I has been a busy, busy past few days for M. and I! We took a road trip to visit friends this weekend. M. got to go golfing Saturday afternoon and I hung out with M.'s best friend's wife and her kiddos. Sunday evening M. and I went to see Radiohead - live - in person - up close! We were only about eight rows back from the stage. Thom York singing, dancing and giving the audience 'the eye,' Jonny Greenwood rocking out on all sorts of instruments, Ed O'Brien strumming his guitar, Colin and Phil were there too - they were just heard more than seen. It was M.'s dream and I was fortunate enough to be the one with him when that dream was realized.
Radiohead respectfully asked fans to 'keep the show live' and to not take videos or photos so M. and I left all our cameras at home or in the car. Of course, there are bootleg videos all over YouTube. None of the videos are especially good. It was an outdoor concert, it was dark, and the LED light displays don't video well on the type of camera people would have had to smuggle in - lots of cell phone cameras, I am guessing. Here is one video showing Thom dancing. The crowd goes wild! This one is pretty good too. In the videos you can see the pit peoples' heads (they had to stand mushed together the entire time). M. and I were off to the left side in the seated area, but not so far we couldn't make out facial features of the band! I would so follow M. to any Radiohead concert anywhere! Don't tell M., but I totally have a crush on Thom! ;)
The opening band was Grizzly Bear. I am now awaiting one of their CDs to arrive from Amazon.com.
We took Monday off so we could rest up before venturing back into real life. We slept in, I made a delectable chicken tortilla soup, and then treated ourselves to the new X Files movie and dinner out. Not extremely X Files-ish, but a good movie anyway.
So now we are coming down off our concert high and getting back into the grind at work. Not fun - I'm going to quit and become a Radiohead groupie. M., your welcome to tag along too... We are shorthanded at work this week, particularly in the front office. I am helping out, but I have to say there are some aspects of helping out up there that I cannot stand. For instance, when we have two people out on vacation, another calls in sick, and the remaining person up front comes in late then has to go get some water before she can help out and that takes another 15-20 minutes. And this is after she has clocked in. Ok, didn't know your water was in Timbuktu.
And, if you read this blog, you know Wednesday is meeting day at the office. RR. had a snarky moment when asking that the front office not send calls back when she has clearly marked herself unavailable on our OfficeView program. Someone has to comment that sometimes the caller says they were just contacted, blah, blah, blah. I could see the daggers shooting from RR's eyes. And then, I offer to do some front office coverage so others can go to lunch. Well, this same particular person logs herself out for lunch, then spends about 30-45 minutes checking personal email and Facebook. Then she leaves the office for over an hour. Granted, I have taken long lunches and do check my personal email at work, but not when we are shorthanded and have to have everyone pitching in.
Oh, I am going back to my concert-induced high and Radiohead fog. I hear some Radioheaddrifting out of M.'s room now...
PS - M. and I now have a cute little Flip video camera, so I will need to try out some video skills and post them to my little piece of the world wide web. Stay tuned!
Showing posts with label The Crap Shoot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Crap Shoot. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Teen Workers Are Peoples Too!
Listen here Ms. Higher Up, don't tell me that you have urgent, urgent work for our teen helper to do when she is in the office, withhold the list of files you need pulled, and then when I come request the list because our teen helper is in the office today snark at me like we are bothering you. Don't tell me, "Teen Helper will just have to wait," in that condescending voice of yours. You are the one who said this needs to be done ASAP. I can't help it if you are busy and don't want to deal with this right now - you are the one who ignored my previous requests for the list like it is some coveted list meant only for your eyes.
Our Teen Helper was right outside your door when you made that snarky remark and I hope it didn't hurt her feelings. I know you probably really don't care about that because you think she is working this job all loosy goosy, but from my standpoint, she's done a good job when she's here and a lot of it has been nasty, hot attic work, so why don't you just step down from your high horse and take a Prozac or something?
Since you weren't ready for her, I now have her working downstairs where it is cool until you deem it appropriate to grace us with your superior highness...
Our Teen Helper was right outside your door when you made that snarky remark and I hope it didn't hurt her feelings. I know you probably really don't care about that because you think she is working this job all loosy goosy, but from my standpoint, she's done a good job when she's here and a lot of it has been nasty, hot attic work, so why don't you just step down from your high horse and take a Prozac or something?
Since you weren't ready for her, I now have her working downstairs where it is cool until you deem it appropriate to grace us with your superior highness...
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
To Someone in the Front Office
Dear Someone,
When we have office staff out we all need to pitch in and help cover that person's job. I take a good portion of duties for the particular person out this week. Did you know last weekend was a holiday weekend and there were emails and information requests piled up from 3 days not only for the person who is out this week, but for me too.
I understand that you, Someone, also take a portion of this person's duties when they are out. What I did not know is that you need to sit at this person's desk to perform these duties. Well, guess what? I have to sit there too to do what I need to do. Yesterday I admit I was at that person's desk for a good portion of the day, but you try going through almost 200 emails and making sure everyone gets the correct information sent to them and let's see if you can get it done in half the time I did.
You could have told me that you needed to sit at that desk since I did not know what you were covering required it, but instead you decided to complain to a 'Higher Up' so this morning I was chastised for helping out and doing someone else's job. Well, poo to you Someone!
Since I am an office goddess, I will kindly transfer everything I can to my own desk so you can sit at the other's desk all day long if that is what you need. I hope your day at the office stinks!
Sincerely,
LilSeed
PS - to my regular readers, I still plan to do a vacation wrap up post and have a few more pictures to post from my trip. I think I will have to break down and actually write that post at home.
When we have office staff out we all need to pitch in and help cover that person's job. I take a good portion of duties for the particular person out this week. Did you know last weekend was a holiday weekend and there were emails and information requests piled up from 3 days not only for the person who is out this week, but for me too.
I understand that you, Someone, also take a portion of this person's duties when they are out. What I did not know is that you need to sit at this person's desk to perform these duties. Well, guess what? I have to sit there too to do what I need to do. Yesterday I admit I was at that person's desk for a good portion of the day, but you try going through almost 200 emails and making sure everyone gets the correct information sent to them and let's see if you can get it done in half the time I did.
You could have told me that you needed to sit at that desk since I did not know what you were covering required it, but instead you decided to complain to a 'Higher Up' so this morning I was chastised for helping out and doing someone else's job. Well, poo to you Someone!
Since I am an office goddess, I will kindly transfer everything I can to my own desk so you can sit at the other's desk all day long if that is what you need. I hope your day at the office stinks!
Sincerely,
LilSeed
PS - to my regular readers, I still plan to do a vacation wrap up post and have a few more pictures to post from my trip. I think I will have to break down and actually write that post at home.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Ack!
I have a story to post about my travels home after my trip to North Dakota, but no time to do that right now. I did have to take a momentary break from my work this morning to bring you this very snarky post.
I love having a summer helper around the office. It is especially exciting this summer because I am organizing her work. But seriously, Ms. Higher Up, if you want me to do the workload organization, then let me do it!! Let me know what needs to be done and what kind of priority the job has. Don't try to add bits and pieces here and there and then act like I am ignoring what you want done. I know what jobs are on the list and I can make sure they get done in a timely matter.
Thank you!
I love having a summer helper around the office. It is especially exciting this summer because I am organizing her work. But seriously, Ms. Higher Up, if you want me to do the workload organization, then let me do it!! Let me know what needs to be done and what kind of priority the job has. Don't try to add bits and pieces here and there and then act like I am ignoring what you want done. I know what jobs are on the list and I can make sure they get done in a timely matter.
Thank you!
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
What's Been Up?
I've been enslaved by a copier, that's what has been up! We found out that for one of our accreditations we need to send all our reports (burned to CD) from all of history to the accrediting entity. Well, we had reports saved electronically from 2004-present, so I've got those CDs all wrapped up and they have already been sent where they need to go. Anything before 2004 was not saved electronically, so I have been working with our summer helper to get the paper files pulled from the hot, steamy attic and then drug downstairs where our copies are.
Once the files are downstairs, someone needs to plow through them to pull out the applicable reports (sometimes up to 4 reports per file), scan them in and then save them so they can be burnt to CD. Of course, during the entire year we worked on this accreditation it was never mentioned we would need to do this - only after we've received our accreditation does this come up, and of course, it is now URGENT that we get this done. This could not have been done over the course of the year, especially not in the winter when it would have been cooler in the attic...
And, of course this is URGENT so it falls me to me to plow through these files by myself because our summer helper is at camp this week. I will be so glad when she is back! Apparently, it was also policy here in the office back in the day to use a staple per every 2 pages. So, for each report I have to pull out about a dozen staples before I can run the thing through the copier. So, please, fellow workers, please be careful not to trip over my chain and shackles while working near the back copier... I will likely be there all week!!
So because I don't and likely won't have a lot to snark about during this all encompassing project at work, I thought I'd let you all know what I have been up to outside of work. I know you all want to know desperately!
Movies: M. and I went to see The Strangers over the weekend. I was excited about this movie because scary movies and thrillers are my favorite movie genre. Unfortunately, this is one of those movies that did not live up to the previews for me (or for M. who also wanted to see it). I did not have that 'movie high' when leaving the theater. Do you get that 'movie high?' You know, that feeling when you leave a theater that the movie was just great, or that it might have changed the way you look at something or think about things? Well, that wasn't this movie. This movie was just okay for me. M. pointed out about 5 minutes in that the camera work was very shaky, even more so than Cloverfield, which we watched about a week ago. As with many little eccentricities, I really didn't notice this until M. pointed it out, but then it was annoying. Also, as M. says, you really don't get to know the main characters, James and Kristen, so it is hard to feel anything for them when the three strangers start attacking them simply because they 'were home.' I think with some more story background and a steadier camera this might have been a good movie and not just okay.
We also tried out Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2. M. had seen something about these movies and that they had received good viewer ratings, in fact, were consider cult classics. I am always up for horror flicks, even the old ones, so I sat down with M. to watch these films. We watched all of the first one although I don't know why. It was entirely hokey. I know, you need to expect a degree of that in many of the older flicks, but this was just too much hokey for me. Zombie dead people who sit in doorways and just giggle are not my thing. I watched about 15 minutes of the second one and it was even worse, so I decided making our bed would be entirely more interesting. M. watched a bit more than me and while I was tucking in bedding I heard "Give me back my hand," come from the living room. Later M. would tell me that the main character's hand was possessed and was trying to kill him. Oh, please! Also, that damn giggly zombie was back in the second film...
The final movie I want to mention is P2. We also watched this movie over the weekend (yes, we watch a lot of movies). While also not a great movie, it was better than the others mentioned above. We definitely felt more for Angela who was imprisoned in a parking garage by a demented parking attendee who had a crush on her than for James and Kristen out in the woods tormented by three strangers. Too bad we didn't go see Iron Man instead of The Strangers in the theater...
Games: We've had a Nintendo Wii for some time now and both M. and I enjoy it. I picked up a Wii Fit last week and it only took me one evening of calling around and a dash to our local Toys R Us to get it - unlike our console which we had to stalk stores for 2 weeks to get. Actually, I picked up 2 Wii Fits last week. One was for M.'s mom who had been wanting one before I even knew what they were. Unfortunately, M.'s parents have had console problems and apparently the 2nd console Nintendo sent them does not like the Wii Fit, so they have to contact Nintendo and have a third console sent out. Until then, M.'s mom doesn't get to use her Wii Fit game or balance board.
I've used my Wii Fit almost every day since we got it. For those who don't know about the Wii Fit (I only recently got the concept), you get a balance board and compatible game for the purchase price of $89.99. With your Wii Fit you can do a body test which will measure your weight, BMI, balance, and give you an estimated age based on those measurements. It also has yoga, strength training, balance, and aerobic activities to help keep your measurements in check. What I really like about it is that you need to bank time doing these activities to unlock new activities, so you have an incentive to work out. I just unlocked rhythm boxing last night and love it! My plan was to do yoga each day and alternate aerobic and strength training. Tonight was to be strength training, but I may slip some rhythm boxing in too!
Last night M. went on an impulse buy trip to town to pick up Rock Band for our PS3 (yes, we have a lot of game systems). The game is a bit pricey and I wasn't sure about getting it, but M. seemed pretty excited, so I gave him the go ahead to get it while I worked on my aerobics with my Wii Fit. I banked 45 minutes on the Wii Fit, unloaded the dishwasher, setup the cats' drinking fountain (after it went through the dishwasher), gathered household trash from our little cans around the house, and scooped the litter box while M. was on his shopping trip. He had to go to three stores, but eventually found the game. (Why do the things we want always have to be so hard to find?)
I left M. in the living room to unpack the box (and it was a big box) while I showered off my Wii sweat. When I came out he had the guitar and microphone unpacked and was beginning to work on the drum set. If you've not heard of Rock Band, this game is kind of like the Guitar Hero games in that you can play a guitar along with popular songs, but in addition to the guitar, you can also have someone on the drums and someone singing, hence making up your rock band!
I wasn't exactly excited about this game, but I am glad M. went out and got it. We rocked the night away - M. on the drums and me on vocals. I am not a good singer, but on 'easy' level I did pretty good. We got to create characters for ourselves and name our band. We ended up being The Beavers - a throw back to M.'s past (don't ask, I don't have the finger strength to finish this post and tell you about that story). M. is the outrageous drummer Storm and I am the Gothic rocker Lil'Seed. What is especially nice about this game is it's song list. Lots of songs M. and I have heard and like (unlike some of those other singing games). You can also purchase additional songs from the music store.
M. and I rocked so much last night we were able to unlock several new venues, gained about 2,000 fans, and even got a crappy van to tour in so we can make it from venue to venue! M. was ready to get to his drums again this morning, but of course, we have to work...
Books: I finally finished Sophie's Choice. Like The Strangers, this was just okay for me. I picked up this book because I had heard vague murmurings about it, and of course, knew it was a movie. I've never seen the movie and I really didn't know what the book was about before actually reading it. The first problem I had was that the paperback copy I got at the library had very small, cramped text. My eyes are okay and I do a lot of reading, but that was hard to get through. Secondly, you don't even learn what Sophie's choice is until the last quarter of the book and by that time there has been so much other drama in Sophie's life (past and present) that it is hard to get caught up in her choice. I don't think the author gave enough text to the actual choice and how it impacted Sophie. Maybe the movie focuses more on the choice?
After Sophie's Choice I read The Virgin of Small Plains. Loved this book! I will have to pick up some more books by Nancy Pickard next time I'm at the library. This is a mystery set in 1987 and 2004 Kansas. The book does jump from the past to 'present' 2004, so if you don't like that in a book, this may not be for you, but it didn't bother me. In 1987 a girl is found naked and dead on a ranch and the mystery is who is she and why did she end up dead (and frozen to boot) on a cattle ranch.
Currently, I am reading Bastard Out Of Carolina. Not very far yet, but I'm enjoying it so far. I have seen the movie version of this book staring Jennifer Jason Leigh. I liked the movie, so am anticipating liking the book. I may have to pick up some other books by Dorothy Allison after this.
Each time I go to the library I update the 'Book Bag' section of this blog on the right side. I know you need to know what I am reading, so keep up to date over there.
This ends our first edition of 'What's Up.' I hope you have enjoyed reading about what fun and oh so exciting things I have been doing. I must now depart for my beloved copier. Tune in again some other time... Adieu.
Once the files are downstairs, someone needs to plow through them to pull out the applicable reports (sometimes up to 4 reports per file), scan them in and then save them so they can be burnt to CD. Of course, during the entire year we worked on this accreditation it was never mentioned we would need to do this - only after we've received our accreditation does this come up, and of course, it is now URGENT that we get this done. This could not have been done over the course of the year, especially not in the winter when it would have been cooler in the attic...
And, of course this is URGENT so it falls me to me to plow through these files by myself because our summer helper is at camp this week. I will be so glad when she is back! Apparently, it was also policy here in the office back in the day to use a staple per every 2 pages. So, for each report I have to pull out about a dozen staples before I can run the thing through the copier. So, please, fellow workers, please be careful not to trip over my chain and shackles while working near the back copier... I will likely be there all week!!
So because I don't and likely won't have a lot to snark about during this all encompassing project at work, I thought I'd let you all know what I have been up to outside of work. I know you all want to know desperately!
Movies: M. and I went to see The Strangers over the weekend. I was excited about this movie because scary movies and thrillers are my favorite movie genre. Unfortunately, this is one of those movies that did not live up to the previews for me (or for M. who also wanted to see it). I did not have that 'movie high' when leaving the theater. Do you get that 'movie high?' You know, that feeling when you leave a theater that the movie was just great, or that it might have changed the way you look at something or think about things? Well, that wasn't this movie. This movie was just okay for me. M. pointed out about 5 minutes in that the camera work was very shaky, even more so than Cloverfield, which we watched about a week ago. As with many little eccentricities, I really didn't notice this until M. pointed it out, but then it was annoying. Also, as M. says, you really don't get to know the main characters, James and Kristen, so it is hard to feel anything for them when the three strangers start attacking them simply because they 'were home.' I think with some more story background and a steadier camera this might have been a good movie and not just okay.
We also tried out Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2. M. had seen something about these movies and that they had received good viewer ratings, in fact, were consider cult classics. I am always up for horror flicks, even the old ones, so I sat down with M. to watch these films. We watched all of the first one although I don't know why. It was entirely hokey. I know, you need to expect a degree of that in many of the older flicks, but this was just too much hokey for me. Zombie dead people who sit in doorways and just giggle are not my thing. I watched about 15 minutes of the second one and it was even worse, so I decided making our bed would be entirely more interesting. M. watched a bit more than me and while I was tucking in bedding I heard "Give me back my hand," come from the living room. Later M. would tell me that the main character's hand was possessed and was trying to kill him. Oh, please! Also, that damn giggly zombie was back in the second film...
The final movie I want to mention is P2. We also watched this movie over the weekend (yes, we watch a lot of movies). While also not a great movie, it was better than the others mentioned above. We definitely felt more for Angela who was imprisoned in a parking garage by a demented parking attendee who had a crush on her than for James and Kristen out in the woods tormented by three strangers. Too bad we didn't go see Iron Man instead of The Strangers in the theater...
Games: We've had a Nintendo Wii for some time now and both M. and I enjoy it. I picked up a Wii Fit last week and it only took me one evening of calling around and a dash to our local Toys R Us to get it - unlike our console which we had to stalk stores for 2 weeks to get. Actually, I picked up 2 Wii Fits last week. One was for M.'s mom who had been wanting one before I even knew what they were. Unfortunately, M.'s parents have had console problems and apparently the 2nd console Nintendo sent them does not like the Wii Fit, so they have to contact Nintendo and have a third console sent out. Until then, M.'s mom doesn't get to use her Wii Fit game or balance board.
I've used my Wii Fit almost every day since we got it. For those who don't know about the Wii Fit (I only recently got the concept), you get a balance board and compatible game for the purchase price of $89.99. With your Wii Fit you can do a body test which will measure your weight, BMI, balance, and give you an estimated age based on those measurements. It also has yoga, strength training, balance, and aerobic activities to help keep your measurements in check. What I really like about it is that you need to bank time doing these activities to unlock new activities, so you have an incentive to work out. I just unlocked rhythm boxing last night and love it! My plan was to do yoga each day and alternate aerobic and strength training. Tonight was to be strength training, but I may slip some rhythm boxing in too!
Last night M. went on an impulse buy trip to town to pick up Rock Band for our PS3 (yes, we have a lot of game systems). The game is a bit pricey and I wasn't sure about getting it, but M. seemed pretty excited, so I gave him the go ahead to get it while I worked on my aerobics with my Wii Fit. I banked 45 minutes on the Wii Fit, unloaded the dishwasher, setup the cats' drinking fountain (after it went through the dishwasher), gathered household trash from our little cans around the house, and scooped the litter box while M. was on his shopping trip. He had to go to three stores, but eventually found the game. (Why do the things we want always have to be so hard to find?)
I left M. in the living room to unpack the box (and it was a big box) while I showered off my Wii sweat. When I came out he had the guitar and microphone unpacked and was beginning to work on the drum set. If you've not heard of Rock Band, this game is kind of like the Guitar Hero games in that you can play a guitar along with popular songs, but in addition to the guitar, you can also have someone on the drums and someone singing, hence making up your rock band!
I wasn't exactly excited about this game, but I am glad M. went out and got it. We rocked the night away - M. on the drums and me on vocals. I am not a good singer, but on 'easy' level I did pretty good. We got to create characters for ourselves and name our band. We ended up being The Beavers - a throw back to M.'s past (don't ask, I don't have the finger strength to finish this post and tell you about that story). M. is the outrageous drummer Storm and I am the Gothic rocker Lil'Seed. What is especially nice about this game is it's song list. Lots of songs M. and I have heard and like (unlike some of those other singing games). You can also purchase additional songs from the music store.
M. and I rocked so much last night we were able to unlock several new venues, gained about 2,000 fans, and even got a crappy van to tour in so we can make it from venue to venue! M. was ready to get to his drums again this morning, but of course, we have to work...
Books: I finally finished Sophie's Choice. Like The Strangers, this was just okay for me. I picked up this book because I had heard vague murmurings about it, and of course, knew it was a movie. I've never seen the movie and I really didn't know what the book was about before actually reading it. The first problem I had was that the paperback copy I got at the library had very small, cramped text. My eyes are okay and I do a lot of reading, but that was hard to get through. Secondly, you don't even learn what Sophie's choice is until the last quarter of the book and by that time there has been so much other drama in Sophie's life (past and present) that it is hard to get caught up in her choice. I don't think the author gave enough text to the actual choice and how it impacted Sophie. Maybe the movie focuses more on the choice?
After Sophie's Choice I read The Virgin of Small Plains. Loved this book! I will have to pick up some more books by Nancy Pickard next time I'm at the library. This is a mystery set in 1987 and 2004 Kansas. The book does jump from the past to 'present' 2004, so if you don't like that in a book, this may not be for you, but it didn't bother me. In 1987 a girl is found naked and dead on a ranch and the mystery is who is she and why did she end up dead (and frozen to boot) on a cattle ranch.
Currently, I am reading Bastard Out Of Carolina. Not very far yet, but I'm enjoying it so far. I have seen the movie version of this book staring Jennifer Jason Leigh. I liked the movie, so am anticipating liking the book. I may have to pick up some other books by Dorothy Allison after this.
Each time I go to the library I update the 'Book Bag' section of this blog on the right side. I know you need to know what I am reading, so keep up to date over there.
This ends our first edition of 'What's Up.' I hope you have enjoyed reading about what fun and oh so exciting things I have been doing. I must now depart for my beloved copier. Tune in again some other time... Adieu.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Oh, Embarrassment!
I got some new clothes yesterday. I rarely get new clothes and wear the same outfits to work week after week, so I was excited to wear a new skirt and top today. There was no wind when I walked into work early this morning. Unfortunately for me, the wind picked up sometime between my arrival and the time I left for lunch.
I walked out the office door on my way to my car and Bossman walks out right behind me. He says something about how nice it is today. I say it's a little too hot for me as I near my car. Just then a gust of wind comes across the parking lot. I didn't realize how flouncy this new skirt is compared to my others - but it is and the flounce makes it susceptible to ballooning in wind gusts - which it did - in the office parking lot - with Bossman out there with me!
I am not sure how much was in view before I wrangled the skirt back around my thighs and knees. But, oh the embarrassment! One thing I know, if he did see anything, Bossman won't mention it. And I guess it's not quite as embarrassing as Bossman walking around one of our annual client picnics with his fly open...
I will have to pay more attention to the weather reports when deciding to wear this particular skirt!
I walked out the office door on my way to my car and Bossman walks out right behind me. He says something about how nice it is today. I say it's a little too hot for me as I near my car. Just then a gust of wind comes across the parking lot. I didn't realize how flouncy this new skirt is compared to my others - but it is and the flounce makes it susceptible to ballooning in wind gusts - which it did - in the office parking lot - with Bossman out there with me!
I am not sure how much was in view before I wrangled the skirt back around my thighs and knees. But, oh the embarrassment! One thing I know, if he did see anything, Bossman won't mention it. And I guess it's not quite as embarrassing as Bossman walking around one of our annual client picnics with his fly open...
I will have to pay more attention to the weather reports when deciding to wear this particular skirt!
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
To Someone at This Morning's Meeting
Hey Someone,
Did you know we all know you're sitting up there? It is not necessary to speak over everyone else. It is especially annoying when you begin to talk over someone and you don't know what you're talking about. Let a person have their say - you might learn something about that of which you do not know and you may also not have to comment. But then again, we all know you, and you not commenting would be impossible. I guess I will just have to plea for you to not speak over everyone else, but then again, I know that won't happen either.
Someone, you make me feel like this in meetings:
Did you know we all know you're sitting up there? It is not necessary to speak over everyone else. It is especially annoying when you begin to talk over someone and you don't know what you're talking about. Let a person have their say - you might learn something about that of which you do not know and you may also not have to comment. But then again, we all know you, and you not commenting would be impossible. I guess I will just have to plea for you to not speak over everyone else, but then again, I know that won't happen either.
Someone, you make me feel like this in meetings:
Monday, June 2, 2008
DUCK!
For the past couple weeks we've had a visitor to our back door at the office - a duck. He comes to the door and either stares in or lays down right next to the door and falls asleep with his head under his wing. Other than making a bit of a mess on the concrete pad outside the door, he's really not hurting anything and he provides some office amusement each day.
Bossman has been out of the office for the past two weeks which means he had not seen our back door visitor - and that is lucky for the duck. Bossman has been known to chase geese around our parking lot with his vehicle and also hired a guy with a dog to keep away the geese.
Unfortunately for the duck, Bossman happened to pass by the door this afternoon while duck was lounging out there. Bossman exclaims, "Damn, we have a duck trying to lay an egg out there!" Then Bossman goes up to the door and bangs on it to scare away the duck.
I've got news for you Bossman. You see those green feathers on our duck's head? That means ducky is a boy, and last time I checked, the boys don't lay eggs. But if this one does, you ought to contact the news because we could probably get some publicity from a boy duck laying an egg...
Ducky came back shortly after Bossman departed the office. We will have to wait and see if he gets to stick around or if Bossman hires a duck dog...
And, a note to those road ragers who feel it is necessary to get right up on my ass when I'm driving 60 mph on the interstate: I flip you a virtual bird. I don't need my rear view mirror full of your grill - learn to be more fuel efficient!
Bossman has been out of the office for the past two weeks which means he had not seen our back door visitor - and that is lucky for the duck. Bossman has been known to chase geese around our parking lot with his vehicle and also hired a guy with a dog to keep away the geese.
Unfortunately for the duck, Bossman happened to pass by the door this afternoon while duck was lounging out there. Bossman exclaims, "Damn, we have a duck trying to lay an egg out there!" Then Bossman goes up to the door and bangs on it to scare away the duck.
I've got news for you Bossman. You see those green feathers on our duck's head? That means ducky is a boy, and last time I checked, the boys don't lay eggs. But if this one does, you ought to contact the news because we could probably get some publicity from a boy duck laying an egg...
Ducky came back shortly after Bossman departed the office. We will have to wait and see if he gets to stick around or if Bossman hires a duck dog...
And, a note to those road ragers who feel it is necessary to get right up on my ass when I'm driving 60 mph on the interstate: I flip you a virtual bird. I don't need my rear view mirror full of your grill - learn to be more fuel efficient!
Friday, May 30, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
Thought Spill... *CAUTION* It's a long one!
Oh, I have been gone so long! Things have been extra busy for me at work and I typically don't blog on the weekends, but here I am. Welcome to a new blog post! How have you all been?
Weekend Happenings: After sleeping off the beginnings of some kind of illness all Friday, I was pretty ready for the weekend. Saturday was chore day (not a routine or typical happening at our house). M. got out and mowed our lawn even though it didn't look half as bad as a neighbor. This particular neighbor is also at the very beginning of the subdivision while we're tucked away in the back, so neighbor's grass is visible to all visitors to our neighborhood. The grass is probably about 3 feet high and going to seed (Clyde and Luigi would definitely get lost in that grass jungle)! That neighbor sucks. Our lawn looks all nice now even without any landscaping...
I did stuff too! I cleaned inside while M. took care of the outside. We now have sparkly fresh bathrooms, vacuumed floors, and Clyde and Luigi are having a much nicer box experience. I also finished reading A Darker Place. I am always excited to find potentially good authors I've never read before, so when I saw this book on the shelf at the library tagged as 'mystery' and with the cover proclaiming 'A Nail-Biter Thriller,' this had to be at least decent, right? Well, it was okay as far as putting together sentences and that sort of thing, but nowhere in the almost 500 pages did I feel it was thrilling (certainly not to the point I was chomping my nails) nor was it what I would call 'mysterious.' So much for Laurie R. King as a new author on my book list... This book did get almost 5 stars on Amazon.com, so some people out there like. Not me.
I know you are all here to find out what I'm reading and how much I did or did not enjoy it, so I will tell you once I finished A Darker Place I immediately plunged into The Secret Life of Bees. What a difference! This book is not typed in the same genre as A Darker Place (supposed to be a mystery, but really isn't) - The Secret Life of Bees is more in the range of literary drama, but oh so much better - even in the first 10 pages! I've got about 100 pages left to go and look forward to finishing it up tonight.
I will have plenty of time to read tonight since M. has embarked on a new gaming experience - The Age of Conan. M. has been excited about this online game for some time now and it was just released to a limited number of players for advanced access and M. was lucky enough to register in time for the early access. I am sure he will be totally enthralled in Hyboria tonight. M. has been trying to get me to read the books the game is based on - the Conan series by Robert E. Howard. This is not the kind of book I usually read, but when I am done with my current Book Bag I may try out one, just to see. I did try out the game for a couple hours yesterday and liked it well enough. I do enjoy video games, but those online role playing games where you have to team up with other people to complete quests are totally not for me. I am as antisocial in the online gaming world as I am in real life and do not like to play with others. The Age of Conan has 20 player levels that are single-player before you have to get into all the team up and conquer stuff, so I can play it for awhile - if I can get M. away from it for a bit, that is!
Okay, so the gaming bit last night is a bit out of order. I did do some more productive stuff Sunday before creating Raksasha, the Cimmerian bear shaman. M. and I ventured out to do some errands. Our first stop was the dreaded mega store.
We do try to avoid the mega store whenever we can, but after a bad experience with a 'all we do is eye exams' place a couple years ago I decided to go back to the vision center at the mega store. I really like the eye doctor at the mega store - he explained everything he was doing very well and I now more than I ever wanted to about the shape of my eyes, why certain contacts do not work, etc. It was still nicer than him just saying, "Is 1 or 2 better? How about 3 or 4?" So my exam was well over a month ago. Of course because my eyes are shaped weird (I have an astigmatism plus my eyes apparently also lay funny in the socket or something) my contacts have to be ordered, they are not regular stock at mega store's vision center. No big deal, I had a trial pair that would last me about a month and the ordered contacts were supposed to be in within a week or so. I did get the call that my contacts were ready shortly after ordering them and went in, picked them up and it was all easy peasy. Well, then my trial contacts were done for so I pull out the contacts I picked up. Opened the bag and well, they weren't the right ones! They were not for astigmatism and were the same strength in both boxes. I've known since I was in grade school that my eyes do not require the same amount of correction - my left one is definitely a bit behind my right eye. So I call and mega store vision center doesn't know how that happened, or where the contacts they ordered for me went, so they reorder.
And that is why M. and I made the stop at the mega store yesterday - to pick up my reordered contacts. We were walking through the parking lot behind a guy waving his cigarette around in the wind and thus burning out our eyes and nostrils because it was Sunday at the mega store and the only available parking was a mile from the store. We finally make it to the doors and pop in expecting a quick in and out, but to our dread the vision center was still dark - it doesn't open until noon on Sunday and it was 11:55. Well, since we were already at the mega store, we decided to browse a little while waiting for the vision center to open (M. is on a quest to find somewhere that still sells corn nuts). So we browse, and due to the crowds, end up back at the vision center about 12:05. Still dark!
Since it was now 5 minutes past when mega store vision center was supposed to open, M. went over to the greeter and asked if the vision center would be open today. Her response was, "He should be opening soon." By now there is another person standing at the black ropes keeping people out of the still dark vision center. I want to leave, telling M. I'll just pop in tomorrow since the mega store is near where I work. M. is insistent we wait.
About 12:08 we see someone beginning to move around in the darkened vision center. It is the smoking marvel who irritated our nasal passages on the way in. He's kind of moving around in there - not too fast despite the line growing outside the black ropes. Finally, he makes his way over to the ropes and removes them (still no lights). The guy waiting in front of M. and I slowly enters the darkened area. M. and I slowly enter behind him. It's still dark, but it's now almost 10 minutes past opening time, so is the vision center open or is it not? Smoking marvel still hasn't said a word. He goes over to a table of sunglasses and begins dinking around with them. No, "I will be right with you people who have been waiting and waiting since I decided to do whatever it was I was doing in the back instead of opening on time." No, "I am so sorry I had to have that last bit of cancer-inducing death stick instead of getting my butt in here to open on time."
Now the guy who entered in front of us is giving us that hesitant, "What the hell is going on" smile and we're giving it right back to him. It was probably only a few seconds between the dinking around at the sunglasses table until smoking marvel turned on the lights in the vision center, but it felt like an awkward 5 additional minutes. Finally, he helps the guy who entered in front of us. Of course, smoking marvel hasn't unlocked anything yet, so as he sets about helping in front-of-us-guy, he is also doing what he should have in that 5 minutes before noon (or the 10+ minutes he would have had if he'd skipped the cigarette).
When in front-of-us-guy is done I explain to smoking marvel why I am there. When I tell him that I was given the wrong contacts and I am now here to pick up the correct ones he exclaims, "Really? That has never happened before." Well, goodie gumdrops smoking marvel, please just get me my contacts! Which he did, and it took all of 2 seconds. A much snarkier situation than it should have been.
So then we're out of mega store having spent about 21 minutes/1 second more than we'd anticipated being in mega store. Then it was off to pick up an allergy prescription for M., some lunch, and our final stop, a home improvement place so M. could exchange his mom's defective wind chime and I could pick up terrarium supplies which took longer than M. had patience for and cost more than I had expected. Then it was home again, home again so M. could rush off to our 3-year old niece's birthday party.
My plan for the afternoon while M. was at the party was to try out his new Conan game. It seemed like the perfect time since he would be at the party, not hovering over my shoulder griping about how I chose to plan games or anxiously waiting for his turn at it again. So I got my terrarium supplies situated on our front porch (so the cats couldn't chew the plants) and tried to log in. Alas, the game was down for "tweaks and updates." Likely downtime = approximately 2 hours.
Okay, no problem. I had terrariums to plant. So I prepared my kitchen for that project. I laid mats over our table, brought in all the supplies from the front porch, got my containers out, and set to. I got as far as washing the containers and placing the drainage layer of rocks into the bottoms. I then realized despite the exorbitant amount of time I took to gather my supplies (exorbitant at least in M.'s mind), I had forgotten to get charcoal - a necessary layer to prevent soil mold and rot. Well, after spending as much as I did on the plants and other supplies, I was not going to let it go to waste by letting my soil fall prey to mold or stinky rot.
So I had a dilemma: go back to town and get some charcoal or back everything up and try again another day. Once I get into a project I rarely like to quit right at the beginning (if it's long and drawn out I may quit later, but not at the beginning) so I decided to head back to the home improvement store. I looked all over that darn store's garden section. No horticulture charcoal. Well, I knew where I could get some charcoal for certain - the mega store. Even if they didn't have horticulture charcoal, the fish supplies section would have charcoal for the fishy filters. So for the second time in one day I was back at the dreaded mega store. But I was right, they had charcoal, so mission accomplished.
And, because the people in front of my in the '10 items or less speedy checkout' had forgotten something and I had time to look over the impulse register items, I ended up buying some of these 'As Seen on TV' Green Bags. I thought since I am doing way more cooking and because we buy a lot more fresh produce that eventually doesn't all get used because it's just the two of us, these things would be handy (as long as they work like they are supposed to).
Back at home, I was now prepared to plant some terrariums! But the approximate two hour downtime for the game had passed, and since I had my plants securely shut away in a cabinet, I decided to try out the game. After all, once M. got home he would want to play the game and then I would have free time to plant. Well, on second attempt to log into the game server I found out that they were now approximating another hour of downtime. Well, poo! Back to the plants...
Once again I got everything out. I had planned to take pictures of my in-progress work on the terrariums, but between the unexpected charcoal trip, the ever-increasing game downtime, and attempting to keep cats off counters and out of dirt and plants, the pictures were forgotten. I even forgot to take pictures of the end products, but I created four very lovely terrariums. I left two at home and have two in my office. If any of my fellow office workers would like to stop by and visit, you can also admire my horticulture skill. I'll have to try to remember some photos for the blog too.
I did end up trying out the game, but you already knew that from reading one of the paragraphs way up there in this post. M. graciously gave me some time to try it out after he got home and practiced his guitar in the meantime.
So there is a very long step-by-step theme on 'What I Did This Weekend.' Now on to:
Monday Snarkiness: (Typically, this is Monday morning snarkiness, but my weekend took up so much time that it's now afternoon...) Here are today's random snarks, brought to you from my office:
Weekend Happenings: After sleeping off the beginnings of some kind of illness all Friday, I was pretty ready for the weekend. Saturday was chore day (not a routine or typical happening at our house). M. got out and mowed our lawn even though it didn't look half as bad as a neighbor. This particular neighbor is also at the very beginning of the subdivision while we're tucked away in the back, so neighbor's grass is visible to all visitors to our neighborhood. The grass is probably about 3 feet high and going to seed (Clyde and Luigi would definitely get lost in that grass jungle)! That neighbor sucks. Our lawn looks all nice now even without any landscaping...
I did stuff too! I cleaned inside while M. took care of the outside. We now have sparkly fresh bathrooms, vacuumed floors, and Clyde and Luigi are having a much nicer box experience. I also finished reading A Darker Place. I am always excited to find potentially good authors I've never read before, so when I saw this book on the shelf at the library tagged as 'mystery' and with the cover proclaiming 'A Nail-Biter Thriller,' this had to be at least decent, right? Well, it was okay as far as putting together sentences and that sort of thing, but nowhere in the almost 500 pages did I feel it was thrilling (certainly not to the point I was chomping my nails) nor was it what I would call 'mysterious.' So much for Laurie R. King as a new author on my book list... This book did get almost 5 stars on Amazon.com, so some people out there like. Not me.
I know you are all here to find out what I'm reading and how much I did or did not enjoy it, so I will tell you once I finished A Darker Place I immediately plunged into The Secret Life of Bees. What a difference! This book is not typed in the same genre as A Darker Place (supposed to be a mystery, but really isn't) - The Secret Life of Bees is more in the range of literary drama, but oh so much better - even in the first 10 pages! I've got about 100 pages left to go and look forward to finishing it up tonight.
I will have plenty of time to read tonight since M. has embarked on a new gaming experience - The Age of Conan. M. has been excited about this online game for some time now and it was just released to a limited number of players for advanced access and M. was lucky enough to register in time for the early access. I am sure he will be totally enthralled in Hyboria tonight. M. has been trying to get me to read the books the game is based on - the Conan series by Robert E. Howard. This is not the kind of book I usually read, but when I am done with my current Book Bag I may try out one, just to see. I did try out the game for a couple hours yesterday and liked it well enough. I do enjoy video games, but those online role playing games where you have to team up with other people to complete quests are totally not for me. I am as antisocial in the online gaming world as I am in real life and do not like to play with others. The Age of Conan has 20 player levels that are single-player before you have to get into all the team up and conquer stuff, so I can play it for awhile - if I can get M. away from it for a bit, that is!
Okay, so the gaming bit last night is a bit out of order. I did do some more productive stuff Sunday before creating Raksasha, the Cimmerian bear shaman. M. and I ventured out to do some errands. Our first stop was the dreaded mega store.
We do try to avoid the mega store whenever we can, but after a bad experience with a 'all we do is eye exams' place a couple years ago I decided to go back to the vision center at the mega store. I really like the eye doctor at the mega store - he explained everything he was doing very well and I now more than I ever wanted to about the shape of my eyes, why certain contacts do not work, etc. It was still nicer than him just saying, "Is 1 or 2 better? How about 3 or 4?" So my exam was well over a month ago. Of course because my eyes are shaped weird (I have an astigmatism plus my eyes apparently also lay funny in the socket or something) my contacts have to be ordered, they are not regular stock at mega store's vision center. No big deal, I had a trial pair that would last me about a month and the ordered contacts were supposed to be in within a week or so. I did get the call that my contacts were ready shortly after ordering them and went in, picked them up and it was all easy peasy. Well, then my trial contacts were done for so I pull out the contacts I picked up. Opened the bag and well, they weren't the right ones! They were not for astigmatism and were the same strength in both boxes. I've known since I was in grade school that my eyes do not require the same amount of correction - my left one is definitely a bit behind my right eye. So I call and mega store vision center doesn't know how that happened, or where the contacts they ordered for me went, so they reorder.
And that is why M. and I made the stop at the mega store yesterday - to pick up my reordered contacts. We were walking through the parking lot behind a guy waving his cigarette around in the wind and thus burning out our eyes and nostrils because it was Sunday at the mega store and the only available parking was a mile from the store. We finally make it to the doors and pop in expecting a quick in and out, but to our dread the vision center was still dark - it doesn't open until noon on Sunday and it was 11:55. Well, since we were already at the mega store, we decided to browse a little while waiting for the vision center to open (M. is on a quest to find somewhere that still sells corn nuts). So we browse, and due to the crowds, end up back at the vision center about 12:05. Still dark!
Since it was now 5 minutes past when mega store vision center was supposed to open, M. went over to the greeter and asked if the vision center would be open today. Her response was, "He should be opening soon." By now there is another person standing at the black ropes keeping people out of the still dark vision center. I want to leave, telling M. I'll just pop in tomorrow since the mega store is near where I work. M. is insistent we wait.
About 12:08 we see someone beginning to move around in the darkened vision center. It is the smoking marvel who irritated our nasal passages on the way in. He's kind of moving around in there - not too fast despite the line growing outside the black ropes. Finally, he makes his way over to the ropes and removes them (still no lights). The guy waiting in front of M. and I slowly enters the darkened area. M. and I slowly enter behind him. It's still dark, but it's now almost 10 minutes past opening time, so is the vision center open or is it not? Smoking marvel still hasn't said a word. He goes over to a table of sunglasses and begins dinking around with them. No, "I will be right with you people who have been waiting and waiting since I decided to do whatever it was I was doing in the back instead of opening on time." No, "I am so sorry I had to have that last bit of cancer-inducing death stick instead of getting my butt in here to open on time."
Now the guy who entered in front of us is giving us that hesitant, "What the hell is going on" smile and we're giving it right back to him. It was probably only a few seconds between the dinking around at the sunglasses table until smoking marvel turned on the lights in the vision center, but it felt like an awkward 5 additional minutes. Finally, he helps the guy who entered in front of us. Of course, smoking marvel hasn't unlocked anything yet, so as he sets about helping in front-of-us-guy, he is also doing what he should have in that 5 minutes before noon (or the 10+ minutes he would have had if he'd skipped the cigarette).
When in front-of-us-guy is done I explain to smoking marvel why I am there. When I tell him that I was given the wrong contacts and I am now here to pick up the correct ones he exclaims, "Really? That has never happened before." Well, goodie gumdrops smoking marvel, please just get me my contacts! Which he did, and it took all of 2 seconds. A much snarkier situation than it should have been.
So then we're out of mega store having spent about 21 minutes/1 second more than we'd anticipated being in mega store. Then it was off to pick up an allergy prescription for M., some lunch, and our final stop, a home improvement place so M. could exchange his mom's defective wind chime and I could pick up terrarium supplies which took longer than M. had patience for and cost more than I had expected. Then it was home again, home again so M. could rush off to our 3-year old niece's birthday party.
My plan for the afternoon while M. was at the party was to try out his new Conan game. It seemed like the perfect time since he would be at the party, not hovering over my shoulder griping about how I chose to plan games or anxiously waiting for his turn at it again. So I got my terrarium supplies situated on our front porch (so the cats couldn't chew the plants) and tried to log in. Alas, the game was down for "tweaks and updates." Likely downtime = approximately 2 hours.
Okay, no problem. I had terrariums to plant. So I prepared my kitchen for that project. I laid mats over our table, brought in all the supplies from the front porch, got my containers out, and set to. I got as far as washing the containers and placing the drainage layer of rocks into the bottoms. I then realized despite the exorbitant amount of time I took to gather my supplies (exorbitant at least in M.'s mind), I had forgotten to get charcoal - a necessary layer to prevent soil mold and rot. Well, after spending as much as I did on the plants and other supplies, I was not going to let it go to waste by letting my soil fall prey to mold or stinky rot.
So I had a dilemma: go back to town and get some charcoal or back everything up and try again another day. Once I get into a project I rarely like to quit right at the beginning (if it's long and drawn out I may quit later, but not at the beginning) so I decided to head back to the home improvement store. I looked all over that darn store's garden section. No horticulture charcoal. Well, I knew where I could get some charcoal for certain - the mega store. Even if they didn't have horticulture charcoal, the fish supplies section would have charcoal for the fishy filters. So for the second time in one day I was back at the dreaded mega store. But I was right, they had charcoal, so mission accomplished.
And, because the people in front of my in the '10 items or less speedy checkout' had forgotten something and I had time to look over the impulse register items, I ended up buying some of these 'As Seen on TV' Green Bags. I thought since I am doing way more cooking and because we buy a lot more fresh produce that eventually doesn't all get used because it's just the two of us, these things would be handy (as long as they work like they are supposed to).
Back at home, I was now prepared to plant some terrariums! But the approximate two hour downtime for the game had passed, and since I had my plants securely shut away in a cabinet, I decided to try out the game. After all, once M. got home he would want to play the game and then I would have free time to plant. Well, on second attempt to log into the game server I found out that they were now approximating another hour of downtime. Well, poo! Back to the plants...
Once again I got everything out. I had planned to take pictures of my in-progress work on the terrariums, but between the unexpected charcoal trip, the ever-increasing game downtime, and attempting to keep cats off counters and out of dirt and plants, the pictures were forgotten. I even forgot to take pictures of the end products, but I created four very lovely terrariums. I left two at home and have two in my office. If any of my fellow office workers would like to stop by and visit, you can also admire my horticulture skill. I'll have to try to remember some photos for the blog too.
I did end up trying out the game, but you already knew that from reading one of the paragraphs way up there in this post. M. graciously gave me some time to try it out after he got home and practiced his guitar in the meantime.
So there is a very long step-by-step theme on 'What I Did This Weekend.' Now on to:
Monday Snarkiness: (Typically, this is Monday morning snarkiness, but my weekend took up so much time that it's now afternoon...) Here are today's random snarks, brought to you from my office:
- Bossman is out of town and has sent me two emails in which he just forwards something he received and gives me no explanation of what I am supposed to do with this information...
- There's lemon cake in the break room. You ask what is snarky about lemon cake? Well, it's more to do with who brought in the lemon cake. It's just a symbolic reminder of the sappy happy this person exudes while at work. Sappy happy makes me want to vomit.
- The library bookcase is still empty and makes me snarky every time I walk in the front door.
- I was told if I got my self-evaluation completed by May 9th, my annual review would take place on time this year (a great feat for this place). Well, I turned the blasted thing in on the 8th and my review still has not been scheduled. Tomorrow is my 4 year anniversary here.
- The search feature thingy on my blog is not working right (Google is having some serious issues lately), so I've really had to hunt around to find past posts I want to link to this post.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Oh, come on!
Do I really need to type up an email for you consisting of 70 words, six of which are your signature line?! In the time it took you to write it out, walk it down to my office, explain what the email is, and asked me to type it, you could have typed the dang thing yourself!
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Some Snark and Recent Reads
I'm not feeling the snark lately, but some things have happened today that set off a slight reading on my snark meter. For instance:
- It's Wednesday. Wednesdays mean meetings day at the good 'ole office. Meetings mean at least one good eye roll and several snarky moments. Today featured such memorable moments as bossman and another 'higher up' having a slightly argumentative discussion in front of the entire staff because this particular 'higher up' enjoys talking over bossman much to his irritation (and the irritation of those having to watch the spectacle). Also, I noticed my name was down on one of the meeting agendas to help out with a large task - but guess what? I had not been informed of my promised help. I love it when I am volunteered without my knowledge!
- It's Wednesday and because it's Wednesday and meeting day at the good 'ole office, that means not only do I get to spend at least an hour and a half sitting in meetings, I also get to type up all the minutes from the meetings! Yay! My question is this: why do I have to type up the darn minutes when a particular 'higher up' takes her own notes and mushes up my notes anyway?
- Why do people insist on sitting by me at lunch when the whole eatery is empty save for me and my book? Not only do they sit right near me, they talk loudly to the talk 5 feet away from them. I know I put off the super duper vibes, but please peoples - can't you see I am reading?!
- Can we please stop asking me to do things, then when I get them done, decide it should have been done a different way? So sorry I get things done on time and you didn't have time to rethink what you wanted done!
Okay, that's the snark for today thus far. I know, not terribly snarky, but it's the best I can do for now. I am quickly getting through my current book bag. I just finished up The Abstinence Teacher. Can't say I found a point to this book. It was an easy read, but when I got to the end today (despite the noisy neighbors at the local eatery), my only thought was, "And?" The main characters were 1) Tim the ex-drunk and addict, a born-again Christian, and 2) Ruth the sex ed teacher at a junior high who is being forced to teacher her students abstinence despite the fact she doesn't believe in the concept. Well, Tim is Ruth's daughter's soccer coach, so of course they have some run ins. Ruth gets particularly snarky when Tim decides to lead his soccer team in a group prayer after a game. But Tim and Ruth have a mutual attraction for one another. Throughout the course of the book Tim is doubting whether he can keep up the whole 'I live for Jesus' mentality while Ruth bemoans she has no man and the best prospect seems to be Tim who is married (albeit not happily) and who has religious beliefs she doesn't agree with. At the end of the book Tim is staying at Ruth's house on the couch because he can't decide what to do with his life and he can't go home to his wife and that's about it. It just ends.
So did Tim decide to stay on the Christian path? Did he sleep with Ruth? Did Ruth ever find any satisfaction in her employment or love life? Who knows. This was totally not my kind of book, but I picked it up because it was on some recommended reading list or had a high rating on Amazon.com, or something. I don't remember. But I would not recommend this book if you don't like at least a point to reading 350 pages... On to something I am a little more familiar with - Blaze by Richard Bachman (better known as Stephen King for those of you who didn't know).
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
*SIGH*
When I think of something and implement it I typically enjoy doing whatever it is. I know, that didn't make a lot of sense. Let me give an example. My workplace recently had to downsize and let a handful of people go. I have been taking a monthly class on how to make handmade books, so decided to make a book for each person leaving and had everyone write in it. But it was my idea, so I enjoyed making the books and especially having everyone tell me how great they were.
Well, now I've received a request from one of the "higher ups" to make two more books - one of the people leaving actually passively requested one by not-so-innocently wondering to another coworker if she would get one when she left. I have absolutely no motivation to do these books and I think it's because it wasn't my idea, but I would look pretty crappy if I said I wouldn't do it, right?
Well, now I've received a request from one of the "higher ups" to make two more books - one of the people leaving actually passively requested one by not-so-innocently wondering to another coworker if she would get one when she left. I have absolutely no motivation to do these books and I think it's because it wasn't my idea, but I would look pretty crappy if I said I wouldn't do it, right?
Monday, May 5, 2008
Self Evaluation - I'm a "4" all the way!
It's time for my annual review at work. I've been here almost 4 years - that means seniority around here! Each year the employees here have to complete a self-evaluation prior to the formal annual review with their supervisors. My supervisor emailed my self-evaluation form to me about 3 weeks ago. I've looked at the thing, but it's not done yet, not even close. Not because I don't know how to complete it, but because the "higher ups" probably wouldn't like it if I filled it out the way I really want to.
Our self-evaluation asks we rate our performance in the different aspects of our job on a scale of 1-4 as follows:
1 - Needs Improvement (Not fully meeting job expectations) *This is never, ever me
2 - Satisfactory (Adequately performing all job expectations) *Again, not me
3 - Very Good (Requires minimal supervision/Knowledgeable of all job areas) *Getting closer, but not quite there...
4 - Excellent (Takes on extra projects/Generally exceeds job expectations) *All right! This is me!
I would love to go down the list and rate myself as a 4 all the way, but I suppose I will need to throw in some 3's, maybe a 2, but never, ever a 1. Then I have to give examples of why I rated myself that way, areas of improvement, blah, blah, blah. I would rather just have three coworkers rate me and be done with it. Now there's an idea, maybe I will give my form to three people, have them complete it and then use what I like best from them to complete one form. I think that rates a 4 in the area of "Problem Solving Ability."
As part of the fun I also have to update my job description. "Anything, as requested" pretty much sums it up...
Our self-evaluation asks we rate our performance in the different aspects of our job on a scale of 1-4 as follows:
1 - Needs Improvement (Not fully meeting job expectations) *This is never, ever me
2 - Satisfactory (Adequately performing all job expectations) *Again, not me
3 - Very Good (Requires minimal supervision/Knowledgeable of all job areas) *Getting closer, but not quite there...
4 - Excellent (Takes on extra projects/Generally exceeds job expectations) *All right! This is me!
I would love to go down the list and rate myself as a 4 all the way, but I suppose I will need to throw in some 3's, maybe a 2, but never, ever a 1. Then I have to give examples of why I rated myself that way, areas of improvement, blah, blah, blah. I would rather just have three coworkers rate me and be done with it. Now there's an idea, maybe I will give my form to three people, have them complete it and then use what I like best from them to complete one form. I think that rates a 4 in the area of "Problem Solving Ability."
As part of the fun I also have to update my job description. "Anything, as requested" pretty much sums it up...
Friday, May 2, 2008
My Halcyon Place
I really, really, really do not want to work today. I have been struggling with JDWW Syndrome all week (Just Don't Wanna Work), but today is the climax of every other day this week and I feel like just sitting here and staring blankly at my screen doing absolutely nothing. But since I can't do that I am writing this blog post instead which gives at least the appearance of working.
Prior to writing the post I did a number of other non-work related items to avoid actual work for today: renewed my driver's license (which gave me an excuse to get out of the office for about 20 minutes), checked my email, caught up on blogs I read, and scrolled through the ticker thingy at the top of my Gmail.
While scrolling through the ticker I saw that today's 'Dictionary.com Word of the Day ' is halcyon. I've never seen or heard of this word before, but it is oddly fitting for today. I need my halcyon place today to escape from work.
In case you, too, are clueless about the meaning of the word halcyon, it means, 'peaceful, undisturbed, happy.' So halcyon place = happy place. I don't know where that is today, but it's not here in my office...
Prior to writing the post I did a number of other non-work related items to avoid actual work for today: renewed my driver's license (which gave me an excuse to get out of the office for about 20 minutes), checked my email, caught up on blogs I read, and scrolled through the ticker thingy at the top of my Gmail.
While scrolling through the ticker I saw that today's 'Dictionary.com Word of the Day ' is halcyon. I've never seen or heard of this word before, but it is oddly fitting for today. I need my halcyon place today to escape from work.
In case you, too, are clueless about the meaning of the word halcyon, it means, 'peaceful, undisturbed, happy.' So halcyon place = happy place. I don't know where that is today, but it's not here in my office...
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Blah Morning
Well, I did not win the standing mixer from Pioneer Woman, but oh well. I got to thinking yesterday, I barely use my hand mixer (not much of a baker) so do I really need to use up counter space on a standing mixer? If it was free, sure, otherwise, probably not. What I do need is a really good set of knives...
More drama with my car: I finally got a call from Sherry at the service center yesterday at about the time I am supposed to head home for the day. Apparently, one of the parts they put in on one of my cars previous visits was "bad." They are now going to replace that part. When Sherry called, she asked if that was okay? I told her fine, but I needed my car that night to get home. Well, they had the thing all tore apart, so it was not going to be done last night. (What choice did I really have then?) So today I am driving a "loaner" PT Cruiser. The car itself is okay, but someone with children obviously had it before me and the service center did not clean it before I took it out. There are toys on the floor and stains on the seats - it's kind of yucky. I also thought as pay back to the service center I was going to use as much of their gas as possible while I have this loaner. But guess what, I am supposed to return the thing with as much gas as it had when I took it, so there goes that idea. I'm actually going to have put some gas in the thing. (It had less than a quarter of a tank when I took it and now the gas light is on - I do not have good luck with car lights...)
Plus I was not all that inspired to do the Sunshine Studio Scraps challenge last night, but I did it and already had a comment on my layout this morning, so that put a little light in this blah morning. Let's see how the rest of the day goes.
More drama with my car: I finally got a call from Sherry at the service center yesterday at about the time I am supposed to head home for the day. Apparently, one of the parts they put in on one of my cars previous visits was "bad." They are now going to replace that part. When Sherry called, she asked if that was okay? I told her fine, but I needed my car that night to get home. Well, they had the thing all tore apart, so it was not going to be done last night. (What choice did I really have then?) So today I am driving a "loaner" PT Cruiser. The car itself is okay, but someone with children obviously had it before me and the service center did not clean it before I took it out. There are toys on the floor and stains on the seats - it's kind of yucky. I also thought as pay back to the service center I was going to use as much of their gas as possible while I have this loaner. But guess what, I am supposed to return the thing with as much gas as it had when I took it, so there goes that idea. I'm actually going to have put some gas in the thing. (It had less than a quarter of a tank when I took it and now the gas light is on - I do not have good luck with car lights...)
Plus I was not all that inspired to do the Sunshine Studio Scraps challenge last night, but I did it and already had a comment on my layout this morning, so that put a little light in this blah morning. Let's see how the rest of the day goes.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Car Service Place
This is a snarky post - a hate post even - about the place that is currently servicing my car. Also known as the place that has serviced my car three times now in the past 2.5 weeks.
I dropped my car off at 7:30 AM so they can once again try to determine why the check engine light is on. They are supposed to call me on my cell phone once said problem is known. So I wait, and wait, and wait... finally about 3:15 PM I decide I'm tired of waiting so I call over to the service place and ask for "Sherry" who is supposed to be working on my car (and has worked on it the previous two times it was there).
It always takes some time for Sherry to get to the phone, but finally she comes on. I tell her who I am and that I am calling to check on my car. She is all, "ummm, hmmm" and finally spits out that some hose is leaking, that they've run a smoke test, and "he" (whoever he is) is working on it. I ask Sherry how much this is going to cost and she is all "umms" and "hmms" again and then says, "Nothing yet, we haven't found the leak yet."
But Sherry, I thought you just told me:
I dropped my car off at 7:30 AM so they can once again try to determine why the check engine light is on. They are supposed to call me on my cell phone once said problem is known. So I wait, and wait, and wait... finally about 3:15 PM I decide I'm tired of waiting so I call over to the service place and ask for "Sherry" who is supposed to be working on my car (and has worked on it the previous two times it was there).
It always takes some time for Sherry to get to the phone, but finally she comes on. I tell her who I am and that I am calling to check on my car. She is all, "ummm, hmmm" and finally spits out that some hose is leaking, that they've run a smoke test, and "he" (whoever he is) is working on it. I ask Sherry how much this is going to cost and she is all "umms" and "hmms" again and then says, "Nothing yet, we haven't found the leak yet."
But Sherry, I thought you just told me:
- a hose is leaking
- you ran a smoke test
- "he" is working on it
So what the hell is "he" doing to my car?! I am doomed to be stuck in my office all night - M. is going to a political thingy with his folks tonight and won't be home until late. I hate, hate, hate the service center - and Sherry!
Monday, April 28, 2008
Blog Neglect & The Monday Morning Snark
I am seriously guilty of blog neglect the past week. Things at work just seemed to move at a hectic pace this past week. I even started a blog post on Wednesday and never finished it. Perhaps I will rework it for later this week.
From this weekend: M. purchased a new weed eater because our Craftsman weed eater is a dud. We now have an electric one, which I used to think was stupid - who wants to drag a cord all over the yard? Well, with the ever-rising gas prices and considering the size of our yard, it made more sense to get the electric. That is not the snark. On the way to pick up the weed eater I inadvertently braked a little later than usual at a red light. No, I did not crash into any other cars, however it circumvented M.'s "coast as long as you can to save gas rule." I am all for saving gas and do try to do what I can to drive sensibly and save as much as possible, but I do not want to hear "You just lost $.50" every time I accelerate a bit faster or brake a bit harder than the gas-saving bible dictates. So M. got a good dose of my snarky side and I refused to go into Sears with him. We were fine again by the time we got to PetSmart to pick up the cat litter and a new poop scoop.
In other weekend news, I finished both Stardust and What the Dead Know. Stardust was okay, the movie was a bit better, in my opinion. That seems to be my opinion a lot lately when I see the book-based movie or show prior to reading the book. What the Dead Know was fantastic! I have been waiting to check it out from the library for some time because I read a review on it somewhere. The library has several books by the author, Laura Lippman, but I didn't want to try any of those until I read What the Dead Know. Now that I finally have read it and really enjoyed it I will have to pick up some more Laure Lippman books next time I'm in the library.
Monday morning: The weekend snark was probably precipitated by the fact that on our way to Sears to pick up the weed eater the evil orange check engine light once again came on in my 300M. M. and I were both pretty snarky about that considering we just had the car into the service shop twice in the past two weeks for the same problem! M. will be calling the service shop this morning to do as he says, "rip them a new asshole." I hope he doesn't tear a hole too big, I still need these people to fix my car!
I know, not as snarky as usual, but the day has just begun and with that evil orange light staring at me all the way to work this morning anything can happen... stay tuned.
From this weekend: M. purchased a new weed eater because our Craftsman weed eater is a dud. We now have an electric one, which I used to think was stupid - who wants to drag a cord all over the yard? Well, with the ever-rising gas prices and considering the size of our yard, it made more sense to get the electric. That is not the snark. On the way to pick up the weed eater I inadvertently braked a little later than usual at a red light. No, I did not crash into any other cars, however it circumvented M.'s "coast as long as you can to save gas rule." I am all for saving gas and do try to do what I can to drive sensibly and save as much as possible, but I do not want to hear "You just lost $.50" every time I accelerate a bit faster or brake a bit harder than the gas-saving bible dictates. So M. got a good dose of my snarky side and I refused to go into Sears with him. We were fine again by the time we got to PetSmart to pick up the cat litter and a new poop scoop.
In other weekend news, I finished both Stardust and What the Dead Know. Stardust was okay, the movie was a bit better, in my opinion. That seems to be my opinion a lot lately when I see the book-based movie or show prior to reading the book. What the Dead Know was fantastic! I have been waiting to check it out from the library for some time because I read a review on it somewhere. The library has several books by the author, Laura Lippman, but I didn't want to try any of those until I read What the Dead Know. Now that I finally have read it and really enjoyed it I will have to pick up some more Laure Lippman books next time I'm in the library.
Monday morning: The weekend snark was probably precipitated by the fact that on our way to Sears to pick up the weed eater the evil orange check engine light once again came on in my 300M. M. and I were both pretty snarky about that considering we just had the car into the service shop twice in the past two weeks for the same problem! M. will be calling the service shop this morning to do as he says, "rip them a new asshole." I hope he doesn't tear a hole too big, I still need these people to fix my car!
I know, not as snarky as usual, but the day has just begun and with that evil orange light staring at me all the way to work this morning anything can happen... stay tuned.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Too Many Hands in Too Many Pots
Here at my office we're supposed to have different email distribution lists to send problems to depending on the nature of the problem. This is a good idea - in theory. In practice when you have an organization as small as ours (especially since the downsizing), several people end up on all the lists (even if they don't need to be or shouldn't be). Plus, there has been a lot of confusion about which lists gets used when because it can change from staff meeting to staff meeting. All frustrating not only for me, but for all who work here.
Example from today: An issue about a part of our website tied to our database went to the distribution list made up of 'semi-higher ups' and the 'higher ups' (which is just about everyone in the building). Anyway, bossman is now going to bring up the issue at our meetings tomorrow because apparently it went to the wrong list. But there are several issues I snark at about this:
Example from today: An issue about a part of our website tied to our database went to the distribution list made up of 'semi-higher ups' and the 'higher ups' (which is just about everyone in the building). Anyway, bossman is now going to bring up the issue at our meetings tomorrow because apparently it went to the wrong list. But there are several issues I snark at about this:
- From the nature of the issue and what has been told to staff in the past, it was not clear which list the issue should have gone to (personally, I think sender was pretty save using the list they used since everyone who needed to know about the issue was on that list)
- Bossman seems to think the issue came up because he was not in the loop with what was done - well, yes he was he worked with the person who completed the project and it has even been presented to staff in a general staff meeting.
- Instead of focusing on resolving the issue that was emailed, the focus is now on the fact that it was sent to the wrong distribution list
- We don't have it clearly documented anywhere which distribution list gets what issue, instead we seem to rely on staff remembering from staff meetings where this was discussed. Well, I remember practically everything and different things have been said at different meetings, so it depends on which meeting the particular staff member is remembering.
- Since the fact this issue went to the "wrong" list and this is going to be brought up in a meeting, people will become discouraged and are more prone to not send issues to anyone. Things will fester and eventually the whole infrastructure collapses...
Perhaps the last bit was a little dramatic, but seriously, the issue of focus is not the issue we should be concentrating on... We need to simplify, document, and then proceed. When we have too many hands in too many pots there is room for too much interpretation and then the pot becomes a cesspool.
Monday, April 21, 2008
The Monday Morning Snark
Hello all my faithful readers - at least I do know I have a few at work, and M. even put the Snark Chronicles on his link toolbar thingy in his web browser!
From this weekend:
Not too much to snark at over the weekend - it was a pretty good weekend. Nice enough weather, M. did his chore of mowing the yard and helped with the laundry. We finished watching the second season of Dexter and watched the movie Atonement.
The biggest problem was my own fault. I made lasagna. Now normally, this would be a wonderful thing, especially for M. who really likes lasagna and I never make it. Well, Pioneer Woman put a lasagna recipe on her cooking blog awhile back and I printed it out so I could make some tasty lasagna once we went grocery shopping (a chore we both hate, so we can make our meager dwindling supplies last for weeks on end).
Well, we had gone grocery shopping and the fridge was all stocked up. I set to making the lasagna Saturday evening. I was well into boiling noodles, mixing meat and herbs, making the whole house smell like Italian goodness when I realized I was missing a vital ingredient - mozzarella cheese! It was too late to go back, so I muddled on and replaced the mozzarella with Parmesan (using up all our Parmesan in the process). Once plated and served, I could tell M. was not loving the lasagna. He ate very slowly, kind of pushing the meat and noodles apart. I finally asked him if he wanted me to make him something else. "No," he said, "it's just a little too garlicky for me." Well, there was no garlic in my lasagna even though the recipe called for it. I always skip the onions and garlic because M. doesn't like them and I am prone to get heartburn from them. I told him so, and he said, "Well, it has that kind of taste to me." I think he was tasting my overdose of parsley flakes with no mozzarella to temper them. So my long awaited lasagna went down the disposal and mozzarella and Parmesan cheese made it onto my shopping list for next time.
Another little weekend blunder was my Saturday morning shopping experience. I rarely do any shopping that is not online. Pretty much the only time I do enter a store is when we need household items, which we put off as long as possible, so I very rarely go shopping in actual stores. Amazon.com and Oldnavy.com are my BFFs!
Anyway, I was in high spirits Saturday morning. I got up, had my breakfast of Schwan french toast sticks with sliced bananas and a glass of milk, watched the past week's episode of Top Chef, and then cleaned our bathrooms, did several loads of laundry, and did a deep clean on the Littermaid - that is a nasty job! So, feeling pretty good about my morning of housework, I decided I would go to the library and then go to a local craft/hobby store. The main purpose of the trip to the craft/hobby store was to get a fillable cookbook so I could keep all my favorite recipes together in one place and also easily port them up to my parents' house in June so I can wow them with my wonderful cooking.
Now, I did not want any old binder or notebook. I wanted a fillable cookbook with a stand so I could prop it up on my counter top while cooking. I thought surely this store would have something like that. But alas, they did not. The trip was not a total waste since they did have decorative glass 50% off and I needed some glass containers because I am planning to make some terrariums (M. had no idea what a terrarium was when I told him that I planned on making some). So I have some containers.
Not giving up, I also went to a local bookstore thinking they absolutely would have the cookbook I wanted, might be a little more expensive than the craft/hobby store, but they would have some. Actually, no, they do not have any. So poo, I am now going to have to look for some kind of binder or something. In any case, I do need to get some of those index cards that I have not used since high school... This likely means another venture into a local store which will heighten my social/crowd anxiety... and create a snarky post for another day. I will keep everyone updated on my search for the perfect cookbook since I know you are all dying to know about that!
Early Snark for this week:
I've mentioned that our company had to downsize in the recent past. Well, this left an overabundance of office supplies hanging out in our supply closet. My highlighter ran out of inkiness this morning so I went to the supply closet. There were no new highlighters of the kind I just tossed in my wastebasket. There were however, several different kinds of used highlighters in the supply closet, including one of the kind I just tossed. Well, you might think, problem solved! Actually no. I have a love of office supplies. I love setting up and reorganizing my office - at work and home. However, this has a stipulation. I love brand new office supplies. I abhor using used office supplies. Because of the downsizing and financial crunch I will be reduced to using the half used and abandoned supplies in the closet or I will have to resort to buying my own supplies, but that means going to a store, and well, I already snarked about that.
Also, I wish for bossman to think about revisions he writes before he has me do them. I do not enjoy doing 4-5 revisions of the same document when those revisions usually mean adjusting just a few words each time...
From this weekend:
Not too much to snark at over the weekend - it was a pretty good weekend. Nice enough weather, M. did his chore of mowing the yard and helped with the laundry. We finished watching the second season of Dexter and watched the movie Atonement.
The biggest problem was my own fault. I made lasagna. Now normally, this would be a wonderful thing, especially for M. who really likes lasagna and I never make it. Well, Pioneer Woman put a lasagna recipe on her cooking blog awhile back and I printed it out so I could make some tasty lasagna once we went grocery shopping (a chore we both hate, so we can make our meager dwindling supplies last for weeks on end).
Well, we had gone grocery shopping and the fridge was all stocked up. I set to making the lasagna Saturday evening. I was well into boiling noodles, mixing meat and herbs, making the whole house smell like Italian goodness when I realized I was missing a vital ingredient - mozzarella cheese! It was too late to go back, so I muddled on and replaced the mozzarella with Parmesan (using up all our Parmesan in the process). Once plated and served, I could tell M. was not loving the lasagna. He ate very slowly, kind of pushing the meat and noodles apart. I finally asked him if he wanted me to make him something else. "No," he said, "it's just a little too garlicky for me." Well, there was no garlic in my lasagna even though the recipe called for it. I always skip the onions and garlic because M. doesn't like them and I am prone to get heartburn from them. I told him so, and he said, "Well, it has that kind of taste to me." I think he was tasting my overdose of parsley flakes with no mozzarella to temper them. So my long awaited lasagna went down the disposal and mozzarella and Parmesan cheese made it onto my shopping list for next time.
Another little weekend blunder was my Saturday morning shopping experience. I rarely do any shopping that is not online. Pretty much the only time I do enter a store is when we need household items, which we put off as long as possible, so I very rarely go shopping in actual stores. Amazon.com and Oldnavy.com are my BFFs!
Anyway, I was in high spirits Saturday morning. I got up, had my breakfast of Schwan french toast sticks with sliced bananas and a glass of milk, watched the past week's episode of Top Chef, and then cleaned our bathrooms, did several loads of laundry, and did a deep clean on the Littermaid - that is a nasty job! So, feeling pretty good about my morning of housework, I decided I would go to the library and then go to a local craft/hobby store. The main purpose of the trip to the craft/hobby store was to get a fillable cookbook so I could keep all my favorite recipes together in one place and also easily port them up to my parents' house in June so I can wow them with my wonderful cooking.
Now, I did not want any old binder or notebook. I wanted a fillable cookbook with a stand so I could prop it up on my counter top while cooking. I thought surely this store would have something like that. But alas, they did not. The trip was not a total waste since they did have decorative glass 50% off and I needed some glass containers because I am planning to make some terrariums (M. had no idea what a terrarium was when I told him that I planned on making some). So I have some containers.
Not giving up, I also went to a local bookstore thinking they absolutely would have the cookbook I wanted, might be a little more expensive than the craft/hobby store, but they would have some. Actually, no, they do not have any. So poo, I am now going to have to look for some kind of binder or something. In any case, I do need to get some of those index cards that I have not used since high school... This likely means another venture into a local store which will heighten my social/crowd anxiety... and create a snarky post for another day. I will keep everyone updated on my search for the perfect cookbook since I know you are all dying to know about that!
Early Snark for this week:
I've mentioned that our company had to downsize in the recent past. Well, this left an overabundance of office supplies hanging out in our supply closet. My highlighter ran out of inkiness this morning so I went to the supply closet. There were no new highlighters of the kind I just tossed in my wastebasket. There were however, several different kinds of used highlighters in the supply closet, including one of the kind I just tossed. Well, you might think, problem solved! Actually no. I have a love of office supplies. I love setting up and reorganizing my office - at work and home. However, this has a stipulation. I love brand new office supplies. I abhor using used office supplies. Because of the downsizing and financial crunch I will be reduced to using the half used and abandoned supplies in the closet or I will have to resort to buying my own supplies, but that means going to a store, and well, I already snarked about that.
Also, I wish for bossman to think about revisions he writes before he has me do them. I do not enjoy doing 4-5 revisions of the same document when those revisions usually mean adjusting just a few words each time...
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