Soooo...
I know I mentioned that I got news that Barbie resigned (from several sources). Or maybe not - I hear she's been telling people that the boss asked her to stay.
:blink:
Okay. Whatever.
Then, one of the managers offered someone a position (after the typically lengthy recruitment process), and they turned it down. So the department gets to start the search over again.
And today our newest full-time employee just quit. Literally *just* up and quit. Walked out. After less than two months, after working for several months before that as a temp. And she asked to not be contacted by the company for any reason. Which means I again get to babysit that office part of the time because they won't have staffing until they get yet another temp. I had a feeling that they were getting ready to cut that position, anyway, so that might've solved at least one problem for management. But still! This is exhausting!
Our temp brought me treats today because I put aside my work for a couple of days to help her with the mailing project from the dark firey depths this week. Because mailing projects that are done backwards are eeeevillll.
I had 'Learn to Swim' by Tool cranked up on the way home from work yesterday. It was incredibly fitting...
Apr 22, 2008
Apr 21, 2008
Feeling the burn
Blogger is being wonky today. Which is fitting. It's a very wonky feeling week. It is yet again Monday, despite my best efforts at pretending that Mondays don't exist. Selective reality isn't working out for me, apparently.
I'm starting to get very antsy about the state of affairs at work. I have assignments that I've been strongly encouraged to finish, yet I keep getting thrown into other people's projects, which causes me to fall behind some more. When I object, or argue my case, I'm given a hard time. So it seems like a lose-lose situation. I mean, if I say no to the other crap to focus on getting my work done them I'm not being a "team player", but if I allow myself to get dragged in, some of my work will be unfinished by the deadlines that have been set and I'm sure it will have serious and negative repercussions for me. Which is tiring, and causes me to get migraines if I think about it too much. I'm really losing my patience with my co-workers, and I'm incredibly frustrated that I have no idea what's going on with my review (I keep getting told - by someone other than my supervisor, of course - that I'm going to have one, but I have yet to see it scheduled), my workload and responsibility level are exhausting and require a nearly super-human ability to muster up anything but apathy for anymore, and if someone doesn't tell me what the heck is going on with the realignment and where I can expect to be in less than three months, I think I'm going to have a psychological meltdown from the pressure. Of course, changing roles will probably be a kind of situation that can best be described as going from the frying pan...into yet another frying pan. So, I suppose I should be careful what I wish for?
M: Thanks for the ticket! Sorry I couldn't even say hi - I was in the midst of fighting the urge to do physical harm to you-know-who (hint: I was standing in the doorway of that person's office when you came in...). Oh, and I got official word that Barbie resigned. And someone came in and was all "So, I hear you're moving upstairs. That's cool." How is it that people know about this and I have no freaking clue when/how this is all going down? It's like one day I'll walk in and someone will have boxed up all my stuff, and next thing you know Lumberg has my stapler and my desk is in the basement with the storage, and I never get a piece of delicious cake, and they said I can listen to music at a reasonable volume...
Too late. I've lost it.
I'm starting to get very antsy about the state of affairs at work. I have assignments that I've been strongly encouraged to finish, yet I keep getting thrown into other people's projects, which causes me to fall behind some more. When I object, or argue my case, I'm given a hard time. So it seems like a lose-lose situation. I mean, if I say no to the other crap to focus on getting my work done them I'm not being a "team player", but if I allow myself to get dragged in, some of my work will be unfinished by the deadlines that have been set and I'm sure it will have serious and negative repercussions for me. Which is tiring, and causes me to get migraines if I think about it too much. I'm really losing my patience with my co-workers, and I'm incredibly frustrated that I have no idea what's going on with my review (I keep getting told - by someone other than my supervisor, of course - that I'm going to have one, but I have yet to see it scheduled), my workload and responsibility level are exhausting and require a nearly super-human ability to muster up anything but apathy for anymore, and if someone doesn't tell me what the heck is going on with the realignment and where I can expect to be in less than three months, I think I'm going to have a psychological meltdown from the pressure. Of course, changing roles will probably be a kind of situation that can best be described as going from the frying pan...into yet another frying pan. So, I suppose I should be careful what I wish for?
M: Thanks for the ticket! Sorry I couldn't even say hi - I was in the midst of fighting the urge to do physical harm to you-know-who (hint: I was standing in the doorway of that person's office when you came in...). Oh, and I got official word that Barbie resigned. And someone came in and was all "So, I hear you're moving upstairs. That's cool." How is it that people know about this and I have no freaking clue when/how this is all going down? It's like one day I'll walk in and someone will have boxed up all my stuff, and next thing you know Lumberg has my stapler and my desk is in the basement with the storage, and I never get a piece of delicious cake, and they said I can listen to music at a reasonable volume...
Too late. I've lost it.
Apr 20, 2008
Fridays, Saturdays...and plate glass windows are for the birds
I was all prepared to vent about the horrible day I had on Friday. Then my sinuses decided to wage a war on me, and I slept for about eighteen hours between Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. I still don't quite feel up to thinking. So I'll boil Friday down to: mailing projects from hell, the demoralizing effects of layoffs and budget cuts, and lots and lots of very edgy people acting like jerks. It's going to be a long and very stressful summer.
We spent Saturday afternoon running around town, and then went for a walk at a local nature preserve, where I narrowly escaped a squirrel ambush:
We spent Saturday afternoon running around town, and then went for a walk at a local nature preserve, where I narrowly escaped a squirrel ambush:
This one attempted an aerial sneak attack...
While his bolder comrad engaged in the frontal assault.
I watched two movies last night before my head started to throb too much from a massive sinus headache - Delicatessen (which is French, and surreal, and bizarre and wonderful), and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Which I have seen several times now, so I'm not sure why I sat through it again...I guess just because it was on.
A dove flew into our window a little while ago - there were little down feathers stuck to the living room picture window. We thought the poor thing was dead at first, but then realized it had just stunned itself. My husband herded it across the street into the neighbor's yard because it kept trying to wander into the next door yard where the cats live, and we didn't want to provide them with live game. I'm not sure if the bird has recovered, or is still in shock, since it disappeared. Hopefully it managed to fly away.
Apr 17, 2008
My tax dollars at work
Here's some advice, free, from me to you: don't move to Florida. And if you are unfortunate enough to already live here (like yours truly), may I suggest you make immediate plans to become one of the thousands vacating the state like rats on the proverbial sinking ship. Our not-so-fine state is in the midst of bracing for massive budget cuts - where I work we're staring down the second wave of "reductions" (four percent earlier this year, and now at least another eleven percent after the beginning of the new budget period), and layoffs and other "cost saving measures" have begun. I have no idea what department I will even be a part of in three months. Or if I'll have a job at all. So imagine my disgust when I learn that our state Senate is using their valuable time legislating Truck Nutz (you know - the fake scrotes that rednecks hang from the trailer hitches of their trucks). What a waste of time - for the senators and the cops who would be called upon to attempt to enforce this garbage. Personally, I think the brass balls are stupid, but I'm hardly offended. It just makes it that much easier to spot the mouth breathers and avoid them. What's worse is that prior to the local evening news report about this, the anchor gave a disclaimer that the story included images that others might find "offensive". {sarcasm on} Oh, I'm all aflutter with righteous indignity at being subjected to images of fake testes hanging from undercarriage! I'm calling my Congressman and demanding action! {/sarcasm off} Of course, this is also a state Senate that finally just got around to attempting to make beastiality illegal (warning: the linked story really does include some lurid and disturbing details about an unfortunate dog with the tragically ironic name of Lucky - read at your own risk) - although this bit of legislation hasn't been passed by the House quite yet - and is allowing teachers to discuss Intelligent Design in their classrooms if they don't favor the *scientific* theory of evolution. We're ranked 21st in the nation in terms of education, but I think the DOE stacks the deck.
We're becoming idiots, collectively, by degrees.
What's brewing
I made the coffee today...I think it tastes a little better. Now if only the temp would stop making a mess of the supply room. I can't find a thing, and she used all of the small file tabs I need. I spent most of yesterday thinking it was Thursday - that's how fried my brain is.
The Kids in the Hall are together and touring, and they'll be in town the day before my birthday. Now the challenge will be finding someone to go with me. It won't be my husband, since his response was "Uh...okay, I never really watched that show...". You have got to be kidding me! No chicken lady, no cabbage-head, no cancer boy? He doesn't even know what he's missing.
Like this:
And THIS:
My dad and I did the "head crusher" to each other for years...maybe I can get my dad to go?
So on to other things. Like the sorry state of what is considered "news" today. I know a lot of people talk about this, but I just want to point out that Martha Stewart's dog died, and it made the main page of CNN headlines. Don't get me wrong - the death of a pet is a sad, sad thing. But newsworthy? I hardly think so! It's a big world out there, full of endless journalistic possibility, and CNN's got some mass com intern typing up bits on a close to irrelevant homemaking maven's dead dog. But I guess it's what the people want. Just like Dr. Phil. Oh, wait - did the rest of the world finally wake up to the fact that the guy is an attention and fame whoring douchenozzle? It's about damn time! Which brings me to what I recently saw on the cover of one of those "entertainment" magazines: the big caption next to the photo was "Shiloh's Broken Tooth", then in smaller letters the words "Who Is Responsible?". Okay, for those who don't know who "Shiloh" is, that would be Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's biological child (shameful that I know this, yes, I agree). The kid is like a year or so old, so I'd like to address the accusatory tone of the caption. Obviously, the editor of that rag has never had a toddler, right? Because then they'd be aware of the fact that small children just learning to walk fall down. A lot. Hence the term "toddler", due to all the toddling. Sometimes they fall flat on their little faces, and the result can be as minor as tears all the way up to bumps, brusies, and sometimes chipped teeth. I know this from experience, so the headline on the cover of that magazine just made me roll my eyes and swear a promise to myself to never buy such a waste of paper that would attempt to scandalize (and capitalize off of) such a minor little thing. Not that I generally buy the entertainment mags - the fashion magazines I occasionally read are bad enough, with their thinly veiled attempts at convincing the "average" woman that life as a self-obsessed, status-seeking, loathful harpy is the true path to happiness and success.
The other night I finished reading 'I Am Legend' (the movie, which I have not seen, is loosely based on this story and the two preceeding film adaptations). The story is actually part of a short story collection of the same name. I was a little underwhelmed. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but...
*****SPOILERS ahoy*****
...vampires? Not scary. Not even a little bit. There was a zombie story called 'Dance of the Dead' that had potential, but even it seemed to fall flat. Maybe for the era the stories were written in this stuff was cutting edge and a little terrifying, but as a fan of the horror genre who was raised on such authors as Stephen King and movies like The Thing and Poltergeist, I may have become a little jaded.
The Kids in the Hall are together and touring, and they'll be in town the day before my birthday. Now the challenge will be finding someone to go with me. It won't be my husband, since his response was "Uh...okay, I never really watched that show...". You have got to be kidding me! No chicken lady, no cabbage-head, no cancer boy? He doesn't even know what he's missing.
Like this:
And THIS:
My dad and I did the "head crusher" to each other for years...maybe I can get my dad to go?
So on to other things. Like the sorry state of what is considered "news" today. I know a lot of people talk about this, but I just want to point out that Martha Stewart's dog died, and it made the main page of CNN headlines. Don't get me wrong - the death of a pet is a sad, sad thing. But newsworthy? I hardly think so! It's a big world out there, full of endless journalistic possibility, and CNN's got some mass com intern typing up bits on a close to irrelevant homemaking maven's dead dog. But I guess it's what the people want. Just like Dr. Phil. Oh, wait - did the rest of the world finally wake up to the fact that the guy is an attention and fame whoring douchenozzle? It's about damn time! Which brings me to what I recently saw on the cover of one of those "entertainment" magazines: the big caption next to the photo was "Shiloh's Broken Tooth", then in smaller letters the words "Who Is Responsible?". Okay, for those who don't know who "Shiloh" is, that would be Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's biological child (shameful that I know this, yes, I agree). The kid is like a year or so old, so I'd like to address the accusatory tone of the caption. Obviously, the editor of that rag has never had a toddler, right? Because then they'd be aware of the fact that small children just learning to walk fall down. A lot. Hence the term "toddler", due to all the toddling. Sometimes they fall flat on their little faces, and the result can be as minor as tears all the way up to bumps, brusies, and sometimes chipped teeth. I know this from experience, so the headline on the cover of that magazine just made me roll my eyes and swear a promise to myself to never buy such a waste of paper that would attempt to scandalize (and capitalize off of) such a minor little thing. Not that I generally buy the entertainment mags - the fashion magazines I occasionally read are bad enough, with their thinly veiled attempts at convincing the "average" woman that life as a self-obsessed, status-seeking, loathful harpy is the true path to happiness and success.
The other night I finished reading 'I Am Legend' (the movie, which I have not seen, is loosely based on this story and the two preceeding film adaptations). The story is actually part of a short story collection of the same name. I was a little underwhelmed. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but...
*****SPOILERS ahoy*****
...vampires? Not scary. Not even a little bit. There was a zombie story called 'Dance of the Dead' that had potential, but even it seemed to fall flat. Maybe for the era the stories were written in this stuff was cutting edge and a little terrifying, but as a fan of the horror genre who was raised on such authors as Stephen King and movies like The Thing and Poltergeist, I may have become a little jaded.
I've been watching a lot of Deadliest Catch on Discovery since they were doing a marathon to gear up to this season's premier (the show at least makes you appreciate the sacrifice and work that went into getting that insanely expensive plate of crab legs to your table all the more), and I discovered the website for the 'Northwestern'. It features Captain Sig's MySpace page, so I'm *this* close to sending an add request. Maybe I will, or maybe I won't. I haven't decided if it's lame or kind of cool. But I'm really excited that normal tv is back, and almost all of my favorite shows are airing new episodes: BSG, The Office, 30 Rock, Dirty Jobs, Deadliest Catch. The only thing missing right now is Lost.
Waaaaaaaalt!
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