March 23, 2009

Freedom.

So the latest round of on-call is now a memory. To celebrate the event, I got home from work and promptly took a two hour nap. This gave me that “freshly rebooted” feeling. To celebrate, Earl and I headed to the local Panera for a small dessert and some wi-fi time. Sometimes you need a change of view.

I ordered a low-fat hot chocolate (is there such a thing?) and then watched the assembler literally flood the mug with whipped cream from a can. Hot chocolate spilled over the sides of the mug and all over the counter. She didn’t seem to care. She was too busy snapping her gum.

The wi-fi seems to be struggling today. I blame the Dell computer at the next table. There’s probably a virus or something eating up all the bandwidth. It certainly isn’t my Mac creating the havoc! I know I sound like the stereotypical Mac user. I’m just being uppity and funny at the same time.

I actually think it’s the huge Packard Bell 486 laptop in the back corner.

Am I the only one that finds it mildly disturbing that there is a wicker basket on the floor with a sign proclaiming “Freshly Baked Baguettes! $2.59!” and that said baguettes are not wrapped? I think I find this to be against some sort of New York State health code.

I could sit and watch people all day long and not complain about it. I often complain about the state of our society, and I believe that it is spiraling in a downward motion at a shocking rate, but at the same time to watch it to be entertained. I chuckle in the corner like some sort of middle-aged crazy man. The feeling is not unpleasant.

The Thurrott Pose

Harsh.

ring, ring

Me (slightly irritated): “Hello?”

Woman (obviously uninterested and reading from a script): “May I speak to the person knowledgeable about your company’s telephone service?”

Me (snap!): “This is a residence on the do not call list. Since you obviously are ignorant and unemployable, may I also add that you work for a company that does not have balls as evidenced by your blocked caller ID. Go suck it.”

Happy Monday!

Insomnia.

So as of this writing I am wrapping up my latest week of on-call. I will officially be off call in three hours and 48 minutes. My next round of on-call is in four weeks.

This has been one of the busier on calls I have ever had, and because of this my sleeping patterns have been completely out of whack. Friday and Saturday night my pager went off at seemingly random intervals. I would just start to fall back asleep and 20 minutes later the pager would ring again. This went on from around midnight on Friday until 0700 or so on Sunday.

I managed to take a good, solid nap Sunday afternoon and I think it’s because of this that I am wide awake at 0400. Of course, being Sunday night doesn’t help matters. I have never been able to sleep well on Sunday nights. I discovered that art back in high school when I would somewhat panic on how I was going to accomplish my homework during homeroom. (Homeroom went from 0800-0808). I always got my homework done adequately though.

Now I lie in bed on Sunday nights counting the hours until I have to get up for work. Very bizarre.

So here I am typing on the upstairs computer because I can’t fall asleep. I’ve read blogs, I’ve checked e-mail, I have even walked around the house in the dark.

I’ll probably be tired when it’s time for the alarm to go off.