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Or at least that’s what it felt like I got last night – kept waking up with back pain. Finally just gave up and went downstairs to play Sonic the Hedgehog and listen to music.

So, I’m really tired today and mildly cranky. Didn’t go to the division party – didn’t think I should since I didn’t bring anything. I had tried to make some cookies – they tasted great, but looked terrible – and I had the stuff for Pigs in a Blanket, but didn’t have the motivation.

Better that I minimize my contact with other humans anyway, just to be on the safe side.

I’m thinking about getting out of here early today – we aren’t that busy and I could use a nap.

back to work…for now…

About a week ago I got a marginally coherent call from one of my room-mates ex-girlfriends. Or rather, I heard the marginally coherent message she left for him. I erased it, figuring that she would call back at some point and I could give her the update.

Well, last night she did. I answered the phone, she asked who it was and I told her, then asked “Is this V____? – knowing that it was her since I’ve got caller ID.

Click – she hung up on me. I swore at the empty line, then hung up.

A few hours later she called again. I answered again – heard her say “shit” – then she hung up on me again. By this point it’s 10:30 and I’m getting cross. So, I called her back and she apoligized – saying that my number was close to her father’s. I explained to her that my room-mate had moved out and I had no way to get in touch with her. She apoligized again and we said our good-byes.

Slowly, but surely, I’m getting all the chaos/debris cleaned up – though I didn’t think it would take me this long.

In other news – I’m one package away from having everything wrapped. Not bad for Mr. Scrooge “Ba-Humbug” McScrooge. Not doing a tree this year, so everything is just on the floor, but at least it’s done – or almost done. One more big and oddly shaped item to do.

That’s it for me – time to get back to work…

Well, did a little holiday shopping – whoa, nelly. Talk about things that sucked. A couple of places weren’t that busy, but Target sure was and it was insane. Well, it was mostly the people that were insane. I didn’t get much there so I could use the express checkout – but the aisles were still packed.

My temper started to build and by the end of that outing I was snarling under my breath. Yeah, it’s silly and primative, but at least I wasn’t cursing them in summerian. And if I had my sword with me – well, I’d be in jail now.

Didn’t help that my back is still hurting – slowed me way down. And made me crankier. Ironic, really. I’m usually nicer than average through the year, but during the holidays when we’re all supposed to be nicer, I get more ill tempered. It’s all the freaking stress.

In other news…gave blood last week. This puts me at 24 pint = 3 gallons so far. I’m pretty pleased with that, though I think I would have liked a little fanfare or something. The woman that asked all the questions was nice, but the one that actually took my blood was really unpleasant. I guess was getting ready to go on break, but would it have killed her to be plesant about things? I don’t think so.

Also moved some of my stuff into the big room in my apartment – I’m thinking of calling my former bedroom the “library” – and I think I’ve got enough books to justify it. Thinking about getting a papasan chair for in there as well.

Well, time to get back to work…

My lower back has been bothering me the past couple of days – hurts to walk around, hurts to sit, and oh nelly – does it ever hurt to walk up and down stairs. Not sure what I did to it, but it’s annoying. I should have put some mineral ice on it last night.

Still not really in the holiday spirit – not quite “bah, humbug” – but just not overly excited about it. I should try and do a little shopping today after work.

A little stressed at work – a couple of big projects going at once and I’m not sure what’s next for them.

Otherwise, not much going on – back to work…

Helped a friend with some painting this past weekend in west virgina – while there, we went to Cabela’s – the world formost outfitter.

Big store, very crowded, poorly organized. There’s a ton of stuff to see, but nothing that I wanted to buy. Though, I must say, I was tempted by the Jerky pistol. Sort of like a calking gun, except that you load it up with meat and extrude it to then make jerky in a dehydrator. And I do love me some jerky. But, I resisted – mainly since I don’t have either a meat grinder or a dehydrator – two essential components in making jerky.

On the way back, I saw several trucks with dead deer on them – hunting season, I expect. One unfortunate deer was arranged face up over the back spare tire of a jeep – legs splayed open. And torso flayed open. I glanced over and was looking directly at deer ribs. Not exactly a pleasent view.

The rest of the weekend was pretty good and reasonably quiet – though we were also kitten sitting Scooby (yes, I know that’s a dog’s name). This little fur-ball was all teeth and claws – which he loved to use. Then we bought a squirt-bottle. It didn’t really help for more than 30 seconds at a time, but it was kinda fun.

That’s it for now – back to work…

First off – the futon part finally came in yesterday. I got it assembled and enjoyed sitting on it and reading. So, all is right in the realm of furniture – yea, me! I might still write an angry email, but it’s not quite as vital anymore.

So, this morning, I’m in the parking lot and headed for the door to the building. A woman I sort of know is at the door ahead of me and uses her card to swipe the door open. I’m a few steps behind, but she doesn’t even look back. I hustle and lunge at the door, but I’m slightly too slow – it slams in my face.

I then have to get out my wallet, get out my card, swipe open the door – all while trying to juggle my morning soda, a book, and my gloves. Nothing spills or drops, but I’m still annoyed.

Situation reversed – I would have held the door for her, even it she was still quite a ways further back than I was. It didn’t occur to her to look around and see if anyone else was there.

Well, I was. And I was a little pissed off.

I think I’ve harped on this before, but it’s all about focus. So many people around me are so totally in their little worlds that they miss out on tons of stuff, including the opportunity to be nice to other people. Makes me want to bust some heads, ironically.

Next time this happens, I’m going to shout to them and give them a mild lecture on courtesy.

And then maybe smack them too. “Dammit! Be nice or I’ll smack you again!”

Back to work…

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(quick note: saved for posterity from the Blogger main page…

Resistance is Futile

This news article at Reuters says ‘Blog’ Tops U.S. Dictionary’s Words of the Year. We are the blog. Join us. – Biz [11/30/2004 03:13:51 PM]

———————

I love that. 🙂

The part wasn’t at my home when I got there on Sunday evening – wasn’t there yesterday when I got home either. So, I called up the company and asked what was up. They said it had been shipped out on the 24 and I can expect it in a couple of days. So, let’s run the timeline again.

1. Purchased on the 21st

2. Called on the 22nd (morning) – told “2-5 days”

3. Nothing on the 23rd

4. Shipped on 24th

5. In transit 25th-29th

So, 2-5 days from when they actually get around to shipping it. Skip 2 days in there for the holiday and Sunday. Still should have been here by now.

My living room is still a mess of cardboard – and I’m still cranky. I forgot the tracking number at home – I may go home at lunch and pick it up to check on things. Grumble, grumble. All this for a futon. Should have just built the damn thing myself.

Finished up watching season 4 of angel and then watched Bubba Ho-Tep, with Bruce Campbell. It was okay, I guess, kinda slow pacing. Interesting concept, but not all that well executed. 1 and 1/2 stars, but only cause I liked the actors.

Well, back to work….

While I could have logged on from my parents place, it didn’t seem worth the effort. Plus, I’d have to use AOL and I try to avoid that if possible.

So, let’s see here… Thanksgiving was pretty good. The food was good, Mom made too much, as usual. We watched a bunch of movies and Mom worked on the decorations. I put up a tree and lugged stuff around, so I did my part. Helped my sister with the tennis courts at the school where she’s a coach. Had to take down some nets and dismantle some things called “tidy courts” – aka, garbage cans. Took several hours, in the cold. Yes, I am the best big brother in the world. Did a little shopping, no gifts – just paper and stuff. Did the “Hanging of the Greens” at my parents church – and again, the serpette’s did the brunt of the work. Pizza was good, though.

Hurried back on Sunday to go to a wedding for one of my co-workers. Was running very late – church was 40 minutes away and the wedding offically started in 30. Made it right on time, and the ceremony was delayed anyway. Really nice ceremony – tear-jerker all the way. Got a little lost (on purpose) after the wedding to kill some time before the reception. Nearly forgot my card for them – but went back for it. We were seated at 6:00ish – didn’t get served until 8:00 (yikes!) and I left at about 8:45. Did a bunch of origami while we were waiting at the table to entertain the rest of the people sitting there. Surprised myself with a request for a cobra – managed to pull it off from scratch. I made do another one at some point and post it on my site.

And that was the flurry of my Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Oh, I spilled soda all over my car on the drive back home and I thought I lost my checkbook. Soda is contained and the checkbook was at home all along.

Still no futon piece – now I’m getting cross. I’ll call again this evening – and this time I’m going to speak to a manager if I’m not hearing the right answers.

Back to work…

Woke up early today – still pretty bleery. Wait..

Crap…

Sorry, one of my contacts slid out of place. Don’t you hate it when that happens? I know, intellectually, that it’s not going to slide around to the back of my eye – (though, would it make me think more clearly if if were closer to my brain?) – but it’s still worrisome and a little painful.

I’m okay now, if you were concerned.

This evening I head southward to visit my parents for the holiday weekend. Hoping for a low-stress visit, but I’m not sure that’s possible. One thing is for certain – I am not, I repeat, NOT going shopping with my sister the day after Thanksgiving. The crazy person can go by herself.

That’s it for me, back to work…

I’m liking the holidays a little less as I get older. There’s so much stress involved in travel plans – it makes me cranky. All the hoopla and commercialized good cheer – it just feels so fake. And if you aren’t on the bandwagon, then you’re a scrooge. That poor guy got such a bad rap. Yeah, he wasn’t the nicest guy, but really he just wanted to be left alone.

Okay, so, I’m not that bad. But my idea of a peaceful holiday is a hot cup of coco and some light and quiet christmas music. Not traipsing all over creation for the inevitable 5 minutes of catching up with relatives you haven’t seen in eons and then trying to figure out how to fill the rest of the time before you can leave and get on with your lives.

I think that people don’t get it. I really don’t like to travel. Really really. It’s one of the reasons I have so much vacation time built up.

I’m going to try and avoid as much of the travel as I can this year. Call me a hermit, call me a scrooge and I say to you… Bah, humbug!

Had a bad dream last night – I was a cop (or at least working with cops), trying to solve a murder. We had just figured out the connection to another murder and realized a pattern – and who the next person would be. We raced to the diner where we expeted to find the next victim, but discovered the guy still alive and on the run from a giant monster covered in blades. It was slow moving, so he was holding his own – but it didn’t tire. I, apparently, was also a target on the monster’s list, so I could confuse it a little bit since it was supposed to go in order. The two of us ran around the diner while the rest of the cops tried to figure out how to stop it since bullets didn’t even faze it.

Re: the Futon – customer service was anything but. Cold, unapoligetic – the person who finally got to me after some of the most painful hold music on record simply asked for my name and address. She said they would ship it out and it would arrive in 2-5 business days. I asked about overnight and she said they don’t do that. I got off the phone still pissed, but thwarted by the lack of emotion. Even a simple – “sorry we screwed up” would be enough to assuage me, but instead they just didn’t care. Maybe I should have suggested they call me the next time they have a computer problem – and then they’ll see how customer should be done.

Back to work…