CafeChatNoir

with the ungodly grating laugh HAS GOT TO GO. I swear, she’s making my eye twitch.

I am tired. I am bored. I am dying to get out of here.

I need to change, but I’m too damn tired.

That job has GOT to come through, and I have GOT to get some time off between now and then.

So I’ve gotten my day off to a rotten start by being a snippy nasty bitch. There’s no good reason for it, except for the fact that I was mad at myself for miscommunicating something, and being an idiot, I just lashed out.

My life has gotten to the point where it’s revolving around work and sleep. I can’t remember the last time I made something real for dinner. I’m trying to be supportive of others, but quickly running out of steam, and having nothing left for myself.

My neck is in knots, and my knee and ankle are both hurting for who knows what reason. I’ve got too much stress and no outlet for it.

My job is horrid, and I’m trying to do something about it, and getting jerked around for my efforts. And as much as I need to get out of here, starting over somewhere else is just as scary. But at the same time, I am tired of having to have my life revolve around “what is the schedule for closing the books”. Still blocking off the last week of October/first week of Novenmber.

I’m angry that my ex was able to just walk away with zero consequences and I am *still* dealing with crap from that.

I cancelled my 401K last night, and I’m stopping my Roth contributions for the time being. The tax break is nice, but it’s not helping my regular savings or my debt. Hell, I didn’t want to retire anyway.

I need to be able to step back and just regroup. I’m rapidly turning into a high strung undateable bitch, and I don’t want to be that person.

Some days, phone tag just is NOT a fun game…

Got a fairly decent night’s sleep last night, but I still seem to definitely be lacking some focus today. It’s much too quiet around here without Mark around.

and you can actually get to the site - an very cool Honda commercial.

http://www.honda.co.uk/newcars/accord300k.html

All in all, a lovely day.

Church in the morning - exceptionally contemporary. Frankly, a tad unsettling for a heathen traditionalist, but still quite nice.

On to egg hunting and brunch at Mom’s. Yes, I’m old and my brother & I still do this, and the big guy is even in on it, too. It’s just fun. Lots of food, lots of time just sitting out on the back deck. Seem to have gotten myself a bit of a sunburn on my nose, even.

Evening spent reading and dozing off.

So, I’ve got a bag full of M&Ms and chocolate eggs, and leftover hashbrown casserole in the fridge. Life is good.

For someone who isn’t even Catholic, seems that I lean waaaaaaaaaaaaay over to the traditionalist side of things.

There are just some parts of Mass that need to stay in Latin. Otherwise they just don’t sound right. Kind of like when opera gets translated to English…

HAPPY EASTER!!

Still waiting for laundry to finish. Have to actually get *up* in the morning.

Church, brunch, candy, mimosas. Sounds like a good day in the making, if I ever get to sleep.

No, not in that self inflicted, “You need to see a professional for help” kind of way.

It’s the “Geez, you are incredibly clumsy” kind of way.

This week, a cut foot (Eve leaves her toys on the floor), a cut hand (can lid), and somehow pulling a muscle in the back of my leg pulling something out of the washer.

Is this something I am going to pass on to my kids? Learning to walk is hard enough, without having walls randomly move into your path.

The ones where people think that I know everything that Mark knew. Except, that I don’t.

Please, let that new job come through

Long week. Lots of waiting for my boss to get laid off. Amazing how just *waiting* for something can be so tiring. Fortunately, Sideshow Bob is out today and so my day should be fairly quiet. He did call this morning to bother me about something - I don’t see an end in sight to that stuff anytime soon. Though he’s bringing in someone to replace Mark, that person is going to be clueless for a while, so it will be falling to me.

I’m still keeping my fingers crossed that April closing will be my last one here.

One of Tim’s former coworkers passed away yesterday. A friend in California isn’t doing well either, and there is a bit of a frenzy in trying to make sure whatever time she has left is as easy (and love filled) as possible - been relaying emails all over the place for that. It’s too soon for either one of them to be leaving. Been doing a fair amount of talking to God this week. (Some yelling, too)

The weekend is shaping up to be nice. Church Sunday morning, followed up with brunch at Mom’s. Maybe catch a movie tomorrow if we can work it around getting the big guy over to confession so he doesn’t go to hell.

A beer tonight will be most heartily welcomed. I have told my boss he owes me a LOT of alcohol for up and leaving me. :)

OK, so yes, boss got laid off last night. Find out this morning that the division controller told one of the other gals that works here, “Oh, we HAVE to convince her to stay!!” in regards to me.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA! Oh, wow that was a good one!

The two gals that are in the cube to my left are in a full on cat fight. The hair pulling should commence soon.

ROFLMAO.

So, last night I went to bed and forgot to turn on the alarm clock. Woke up at 7:30, and instead of actually getting up, I decided to reset the alarm for 7:35 and then hit the snooze until 8. I have no idea what I was thinking when I decided to do that. Then of course, I had a dream that I forgot to go to work. Wishful thinking, perhaps?

Professional though I may be, I will admit to a good case of spring fever - I am ready to get out and play.

One thing I have decided - between this job and whatever the next one happens to be, I am going to do everything in my power to get a week off inbetween the two.

A female gorilla eats an Easter egg out of a basket of treats given to her at the Cincinnati Zoo, Wednesday, April 16, 2003, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Al Behrman)
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/030416/221/3tlkp.html

Courtesy Slashdot: Office 2K asking you to register again?

The payroll conversion here did not go well. Fortunately, that outside of our scope, so it’s not our fault for a change. Our sister division has access to our accounting database for a couple of things (it’s a long story), and in attempting to be helpful, they have screwed a few things up. It’s nothing that can’t be fixed, and I don’t even have to fix it, but it’s just a little annoying.

And, I’ve finally figured out what our little group’s place in this organization is. We’re the Group W bench. I’m putting forth the suggestion that we all meander into the CMIC’s office and sing a bar or two from Alice’s Restaurant. Because if enough people do it…they may think it’s a movement…

The ESOP deposit cleared to my rollover account, and now my asset allocation is exactly where I want it. Yay me!

Some Peace Activists Won’t Pay Fed Taxes

The National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee estimates as many as 8,000 Americans each year avoid paying some or all of their federal income tax liability because of their political beliefs.
…
Eleanor Bonney Simons, 83, of St. Johnsbury, hasn’t paid federal income taxes or the federal tax portion of her telephone bills in a decade, and said she always makes sure to give away enough money each year that she doesn’t have any tax liability.

“I find I can live very well this way,” Simons said. “It makes me feel good to know I’m not supporting the war effort.”

2 1/2 bags of weeds and 45 minutes later, I’d still only call it a draw.

Think I’ll be putting a call into the “Lawn Guy” that left the flyer in the front door last week.

Our Purchasing Manager just put in his resignation.

It’s a gorgeous day, my boss had to leave early, I won’t be here late and things are, for the most part, right with the world.

I am however, dying to hear one way or the other on this job. I don’t like having it just hanging out there. Yes, I know they said it would be just a little while, I know, I know. But I’m not the most patient person in the world. ;) But I’m becoming borderline obsessive with checking my voice mail…

But damn, this just sticks in my craw that Sideshow Bob is concerned that “I don’t like him very much.”

I may not look like much, but when it comes to my work, I am 110% hard core. It doesn’t matter if I love you or hate you, I have a job to do and I am going to do it. Because I am a professional. I am not here to be your friend, assist with your self-esteem issues, and generally make you feel like you’re some “great guy”. I am here to do my job. And you’d better be damn grateful that it doesn’t matter one whit how I feel about you - because if it did, you’d really be up shits creek without a paddle.

With some good photos to perk up the day.

Nine lives for a cat. Greyham, travelled thirty kilometers under the hood of a van.(AFP/Nature/File)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20030416/od_afp/britain_cat_offbeat_030416140827

A military helicopter carries soldiers and military dogs from the Special Force Corp (Kopassus) during celebrations to mark its 51st anniversary at their headquarters in Jakarta, April 16, 2003. Indonesian defence minister Matori Abdul Djalil on Tuesday issued one of Jakarta’s starkest warnings yet that a pact aimed at ending decades of conflict in Aceh province was in danger, with military action inevitable if it fell apart. REUTERS/Supri
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/030416/170/3tetq.html

Three-month-old polar bear Victoria and her mother Fanny are seen during Victoria’s first public appearance in Hagenbeck’s Tierpark zoo in Hamburg, northern Germany, on Wednesday, April 16, 2003. Victoria is the first polar bear born in the past eight years in Hamburg’s zoo. (AP Photo/Fabian Bimmer)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/030416/168/3ti90.html

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/030416/170/3tic8.html

My poor boss is still trying to get himself laid off, and they still can’t decide on a date to do it. He’s going to be out of town for a week at the end of April, so he communicated this to Sideshow Bob (he had been thinking he’d already officially be gone by then and it would be a non-issue)

He assured Bob that I could handle the closing. Bob is concerned that “I don’t like him very much.” Which, yes, is true, but this is also the same man that introduced himself to me with “Hi, I’m Bob and I hate contractors.” He’s lucky that at *I* can get the job done, regardless of how I feel about a client - which sounds like it’s a problem for him. My boss finds it hilarious that Bob is apparently intimidated by me.

And you know what? He should be.

Left a whole bunch of Thin Mint cookies on my desk. And I’m sitting here, eating them, and actually contemplating tossing a blanket in the backyard and catching some rays if I can get home early enough. I should be doing one or the other - probably not both.

http://www.suntimes.com/special_sections/iraq/whoissaddam.html

Saddam’s wife is his cousin; he was raised by her late father, his uncle.

I’m thinking that whole growing up with your wife in the same house just probably isn’t healthy…

Of course, the dog then has to get out. She’s now crated for the night.