My Dust

It's going to be a difficult few weeks around the office, to be sure. I need to maintain some level of enthusiasm for my job.

Before I leave.

October 12 will be my first day at my new job --which, coincidentally, is also my old, old, old, old job.

It's the best department I've worked for in my many years here and boy am I excited about going back!

October 12. Soon,

Phew!

My Pause For Concern

Yeah, I meant pause not cause.

I mentioned quite some time ago about running unexpectedly into my ex-girlfriend from lo those many years ago. I had quite a few people joking around with me at work because they figured we "hooked up" when we met. Yeah, we got together a couple time afterward...

I still get "Hey man, how's the ex!?" From some of the guys here and with the recent news, I had a great response:

"Pregnant."


[pause]


After it soaks in, I laugh it off. It's not my kid (unless drinking coffee can do that sort of thing --insert Sex Caffeine joke here), but the timing is eerily coincidental. She's due almost 9 months to the day that we first ran into one another. Hehe.

My First Cartwheel

That was quick. My interview to return to my old, old, old, old job is scheduled for Monday afternoon. The timing couldn't be better.

A little uneasy about it, just because I have so many friends over there and I'm worried that if I don't get it, they'll all think I'm mad at them --not true. Sex Caffeine and I were up for the same job a year ago in July and she got it over me. She figured I'd never talk to her again, which obviously isn't true (although the excuse would've been great, but at least we've become good friends at most since then).

I talked to SC about the potential move and how I was feeling, but she mistook my feelings to mean I felt that my co-workers here would be mad at me. "No, no! Screw them!" I replied.

Seriously, this is a much-needed opportunity and I'm hoping for the best. I need the switch and soon.

My Top #1 Priorities

I just had a departmental meeting where, during the round table discussion, I requested that my boss not hand me any more "Top #1 Priorities" for at least a week. I have way too many "Top #1 Priorities" on my plate as it is and I'm losing ground on what should actually be a priority according to my job description. A week should be good, I told him, because I'm at least a week behind. He agreed, fortunately.

Unfortunately, however, before the meeting was over he'd requested 3 more items to be my "Top #1 priorities."

And apparently, "No!" is not an appropriate response.

Ugh --really starting to hate it here. Here's hoping I can do some cartwheels about a different job. And soon.

My Worst Fear

This is the third week of Hell at work and it wasn't like this a year ago. I recall around this time in 2003 doing a "quiz" stating on a scale of 1 to 10 how much I liked my job --and I put 10. Now, it's tough to get a 1.

Everyone's stressed and acting stupid. I'm forgetting little things because of all the big things going on. An email from a co-worker on Friday started out with "Jesus Christ, man! I told you what you needed to do already." Okay, but I was just asking for clarification.

It's not just me either. A friend in the IT department is quitting in a few weeks because he's had enough of the stress. He was balled out by one of the nicest people I know. I've known her for at least 10 years now and not once have I ever heard her talk down to anyone --and suddenly, she's off on a rant. Wow.

My boss isn't helping me either. Everything --and I do mean everything-- over the past few weeks has been a "top priority" from him. Right now I have a list of 10 top priorities and if I get 9 done in a day, then he's hounding me about #10. And I've had more than enough, thank you.

I said I'm 100% ready for a move to my old department, but that could very well be 110% now.

And that's my worst fear.

I'm so looking forward to a move (and the sooner the better) that if it doesn't happen, I'm going to lose it. Only twice in my 7+ years there have I ever been depressed. I was thinking more along the lines, today, that I'm exhausted. Not physically, no. Emotionally, though. I can't watch sad shows right now because I start getting choked up (even Wizard of Oz got to me) --and don't you dare make me watch 'Cold Case' or that'll send me over the edge.

I'm a 31 year old (I admitted it) man and I feel like I could cry at any moment just yo get over this. It's kinda crazy.

Even Sex Caffeine stated she's worried about me. She saw me on Friday and waved and I never noticed her. At all. And today, I almost forgot her real name.

I really need some good news. And soon.

My 5%

Apparently, a few weeks back, my boss decided to diss me in front of the other staff in the department. Not a good thing to hear when I'm waiting to hear on a promotion. The good news is I heard it from Drama Queen, so who knows if he actually said that.

Regardless, I've also applied for a position outside of the department, one of my old, old, old jobs from years ago. While this job has its perks --special events, major projects that really build character, and a strong supervisory role; my old, old, old job doesn't have any of those traits and is simply a straight-forward office job. I'm 95% convinced I'll take the job back if it's offered to me again.

So, what is the 5% that could hold me back? Well, if I'm offered the job, I want to talk to my boss before I accept the old, old, old job. I want to know if he actually did insult me in front of my co-workers. If he did --I'm gone. If he didn't, then he knows that people are putting words in his mouth which doesn't make him look good. The 5% is if my boss says I'm in for the promotion. I'm not holding out hope though.

See, after the past 2 weeks, the 5% has started to vanish. Last week saw me put in 36 hours of overtime. That's more hours of OT than I'm actually allowed to work at a regular full-time basis. 71 working hours in one week. 203% full-time work. Too much.

We were all focusing on 2 major events for the week and all other priorities (and there were plenty) fell by the wayside. We needed to focus, and DQ waiting until the last minute on several items meant that I had to pull everyone's fat out of the fire yet again. Somehow I managed to fit in hiring My New Kids too.

And then this week, I start getting dumped on for the things that didn't --COULDN'T-- get done last week. Little things --some that could wait, others that shouldn't have to. Then my boss started in on me too. "Why wasn't this done?" Why? Because it's sitting on his desk waiting for approval. Why didn't he approve it yet? Too focused on the events of last week. He wasn't the only one, but apparently he's too blind to notice. But I'm the only one who did wrong, right?

My 5% has vanished. I should know by next week whether I stay or go.

My Age

When the Hell did I become the old man and why didn't I see the memo?!?!?!

I was talking to one of my kids tonight and found out he's registered for a 3rd-year history course that I did the research for nearly ten years ago.

And that's when I realized that the past 10 years have really been wasted. My degree was "just around the corner" in 1995 and the only thing that's changed about that last statement is that the '199' has been replaced by '200.'

Holy shit I've lost 10 years!

My Justice

Hey, do you think I think it' wrong/immoral to download music and movies? I don't. I have my reasons, especially when it comes to movies. I've mentioned the dread whenever I go to the movies and get stuck close to the official 'theatre idiot' and Saturday night was no different.

I saw 'Hero' on Saturday and had originally just intended to download it. A friend form work wanted to go see it, so he brought his wife and son to my house to visit my family while we went to see the movie.

It's a Chinese movie with English subtitles. The movie begins with a brief history of China, surrounding the events.

There were a few people walk out of the movie, if for no other reason than as the guy sitting in front of me said: "I didn't come to the movie so I gotsta read it." Fine. Go home.

Later in the film, one of the characters makes a momentous decision that results in a scoff from behind me and the comment: "Stupid Japanese woman." Yes, stupid Japanese woman. Although, she's not too stupid if she has such a good grasp of Chinese and comes from, oh grasping at straws here..., CHINA.

Oh man, give me the privacy of my own home to sit down (like I am right now, watching 'Lost in Translation') and watch a movie. Lost in Translation takes place in Japan. I wonder if there are any stupid Chinese women in it...

My 24-hour Labour Day Weekend

Yeah, it was a short weekend. One friggin' day. Had a major project that we just finished about 11 Sunday night, so my long weekend was today and now that I look at the clock I realize that I'm finally relaxing on my long weekend at 12:15 on the Tuesday morning.

8:45am: I'm woken up from my 5 hours' and reminded that I need to mow the lawn today. After over 9 weeks with less than a centimetre of rain, it's been raining off and on since mid-August and the grass has sprung back to life and about 5 inches in height. It's finally dry enough to cut. So, I'm into shorts and a t-shirt before a shower (why shower and then work up a sweat?).

9:00am: Circumstances saw me rushing to fax some info about the project to various places in the U.S. Had to get it done on a deadline and didn't have time last night. I tried installing a 'fax' program on my computer that's offered from my ISP "free of charge." Free of charge to me doesn't include a $12.95 set-up fee and $7.95 confirmation, plus 10 cents per page. What's "free" again? So, off to the convenience store I got and spend $5.40 (I had $6.50 in my pocket...) on the faxes. Yeesh.

9:30am: When I came home I saw that my wife's car had a flat tire. Naturally, she didn't think much of it, but I knew she wasn't going anywhere (especially to her first ay of her new job) with a tire this flat. I decided I'd put the donut on right after I mowed the lawn. The lawn is bad and a little choked in the lawnmower. It takes over a tank of gas to finish the yard. My father-in-law drops by with some wooden palettes that will be chopped up later in September to keep the house warm in the winter. Our wood situation isn't too bad this year, but it could be 'good' for a change.

10:15am: Screw the shower. It's time to get the donut on my wife's car. What's a donut, you ask? It's the piss-ant spare tires that come cars these days. Donuts are slightly bigger, so I'm actually being unfair to donuts. I know this work and heavy concentration always turns into perspiration for me. Problem is, I can't get the frickin' hubcap off. It's got a special tab hidden alongside the valve that just springs the thing off the tire. I can't get it to budge and feel if I exert any more strength I'll break the plastic (is there any metal on this vehicle????).

10:50am: Fine. I'll take it to the closest gas station and fill the tire with air before I go to Canadian Tire. As I'm backing out of the carport, my wife bangs on the window --scaring the ever-lovin' crap out me-- and says her dad can help (has an air compressor) and he's closer than the gas station. So, off I go to his place. Second time today I've seen him and it wouldn't be the last time.

11:15am: Well, if it wasn't for me, my father-in-law would've discovered at an inopportune time that his air compressor doesn't actually work. He bought it on sale at Canadian Tire and he's not impressed now. We put the spare tire on eventually.

11:50am: I head down to Canadian Tire to get the tire fixed. There's a nail in it and had probably been there for months, but of course it makes it's statement on Labour Day. I tell the guy that I need to get the tire patched and put back on the car AND if they have the time to replace the crappy valves they put on this model of car. "Sure," he says, "It'll be an hour to an hour and a half." Whatever. "Just bring it right in here," he says. I drive into the shop and he gives me a dirty look. "I thought you were just dropping off the tire." "No, that's why I asked you to put it back on the car." I should've known then, right?

12 Noon: So, I have about 90 minutes to kill and my cell phone battery is dead. I have $1.10 in my pocket , but I need to call home and let her know what's going on. She's annoyed because she figured she could take care of it later (never mentioned that before...) and I'm asking for her to come pick me up. It's that or I'll go see a movie. She's going to be 15 minutes or so, so I go for a stroll through the mall. I have a little cash on my debit card and I'd promised my daughter earlier in the week if she was a good girl I'd get her a present. She was (to the point of getting my wife water when she sat down to relax) and now I need to get her something. She started ballet last year, so I opt for a children's book about ballet. Score.

12:40pm: I sit and wait outside the mall for my wife to arrive. She doesn't but my father in law does. He's confused as to why I'd brought the car down to get the tire fixed (seems he and my wife had discussed the best scenario and neither shared it with me). Finally get home in time gather my stuff and head to the office for an hour to clean up a few things from the weekend.

1:00pm: I'm finally heading out the door and still haven't showered, eaten breakfast or had a coffee. Naturally, an hour at the office doesn't include 30 minutes to get there and another 30 back home.

2:40pm: I call my wife before I leave the office to see if Canadian Tire has called or not. "They don't call" I'm told and to just come home as my wife has enough money to pay for the costs. I was planning on putting it on my credit card, but if she's got enough cash... I'll head for home and grab the cash.

3:30pm: Finally home (Labour Day Weekend traffic...) only to find out my wife has her purse hidden under the front seat... of her car.

3:45pm: I'm at Canadian Tire, paying for the tire seal. The forgot about the valve replacement and had trouble putting the hubcap back on.

Okay, gripe time.... No valve replacement and they're confused by the hubcap and put it on wrong. You'd think a place called Canadian TIRE might know something about, oh say, TIRES????? Nope. An old high school friend owns a tire shop near work, so she gets my business from now on.

So, the car stays while I go home. I'll bring my wife down later to pick it up.

4:00pm: Finally have my breakfast coffee and hop in the shower. You'd think I'd be hungry and my headache is telling me that I am. No matter. Dinner will be soon, so I'll never hear the end of it if I have something to eat now.

4:30pm: Finally make it downstairs to get some work done on the computer. It last for nearly 30 minutes.

4:55pm: Apparently, we're having dinner at my wife's parents' place. If I'm lucky, we'll be home by 9pm.

8:10pm: Leave the In-Law's and head for Canadian Tire. There's a note on the window stating they couldn't get the hubcap on again (and they still forgot the valve replacement. The note actually says that the keys are under the seat beside her purse. I'm surprised the windows aren't smashed in.

8:20pm: We drive home and I'm following her car. I'm waiting for the hubcap to come flying off and as it is, it looks like the tire is wobbling. It's not --it's just the uneven hubcap. Idiots.

So, it's 12:15am before I get my opportunity to relax....

My holidays, ladies and gentlemen, gotta love the relaxation.

My New Kids

One of my more stressful & exhausting tasks last week was hiring my new batch of kids for the year. I had 6-8 positions to fill and interviewed 14 people.

It wasn't just people from before --there were a few of those (some have moved on, some were sick of it, some just didn't make it to the list) and they needed to be interviewed again, but there were also some new kids to meet and hire.

I needed somewhere an awful lot more private than my office area to interview and since Drama Queen was nice enough to do the schedule for me, I had 15-minute timeslots for each interview.

Shit.

Fortunately, the first 3 didn't even show. One though it was a different day and the other two (sisters) had car troubles and had forgotten to re-schedule. Still, in one of my busiest weeks, it was a little annoying to waste nearly an hour of my day.

Eventually, I got down to the interviewing of people who showed up (1 point for them) and it went great. I interviewed them in the cafeteria (believe it or not it's more private than my office). At one point, one of my old co-workers came down for coffee and saw me sitting at a table with this one candidate, a very stunning blonde (she didn't get hired, although... *sigh*). He looked up from the coffee counter and gave me a smirk. And I knew what he was going to do next. My assumption is, he went back to the office and commented on the cute blonde I was talking to in the cafeteria. There's 3 guys he could've told and sure enough, about 10 minutes later one of them came down. Problem was, I was interviewing someone else. A young redhead. Hehe. So, there he was giving me quite the inquisitive look. Why? Where was the blonde? So, he must go back to the office and call the other one an idiot for mistaking the redhead for a blonde. They argue about what she looked like and a third guy decides to check things out for himself. Only now Alberta has sat down with me and we're discussing issues for the coming year. Yep, she's blonde (and stunning), but she's not the one the first guy saw me with. So he goes back and says she's definitely blonde and that gets them all going. Guy #4 has heard enough (gets quite jealous of me and the ladies.. ;) ) and he makes his way to the cafeteria as well. Nope, no blonde and no redhead. I'm talking to a young Japanese girl (she didn't get hired either). Now the fight really starts and they decide to all come down together and finalize this argument. Alas, I'm talking to someone else when they come down --an extremely cute little brunette. She did get hired, but I really heard about from the stooges when I dropped by the next day...

One of the regular kids from last year, whom I lovingly referred to as 'Pain in the Butt' was told (by me) why she wasn't coming back. It wasn't completely my decision --my boss wasn't impressed with her last year and when she forgot when her interview time was it all but finished her chances. She also had a poor interview (hello? You went through it the year before!!) and that helped make my decision easier.

Man-Child is coming back, but I've cut his hours. I'd opted not to have him back, but my boss likes him (don't ask) so he's back but with barely any shifts. Alberta is back (of course) and I'll be working with her immediately after the long weekend. Naughty Thursdays are about to be joined by Naughty Tuesdays, but I'll manage... I did before. A few others are back too and we'll see how the new kids work out.

My Beef with Frances

So Hurricane Frances is about to strike Florida --big time. It's a category 4 storm, which is also known as... bad.

So was Hurricane Charley that hit Florida on August 13th.

So Floridians are busy fleeing, escaping, boarding up homes and... buying wood at the local hardware store. In fact, the hardware store's are running out of wood fairly quickly.

Quick question: What did everyone do with the wood they used to board up their homes on August 13th? Do they take it back to the store?

What? No one that another hurricane was coming?