Tut-tut, it looks like rain.

We've got some dreary weather hovering over us today. We're getting rain showers and gusty winds from the second coming of The Tropical Storm That Refused To Die as it now moves in the opposite direction and leaves the northern part of the state in its flooded wake.


I work in an office - my title used to be the sensible and all-powerful "Office Manager". I miss having a title that wasn't a string of words that resemble gibberish and didn't cause people to ask me to explain what I do for a living. The world made so much more sense in those days. Sometimes I still get sale offers and literature from vendors and supply merchants. I got this in my inbox the other day:

Seven. Hundred. Dollars. For a chair that makes you sit so awkwardly that it looks like you have chronic inflamed hemmerhoids (I'll look up the correct spelling when I'm not at work...). There is no cushioning support to be found on that hunk of plastic and metal. And forget about the possibility of ergonomic design. This isn't even a brand new, fresh from the factory chair - what they are offering here is to sell you a demo chair. So it was a floor model. Who knows whose expansive rears have tested how "highly-adjustable" it really is while loosening the bolts and punishing the springs.

I just had to call and remind a supervisor to get his employee's timesheets to me or they wouldn't be getting paid. I should have just let him screw up. Damn my scruples! The break room has been torn apart to be cleaned, so the snack machines are all unplugged and I'm at a loss as to what to do for breakfast. There are cookies here, but...I don't really want cookies*.

* I ended up eating cookies.

I spent part of my lunch break talking about the price of an accounting textbook I might need in the spring (over a hundred and thirty dollars!) and wandering around a marine research facility reading tidal charts and sneaking peeks in the open labs. I'm torn between taking business classes (which I find boring to the point of coma-inducing) and taking science and/or literature classes (which are my preference and I would consider almost fun). The problem is that my employer will only pay for some of my expenses if the courses relate directly to my job. The tuition would be covered, regardless, but supplies and books would not. Then there's the issue of scheduling: classes relating to my job could be taken during my regular work schedule as "professional development" if my boss was agreeable -- anything else would have to be evenings/weekends. I guess we'll see how the chips have fallen after the holidays...who knows if I'll even be here then?

Everyone knows that the release of the new Harry potter movie has been delayed until '09. So what do moviegoers have to look forward to, instead? Westerns!

Appaloosa:



Australia: