EVEN ZOMBIES NEED TO RANT...

I'm a walking zombie today.  A zombie in pain, unable to eat much of anything, with both sides of my jaw slightly swollen, and on pain killers.  I didn't sleep a wink last night, which is why I'm at work and in the 'drone zone'.  I'm also highly pissed off.  I just don't have the energy for a good 'pissed off' state, but of course I am going to rant about it.

Hubby is pissed at me because he didn't get enough sleep last night.  He always said he wants to get in bed by 11 p.m., which means that I have to be in bed at that time as well, even though I normally don't fall asleep until much later.  Well, we were in bed by 11 last night.  Yet he gets up this morning (and I'm awake because I've been awake all night) and is grumpy and bitchy because he didn't get enough sleep.  So now I guess he wants to be in bed by 10.  Great.  At least he got SOME sleep.  I'm at work today on NO sleep and with friggen toothaches.  It's not just one side; it's both sides.  His attitude better change this evening because I'm not in any state to deal with it, especially with what I'm going to rant about next.

You'd think it's enough that I had my cat die last week and that I'm in a lot of pain.  You'd think people that knew this would be sympathetic, nice, or at least friggen civil.  Not my mother, though.  I called her last night, only because I knew if I didn't, she'd call me and I figured if I called her and told her about my toothache, that she wouldn't insist on talking so long on the phone.  As soon as she answered, I knew she was in a 'mood'.  She tells me that I should have gone to the dentist a while back.  Duh, no kidding.  Then she asks why I didn't go.  Well, I didn't make time for it because I had other things going on, but also one big reason I didn't go every few months like she says I should is because I don't have the money to do that.

So not only is she unsympathetic about me being in pain, but now we've touched on the subject of money.  This is never a good thing with her because it always leads to her talking bad about hubby.  I may be annoyed with him, but I sure as hell don't want someone else talking bad about him.  Now I'm getting the usual "why doesn't HE pay for you to go to the dentist every few months?" and "why doesn't HE pay this bill or that bill?"  I once again try to explain to my mother that both our paychecks go into one account and we pay the bills from that.  We both contribute.  It's not a situation where he pays this bill from his account and I pay for whatever with my account.  We're friggen married.  That's the way I thought married people did things.  We're going to be celebrating our 10 year anniversary Friday as well.  10 years and she still doesn't want to accept it.

I almost friggen lost it last night.  I just broke down in tears.  I don't need this crap.  I almost hung up on her, but I think she softened somewhat when she realized she was going too far.  She did manage to get one more little 'dig' in though.  She suggested I have hubby run to the store to get cinnamon sticks because they are supposed to help with a toothache.  And then she said "He could AT LEAST run to the store and get you some cinnamon."  She said it like he would refuse to do that.  I wasn't going to have him run to the store for that last night.  He would have if I had asked him and I know this for a fact.  But I had taken narcotics and just wanted to pass out (which didn't ever happen).

So what happens today?  She calls me on my cell phone at work.  The first thing she asks me is if hubby ran to the store to get cinnamon last night.  I told her 'no', because I was already in bed ready to fall asleep anyhow.  She starts going into a tirade about how he could have at the very least done that one thing for me, like he never thinks of me or does anything for me.  I tell her that I didn't even ask him.  You would think that would be the end of it.  But it's not.  She automatically assumes that I didn't ask him because he wouldn't have gone to the store anyway.  I'm almost ready to scream at this point.  I think she knew I was at my boiling point because she ended the call, saying she'd call me tonight.  But her voice was still sounding the way it does when she is wanting to get every little 'dig' in on hubby that she can.  She doesn't miss an opportunity.  I'm not sure what's in store tonight if she calls and I actually decide to answer.  I don't know that I'd trust myself not to seriously go off on her if she says one little derogatory thing.  Yet if I don't answer, she'll get worried, keep calling, and then be mad because I didn't answer.  It's a no win situation.

Seriously, does anyone have as much friggen trouble with their Mom and at the most appropriate times as I do? 

Remind me the next time my Mom is sick or sad to bring up touchy subjects, will ya?

OW.

I can't ignore it any longer.  I have to go to the dentist right away.  I've been having this toothache off and on for a while now and I knew it was getting steadily worse, but I just kept putting off calling the dentist, thinking it would go away or that I could deal with the pain. 

Now the pain has gotten to where it's hurting all the way to my ear and I can't eat anything.  The thing is that I forget and put something in my mouth to eat only to grimace and wince and almost scream.  I can't drink anything cold or hot, either.  So yes, I do believe I'm way past needing to see the dentist.  The soonest I can get in is Thursday.  I had a Percocet left over from before, so I took that.  The dentist is calling me something in for this afternoon to hopefully get me through tomorrow.  I don't think I'm going to be able to eat, though, even with the drugs.  The Percocet is barely making a dent.  I think I've also gone through a whole tube of Maximum Strength Orajel.  It only works for a few minutes and even air moving over the affected area is enough to make me wince.

I should have gone to the dentist a while back.  I just don't particularly like going.  I have a very good dentist, though and wouldn't go anywhere else.  He's more expensive, but I've already had an experience going to a cheaper dentist and it wasn't good.  I dread going, though.  Most likely I'm going to need a crown or two, and who knows what else.  I think the bill hurts more than getting the work done sometimes. 

Time for more Orajel. *wincing*  I just have to get through the rest of today and all of tomorrow.  Joy.

WORLD'S SHORTEST PERSONALITY QUIZ. INTERESTING...

You are elegant, withdrawn, and brilliant. Your mind is a weapon, able to solve any puzzle. You are also great at poking holes in arguments and common beliefs. For you, comfort and calm are very important. You tend to thrive on your own and shrug off most affection. You prefer to protect your emotions and stay strong.

The World's Shortest Personality Test

I'M FINALLY POSTING AN UPDATE

I know I've been neglecting to update lately.  I really just have wanted to be alone for awhile.  I've been keeping myself busy because of Midnight's passing, and work has cooperated by being quite hectic the last week or so.  I also felt the Supreme Court ruling was important enough to be the first post seen by people coming by my site.  I actually do get a lot of hits from people searching about eminant domain.  Last week, that was probably the number one search term on my stats. 

Last Thursday, the vet called and said Midnight's ashes were ready.  That was a real tear jerker of a moment when I went to pick them up.  I had been real good for a day or so until then.  The little urn I picked out is acutally quite nice and it's square, not round, like I imagined they would be.  I chose charcoal for the color since Midnight was black.  They had the urn in one of those gift type bags, a bright (and I mean BRIGHT) yellow one.  Were they thinking that the bright yellow would be cheery or what?  Maybe that's what they were hoping for.  But all I could think of is that if they did that all the time then everyone would be dreading seeing the bright yellow bag for someone, because then you would know that the person picking it up would be very sad.

Anyhow, I placed the urn on the hallway shelf where I have a few other knick knacks and no one would know the wiser if they saw it.  I plan to do a memorial page for Midnight and scan in some of his pictures and tell his story and what he was like.  I'm mostly doing it for myself, of course, but I know some people like to read about other people's cats, too.  My other cat, Priestess, is doing okay.  I think she gets a little lonely and looks for him and I hate having to leave her all day by herself right now.  But as soon as I get home, she gets tons of extra loving.

She was so cute yesterday.  I curled up on half of the futon to take a 'combat nap' and she immediately laid down on my hair and put her head on top of the side of my forehead, just purring away.  We both fell asleep like that for about 20 minutes or so until I got up.  She is a sweetie pie, that's for sure.

I didn't update over the weekend because I didn't spend much time at the PC.  I went out Friday night and Saturday night to the No Name Saloon.  The band this weekend was really good.  They were called Breaking Ground.  Friday night we got home around 2 a.m. or so and decided to go skinny dipping in the pool for a bit.  Saturday we did most of our shopping and errands since it was supposed to rain, again.  We stayed fairly late Saturday night as well and got up early on Sunday.

I spent most of Sunday in the pool and getting some sun.  Boy, can I feel it today, though.  My face is on fire.  It'll turn brown, but it's just going to hurt for a couple of days.  It didn't rain on Sunday so I took full advantage of being outside and stayed away from the PC until late Sunday night, but by then I was too exhausted to update. 

I also colored my hair again Sunday.  I tried a new product called Color Pulse and it is supposed to wash out in 8 to 10 shampoos.  I just basically wanted a little boost since red hair coloring tends to fade and mine had faded quite a bit.  My hair is bright copper right now.  I mean, eye shocking bright.  I'm not sure I like it, but it won't last anyhow.  It is about the color of a brand new penny.  It's definitely different and I certainly got a color 'boost'.  It was more than I expected it to be, but it might grow on me.  I really haven't had any comments except, "Wow, that's bright."  That could be good or bad.  I'm sure it'll fade fairly quick anyhow since it's more of a temporary color thing.  If I feel brave enough, I might try to get a picture of it to post this evening.

Well, I play in another WPTfan Series of Poker event tonight, this time on Poker Stars.  I opened an account there just for these tournaments so I really haven't played much there.  Last week, we played HORSE, which was interesting.  It changes games every time the blinds go up.  You start with Hold 'Em, then next is Omaha hi/lo, then Razz, then 7 card Stud, then 7 card Stud hi/lo and back to Hold 'Em, etc.  You just keep going in that order.  It's best not to forget what game you're playing because in some the low hand wins and some only the highest hand wins.  I have no clue what we're playing tonight, but I guess it doesn't matter now that I've pretty much played all the different forms of poker they are going to throw at us in this Series.

Well, I guess that's it for now.

MORE ON THE SUPREME COURT AND PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS

boortz.com: Nealz Nuze Today's Nuze

SOMETHING TO PLAY WITH

HERE'S SOMETHING THAT'S FUN TO PLAY WITH AND A COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME.

SCARY BIBLE THUMPER TO RUN FOR SENATE IN FLORIDA

This is just wonderful.  I hope the people of Florida don't let this ass clown into the Senate. 

SUPREME COURT RULES THAT LOCAL GOV'T CAN SEIZE YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS FOR PRIVATE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

I suspect we'll be seeing a lot of this as local governments will want to increase their property tax revenue.

So much for property rights...

My Way News

MIDNIGHT: ADOPTED THANKSGIVING WEEKEND IN 1986--PASSED ON JUNE 20, 2005

It turns out I didn't have to have Midnight put to sleep after all.  He passed away last night at home.

When I got home from work, I noticed he had moved from where he was that morning.  I also noticed that he ate his Sheba canned food that I tried to get him to eat the day before.  I'm at least glad he ate that, because it was his favorite.  I put some more water close to where he was laying.  I noticed he didn't try to get up at all yesterday evening.  I went out to check on him a few times and to let him know I was there.  He would cry softly sometimes when I touched him, so I didn't try to move him, but just kept water near him.

I went out to check on him again before getting ready for bed.  My other cat had been staying outside near the pool and had not come back in for food or water.  When I reached down to touch him, I knew.  He was already gone.  I'm not sure the exact time, but it was about a two hour span between the last time I checked on him and made sure he had water near him and this time when I knew he had passed.  I think my other cat, Priestess had known as well and that's why she didn't want anywhere near him.

I wanted her to be able to get to her food and water, so I rolled Midnight up in a blanket and put him in our pool bathroom, so she didn't have to be around him.  Also, I knew I wasn't going to be able to do anything with him until this morning, so I wanted to make sure no animals got ahold of him.

In a way, I was relieved that he had passed on and wasn't in pain anymore and I wouldn't have to have him put to sleep.  But I wasn't there with him at the moment of his death, and that I do regret.  I only hope he knew that he was safe and at home and that I was looking out for him.  I think he knew it was me that went out and checked on him and made sure he had water so he didn't have to try to get up.  I think he knew I gave him his favorite food.  I just wish he knew I was right there when he passed away, though.  And I hope he went peacefully.  I never heard him cry out (and he's LOUD when he cries or meows), so I think he probably went as peacefully as he could.

I took him to the vet this morning to have him cremated.  It'll take a few days to get his ashes back.  They asked if I wanted the blankets back I had wrapped him in and I said 'no'.  I think it would just remind me too much of this day.  I combed him a bit as well, because he had dumped water earlier on himself before I refilled it.  I know it doesn't matter, but I guess it made me feel better in some silly way to comb him anyway.

So, it's over.  I'm relieved and I'm sad.  I'm not sad for him because he had a good long life.  In fact, I think he was about 20 years old, which is pretty old for a cat to live.  I found him as a stray back in 1986 (same year my Dad died) during Thanksgiving and I think he was about a year old then.  I'm sad because he will be missed, not only by me, but by many people.  Everyone that came in contact with Midnight loved him.  He just had that effect on people, even people who didn't really like cats.  He was just so laid back and affectionate.  He loved everyone and he loved any kind of attention.

You will be missed, old friend.  Rest in peace, Midnight.

Secret database kept on airline passengers

I'm sure nothing will be done about this. Whatever happened to following the law? I guess government agencies don't have to anymore...

Secret database kept on airline passengers

MIDNIGHT'S FINAL VET VISIT

I called today and made my cat Midnight's final vet appointment.  Tomorrow morning at 8:40 a.m. is when his appointment is.  You don't know how hard it was for me to make this call.  I feel I am doing the right thing, but of course there are always doubts, it seems.  They asked me what I wanted done to him after.  I am choosing to have him cremated and to have his ashes.  He's been with me for 18 years at least and he's probably a bit older than that, even. 

I was afraid after yesterday that this morning he might not be alive.  But he was, and he had moved again.  He still has not touched any food.  He didn't eat his favorite canned food that he loves.  I got him once again to drink a bit of water where he was laying.  It seems to hurt him to get up and move and I don't think when he does get up and move, that it's because he is going to get water.  It's like he's uncomfortable, so he makes the effort to get up and move as though to find another spot that is more comfortable.  I worry that he may not make it until tomorrow, but I hope he does.  But I'll be worried when I get home today and all evening and then when I wake up in the morning.  I want him to be as comfortable as possible for now.

The vet's office asked if I wanted to be in the room with him.  Oh, how hard that is going to be.  This is the first time having to do this and I wasn't sure I wanted to see this at all.  But I think a part of me would feel guilty for not being there with him until the end.  So as difficult as this is going to be, I said 'yes'.  How I wish hubby was going with me, but he's unable to take time off work right now.  I told my boss and she understands what I'm going through.  For now, she expects I will be into work tomorrow after this is done.  Truthfully, I don't know whether I'll be able to function well at work or not.  But then sitting home alone in an only one cat household after tomorrow probably wouldn't be good either.  So I don't know what I'm doing.  I'll see how I feel afterwards.  I just know it's not going to be good either way.

My other cat, Priestess, is just behaving really oddly.  She wants to be nowhere near Midnight and has tried to dart into any room she can.  She's fine when she's in the room with us, but she just acts really weird having to be in the same area as Midnight.  I'm figuring she's going to grieve about him some.  I don't know how hard this will be on her, or if she'll understand except the fact that he is gone.

Today, I've been in tears off and on, my stomach feels like I have a lead weight in it, and my neck and back are more stiff and in pain than usual.  I know it's because of this.  I don't know if I'll be able to eat much at all today.

I have my 5th poker tournament for the WPTfan.com Series of Poker tonight.  I had thought about not playing at all.  I'm just not in the mood for anything really.  I want it all to be over with.  But I guess I'm going to play because doing anything that might help get my mind off this would probably be helpful.  All I really feel like doing is going back to bed and throwing the covers over my head.  I'd give just about anything if I could get rid of this migraine headache I have.  I know it's stress, just by the tension I feel in my neck.  I've taken medication, but nothing is putting a dent in the pain.  It's hurt so bad that I feel sick to my stomach.  I just want the pain to stop and I don't see an end to it anytime soon.

Midnight, I love you so very much and I'm going to miss you something terrible...

UK Resistance to National ID Grows | PrivacySpot.com - Privacy Law and Data Protection

Does every country want to do this National ID crap? Guess I'll cross off UK as a possible place to go when this country turns full blown police state.

UK Resistance to National ID Grows | PrivacySpot.com - Privacy Law and Data Protection

JUST BLAH

It's almost 11 p.m. on Saturday night and I'm sitting here home alone by choice.  Hubby REALLY wanted to go out tonight and as much as I tried to get even a teensy bit motivated to go, I couldn't.  So he went with a friend and is probably a little ticked at me for not going.  I just wasn't up for it and I would have been a wet blanket, which would have been worse, I think.  I don't get hardly any time alone, so it's actually nice for a change.

I've really been in a mood lately.  There's nothing really wrong or bad going on.  I've just felt drained and really 'blah'.  I haven't had the motivation to even do things I normally enjoy, such as blogging.  That's why I just posted a quiz the last time.  I've been reading other blogs and commenting here and there, but didn't feel up to trying to write an entry.  I'm not sure I felt like writing one tonight, but I figured I'd try and usually I'll babble on about something.  I guess I can update on what I've been up to for starters.

THURSDAY

Took the day off work since I had 2 doctors' appointments and I'd actually make more money taking the day off than trying to work and go to my appointments.  The first one was with my shrink.  He thinks I'm doing quite well, but then I've been in this weird mood so I don't know. 

We went over the sleep problem again.  He told me that most people with ADD just don't need as much sleep.  The problem is that hubby does.  He can't really go to sleep well unless I'm in bed, too.  I either have to take a sleeping pill or be awake in the dark most of the night.  He just can't see how I could possibly function going to bed between 2 and 3 a.m. and getting up at 6 or 7 a.m.  The thing is that if I sleep more than that, I usually feel like I feel now.  Just dragged out and lethargic.  My shrink thinks hubby ought to be more understanding that I just don't need to sleep 7 to 8 hours a night.  I understand he needs to sleep that much and I don't try to keep him up.  So I think I have an idea, but it's going to take some adjusting to.  He wants me to go to bed at roughly the same time he does.  Since I feel better at 4-5 hrs of sleep, I want to try and adjust my sleep schedule so I get sleepy and can fall asleep then, but I get up much earlier.  For some reason, this idea seemed more acceptable to hubby than going to bed so late.  But in order to get my body to feel like falling asleep earlier, when I'm already a nocturnal person, it's going to take some doing.  I have to start getting up 30 minutes earlier for about a week, then 30 minutes earlier than that the next week, and so on, until I have gotten to where I'm sleepy at that time.  When I actually DO get sleepy and fall asleep, I sleep very soundly.  When I'm made to go to sleep before I really feel like sleeping, I wake up many times a night, dream more, and feel less rested.  I think this whole sleep problem is a big part of my 'mood' lately.  If I sleep too much, I feel this way and I think that's what has been happening.  I also think that hubby is not going to like me getting up at 4 a.m. any better than me going to bed late.  He's still a light sleeper and I'm sure me getting up is going to wake him up.  So I don't know that this will even solve our problems.  It just seemed that the idea of me getting up earlier is more socially acceptable than going to bed so late.  Either way, it's not going to change the fact that I just don't need to sleep as much as hubby does. 

He says I sleep too much on weekends.  I tend to sleep if I'm bored.  I know that.  If we don't have something planned, then I end up sleeping in.  Lately though, I've been setting my alarm the same time on weekends as well.  It's just that I'm much busier during the week, so the chance of me getting bored is much less.  So it appears I have unlimited energy during the week and that I'm lazy on the weekends unless we have something going on.

Well, anyhow, I knew I'd babble about something.  So the shrink visit took all of about 30 minutes and I had a couple of hours to kill before my next appointment.  I had thought about going over to the office since I was right there, but decided against it because I knew I'd get caught up in doing something there and I took the day off.  I didn't want to drive 20 miles back home and then 20 miles back, so I went to Barnes and Noble bookstore.  I can kill a whole day in a bookstore.  Anybody that's ever been with me to the mall will testify to the fact that I'm almost impossible to pry away from the bookstore once I step foot in there.  So killing a couple of hours was nothing.  Of course now I found some books I really want to go back and buy soon.

My next appointment was with the GYN doctor.  I was going to see about getting my hormone levels checked out.  But since I was going, I went ahead and had my annual exam as well.  I had taken my knitting with me so I'd have something to do in the waiting room. 

It was my first time there, so I had to fill out all the paperwork.  I always leave the line for SSN blank.  I don't want my medical records tied in with that number.  I already have to use it for tax purposes.  I just don't like so many records under one single number.  Besides, there is no law stating that I have to give my SSN to any doctor.  My health insurance card does not have it on there either.  I made them give me an arbitrary number.  I don't carry it with me or have it on any card that I carry with me.  So of course, the moron behind the desk gives me a hard time about it.  "We HAVE to have your SSN for insurance purposes", is what she told me.  Well, uh, no, you don't, because the insurance company doesn't even have it.  There was no way she was getting my SSN.  I've been doing this for years and it gets worse every year, but I've figured out a few ways to get around it.  I did have one doctor's office actually tell me they could not treat me because I wouldn't give them my SSN.  Fine.  I just went elsewhere.  If they keep pressing for it, I usually do one of two things.  I will write down a 9 digit number that I make up, usually starting with a 9.  Or more commonly, I'll just tell them I don't know it and I never memorized it.  That's what I did with this woman.  She was so astounded that I wouldn't know my SSN.  I told her that I don't use it for identification purposes except when I do my taxes and I do that at home where my SS card is.  They can't do anything to me just because I never memorized my SSN.  But still, the looks I get with that one are priceless.  But what can they do?  After I told her I didn't know it and I never carry anything in my purse with it in case my purse got stolen, she didn't say another word.  The day may come where I will be forced to give it to a doctor or hospital, but I will fight it tooth and nail all the way.

Then I got to sit in the little examination room that they make you wait another long stretch in, but this time I'm wearing a paper gown.  I had to wait forever it seemed and I thought about knitting some while I was waiting in there, but the idea of me knitting while wearing a paper gown just didn't seem so good.  I can just imagine how that would look to the doctor when he walked in.  When he was done, he gave me paperwork to take to the lab so I can get my blood work done.  Another thing to look forward to.   I always seem to get the ones who are new at sticking people.  Or they have the place so damn cold that it's nearly impossible to find my vein, but they try anyway.  But I do need to get this done, so I'll just have to endure it.

FRIDAY

Went to work and was super busy since I wasn't there the day before.  Other than that, not much went on.  I was in a blah mood that night and didn't feel like doing anything then either.  Plus it's been raining like every day.  I'm so sick of rain.  The barometric pressure headaches have plagued me every day, plus the dreariness doesn't help with my mood.  Also, someone around me is very stressed out.  Or it could be several people.  I don't know.  I'm not sure who it is, but I know I've been feeling it and it's not coming from me.  I've had no reason to be stressed, yet my neck, shoulders and back have been so tense and knotted up.  They still hurt and I've tried several things.  I probably need to splurge and actually get a massage.  That's the only thing I haven't done to try to get rid of this.  I can feel the knots, but I just can't seem to work them out or get the muscles to relax at all.  All I know is that it's really bothering me.  Maybe whoever it is will be less stressed soon.

SATURDAY

This morning we had a major downpour of rain.  I thought the gutters were going to break off.  Evidently, I need to climb up there and see if there's a bunch of junk in the gutters.  Of course with all this rain we've had, the mosquito population is terrible.  I've got to find something to keep them down somewhat.  Just tonight I was outside and I had 5 or 6 of them on me before I knew it.  I think they make something that attracts them and traps them.  I may have to look into that.  It's hard to enjoy the deck or grilling out when there's so many mosquitoes.

My piano came this morning.  I've played with it some, but of course it needs tuning.  There was some of my old sheet music in the bench and music recital report cards, and even a couple of old comic books from when they used to $1.  I remember them being cheaper than that, even.  I thought I'd really want to play it when it got here, but I haven't felt like doing anything.  It was rainy and nasty until this afternoon anyhow and I had another pressure headache as well.

I did do one thing this evening.  Hubby's friend convinced us to go bowling.  Now, I haven't bowled in over 10 years and I wasn't any good at it then either.  I still suck at it, but I had a good time. 

After we got home is when hubby wanted to get ready to go out tonight and I realized that I really, really just did not want to go.  I'm not really sleepy either.  I'm just blah.  I thought about playing poker, but haven't felt like it any more than playing the piano or the guitar.  I messed around some with the guitar today.  Hubby got a double bass pedal for his drums so he can do those rolling bass drum beats that are popular in heavy metal music.

So that's basically what I've been up to.  Pretty boring, isn't it?  I am doing laundry, though.  I feel like I need to get something done.  I thought about getting on the treadmill for a while to see if that helps, but being that it's now almost midnight, I probably don't need to wake myself up any more and that would do it.  I wish I had something really cool to look forward to tomorrow, but I don't.  If it's sunny (and I hope it is, because the rainy days have made me somewhat depressed), then I'd like to get out and get some sun.  I just hope that I can without getting bit by mosquitoes. 

Well, that's it for now.  Maybe tomorrow I'll have something more interesting to write about.

I'M IN A STRANGE MOOD, SO HERE'S SOME FUNNY PICTURES

And for something really odd, move your mouse over the picture of the cat...

WORK & WEEKEND UPDATE (COPY)

Well, I suppose I've been due for an update post for quite a while.  I hadn't felt like really writing about some things that have been going on.

WORK

Last week at work, I found out some things that are not good.  We had one guy already give his notice a few weeks back and he's going to work for a local competitor.  Then last week I found out one of our other guys is also leaving.  He's going to work for the same competitor.  Both of them left because they got better offers.  Our driver evidently found out that we were looking for a replacement, so he never showed back up.  That leaves 2 of us besides the boss and her husband that are still here.  And the other person is hanging by a thread.  She is ready to quit at anytime, it seems.

I usually stay out of office gossip and politics as much as possible.  I hear many things, but say very little.  This time, however, I felt I needed to know more of what was going on and why people were leaving to all go work for a competitor.  So I asked point blank.  I got my answer, for the most part, and I was glad that it wasn't sugar coated or that I was told some lie.  But the answer was not good.

My boss and her husband own either 41% or 49% of our parent company, so they have always had some say in what goes on.  There have been things going on recently that I've been aware of, but like I said, I don't say much.  Our parent company has wanted to get all purchasing in one central area in their location.  They cut all our overtime.  They haven't wanted to approve any raises or hiring new people for the most part.  They also haven't wanted to keep expenses down to a bare minimum.  It appeared that my boss's husband, who was in charge of another office at another location, suddenly wasn't in charge there anymore.  No one said why.

Now I'm finding out it's a possibility that the other partner (the one with the larger percentage of ownership) may actually be trying to force my boss and her husband out.  There's talk about the parent company being bought out by none other than the competitor that my co-workers are leaving to go work for.

Now the partner with the larger percentage of ownership does not like this competitor.  In fact, they hate each other, and the competitor has said if he has a chance to cut our parent company's partner's throat (in a corporate sense, not for real, obviously), that he will relish doing so.  So our parent company's partner does NOT want this deal to go through.  At any cost.  So it seems that they are 'letting' or even somewhat 'encouraging' the small satellite offices to fall apart, perhaps to make it not look so good as far as buying out our parent company.  If the company is bought out, the satellite offices, particularly this one, are done.  They will have no need for us.  And that means I'm out of a job.

But if they continue to let these offices fall apart by not working to keep the workers they have or not letting us hire new people or not allowing any overtime when we are as busy as we are, causing excessive customer complaints, then I'm still out of a job.  And there's not a damn thing I can do really.  I feel like they have done to us what they did in that movie "Major League" where they cut everything they could because they WANTED the team to fail.  Things have gone missing, deliveries have been routed to the wrong places, and my boss's husband's partner has said they are losing money from our office.  He doesn't see how that can be possible when we have so much business and are getting more and more new accounts each day.

So we've started tracking each and every little aspect of every job on the cost factor, so that he has some sort of trail to be able to prove that we are not losing money and to make sure we aren't getting over charged on things we shouldn't be.  While that might help, if they really want the office to fall apart, there doesn't seem to be much they can do.  When they lose all the workers and have to train new ones in the middle of the busiest time we've ever had, that just spells disaster. 

I was asked if I was next to fly the coop.  They haven't been able to give me my evaluations because every single raise has been denied by the parent company.  But there's more to a job than money.  Everyone else is leaving mostly because of better money that the competitor is offering.  I most likely will ride the ship all the way down if that's the way it goes, which is what I answered when asked if I was next to leave.

Obviously this bit of news has had me stressed out.  I have a job and people I enjoy working with, plus good benefits and I weigh all of that into consideration, not just salary.  And now I don't know how much longer I will have a place to work.  I'm sort of at the mercy of a possible hostile corporate takeover or someone just wanting the company to look as bad as possible to avoid the takeover.  Either way, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

SATURDAY NIGHT

We decided to go to No Name with some friends of ours.  I have video tape of the last couple of times I went.  It seems the video camera is a magnet for females.  Anyhow, I managed to get some interesting video the last couple of times, especially this past Saturday.  Of course I ran out of tape at the most inopportune time, which was when this one girl was dancing for another girl and you could tell she had done this before, but probably with less clothing.

I haven't had a chance to edit or do much with the video footage I've gotten, but eventually I hope to.  I just don't know if I'll be able to post anything unless it's an extremely short clip of something.  But we'll see.

Our other friend that was with us was helping me out at the pool table.  This guy is good.  He doesn't play in bars much because of the fights.  Even if you don't play for money, people don't like having the table run on them and he can do it.  When he was a kid, he had to stay with his uncle and anytime he was in trouble, he had to stay down in the basement.  There was nothing down there but a pool table.  So he played pool.  Also his uncle is extremely good and has beaten some world class players.  So I'm sure he picked up a few things there.  Then his girlfriend owned a pool hall, so he basically lived there for many years and played on the leagues.  He started out learning on a 9 foot table.  Most tables in the bars are 7 foot.  All the shots are shorter.  And he knows exactly where to put the cue ball after each shot, which is what he was trying to show me.  His cue that he would use is what they call a "sneaky pete".  It looks like a house cue, but it's about $1000.  Not that he needs it, because he can run the table just fine with a house cue.  I figure I can learn a few things from him.

MEMORIAL DAY

Yesterday for Memorial Day, we got up early and went to the beach to go surfing.  Saw some waves when we got there, but by the time we paddled out, not a damn wave was in sight.  Sat out there for half an hour or more and watched pelicans dive and get fish, big fish jump, and just enjoyed the salt water, sun, etc.  Then we called it quits because we were just tired of not getting any waves.  I hear as soon as we left, it started to break.  Isn't that the way it always goes?

We spent the rest of the day in the swimming pool with a friend who brought their kid over.  Then we had pizza delivered and ate outside by the pool.

After they left, I played 2 online poker tournaments.  Came in 13 out of 25 on the first.  And I came in 3rd out of 9 in the second, which netted me $18 at least.  There were quite a few interesting hands from those tournaments.  Either way, I had fun which was the whole point.

Well, guess that's it for now.