Saturday Morning Post
This was the first full work week I’ve had in a little while, thanks to holidays and back-to-back colds, and I swear it feels shorter than the short weeks. It’s a strange phenomenon, this. As much as I love three day weekends, I’m always surprised at how long the following week feels. A four day week can feel like it takes ten days to finish.
Speaking of work, I finally finished the computer rollout at work. The months of setbacks and confusion and frustration made this a project unequalled in my entire career, and I had some pretty low moments. Since my work wife fallulah71 left in October, I’ve been doing my job and hers until a replacement is hired. The toll that’s taken on me has been profound because there were very few duties I could reassign to other people. I do admit that staff have been pretty patient with me (with a few exceptions, as there always are), and I’m grateful because they certainly could have made things a lot harder. Still, it’s been a difficult five months and I have no idea when a replacement will arrive. Maybe never, who knows?
On Wednesday we had our annual all-staff meeting where they hand out longevity awards. I got my 15 year pin (it has a single sapphire atom), even though I’ve actually been here 16 years because of where my hire date falls. It’s a weird feeling to see a chunk of my life represented in a tiny metal pin like that. I was 26 when I started, and I’m not sure I even recognize that guy any more. My hair was certainly darker and thicker. I have no idea where the time went.
I don’t think I mentioned it here, but a couple of Saturdays ago, as I was taking a nap I heard someone pounding on my door. I don’t often answer my door if I’m not expecting someone because, well, it’s my property and my house and I don’t much care if a stranger knows I’m inside ignoring them. This time the knocking continued and I heard someone calling my name. I went to find out what the fuss was all about and when I opened my door, there was a car parked in my front yard on top of my picket fence. My goodness, my neighborhood came ALIVE. Such excitement on Jay Street! Apparently a guy up the street didn’t curb his wheels, nor did he properly set his parking break and his car slowly rolled down the hill until it came to rest on my fence. I called the cops and while we were waiting, Old Guy Bob who lives next door animatedly told all of us about the time his daughter crashed his brand new car into the post in front of his house. He was SO THRILLED to tell this story, and then he repeated everything to his wife Betty, who is deaf, so she could get up to speed with events. The cops finally arrived, knocked on doors until they found the car’s owner, and he stumbled down to my house in a daze (he was napping too). He was very apologetic about the whole thing, and I got all of his insurance information after he dug around in his car for a really long time. A couple of days later I called his insurance company, which he had also done, and they were very friendly and helpful about filing a claim. As soon as I got an estimate for repairs and emailed it to them, they cut me a check. No quibbling, no delays, no fuss at all. When have you ever heard of an insurance company doing that? Here’s the kicker: the car happened to crash through the part of my fence that was only being held together with sunshine and good wishes. I’ve been meaning to replace it for some time and just hadn’t gotten around to it yet, so he pretty much did me a favor by knocking it down. Also, the estimate was double what I thought it was going to cost, so the check was a lot more than I expected. So I’m going to remove the rest of the fence, put in some boxwood hedges that won’t require a lot of attention and move on with my life. That’s a win in my book.
Lately I’ve had a rather mysterious ant problem in my house. They always end up in my bathroom, usually in the tub, and I haven’t got a clue where they’re coming from. There aren’t any in the kitchen, where I’m sure they would find plenty of things to get excited about, and as I’m not exactly doing cartwheels in the shower, flinging water all over the place, they aren’t finding any water sources either. What’s more, no matter how careful I am about getting rid of the scouts, more will reappear the second I look away. I’m suspecting they’re being deposited by micro wormholes. It’s the only logical explanation.
Today's plans include hitting the thrift stores in town and hopefully finding some good junk. Chris and I have had pretty good luck in the past, but there are days when you don't find anything worth a nickle. I have no idea what I'm shopping for, but I'll know what it is when I see it. Isn't that really the best technique when it comes to treasure hunting?
Anyway, I hope all is well where you are. I've been lurking on LJ in my cloaking device, reading posts and commenting here and there. Go have some ice cream tonight. You have my full endorsement.