CafeChatNoir

I’m starting to doubt the existence of free will.

I’m tired as hell, cynicism has kicked in full force and taken over.

Spent yet another 8+ hours at my job, followed by 2 more hours sitting in technical trying to figure out why our ESS product keeps breaking. (Because it’s PIECE OF SHIT, that’s why, but I digress…)

10-12 hours has been the norm the past couple weeks, because of this POS add-on product. I know there are other people out there with more important jobs that work longer hours, but this is ALL ABOUT ME, dammit. My life is once again revolving around work, with a break for eating and sleeping, and that’s about it. Damn, what a life that is.

I’m right smack where I never wanted to be, which makes me think that it’s all predetermined and free will is just another crock that someone came up with because it sounded better than jumping off a cliff.

Despite all efforts to the contrary, I’m right back where I was 5 years ago.

People who say, “You have all the time in the world” are full of shit. They just can’t remember when it was that they ran out of options…

Shit day, going to bed.

Long, long day.

Not happy tomorrow is Monday - REALLY need another day off.

http://www.chipotlefan.com/index.php

You speak eloquently and have seemingly read every
book ever published. You are a fountain of
endless (sometimes useless) knowledge, and
never fail to impress at a party.
What people love: You can answer almost any
question people ask, and have thus been
nicknamed Jeeves.
What people hate: You constantly correct their
grammar and insult their paperbacks.

What Kind of Elitist Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

I guess being willing to put hot dogs on a JennAir grill takes you out of the running for Food Snob, LOL!

OK, so I do feel kinda guilty that I honored our vets today by going shopping, but the vets in my family would have come and smacked me upside the head for waiting and paying about 35% more…

That being said, I’ve got a new kitchen on the way - decided to go for it and get the fridge along w/the microwave & oven. Went in armed with my list of model numbers and was done in less than 15 minutes.

I do feel a smidge guilty for replacing them when they’re not 100% completely dead yet. But it sucks to wait 30+ minutes to get something into the oven, only to have it burn because the damn thing decided to go through one more preheat cycle… Pieces of the microwave were actually falling off, and carrots are not supposed to freeze in the crisper bin.

OK, I think I’m done justifying this to myself - I know once it’s all here, I’ll be very glad I did it, but wow, I loathe spending money on the house…

Thank you.

I know that Veterans Day is for those who are still with us, but I only have 1 living veteran left in my family, so I’m going to take a minute and talk about all of them anyway.

My uncle is still with us, and is a doctor in the Navy reserves. During the first Gulf War, he was called up to serve stateside to backfill for the doctors that went to Iraq. Though he was out of harm’s way, he was able to help a lot of stateside military folks that would have been hard pressed for non-emergency care due to the regular docs shipping out. I don’t know if he technically counts as a veteran or not, but he is in my book.

My maternal grandfather wasn’t able to enlist, due to trick knees. But, he spent the majority of his career working for Lockheed, starting as a truck driver and ending up as the Director of Procurement by the time he retired. He felt that this way he could still be serving his country through the defense industry. I think he still felt guilty about it - but I think he did what he could, and it really counted.

My paternal grandfather was in the North Africa campaigns - he died when I wasn’t even a year old, so I don’t know much about what went on, except that one piece of information that has been passed down through the family, and that is, “Camels can be damn mean animals.” There is a small monument to the North Africa campaign at the Ministry of Defense in London - I got a photo of it when I was there.

My Dad was in the Navy, and flew E-2’s in Vietnam, on both eyes & ears missions and SAR’s. (Search & Rescue/Recovery) I can’t remember him ever talking about it, nor did I ever ask. We did speak of the war in generalities, but nothing on a personal level.

I have a hard time asking anyone about something like that - whether you are on the ground, in a plane or on a ship, to ask someone to recount what may very well have been one of the worst times of their life is not something that comes naturally to me.

But again, to all our veterans - thank you.

Finally, FINALLY got a nasty error reproduced and a bug submitted on a call I’ve been working for over a week now. Became this joint escapade w/the technical group to get it figured out, and tonight, WE DID!!! (OK, the tech side did most of the figuring out, but I helped, dammit!) We also gave folks something to talk about because *gasp* I’d been spending a lot of time with my tech counterpart on this. At each others desks. Working. Holy shit, Batman there must be more to it than that! People are dumbasses sometimes.

And to celebrate, I am going to go buy a new kitchen tomorrow. Well, not really, but the Maytag dealer is having a sale and I will likely end up with my new microwave & oven, and maybe see what they can do for me for a fridge. Here’s what I’ve picked out:
except in black, and

and quite possibly, this fridge in black:

What I love about my Maytag dealer is that they will do installations on Saturdays, and it would be a real treat to have decently working appliances… I even called Mom last night to try and figure out what I really do & don’t need in oven “features” - I can get the low end and still be WAY far ahead of what I’ve got now.

A whole boatload of geese just went flying over the house, honking away. You’d think they’d just settle down somewhere for the night… Cause that’s certainly my plan at this point.

Niters all.

BRING IT, BITCH!!!!

God, I am SO riled up this morning for absolutely NO reason whatsoever.

And for the love of all that is good and holy, people - it’s FISCAL YEAR, not PHYSICAL YEAR!!!!

You may remember my post from a little over a week ago, looking for a home for a yellow Lab. His name is Spencer, and he has a forever home now.

Spencer’s owner passed away yesterday morning, but there had already been at least 12 serious offers for a home for his dog. The dog was the only thing he was worried about, and he at least knew Spencer would be well loved by someone, no matter what.

gromitcu, I also emailed your sister and let her know that he’d found a home. Thank you again for getting me in touch w/her.)

My microwave is slowly dying, as is my oven. They’re both over 20 years old. My fridge is a total POS as well, and is over 10 years old. I’ve been putting off replacing them due to laziness & general stinginess.

I’ve gotten a postcard from my local Maytag dealer (I had already decided I would get my replacements from them) - and they’re having a “private sale” this Thursday.

Seeing as how it costs nothing to go and at least look and find out how good this sale is (if at all), I will be heading over there Thursday night, and may leave with a new kitchen. I’ve got all the measurements taken from the kitchen, pored over the websites, have the model #s & regular prices of the items I want. Leaves little to sales pressure, at least for the cooking side.

The fridge I will have to actually talk to someone about, as the available space is a bit odd due to the cabinetry. While I could always take a hacksaw to the cabinets like ’s old landlady did when she put her new fridge in, I am thinking I just need some assistance in finding one that actually will fit the space I have.

We’ve now hit the time of year where I need to get up earlier so the car can run to get all the crap melted off it…

28 degrees F at the airport this morning.

I wouldn’t mind winter near so much if I didn’t have to leave the house.

Finished 2 scarves for the shelter, got 1 adult & 1 toddler sized out of it - have emailed to be sure they can actually use them, as they have no mention of any winter gear on their needed donations list. If they can’t use them, I will find a place that can.

Oh, mazikeem - you know what you were saying about not being able to get into the zone w/your scarf? Definitely not you - that yarn is an absolute bear to work with, and I finally figured out why - it won’t slide over itself at all, so you can’t get any good rhythm going w/the needles.

It would be nice to get some email that isn’t trying to sell me a Rolex watch. That seems to be all I’ve gotten lately - and lots of them.

http://my.horoscope.com/gethoroscope.asp?day=8&month=11&year=2004&sign=12

Focus on what you can do to make everyone around you happy. A change of residence or fixing up your place will send a favorable message to your loved ones.

~~
Does doing the dishes could as “fixing up”?

Have a good Monday everyone.

All those voices have been chattering away today - I probably need cut back on the coffee… :)

Wasn’t so much introspection as just random questions flying about on the meaning of life, what is my purpose here, and is it really going to be another 87 years until the Sox win the Series again?

Lots of crazy questions and no answers.

Did manage to get about 2/3 of the way through a scarf w/some chenille yarn that I wasn’t able to use for the Christmas scarves - will send that over to the Carpenter’s Shelter later this week when it’s done. Figure they can get it to someone who can really use it.

Was thinking earlier today that pretty much every year since 96 has had some upheaval of some sorts. Which kinda scares me - is my life ever really gonna settle down again? Or should I just steel myself for something every year? Eep.

I have a lot to say, and I can’t seem to articulate any of it.

I am attempting to knit two scarves as Christmas gifts, I have now had to unravel them TWICE each for various reasons in trying to get them to come out right, and I will be attempting yet a third go-round with these as soon as the alternate yarn I ordered arrives, because none of the stores I go to has the color I needed.

An assortment of 25 books & coloring books will soon be winging their way to the National Childrens Medical Center here in DC. :-D

http://www.childsplaycharity.org/

“Cindy, get off your ass and go get some light bulbs.”
And there was light in the bathroom once again, and it was good.

Target already has Christmas stuff out. It’s toooooo early. I’m flailing about enough as it is - adding holidays to the list of worries is too much to deal with.

Work has kicked my ass the past couple weeks, but things are good there. Trying like mad to get the rest of my life in order, but I feel like I’m just running in place.

Thank god. Got some decent sleep last night, which has been sorely lacking in my life this past week.

Only 252 days until I head to the beach for two straight weeks. I cannot wait. I’ve never actually taken a whole two week vacation before. (Well, I was unemployed for 6 months, but it’s not quite the same - at least this time I’ll get paid for sitting about on my butt.) I’ve got 105.5 hours of vacation right now, and by the time July rolls around, taking 80 hours won’t hurt a bit. :-D

Someone inquired as to whether or not I’d be heading for the dark side of support - nah, staying where I am. I’m happy with what I’m doing now, and I’ve done too much starting over in the past 5 years to do it again, thankyouverymuch.

My car is legal again, which is nice. Turns out I only had to get the replacement plates, and didn’t need the replacement registration after all, but it’s a good thing I got it, given that when I tried to wrestle the registration out of the packet w/the plates, I managed to rip it in half…

I haven’t killed my african violet or the ivy yet!!

The little basket thing has worked just perfectly. I lined the bottom w/tinfoil so there’s no problems with any water that may come out of the bottom of the pots and the wood shouldn’t rot out or anything like that. If I can keep these two little plants going, I may have to get some more. :-D

Still having some trouble with fuzzy clutter on that kitchen table, though:

Props to my LJ friends list - I’ve got folks from all over the political spectrum that I read. Not once have I seen an “If you voted for X, I will ban/unfriend you because you suck” post. I’ve seen a couple frustrated outbursts from both sides, but no personal attacks on others, and I applaud you all for it.

OK, time to finish the coffee and get off my backside and get some things done. Errands to run and housework to do. You know you want my diva life. ;)

Going to the beach for 2 weeks next summer.

Good pizza & talk-talk-talk evening with mom.

Bed now and sleeping in tomorrow…

My first call of the day was to a client that decided to answer the phone while still in the men’s room.

It’s kind of gone downhill from there.

Happy Birthday, stepladder!!!

Background: The support group for my software is split in two - general & technical. General is a lot of how-to, dealing with the functional issues of the software, undoing setups & initializations gone horribly wrong, and in a lot of cases, teaching accounting to people that supposedly have degrees in it. Technical is more related to the actual database stuff, server issues, “the system puked up this error message and it’s in some foreign language” type things. I’m in general support. I hold our tech support guys in pretty high esteem - they’re smart, work hard, and willing to help when asked. They also respond well to baked goods. :)

Today one of our back-line technical guys comes over to my desk, with an urgent look about him, glancing about a bit furtively.
“You have a minute to come over to tech?”
“Sure - is something wrong?” (I am thinking I have hosed something up so spectacularly they all want a chance to beat me up and then teach me how not to make the mistake again, LOL)
“No, no, everything is fine, just, um, come over to our side for a few minutes.”
“OK…” (Hey, maybe they have food!!)
*wander down hallway, he stops*
“OK, I just wanted to get you away from your desk. So - do you want to come work for us?”
*blink*
“Um, huh?”
“Seriously - would you like to come work over in tech? We need people. We like you, you’re definitely smart enough, we can cover for you the first couple months while you get up to speed. Really!”

I love doing general support. I’d like to think I’m fairly decent at it, and I’m getting to the point where I’ve kinda found my stride. I told him as much, and that I was super flattered and appreciated that they thought of me, and that I’d give it some thought (only fair), but I’d really likely stay put.

But, damn, it’s nice to be asked. :-D