It's okay if you want to drop dead

Good gracious I'm exhausted. There was a point earlier today that I felt like I could have lapsed into unconciousness at any moment. I took a jaunt over to the B&N with Megi to patronize their "faux" Starbucks for some fresh air and a frappucino. See, we were misled. They told us we were getting a Starbucks. A real Starbucks. But what we really got was a B&N Cafe serving "Starbucks products". But - a frappucino is a frappucino any way you shake it, and I did buy another book, Relic by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. It was made into a movie with Penelope Miller several years ago. The musem setting makes it creepy, the science makes it awesome. Megi would concur...

I just wasted a good bit of time updating my MySpace and adding a nifty new music player that allows you to make a playlist. And in the process of looking through some archived favorites I found some some cool things to add some pizazz to this here blog, as well. I may even post MP3's in the future. How scandalous!

Now, if you don't mind, The Office is on, and I find myself in need of a tall glass of Jim. Then, I have dishes that need doing.

The undecipherable dots are my favorite part!

Tonight I had a night out at an event at a local museum featuring the works of artist Salvador Dali with Megi and her friend Katie. We decided to go over to the sandwich and beer pub across the street and have, well...sandwiches and beer, before walking over to the museum. When we got to the museum we discovered they had sandwiches. And beef empanadas. And little cakes. But, most importantly, they had sangria. And it was good (I had three cups...it's okay, they were very small...). The big boss was there. I choked on a piece of my litle coconut cake when I spotted her coming in the door. Then I got another little cup of sangria, and I was fine. We didn't take part in the tour, but judging by the "And whatnot. And such" that the tour guide kept spouting it was probably just as well. She did not seem to have the gifts of eloquence or public speaking, so her career choice baffles me. We stood in the front of the gallery mostly staring at the three largest paintings on display - the most famous of which being the Hallucinogenic Toreador. Now, Dali was a prolific artist and is quite famous - I think the melting clocks are iconic, and I'm sure you'd agree - but, I'm not a big fan of surrealism. My lack of enthusiasm for the artist aside, I really enjoyed going out tonight. Today's work hours were consumed by payroll issues *again* and I'm wound tighter than a spring in a backwards running clock (see how I tied that all together...), so I needed a little diversion.

That's your answer for everything

I still have that stomach ache from last week. And as an added bonus, this weekend I started taking medication with side effects of stomach ache, nausea, and general tummy trouble. This is gonna be a baaad week for me. I get in to work this morning, and find paperwork for someone else's hardly-earned stipend on my desk with a big question mark on it, asking what do I know about this. The thing is, I don't know, I don't want to know. The other thing I don't know is how that person is getting a stipend when they don't even do their job right? I spent all of last week solving problems and doing work because they were out. I'm still waiting for my wage equity and job responsibilities problems to be resolved - while I do other people's work for them. Because it's what's expected.

Then I got an angry call from a student demanding to know why she only got a couple hundred dollars in her pay check, and saying that if I didn't figure out the problem and have a check for her by Wednedsday, then she would stop working. What follows is entirely internal dialogue: Fine by me sweety - I'm not your boss and you're not my problem. I couldn't care less if you worked another day or not. I don't personally care if you don't get paid. The department full of idiots you work in can sort it out. Actually, payroll isn't in my job descritption, and you're damn lucky that I had one nice bone left in my body that I even made sure that you were paid anything at all. Trust me, if I had left it up to the department, it would have been even more screwed up.
I tranfered her into the head of the totally ass-backward department that she works for, then I turned off my computer and I went home. That's where I am right now.

Some guy just knocked on my door wanting to sell me steaks. Steaks??

IM IN UR [noun] [verb] ING UR [noun]

Megi insists that I update. So, onward with the mundane whatevers. I've had an upset stomach for two freaking days. Pity on me. Bleh. Buuuut - three day weekends are rather nice, even if I haven't been feeling a hundred percent. We took the opportunity to go to breakfast and do some early Christmas shopping without the boy, although we didn't really buy much. And my husband had a meeting today that gives him a lot to think about. It's up to him to make the decision that will make him happy and be best for his family. It always seems like when the rare opportunity knocks for us, it nearly beats down the door. Lunch today was...uh, interesting. The tone of the conversation was an eye opener, as always. Also, might I somewhat proudly state, I have dutifully avoided the temptation of soda beverages for a week. Too bad the same can't be said for alcohol or coffee. Starbucks is my own personal drug of choice these days. I honestly can't pass a Starbucks now without mentally going "Mmmm....caramel frappuchino" and feeling the irresistable pull of the caramel and caffeine combo. Lip smacky goodness, that is.

And the episode of The Office was great last night. Jim's faxes to Dwight from the future! How can you beat that one? You can't. You just can't...and he's going back to Scranton...to Scranton... (sung quietly to the tune of "Going Back to Cali" by LL Cool J, natch.)

It's for the birds...

I just sat in on a meeting where a part of the time was spent discussing the anticipated Avian Influenza Pandemic. I felt like I had been transported back in time a couple of years. Since this was a slow year for other natural disasters (hurricane free in '06!), now we're back to the bird flu. Apparently, the two hundred or so laboratory confirmed cases of human infection worldwide have resulted in a roughly fifty percent mortality rate. Over three years. Wait. Three whole years? Okay, that's where I put away my panic face for another, more appropriate, time. Let me go cancel that biohazard suit I just ordered. And it's still being determined if the virus is even communicable from person to person yet, or just by infected bird to human transimission. Let me just say that the bird flu has nothing on HIV/AIDS. They (meaning the bird flu's "people") need to step up their marketing strategy a little if they want it to become THE epidemic of this generation.