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Alrighty, then! It's finally arrived! (Vacation!) Need to pack a few things and then we're heading out the door. I will miss you all these next several days. I'll be back the evening of the 5th, and I'll likely upload another play-by-play. (I'll try not to be boring about it).
Have a wonderful 4th of July!
Have I mentioned that I'm in real need of a vacation? Yup, that third one down in the list over there sure came into play today. Apparently this proposal I'm bending over backwards to wrap up by tomorrow is not quite the priority to others as it is to me. Which means, it won't be wrapped up by tomorrow, and I'm going to have to "dump" it on somebody else to move forward with it, and that just makes me sick to my stomach because all the "somebody elses" are up to their eyeballs with their own deadlines, or else they're on vacation. What's so frustrating is that it doesn't have to be this way. If a Certain (geeky) Person would simply be decisive, read his emails, listen, and did I mention be decisive? It would make life so much more tolerable. And productive! As it is, I'm going to be the one who looks like an idiot. I can just hear my boss: "I was really disappointed that you..."
So I guess I accomplish what I possibly can tomorrow, and then I call it good because I'll be damned if I DON'T enjoy my vacation! And then I'll just have to let everyone be disappointed. WITH ME.
Yup, I've been making lists. And crossing (very) few things off them. Wow, lots of logistics to get ready for a vacation. And the thing is, I really just can't be in vacation mode while I'm at work (even though I'd love to be) because I'm hauling ass to make my deadline. I have this sense of both excitement and dread battling it out with each other. I can't dare get too excited until I've met that dreaded deadline!
I'm also trying Very Hard to not get my panties in a wad over the weather. After all, there's nothing I can do about it. But jeeze. Aren't we due? (It ain't lookin' too good...)
So tomorrow night is Major Grocery Shopping. The idea is to eat like Kings and Queens while we're there because WE DESERVE IT. Heh heh. And speaking of Kings and Queens, my folks leave on their Alaskan Cruise this coming Saturday! I sure hope they have a wonderful time. That particular day, July 2nd, is their 50th wedding anniversary.
I'm just about finished with "Velocity". Gotta go read!
Friday Night at Harstine – I brought down a stack of CDs I haven’t listened to for a long time. We have MUSIC. We always have, actually, but now we have MORE. Listening to Seal – it’s so good. It’s been a while so I appreciate it all over again. So here I am at the laptop (soon to be reading my book), and JDub’s working on his jigsaw puzzle. (I think this is #4 since we’ve had the camping trailer here. Maybe even #5. And they’re 1,000 piecers).
I tested out my new cordless vac I picked up for the trailer. It had a bit of charge so I could do a small area, but it really needs to charge for a good 20 hours! Anyway, it’s called a “Shark”. I mentioned to JDub last week about wanting to get a new vac and he said, “Oh! Speaking of which….” and proceeded to tell me that a dept. where he works at the Airplane Company got a bunch of these Sharks for their shop and they really thought highly of them. So off we went to Fred Meyer and I found one (on sale even, for $50). I figured if a bunch of macho men working at Bo*eing raved about a particular cordless vacuum cleaner, I couldn’t go wrong. I think it’s going to be a dandy, except having a place to charge it is sort of a pain in the butt. Right now it’s in the bathroom.
I brought work with me. (What a drag). But I’m feeling very nervous about this proposal that really needs to be wrapped up by Wednesday, and I have a LOT TO DO on it. I’ll alleviate some stress if I can get a handle on it this weekend. It’ll be difficult if the weather stays nice, though.
I’m irritated at Tom Cruise. I’ve never been a huge fan of him anyway. (He’s a little too “pretty” for my taste). But his public nastiness about psychiatry irritates me. How rude what he said about Brooke Shields when she took Paxil to treat postpartum depression. He can’t know! He cannot put his feet in her shoes! His arrogance is appalling. I have issues with all organized religions, but Scientology is especially over-the-top. Puleeezzz.
OK, time to get back to my book. It’s “Velocity” by Dean Koontz, and my-oh-my!! It’s definitely gripping! How’s this for a premise: A really nice guy (with a tragic and complex past) works as a bartender, and when he leaves from his shift one evening, he discovers a note folded on his windshield, tucked beneath a wiper. It reads, “If you don’t take this note to the police and get them involved, I will kill a lovely blond schoolteacher somewhere in Napa County. If you do take this note to the police, I will instead kill an elderly woman active in charity work. You have six hours to decide. The choice is yours.” Let me tell you, it takes off from there. With velocity…
Saturday Morning at Harstine – Woke up to clouds and moisture. I don’t think it rained – I think it’s a heavy marine mist. I let the dogs out at their typical butt-crack of dawn and when I let them back in, they immediately jumped on the bed with wet and sandy feet. CRAP! Needless to say, I couldn’t stay in bed very long after that with sheets feeling like sand paper. (Yup, I shook those sheets out good!) I do believe the clouds are supposed to burn off eventually.
Saturday Afternoon at Harstine – We went to Wally World (Walmart, yuk) and then the lumber store and loaded up with cheap goods (and not-so-cheap lumber). We picked up a new BBQr! We prefer charcoal (we both feel that gas BBQs don’t do the job of enhancing the meat flavor with enough smokiness). Lately, charcoal BBQrs are hard to find, though. We found a perfect one at Wally World and I’m pretty tickled about it. We’d been using a wee one here throughout last summer while we tented, and up until now. But with company coming over the 4th (plus the fact that, face it, we’re coming up in the world with a camping trailer with a deck), we felt it was time for a nicer/bigger BBQr. Tonight? Steaks, of course! However, no T-bones this time. (Sorry, puppies!)
During our running around today, for some reason I got a bit sick to my tummy. Not horrible – just on the queasy side. So after we got back, I laid down for a nap and I just woke up and I do feel a lot better. Plus, the clouds burned off and it is one gorgeous afternoon out there. And JDub would tell you that it’s also Quite Warm, as he’s been pounding away on the deck. He’s working on the 2nd level, which will also be rounding. And then he’ll build steps off to the side to the parking area, but also straight out from the trailer down to the driveway/trail that heads toward the beach. I believe he plans on taking this coming Wednesday off and heading to a place not too terribly far from here at Harstine that he’s scoped out where he can get cedar decking at a very decent price. He’ll probably have to make a couple of hauls. Then he’ll come home, nap, then I’ll come home from work (and hopefully my proposal will be finished!), and then we’ll head on down here for five whole days! Woohoo! And, he’ll have the decking ready to go. I figured I could help him with that. Shouldn’t be too hard, eh? It should also go faster with two of us doing it. It would be nice to have it substantially finished (or at least somewhat usable) by the 4th.
Well, JDub’s napping now (these dogs are in heaven with all the napping going on), and it’s time to get down to business and haul out my proposal. Sigh. At least the environment is nifty as can be. Music playing, and a beautiful water view. (Much better than my work cubicle).
Sunday Morning at Harstine – I did make some headway on my proposal yesterday, and I feel quite a lot better about it. I may spend some time on it today, too, depending on whether or not I’m in the mood to do so. (Ha! How about that for commitment?)
It’s not a beautiful morning and I’m bummed! It was sure a beautiful evening. Once again the marine layer is hanging over us. Chilly out there, too. We walked on the beach for a while last night and the sun was downright HOT. It’s starting to look like October in June/July already with all these madronas shedding yellow leaves. I’ve decided I’m not a fan of madronas. They are messy (they also shed their bark), and they block views!
JDub’s at the point on the deck where it’s quite difficult to get in or out of the trailer. This morning at that typical butt-crack of dawn when I was letting the dogs back in after their butt-crack constitutional (heh heh), Bailey had herself “lost” in the deck frame maze and couldn’t find her way out of it. I had to put on JDub’s jacket (didn’t want neighbors to get a “view” and ruin their day before it even began) and pull her up through the framing. JDub’s like a gazelle when it comes to easily walking across the timber edges, but I tend to picture myself falling flat on my face and so I pretty much freeze. I need platforms! Flat boards! Access! He’s been as cleverly accommodating as he possibly can. (If it wasn’t for the dogs, I wonder how accommodating he would be!)
Listening to Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon.” Mmm. It’s been a long time! JDub said he and a roommate wore out their vinyl album of it back in the 70s. He also built one of those synchronized light boxes that flashed colors of the spectrum to the music, and he said they’d just lay back listening to Pink Floyd and watch the colors. Who needed drugs? It was a natural high! I’m amazed at the complexity and the composition of Pink Floyd music. You just don’t hear that kind of brilliance these days.
I’m thinking we should have built-in speakers out on the deck! (Somehow…) How cool it would be to sit out there and have great music! ‘Course, the neighbors might not agree…
I sure miss the internet. How in the world am I going to function for over 5 days down here without internet?
JDub rocks! You aren't going to friggin' believe this! He repaired my car for 27 cents, and I'm not kidding. No more check engine light! Nada!
A wee little hose the dealership said was broken and needed replacing for $170? Yup, 27 cents at the auto parts store.
And then a "vacuum pump" that was "split" and needed replacing for $550? It wasn't split. A couple of screws had fallen out of it where it joined together. JDub just happened to have some on hand, replaced them, and that's all she wrote.
So tell me. $720 vs. 27 cents. What do you think? Here's what I think about AUBURN VOLKSWAGEN:
I am NOT a happy camper. I'm in a "hate-my-car" mode. I mean, I really don't -- I actually love my Bug. But when things start going wrong with a car, I start to hate them. Things going wrong with a car tie my guts up in knots.
For the 3rd time in less than a year, my "check engine" light came on. The first time I was told it was a glitchy thing and the dealership service department somehow or another turned it off. Then just this past March, it came on again. I was then told that it does that when you are due for your 40,000 mile tune-up (which, if true, is slimy because the 40,000 tune-up costs almost $500). Plus, I didn't even have 40,000 miles on the car yet. I let them know at that time that I wasn't interested in having the tune-up done, so then what do you know? They determined that I only had something like 15% left in my rear brakes. So I had them put on new pads, plus they once again "turned off" the check engine light. So today when I took it in because the check engine light was b-a-a-a-a-c-k, they insisted that it was not related to March's issue, and they charged me $91 for a diagnosis to tell me that I had some serious issues that would cost me over $700.
I told them I'd have my husband take a look at it. Which is what he's doing as we speak. The items that were indicated as being "bad" he's rather suspicious about. It would be interesting if his suspicions are correct because I have often felt that I've been screwed over with car repairs throughout my life. You're at their mercy when you don't know anything about cars. And none of the men in my life have ever known anything about cars -- except for JDub. And if there truly is a problem, maybe he could fix it for a lot less than $700. I sure as hell don't have an extra $700 laying around.
Then remember when I mentioned how relieved I was that the proposal I was working on was cancelled? Well, guess what? I have a new one! And it's even bigger than the original one! And it has to be completed by the time I leave on vacation (by next Wednesday). So the stress is b-a-a-a-a-c-k.
OK, a positive note: It's beautiful outside. Gosh, I sure hope it stays that way over the weekend. Heading down to Harstine tomorrow night and JDub hopes to get more accomplished on the deck. I might have to work while we're down there, in order to get this proposal finished in time....
So, today wasn't so bad. In fact, it was rather unique. A Big Deadline I was working on at work was cancelled and what a relief because as I mentioned yesterday, I'M IN VACATION MODE (albeit a bit early). And this would have needed to be done by next Wednesday, which would have been difficult because of others' schedules. So today was rather cushy, especially considering that all the Big Wigs are at a "Company Retreat" for a couple of days.
And so at 3:45 today, there was an announcement over the speakers: "Since the cats are away, the mice will play! At 4:00 come up front and have some beer!" I couldn't believe my ears! I remember the days years ago at a previous employment on Fridays at 4:30, it was considered "Beer Thirty". But that was before scary liability and political correctness and all that jazz. I wondered who had made this decree, but then immediately decided it wasn't up to me to worry about it. There were a whole bunch of folks gathered up front after 4:00, including Mr. FORMER CEO HIMSELF (the Scottish guy who has retired but will be working for a little while as a regular guy until a Big Project is completed) and I audibly gasped when I saw him and I said: "Oh! That's right, he's no longer a cat but a mouse!" (He heard me and broke up into a fit of laughter, which made me feel kinda good, since I don't think he STILL knows who I am, and maybe he does now).
It's funny when you have a social time like that with co-workers. You get to know some of them that you never knew before, or at least in a more "human" context than you'd experienced before. Which for me typically means pretty negative, and then to see them as "human" makes me feel a little more compassionate. Not that it'll probably matter, because in the work environment I'm very certain their nasty habits/idiosyncrities/geeky personalities won't change one iota. It never has before. But... for at least 5 minutes, they're tolerable. The non-geeks are great. I connect with them perfectly. It's a relief to know that I'm not considered a geek in the scheme of things! It's also frustrating to know that if I WAS a geek, I'd be making a lot more money. All it takes is an annoying personality. (Well, and a degree in being a geek).
I was just realizing that a week from tomorrow night, OUR VACATION BEGINS!!! Booya! And here I was thinking that I was a little premature to start a list. Uhm, not! There suddenly seems to be a lot to do between now and then, plus I'm quite busy at work, so I foresee some stress heading my way. (Deep breaths).
We had a monster of a thunder storm today. Again, they are pretty unusual around here and yet we've had a lot of them this spring (and started summer off with a doozy). I swear it roared and banged and flashed directly above our office for over an hour. (And that's another thing -- when we do have thunder/lightening storms, they typically don't last long at all and then they move along little doggy). Too bad they can't harness all that energy somehow. Power blinked now and then, and I was hopeful until I remembered that we have backup power in our office building. No such thing as closing up shop because of a power outage anymore. Which is good when you have deadlines looming.
So that was about my excitement for the day. In other news:
I'm just about finished with Jonathan Kellerman's "Rage", which is pretty good, but it's not great. There are a lot of characters and I keep getting confused about who's who.
I have something painful going on with my left wrist/thumb. (And why is that? I'm not left-handed!) It's been hurting for a while and it feels like a jam or a sprain or a almost-charlie-horse, and it makes it difficult to do "fine motor movement" involving that thumb, which is more often than you think. No, I don't recall doing anything in particular to my left hand. I did pick up a small wrist brace and it helps a little bit.
I read today this horrific/incredible story about a 12-year-old Ethiopian girl who was abducted by several men who were trying to force her into marriage with one of them, and she fought them and they beat the crap out of her. Then these three lions chased off the men, and guarded the girl until help came. When help did come, the lions just wandered off, which was considered extremely unusual because lions in the area were known to attack at will. And they didn't lay a tooth or a claw on the girl. (Doesn't that just give you the willies?) The especially horrific part of this story was the report that 80% of young girls in the villages were abducted by men and forced into marriage. (Yes, and this is still the same planet we live on).
And, I was elated to hear they found that lost boy scout in the Utah mountains alive and well! There are some partying people tonight after four days of searching! Oh wait. They're Mormon. Probably no partying. But very happy, I'm sure. In the pictures I've seen of the boy after he was rescued, he sure looked grumpy. Probably actually dazed, but he looked like he could bite somebody's head off.
| Your brain: 140% interpersonal, 100% visual, 140% verbal, and 20% mathematical! |
| Congratulations on being 400% smart! Actually, on my test, everyone is. The above score breaks down what kind of thinking you most enjoy doing. A score above 100% means you use that kind of thinking more than average, and a score below 100% means you use it less. It says nothing about how good you are at any one, just how interested you are in each, relatively. A substantial difference in scores between two people means, conclusively, that they are different kinds of thinkers. Matching Summary: Each of us has different tastes. Still, I offer the following advice, which I think is obvious:
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I'd say this is right on. Math totally befuddles me.
