February 2006

Only Thursday.

What a week it’s been and it’s only Thursday. My sister was home from Moscow for a couple of days and we got to hang out with my dad and his girlfriend on Tuesday night for dinner. My mom and my sister called last night to chat. Earl has been on two out of town business trips this week already and has promised to bless me with his presence tonight. In honor of this I am cooking supper as we speak. In our new crock pot that smells like it’s burning.

I don’t think you’re suppose to sit with a crock pot while it does it’s thing. I’m going to sit with this one for a little while to make sure it doesn’t go up in flames. When I first started it up it gave off this smell that was similar to the time an old boss dumped a cup of coffee on his desk, directly into his monitor.

At least dinner should be good; on the menu we have pork chops and sauerkraut basted in beer, mustard and brown sugar. Side dish includes lots of veggies*. Hopefully the charred electronics smell won’t be overpowering.

I’ve discovered that lots of veggies helps one stay healthy! I’m having fun wearing my “medium” clothes these days.

Stop Slurping.

This afternoon when I arrived for lunch I heard a familiar, yet unwelcome sound coming from the kitchen. It was the gasping and wheezing of Tom’s water fountain. I forgot to fill it with water this morning before leaving for work.

Tom is the poster cat for “The Pampered Pet”. He gets his meals served two times a day in stunning stainless steel. He also has a water fountain that encourages more drinks of water by providing a playful water stream for him to sip from. His third such contraption, this one resembles a mushroom with water that slides down all sides so that he has a choice as to where to lick the water from. He usually opts for the back, closest to the wall. Apparently he is a private drinker.

The water fountain is relatively maintenance free; you have to clean it and change the filters periodically. You also have to keep the reservoir filled with water so it doesn’t run dry. It has the same type of motor found in a small aquarium pump.

I filled the water and found that it was still making that incessent slurping noise that was really getting on my nerves. So I had to take the whole thing apart and clean out the intake. Unfortunately Tom has a habit of chewing his kibble and then discarding it in the bowl part of his water fountain so there’s was some soggy Meow Mix obstructing the water flow. Once I had that under control everything was working fine.

Tom thanked me by making litter burying motions with his left paw towards the fountain. I guess he thinks that stuff is hot shit.

Abandonment.

So my friend Shirley and I were busy working this morning at 9:15 or so when we turned behind us and noticed that our co-worker had stepped away from their desk. With their coat. And their briefcase. And they had left their pager and parking pass behind. And their computer off. Apparently this new employee was not happy here and decided to leave, without so much as a goodbye or a “this job isn’t right for me”. Considering it’s now five hours later, it’s pretty safe to say they’re gone for good.

Coward.

I must admit that those thoughts jumped through my head quite a few times when I started at my job. I had a lot of doubt of whether I was smart enough, whether I could handle the tasks and if I really wanted to do what was required of me. At no time, however, did I ever entertain the thought of just abandoning the job and leaving the company high and dry.

That’s just rude.

Eons ago I was working at a temp job when my co-worker said that if we ever met outside of the office he’d want to shoot me through the head because he didn’t like people “like me”. Since I was young and insecure at the time, I didn’t say anything to management. I didn’t know if others were thinking along the same lines as he was. It was a kick to my already wavering self esteem at the time. Did I leave the job? Yes, after I finished the day and took the time to tell management that I would be requesting another assignment since I didn’t feel comfortable in that position (something about not being able to wrap my head around the job, I hated that job to begin with and this was just another kick to send me out the door). But I never thought of abandoning the job.

So now the search begins to add another member to our merry group at work. Two and a half weeks of getting to know someone, down the drain. Here we go again.

Fine Print.

My work schedule is a little wonky this week as several group members are in training, leaving a skeleton crew behind. Naturally, I’m one of the bones. Because of this I really couldn’t get out and about for lunch today in case of a telecommunications tragedy, so I opted to sit in the lunch room at work, enjoy my serving of Progresso soup and do something I haven’t done in a long time.

I read the newspaper. I actually touched a newspaper, turned the pages and read the articles.

Normally I catch up with the day’s news online. I read the funnies, catch up on the latest world happenings and browse entertainment, all with a few clicks of the mouse on some strategically bookmarked web pages. It works well, I feel somewhat informed. But reading the newspaper was a fascinating exercise. For example, there’s a column where people write in with their medical concerns and a doctor responds, right there for all the world to see. Today’s medical problem had to do with a reader concerned with their ears turning red when they become embarassed. Apparently this affliction is causing them social distress and they want to know what they can do to prevent it. Instead of having the reader deal with the issue that is causing them embarassment, he opted for “better living through chemistry” and suggested she contact her family doctor for a beta blocking drug that she should take before she becomes embarassed. “Please wait before you insult my behavior, I need to take my Embarassax so my ears don’t turn red.”

Had I not read the newspaper today, I would not have known that 300 violent sex offenders are moving into one of the number of local prisons in this area. Now there’s something to look forward to, especially during my summer bike rides. (Earl and I use to live right down the street from this prison, and the prisoners would always yell and carry on while I rode by on my bike. The area where they air out the prisoners is right near the road.)

So while the news is not as immediate as the world wide web, it was a welcomed change of pace. I look forward to doing it again, maybe in a year or so.

SHAZAM.

I was surfing around aimlessly on the internet and came across an old crush from my childhood days. Always a huge superhero fan, I had a crush on John Davey as Captain Marvel, from the live action Shazam! Saturday morning show from the mid 1970s.

Here he is pictured with another favorite superhero, Isis.

There were two different Captain Marvels in the three season live action series. Captain Marvel was first played by Jackson Bostwick, who left halfway through the second season and was replaced by John Davey. I never really had a thing for Mr. Bostwick as a kid but I always found Mr. Davey quite “dreamy”. I always admired his firm jaw and hint of 5 o’clock shadow. He was built like a normal guy, not a body builder. When he handed out his pearls of wisdom he seemed comforting.

A little Googling turned up little on what John Davey is up to these days, whereas Jackson Bostwick has his own website. Maybe I need to switch search engines.

Grounded.

Over the past week or two, I’ve been thinking about my career and what certifications I’d like to get in my field so that I can be a better employee to anyone that will have me. I’ve determined that I am going to get my Cisco certification, as a CCNA to start out (that’s sort of the entry level certification) and then go on from there in an operating system.

I had been thinking about becoming Microsoft certified.

My workplace is becoming all Microsoft centric, slowly losing all connections to its original Unix and Linux roots, and since I’m a good little worker bee (when I’m not rebelling), I’ve been trying to keep my computer within corporate limits and play the Microsoft way.

It’s a lot of work.

While I definitely can see why Microsoft does the things it does, I just find myself enjoying my computer much more when I come home and play with our Macs.

Thank the Universe for Mac OS X.

Last night Earl and I, along with our friends Tim and Steve, stopped at the Apple store here in Rochester (it’s a new one!) to take a look at the new Intel Macs and such. I was REALLY tempted to by something, especially during tax return season, but we did not. And that’s o.k.

I didn’t really need to buy anything for me to know deep down in my heart that once I went Mac, I’d never go back.

So bye bye to any thoughts of Microsoft certification after I do my Cisco stuff, I’m moving on to something else.

Smarts.

Earl and I spending the night in the lovely city of Rochester, N.Y. We’re meeting up with our friends from Buffalo and heading to a local bar here for bear night. We’ve never been to bear night in Rochester before but it should prove to be a fun experience.

Beforehand we’re going to have dinner at the local P.F. Changs, the only one in Upstate New York. It’s the little things like this that make us happy.

I have my camera primed and ready to go for this evening. I hope to have lots of pictures to upload onto Flickr.

Friday!

It’s Friday! It’s Friday! Thank the Universe. I am so ready for the weekend.

Work is moving along at a nice clip, Earl and I are getting together with friends this weekend (I’ll be sure to take some pictures to share with the class) and then we’re getting together with my family next week because my sister will be back from Moscow for a few days.

As my lover says so well, “Life is good”.

Sunshine.




Sunshine

Originally uploaded by macwarriorny.

The sun brought me out of my hibernation mode today. For what it’s worth, I could see my shadow. I don’t know what happens when a bear sees his shadow on Groundhog Day, but it can’t be all bad. Not on a beautiful day like today!

All I know is that the bright sunshine today has done wonders for my mood, my outlook on life and my disposition. They say we are returning to winter starting this weekend. I don’t care.

I’m enjoying the sunshine today.

As an aside, I’ve gone from my “large” clothes to my “medium” clothes. I’m quite pumped about that.