Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Ehhhhhhhhttttseeeeeeee!!!!!

I have a problem.  It started out simple enough; just a few suggestions from well-meaning friends. 

"Hey, Megan!" they cried, "You should check out Etsy.com.  It's really fun."

So I did.  Hence, I now have a problem.  After months of slightly obsessive browsing, I finally took the plunge and made a purchase.  It was not a bad experience, but I have to hold back from going off the deep end on this stuff.

How do I know that I have a problem?  A good question.  When making my family Christmas gift list this year, I included a few Etsy items (along with their links) for purchase.  Gah.

In other news, I survived the Coffee Breakdown 2011!  It was certainly nice to have the Caribou for backup, but our repairman arrived as I was leaving today, so unless there is a part that has to be ordered or the machine is beyond fixing, things will be back to craptastic quality as usual tomorrow.

Where am I going with this entry?  Another good question.  I have no idea.  I just felt compelled to share.  Good night! 

Coffee catastrophe AVERTED!!!!

Apparently, the Russians are my biggest fans.  Not that I obsess (much) over blog stats, but I have noticed a heavy uptick as of late from a webcrawling site in Russia.  While I would love to assume that my writing resonates with the Russian reader, I suspect that it may be a bit of a spammy glitch.  But whatever.

This morning I awoke with a very heavy sense that if allowed I could sleep for another six or seven hours.  Sadly, this realization occurred while my alarm was going off for the third time, so it was not a possibility.

I rationalized that I would be able to drink coffee heavily upon arrival in the office, and this is honestly what got me through my morning routine. 

When I arrived at work, after removing my coat and starting up my computer, my next move was to grab my coffee mug and fill up for my first round.  Sadly, as it turned out, our coffee maker is having technical difficulties; mainly, it cannot effectively heat water to the point that it is at a decent temperature for brewing coffee.

Can you imagine my distress?  Thankfully, my manager took quick action and sanctioned a Caribou Coffee canteen run.  So in the end, I not only get my coffee fix, but I am also not stuck drinking the swill that usually circulates the office on a daily basis.  Joy!

You know, I just deleted half of what I had written.  I was going to delve into an evaluation of a family scene that played out this weekend the focused on my brother and his marital future, but I think I will back away from that topic.  Let's just leave it with the fact that I am well-caffeinated for the day, and THAT is a very good thing.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Non-apology

I have decided that it is not worthwhile to apologize when I do not post as often as I would like, so if you have genuinely missed me, too bad.  It appears that many bloggers like to take extensive breaks from generating new material, and while this is frustrating for me and my entertainment needs, I think in this case I will be a follower of the trend.

Thanksgiving is now complete; I managed to get TWO fantastic meals out of the holiday, so I was pleased.  My first was on the actual day with a small contingent of family where the highlight was the hilarious revelation made by my 17 year-old cousin that she intends to have 5-6 kids someday.  Oh, and she will be done having said brood by the time she is 30.  While I could not let this pass without some sort of comment, I think that I was kind.  At least I hope I was kind.

As is often required of me, I returned to work on the day following Thanksgiving.  It is not really as bad as it sounds, except for the fact that I work in the middle of a major retail hub, which meant that driving in and out of work was a bit hampered by the fact that there were many extra drivers on the road.  It was almost enough to elicit a "Bah, humbug!" out of me, but I resisted.

My brother and his lady friend arrived Friday evening, and we enjoyed a quiet evening at home with my parents.  Oddly, it was an evening free of engagement chatter, which was probably a relief to them. 

On Saturday morning, we awoke and prepared to leave for our second Thanksgiving celebration out at "the farm."  This was truly a momentous occasion for us as it marked the first time that my brother and I have slept in the old farmhouse in nearly 20 years.  Thankfully, we survived.

My brother tried to convince his girlfriend that the house might be haunted, but as it turns out, no one has ever actually died in the house.  Everyone always ends up at the nursing home.  I tried to bring the chill factor back by reminding them that most of said deceased relatives are buried about one mile up the road, so it would not be too much trouble for their ghosts to walk over for a visit, but no one was buying it. 

In all, the highlight of the weekend was probably making toast in the farmhouse kitchen.  It has been a very long time since food of any kind was prepared in that room, so I chalk it up to a major accomplishment.  This week my mother will christen the new shower which marks an event of an entirely different nature as it has been even longer since anyone has showered in that house. 

As much as I enjoy Thanksgiving, it has put a serious drain on my academic motivation.  This is a problem for me as I still have two rather large assignments due before I can truly say that I am done.  So my focus now must be to try and keep on track to finish well.  Then I can relax, take some time off and resume the job search.  Who knows, I may even try my hand at baking again in all my future free time!

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Take heart

Last night I had to fight the urge to blog, which was difficult because I was really bummed out and wanted to share it with the world.  In the gray and dismal light of day, I am not sure that I really feel much better, but at least it's not Monday any more.  Right?

The reason for my bummed out feelings rested on the receipt of a letter that I was sort of expecting to receive but was disappointed to get it nonetheless.  It was from that library up in the boonies that I had sent my application materials in to earlier this month.  While I definitely fulfilled their requirements to apply, apparently there were a lot more people who were even more qualified than me.  This means that they will not have time to meet with me due to all the other people they want to meet instead. 

This bums me out for more reasons than just the obvious one, which is that I just wasn't good enough on paper to warrant an interview.  The other part of this that is depressing and mildly alarming is that this job is not in the metro area, and I assumed (apparently incorrectly) that the applicant pool would be smaller and therefore less competitive.  It seems that I have grossly misjudged the desperation of my fellow librarians, and I fear that this does not bode well for my career prospects.

The only glimmer of hope that I can hold on to at this point is that perhaps graduation will improve my prospects.  If there is one glaring issue with my credentials (other than lack of library work experience) it is that I am not technically done with my degree.  So all those job descriptions that list the degree as a requirement are actually not available to me... yet. 

It took me a while to locate this little particle of possibility.  Before that, I was deep into a funk that was not limited to my feelings about the job market but to the dating and housing market as well.  It sounds like I could really use a vacation, doesn't it? 

Well, it so happens that I am in luck.  Due to the fact that I am required to use up a certain amount of vacation before the end of the year, I will have a quite substantial amount of time off in about a month.  Combined with holidays and weekends, I will not have to work in 2011 after December 22 and will not have to return until January 3, 2012.  Crazy, right?

Sadly, I will not be taking any tropical vacations during this time.  Instead I will likely be spending time up at my aunt and uncle's cabin in Wisconsin and possibly some more time out on the farm.  If they can get the shower to work, that is.  Otherwise I will be spending time at home, curled up with some books and my dog, getting extra sleep and looking for jobs.  Oh, and cleaning.  Probably.



Monday, November 21, 2011

Mini advice request

So I have a couple of quick questions for you. 

1.  What do you think of the new layout?  If you were wondering, it is my own rendering of my dog, Lena.  Try not to all rush out once to order your copies.  But I think it's a pretty good likeness.

2.  How long does it usually take for orders on Etsy.com to ship?  If a seller has over 3,000 reviews that are 100% positive, I am assuming that they are pretty good about getting things out, but if I decide to order something for, say, a Christmas gift, I want to know how far in advance I should do it. 

I realize that my blog is not a really active forum for people to submit suggestions or advice, nor do I assume that any of my readers are avid Etsy users, but on the off chance an expert stumbles upon this entry, I would appreciate the assistance. 

That is all.  Take care.

So how do you REALLY feel about that?

No one likes to be annoyed.  Yet, somehow for various reasons we put ourselves into situations every day that we know ahead of time are guaranteed to cause us a great deal of annoyance.  Sometimes it is unavoidable; we may be required to endure it because of a commitment or contract through place of employment, marriage, blood ties or travel routes. 

I am no exception to this rule.  There are days that I wake up and tell myself that today is the day that I am not going to let myself go to this place mentally.  I will force myself not to feel annoyance.  This usually lasts until I get in my car and start down the road to work for the day.  Road rage and stupid drivers abound, even here in "Minnesota Nice" country. 

Even if you try to be non-confrontational and drive safely in the right hand lane while maintaining a safe distance between yourself and the driver ahead of you, there will always be that one person who feels entitled to weave in and out of lanes, never signalling, riding up on your backside and gesturing obscenely to you that you are not moving fast enough to allow them to continue at 120 mph when the speed limit is 70.  And you are already going 75.  In the right hand lane.  Of three lanes of traffic.  Go figure.

Not that this happens every day, but it does occur more often than it really should, which is never. 

If you can make it through the morning commute without incident, count it as a blessing.  But your annoyance pitfalls are far from over.  Everyone works in different environments with various corporate (or non-corporate) structures.  However, unless you work from home (in which case you have already avoided the driving annoyances of the day), you will have to work with other human beings.

If you're very very fortunate, you will love the nature of your work.  You will find the actual job that you perform to be stimulating and worthwhile.  This may in some ways compensate and overshadow any slight annoyances you may otherwise experience in a day and you may go home at the end of the day basking in the glow of your good fortune. 

However, if you are less than fortunate in the nature of your work, this may not happen for you.  Ever.  It may manifest itself in different ways; a coworker who fails to competently perform their job duties, a colleague who blatantly flaunts their lack of adherence to company policies, or one who simply does nothing all day.  Sometimes these behaviors are just annoying by themselves, but in the worst cases, they create more work for you.  When all of these behaviors are rolled up into one person, it is impossible to avoid or ignore.

It is hard to keep annoyance from creeping into your brain when faced with these situations.  Perhaps if you are an experienced Zen Master, you can do some deep breathing and power through.  Or go to your "happy place" and let the irritations run off like water on a duck's back.  If you are capable of this, you are a stronger person than most.  Congratulations.

For me, I find that I am capable of this kind of magnanimous behavior about once every three months.  True, I rarely verbally or outwardly express most of my annoyance, but it is still there, simmering away deep in my brain.  It does help to have a confidante at work; someone who knows what you're feeling and is probably experiencing the same emotions.  Call it a support system if you will, but having at least one person like this nearby is possibly a lifesaver, at least it is for me. 

Does this entry have the feeling of a Monday rant?  Actually, it is not.  It is not a reaction to anything specific, just a general observational essay.  I am hoping to make a transition into the group of fortunates who really enjoy the nature of their work some day soon.  It hasn't happened yet, but the fact that my graduation is now LESS than one month away has me thinking to the future and the possible positive opportunities that await. 

So hopefully that helps to leave this entry with a positive note, but in case you need more encouragement, here are some nice words from one of my favorite characters of all time:*  "Follow your dreams.  You can reach your goals; I'm living proof.  Beefcake.  BEEFCAKE!!!!!" 

*Bonus points if you get the reference!

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Talking shop

Here we are on a lovely snow-covered Sunday afternoon.  But don't worry, it won't last long.  The afternoon, I mean.  Possibly also the snow as I hear temperatures will be back up in the 40's by tomorrow.  Too bad that is not in time for my drive home today.

Oh well.

So it was an interesting weekend for once.  Let me tell you how it went.

On Friday, I had the unexpected good fortune to be let out of work just a tiny bit early.  This was helpful as it allowed me time to drive to downtown Minneapolis, find parking and meet my party for dinner.  After a briefly terrifying wait near the corner of 7th and Hennepin for my parents who decided that they were going to wait for me at 6th and Hennepin but not tell me (ha ha), we got things started.

As a long-time single gal, I have not had a great deal of experience in the realm of hanging out with the coworkers of one's significant other.  I am told that it is not always the easiest thing to do; sitting there listening while everyone "talks shop" while smiling and pretending to care.

For my Friday outing, I found myself in an interesting variation of that type of event.  In addition to my parents, I spent the evening with several of my father's coworkers and their spouses.  It wasn't as painful as you might imagine as they are all nice and welcoming, but it was a new experience for me.

We ate at a new-ish restaurant, and the highlights for me were the drinks and the mole sauce.  It was probably the most "authentic" Mexican food I have ever had, but also the most expensive.  Thank goodness for parents.

After dinner, we attended some comedy theater at a local institution that has new digs, The Brave New Workshop.  It was funny, entertaining and exciting as we were seated in the row immediately in front of the stage.  Thankfully, we were not asked up on stage, but it was still a very intimate way to take in a show.  I am not sure I would recommend these seats, but the show itself was definitely a good time.

Saturday morning was nothing too special - just my last day of internship.  A little sad, but a promising sign that the semester and my graduate school career are nearing their conclusions.  After internship, I had class.  By the time I walked onto campus, the sky had started to drop an odd hybrid of rain and ice pellets on the ground, but we were promised snow, so I was not surprised.

By the time I walked back to my car two and a half hours later, there was a good covering of about an inch.  The roads were not fun, but I followed my instincts honed by years of driving in such messiness and took it slow and easy.  I made it home in one piece to find my mother and a couple of her friends already busy in the kitchen.

The rest of my day was consumed with eating, drinking, talking and listening to my mom's former coworkers "talk shop."  The fundamental difference between this group and Friday's was not only age, but relative size/importance of their "shops."  Hint:  my father's group was older and they work for a major medical facility in the Twin Cities at the administrative level whereas my mother's group were all in their early 20's and work for a coffee shop chain.  Yeah.

Thankfully, everyone made it safely home last night and I was able to get a full night's rest.  Tomorrow I return to start another work week, but it's Thanksgiving week, so I not only get a day off of work, I also get a week off of school.  I know you're all jealous, but try to contain yourselves.

If anything half as exciting as this weekend happens before Thursday, perhaps you will hear from me again.  If not, have a lovely holiday and I hope that everyone is able to eat to their heart's content.

Friday, November 18, 2011

What goes on in my life

Don't you hate it when people who blog don't update as often as you would like?  I know it bothers me, but maybe that is because I have fallen into the trap of always craving new and interesting things to read and expecting people that I do not really actually know to consistently fill that need.  Selfish, no?

So here I am at the end of another week.  It has not been extraordinary in most ways, but just for fun, let's do a recap.

Monday.  From what I recall, I got up, went to work, came home, took Lena for a walk and worked on my homework.  Pretty productive, if you ask me, but not very exciting.

Tuesday.  It started the same as Monday, but instead of crashing in my own bed come nightfall, I moved myself and my dog to my parents' house for the night.  More homework was probably done somewhere in there.  But wait, I forgot an important detail.  I went to Target on my way home and purchased a hat.  Not my normal head covering, but a felt purple concoction that one of my coworkers found and told me about as it matches my purse. 

Wednesday.  Work work work.  Then a quick stop to pick up my mother and then off to my third jewelry party of the season.  You would think they would be paying me for this by now.  The highlight of the party was during the "purse game" in which contestants are given a letter and must race to produce an item from their purse that starts with said letter.  I rarely win at such things, but in the course of the game, I found that I had not yet removed a very odd item from my purse.  It starts with an "S," so I just waited patiently to see if I would be given an opportunity to share.  And I was.  Everyone was impressed.

Thursday.  Worky work work work again.  Then off to the bar for a quick drink with a coworker to celebrate one of our compatriots last day and new life in the frozen tundra of North Dakota.  Then school for three hours.  I do not know how I survived, but I did. 

Friday.  Work, of course.  Due to some strange arrangements made by my parents, I am going to a comedy show tonight.  This is fine with me, but it is with some of my father's coworkers, which is weird to me.  The crew is meeting at 5 p.m. for pre-show drinks and food at a restaurant in downtown Minneapolis.  As I must remain at work until 5, I will not be joining them immediately.  I will also be driving down alone and parking.  Not that I have not done this before, but I hate paying to park.  So that will be nice.

Saturday.  My last day of internship.  Sad.  Then, three hours of class.  Next, PARTY.  Well, quasi-party.  One of my mom's friends is coming over to make dinner at her house, and we are expecting a random assortment of guests throughout the evening.  I don't really care because I get to have cheesecake.  Oh, and apparently the weather people are predicting snow.  Is that exciting? 

Sunday.  Sleep in (hopefully).  At least until 9 a.m., if possible.  At some point, Lena and I will depart to return to our ancestral home, hopefully not having to contend with icy roads.  Although, given that the outside temperature is still teetering above freezing, I doubt any residual precipitation will remain. 

So there you go, my life as it stands at the moment.  Oh, and if you were wondering about that item in my purse... you'll have to wait.  I think I will wait for another entry.  Any guesses?  (My mom was there so she cannot make a guess.  Because it wouldn't be a guess.  It is a known fact to her.  Right?)

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Achievements and possibilities

It is pretty sad that this is noteworthy, but you should all be excited anyway.  I have avoided my pattern of procrastination!  You see, I have an assignment due this Saturday for class.  It is not terribly difficult (in my opinion) as it does not involve citation because it is a practical document. 

But witness my foresight in planning this one out.  The assignment is due Saturday at noon.  I have my internship on Saturday morning.  On Friday night, I am going to a comedy show.  On Thursday night I have class.  Tonight I have a party.  This all adds up to the fact that I will have little to no time between now and Saturday to write an entire processing handbook.

In some circumstances, I would view this as a challenge and attempt to take on the assignment in the wee hours of Friday night.  However, this time around, I decided not to risk it.  I started the paper... last weekend.  By now, it is pretty much done, with perhaps just a proofread and a final summary needed. 

Aren't you proud? 

In other boring news, I did something unusual yesterday.  I bought a hat.  Technically, I have purchased hats before, but they are usually somewhat practical.  As I live in the land of subzero windchill, I have amassed quite a collection of knitted winter hats.  My particular favorite is my sock monkey hat.  Not only is is in the height of fashion but it also has ear flaps. 

For this purchase, I drifted a little closer to conventional fashion.  Yesterday, a coworker of mine remarked that she had found a hat at Target that would match my purple purse perfectly.  She almost bought it, but held off.  I was curious, so yesterday I made a quick stop on my drive home from work to check it out. 

Sure enough, there it was: a cute purple felt hat that was very reasonably priced.  My next step was to try it on.  This is always necessary for me as I come from a family of large-headed people and traditional ladies hats do not always fit on my oversized noggin.  As luck would have it, this one actually fit.

You can guess what happened next.

So now I own a "real" hat.  Now I just have to remember to wear it.  It really is more of an in-between season hat as it is not warm enough for winter and too warm for summer.

In other news, I am a little geared up right now.  You see, today is the deadline for a job I applied for, and I am hoping against all hopes that I at least get a call on this one.  It is definitely a big deal as it would require relocation, but based on the job criteria and requirements, I know that I am qualified.  At the very least, it would be nice to get a chance to test out my interview skills.

The silly part of this is that the location and situation have been on my mind constantly since I found the posting.  In my head, I have been mentally mapping out the logistics of such a move and I am ready to either move forward with it or just let it go as a non-possibility so that I can find something else to obsess about.    Like Christmas shopping.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Smooth sailing

That last entry was pretty serene, wasn't it?  Don't worry, I am not trying to make a segue into some sort of diabolical rant about PMS or centipedes.  Although, I did kill one of the largest centipedes I have ever seen this weekend.  It was hanging out on the door to my parents' lower level bathroom.  I know that I should be all "live and let live" about these things, but it was indoors and it was CREEPY.  But don't worry, I went all Wild Kingdom on it and I am sure that it's demise was swift and relatively painless. 

I am proud to say that I was somewhat productive this weekend.  I got a very good start on my paper that is due this weekend, which is saying quite a lot for a chronic procrastinator.  My parents were out of town for most of the weekend, which may have been helpful as it left me with only canine companions for distraction. 

This morning on my way to work I had a bit of a sonic "moment of zen."  Apparently Peter Gabriel, (of 80's fame) has released a new album of "covers."  Oddly enough, they are covers of his own songs.  The twist that he puts on these versions is that he performs his vocals with a full string orchestra.  This morning on the radio, they played the new version of "In Your Eyes."  Truthfully, not my favorite song of all time, but hearing it in this new way was almost... majestic? 

Maybe this sounds silly, but it seems that I am getting some sort of cosmic reminder about my former life as a cellist.  Aside from this morning's radio rendition, I also attended a funeral last week for a former coworker where a cello was used to accompany a singer who performed during the service.  It was an unexpected reminder of why I was drawn to the instrument as a child. 

You see, in my school system, we were allowed to select a stringed instrument to learn when entering the fourth grade.  There was no question in my mind that I would participate just as there was no question that my instrument of choice would be the cello.  It wasn't high and annoying like the violin.  It had heft, and it looked cooler to play.  So for three years, I played the cello.

My career ended in seventh grade when I was forced to make a decision about my musical career.  You see, in fifth grade, we were allowed to choose a wind instrument to play in band.  As you may have already learned from this blog, I played the clarinet.  It was not impossible to do both band and orchestra at the elementary level, but in junior high, choir entered the picture.  In order to work in a full schedule, a student could not take more than two music classes.  So, if I wanted to participate in choir, one of the instruments had to go.

I wish I could say that I thought long and hard about it or that it truly was a difficult decision.  But it wasn't.  Orchestra simply was not as cool as band and choir.  There was also the fact that I rented my cello but owned my clarinet.  Honestly, I think that I just saw more of a future in band and choir.  Also, most of my friends were in those two classes. 

Looking back now, I hesitate to say that I made the right choice, even though I am pretty sure that I would do it all again if I had to go back in time.

Speaking of time, I think I should probably conclude this entry and spend some quality time with my dog.  She is giving me "the look."

Friday, November 11, 2011

Not much, but it will do

If it turns out that my future job does not observe all Federal Holidays, I will have to try very hard not to be upset.  For the past decade, I have enjoyed this benefit.  Today, for example, I am honoring my country's military veterans by not working.  It does seem a bit odd that I am reaping the benefit of this holiday when it seems that perhaps it should be reserved for veterans to enjoy the privilege, but I don't make the rules I guess.

So in honor of those currently serving and those who have performed their service already, thanks.  Especially to my cousin, John, currently serving in Afghanistan and my good friend Kevin who is in basic training.  You are brave men, and I pray that your service will one day bring you back to us so that we can thank you in person.

Aside from not working, today has been nice.  I had the house to myself as my mother did a trip out to the farm and my dad had to work.  I watched some episodes of "NCIS" as I felt that a show with a military theme would be good for the day. 

The rest of the weekend looks pretty calm.  A little interning, a little homework.  Should be nice.  This week is the deadline for one of the jobs I applied for that I am quite interested in, so hopefully I will hear something either way on that front soon.  I hate all the hurry-up-and-wait that comes with the job hunt. 

In case I decide to slack off some more, I hope that you all have a lovely weekend!



Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Darkness and privacy concerns

Good news, folks.  The predictions of the weather-people did not come true.  There was no snow last night.  Nary a flake!  This made me extremely happy as my morning commute was not impeded in any way. 

Now that our clocks have been adjusted, darkness falls much earlier in these parts.  This can be a hard adjustment for many, especially as it makes 5:30 p.m. feel more like 10 p.m.  Walking my dog now occurs entirely under the cover of night.  Our morning stroll has been dark for a while now, but now our evening perambulations have an element of dusk to them. 

Of course, now that the sprinkler systems are turned off, it is a far less treacherous journey, but I am going ot have to invest in a mini-flashlight so that I can locate my dog's droppings for disposal.  You have no idea how hard it can be to locate them in a neighborhood where the streetlights turn on and off at will.

I forgot to mention something important that happened yesterday:  Lena and I celebrated our ninth monthiversary!  Yay!  We did not do anything special to celebrate, but it was still an important milestone.

On a different note, I have decided that the networking website, LinkedIn, may be possessed by demons.  Why else would I consistently receive "invitations" and "suggestions" for people that I only know tangentially?  What I assume has happened to many people is that this demonic program somehow leeches into their computer and email accounts, where it secretly accesses any and all email addresses ever used or received.  It then sends out an "invitation" purporting to be from the member, inviting others to join them on the website.  Usually, the sender has no idea that the message has been sent.

I don't know about you, but I find this to be disturbing.  It could be considered a breach of privacy.  In fact, I am fairly certain that it IS somehow ethically questionable.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Can it be?

There is a dirty, nasty rumor going around in news-bringing circles.  Brace yourselves:  tonight we may have snow. 

(Dramatic pause.)

Let it sink in.  You knew it was coming.  You heard about all the terrible snow storms out in other parts of the country, but you didn't care.  Now it is your turn.

Boo.

OK, OK.  So it is only supposed to be two inches of accumulation, and you KNOW that it won't stick around for long.  It is way too early in the season for that. 

But it's so inconvenient.  The first snow of the season always causes Minnesotans to have a group memory lapse and either decide that they need to drive 2 mph on the freeway or that they can still just zoom along and cut people off like they normally would without consideration for the fact that the laws of physics are slightly altered on surfaces bearing frozen precipitation. 

Oh sure, we'll get used to it.  By mid-February it will be no big deal.  But in mid-November, I think we all hold on to the hope that perhaps the first snow will not take place until Christmas Eve.  Or later.

Some years, this hope is realized.  But after last year and the heavy accumulations we had, I am not silly enough to think that it is likely. 

In preparation for this possible snowfall, I have taken the precaution of placing my snow boots in the trunk of my car.  Next will be my heavy duty mittens and hat.  There does come a point when I am wearing this stuff every day to every place that I go, but until we have a solid six inches on the ground, I hold my ground.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Hot mess

So I do appreciate that my blog stats have been strangely high as of late, but I suspect that this may be due to several different blog crawling websites passing through, if my stats are to be believed.  Go figure.

We have now come to the week of the month where I find myself a hot bubbly cauldron of split second mood changes and misplaced anger.  You all had best keep your distance.

It starts with this morning.  Mondays are never my favorite, but I can usually bear them with a degree of tolerance.  But when one is forced to spend one's time in close proximity to someone that drives them to the point of bang-your-head-against-the-wall insanity, it gets a little dicey.  Mix in a healthy dose of hormones and you have a lethal mix. 

If you really want to have some fun, throw in some terrible news.  This time around, it is a former retired coworker of mine who passed away this weekend.  This coworker was a favorite of mine for many reasons.  First, he was just a great person.  Second, he reminded me of my grandfather, or someone who would have been friends with my grandfather.  His sense of humor was without equal, and that is always of high value in the workplace.  Due to his retirement, I have not seen him for a few years, but shared memories and stories of his exploits still float around the office.

In the midst of digesting this news upon entering the office, I received a call from my former Internet provider.  It seems that the credit card I had linked for payment expired and renewed recently, and they were looking for their $4.95 payment.  If you are wondering why I am still paying a former Internet provider, it is because I wanted to maintain my email address until I could be sure that I had changed over all my accounts and other important information to new places.

The representative on the phone was not rude, but I was not pleased to be called at work as if I were being pursued for collections.  So great was my displeasure that after paying the delinquent amount, I promptly requested to cancel the account in full.  Perhaps this was a bit drastic as the rep did offer to cut my cost in half (to $2.47) if I would stay for another month.  I refused, of course. 

It did give me momentary pause to wonder about the desperation of this ISP for business if they were willing to accept such a small amount to keep a customer.  True, I have been a customer for nearly a decade, but it is time to move on. 

All in all, a pretty boring day, wouldn't you agree? 

Saturday, November 5, 2011

But I'm so TIRED!

Greetings.  It is now almost 9 p.m. on Saturday night.  Or 8 p.m. if you're already turning the clocks back.  For some reason not quite clear to me, I am exhausted.  If I follow through with the current trend, I may be in bed at the same time as many young children.

Of course, sometimes children are granted an exception to stay up late with the girls, in which case their bedtime can be later than 11 p.m.  Now that I think about it, this may be why I am so tired right now.  I partied way to hard last night with my friends and my friend's daughter.  I know there was pizza.  I am pretty sure there was tea.  And I am absolutely positive that there were frosted cake balls.

Now that we've figured that all out, I am off to bed.  Good night!

Friday, November 4, 2011

Good news

Good news:  my finger is healing nicely.  I even used some anti-bacterial salve on it this morning.  Are you impressed?

Also good news:  today is Friday.  True, tomorrow I will spend the majority of my day either at my internship or in class, but at least it is some variety.

As predicted, my mother was amused by the fact that I had inflicted fingernail related injury upon myself.  I am nothing if not entertaining.

I received some good news this morning.  It seems that I may not be forced to spend the entirety of my evening trapped in the basement with three dogs and my father while my mom and her book club cronies yuk it up in the rest of the house.  You see, one of my oldest friends is coming to town with her husband and two adorable children, and some of us are going to meet her for pizza tonight.  Yay!

Of course, it is important to keep in mind that I will likely have to spend some time in the basement as I believe the dinner plans fall earlier than later and the book club ladies are known to party quite long and hard.  I only hope they leave some jalapeno dip for me.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Beware!

My mouth is tingling.

Wait, is "tingling" a legitimate word?  Let's spell check it out!

The answer is:  Yes, it is legitimate.

Sweet.

Now to the obvious question:  Why is my mouth tingling?

The answer is:  Because I just ate a sandwich with hot peppers.  Technically, not only hot peppers, but other "hot" vegetables as they were all pickled/spiced in the same hot brine.  Love, pure love.  You know those Mentha lip glosses that you can buy at Bath and Body Works?  The effect is like that, but stronger.

Hopefully, by the time class starts, the effects will have worn down as I would hate to subject my classmates to the fiery dragon breath I have going on.

Grievous Injuries

This morning, I grievously injured myself. 

No, it was not related to a motor vehicle.  It happened in the office. 

No, there was no office equipment involved.  I will not be collecting any kind of worker's compensation.

How did it happen?  With a great deal of trepidation, I will tell you.  My mother and brother will enjoy this story, so Happy Birthday, Mom.

When I speak extemporaneously, I tend to make good use of my hands.  As in, I like to gesture dramatically with them.  I have been known on occasion to smack my hands into things like walls, counters and people, but that is not what happened today.

I cannot even recall what I was saying when it happened, but somehow, my left hand pinkie finger collided with a finger nail of my right hand.  It should be noted that my nails are not long; I cut them just last week.  Nor are they jagged as I filed them carefully.

Somehow, in this collision I managed to deeply gash and would the top of my pinkie.  Blood began to ooze forth immediately as I stared blankly at the somewhat painful wound.  At first I thought, "Bah!  It's not that bad!"

But the blood did not stop.  I gave in, went to the supply closet, grabbed the Band-Aid box, and went to the sink to wash up.  After displaying my now gruesome gash to a couple of co-workers, I carefully positioned a bandage to stop the blood. 

Now, to take a little side note, I don't know what it is about Band-Aids that is so fascinating, but it seems that all children go through a phase where they are obsessed with wearing them.  I don't know if we all have a secret desire to be seen as wounded or brave, but I held a constant hope that some catastrophe would befall me and necessitate a really awesome and highly visible Band-Aid solution.

Back to the story.  OK, wait, sorry.  One last sidetrack.  Although the sheer act of wearing a Band-Aid was always cool by itself, there was always extra cache for being able to see blood stains through the padded area.  Gross, but true.  Otherwise, how were people to know that you were legit? 

Alright, this time we're back to the story.  I mean it.  So, the first Band-Aid I applied quickly soaked through.  While I know that this would not be a big deal as blood does eventually clot, it is not exactly seemly to look like a bloody mess in a professional environment.  So I changed the Band-Aid. 

Now, this would normally be the kind of thing that fades in importance over the course of the day, but unfortunately, the cut is located on the pad of my finger and is thus irritated every time I type, which is something that I do on a fairly regular basis on a regular weekday. 

As I know that no one feels sorry for me in this situation, I will not share much more.  Except that I should probably tell you why the origin of this injury will be of particular satisfaction to my family.

I am the oldest child in my immediate family.  I am the only female child in my immediate family.  When we were young, until my brothers reached puberty and the accompanying growth spurts, I was taller than them.  This equated to the fact that I was physically more powerful than them as well.

Like most siblings, we occasionally fought, especially me and my brother Michael as we were closer in age and therefore much more likely to be in competition for things in life.  When our fights turned physical, it was not to hitting, punching or slapping that we turned.  No, it was usually hair-pulling, biting and scratching.  The hair-pulling was mostly him.  The scratching was mostly me.

On many occasions, I utilized my fingernails to gain dominance with mixed results.  The main advantage to scratching is that it is truly painful and can be a powerful deterrent.  The main disadvantage is that scratching leaves marks.  Sometimes it draws blood.  Both outcomes are difficult to deny to one's mother who has come to stop the fighting.  End result?  Megan gets in trouble.  No matter that I did not start it or that my scalp was still numb from the severe yanking that was done. 

It also did not matter if scratching was not my intention.  The most famous incident took place when we were visiting our cousins in Texas.  While playing in their pool one afternoon, I found myself floating comfortably on the inflated inner tube.  As flotation devices were limited, we were taking turns.  I had only been on the tube for a few minutes when Michael decided that he did not want to wait his turn and approached me menacingly, threatening to flip me off of my perch.

In what I will only justify as self defense, I reached out to hold him back.  In my attempt to push him away, I misjudged the distance and only was able to swipe at his exposed chest.  With immediate horror I realized that my nails had made contact with his skin and that my maneuver had drawn blood.  As I knew the outcome, I ran.  I believe I hid behind a fence while my brother triumphantly raised his voice to tattle on me. 

My mother was again less than sympathetic, but I do not think that I suffered greatly in punishment.  This was probably because we were guests and she did not want us to look bad in front of extended family.

Even though I was not punished (aside from losing my turn on the tube), this story has been brought up over and again throughout my life whenever my family wishes to demonstrate my violent nature. 

So they will only find it fitting that today I have wounded and drawn blood from my own hand unintentionally.  Although I doubt anyone will send me to my room for it this time.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Reasons or excuses?

I really should make an effort to be a better blogger.  As of late it has become my habit to write long and (in my opinion) boring entries, lose interest and then let them languish in post purgatory forever and ever.  Amen.

While it is probably open to discussion as to why I have not felt like my work of late is good enough, my opinion is that it may be due to several top reasons. 

1.  Weather.  Late fall is always a bit dreary.  Don't get me wrong, I adore these temperatures, but all the grey can really bear down on one's soul.  Oh, and the fact that Daylight Savings is late is probably also not helping much.

2.  Work.  This is a twofold reason.  First, my current job continues to drag severely on my soul.  I have known that this saga is coming to an end for a while, but now that the end is near, it has become more difficult to withstand current conditions.  Second, the new era of my career is still up in the air.  I do not have any super promising leads, so I am left to wonder about where I will go and what I will do.  Or if anyone in the big wide world will ever want to hire me.

3.  School.  Truthfully, my workload this semester has not been onerous.  I have had no difficulty completing assignments thus far and I do not anticipate a problem with any assignments remaining.  While I have been a bit frustrated with one of my instructors, I know that the semester is almost half done and her effect on my life will be over.

4.  Other.  There are some interesting and some frustrating things going on right now in my life or close to my life.  I am not at liberty to discuss them, but they are influencing me nonetheless.

Now that I look at these things, they really are excuses more than they are reasons.  I should resolve simply to get on and write as much as possible and just hope that nothing I say is too crass, offensive, stupid or boring.  How about we start tomorrow?