Some days, you're just sort of out of sync with the world, you know?
First, I got dissed by someone on the Webstrainer forum--another of Mother's Little Helpers got snotty with me when I pointed out that nagging (I didn't use that word) for a progress report every two weeks was counter-productive when you'd been told, clearly and repeatedly, that it was a project that would take months--not weeks--to complete.
This individual has always given me that feeling--you know the one--the one that says that even though you only "know" each other from a public forum, they don't actually like you.
I dislike them now, as well. I always dislike people who push aggressively to get themselves awarded public recognition. The forum is a volunteer gig--if you think you're entitled to some kind of medal for hanging out there, you're quite wrong and should shut up and go away.*
Anyhow. He dissed me. I checked myself over carefully but aside from a minor feeling of irritation that a grown man (I've seen a picture) could be so childish as to behave in that way on a public forum, I found myself undamaged.
Then Newboss Anais came over with the Argonut Assembly schedule--the timetable for the annual meeting. (Did I mention that? It happens every 18 months or so and is happening in mid-September this year.) It seems that with less than a dozen in-house Café employees left to make a show, they can't give me a bye this time** and I'm on tap for the whole affair.
That means from "after work" on Thursday until 9 or 10pm (or whenever I can sneak out).
From 8:00 am on Friday until 5:00 pm. (I turned down the offer of a free! ($10) ticket to an optional event, a baseball game Friday night.)
8:00 am on Saturday through the dinner and big party--say 10:00pm (or sooner if, again, I can sneak out).
A meeting I don't care about with people I don't like at 9:00 am on Sunday until 1:00. Then helping with the clean-up until whenever that's done.
My actual part in the festivities, for the record, runs from 2:00 on Friday to 4:30 on Friday. 2-1/2 hours. The other 30+ hours I'm basically just window dressing. Part of the crowd scene. I'm one of the Noises Off.
NewBoss Anais kept assuring me how interesting I'd find it all--with that shamefaced look people get when they have to make you do something stupid and they would rather not but they have to.
For the record, aside from firmly declining to be treated to a baseball game I could not care less about seeing, I was cooperative, even amiable about it all.
I didn't fuss or mutter or roll my eyes or indulge in any of the other childish behaviors I'm prone to*** when I'm being made to do something I don't want to do.
I also declined to be paid for the hours.
Yes, seriously.
With what I'm earning an hour at this place these days, what difference would it make? Based on my recent experience with the bonus, it would all be eaten up in extra taxes, anyhow. I'm on salary, too. I don't think NewBoss Anais realized it but you really can't pay salaried people for extra hours.****
I got, instead, something of much more interest to me--a couple of comp days. I plan to use them getting caught up on the freelance work I won't be doing while I'm making like a stage prop.
Sheesh.
I'm awfully glad that Rapunzel and Pippi are coming to town before the Assembly. I won't have to worry about being too tired to have any fun!
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* I know I'm in the minority on this one. Most people seem to be very keen on awards and medals and recognition.
I'm not unusually modest or anything. I'm actually highly egotistical. There are maybe a handful of people in the world whose good opinion I value. Other than them, my opinion is the only one that matters to me. I certainly can't be bothering with the opinions of the five billion nitwits on the planet.
(I also have an abiding suspicion that people who tell me I'm wonderful are just too stupid, or too nice, to know better, or be honest.)
I also think that "recognition" you have to force out of people instead of it being a spontaneous gesture of appreciation is hardly worth having.
** Last year my attendance was limited to one day and a dinner that evening and even that felt interminable, in spite of me leaving the dinner table to "step down the hall" and taking myself home instead.
*** It's different. My desk is not a public internet forum.
**** If they pay you, then it means you're hourly, not salaried, and they can't work you more than 40 hours a week without paying you extra and I'm a moron because I just realized that 34 hours of extra salary might actually have been worth having not to mention the idea that in the future I could, with a clear conscience, work a 40-hour week and then walk away from it regardless of what was left undone. Except that I wouldn’t and there's no reason pretending I would.
8/23
What I think is rude is people who say, "Oh, make this! Do us a favor! Make this for us! Cook us this!" And you do and it takes two hours and that's fine because you like to do a favor for people but then you bring it in for them and they don't eat it.
Admittedly, it's not my best effort ever, but common courtesy would suggest that the person who came to me personally and asked for it would have at least tasted it, don't you think?
I wasted two solid hours of my Sunday evening yesterday, making stupid peach cobbler for these people and not one of them has so much as tasted it. Can't be because everyone is one a diet because someone brought in brownies to celebrate Tyro's birthday and everyone glommed onto those.
I'm going to take the pan home tonight and dump it in the disposal.
What's also obnoxious is when you have the cable people out twice in a week and your $100+ a month television service is still wonky. I called them again today and they'll be out tomorrow.
We've actually been trying to get this fixed for months. That part is my fault. I kept forgetting to call them back after they came out and didn't fix it. I should also have been demanding that they put a new cable on (which is what one of their phone support people said we needed) this last couple of times. This time, I'm not even going to let the guy in the front door if he's not carrying a piece of cable.
I'd like to post this short but whiny blog entry, but our internet is down. That, too, is irritating.
8/27
The cable guy came, worked, and went.* The channel I remembered there were problems on is, if I'm not mistaken, fixed. Apparently there was another channel that the R.C. likes that was also picture-wonky. I did not know/remember, I did not have the cable guy check it when it was out, and it is not fixed. Now I have to call them back out.
I meant to call them yesterday but got distracted by, you know, work.* *
Picking a day will be tricky. I have plans for tomorrow morning and so does the R.C.* * * We have very busy weekends planned, so if they offer us one of their Saturday morning visits, that's out.
I'm having my hair done Monday afternoon, so already enough time out of the office that day.
I also have to schedule it around the routine/expected follow-up visit from the bug man. He is coming on Wednesday. (Apparently the Issue we had in June is one that requires a series of follow-up misting, sprays, and general poisonous deluges or the hideous little monsters could make a reappearance.)
I sent the R.C. an email yesterday. If One More Thing happens, we are moving to somewhere that is not broken.
This afternoon they are turning everyone loose half an hour early to attend the annual (semi-annual?) (they did it once before, anyhow) company picnic. Since it's not yet noon and the temperature outside is already over 90, I'm thinking that I'm going to take the option for this optional event and not go.
I would go ahead and post this now--it's certainly long enough, what with all the topics I had to whine about, but our internet is out.
Later - we have access!
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* Did he appear with cable in hand, I hear you asking? He did! When I opened the door, he was standing there with twelve feet of cable!
** Of both the office and freelance variety. In spite of my firm vow to take on no more freelance clients, I heard myself weakly agreeing to take on creating and managing a campaign for CEO Jason's new spousal unit. (FWIW, I stopped to figure out the other day that is all the accounts I freelance for paid me as much as Bernie pays? I'd be almost ready to quit having a full-time job right now.) (Not that I would. Quit, I mean. Not right now, while the temperature is topping 90 every day and the office has central air while my apartment does not.)
(Also? CEO Jason came back to my desk later and lectured me because I don't charge enough for my freelance work. Sheesh. I know that, okay?)
*** The R.C. is buying a pair of pants and having her hair done. I am working on a big chunk o'the Boxes To Buckets project that urgently needs to be done this weekend, for various reasons that don't need going into at this juncture.
Having a little trouble with that this week. I made massive (radical) changes to the 'Nut campaigns late last week and now all I can do is bite my nails and wait for data to accumulate.
As NewBoss Anais reminded me a few minutes ago, there's one part of month-end reporting I forgot to do last week. I'm going to start on it in a minute, but thought I'd catch up on my blogging first.
This past weekend was adventure-free. That's good and bad, I guess.
I worked on the storage project (Boxes-To-Buckets - I'm dumping all of those decaying cardboard boxes in favor of keeping the books I have in storage in cleaner plastic buckets and yes I know plastic kills the planet but I am childless, so I've already done Mother Earth a big favor in this lifetime) on Saturday and went to Target to buy some shampoo, then to JoAnne's to buy some thread. Whoopee!
This week I've been thinking about weekends. Now that I'm securely medicated to overcome my slacker thyroid's disinclination to produce, I've decided that it's time to Do Things on the weekends. Shopping has, for me, a limited amusement value. If I need something, then I'm interested in shopping, but window shopping--shopping just to pass time, is not amusing. I am old and don't have that much time left.*
This city is full of museums and parks and oddball little neighborhoods and whatnot. I've decided that it's time to start becoming acquainted with some of them.
The Tut exhibition is, IIRC, the first time I've been in a museum here in two years. Downright embarrassing. I can't even remember the last time I went to a movie, even though I like going to movies. I think it was that ridiculous Sherlock Holmes mess I saw on New Year's Day.
I am making a list. Places to go and things to do. (I'm big on making lists. Not so good at the follow-through.)
I'd like to tour the Governor's mansion but that only happens on Tuesdays. Sigh. I want to go to the Molly Brown house and I haven't been to the Denver Museum of Miniatures, Dolls and Toys in years.**
Ditto for the Colorado History Museum, but they closed it. (Not permanently--they're moving to a new facility. I'll miss that old building.) It might sound odd but I think the Denver Firefighters Museum could be interesting.
And tea! I haven't been out for afternoon tea in ages. I'd like to try Wystone's or House of Commons. (I think I've been to House of Commons, but not for several years.)
Sigh. I'd better go do some work.
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* I had my annual appointment with the eye doctor a couple of weeks ago and now I have to wear reading glasses at work, when I look at the computer screen. I'm becoming such a geezer.
** Do not diss the humble comma. It adds coherence to your communication.
That's how I feel today.
Not physically, but mentally. I have 20 days (while the 'Nuts are largely absorbed in the busy season rush) to decide what, if any, changes I should make to their advertising based on data from the new website structure. I realized about ten minutes ago that 60 days just isn't enough data to base any major alterations on, so now I'm sitting here, pretending I'd be doing something worthwhile with my time if I weren't at the office.
Fuss. Fuss. Fuss. So much to do, so little motivation when I'm not at work. Drawing to practice (I'm going to get back into it), knitting projects to work on, books to read, dvds to watch, recipes to experiment with, etc. Sigh.
I have a box o'books and a set of dvds ready to send to the L-i-K-S. Fortunately I'm a world-class procrastinator and I got them packed up but did not get them sent this weekend. "Fortunately" because I'd forgotten she was moving. She sent me her new address this morning. I'll re-address the box tonight and, with a bit of effort, get it to the post office one day this week.
Saturday, I got up and worked for a couple of hours.
Then the R.C. and I decided to do something together--something different. We headed over to Northfield (in old Stapleton, where the airport used to be) to check out the new-style "outdoor walking mall" they'd built there.
That was a bit of an adventure. Owing to an unfamiliarity with that part of the highway, we missed the poorly marked exit we'd been heading for and wound up circling about 220 compass degrees around our destination before we found a through street. (This, mind you, for a mall that is right beside the highway. When you drive past, it looks to be about a 30-second hop to get there.**)
I'll give them this--parts of the area can easily be walked. The big anchor stores (Target, Macy's, JCPenny's, etc.) would be a bit of a hike, especially if you made heavy purchases, but they're reasonably close. (Less than a quarter-mile.) The walking part is mostly non-chain stores or smaller, boutique kinds of stores. We tried on many things. The R.C. was tempted by (and fell for) a necklace. I bought a pair of $8 shorts.
The day was notable only for the restaurant we found, an Asian place called Ling and Louie's. The R.C. had the teriyaki beef (made with filet mignon) and I had the teriyaki chicken. Both were absolutely delicious. The R.C. was feeling a touch delicate, digestion-wise, so I demanded both her and my leftovers to take home.
I got 'em, too, and I've been enjoying them every day since. (You know what I call value? I call a $22 meal "value" when two people have lunch, then there are leftovers for five or six more meals.)
Adventure-wise, the R.C. was pretty much done but I was still eating (as in, still chewing) when the meal ended. Our Little Server Boy showed up at the table with our leftover/takeout boxes and proceeded to shovel the remainder of our food into them.
I had my chopsticks still in my hand. I was still chewing. What part of that picture do you think he interpreted as, "she is done eating now"?
In my next life, I want a more useful superpower than the ability to send service staff nutsoid the moment I appear on the horizon.
(This morning I was passing by some building HVAC techs here at the office and one of them stopped me and asked if it would be okay if they turned the A/C off for ten minutes to install a new part. Why were they asking me?)
Saturday evening was the little treat from 1977, Tentacles. Long-time sufferers on this blog know of my fondness for finding old monster movies--the cheesier the better. What I like is creature features.
This one was bad--but not really in a good way, you know? ( I mean, I had my doubts when the body count was initiated with an eight month-old baby.) I won't ruin it for you, but I did want to mention how very amusing and unusual some aspects were.
For instance, there was almost no incidental music. It's so ubiquitous in moves these days that you hardly notice it's there, but I have learned that you notice if it isn't. It was difficult to stay in the plot--when nothing in particular is happening onscreen and it's not happening in complete silence. It takes very little time before your mind starts to wander.
Also? I know nothing about the director or most of the actors, but I'm assuming the director was either terminally pretentious or g*a*y*. In place of the scantily clad female bodies that litter the screens of today's low-budget films, we got--legs. Lots of legs. Young male legs. (I swear, there was one part of the movie where the camera hadn't panned above a young man's calves for fifteen minutes.) Yes, they were nice calves and I did appreciate the opportunity to admire them, but it's more difficult to figure out who's who if you're never shown anyone's face.
The movie ended with two attractive young men going off together to start a new life.
O-kay.
Sunday, I got up and worked for three or four hours. Then it was Chore Day. I did some sewing and mending that's been piling up. (Just the odd droopy hem or missing button.) I cleaned in a half-hearted way. Porcelain in the kitchen and bath. Floors ditto. Some dusting. Cleaning counters. Tidying up piles o'piled-up-stuff.
Bein's* as I'm back on the diet, I also whacked up a pre-cooked turkey breast and a quarter of a watermelon and got them ready for weekday lunches. Those, a non-fat yogurt, and a baked potato (with salsa, not butter) are what I eat during the week, during the day. If it wasn't for binging in the evenings, I'd be thin!
With my bonus I also indulged myself in a few inexpensive "just for me" DVDs and a couple of books. Sunday is also (as I've mentioned) Being Happy day, so I started one of my new books and watched one of my new dvds.
Sunday evening's creature feature was Empire of the Ants. As a movie based on an H. G. Wells story, it really should have been better than it was. I suspect that that first 45 minutes where we established the sexual and financial peccadilloes of various characters was a Hollywood addition. I do give them credit for trying to establish some characterization, but it meant that the real heart of the story (I won't spoil it for you) was crammed willy-nilly into a half-hour or so block of time at the end of the movie. That block would have made a great movie.
Okay, that killed 30 minutes.
What else?
Yesterday the A/C went out here at the office and I went home to work when the temperature in here reached about 90 or 92. Then, last night, it got so cool that I had to sleep with my window shut. Very odd weather.
Oh! And I've introduced (via email) Gidget and Bernie. I have informed both of them that from now on, the initial and client-contact parts of Bernie's accounts are her problem, not mine.
That's a load off my mind.
I'm pretty sure I've actually done some interesting things recently, but I can't remember any of them right now.
On the calendar hanging by my desk, the 28th of this month is marked as, "28z" and it's bothering me. It's not a holiday (those are marked differently) and it's not something I can find on any other month. Just August 28th.
28z
28z
28z!
28z!
No matter how you punctuate it, it remains insignificant.
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* L-i-K-S - I did that just for you. Heh.
** Driving around Denver involves remembering two rules.
1) You can see it, but you can't get there from here; and
2) If you haven't been here before, we don't want you back.