 15, 2008

The daily grind grinds on

I'm back from my mini-cation. It was fun, albeit a little stressful - I'd like to personally thank the folks who founded the lovely community on St. Simons island for granting me the priveledge of getting lost no less than six separate times in the course of the weekend. Roundabouts are the devil's work. And I am the crappiest navigator ever. Details on the trip (and photo goodness per M's request) will follow when I have time this week. Now that the short trip is over, I have the real vacation in October keeping me going. Without that to look forward to I'm not sure I'd make it much longer. Case in point: I had over twenty e-mails when I got back. Four of them were an ongoing conversation about some program that I have had - and will continue to have - no involvement in (they really should learn to pick up the phone around here sometimes - e-mail is such a crutch). Another e-mail was basically laying the responsibility for clarifying a guest's payment options on my lap. Which caused me to call the supervisor of that area and pretty much ask what the eff her employee does all day if so much of his workload gets scuttled around because he's "so swamped". Hey, as the president of that club I should be charging dues. The rest of the messages were problems I need to fix, so I have some catching up to do. Actually, I'd say I have a lot of catching up to do. Not that any of it actually appeals to me or gets me motivated these days...and my boss is out the entire week. That is both a blessing and a curse. We'll see by Friday if it was more one than the other.

A heart that is distant creates a wilderness 'round it.

I will probably regret creating this post. Come to think of it - I am starting to regret all the deep introspection that has led me decide to post about what's on my mind this morning. But here goes nothing - true confessions time...

Anyone who knows me even a little knows full well that I can sometimes be more than a little...aloof. Some people have said "standoffish", even. I don't make friends easily, but when I do they are inevitably pretty strong bonds, and I keep a very small but close circle of friends, with a larger group of acquaintances drifting in and out. I've lost a number of what I consider real friends over time more often due to physical distance than personal fallings out. As I've gotten older I've worked harder to maintain my friendships than I used to, although I still sometimes get lazy and let people slip away. Things like MySpace and Facebook have made it a little easier to at least keep in touch with anyone I don't see on a regular basis, and have allowed me to make "internet" friends as well, who I can chat with sometimes without the stress of feeling the need to plan and execute get togethers. That being said, those same social networking sites have their own form of etiquette, and sometimes I get a little unsure of how to navigate those slippery slopes. The shuffling of "friends" is one example - sometimes it can be weird to see yourself dropped off of that list of uber-favored people. It is silly - kind of like high school on the internet.

But that brings me to my little dilemma (and subsequently the long, drawn out backstory): I have a "friend" who was a former coworker, who, when we worked together, was one of the people that I was almost always happy to have on my crew (there were exceptions, when he was being a jackass, but those times were pretty few and far between). He was someone who had my back, regardless, and was there when I was having a rough day or I wanted to throttle the supervisor. This happened a lot because television production is high stress and for a period of time I had an abominable troll as a direct supervisor...until he was fired for sexual harassment (of someone who was *thankfully* not me). I returned the favor of the attentions of my coworker by being good enough at my job to allow him not to have to school me in technique or wait for me to fix errors, making his job easier. As time went on and we'd worked together for a while, we often brought each other favorite treats, took breaks at the same time, and exchanged reading material. He was one of the rare exceptions to my harsh and judgemental reactions to people with the kinds of personal flaws I came be aware of in him - I actually came to view these failings and quirks as a sort-of charm. In time - if I'm being completely honest and objective about the situation - it became obvious that I'd developed a little crush. I knew it. Half of my shiftmates apparently also knew it. Of course, most of them just smirked about it and kept their comments to themselves. I was in a very serious relationship at that time (actually, it's the same relationship I'm in now and have been in for...many years), and being a realist, I recognized this crush for what it was: me being a typical girl who needed someone to pander to my own "knight in shining armor" complex - someone who would come to my defense and provide a willing shoulder to cry on. I never knew if my silly crush was reciprocated or if my coworker ever caught on - although towards the end of my time with my former company a couple of people hinted that they figured it was a mutual thing. Maybe he was too polite to say anything, or he just liked the attention.

After I stopped working in television, my coworker and I fell out of touch (there were a variety of reasons - chief of which being the questionable appropriatness - in my mind, anyway - of maintaining the opposite-sex friendship outside of work with someone who I had these odd, confusing feelings for), although I got updates from others who still worked with him from time to time. Eventually, another of my former coworkers convinced me to join MySpace. After a while, I discovered (through someone else's profile) that my old coworker/friend/crush object had joined as well, and added him as a MySpace "friend". At first I tried to send simple greetings and leave comments, but getting responses back was...well, it often didn't happen. After a bit he moved out of state and I kind of stopped trying to keep in contact as much. I'd send a hello around holidays or responses to bulletins every great once in a while, and all was well. But recently I posted a comment in response to something on his profile, which he left up for a couple of weeks. And now it's gone. Everyone else's comments are there. Mine has been deleted. The comment wasn't at all negative, so I'm not really sure what the purpose of deleting it would be. As I said, I can be kind of antisocial and closed off with people and generally try not to be overly sensitive, and I'm not going to take this at all personally...but, shouldn't I, in a way? It does seem a little...insulting. And that stings. Just a little.

The funny thing is that, considering my little stone for a heart, I don't develope crushes or infatuations all that easily (at least, post-high school). In fact, since it has been four years that I've been out of the world of broadcasting with its high emotions and perpetual stress, it has been four years since I've even been in the throes of such a ridiculous emotional situation. It may be my last adult crush, for all I know. Which would actually be just fine by me. Of course, being a human with a fully functioning sensory and central nervous system prone to instinctual response to stimuli, I can't help but have reactions to what I find physically attractive from time to time. In fact, I was talking to someone yesterday who was, in my definition anyway, quite gorgeous (very dark hair and olive complexion and all), and I'm pretty sure I was blushing through the whole conversation. That is not the same as a crush - which to me is more of an emotional attachment and can make you come to see someone as more attractive than you might otherwise at first glance - and I just don't see myself developing that same feeling for a male acquaintance in this phase of my life. For starters, it can be dangerous, especially to real, established relationships. Secondly, I don't really have the time or energy to get to know someone well enough to foster that little bond that leads to crushing like I once did. Plus, I don't work in that kind of highly-charged environment anymore. So the perfect crush-cocktail just doesn't exist for me right now. Kind of sad, but it marks my relentless charge into true adulthood, I guess.

Set the controls for the heart of the sun

Almost time for chaos and the unwashed masses

Attempted post on Wednesday: The mood is very cranky around the ol' jobsite these days. Everyone is very tense and edgy, each for their own personal reasons. The organization has been put on a sort of warning status, and we're at risk of losing a lot of ground in the pursuit of financial and administrative independence. On top of the budget "crisis" that has caused a lot of headaches from the top down (and the bottom up). My boss and I have a meeting scheduled to talk about the upcoming year and reigning in his toadie who he has delegated too much authority to - she's been overstepping her bounds again. Only now she's crapping all over the new receptionist as well, and telling us both what she thinks our jobs are. I've played nice and been very, very patient for a year while the bosses both got settled into their respective roles, but now they know their jobs and I know mine for the most part. If only people would leave me alone and let me get it done...

Attempted post on Thursday: I'm watching some truly awful new show called Fear Itself - I should really be watching the Twilight Zone marathon instead - and reading about how Gary Oldman may have outed that The Riddler may be one of the villains in the next Batman movie (Oh please if it isn't Anthony Michael Hall, let it be Crispin Glover - although Wiki claims that both David Tenant and David Hyde-Pierce have expressed interest...and when are we going to get a fresh villain like, say, Harley Quinn?) and that Christian Bale objects to any possibility to Robin being introduced in the series while he's attached to the franchise. Because Robin drags everything down into a dark vortex of effeminate acrobatics and spandex and ultimate suck. Don't even get me started on how Batgirl makes the Earth reject its axis and causes whole worlds to come to their firey end. Batman works best alone, end of story.

Attempted post on Saturday: On Thursday night my husband and I took my son to meet up with some of our coworkers at a local British-themed pub for fish-n-chips and gossip. The assistant to one of the bosses upstairs invited me and my son out with her and her grandsons the next day. It was a nice way to spend the 4th - we went to a local nature park and walked the boardwalk looking for alligators, then back to my coworkers house for swimming and lunch. Her older grandson and my son had a lot in common and seemed to bond pretty quickly. We'll have to get them together again some time. The fireworks that night were great, even though we didn't go out anywhere - instead we just sat on the front porch and watched the neighbors blow stuff up to celebrate the nation's birthday as mosquitos feasted on our tender flesh. At least this year my son didn't run screaming into the house in terror...

Post for Monday - success...kind of: Oh, the three day weekend. Makes having to come back in to work just that. much. harder. The boss is back. I scheduled the meeting for tomorrow, late in the day - just in case I do something regretable like shout or my telekinesis acts up again and stuff gets broken. (Kidding!) This is a short, but already rather stressy, week. I'm already behind, and our new year *just* started. Nothing like setting a precedent early. I can't tell if I spelled "precedent" correctly because my coworker appropriated my dictionary for her use. My personal dictionary is now sitting on her bookshelf. Right next to the dictionary she already had...
I'm halfway packed for our trip this weekend, and I'll get the confirmations and directions together tonight - my husband is very particular about having that kind of thing ready way ahead of time. I threw away one of my son's magazines (because it was for preschoolers), and now he's a little mad at me. Next time I'll have to make sure he's not still reading something before I get rid of it, I guess.
We're buying a new shed to replace the one we have now which wasn't constructed right and leaks. The new shed will be all fancy and custom built, and will provide the storage we need to keep from having to stuff boxes in the attic or trip over the vacuum. We'll have the rep come by tomorrow and scope out where we want the shed installed, and then as soon as we come back from our trip we'll make the arrangements for the actual installation. All of our landscaping projects hinge on getting the new shed, so this should kick start some industry around my house. As it is I'm feeling like I got trampled by a moose because of the yard work (and the swimming) I did over the weekend. Most of my muscles are so tight I can barely move - I've been shuffling around work like an arthritic penguin all day.

This is relevant to...something.

2PM At Least You Skipped the "Analyst" Part of My Title
Admin: Here's your new door tag.
Advisor: "Stud serv prog coord"? That's my new title?
Admin: Well, it's abbreviated.
Advisor: Can we make the text smaller so it's not abbreviated?
Admin: Why? You don't want to be a stud service?
Advisor: I'm afraid they wouldn't get their money's worth.

Lake Road
Merced, California

Overheard by: sooo true.
via Overheard in the Office, Jun 30, 2008

The above reminds me of people I work with who, like myself, have "specialist" as part of their job title, which is often abbreviated as "spec"...but they pronounce it that way. I have decided that there is something wrong with these people. And as a side note, my new co-worker made me a new sign for the nameplate on my door and inadvertantly gave me a promotion to "analyst".

Also, there is a tropical depression out in the Atlantic. I'm a little concerned that this could interfere with my little vacation coming up next weekend, so it bears keeping an eye on.