CafeChatNoir

Had planned on some museum hopping today, but it looks like a combination of real life & bad planning are going to get in the way… Did a good run this morning, but my knee is reminding me that going and hoofing it about the Smithsonian for a couple hours is just asking to plant my left foot wrong somewhere along the way and twist my knee… Next weekend, I’ll just make sure I don’t run whatever day I go up into the city, or at least save the run for afterwards.

Also have a ton of errands to tend to that I’m sure I won’t get around to this week, so off to tend to those and attempt to plan a slight bit better for next weekend.

I don’t think my timing will ever be quite good enough to get all three of them in the same place at the same time…

But yesterday on CNN they were talking w/ business owners that were going back to Nola after Katrina. They spoke w/one restaurant owner, who was located in the French Quarter, IIRC.

His restaurant was not flooded, nor was it looted - the interior still looked like they were ready to start the dinner seating. Unfortunately, they had not had power for 3 weeks, and obviously, all the food they had is rotten. They were talking about how bad it smelled, and I have no doubt that it’s pretty atrocious.

However, I couldn’t help but think, if the biggest problem with your business is having to dump the contents of the fridge and freezer and do some heavy deodorizing, you’re actually in pretty damn good shape.

Friendship among Women:

A woman doesn’t come home at night. The next day she tells her husband she slept over at a friend’s house. The man calls his wife’s 10 best friends. None of them know anything about it.

Friendship among Men:

A man doesn’t come home at night. The next day he tells his wife he slept over at a friend’s house. The woman calls her husband’s 10 best friends. 8 of them say he did sleep over and 2 claim he’s still there.

Managed to get a great ride in after I shut off the beeper, and not a moment too soon, as it’s clouding up now and definitely looks like rain. Good length of time, good endurance, complete and utter SUCKASS speed.

I keep telling myself it’s all the hills around the house, and training on hills is the best training I can possibly do, and my speed really will get better. But, there were spots I think I could have been running faster…

Dog is still afraid of the bicycle, but his recovery time after I put it away is quicker now.

Just saw this headline:
Women deferring pregnancy risk fertility problems Even after reading the article, my initial responses were unchanged:
1) Well, DUH.
2) Not all of us are dealing with the “I want a career first” thing, it’s a matter of not having had the chance to chloroform some guy and drag him to Vegas and marry him being married in order to even think about having kids.

I’d love to know how much money that was spent on that little bit for the obvious files.

OK, I remembered last night I have to get my traffic ticket paid from Labor Day… So I hop online, get over to the traffic court site, and I don’t seem to be able to locate it ANYWHERE in the system at all. The if-I-don’t-pay-ahead court date isn’t til 10/25, so I know it’s not like I’ve taken too long to pay it and they’ve replaced it with a bench warrant for me, but it **should** be in there somewhere.

Which means now I have to go through the voice mail maze on Monday and try to find out how I can pay this thing if it doesn’t exist.

For the “I really need to not be such a smartass” files, I gave someone a hard time for going MIA this week, turns out there was a rather ugly computer crash with lingering aftereffects to internet connectivity… *cringes*

Beeper today, so I’m kinda stuck til 3, lets all hope it stays quiet. Of course, I could be using this time to get some things done about the house, but I seem to be sitting here instead…

Oh, and am I the only one that gets weird anonymous comments that are either
a) entirely in Japanese, or
b) in English that makes no sense from a Japanese IP address?

, I will be getting a box in the post this afternoon - mainly shoes & casual stuff - all clean, but will probably need a run through the dryer to get the wrinkles out by the time someone gets them! (I also tried to weed out anything that had been used for painting - if I missed anything, it’s not intentional!)

OK, enough screwing around for the morning, might as well try and make good use of my time today…

Went to bed at 11 last night, slept for 2 hours, and then was up until well past 4 AM and then finally crashed. Slept until about 7:45 this morning. Gave serious consideration to napping after the dentist, but it just didn’t happen.

SO WHY IS IT MIDNIGHT AND I AM STILL WIDE AWAKE???

Sure, I don’t have to be up and anywhere at any particular time tomorrow, but damn…

Dentist was fine (he’s just that good) but I’m glad I had made no plans to go back to work afterwards - between this screwed up week and a lovely bout of insomnia last night, I was barely functioning for the time I was at work, and having the afternoon to just chill out was way overdue.

Well, THAT’S a shocker…

Meet on Jan 15th, get married in May, and have the marriage annulled in September…

Chesney and Zellweger split

I’d figured they’d hit six months before it went off the rails.

There’s a support group for that. It’s called ‘everyone’. They meet at the bar.”
- Drew Carey

Yes, a suck day indeed. However, I am calmer now. Tried the healthy route of exercise, all that did was make me sweaty, so I did what any other normal pink collar gal would do, which is go immerse myself in testosterone for a few hours at the local pub.

I’ll do the swap, but with some conditions - it’s all about picking your battles, and I know I have larger ones looming ahead with management, and I’d rather not waste my time on fighting this shit. It’s not that my coworker chose her shift poorly - she had no choice in it - it was assigned to her, but given her location, it IS a bitch driving for the 9-6 shift she’s on - she is already planning on moving closer when her lease is up, so it’s not like she isn’t trying to do something about it on her own.

What pisses me off is that management backed me into a corner on this by making HER ask me directly, instead of acting as the go-between, which is the function of management in the first place. It’s a lose-lose for everyone *except* management, who has only succeeded in not getting their hands dirty on it.

Another coworker is convinced I am going to go talk to my ops-dance-partner about the offers he made last Friday… No, no plans for that, but I will be sure I stay in good graces with him, as you never know how things will turn out. Hell, I may just stay in good graces for him to go dancing again sometime.

Tonight’s workout is 12 ounce curls… Got screwed on lunch break, and by the end of the day, I was fried. I’m already over it all, and we’re only halfway through the week.

Have management making promises I have no earthly idea how we’ll keep, the stuff keeps piling on, we’re starting to wonder out loud if they’ve got some contest to drive people out of the department. Gonna have to make sure I stay in good graces with my ops dance partner just in case.

Apparently tonight I am also the lesbian sex & dating advice queen. Given that I am straight, I have no idea how that came about, but hey, maybe eventually they’ll tell me the secret handshake.

Ah well, tomorrow is another day, isn’t it?

Now is your chance to come through for me and help me find this print.  It’s by Otto Mueller, undated, entitled “Two Sisters” - I’ve been in love with it since I first saw it in the text for my class a couple years back, yet can’t find it anywhere to get a print of it… Edit: ROCKS as he found me a link to it in under 12 hours.

So - if you’ve seen this somewhere, please let me know!!

It would go perfectly with this one he did that I can get a print of, even though I’d probably be best served NOT having this in the middle of my living room - done in 1919, titled “Lovers” or “Gypsy Lovers” depending on what book you’re reading.

OMG, most excellent, EXCELLENT workout.  Went to Fairfax, which is technically closer than where I have been going in C’ville, but I think time-wise it’s the same to get there.

Downside - only 2 lap lanes, both full.
Upside - hit jacuzzi while waiting for folks to clear out.
Upside #2 - then did a personal best on swimming, both distance and pace
Upside #3 - my knee really liked the jacuzzi time

Hit Glory Days on the way home for a Guinness and MEAT and all is right in my little world.  (Yeah, dinner probably undid the workout, but whatever.)

Ever have the feeling that the morons of the world are conspiring against you for no other purpose than to bring you down to their level???

I swear, they’re trying to kill what few good brain cells I have left over the phone today.

I have heard some of the most unreal, convoluted logic today - enough to make the gears in your head just come grinding to a halt as you try and comprehend how some folks manage to get themselves to work every day.

My gym bag is ready to go, you can bet the minute that the voice mail says the office is closed, my butt is off for a much needed swim.

Our call software just crashed.  Looks like we’ll at least have a few minutes of peace and quiet.

The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and THE CAPS ARE BACK IN TRAINING CAMP!!!  All is right with the world.  Tickets go on sale starting this Thursday. 

Unfortunately, the Caps website is a little too slick for it’s own good and I’m having a hell of a time finding full pricing info on anything beyond individual tickets.  This is probably someone’s way of telling me that I don’t need to get anything beyond the occasional pair of individual game tickets…

A friend of mine works w/ a group that works w/ wounded soldiers, helping out in various ways, and has let me know of a need in the local area.  If anyone in the DC Metro area would be interested in fostering a small dog through December/January for a soldier that is going to be at Walter Reed, please let me know.  The pup in question is a Peekapoo, won’t be any bigger than 20 lbs, but unfortunately, does NOT get on well with cats, otherwise, I’d be sharing my house & yard with him.

In other news, it would seem that my coworker is in fact on board with doing a tri next year!!  I find it HIGHLY amusing that he is convinced I am so far ahead of him and that I’ll have to carry him for a while in the training.  HAHAHAHAHAHA.  Yeah, I’m ahead, but not by much at all.  But then again, it’s also kinda cool to be the one telling someone else, “You can totally do this” rather than the other way around. 

Best run yet today, at least distance-wise.  Pace a little off, but no matter, it will come along.  Honestly, couldn’t even tell you about the rest of my day, was just completely overshadowed by that little victory.   :)

Can someone explain this to me?  (For once, the man troubles are not my own.)

Went out w/friends last week.  In the group was a guy that has gone on a couple dates with one of the gals.  He scored well with all of us, and all the body language over the course of the evening says he is interested in her.  They had plans to hang out on Sunday, he was to call and firm things up and never did.

Granted, yes, she could have called him, but if he said he was going to call - why the hell wouldn’t he, even if just to say, “I can’t make it/My house burned down/I have to wash the cat/If I have to spend any time again with your insane friends I will slit my wrists so I can’t see you anymore.”

I just really don’t get saying you’ll call and then not bothering.  (Don’t get me started on folks that don’t check emails.)

Tasha, she who is the most kickass person in our group, is on vacation this week.

This Friday, I am bailing at noon for a dental appointment.

I wish I could be a fly on the wall and watch the carnage for the last 6 hours of the week.

The Pentagon drafted a revised doctrine that allows the use of nuclear weapons to preempt attacks by a nation or terrorist group using weapons of mass destruction against the United States or its allies, the   Washington Post reported…  Can someone please tell me how on earth you nuke an enemy you can’t see?

The Swiss government is hosting two days of talks in Geneva in an effort to agree on a new emblem for the International Red Cross.  I’m trying to figure out why they really need a new emblem.

Northern Ireland’s worst rioting in years left more than 30 police officers injured, the chief constable has said.  I had actually been under the impression that things had calmed down over there - obviously I was quite mistaken.

And finally… China will no longer treat death tolls in natural disasters as a state secret, the Xinhua news agency reports.  It will be interesting to see how this correlates with the reporting on Typhoon Khanun that has forced the evacuation of over 1M people…

I decided today the best tribute I could give would be to go out and enjoy my city and show that try as they might, those that went after us four years ago did not succeed.  I may not have bumper stickers all over my car, or go on marches and such, but that day will live with me for the rest of my life, and trust me, I will not forget.

The exhibit at NGA was good, if somewhat small.  I was hoping they would have more of his Florida/Caribbean watercolors, they are so beautiful, and so very different from his oils.  To look at something like Gulf Stream and A Wall, Nassau, it just always boggles my mind just a bit that these were by the same person.  I’ll admit I am completely biased in favor of his watercolors, it’s such a difficult medium and he did such gorgeous things with it.

Gulf Stream, 1899, Oil on Canvas

A Wall, Nassau, 1898, Watercolor

All of this also reminds me that I need to get the rest of my art books over here so I can scan one particular piece that I have been searching for a print of - figure maybe someone out there on my f-list has seen it somewhere…

A good swim this evening to top it all off.  Overall, not a bad weekend.

Oh, and as usual, the bookshop was my downfall and I now have three new books from the art theory section…  :-D

They left, I finally got to eat.  I’ve been a near vegetarian this week, and that’s all fine and well except for the fact that my body is screaming for red meat.

Watched An American In Paris tonight.  Wonderful.  You know, I think a lot of what is wrong with the world today is the fact that there are no good song & dance movies coming out of Hollywood anymore.

The cleaning ladies are still here (they got lost on the way here, resulting in a very late start) and it’s the “industrial strength first visit” version so it takes about twice as long as normal.  Already hit the gym, went to the store, and have run out of reasons to leave the house - generally going a bit nuts with them here - I’m glad they normally come during the week when I’m not around.  I’m underfoot and in the way and I keep finding myself apologizing for the abundance of dog hair about.  Upstairs is done, downstairs is thankfully close to getting done.

Dog is not thrilled, but not freaking out either, so that’s something.

Please, let them finish soon so I can eat my dinner…

WOOHOO!  And I am looking like nine miles of bad road this morning to say the least.  Out much too late last night, and the night before, but lots of fun.  I’m developing quite the skill at dragging men onto dance floors.  (Never knew until last night that Ned Devine’s has bands and dancing.  And here I just thought it was a bar.)

So, yes, going away party last night was very fun, I’m gonna miss him terribly though.  He was a good one to work with.  Was actively recruited for another department in the company.  Lots of dancing.  Had to take my shirt off towards the end cause it was so damn hot.  (Camisoles are very, very good in these situations, no one really notices you’re dancing in your underwear.)  As we were all leaving, we couldn’t help but notice one gal in a well, rather gawdawful getup, and let’s just say it wasn’t a good look at all.  Couple of the guys kinda cringed, and I pointed out I really couldn’t say much being the one that took her shirt off in the bar…  I was then told, “No, you’re totally allowed to take your shirt off!”  Good to know…  Yes, these are people I work with, but it was the hard core fun group that stayed til we were basically tossed out, so Monday morning repercussions will be nil.  Always know who you’re partying with. :)

I also think I may have enticed someone to do a tri next year too!  Of course, he’d had a couple beers and is probably now trying to remember what on earth he had so enthusiastically agreed to last night.  But he’s in the same boat as me, starting from near zip, and did seem quite interested in going for it, and wants to workout w/me at lunch, so I shot him an email this morning w/my training plan.  Will be good to have someone else to work with - keeps you honest and all that.

 - sorry I missed your call last night, I didn’t even hear the phone ring. 

The cleaning folks are supposed to be here at some point today, no idea on time, but I told them if I’m not here to just let themselves in and go to town.  I do hope the dog doesn’t get TOO freaked out over it.  Figure if nothing else, he’ll either get in his crate or head for the basement and be OK. 

Decided I’ll hit the nat’l gallery tomorrow, gives me all day today to get off my ass and get errands run and eventually get over to the gym and get my weight circuit in and maybe some bike time.  Hopefully, I can get back before the cleaning folks get here so I can at least be here when they arrive so the dog doesn’t have a complete meltdown.  Which means I need to get going now.

And I’ve still got one more day left.  Ack!!

At some point recently, DOL & the EEO folks changed designations for “Hispanic/Latino” in their forms/surveys/whatnot.  We updated our software accordingly and now you’ve got “Hispanic/Latino - White” and “Hispanic/Latino - All other races” as choices…  Had a client call in all in a tizzy over this, spent a good half hour explaining that I didn’t change the designations, the Dept of Labor did, and if she can’t figure out where people fall, then go ask DOL for guidance, not us.  That was bad enough, but when she uttered the phrase, “But you can’t be Hispanic and white!”, I ran out of words…

Thursdays, senior staff now has a meeting w/management, it’s basically a 30 minute bitch session, which is fine, gives us all an opportunity to vent, but I am afraid these are only going to serve to piss me off.  Yesterday I brought up queue management, cause Wed I walked in on all hell breaking loose with incoming calls, and absolutely no one paying attention to it.  I just said that it’s getting out of control and we ALL need to keep a sharper eye on the incoming stuff.  (The newbies have some tunnel vision issues with getting on one call and not letting go of it…)  One of my coworkers actually said, “But everybody can’t be like you!” 

Whiskey
Tango
Foxtrot

That has to be the biggest copout I have EVER heard.  Yes, I am one of the two top closers.  Yes, I can multitask like a hummingbird on meth.  But JHFCOAC, that doesn’t mean folks can’t step up to the plate, and frankly, I ain’t THAT damn special.  Another coworker said, “If I had the calls you had, I’d end up in a mental institution.”  (My calls come in 1 of two forms - fix in 10 minutes or fix in 3 weeks.  Nothing in between.)  I told her, “The world is my mental institution, so it works out pretty well!”

But whatever, it’s Friday, I’ve made it, not killed anyone, not blown up any databases, and not pissed off any clients.  I have to say I am very much looking forward to the NGA this weekend where I can spend some time looking at things that aren’t database tables or pieces of broken code.