Just trying to get back in the groove

Hello blog box.  You lonely beautiful thing you.  I've been unintentionally neglecting you.   I'm spending more hours at work, and that leaves me less time for you.  My writing groove has been interrupted, and I can't seem to get back on track.  So, I will just tell you what's been going on lately:

Its beach time ... and that's some mighty fine time.

I was recognized at work for going above and beyond.  I think this is a crock.  Who wouldn't climb into bushes near their work building while dressed in a skirt, hosiery and heels to pick up litter and who wouldn't report a roof leak at their job? 

I checked off one of the items on my wish to do list:  I finally toured the old cemetery in Apalachicola, FL.  I most liked those headstones that gave the place of birth and death.  We often forget we are a land of immigrants.

I was recently contacted by a ghost from the past who confessed that he had a crush on me back in the day, and that he always wanted to tell me that, and that even though he is happily married, he has now fulfilled his dream of telling me.  Wow, that's about a lifetime late.

My movie buddy is moving this week.  Oh no!  Who will I go to the movies with?

My vacation week will soon be upon me, and I haven't made the first plan.

My xxb's latest girlfriend broke up with him by changing her facebook status to single.  Cold girl, that's just cold blooded.

My brain feels foggy today, which means I should go for a walk.  Maybe I will. 

Thinking not out loud.

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Sporadically reading:   Stephen King's book "On Writing."  He's an easy read.

Cooking:  Chicken Roll-ups.  Yum yum.  Wish you could smell them baking.

Breathing:  Fresh Air

Typing:  click clack

Listening:  To the kitchen cooking timer (does it have another name?) , to the wind blow through the back yard trees, to birds sing and a dog bark.

Hoping:  For a do-over.  Did I mention that I'm not liking that new office manger.  At all.

Talk faster. No, faster!

I'm totally digging Dan Benjamin and Merlin Mann's podcast "Back to Work."  http://5by5.tv/b2w.  FYI, show #7 entitled "Vocational Wheel" was one of my favorites.  It speaks to me.  So, if you ever want to dig into my shallow psyche, give it a listen.

I had no idea, any one person could talk so effortlessly and continuously, but Merlin Mann can (yes, that's his real name).  Even though Merlin tags on the deep south now and then, I forgive him, because he frequently and astutely waxes on about the culture of work, a culture which I'm currently immersed in and less than happy with.  Besides that, he has earned the right to tag on the deep south.  He has broken a humidity induced sweat with the best of us southerners.

Dan Benjamin's role on the show is possibly producer and lion tamer.  But don't hold me to that assertion.  I think I can safely say that Dan serves as a restrained foil for Merlin Mann's unconstrained stream of consciousness. 

This sharing of my latest interest will likely give you some idea how narrow I am in focus these days.  Work work work.  It's all about work.  I've been listening to Merlin and Dan talk about work while I work.  That's probably kinda goofy, but I don't care.  I am, who I am.

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Pride Goeth before a fall ...

After practically a lifetime, our firm is transitioning into a standard 40 hour work week.  Up until the first of this coming April, we worked on average 37.5 hours per week ... up to 40, if need be, but if there was no need, the requirement was at least 37.5 hours.  This transition to a required 40 hour week comes in a time when our work load is less than it has ever been in the last 60 years.  Why work more hours if you have less work to do?  Apparently, the new office manager felt the need to make her mark.  Well, good for her for making her mark.  I hope she doesn't linger on that mark, because it would be an understatement to say that she has stirred a pot of ill will.  All I know, is that the 40 hour mark is the great equalizer.  Who stands out, if everyone works the exact same hours?  I don't care about standing out.  What drives me is to go one step further than what is required of me.  So, I will always work 40 hours and the 5 minutes over ... that 5 minutes being the amount I can work without being paid for overtime work.   Demand something of me, and I will spite you by giving you more than you asked.  Lucky you.  Prideful me.

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I can't even type CHA CHING and mean it.

In this case, cha ching sounds more like a distant whisper.


Here's how much a 2% raise on my salary buys me ...

NOT MUCH.

$12.50 a week after taxes.  This meager sum will be lumped together into a grand total of $50.00 per month, and added to my savings account.  That's what my savings account gets after waiting 4 years.  Poor thing.  I actually feel a little sorry for it.  I'm  personally accustomed to living lean and mean, but my savings account has the appetite of a King.


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A registry is only half the help ...

Good grief Charlie Brown ... where's that damn giraffe when you need help at Toys R Us?  I walked all around that big ass toy store before I found the Sizzlin Cool Soccer set that my sister-in-law put on my nephew's birthday registry. 

My nephew is turning the big 05 tomorrow, and it's party time again.  I can't wait to pin the tail on the donkey and kick the crap out of a pinata.  Oh, and did I mention there will be cake and ice cream.  I'm so there.  Ooooooooo, do you think they will have party hats?   I don't know if I will be able to sleep tonight, I'm so excited.  The anticipation may keep me up for hours upon hours.  

Oh yeah, I so don't wanna go, but I so love that kid, so I gotta go.  Wanna come with? 

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Another fly by ...

Hello one and all ...

Here's the news of the day:

I'm going to take this blog back to public, but I may have to wait another month or so, just to be on the safe side.

I got a raise today, and words of praise.  I'm grateful for both, and thanked them nicely.  However, the raise won't even stick its tongue out at inflation, and I think my employers may need the money more than it will help me, so I was wondering whether it would be proper to tell them to keep their money.  I mentioned this to my mother, and she said I should accept what I consider pocket change, and use it to pay for the difference in gas prices this year.  I said fine, because I actually value the words of praise more than  this year's raise, and I wouldn't want them to think I'm being an ungrateful smartass, because I'm really not.  Granted, it has been three full years since we last got raises.  While this has been a downer, I think we all have understood and graciously accepted the dire economic circumstances for what they are.  I'm just worried that the economy is still precarious at best, and I think if our practice is suffering, than we should all share the burden.  But hey, if they want to give me a token of their appreciation, who am I to deny them?

And if that wasn't good enough news, the day started off even better when I left the house this morning for work.  I locked up the front door, made my way down my brick walkway, stepped off the curb, and was greeted by a cat call from a fellow driving past in a dark green SUV of some sort .... he was yelling out of the driver's side window ... "You are hot!"  It was early, and I was stunned, until I looked up and saw that it was my former around the corner neighbor and facebook friend Bill.  Bill's a wild and crazy guy.   He earned a sheepish grin.





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