Happy Phantym

OMG This Is Nucking Futs!

2010-12-07T05:57:00.002-05:00

I don’t get here very often. It’s so much easier to make subtle jabs on Facebook it’s not even funny. I’ve jacked up my privacy settings, so unless FB gets a maniacal hair across their ass and changes my settings without asking, I’m as secure as it can get I guess. Oh I’m just thrilled shitless these days. Work is oh so annoying as usual.

If you worked without someone who refuses to speak to you unless it was work related, would you not therefore label that person as an ass-hat? I mean, if that person just outright refused to acknowledge your existence other than a necessary work communication, I label you ass-hat. The behavior is not acceptable. It is not even remotely ok to treat coworkers this way at all. This man has the social skills of a rabid badgers, and that's probably an insult to rabid badgers. His direct supervisor’s response to his ass-hattery is, “Well, he does his job and he does it well. He’s not required to speak to anyone.” Right, but no one wants to work with his stupid ass because he’s a dickhead!

Meanwhile, the ass-hat is constantly leaving the toilet seat up. I’ve finally had enough of this. I feel it’s a common courtesy when sharing a unisex bathroom, yah put the seat down when you’re done. I think most, if not all guys with a significant other of the female variety actually put the seat down when they’re done. So, after several months and with as many requests to his supervisor to talk to him about this, she finally talks to him about it. His response, “Well people should leave the seat up for me instead.” ASS HAT! I’ll say it again ASS HAT!

Meanwhile, the ASS HAT comes to the building supervisor to lodge a complaint against me. I got a call from HR this morning wanting me to come in and discuss a staffing issue. Hmmm. This guy has sat and waited for directors to come in on 1st shift so he could lodge a complaint when something wasn’t done to his satisfaction on 3rd shift. So, when I talked to HR my first and direct question was whether or not I needed to start looking for a new job. The answer was no, but damnitall, I know this fucktard is a snitching bastard. I’m sure he thinks he has something on me that I’ve done wrong to get written up. To the best of my knowledge, this is not the case. Sadly, I’m suspicious of his supervisor dropping my name to him about the toilet seat complaint, it was all he needed to complain and stir shit up. Wonderful. I almost look forward to getting to work tonight so I can promptly ignore those involved.

When it rains, it pours bullshit, that’s for sure. I contemplate whether or not it was worth the shift and position change with a nominal raise to put up with this disproportionate amount of bullshit from idiots. Ugh.

Tammolly ~Annoyed once again!

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

Rant-Rant Baby!

2010-04-20T10:18:00.001-04:00

Buckle your seatbelts boys and girls… It’s rendonkulous time! The crazy train has departed and I’m on it y’all! I don’t post here often, the Facebook phenomena has taken over my interest. This however is the ultra super secret place I go to and bitch and light someone on fire! Not literally, figuratively. If I had a volcano to aim at someone, I WOULD. No wait, I wouldn’t want to disrupt air traffic, stupid volcanoes…

Back to my point, it was brought to my attention from a director that if I want to go anywhere in my place of employment, I should NEVER post anything about work on Facebook. Fuck off! I HAVE NEVER-EVER mentioned anything specific about work, no incidences, no names, not even the name of my employer. It immediately became apparent that someone from work on my “friends” list mentioned my posting about not getting the vacant HR position at work. I am guessing it was someone who had something to gain by mentioning it, potentially costing me the spot. I have since then DELETED every single co-worker from my Facebook.

Am I aware that Facebook, Blogs, and other public social networking sites are potentially hazardous to your employment? Yeah, but fuck-wads from work can’t wait to cause drama. There’s a feeding frenzy not unlike shark attacks at work. There’s blood in the water and no one can keep their fingers out of my goddamned pie. I know, mixed metaphores, but I’m not here to please anyone. This is ALL I said about work and this was what was specifically mentioned to me by the director.

“It's no secret in human nature to want to move up and get into bigger/better things... Well, the thing I was crossing my figers for didn't come through. I applied for an internal HR position at work and got the "thanks but no thanks" letter. Oh well, HEY, I STILL HAVE A JOB! Also, there's the other thing, I'm not gonna get too excited either, it doesn't pay to get excited and jump around like a fool. DCS has set up a face to face interview, no e-mail and phone tag this time. This must mean they're being serious now. Serious is good. Serious means I can look at the roots of probelms out there that cause kids to be taken from the home etc. I can try to be helpful and hopefully make a difference in someone’s life in the real world. *sigh* Dreamers can dream right?”

I was perterbed by the letter, it indicated to me that there was an avoidant behavior involved, whether the person that interviewed me was going to be there the day it was announced or not. It comes across to me as avoidant and weak. Face the person you turned down for fuck’s sake!

Oh I got a talking to about this one as well: "I love the look of absolute confusion that people get when I explain my job and elaborate on the crazy shit the kids sometimes do and what coworkers do to get through a day. LoL” Um yeah, there’s something completely insidious and breeching of confidentiality there. It’s so terrible in fact, we could get sewed into oblivian! Oh NO! No sarcasm there people. Really. I’ve never mentioned the name of where I work, I edit anyone who does put the name out. So other than the usual “It’s been a long day.” “It’s been a rough day.” “Today sucked.” “I am working on such and such unit, oh friggen joy.” NOTHING IS VIOLATING PRIVAVCY!!!!!!!! HIPPA BE DAMNED!

So for the fucktards I work with, they no longer get to nose into my life and anything I say unless I say it directly to them! BOOYAH!

Tammolly ~ Annoyed… What else is new?

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

Rocket Man ~ My Shit Is Getting Packed

2010-01-04T19:17:00.000-05:00

I got the axe on December 18th, 2009. I was told my position was being eliminated as of January 22, 2010. Oh fucking JOOOOOOY! Yeah, I can’t say I’m precisely thrilled. Since I’ve been there, I’ve seen so many folks who have been there long before I came along and they’re even fretting about cut backs and teetering on the don’t-give-a-shit meter tanking out. I feel badly for those in my boat. I feel worse for those who still don’t know what’s going on for their department. I DON’T feel sorry for those who are dumb-assing their way out the door by exceeding attendance policy limits and getting shit-canned for it. I’m sorry it snowed and you have kids to take to day-scare, and that you got knocked up by the same cocksucker you divorced three times and married twice. Get your stupid ass up earlier and get to work on time you nimrod!

Sooooo, I’ll be unemployed yet again and I’ll get to feel all shitty about rejection letters and other such redonkulous crap. I’ve decided rather than sit about the house withering away in self-pity, I’m going to go back to school to finish that ever elusive 2nd bachelors degree in behavioral sciences. It’s been a major pain in the ass trying to get some registration stuff done. UGH. My only leeway so far is getting some stuff rolling at Purdue North Central rather than main campus. Main campus is so clogged with bureaucratic bullshit that nothing is getting done fast. So in order to kill off a degree in one semester, I have to split time between two campuses two days a week. WHA? Yeah, if I can manage to get the one class on main campus I need it starts at 730 in the morning and ends at 845. Then I get to leave campus to drive 1.5-2 hours one way to the other campus to finish the other two classes. INSANE! One semester two campuses and a second degree, I’ve done crazier things. Here’s the kicker too, two classes at PNC is cheaper than one class on main campus and it’s still cheaper to commute two days a week than trying to force three classes on main campus to happen. Ugh.

Lastly, this whole endeavor sets me up to take on the Masters in Special Education with licensure on main campus. In the long run, I’ll be slightly more employable with the Masters SpEd degree and two bachelors degrees. Taking on a semester prior to diving into the masters program gets the academic mind revving up and a bit more prepared to handle that program. wOOt! Wish me luck y’all!

Tammolly

~Not taking this shit laying down this time.

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

Holy Shit Batman! This Sucks Ass!

2009-12-02T19:06:00.001-05:00

Now that I have your attention, it’s time to make a post, one of those few and far between ones that come along because I’ve been facebooking and behaving due to co-workers being on there. I can’t say shit like staff suck because their attitudes and egos are so big, they think they can’t do anything wrong in the classroom when all they do is fuck around and leave the teacher and me hanging with their grab-assing bullshit! ARRRRG! Yeah, that would be unprofessional of me to post something like that on facebook with co-workers reading it too. SO I’m glad I have this blog where I can be vulgar and say piss off motherfuckers, because they're NOT on it. The boss has this professionalism ideal that goes beyond the time clock. We as education staff should be professional inside and outside of work at all time. AT ALL TIMES?! WTF?! If I wan’na go down to the local Irish pub and get shitfaced smashed off my ass commode huggin’ drunk, I will! You DO NOT get to dictate what goes on in my personal life. Granted, I know that parents are out there and can be anywhere at any given time, but if they don't like me, they can piss off too.

Brace yourself; I’ve got a few months to catch up on. Adam and I are doing great as far as I can tell. MY 35th birthday consisted of showing up at a fighter practice on Purdue Campus at Slater Hill and it wound up being TORNADO conditions. SO we all skipped the hill and ran off to the armory where discovered ROTC recruits in a feeding frenzy with the veteran ROTC pukes. Hmmm, so we fled post-haste to the Irish Pub down in the valley and waited out the storm with shots of free whiskey from the owner cuz it was my birthday! August 19th for y’all not keeping up here.

Prior to the birthday, we went to Pennsic. It was a good year for weather. Not much rain and it was a reasonable warm. A few weeks before Pennsic, I got rear ended on the job and couldn’t fence for friggen-ever due to workman’s comp bullshit. So no fencing for me at Pennsic, but lots of napping and working for Wade, the super cool linen vendor. I got lots of linen, like I think it was something close to 40-50 pounds of linen to bring home and wash and make stuff out of it. WOO HOO! I even took frequent naps and lazed around reading and relaxing like a real vacation. I doubt I will ever do officer stuff at the kingdom level for Pennic, because then it would no longer be a vacation and more like work. So what’s the point of taking two weeks off with the possibility of shit weather to work on my vacation? No thanks.

Moving on through the time line! Back to the present… The Friday before Thanksgiving, they announce imminent lay offs starting the following Friday. HELLO! That’s the day after Thanksgiving you fucktards! Apparently that didn’t happen but my whole fucking weekend was trashed. Am I gonna get canned? Will I have enough on unemployment to pay bills? (Yes, because I got the car refinanced and will be paying off two bills with a don’t sue me check from the insurance company after getting rear ended in July) Should I declare bankruptcy?! Throw me a friggen bone here people! So I made it through the first round of terminations. Starting in January the second wave of culling the herd begins. JOOOOOY. It likely means I’ll no longer be in the education department. This means oh fucking JOOOOY, I’ll have to work the units again and lose my weekends off. Grrrrr. I just don’t want that again, but it beats the piss out of unemployment I guess. Arrrg.

So after the initiation of this cut back crap, I renewed my resume input for the state job bank and got an interview with regional DCS offices. I’m not sure how that will go, but it will be easier to find a new ob if I have a job. SO I’m watching my P’s and Q’s at work and not blathering on facebook, because everyone and monkey’s uncle is on there. Blah. I like it, but as I said, no freedom to snark about work sucking monkey balls.

Tammolly ~Grumbling with a head cold.

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

KISS ME I’M SHITFACED!

2009-03-16T17:35:00.000-04:00

Well, not really. I mean St Paddy’s isn’t until tomorrow per se. Although I do have a bunch of co-workers going out to the authentic local Irish pub for a few drinks. Hmm… I think after my internal tirade this morning, I’m not too interested in going out when all I have is $10 for the next two weeks. whOOps! Someone forgot to include me on plans ahead of time yet again. More than likely, it’s not worth the potential problems it could cause anyway.

Anyhoo, down to the nitty-gritty. I haven’t posted in a while. Well, a LONG while. It took today to set me into a mad hamster wheel frenzy of pissed off energy. Nevermind the PMS this week, I’m just irritated to no friggen end! The job I do these days in the school is no different than being a YC on the units. Hell, I even get shit on by some of the UCs just as much now as before I became a part of the education team. I mean I get into as many or more restraints in my classroom as the rotating staff. I do the same amount of paperwork if not more than said staff that rotates through. I don’t get to rotate.

I even have additional responsibilities like tidying up the room before and after school. Grade papers! Keep my officemate sane! Believe you me, it’s no easy task. I am always working with the same teacher in the same classroom every school day of the week. I like working with the teacher in that classroom. If there were anyone else running that classroom, I doubt I would like it very much at all. Plain and simple.

Once upon an interview, I asked about wearing shorts. I was told we could wear shorts. There was no given day of the week expectation or a required length on said shorts. Shorts that are reasonable and somewhat professional looking are ok. So no Dropkick Murphy Goth shorts with tears and multiple tacky looking chains hanging out of various pockets, I get that. I established this much last September! Can I can a sarcastic woo-hoo here?

This morning, it’s predicting a high of 65 today. In my world, that equates to the building being about 80-90 degrees and sticky humid in the building all flippin’ day long. Ugh. Nasty! So I take preemptive steps like wearing a t-shirt, pulling my hair up, and Dun-DUn-DUN! Wait for it… Wearing Hawaiian print plaid cargo shorts that hang almost below the knees, because I’m not going to attempt to wear Daisy Duke shorts. Duh, those wouldn’t be very professional would they?!

The boss lady, having noted the shorts calls me into the doorway after a co-worker walked away and proceeded to discuss the lack of professional appearance because I had shorts on and SHE COULD SEE MY TATTOOS! OH NOS! TATTOOS aren’t professional and I should only wear capris if they cover up the tat on my shin. BUT WAIT FOR IT! I have two tats on my ankle too. So I shouldn’t even wear capris because some uptight schmuck might not want to give us one of their precious little angels due to a bad impression like hiring tattooed riffraff off the streets. WTFH?!

The tattoo comment quickly degraded into education team dress code policies before the end of the day. Shorts, capris, and jeans should only be worn on Fridays and other specified times; otherwise it’s business casual khakis, cargos, and company polo or t-shirts. In my case, only jeans, because I have tattoos and those are evil things our children shouldn’t be exposed to because I might scar the little bastards more than their biological families! Christ on a cracker, it’s that ridiculous.

Tammolly~

Debating on the ultimate self-employment gig and pajamas!!!!!!!!!!

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

New Job! Kiss-Aversary! Whole Ball of Wax!

2008-10-29T19:19:00.000-04:00

Got the new job! Did I mention that earlier? Blessing in disguise? Or new form of work related curse? They're slick that way. Welcome you with open arms and by the time you realize you're standing in a giant Venus fly trap with decoys that look like your coworkers, you're now plant food and fertilizer. HAH! Not really. The education team is a cool group of folks. I've been debating the whole posting to the blog thing for a while now. I officially took the position as teacher’s aide September 19th... Dun-DUn-DUN! Adam's birthday.

So far I've been a teacher while one of them is off being a new mommy. I'm okay with that. The job has a new kind of stress, but a manageable stress at that. I prefer it to working on the units. The only real sucks ass moments are going to be working on the units when we're not in school here. They haven't given me the option to be a full-time education staff like a real teacher; otherwise, I'd get 5 sick days a year and about 2 months off total because summer school is 4 days a week, Monday thru Thursday. wOOt!

Weighing things out. I've taken a dock in pay for this position, but the benefits are coming in an hour later in the morning and WEEKENDS OFF! Yes, you read it, WEEKENDS OFF! WOO HOO! Cut in pay sucks a little, because it means I have to pick up more OT to pay bills than before. Since they're currently overpaying me due to not making necessary payroll changes to the new position, what do I care? Oh yeah, they can't make up their mind whether or not I'm going to have to pay that back. whOOps!

Here's the sucky part if I do become a complete accessory to the education wing here. No more Pennsic or Gulf Wars. Our school break schedule falls outside of the date ranges for those particular SCA events. DOH! I keep thinking built in vacation time is good though. Two weeks here, two weeks there, and two weeks everywhere! Plus spring break time and what not. I could deal with no war over the benefit of taking more time off than I would have had initially by staying off the full-fledged education team. I doubt anything will change anytime soon.

Moving on... Happy Belated Kiss-Aversary! Yes. I can't believe we've (Adam and I) been together 3 years now. I look forward to many more returns. YAY! He hasn't killed me yet. We ended up going to Alabama that particular weekend and seeing my mom. I got inducted into the Cherokee Tribe down there. It was really exciting for mom. I am now Little Deer. Not to be confused with Little Dear, because I'm too ornery for that name. :P HAH! Yup, I am officially listed as a minority and can claim Native American status. Now, I’m just waiting for them to start a casino so I can rake in royalties. Not!

That’s all for now. Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve updated things. When I’ve been so wound up with work and whatnot, blogging took a backburner for a bit. TTFN!

Tammolly~ Dressing as a pirate for Halloween.

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

Respect My Authority!!!!!!!

2008-08-23T21:13:00.003-04:00

Think Cartman!

So I’m royally annoyed today; mostly with this week at work. I haven’t quite been home from Pennsic two weeks and I’m ready to implode and tell people to fuck off. Had a few outings these past few weeks, but perhaps I’ll start with the summer semester with the kiddos where their four day school week equates to a three day weekend for staff to suffer with, especially when there’s no hardcore curriculum to entertain the little bastards with on that three day weekend. Now imagine two weeks with them not in school! Can we say nucking futs?!

Summer session, on Thursdays there were outings that coincided with the thematic nature of the week. One week was Wild Wild West and the great outdoors so they all got to go to Happy Hallow Park. Happy Hallow is a fairly nifty free spot here in the Lafayette area. It’s especially cool when the water tables are up and we’ve had consistent rain. It adds to the whole pretty waterfall thing. I was supposed to go on that outing, but got shafted with staying behind in the classroom with the kids who couldn’t go due to being on restriction. Imagine the whole summer where you’re excluded from the REALLY fun shit like going to the Indy Zoo because no one else wants to deal with the bad kids class where a majority of them don’t go because they can’t keep it together long enough to go on those outings. No one else wants the class, because they can’t stand the kids or don’t know how to handle said kids. I CAN HANDLE THEM! Therefore by being a strong staff, I get shafted because whiny kiss asses don’t want to deal with it. The final outing of the summer session I got to go to the water park and swim with the kids. Now, the only reason I got to go on this was the fact that the teacher with the bad kids went to bat for me and ripped some collective asses for shafting me all summer long. Thank you! It was nice and memorable.

This week, I had my birthday on the 19th and I was looking forward to going to Turkey Run on a unit outing. My QMRP, the boss lady over my UC signs me up for it, because she knows I really want to go. Do I get to go? NO! My UC chooses someone else to go. It was a sucky day. Mind you, this week, we went to Indiana Beach and the Indy Children’s Museum too. It was fun with the exception of constantly reminding children to stay with staff, don’t walk away from staff, you’re not in charge, negative shit attitudes, snarking, and the list goes on and on. The outing from yesterday ended up with three boys getting outing restrictions due to all of the above AND a tantrum that almost got a child an elopement consequence because his attitude sucks ass everyday.

Now, my partner on this outing said he would write the restrictions up and update the board, per the approval of last night’s building supervisor and my QMRP. Mind you, I had reached the point when I told them all I wasn’t going to remind them of what they needed to be doing, they were just going to get outing restrictions. I get to the unit this morning and see the board updated. YAY! Ungrateful shits aren’t going to the next outing. UC from the unit next door jumps my shit about how I didn’t follow through, didn’t consequence them right at the outing, and didn’t tell them they had restrictions and erased the updates. The restrictions were the consequences! I’ve had supervisors tell me to right it up that way in the past. Back the fuck off! But it gets better.

My UC comes in for a one on one outing with a kid and she overrides me as well. Nice. So my authority as a YC is now undermined in front of the boys who weren’t supposed to go anywhere. Couldn’t find the paperwork, or so the other UC says. I found it at the end of the day, after 2nd shift came in and I asked about it. I found it and they didn’t go out tonight, but somehow I’m wrong in the whole thing. Somehow it’s my fault that they lied about not knowing about the consequence so they could manipulate the situation and go out tonight. Nice fucking week this has been. Again, why not just tell the kids to ignore everything I say, because by dropping the consequences for their behaviors; they get that very same message. Grrrr

Refer to previous post Nookie And The Eternal Conflict Of Interest for my next line of ranting. UC from next door has the boys all quiet and getting them antsy about going to the game room. He then leaves the unit (background information, we had someone call off, and the UC from next door popped in and out all day long) My UC brings back the kiddo from the one on one and the other UC disappears for 20 + fucking minutes or better and can’t seem to be found anywhere on the walkies. So now I’m stuck on the unit alone with one other staff in the QR and no idea whether or not they’re even going to the game room! ARRG! ARRG! ARRG! Yet no one says a word to them about they’re lovey-dovey bullshit that goes on; which is my suspicion of the situation. No one else can do it either or it’s a big flippin’ dealio. It certainly pays to be related to big people in the building. Nice, isn't it?

I guess I needed to vent and be done with it. This is me cooling down now and going to bed. =)

Tammolly ~Annoyed again

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

Farewell George

2008-06-23T19:42:00.002-04:00

So George Carlin died yesterday. I remember being a little kid and listening to my dad’s LP records. I was too young to understand what was so funny. I’ve got CDs of old LPs. I’m sitting here listening to a few old routines. Farewell George. You will be sorely missed.

T~

As follows. Not my usual signature.

George Carlin's Seven Dirty Words

The big seven words you weren't allowed to broadcast were: Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, Cocksucker, Motherfucker and Tits.

Here is the original Carlin comedy routine that caused the Fracas.

"I love words. I thank you for hearing my words. I want to tell you something about words that I uh, I think is important. I love..as I say, they're my work, they're my play, they're my passion. Words are all we have really.

We have thoughts, but thoughts are fluid. You know, [humming]. And, then we assign a word to a thought, [clicks tongue]. And we're stuck with that word for that thought. So be careful with words. I like to think, yeah, the same words that hurt can heal. It's a matter of how you pick them.

There are some people that aren't into all the words. There are some people who would have you not use certain words. Yeah, there are 400,000 words in the English language, and there are seven of them that you can't say on television. What a ratio that is. 399,993 to seven. They must really be bad. They'd have to be outrageous, to be separated from a group that large. All of you over here, you seven. Bad words. That's what they told us they were, remember? 'That's a bad word.' 'Awwww.' There are no bad words. Bad thoughts. Bad Intentions.

And words, you know the seven don't you? Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, Cocksucker, Motherfucker, and Tits, huh? Those are the heavy seven. Those are the ones that will infect your soul, curve your spine and keep the country from winning the war.

Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, Cocksucker, Motherfucker, and Tits, wow. Tits doesn't even belong on the list, you know. It's such a friendly sounding word. It sounds like a nickname. 'Hey, Tits, come here. Tits, meet Toots, Toots, Tits, Tits, Toots.' It sounds like a snack doesn't it? Yes, I know, it is, right. But I don't mean the sexist snack, I mean, New Nabisco Tits. The new Cheese Tits, and Corn Tits and Pizza Tits, Sesame Tits Onion Tits, Tater Tits, Yeah. Betcha can't eat just one. That's true I usually switch off . But I mean that word does not belong on the list.

Actually, none of the words belong on the list, but you can understand why some of them are there. I am not completely insensitive to people's feelings. You know, I can dig why some of those words got on the list...like cocksucker and motherfucker. Those are...those are heavy-weight words. There's a lot going on there, man. Besides the literal translation and the emotional feeling. They're just busy words. There's a lot of syllables to contend with. And those K's. Those are aggressive sounds, they jump out at you. CocksuckerMotherfuckerCocksucker. It's like an assault, on you. So I can dig that.

And we mentioned shit earlier, of course. Two of the other 4-letter Anglo-Saxon words are Piss and Cunt, which go together of course. But forget about that. A little accidental humor there. Piss and Cunt. The reason Piss and Cunt are on the list is that a long time ago certain ladies said 'Those are the two I am not going to say. I don't mind Fuck and Shit, but P and C are out. P and C are out.' Which led to such stupid sentences as 'OK, you fuckers, I am going to tinkle now.'
And of course the word Fuck. The word Fuck, I don't really...well, this is some more accidental humor, but I don't really want to get into that now. Because I think it takes too long. But I do mean that. I mean, I think the word fuck is an important word. It's the beginning of life, and, yet it's a word we use to hurt one other, quite often. And uh, people much wiser than I have said, I'd rather have my son watch a film with two people making love than two people trying to kill one other. And I of course agree. I wish I know who said it first, and I agree with that. But I would like to take it a step further. I would like to substitute the word fuck, for the word kill in all those movie cliches we grew up with. 'Okay Sheriff, we're gonna fuck ya now. But we're gonna fuck ya slow.' So maybe next year I'll have a whole fuckin' rap on that word. I hope so.

Uh, there are two-way words, but those are the seven you can never say on television. Under any circumstances you just can not say them ever, ever ever, not even clinically. You can not weave them in the panel with Doc and Ed and Johnny, I mean it's just impossible, forget those seven, they're out.

But, there are some two-way words. There are double-meaning words. Remember the ones your giggled at in sixth grade? 'And the cock crowed three times.''Hey, the cock the cock crowed three times. It's in the bible.' There are some Two-way words, like it's okay for Curt Gowdy [mis-spelled in original transcription. -ed.] to say 'Roberto Clemente has two balls on him.' But he can't say, 'I think he hurt his balls on that play Tony, don't you? He's holding them. He must have hurt them by God.' And the other two-way word that goes with that one is prick. It's okay if it happens to your finger. Yes, you can prick your finger, but don't finger your prick. No, no."

Nookie And The Eternal Conflict Of Interest

2008-06-12T20:27:00.000-04:00

So my direct boss is dating someone who used to be on the unit with me as a lowly little youth care schmuck. Then he went to the group homes and made a little more scratch than the folks like me who stayed on the unit and loyal, because our unit is the red headed step-child of the building. Now he’s back as a unit coordinator for the unit next to ours and it makes for what feels to be an uncomfortable situation at times. He was a real smart ass, always has been, always will be; only now he’s in a position to irritate me and get away with it more than ever.

My boss is moody half the time. It seems like whenever our unit gets a unit coordinator aka a UC; we never seem to know where the hell they’re at half the time. Our old UC before he got reactivated to Iraq was also a Houdini UC. I’ve kept my complaints to myself, because it does nothing but aggravate my nerves and make me grumpy when nothing gets done about it. Today was a topper on the cake, the cake of cakes, and I am of the opinion that the mamby-pamby way of being wishy-washy on the enforcement of the rules sucks. I was undermined by her this morning and it sucked. I told a child that the lights were out and that he needed to stay on his bed until it was time to get up, AKA THE LIGHTS MUST BE ON BEFORE GETTING UP!!!!! She let him get up and do whatever he wanted before the lights were on. HELLO! Why not just tell the child to never listen to me so he can staff split to get whatever he wants. *grumble*

Today, for instance, it seemed a trivial thing to take our breaks because the unit was quiet and there was only one child in the QR. I’m thinkin’ we’ll do what we always do when she’s not around; we break ourselves out and take initiative to get shit done.

Things have changed since she’s been around. We don’t prompt the children to get out of bed and give them time out s for not following directions. So they get until 07:30 to be up and ready or receive no reinforcer points for toys and snacks for good behavior and instead get an early bed time that second shift won’t enforce anyway. Oh yeah, and if you’re not ready on time you don’t get to go down to the cafeteria and eat breakfast with everyone else. Does it happen on our shift as dictated by our UC? Nope. It’s arbitrarily enforced in a wishy-washy manner.

Back to taking the initiative! Our UC finally gets on the walkie and radios for us to start our breaks since she’s on her way back to the unit. (Mind you she told she’d be back in 15 minutes and what seemed more like 45 minutes had gone by.) Um-kay. I say something along the lines that we’re already doing it and she sarcastically replies, “Thanks for getting my permission.” WTMFH is that all about? Since when are we to be talked to like children over a walkie where the whole friggen building can hear it?! Damn.

So, when I try to talk to her about it. I got the “Talk to the hand” signal and the phrase, “I’ll talk to you guys later.” She’s all in a tantrum huff. Nice. Dis’n your peeps! MEOW!!!!!!!!

So my buddy’s looking at leaving days to apply for the second shift UC spot just to move up in the world and get away from the impending love triangle drama that will likely ensue. Yeah, my old UC on the girls unit used to date my current UC. Can you see where the drama is coming into play? This sucks! When she cheated on my old UC on the girls unit, they didn’t do a very good job being professional about the whole ordeal. Now the current love birds are in positions that if I piss one off, the other, no matter professional they claim they’re trying to be while at work, might just decide to mess with me too.

Again, I’m clinging onto the hope that I will get into that other job position off the units. I am wary of the spoonfuls of shit handed out periodically. I feel frustrated more and more lately due to the fact that people put up so many fronts for faces in higher places. They know how to look good just long enough to manipulate someone into a position they’re jockeying for. It bites to think that honest people are swept aside for the ass munching butt munchers who are dating the infields. Yah know what I mean? May the best person for the job be selected! Is that too much to ask for?

Tammolly ~Grumbling

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

No More Flying Monkeys??

2008-06-06T16:19:00.000-04:00

Well, I would certainly deal with fewer flying monkeys in a direct manner if I get the internal job for social services. WOO HOO! We’re talking Monday thru Friday, weekends off, same bennies. Did I mention weekends off and dealing less directly with the kids everyday? Oh yeah! Giggity-giggity. Giggity-goo. It means paperwork of a different sort, it means dressing up more often, it means taking kids to court when social workers can’t, and it means being the good guy ‘cuz I give out treats for good behaviors. All the things I like about the job will likely be all the things I don’t like about the job. Yah know? I am filling out the internal application on Monday. I have a good feeling about this.

Tammolly ~ Excited on a Friday night.

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

Morale Booster Anyone?

2008-06-03T14:18:00.001-04:00

So the past month or so had been hectic and emotionally draining where work is concerned. Yesterday was the last straw on the camel’s back or something. I just had one of those post adrenaline emotional melt downs where I sat in a teacher’s closet/office and bawled my eyes out for 20 minutes until I could get myself together well enough to not meltdown in front of the kids. They don’t need to see stuff like that. I don’t know if it’s been hormones or what, but it’s there nonetheless. Remember the carrot stabbing incident? LINKY TO POST I STAB YOU! Yeah, that little angry monkey shoved a chair into my knee at breakfast last week. WOO HOO! When I got up out of the chair to restrain him, the reflexive tissue doctors use to tap on your knee to test for reflex was very angry. SO, instead of a standing restraint, we went straight to the floor in a sitting restraint. RIGHT QUICK LIKE. Ugh.

I’ve had better weeks, days, and months on the job. That’s a no brainer there. I am now looking forward to pre-regging for Pennsic! A two week event out near Slippery Rock, PA that generally rocks out for the most part; that is of course if it’s not raining and ungodly nasty humid and hot out the entire time. Oy-vey.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I should go find something to do besides sit here and surf. LAUNDRY! YAY! Not… Tomorrow is fun haircut and colorization day! =)~

Tammolly ~Kinda bored, but glad I didn’t pick up a day at work.

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

More On Gulf Wars 2008

2008-04-02T18:45:00.000-04:00

So I gave y’all a brief summary of the vacation. I met a few interesting people, one I can quote, but don’t know his name. He stated that while on a plane, he had a t-shirt on that said “YOU ARE ALL SHEEP.” The lady that was sitting next to him asked if he was a religious man. He said politely, “No Ma’am I’m Scottish.” Wheee! That was hilarious.

On some cool morning or another, it got down to the 40’s at night, we arose to wander through the encampment and get some breakfast at the chow hall. It’s got a little general store in it for miscellaneous things like soda and energy drinks, candy, and basic toiletries. If you had the misfortune of forgetting your tooth brush, they were as generic as having a simple piece of hard plastic with bristle like objects attached to one end that would scrape the shite out of your gums if you weren’t careful. That was me my first GW! Jooooy. Not this time boys and girls. Anyhoo, back to wandering for breakfast, two guys wander up to our table and ask we mind if they ate breakfast with us due to limited space. Got to chatting, seemed like nice folks from another Kingdom, Gleann Abhann. So that was all well and good. I mention if they want to come and hang out with us later to look for the flaming nuts in Midrealm’s area.

Yes, you read it correctly, FLAMING NUTS. I shall explain. We camped with Wednesday Company this year. It was an altogether treat in some respects, lots of passersby would admire the flaming acorn regalia and arms. Throw in tiki-torches shaped like acorns and a squirrel fetish; it was easy for folks to find us by telling them to look for the flaming nuts.

“Regardez la sheet…” Another quote. Watch out for the poopai! There was a royal procession on horse back that was pretty darn cool to watch as it went right by our camp. All the kingdoms in attendance had horses! Gorgeous! Someone’s poor equine had the case of runny poops. Oh yeah, it was the size of a watermelon and runny and gross. So, someone in our camp tried to make a French sounding phrase that sounded funny. “Regardez la sheet.” And I would repeat “Watch out for the poopai!” It was a worthwhile giggle or two.

I think that night I tried to drink myself into a blissful drunken state of mind, then had an alien belly attack and had to stop the drinking. It didn’t stop me from enjoying the fact that Adam was smiling and giggly toasty on Fekkin’ Irish Whiskey and something else. Another friend of ours was so drunk he fell out of a camp chair, nearly took out a tent awning, and then staggered off someplace. Turns out he was stuck in a port-a-potty proclaiming how nice they were because he couldn’t fall down in one. Our Gleann Abhann buddy from breakfast found the flaming nuts and joined us.

Mind you, there’s a set up for this one. When you drive into the camp site, you’ll find these ¾ inch thick plywood people cut outs mounted into the ground by rebar 3 feet down. No easy task to get these in and out of the ground! I woke up the next morning to find three plywood people in our camp sitting on our camp chairs with a camp mate eating a bowl of salsa and chips for breakfast and having a conversation with them while offering food. He was being quite silly. Bless our pranking Gleann Abhann pal! At some point, someone made off with the plywood gypsy wench and stuck in someone’s bed over on the Northshield encampment. Hee-hee. I wish I coulda seen that one happen. Oh well, that’s about all the highlights I can think of at the moment.

Tammolly~ Getting organized.

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

Y’All Come Back Now Yah Hear!!

2008-04-02T15:14:00.001-04:00

The vacation in Mississippi was nice. It was a wonderful 10 day break away from the job, home, and such. It was even nice to spend a few days with the Mom and step-dad. I could have done without the alien belly that would flare up to ruin inclinations of partying or fencing. The trip to New Orleans involved multiple doses of Immodium AD during the drive there to thwart the random alien attacks. I only wish I had taken that approach earlier in the week to have been able to have more fun rather than sit about the camp like a feeble old person. Granted, it was spent with Adam and that was nice. Sitting around a portable fire pit and chatting it up with friends old and new.

It seemed there was definitely a plague going about the Gulf Wars encampment. Folks from Northshield were hit with it especially it seemed. Adam was coughing it up all week, partly due to not going to the doctor for 3 weeks prior to GW. The bright side, we had lots o’ quality time together and I don’t think I was bitchy most of the week.

New Orleans was interesting in a pedestrian sense. You could walk everywhere and see lots of neat things that Katrina hadn’t wiped out, like Bourbon Street. The more pathetic aspect of New Orleans was the fact that the outskirts of the city, the burbs surrounding the area, they looked like downtown Baghdad after a nice fire bombing. Looted to high heavens, Wal-Mart was an empty pathetic boarded up shell. Housing was still in shambles, places with no roofs, collapsed, dilapidated, and very disheartening to see. Especially when you see all the new construction going up all over the place, clearly none of the poor African American population can’t and could never afford to rent or own.

I was amazed at the concentration of African American folks. It was scary thick in some areas. Like, the only Caucasians I saw roaming about were either tourists feeling about as secure as I did or they were cops, dealers, or natives of the area that just didn’t give a shit anymore. Definitely saw a unusual amount of mental outpatients running amuck too. Go figure. Otherwise, Nawlins was architecturally interesting and I had some of the best shrimp ever! I highly doubt that it would be an appealing place to go to for Mardi Gras for me though. If I want to party like a rock star, I’ll just go to Pennsic and join an amoeba of wandering drunks instead or find a Northshield party to attend. =)

Tammolly~ Making a post because it’s been a while and needed to babble.

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

Regaining The Sanity

2008-02-19T16:42:00.000-05:00

My nose still fucking hurts. =( I realize now that perhaps I should have waited to make a short erratic post about a Transformer breaking my friggen nose. Had a an angry little monkey as work swing an Optimus Prime toy into my face, causing my nose to start splattering red goo all over the gym floor, something looked like a pint once it was done and over with. Optimus Prime is/was about a foot tall toy, laden with “D” batteries for his arm cannon thingy. Either way, it hurt like a complete mother fucker. That was the owie part.

I am angry that it happened, because it was one of those stupid ass things that happen that you know you should know better than to step into. I am annoyed about the incident due to the fact that it created a highly dramatic event in front of the boys. No one needs to see that kind of bloody mess happen in front of them. They’ve had enough drama and trauma in their lives; I don’t need to add to it. The disappointment comes from the feeling that I’ve somehow let down the people who depend on me to do my job without failure. Like somehow it reflects poorly on them that I got my face bashed by a one foot toy packed with “D” batteries. Angry! Well let’s see. I was blubbering cry baby for about 2 hours. I mean, yeah, it fucking hurt! But I shoulda been about to cry it out and get it done with and be done with the sniffling crying. Nooooooooooooo. I gotta get all hormonal and girlie and cry every time someone asked me if I was ok. Then just get all irrationally emotional and grrrrrrrrr, I hate that.

The psychology of females… No let’s start with males. We encourage males to be tough. “Why are you crying? Stop your crying, I’ll give you something to cry about. Stop your crying.” Yada-yada-yada-yada. Girls, aka, the female of the species are, on the other hand, encouraged to express feelings and cry and all that other mamby-pamby shite. So when we get mad, we cry. When we get hurt, we cry, get upset and cry more. Girls are not given the appropriate coping skills for dealing with stress and anger. If they somehow do have the appropriate coping skills, meaning doesn’t get all girlie under stress and anger, then we’re just evil she-devilish bi-atches. Anyhoo, that’s the gist of it.

This morning when I got to work, I said to a third shifter that I thought about the top ten ways to get fired from this job. He just kinda smiled and set his PDA down and commented, “It’s not the top10 you should worry about, when it’s number 11, the one you never thought of that does get you out the door.” EEP! How right he is on that one. For the most part, everyone has been sympathetic and trying to give me kudos for coming back to work the next day. If they only knew that I’m only trying to protect the vacation over-time nest egg more than anything, I would have otherwise stayed home and not gone near the building. Workman’s Comp has already called today trying to ascertain the amount of suck up that needs to happen due to having a fracture in my nose from a toy that should have never gone to the gym in the first place. Grrrrrrr.

That’s all for now. Have a better week than me! =)

Tammolly~ Wary of anything near my face. Blah

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

Optimus Prime Broke My Nose

2008-02-18T19:32:00.002-05:00

Yeah, you read it. I’m not kidding. Optimus Prime broke my friggen nose! Ok, it’s fractured at the point where the cartilage meets the bone. Owie!!! It sucked ass too. Nose is throbbing at the moment. Just wanted to get that out there. ANGRY! Grrrrrrrr. Upset! Annoyed! Disappointed! *sniffle* Too much drama for the kids to see, feel bad for that. I think I had pint of blood on the gym floor. Yet, I still have my job. I get to go back to work tomorrow. Yay-rah-rah! Not. More to come later when I’m not so emotional.

Tammolly~ Feelin’ Icky

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

Have You Seen My Baseball?

2008-02-14T17:24:00.002-05:00

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!

Soooooooooo, it’s been a hectic week dealing with two new admissions to the unit and a discharge. One of my little ones has gone to a good loving home, so I couldn’t be happier for him. I’m glad to know, actually ecstatic to know that this child’s biological parents will not have access to him ever again. He has gone to a caring and loving family that has fostered him several times and this is a good thing. Moving away and out of state from the biologicals is also a plus for all involved. WOO HOO! Can I get a WOO HOO for the system that actually worked?

We’ve had two new admits to my unit this week, and we’re losing three admits in total this month. Things are changing and that’s either a good thing or a bad thing, I’m not sure yet. At this point, it’s hard telling due to the unknowns with the new kids. More shifting around will be occurring due to the new group home opening up and shuffling a few appropriate kids out to that group home from my unit. One of which will be kinda nice to remove the unit since he’s such a pain in the ass in the morning to get up and get dressed, especially since he’s got to be so hands on at times because he just doesn’t want to do what he’s supposed to do in the mornings. The group home pays more than the main buildings due to the higher responsibility involved. This means the house is not locked, the kids can wander freely about the house if you’re not careful, and you’re in a residential neighborhood that may or may not like the fact you have 8 different vehicles taking up space around their cul-de-sac between shift changes.

Sometimes the people that live around the group homes are just assholes and plain ol’ special in the head. Have you seen my baseball? If y’all haven’t seen There’s Something About Mary, then I’ll briefly explain that Mary’s brother is a special needs individual with an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) about baseballs and not wanting anyone touching his ears, unless he likes that person, otherwise he flips out and monkey stomps your ass. I’ve got kids like that about various things at times. Imagine living near a house with a load of children with various special needs? I’m not sure how most people would feel about it, but I’ve heard some real jerk-wad stories about current neighbors. Mainly making fun of the kids and saying stuff like “Have you seen my baseball?” Grrrrrrr.

I never thought I could be so protective of them like a mother until I’ve had them out in public with people who look at them like they’re just the most disgusting beings on the planet. I have one child who doesn’t have much of a vocabulary; he obsesses over strawberry waffles at IHOP. He’s a sweet kiddo too. People sometimes look at him when we’re on outings in the community and it makes me irritated to say the least when I see looks of disgust on their faces. Eh? Who the hell gave you the right to judge a child that way?! Grrrrrrrr. Grrrrrrrr.

In other work related news, another one of my co-workers was fired in the past week. WTF?! Apparently one should not be insubordinate with one’s immediate supervisor. It doesn’t matter how long yah been around either, you could get canned. Also, telling a resident they are disgusting is not acceptable fodder to spew about in front of them, no matter how true it is. These are just mental notes, especially after the whole paper tossing incident that could have potentially gotten me into deep shit, but was luckily Jedi Knighted away. This is not the incident you are looking for. Carry on as if nothing happened. HAH! I am watching all me P’s and Q’, my one year anniversary is next month! =)

So HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY peoples! I am knocking around bronchitis yet again whilst I chow upon a bowl of clam chowder, cleaning off the very highly cluttered desk while sipping coca-cola from a Styrofoam cup and chattin’ with my honey while he’s trying to work. =) Hee-hee-hee. All the while I have been rolodexing through my music collection and jamming to energetic parakeet squawks and Rammstein. Throw in my constant obsessing over budgetary demands; it’s been a slightly busy day. I suppose the budgetary obsessing is a direct of result of being unemployed once upon a time. It sucked ass.

Alas, next month is the nearly infamous anniversary of Gulf Wars. The trip from hell that nearly killed me and several of my Rivenstar buddies at any given moment while on the road. See Gulf Wars post. No trailers this time. No one but the Adam and Me driving down. No obnoxious “Go Team Rivenstar!” Bless the poor soul who was Camp and Caravan Dad and will never do it again. Poor guy.

YAY! Gonna stop by and see the Mom along the way. She’s a halfway point of the trip now. Mom’s been so darn excited she can hardly contain herself. She’s already cooking for an army, I know it! Homemade biscuits and gravy, hash browns, potato pan cakes, BBQ, all kinds of goodies she’s talking about. Throw in the homemade strawberry freezer jam, and we’re in hog heaven. =) I have already told her and emphasized not to go overboard, but I know she will. Gotta love the Mom.

Oh well. Time to jet!

Tammolly~ Lookin’ forward to vacation time!

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

Thank You Mister Sunshine

2008-02-03T17:01:00.000-05:00

On A Super Bowl Sunday!

So, it was a hectic day at work. General nonsense, nothing new for a weekend with the exception of my UC calling off and having a new guy working on the unit that doesn’t know or understand the meaning of deodorant must be worn at all times if you plan to stand within three feet of me. Throw in a visiting UC from the group homes that came in to help cover gaps in the system, it was kinda nutty all around all day long. Figuring that we might fill up an entire time out sheet between two shifts on an average weekend, we filled one up and then some today. Oy-vey! Crazy children! No problemo! I got my stuff done and got out the door by 3:45! WOO HOO!

Finally got a hold of my dad who hasn’t answered his phone in over a week, my concern was something along the lines of if something had happened to him, I wouldn’t know about it until he’s bloated and attracting flies in February or maybe his dog has been gnawing on his fingers for the past week or so. Yah know, all kinds morbid worrying stuff because he lives alone. YAY! He answered his phone today, glad he’s ok. JOY! Apparently he had a power surge during the big lightening storm prior to the big freeze and snow. Blew up the phones and he didn’t know it. Whoops. Glad I won’t be making any impromptu hour long trips tomorrow to make sure he’s still alive. Crimany!

Then, there’s the co-worker that got fired the other day. I think it’s a crock of shit, especially since the child that was involved with the incident that lead up to getting her fired has been an absolute defiant shit for the past two weeks and has been cruising for time outs and restraints to no end. Yup, you guessed, he’s one of mine. My main concern with him is that there’s something going on with him that he’s not expressing to us, except through whacky acts of defiance and aggression. Little shit threw a toy dinosaur at me today and he’s gone bye-bye-bye for the next 24 hours. He asked me for that dinosaur all day and got aggressive about it each time I said no, and each time he was restrained and escorted to the QR for a nice ol’ time out to complete. He eventually stopped asking for that toy, especially when second shift came in to take over. Uh-huh. He knew better.

Then there’s my adorable little red headed monster that for some reason had it in for one of his peers big time today. We’re talking four serious aggressions that involved some serious restraints and at one point, we thought possible medical attention for the peer he continued to terrorize. Christ almighty, this child was evil today. The last aggression was the doozy, knocked his peer right out of the chair by pulling it over. THUNK! Although, I had to laugh, because when the monster got out of that time out, that peer got him back and got him hard too. There were no sympathetic hugs and boohooing from me. It was a natural consequence as far as I’m concerned. Like, if your foot hurts because you had to have your shoes taken away due to kicking the door, and you continue to kick the door, there’s a natural consequence! Ugh.

Tammolly ~Grumpy.

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

Christ On A Cracker AND Jeebus Crust

2008-01-22T17:56:00.000-05:00

TAKE YOUR PICK!

Been one of those days today, well, been one of those I have PMS despite the pills that are meant to stabilize the hormones to an even keel, been sick for the last four days, mildly feverish, and bigoly gee whiz, you guessed it!!!!!! Work has been especially and unusually high on the level of this sucks ass and you’re all getting on my last PMSing, hormonal, sick-ass , I'm feeling utterly irrational at the moment nerves. Grrrrrrrr.

It’s not the kids; it’s the co-workers these days. Although, I did have one child that was particularly creative in his manipulation this morning, it was quite comical. Hmmm. I walk on the unit, take a look around, chat with the 3rd shift crew about previous activities and who’s in which QR and why. I assess the need for an extra laundry bin due to the one in the hallway being halfway full. I make note of what’s on top of the pile in the bin. Lights are still out; I put out clean clothes prepared by 3rd shift prior to lights on. Now starts the beginning of chaos and how much the sweet little angels manipulate, and be redirected for before they receive a time out in the QR.

A child asks me for a t-shirt because all he had was his sweatshirt and he didn’t want to be hot all day. Generally, if they’re asking for a different item, they are shit out of luck, because whatever 3rd shift puts out for them is what they are supposed to wear, end of discussion, and don’t bother asking me, I won’t get it for you… Alas, this one needed a t-shirt for under the sweatshirt. I go to the laundry room and check, he has none. I relay this message and he accepts this answer quite well. Interesting, he usually has a melt down about stuff like this.

I move along to other business like handing out consequences for those who are refusing to get out of bed by the second prompt and receiving an early bed time etc. Kids who are wandering the hallway causing trouble are sent to where they need to be. Tah-dah!!!!! Things usually run smoothly enough to get them herded into the dayroom or the herd gets culled into the QR. The herd slowly comes into the day room, one by one, the child now enters with a t-shirt that I know he did not have before and now I see odd looking grease-like marks streaked all over this shirt he has on and he reeks of massive amounts of Speed Stick deodorant that smells like a whore house in Las Vegas. The genius pulled a shirt out of the piss laden laundry bin and rubbed his deodorant stick all over it to cover up the smell. Oy-vey. Long story short, he was in the QR for a time out for lying to me, stealing some one else’s clothes from the laundry bin, and well being a general disruption to the whole unit with his whining and crying when I called him on it. I’m so evil.

Sadly, that was probably the best part of my whole day. After lunch, another child acts up and gets a time out in class. He wound up having to be escorted to a QR. I wrote up the tracking sheet and tried to run it out to the person who was watching the child’s QR. I was promptly given the brush off from this person, who typically has a “do the minimum” attitude unless a supervisor type is around and he’s trying to look good. “I don’t want it. It’s not mine. I’m going on break. You deal with it.” So now, here’s my situation, irritable from PMS and being sick, feeling nauseated because lunch sucked, the teacher is alone in the classroom with 11 children which is a HUGE NO-NO. I explain this briefly and still get the brush off. Now I’m cranky and frantically trying to find someone who will take the sheet so I can get back into the classroom where I REALLY need to be.

Historically, that particular teacher’s class has a tendency to follow the first child right out the door into a consequence. Why? Just because they can and they know staff is occupied, so that’s the best time to have a fit and get some attention. Did I mention frantic, cranky, and nauseated? Former supervisor is now standing on the other end of the hallway smirking for god knows what reason, other than not helping the situation and just says, “What?” This is in his usual cocky attitude, the one that basically rubs most people the wrong way. So, my response, a poor response I admit completely, was to fling the tracking sheet into the air and walk back into the classroom where I REALLY needed to be focusing the most. Former supervisor a few moments later pokes his head through the door and just says, “I didn’t appreciate that.” Yeah, well, I didn’t appreciate your lack of help either.

Oftentimes, I think to myself, if you’re not a part of the solution to the situation at hand, I don’t have much use for you at work. I keep that to myself most days, unless I’m sick, over tired, stressed, and hormonal. When someone says to you, “I need to get these kids split up into separate groups to do this and this.” Your answer should not be, “Good luck with that.” Did you come here to work or did you just come here to sit around and bullshit your way around the boss to kiss ass and look good? That would be Mr. Do The Minimum’s way of needling people. ARRG!

I know I haven’t blogged in a while. Perhaps I let it build up some steam before letting the lid off this bad boy. More than likely, I will probably be written up for flinging a paper into the hallway. I tried to talk to the old supervisor; he blew me off twice after the fact. The usual attitude from him, you’re useless, and I’m better than you. I talked to the building supervisor, because my two immediate supervisors were in training for a bunch of new people. Ugh. The building sup basically told me that he was upset with how I reacted to him. Go figure. There’s a reason I stopped hanging out with co-workers after work. You find out stuff you really don’t want to know about them and they say shit to other people that you never did or said. At least, with the former supervisor, I got to see him without the corn cob up his ass outside of work. He’s still a jerk at work.

We’ll see what happens. Hopefully nothing happens and I can keep the build up of over time I’ve had since last week. It would suck to lose that. Whatever happens happens I guess. Grrrrrrr

Tammolly~ Ready to crawl into a cave.

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

Are We There Yet?! HAPPY NEW YEAR! =)~

2008-01-03T18:56:00.000-05:00

So I’ve survived the New Year so far. Only had one phone call around one in the morning when I had to be up for work by "oh my fucking lord the sun isn't even up yet o-dark-thirty for work, which is 5:15 a.m. I’ve even survived work with no school for two weeks with the kiddies too. They’re making me nucking futs this week though. The first week, they seem capable of having a week or two off and getting along just fine on the unit. This week has led me to believe that if I left the unit unattended for any length of time with no one else looking after the deviant little bastards…. There would be a complete reenactment of novel Lord of the Flies…. Perhaps it would be kinda like Planet of the Apes and they would all monkey stomp each other into the ground and have a final battle royale in Thunder Dome. Picture some insane combination of catastrophe’s and throw in monster ADHD and you’d probably come up with these particular scenarios on steroids or something.

Alas, today I was talking to a SCA friend of mine (I’ll just call him Uncle G). Pretty cool guy, ER doctor by profession does an assload of WMA (Western Martial Arts for you non-SCAdian types) and he’s a generally well rounded individual like most of the SCAdians I associate myself with. There are only a few weirdos that I can point to and usually can’t avoid because they’re either part of a group that I play with or they just seek me out. See Weird Shit O’Meter post HERE from a while back. Anyhoo, I have many groups that I associate with and that’s what makes the SCA so much darn fun. FRIENDS EVERYWHERE I GO!!! WOO HOO!

I found myself in a bit of a quandary because there’s this yahoo group list that I made for a friend of ours that moved away to the East Coast for a while. Once in a while he’d make it back into town and we’d all reminisce about stuff, I’ll call this one Uncle A, and no, the A does not stand for asshole! Uncle A likes to tell stories about events we’ve all been to or haven’t been able to attend. This person is an excellent story teller and has his special way of telling said stories with a knack that’s entertaining in person. Unlce A is even a talented written story teller of SCAdian tales. As my schnookums has duly noted, this person generally tailors his opinions according to audience and does not have diarrhea of the mouth, usually.

So here I am with two different SCAdians that I respect and care about as people that share a common interest with me. I let Uncle G onto the list so he could read up on some posts made on an event they both attended that I did not have an opportunity to attend. There was some cajoling to be had by me; I don’t get to pick on Uncle G often. Had I read ALL the posts that Uncle A had made in sequence rather than out of sequence, I would not have pointed out the group to Uncle G because of some not so nice reviews of a class that was taught. ARRRRRRG! I basically got pants alongside a pal of mine and there wasn’t even any foreplay! Mweh….

It just goes to show yah, yah never can tell. If you’re going to have an opinion of someone, be prepared to get called out about it. It still sucks though. I can site my own examples of stuff I have posted upon this blog and can very well get fired. I could have been fired from Purdue had office mates found the blog while I was employed there. It was and is a consequence that I accept.

Aside from that, everything else is peachy! Adam bought me a historically based medieval vow ring and specified that it was in no way an engagement ring, yet he bought himself a matching ring too. It’s so darn cute! CUTE! CUTE! CUTE! Am I gushing enough? Hee-hee.

Tammolly~ Trying to catch y'all up.

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

Malicious Blogs? HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!

2007-10-31T18:10:00.000-04:00

Apparently someone’s big bad No No software is now blocking blogger to a friend at work. Also, it’s not just blocking my blog, but someone else’s blog as well. Harrumph I say! Sucky babysitter software bites ass! Grrrrrrrr. I’m sure the craftier of the nerd herd will find a way around it at some point. Perhaps a temporary glitch?! Who knows!

So, Halloween. Buwahahahah! *insert evil grin* and *sinister plot* here. Hee-hee-hee-hee-hee. =) I dressed as a low-tech bunny today because I didn’t not want my SCA garb getting torn up into bits, especially garb that I worked, bought, or made myself! Low-tech bunny worked for me. My old UC is back, albeit, working on another unit now until Uncle Sam ships his ass off to Iraq which sucks ass if you ask me. Anyhoo, he came in wearing B.D.U.s (Battle Dress Uniform you nonmilitary exposed peeps out there. Otherwise known as fatigues or camouflage!) So he comes in wearing a demonic monster mask with punk hair and painted to match the B.D.U.s PRICELESS! He went from room to room and scared the piss out of half of them as they gathered in a mob to see the next poor schmuck get woke up. ROFLMAO! The last kid leaps up and screams like a little girl and hits the floor yelling for help. The entire unit blew up in laughter. The rest of the day, the kid went around saying he pushed him out of bed. BULLSHIT! We were all there. Either way, it was priceless!

Tammolly~ Giggling

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

Two Years!!!!!!!! And A Fun Ride

2007-10-21T19:51:00.000-04:00

Yup, two year anniversary and it’s so far so good. It was a pleasant day all around despite being at work most of it. WOO HOO! No complaints here! I made spaghetti with chopped onions and green peppers fried up a little and the meat all cooked in. Yummy! :) It was a nice relaxing evening.

So, on my way into work this morning, I was picking up a co-worker since he’s on the way and doesn’t have a car. I had mentioned to him that I love driving over the last intersection really fast because it’s like the Dukes of Hazard… HEE HAW! Yah get a nice dip and launch without bottoming out. Wheeeeeeea! Of course, it was always fun in the Neon and the opportunity arose yesterday morning on the way into work. FLOORED IT BABY! The VW definitely lands differently, it didn’t bottom out, and it was loads of funny. Poor AJ was hanging onto the OH SHIT handle and shaking his head.

We get into work and clock in, and he’s still shaking his head. =) Hee-hee-hee. I get on the unit and he’s telling the second shift UC about the jumping the intersection. He just shakes his head. I just giggle and move onto other things. At the end of the day, there was a pow-wow over some egregious mishap on one of the other units. Someone is likely to get fired for it and I feel sorry for the girl who was in charge of the girls at the time. It sucks ass. Anyhoo, second shift UC comes outside to get a smoky treat and looks at my car in the parking lot and shakes his head again. It was pretty funny.

Here’s what my mind has done while driving though. Driving a VW Jetta Wagon now, AJ calls it the Vagon Wagon, because he thinks he’s being cute. The stereo is kick ass, the car handles sportier than my Neon, and I don’t feel like I’m driving a grocery getter as Adam likes to call it. Yet, somewhere in the back of my mind, I’m thinking this is a wagon and I’m driving it and feelin’ groovy. Yet, I wonder if other people around me in traffic just see the wagon and a fruit cake driving it while blasting Rammstein and Marilyn Manson. Doesn’t matter really, I am enjoying the car! :) Oh well, I guess I should go socialize now. :P

Tammolly~ Contented

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

Momentous Things And Purchases

2007-10-19T17:19:00.000-04:00

Welllllllll....~Not In THAT Order~

Not that it was intended or planned out in any way shape or form, except under some unconscious level of thinking… We got a VW JETTA WAGON! WOO HOO! Das ist gut ja! I immediately got all giddy from the test drive, giddier still with the extra space and slightly better gas mileage too. I will miss my fire burst orange Neon with pearl coat and fun spoiler, but I will still have a sun roof! Did I mention the stereo is about 50 times better than the Neon? I’m happy with the thought of making the trade for a slightly lower monthly payment too. YAAAAAY!

So, the place we’re purchasing the car from seems to pride themselves on the big, tall, and goofy or perhaps not the brightest candle on the cupcakes. DENSE! I am getting the impression that they’re mostly dense in the head or slow, or just plain SPECIAL. DEE-DEE-DEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!

Now to the momentous, Kissaversary DAY! I can’t believe, well I can actually, it doesn’t seem that long at all, but it’s been two years with the Adam and me together. *giggle* I’m still happy with that idea. So far, the last few car salesmen have tried to marry us off or assumes we’re married or suggested that we’re engaged or something. Hee-hee.

Tammolly~ Still bouncin’ and happy!

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

Too Many Blogger Thingies And Precious Time

2007-10-15T18:21:00.000-04:00

I’ve come to the realization that there are too many blog type forums out there and this one contains my thoughts and experiences that enable a select few to live vicariously through me. Kudos to y'all who read this!

There’s Blogger, MySPace, FaceBook, and probably a few more things out there I don’t know about. There’s photo sharing forums just for that purpose. So how long will it be before someone develops and/or has the resources to buy up all of these nifty idea sharing garbage heaps and combines them somehow? Honestly, this is a challenge to keep up with and this is something I enjoy doing from time to time.

Go figure that I can’t seem to keep up or feel motivated to do so and have the energy to expend for it. Last pay cycle I worked 47.7 hours of over time. It was a 15 day stretch and I just finished up a 3 day weekend that they tried to get me to work! Enough is enough. There’s only so many kamikaze days and weeks I can run with before I start losing my marbles. We’re talking Muwahahahah! WHHEEEEEEEEAAAAAA! Ree-er Ree-er Ree-er Blah-di-dah-dah-dah. I need valium, I’ve had enough! UNCLE! I’m leaving now and I’m turning off my phone cuz Elvis has left the building.

There are days when I don’t feel it’s worth it. Those are the days when I’ve had hour long restraints, been kicked, bit, had my hair pulled, head butted, and punched. The days where it takes me a better part of a week to recover from those things are when I question and/or regret the extra time and effort it takes to stay over for second shift, go the extra mile, and work on my days off. Ugh. AND I question it even more so when the jackasses on second shift talk smack about me in front of new people. Yeah, see if I stay over to help your ass again you butt nugget.

So, my three day weekend consisted of Feast of the Hunter’s Moon and the Order of the Stick board game. OOTS is fun! We had a house guest from Bensonville, Illinois visiting just for Feast. She seemed to have a lot of fun all around. Now, I tried to plan a get together a better part of almost two months away and she was the only that showed up after much prodding of the friends. Alas, she was much good fun to have about the house and she seemed to enjoy Feast and Irish whiskey over a game of OOTS. YAY!

The complete cake topper of the past four days is… Picture this, I come home, open the garage door (makes lots of noise), I go through the laundry room (making more noise), I shut the door and set down bag. Now, I am completely in ambush mode, because the roomie hasn’t heard me come home yet. Hee-hee-hee. The TV is on one of the musical cable channels, she’s on the treadmill, and I scream just as she’s turning to look my way and not expecting me there. She almost fell off the treadmill. LOL I’m so mean. She wasn’t laughing though. I apparently have a knack for sneaking up on people and scaring the piss out of them. Indeed, I’m a deviant shit! Buwahahahah!

Tammolly~ Plotting EVIL To Do List for Halloween.

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

9~11~2001

2007-09-30T20:23:00.000-04:00

That time of year has come upon us again and passed without incident upon our country. We still have the need to remember the past as much as the need to plan for the future and follow through with the original intent of what’s going on overseas. Despite the fact that there are people out there that would still attempt to bully us to live by their beliefs by killing themselves, their friends, our very own neighbors, and loved ones; WE HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN. WE WILL NOT FORGET.

On Septembers 11th this year, I didn’t post on that day because I was just not in the mood to contemplate the above thought at that time. I spent the better part of two hours in school with the kids I work with explaining what it was that happened that day. It was an overly draining experience to relate and even more draining to try to put it into words they could understand. It's not like how mommy and daddy didn't take care of them. Or how Uncle Pervert molested them or some relative beat on them or treated them poorly. Those are things I can't even begin to fathom in the first place. It was about how people, very BAD people in the simplest of terms, attacked our country. They couldn’t even begin to wrap their minds around it. Hell, I know some adults that still can’t come to terms with the events of that day. And with no uncertainty, the very things that have happened in the lives these kids I work with, the things that brought them to the place they live is about as confounding to me as 9/11. Now there’s a sobering thought.

Whether or not it is right to continue with the tour de force in Iraq, whether or not we entered into the entire fiasco under false pretenses from our illustrious Presidente Estupido, we have a responsibility to finish what we started over there. Pulling out too early in the game makes for… Hmmmm, I suppose if I have to explain to the folks out there using sexual euphemisms it might be amusing! Point being, we gotta finish what we started or we’re gonna leave Iraq as a giant breeding ground for more plane crashing idiots that think they’re truly messengers of Allah. Think of it as mandatory birth control for flaming morons and ass munches. Yeah, that works for me.

Anyhoo, that’s all I have to say about that.

Tammolly ~Pensive… Yes, it actually happens sometimes.

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

I STAB YOU!!!!

2007-09-27T16:09:00.000-04:00

Picture this, a lovely autumn display of Halloween decorations and future Thanksgiving type stuff neatly arranged over the salad bar in the cafeteria where I work. I have a warm fuzzy moment looking at the real carrots that are au natural with the green leafy stuff on the end. It’s a picture perfect carrot mind you, something you see in a book and point at to show a child that this is what carrots look like straight out of the ground minus the clumps of dirt!

I am minding the hooligans that are the boys of my unit when all of the sudden I am being stabbed with these cutesy carrots by an angry child because he was given a consequence for not following directions. You know, he was playing with the display decorations and I prompted him to stop and he didn’t want to because I’m stooopid staff. I look at this child calmly and ask what he thought he was doing. He says to me as a matter factly, “I’m stabbing you mother fucker. I’m gonna…” He did not get to finish this statement because I had him wrapped up like a pretzel in a restraint on the nearest wall and crying like a little girl. BOOYAH! Mess with me again little boy. Holy shit it was funny.

Yeah, such is life amongst the mentally challenged and developmentally delayed. My boss quit his job, just didn’t come in one day and a week later I’m noticing he’s not around anymore, the week prior to that he was gone a few days because his wife was in the hospital. AND the week prior to that, he says he’s being deployed in December to go to Iraq. Ah shite that sucks arse. Granted he’s mentioned being unhappy, coming to the realization after five years of service to the company that the only way he’s moving up to a higher position is if someone dies and even then there are people with seniority over him for that position. Sucks to be me! I have applied for the same position now that he’s gone, because all I can think of is who I don’t want to have that job over me and I’m gonna give it my ALL to ensure that it doesn’t happen. C’est la vie. Oh well, 19 hours of overtime this week and I have a few more days before this week is done with and a whole other week of this particular pay cycle. Here’s to me getting the job! =)

Tammolly~ Hoping

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

All Gone!

2007-09-01T19:24:00.000-04:00

I decided on a whim today, after going to Sam’s Club to pick up my Prilosec OTC, that I would get my hair cut. Ok, so not a whim when I’ve been getting headaches for the past few weeks and increased neck strain because my thick hair weighs a flippin’ ton after getting out of the shower. So it’s shorter now, barely long enough to pull it back into nubby w’ittle pig tails in the back. I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER NOW! *SIGH* Along with that hair cut came the chopping off of the long braid that I’ve been sporting for the last 4 years. I started growing it as a reminder to always seek happiness with someone and I’ve decided I’ve found that happiness and chopped it off. It’s weird not having it anymore, but the nice thing about hair is, it grows back!

I had to work on my old girls unit today, it was a TOTALLY fucked up day in the sense that three of the little harpies were on suicide precaution and had to be in staff’s line of sight at all times. One that I will call the Amazon of the unit kept getting into my boundaries, threatening me, and so on and so forth, pretty much got on my last nerves when she ripped my little hand sanitizer bottle off my key chain and took off with it. PAIN IN MY ASS! This is the same Amazon that says she wants to come find my house when she gets out and kick my ass. OH PLEASE SHOW UP TO THE HOUSE! I’d love to sick my cats on you and then pommel your ass with my fencing blades….. OH! Then call the cops and have your ass hauled off to jail where you’ll likely wind up anyway when you leave here. Can yah feel the love folks?

Tomorrow, I get to go back to my unit I hope. I was told by the building supervisor that I should dress to go out to Indiana Beach with the boys. It’s a small amusement park open in the summer time. Their motto is “There’s more than corn in Indiana.” Well, there’s not much more than that besides soy beans and cows! Well, that’s all for now. HAPPY SEPTEMBER FOLKS! =)

Tammolly~ Chillin’ with the house to myself.

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

Greedy Bastards!

2007-08-27T19:47:00.000-04:00

Am pissed. Can’t see straight. Must count to ten. Apparently have lost ability to use pronouns. Deep blue oceans… Deep blue oceans… Deep blue oceans… ARRG! I feel better now. Apparently my bank is greedy! What!? You say? What?! Big surprise there right? Not really. After chewing an ass or two for this SNAFU, I got me way. Arrrr….

It boils down to this. I send in my payments according to what is due out of each paycheck, last paycheck of the month obviously goes for the stuff due in the first part of the following month. And first paycheck of the month goes for the end of the month stuff. Throw in a vacation planned and I got it all together and electronically set up to be paid while I am gone and all that good stuff. The dumbass bank calls and says my August payment is late. WTF?!

I essentially made a payment twice in July according to them because they don’t do pay ahead on payments. One $39 late fee for a $14 payment and I was going off like nobody’s business. I got the fee dropped and the $14 taken care of for Pete’s sake. Total greediness on their part, but I am getting that damn fee back. Grrrrrrrr.

Molly~ Peeved

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

My Belated Birthday

2007-08-20T19:21:00.000-04:00

Sooooo… Turned 33 yesterday, went to the local pub this past Thursday prior to that and had a nice time listening to a band that’s almost Irish. Ceann! They seemed like a pretty funny group in some spots and in others, well, they were there for the free booze and hot little groupies. I had plenty of fun that night and got to bed around midnight in order to get my happy arse up at the ass crack of dawn to go to work. Still, it was a worthwhile night out at the pub! =)

Spent my birthday working my butt off and wishing I could just go home and nap or something. Ugh. I got home, spent about an hour on the phone with my dad and ate cake with the roomie and Adam. Well, the roomie has a name, it’s Val, she’s pretty darn cool as friend’s go and a nifty roomie to have about the house since she’s been keeping herself busy with tidying up and such. Something that I don’t expect, but it’s still nice to come home and find things cleaner than when I left at 6:15 in the morning for work!

Anyhoo, Val made me birthday cake because Adam doesn’t celebrate these kinds of things, but damnitall, Val was gonna bake me a cake and decorate it! Hee-hee. It was all cute with a beaver on top… Mmm…Mmm…Good too! Complete with sparkler candles and homemade butter cream frosting. Throw in the sugar cookie glop biscuits with butter cream frosting and a cool five headed dragon incense holder. The day was complete with various phone calls from family and friends in between all of this. Yay!

So work has been slowly getting better working with the boys and I can’t rightly complain too much about it despite the fact the little bastards haven’t had school in almost two weeks which leaves the youth caregivers like me with a bleeding migraine by the end of the day. They apparently go back to school on Tuesday!!!!!!!!! YEE-HAAH! I was hoping it was Monday, but Tuesday will suffice after having this coming weekend off. *crosses fingers*

Labor Day Weekend, I am hoping will consist of me having it off for a fencing event up near Antioch, Illinois. MKAoD ~Middle Kingson Academy of Defense. It’s a fencing centric event that usually has edumacational klasses, schtick, and good company. Granted, we lost the kick ass camp site that was a peninsula into a small lake that kept the area cool and breezy and made for fantastic parties on Saturday nights. wOOt! Unfortunately, as I said before, the site is no more due to family shenanigans, court battles, and other such nonsense that snuffed out the fun that was MKAoD and Border Skirmishes. S’okay though, MKAoD not built upon the fun parties, it was built upon the aforementioned things it usually features. *sigh* I will miss the old site nonetheless.

Well, that’s my update for now. Other than surviving the stifling weather of Pennsic where it was raining every day and hotter than hell when it wasn’t raining, the company was great. Forgot to mention the misery of heat exhaustion! I stood around for two field battle scenarios and nearly dropped dead on the fencing field! Holy shite! Screw that, I’m so no going if even looks like the weather is going to be that relentless and nasty again. Bah. Gotta scoot now. CIAO BABY!

Tammolly ~Bemused

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

Terminal Boredom

2007-07-09T14:50:00.000-04:00

I set out upon my day to do absolutely nothing and yet I feel compelled to go outside and roast in the humidity and sun. Instead, I cleaned out my car again, wiped it down with some Armorall and cleaned the windows again. Sprayed it down with some fabric freshener and added a few drops of frankincense oil to the air freshener. So now, it smells kinda like a head shop with a hint of flowers! It basically means the poor Adam will not be getting into my car willingly for a few days due to the perfumed automobile.

So I’m off next weekend and that means I will be finding things to do or just work on some knitting projects and sew. Yeah, I should be sewing this weekend due to Pennsic coming up shortly. I have stuff to do! Holy Cow! Perhaps I’m not bored, but wanting to ramble randomly. =) Hee-hee. Oh well, I do have some stuff to do here.

Tammolly~ Bored Silly

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

4th of July Post-Mortem

2007-07-08T18:58:00.000-04:00

Aye laddies and lassies, there were fireworks and rum and tail gates and Jeeps about. Nothing really exciting happened. This is the first year that I can remember when fireworks were legal to purchase AND USE in the state of Indiana! This meant that Adam and I didn’t have to buy any fireworks; we just sat in the back yard or the front drive on the tailgate of the truck to watch the neighbors nearly set themselves, their children, vehicles, and houses on fire with small exploding thingies. There were a few neato looking affects, but for the most part, after one Mike’s Hard Barry Cooler, I was pretty much fascinated into enough boredom that I went back inside where I could chill and watch some television or something.

Got another chunk of hair out of my head at work today, done by the same little hairless troll that did it the last time, only this time she yanked and ran off. If it wasn’t for the fact that I had to take care of the day room kids watching a movie, I woulda ran after her fat ass and restrained her on the wall!!!!!!! Grrrrrrrrr. So she ran off, the QR opens and I tell my fellow YC that her ass needs to go into the QR for aggression etc etc. She wasn’t laughing anymore when she got put in there. Yeah, you guessed it; I’ve been working on the unit that I started out with this weekend. Some lazy ass wipes called off this weekend and we were strapped for enough staff to go around. It was bad.

An interesting policy I found out about this morning was if you call off on a holiday or pay day Friday, it’s an automatic four day suspension for not showing up and especially so if you don’t have documentation for an emergency or illness. I kinda like that idea. I mean it’s not like the 4th of July is a huge friggen surprise, it’s always on the, well duh, 4th of July! It’s irresponsible to pull that kind of shit on the people you work with day in and out. Yeah, there are times when I don’t want to get up in the morning, I just want to sleep in for once and maybe just say fuck it, I don’t want to go in today, but it’s not a habit I want to have and it’s not an impression I care to leave.

There were times when I worked with WVH and yeah, the stress levels were enough that I would call off and stay home. I had to turn off my phone because the friggen secretary would call to complain that something wasn’t right or someone was calling her every ten minutes because I wasn’t calling them back. Uh-huh, yeah, I called off, that means don’t call to bitch at me about something not going right on your end. LEAVE ME ALONE! Then there was the whole not being able to kick the MONO. Yeah, that was a hoot, whenever the stress levels would sky rocket I’d relapse and miss 2-3 days of work or just go to work and be in eternal misery. Screw that.

I feel that I am in a better position with where I am at now. Yeah, I work weekend a lot. I get attacked in various ways at times, but damnitall, I need health insurance and I now have it as of the 5th of July! I am just waiting for the stupid insurance cards to come in the mail. The 50 cent raise is probable but not guaranteed to me after 120 days of employment. I have a few things going for me, I do stuff when asked to come in on a day off, I come in on last minute calls, I stay over as needed, I’ve only been late once, and I try to be helpful. I hope that’s enough! We’ll see how that goes. Anyhoo, that’s about it for now, I have to go check on my wool dyeing experiment now. WOO HOO!

Tammolly~Just kinda chillin’ this evening.

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

Went Fishing…

2007-07-02T17:30:00.001-04:00

Ok, so the fishing was good and all went well with that nice little quiet time. Caught a few beauties and I think I got my record smallest fish too. My pinky was bigger than this little thing! I got some much needed relaxation time! Chillin’ on the docks was nice.

Anyhoo, work is still work. Had myself a tirade today about break times at work. Apparently we don’t get 15 minute breaks. We’re only supposed to have 10 minute breaks! WTF?! ARRRG! So two 15 minutes breaks seem to fail to happen more often than not, how is it that three 10 minute breaks in a day makes more sense? Can someone tell me how that makes any ridiculous fucking sense?! Apparently ages under 18 have labor laws requiring breaks and lunches but adults are royally fucked in Indiana. No law exists to require breaks be allowed or lunches for that matter. That sucks ass!

So that’s it for now. I just wanted to rant for a moment. BLARRRG! Yarp?

Tammolly ~ Grumbling

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

Gone Fishing!

2007-06-02T12:10:00.000-04:00

I think I am making up for the lack of consistent blogs this past month... After much hooboolaboo of being excited about a decent sized fencing event coming up this weekend, I have decided to retreat into obscurity for the weekend and veg like Terri Schiavo. Just Google her name and a bunch of stuff will come up. That was just a messed up case.

I went to bed about 10 last night after watch SG-1 and SG-Atlantis. I was pissed about Atlantis, don’t read this part if you haven’t seen it yet. The exploding tumors was an interesting touch, I just didn’t like the plot twist that killed the Scottish Doctor ~ Carson Beckett. WTF?! Adam pointed out that the show loves to kill doctors, both SG-1 and SG-Atlantis. LOL Yeah, now that I think of it, that’s fairly correct.

Anyhoo, gonna go fishin’ today. Sit and veg, get some sun, and currently finish cookin’ up some ham and watch Adam sew a poofy renn shirt for the first time. I can’t say that I like the overly complicated patterns. Meaning more than two to three pieces, I suppose I will learn how to make one at some point, just not today. :)

Tammolly ~In desperate need to be just veggin’ today!!

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

Shoulda Stayed Home!

2007-05-31T19:07:00.000-04:00

Ever have a day you wish you had called in sick from work? My first instinct this morning was to talk myself into staying home and just vegging for hours in bed and watch ER re-runs on TV. I should listen to those urges once in a while, it might help me out.

Define Irony: "Define irony....bunch of idiots dancing on a plane to a song made famous by a band that died in a plane crash."~Steve Buscemi It’s a quote from Con Air. Anyhoo, the irony to Have You Ever Been Bit On The?... I got bit on the leg today by the same little bugger that bit the teacher last week. Holy shite on a cracker, this kid has the jaws of death or something. Happened in the quiet room (QR) and I tell yah, it took everything, and I mean EVERYTHING in me to not strangle the little fucker. Instead, I restrained him and escorted his little ass to behind the magnetic locking doors where he proceeded to bloody his nose all over the QR walls. Yay-rah. More explanation below.

It kinda went like this, I’m calling for a monitor, someone who makes sure I have the restraint correct etc. I wind up in a sitting restraint after the first bite on the back of my calf. The second bite, because he’s such a flexible little shit, right above the friggen knee on the same leg. OWIE! Mother fucker OWIE! No monitor. Now I have two other kids freaking out because I’m screaming about the biting and can’t walkie again for a monitor because I’m a little friggen busy here. I am beginning to suspect that the goddamned walkie is broken or something. One of the other kids grabs my walkie and is calling for a monitor again. By this time, I’m on the go and getting the biter into that room to hit the magnetic locking button and hold it. I am pissed, I am on the walkie yet again to call for permission for five on the door, because you can’t just lock them in and walk away, you have to hold the button down and have permission to do so and permission for any extensions on said locks. I finally get my voice together long enough to ask, “CAN ANYONE HEAR ME?!” Finally, my building supervisor responds with “No one is available at this time.” FUCK ME! Finally someone comes down there and he’s encouraging me to leave the QR and get some medical attention for the TWO WHOPPING BITES on my left leg which are burning and throbbing like Alien bellies or something.

ARRG! My unit team gets back at some point after breakfast and I’m waiting around for the nurse to show up in health services. Errg. When I get back, no one has a clue as to what had transpired while they were at breakfast. Oh boy. Meanwhile, the little bundle of joy is processed out of the QR and returning to class. My UC has no clue as to what is going on or what went on until after the fact. He felt really bad, we talked about what happened, went over the report and accident report sheet. Man what a day. I need a drink…

Tammolly ~Sore and Cranky~ Just ask Adam!

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

Have You Ever Been Bitten On The?...

2007-05-30T16:30:00.001-04:00

Yeah, ass, ever been bitten on the ass? I can’t say that I have yet, but apparently on my last day off this past Friday, the teacher in my usual class room during the school week was bitten on the ass! Oh it was kinda funny to hear this story related to me after the fact by staff. Granted, Thursday wound up in several restraints in my class right at the end of the day. It was a shitty afternoon. Most afternoons are rough due to the teacher leaving at noon to take ASL classes. Yay-rah, glad you’re getting an education while we’re dealing with your class room in total chaos after lunch. It’s not so bad when there are the same two staff in the classroom every day. It makes for some kind of normalcy for the kids and helps the day run smoothly. Ding-ding-ding-DING! We have a winner! Ladies and gentlemen, consistency works! No really! I mean it! It actually works!

Of course, there’s one jerk-off in the mix that whenever he’s around me, he wants to undermine the consequences that I hand out to the little darlings. It basically tells the kids that they don’t have to listen to me if he’s around, because he’s gonna let them do whatever the fuck they want. Or better yet, if I am redirecting someone, he let’s them slide. Eh? WTF? The is the same smack-tard that once I finished with my paperwork and books, I was actually done by 3:00 PM today. I asked if there was anything anyone needed before I left. I got the smart ass remark of “Yeah, you can take out the garbage cuz I seem to get stuck with it every day it seems.” Whiney bastard with smartass sarcasm, that’s the last time I offer to help you out with anything. Ass-munch!

My Unit Coordinator, AKA, my immediate supervisor is pretty cool. My boss is cool! The old UC that I worked under with the girls is an ok person I guess, but he’s mainly a social nimrod when it comes to having a personality toward me. Perhaps I am being a bit harsh on the old UC, but the new UC has got it together and is not wound up so tight that coal dust could turn to diamonds in a day or two if you shoved it up his ass. I mean the new UC actually ensures that his staff gets a meal if they’re in the QR or something. Whereas the old UC withheld a meal on me on purpose because he didn’t think I should focus on eating while the girls were in the group room being obnoxious with their meal. Eh? Jerk.

It basically breaks down to this, my first day on the boys unit wasn’t nearly as bad as the first 3 hours as a staff member on the girls’ unit. Ugh. I got to know more about my unit team members in a half hour or so than in the 8 weeks working with the staff members on the girls’ unit. Eh? Things run a little differently there on the boys unit. It’s go with the flow yet keeps things in check. I can deal with that!

Other news! Got to go to Wisconsin and had a blast. Didn’t get Commode Huggin’ Drunk as much as I wanted to, but I had a lot of fun. In fact, I drank just enough to be giddy for several hours and have fun. :) YAY! The fencing was good and the weather was acceptable, even the torrential storm that cut some activities short on Saturday. The lake was also beautiful, pretty blue and clean. The peacocks were amusing. The peacocks were EVERYHWERE. The peacocks look strangley like komodo dragons from a distance out of the corner of your eye as they try to run across the street. It was a weird double take moment there and I hadn’t even been drinking at the time. Fun-fun! Here’s a link to some pictures of the event. http://nsgallery.melm.org/main.php/v/ARRGVI/ Enjoy! It’s time for me to jet here.

Tammolly~ Exhausted because the AC was broke at work today. :( Ugh

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

Updating That Resume’

2007-05-11T17:25:00.000-04:00

As my luck would have it when things seem too good to be true, it might the case once again. Not saying it will happen, but I’ve been transferred off the unit I was working on with the angelic harpies. Instead, I’ll be working on a unit full of boys age 12 and under. It will be an ADHD and ADD fest over there. Very active little buggers, but they’re certainly more fun to deal with than the girls I’ve been working with on the weekends. When you feel your safety is at stake on a daily basis on a unit full of girls, who would gladly rip your hair out at any given moment of crisis on the unit. Yeah, apparently getting chunks of your hair ripped out isn’t a good reason to cry when you are adrenaline crashing and in shock that you’re in pain for that reason and a number of other fucked up things going on in your head. Supposedly, that’s grounds for getting moved off of that unit as well.

M’kay, sorry, too much adrenaline over loads any means of sensible rationality for me. Fuck that! Never mind the fact that that happened, the hair pulling thing, but not restraining a child when someone else deemed it appropriate, mind you it’s an arbitrary notion to restrain a child in some cases, but hey, I got a one day suspension TODAY just for that and something else I can’t even begin to explain in any sensible way.

Probably my biggest pet peeve is that if I screw something up that’s a suspend-able offense in that place, I might not get the written warning meeting until a week later. Yeah, so any sense of feeling like things are getting better on the job goes out the window yet again. I don’t argue, I’ve tried talking to the people who decide these things, but apparently they have some serious guidelines that aren’t accessible at any given moment. I don’t have printouts of stuff, even when I have asked for them repeatedly. You just get told, you did this and this, so we’re going to do this to you for that. Blah-blah-blah-blah. ARRG! *grumble*

Oh yeah, putting in for Memorial Day Weekend off over a month ago was apparently not good enough, there’s some kind of form to fill out specifically for holiday weekends. This means, the reservations I made for Adam and me for ARGG VI in Wisconsin is likely out the mo’foe window now. If I am lucky, I might be able to get someone to trade me days, but the folks who would have traded me weekends around work on the old unit. I’m starting on a new unit Monday and who knows if anyone will trade me there. Yay-fuckin’-rah boys and girls.

Alas, having a 3 day weekend now means I can try to relax after updating my resume’. I now want to focus on a new Monday on a new unit and hopefully have less trouble with the whole new unit. Fencing Sunday at a friend’s house will be a plus, must have some fun! Gonna work on some knitting, perhaps get that spiffy sock cap done in time for cold Pennsic nights. Hey, maybe the Sloshed Fairy will come by too, bring me some wine and get good and schnockered for the helluvit. Yah know, Commode Hunggin’ Drunk is always delightful. There’s definitely some relaxation on order here. Hope y’all have a great weekend! *grin*

Tammolly~ Keeping that chin up

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

Weird Shit O’Meter

2007-04-10T20:38:00.001-04:00

I swear that I have some kind of crazy shit magnet on my ass some days. Was out shopping with the boyfriend at Meijer’s for some sun glasses and miscellaneous things. So the boyfriend says he’s gotta run off to the loo and he’d be back. Ok, cool, I can go look at miscellaneous things like really cool bath towels that look kinda nautical and that might be a nice touch to the bad 70’s-ish motif going on in the guest bathroom. I’m no Martha Stewart by any means, but hey, I do what I can some days.

Anyhoo, back to me waiting on Adam to come back. He calls me on the celly to see where I am at in the store, just to make sure I was still where he left me or at least in the proximity of where he left me. Crazy lady with on of those horizontal stacked tall carts makes a U-Turn around me while I’m on the phone and rams it into the end of the aisle so hard that it sounds like a cart crashed into traffic. This kinda startles me a bit, figure hey, shit happens; perhaps she lost her balance, benefit of the doubt kind of thing. Adam’s asking me if I’m crashing into things, yet I don’t have a cart. *jokester that he is* So talking to him and watching crazy lady with the cart was kinda challenging. Meanwhile, crazy cart lady decides to follow me around in circles like she’s trying to run my ass over in the aisle. WTF?! Do I have some kind weird shit magnet on my ass for this sort of thing? The whole incident was kinda spOOky to say the least. Rattled my ass, that’s for sure.

Apparently, crazy car lady chased someone else around with her cart, but Adam says he saw her checking out on the other end of the store when I was checking out. Either way, that was messed up. Woman with weeble-wobble body, more like a tick, large body, small head, and a buzz cut. Top that off with some wrap around redneck NASCAR sun glasses and 5’9 or so, you have crazy cart lady in Meijer scaring the piss out of unsuspecting people. That’s messed up. PSYCHO! *cue ominous bad movie music* Scree! Scree! Scree! Arrg…

Tammolly~Disturbed

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

SNOW IN APRIL WTF?

2007-04-04T20:32:00.001-04:00

Well, some one from American General Financial called me twice today. So that’s like a dozen calls in the past week it seems. It's the company we have our mattress set financed with. Courtesy call etc... Well, I'm up to 2 calls/hang-ups in a day. I just got off the phone with them; the only thing I am interested in is the mattress and paying it off. I don't want calls about bill consolidation, personal loans, or any other crap. They’ve taken me off their call list. :) It's like, I deal with psychotic children all day, and you really don't want me to channel that energy on you. =)~ I'm still trying to figure out what part of DO NOT CALL they don't understand. I mean, YES, I have a short term loan for a mattress set with your company. That's ALL I'm concerned about; I don't give two hoots and a rats ass what else you have to offer me at the moment. Grrrr. Stupid people suck

Anyhoo, it’s friggen freezing outside. We’re talkin’ flurries and wind that could freeze mouse nuts. We nearly roasted to death at work when it first got warm outside, we hit some record high temps for March and now we’re in what feels like Antarctic conditions compared to the weather we’ve had the past few weeks. Suckage. It’s apparently supposed to get colder this weekend. Yippy.

Tammolly~ Annoyed

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

POW OOFF UGGH AWKKK BONK (POST 100)

2007-03-29T20:12:00.000-04:00

HOLY BAT SHIT CATWOMAN! THEY’RE EVERYHWERE! So the title of this blog came from some website that actually made a list of Batman POW things that flash on the screen sans a few "O"s and "K"s to make sure it fit on the title line a little better. I find that amusing, because I Googled Batman POW and that list came up third or forth in the search. It figures that there is some sad little geek out there that actually took the time to log that shit onto a web page. Anyhoo…Back to the POW portion of the title.

Holy Snikies! I think I just need to pitch a fit whenever experienced staff want to leave me alone with these kids. I feel like saying these little fuckers, but that would almost be mean. Two of my little darlings decided to jump on each other and get into a fist fight in the gym today. Not even five minutes went by when my partner went out for a smoky treat break. DAMNITALL! I don’t dig this leaving me alone shit. Building supervisor says to work with me more closely, yet I am alone trying to run groups all week since they’re on spring break.

That’s another thing; this is a sad fact that I have to come to terms with. They look normal, but they’re mentally retarded and developmentally disabled in several aspects as well. They’re lucky if they have a third grade reading level and these are the “high functioning” kids. They lack some serious impulse control, they’re attention seeking, manipulative, aggressive, show poor judgment and problem solving skills and that ladies and gentlemen isn’t even the crux of the problems they have! *sniffle*

I know it’s gonna get better. They will stop getting all nucking futs as often as they have been with me lately. I’m told FOUR MONTHS is the magic number when they will start to listen and take you a little more seriously. That’s after they’ve tried to drive you off on a daily basis. It’s sh’loads of fun for all! Sh’loads= SHIT LOADS. Yeah, I’m a little out of sorts today. It was a one smoky treat day, which I’d like to kick myself for yet again. That and the pound of junk food I’ve consumed since I’ve gotten home. All that eating right while at work is out the window! *ugh*

Tammolly~ Frustrated still.

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

Flying Monkeys And Harpies

2007-03-27T10:59:00.001-04:00

I described them as Velociraptors once. It seemed to be a fitting description! It occurs to me that I could come with other descriptors too. Flying Monkeys is one of the few I have come up with. Perhaps it’s the pack mentality the girls seem to have, swooping in on poor Dorothy just like the Wicked Witch’s Flying Monkeys!!!!!! Harpies is another good one. The literal meaning of the word seems to be "whirlwinds" since I have been looking up information on Harpies today. I didn’t know they were Greek myths! Learn something new everyday I guess.

I know I am probably being mean about these kids, but you can’t help but wonder if they sit up in their beds at night thinking of ways to fuck with staff the next day. My boss says I’ll be going through their bad ass attitudes for at least 3 months when they figure I am really not going anywhere. Then it’s possible I won’t be getting as much shit from them as I am getting now. I may only have to repeat myself three times rather than a dozen before another staff member actually comes in to wrangle the situation.

Oh well, hey, I have a day off, so I’m gonna go hit the treadmill, because I need to start doing that. Then I’m gonna go to Julie’s for lunch, haven’t seen her in a while and I could use a good piece of pie today! Plus, my honey is leaving for four days and that really sucks ass, but that just means I can jump him when he gets back. That’s always fun!

Tammolly~ Making plans.

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

The Girls

2007-03-25T19:14:00.001-04:00

It’s messed up that every single day that I am on the job I get a new eye opening, oh my fucking lord, experience. I mean I’ve always had an inkling of how messed up this world can be at times, but it has never compared to the reality that the kids I work with have faced in the past. On average, the kids placed in the facility I work for have had a minimum of 12 different placements in foster care and the like. I’ve found a few of them have had over 30 placements! Eh?! The scarier thought is the fact that for every child we have, there has got to be a 100 or more out there lost in the shuffle. *sniffle* I’m disturbed by this revelation to say the least.

Thought of the day! It was better than yesterday when I was driven to smoke a cigarette like my life depended on it or I was going to crack! I had to restrain a kid on my own, no other staff, in a locked gym with other residents. I had to have one of them get into my pocket and call out for more staff assistance. It really sucked. When staff is called to a PRT (Primary Restraint Technique) they’re usually a monitor. Monitors make sure you’re doing your PRT correctly, relieve you if necessary, and help diffuse the situation that occurred. So my very first PRT was one my own, my adrenaline is running 90 friggen miles an hour. I couldn’t really breathe except like a dramatic sniffling heave in short bursts. It’s hard to explain, but when you’re sitting there in a PRT you’re only praying your training has kicked in correctly. By the time the monitor got there and he relieved me seeing that I’m quite worked up. I was shaking pretty bad. Scary bad, it was a feeling unlike anything I’ve experienced. I must have been shaking for hours; it probably was hours, because I didn’t get first break until after lunch. CIGARETTE!

I can normally convince myself that a cigarette will taste like total shit if I have one in order to talk myself out of buying a pack. Yesterday, I wanted to focus on something else besides the trembling, anything else but that. CIGARETTE! Unfortunately, the whole self talking of it will taste like total shit didn’t work, because it tasted good, it felt good, and I had another right after that and felt better damn it all.

So today was a good day. No PRTs. I didn’t have 4 pink sheets to fill out for QR time (quiet room) and I didn’t feel the compulsion to buy a carton of cigarettes or even smoke today. I suppose I have to come up with a better coping skill than to bum a cigarette off a fellow staff member. It sucks that I went through that whole thing yesterday and I will continue to work on the not smoking thing. I’m not planning on giving up on the girls or my job. Yes, it’s a job, but it comes with some heavy heart ache, great joys, and glimmers of hope. I feel blessed for not having been through the things they’ve been through and I pray that I can give them the skills to live out in the real world.

Tammolly ~ Feeling lucky today.

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

A Saturday Off

2007-03-17T11:43:00.001-04:00

It’s finally a Saturday off, nowhere to be in particular except the mattress store to pick up the rest of the KING SIZE BED PARTS! WOO HOO! King size bed! Crap…Gotta buy sheets. Bought four sets to go along with the king size mattress that is über soft and fluffy and comfy and and and…It’s all good. :) Now guests can sleep on the uber soft queen size pillow top complete with über comfy sheets and memory foam. *bliss* We just didn’t have enough room for us to sleep sprawled out. I like sprawled out, I can stretch and not kick Adam when he’s trying to sleep! =)~

Work is still going well, especially if you count the near 27 hours of OT coming up on the next pay check. Went through the initial PRT training (Primary Restraint Technique) which is what the kiddos get when they physically threaten themselves or others. My body feels like it’s been used as a piñata for this three day physical training. I feel confident that I will handle most of the stuff these kiddos can throw at me. I can take down a 6’3 man that is triple my weight! Granted, I’m not gonna look for trouble, but I will be somewhat prepared.

So my weekend consists of off today, getting mattress and stuff. Then I will be working for Nick tomorrow, a co-worker. After work, I have fencing, and more recovery from TOTAL muscle tenderness from PRT training. I am thinking I should have just not worked for Nick, but he swore if I need a favor he’ll work for me, three days even, that is if he doesn’t walk off the job. I’ve heard of this happening there, including a supervisor. That would suck ass. :(

I am wholly optimistic about this new job. Everyone seems to get along really well and that’s a good thing. Chris and Nick are jokingly called Shake ‘N’ Bake. Apparently that’s based on the movie Talladega Nights. I wanted my two hours back after that movie. Ironically it made fun of rednecks and NASCAR, so I’m all for making fun of them, but I just couldn’t appreciate the HILARITY of the whole concept until Chris and Nick started talking about it. I’m now scarred.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I’ve got a few things to do and then I’m probably going to profusely enjoy the new bed once we get it home and set up! WOO HOO!

Tammolly~Bouncey!

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

Survival Of The Fittest

2007-03-06T17:38:00.001-05:00

Looks like the new job is going to be quite the trying time. I suppose that having learning disabled children with emotional disturbances restrained in the middle of the classroom because they just threw a tray of cups and water pitcher at their class mates is fairly normal. It’s normal to have these kids take swings at you, punch, kick, bite, stab, cut, and otherwise clock you one just for redirecting them. Velociraptors seem kinder than what some of these kids are capable of, especially in groups. I observed something of a clever if not manipulative thing to do to a staff member. One kid talks to the staff member while a few others sneak up behind the staff member and then jump them. Wow!

I have learned long ago to be situationally aware when working with clients. Positioning yourself close to exits and in area where leaving is accessible if thing get funky is always ideal. Think secret agent man in a clandestine rendezvous in some pub. You bet your bippy Mr. Secret Agent Man is gonna be covering his arse in more ways than one. I have never liked having my back to groups, so this shouldn’t be a problem in avoiding sneak attacks. It could happen.

So this week is shadowing other employees. Next week is some intense training for work. After that, it’s anyone’s guess. I’m not too worried about it. I think I can handle the job for the most part. I think I will survive! :)

Tammolly~ Feeling like a fish out of water for the moment.

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

BOOYAH!

2007-03-05T21:44:00.000-05:00

So, it's me last day here in ol' Purdue country. I can't say that I will miss this place much. Yesterday was the magical finger printing day and that was something special. Their lobby furniture looked like it came right out of That 70's Show. Ugly ass plaid chairs! They were sad chairs. A family of 7 showed up to be fingerprinted right after me, so I'm glad I got there when I did. Fun-fun, still picking ink out of my finger nails. :(

New job seemed a bit confused when I came in with the fingerprint card before their paperwork had been filled out. I was told I could go do that before coming into the new place for that particular paperwork. Blah-blah-blah. It's all good after the initial confusion. I mean I'm starting on MONDAY! YAY! Buzzzzzzzzzz. Time out. I've got to reference sheets that need to be filled out by reliable professional types. Wulf was an easy choice to make, he filled it out and I was on my merry way. The second one was a bit of a quandary, especially since I just wanted to get them done before Monday and they wanted those sheets turned in as early as possible etc etc. So I went on over to WVH ACT office. *gulp*

I hadn't been back there since the day I left last January. It was tough and I wondered if I could even count on my old supervisor to fill it out with even remotely decent things to say about me. The other therapist that I worked with was unavailable to look it over. The whole time, the secretary wasn't in the reception area, so I was waiting around for a bit hoping to get someone to fill this darn thing out. The office psychologist meanders through. I talk him up for a bit; he fills it out, albeit with brief and concise doctor remarks in doctor’s scribe. VOILA! I'm done. I don't have to look back at WVH and worry about poor references or other stupid crap, because I have a job starting Monday. MONDAY! :)

Being that it took over 14 months to find a new job in social work, I don't intend to screw this one up and I do intend to have something lined up before leaving and some money saved up and and and, be prepared for contingencies as best as I can. :) It's all I can do at this point. Meanwhile, break time is over and I have some stuff to do yet. I lose the computer at noon and then El Tubbo is here. Fun-fun-fun.

Tammolly~ All giddy and stuff.

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

The Final Count Down!

2007-02-27T15:01:00.000-05:00

Only a few more days to go here. I'm doing my best not to say fuck it and go home from moment to moment. There were things I was willing to put up with because it was necessary to do so in order to pay the bills. Now, this place is unnecessary and along with it the inherent BS that comes with being a clerical monkey that does menial things all day long. I've been bounced around since the intern gets to have my desk. Eh, I've found ways around that now while she's here, like today for instance. Woo Hoo! I can move stuff around on someone else's desk and I'm sure they'll love me just as much for it as I love it when the intern moves my stuff around before I get back. C'est la vie.

This week, sometime between now and Thursday morning, I need to go to the state police department to get a finger print card done for my employment at THE NEW JOB. WOO HOO! It's happening folks. MONDAY! MONDAY! MONDAY! Say it like one of those cheesy announcement guys that do auto dealer commercials for television. Or monster truck rallies or something. MONDAY! MONDAY! MONDAY! I'm in such a weird mood today.

Thursday is lunch out with the crew day. So many folks want to come to my lunch to send me off. WOO HOO! How sweet! I get a free lunch and will likely have ink remnants on my fingers after my visit to the police department. It seems to be the plan, sleep until 8 and head out from the house to the police department, then to THE NEW JOB and after that, lunch with the office mates of past and present. YIPPY! Then one last day, one last day to get bumped from me desk for the intern to use. One last day for delivering mail and sneaking gtalk moments with the schnookums. :) I probably won't sneak so much, after all, it would be my last day and I don't care if the shrew or Miss Clydesdale tries to bug me about it. NOT MY PROBLEM ANYMORE LADY!

Sadly, I didn't find out until today that the intern is from Gary. So we've had quite a bit to chat about today, you know, stuff about places, events, and news and stuff. It was kinda nice to actually give her a personality for once. Not just El Tubbo or that damned intern, but a background that tells me she's been through some of the worst environments to grow up in within Indiana, but the intern nonetheless. My last week, I'm not going to try and develop any real relationships with anyone. I will likely never see any of them again and I'm ok with that for the most part. :) I'm evil that way.

I hold no special place in my heart for Purdue or WVH. There are very few people I would get upset about not seeing again from either place, at least not the people I worked with while at at WVH. I take exception to a few of them that were just plain cool to know and I do miss the clients despite the fact they nearly sucked the life from me on a daily basis. Ugh. That's enough babbling for now though. ENJOY!

Tammolly~ Counting the days

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

Hail Purdue!

2007-02-23T12:32:00.000-05:00

Well, that's the last time I touch any of my office mate's stuff. She's got this 2001 Purdue Football bobble head dude on her cabinet. Mind you, a bored Tammolly is a dangerous Tammolly. I'm making the head bobble around while waiting on her to get done with someone else. I see a button on the bobble head guy, it looks sorta mechanical in nature, movable arms and stuff. I hit the button and the Purdue fight song start blaring out of this thing and there is no way to turn the damn thing off! lol Everyone is now looking over their perspective cubicle prairie walls to see what all the noise and laughter is about. I was laughing so hard I was in tears. too funny. 11:15 Break TIME!

LUNCH TIME! 12:21 I haven't been having much fun today. Well, sorta, I'm finding more and more stuff the intern should be doing and is not. Before, I would try to keep things somewhat organized in the folders and file some stuff before she got here to work on W-2 duplicate request forms. Now, I'm not even making mailing labels! REALLY! She's supposed to be doing this stuff. She's gotta be one of the most unmotivated people I have met. Takes no initiative to see that something needs done and just doesn't do it. If you see a stack of papers, alphabetize them or put them in numerical order or even by date. WHICHEVER WE WILL NEED TO SEARCH FOR STUFF BY! A'rooo?

So I spent a half hour of my morning putting post-its on piles of paper with instructions on what she needs to do with them. We're supposed to look for returned W-2s when the duplicate requests come into the office. (Let's save some resources here by not wasting paper by printing out duplicates that don't need to be printed out here shall we?) I don't think she's been doing that either. A few things need to be done with each sheet! Highlight the name to make locating that information easier. Circle what needs to be done with the duplicate, mail, fax, or front desk for pick-up. Place a check mark in the upper right corner to show you have checked for the returned W-2s. Once they are completed, right down the date it was completed then put them in the completed folder in alphabetical order, not in clumps of alphabetical order, or groups of letters in alphabetical clumps, make sure they are ALL IN ONE STACK IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER IN THE COMPLETED FOLDER! Oy-vey

It's clearly not rocket science folks. Obviously, I know how to do this, because I've been doing all this crap for her and busting ass to get my stuff done, which I have not had time to do without skipping breaks and working through my lunch hour! Now that it's her responsibility, it's a huge friggen deal and she's not happy about it. Go figure. It means she'll have to stop moving around like a sloth and get something done in the 20 hours a week she's here besides chat and fiddle with her music player. I have no sympathy for students and the work they have to do, especially when I had a full-time job, full-time school, and a full-time and a half pain in the ass ex-husband who didn't get it. My supervisors are now seeing exactly why I was so pissed about the whole losing my desk deal when she's clearly not getting the work done, the little stuff is part of the work too and I'm done with the coddling.

Only nine more days to go before the new job starts. Granted, it's only five working days if you want to look at it that way. Five more days! WOO-HOO! No more Tubbo and crappy office drama and BS to deal with from the hell pit that is Purdue's clerical nightmare tango! I hope the people I will be working with won't be as annoying as some of the folks I have run into around here. Hopefully, I'll be dealing mainly with the kids rather than the employees, but we'll see what happens here. :) Time to end me lunch hour with a few Girl Scout cookies. Mmmmm cookies.

Tammolly ~ Just passing time

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

Tyrannical Shrews

2007-02-21T18:12:00.001-05:00

There's a woman in this cubicle farm that just gets on my nerves. I don't know why, she seems like she could be perfectly nice outside of the job setting, otherwise her mannerisms and such just bug total crap out of me. She's a manager person and she has her hands in everyone's cookie jar whether it's her department or not. Apparently in her own department over the next cubicle wall, she's told her folks they're not allowed to talk to each other and that they're only supposed to be keying information for vouchers. THAT'S IT! Never mind the fact the OnePurdue has consistently screwed up since they implemented it. Oy-vey, it's a nightmare around here with that damned OnePurdue crap. I'm told it has been working great on the satellite campuses, bully for them, it's not working out well here. I guess my main thought about the annoying manager person is that you don't have be a tyrannical shrew to get results from your underlings. Right? Oh hell yeah!

Many many many moons ago, I worked for a data entry firm that did medical records and stuff. We had hourly quotas to meet each day we were there. That boss didn't allow us to talk either. So we only did the minimum and yelled at anyone new who came in and blasted through projects like there was no tomorrow. It was our passive aggressive way of saying if you let us talk a little, we'll be more than happy to work a little harder for you. I eventually just got a CD player and listened to music all day while working there. I kinda do that here, but it's not quite the same thing. We're allowed to talk in our department and we get lots done when we're here. Go figure. Okey dokey, break time is over and I don't think I'll be back into this one today.

Tammolly ~ Kinda just here today.

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead~ HAPPY MARDI GRAS!

2007-02-21T18:12:00.000-05:00

So, Tubbo showed up late today and I'm thinking I can't believe I'm wasting time trying to move shit around from one desk to another before ten this morning so she could have when she came in. So instead of processing departmental mail I'm moving things around. Had a somewhat pointless to me meeting this morning with our department. Knowing that I am leaving here in two weeks means any additional duties or information really doesn't pertain to me unless what I am doing is changing. It hasn't changed as far as anyone knows, so I coulda been doing other stuff that was more important than sit in a meeting with the irritable bowels grumbling for over a half hour. Talk about not staying on task either, blah blah blah blah.. Blah blah? Blah. I'm thinking stay on topic so we can get this over with before I let loose a juicy one just for you! ARRG! I ended up walking out on an emergency potty run because I couldn't take it anymore and was about to start my head to spinning like the exorcist in order to get out of there! I know, I'm sure you wanted to know my potty habits of the day, but it certainly set the tone for me being more irritated with El Tubbo more than usual. Besides the fact that she bugs me while I'm at the computer on lunch, she just makes me crazy with the incisive yawning, she sounds like a St Bernard that needs its adenoids removed when she yawns.

On a happy note, it's Mardi Gras! YAY! We had king cake and beads passed about the office area. Apparently, there's a plastic baby in the cake and whoever gets the slice of cake with the baby in it has to bring the king next year. I reminded them that my last day was going to be March 2nd and that I wouldn't be here next year. :-) Anyhoo, the cake was good too. Mmmm it was made by O'Rears, a local bakery that just beats the piss out of Krispy Kreme. :) Sidetracked the whole meeting when the boss got the plastic baby and nearly cracked a tooth on it while chomping on the cake. lol It was funny for about 3 seconds until the belly began the rumbling again. Ugh.

Other than that, lunch is nearly over and I have to get my happy arse into some other e-mail accounts to make sure it's not backed up to high heaven with e-mail like it was yesterday. yay-rah. I'm still psyched about the new job though, can't wait to see how much "fun" it's going to be working with these special kids. wOOt!

T~Molly~ Chipper

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom

And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel

I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

Something’s Rotten In The State Of Denmark

2007-02-21T18:10:00.001-05:00

For some reason, this building smells like a combination of old people and antiseptic today. *blech* It's a nauseating scent whatever it is. I got another interview on Monday with an entirely different place. I feel like I'm just wasting time with interviews when I'm not getting any calls back. WTF? Yah know? It's been really frustrating and I don't want to think about unemployment benefits and other such things because I just don't know how long this place will last before they no longer need me. Ugh. :( Lots of uncertainties and frustration when it comes to work and stuff. The one interview that I am gunning for and hoping to get has already made its decision, but they can't tell me who that is or if it's me because the background checks have not come through. Eh? Man, that's really getting frustrating. :( And it's not very encouraging either.

I am not at my desk today either. So hey, I'm not very excited about being here either. I suppose I will never be happy or content with a job, at least not all the time. I'm happy as a clam to have my desk, its vast space and lighting to get my work done, and a garbage can. I have this classy printer paper box next to my cubby hole from hell to throw stuff in it. Yeah, it's just fab having to use a printer paper box for a garbage can. I got tired of getting up every single time I had to throw something away. El Tubbo has the garbage can at my desk so crammed with candy wrappers, soda cans, and junk that it looks like I just sit there ALL DAY with a feedbag on my face or something. Ugh. Oy-vey. That's all for now. Time to amuse myself elsewhere.

MOLLY!!!!!

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

Did You Just Fart?

2007-02-19T21:00:00.000-05:00

So I had another interview today, this morning actually. I was not sure how it would go, especially after countless interviews and let downs, and rejection letters. I'm all ready for this to flop, I walked in feeling it would flop, one big notorious flop! FLOP! I came in a half hour early to fill out the paper application. Yip-py. Primary contact person comes out, we talk, I get the tour, we talk some more. I go sit and wait around a few more minutes. Meet with who would be my supervisor. We talk, we tour the facilities, "Did you just fart?" Yeah, that's what I thought he said when he asked me, "When can you start?" Seriously? Yes, seriously, when you can start? YAY! Bennies and 3 weeks vacation here I come! =) Woo-Hoo!

I will be working with the MRDD population, Mentally Retarded and Developmentally Disabled. It will be on helluva challenge and it will tell me weather or not I want to go into that area of concentration of study for my master's degree. wOOt! Also, from what I was told, they will pay and/or assist in tuition. YAY! Too bad that deadline has passed for this year. We'll see what happens. TWO WEEKS! I start in TWO WEEKS and with a decent raise! Woo HOO!

Happy-happy-happy Tammolly

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

I’m A Meanie

2007-02-15T19:29:00.001-05:00

No idea how pissed off I'm feeling at the moment. Last week, additional duties were assigned. I asked about what would happen to the duties assigned involving the use of computer once the intern shows up for work on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday. I was told she would need to find another spot once she comes in on those days. Hey, this makes me happy, I don't have to worry about losing my space anymore, or at least for a while until OnePurdue gets its shit together. Ugh. NOT! She walks in, I'm off my desk, and stuck in the corner like the puppy that pissed on the kitchen floor. Bad Tammolly, no cookies for you or something. Grrrrrrr

The ride in wasn't pleasant due to every single intersection being backed up to a quarter mile or more or less, but mostly backed up to high heaven. Yay-ray. The extra half hour I gave myself to get in today was chewed up with traffic and morons that don't know how to drive in the snow. Morons exist all the time on the highway, but they seem to be more prolific on snow days. For example, my turn off the main road to get to work was back up all the way to a previous light. It’s usually four lanes and then a center turning lane to use for various places. THE CENTER LINE IS PILED WITH SNOW! Traffic is not only backed up, people are trying to get in the left lane from the right lane because it’s not moving at all. Then assholes from the left lane creep up through the center turning to get to the railroad underpass the cut back into the left lane. NOWAY! I made every single one of those jerk wads wait on me by pulling up just enough on the left so the folks in the right could get over for a few minutes since no one else was letting them get into the lane to get around the hold up. Then I went and by that time, center lane people are pissed because they had to wait. BOOYAH! Take that stupid people! C'est la vie.

Back to office crankiness, BIG STACK O' W-2s to be mailed out, only the addresses printed on the W-2s are not correct and require the use of a computer to make the labels to place over the mailing window in order to ensure they get mailed to the correct place, not the old address. I hand them over to the intern, she asks why I'm not doing them at the up front desk; lunch is in 15 minutes, I still have sorting to do for faxes and pick-up vouchers for the check desk. She pouts; I jump with glee with my inner vengeance monkey because I don't have to type up 50 mailing labels because I don't have a computer. Nor will I make the effort to find one since mine is occupied despite additional duties being assigned that require the use of a computer. HAH! Passive aggressive is me, so deal with it intern girl. I coulda got those labels done in 20-30 minutes mind you. She’s been working on them for an hour and a half and messed them up twice. Ha! Ha! I know, I’m such a meanie. That's all for now. :)

T~M

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

Oh What A Winter Wonderland

2007-02-13T15:24:00.001-05:00

Dashing through the snow, in my trusty 4X4. Dumb broad trying to tailgate me and I'm ready to go postal. Ok, so it doesn't scan perfectly to Jingle Bells, but that was the gist of the morning commute. Foot and a half drifts in the driveway between the vehicles. I looked like I was attacked by a dandruff machine just bebopping out to the truck to start it up. EEK! The usual morning commute time doubled if not slightly more. I drove in the left lane at a top speed of 35 or less, mostly less. I figured since the plows hadn't bothered with the left lane I might make tracks for someone to follow if they needed to do so. Stupid woman driver is up my ass like a hemorrhoid, I guess she wanted me to get twitchy and slam the breaks so she could ride in the truck bed or something. Stupid tailgaters! ARRG!

It's still snowing and blowing, campus is open, we're expected to come in even though everyone else in their right mind is shut down off campus. All of the school canceled, including Ivy Tech! LAST NIGHT! They preemptively closed last night! Purdue is still open. Nice. So I am taking my break at 11 and gonna scope out the horizons outside during lunch to determine whether or not I will just take my happy ass home and build a cozy fire in the fire place.

Been awake mostly since 2:30 this morning because my happy fat grey cat decided to howl and paw at the door until I got up and showered him with the spray bottle. Then, I couldn't get back to sleep until about 5:30-ish. Grrrrrr. He can't help it that he has no learning curve and enjoys getting sprayed with the water bottle at all hours of the night. If he wants attention, I'll toss him in the shower next time. Cat wash anyone?! Oy-vey.

At this point in the day, I have a small stack of sorting to do, the morning mail has finally showed up, and anyone who could do anything with it is not here today, so I'm not sure what the point of sorting the mail is at this point. One of my office mates is going to have a stack of sorted billing to input. The new billing systems sucks since the new cost center numbers are not matched up with old cost center numbers or funding groups! Signatures that i recognized for old cost center numbers don't have a department name included or any reference to the old stuff, so it's a one by one search in the old books to match up signatures and see if I can do a reverse reference. Way to go OnePurdue! You suck! You've cost me my temporary staffing gig on campus and now I have to look at another temp agency altogether. Grrr. Hey, I'm still here though, for how long, I don't know, the other temp has been here since October of last year. Fun-fun. I hope I can hang on that long. Break time over! 11:12AM

12:39PM HOME! They’ve sent us home until noon tomorrow where I get to come in and work 5 hours. Worked 4 hours today and now I am home counting my blessings and cursing stupid fucking drivers. It never fails that someone with four wheel drive gets cocky when the weather gets bad. I got a 4X4 so I could get to work without feeling like I was going to have a heart attack in my car. That and my car wouldn’t have made in or out of work today, too much snow and I woulda been stuck somewhere along the way in either direction. Idiot in his little pick’em-up truck with a plow blade on the front starts sliding sideways in my general direction and almost hit me on the way to home. Gives me the dirty look for being on my side of the road, not only my side of the road but close to the shoulder to make more tracks for others to follow since the snow is more than 6 inches deep! Dumbass! I flipped him off and kept going. Stupid people suck.

Anyhoo, that’s it. Been getting argumentative with idiots on a gaming server that only do what they want to anyway. Me thinks it’s time to remove myself from the activity of that list and just continue on with the few relationships I’ve built there, because the rest of it has become not fun. Whatever happened to fun? Damn that sucks.

Tammolly ~ Tired of stupid crap going on.

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

What A Twist!

2007-02-12T20:58:00.001-05:00

So I come in this morning, get here about 10 minutes early and run through all the mail I have in the inboxes of a few accounts. It's a dreary morning, I'm feeling kinda blah and that I've somehow been hit by mac truck and did anyone get the license plate number of that truck? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? Clearly waking up and feeling kinda icky in the sinuses and throat was an indication of a bad day scenario. SO far so good though. I have been given additional responsibilities this fine Monday. It involves use of the computer and that means the intern is SOL for the time being. Yeah, that's right, temp girl gets her desk back! Granted, whims of the co-workers and managers are as fickle as the wind blows or something metaphorical or another.

Last week marked the informing of temporary staffing that after their current assignment is fulfilled, they are no longer in Purdue's temporary staffing department. NO MORE TEMPORARY STAFFING DEPARTMENT! I won't be getting another assignment unless I go through Manpower, which is renowned for ripping off temporary employees. So when they're contracted for $15 an hour or more, they only pay you $10 if you're lucky and still no benefits. I gotta set that up soon though, otherwise this is going to get ugly and fast, especially since I've finally got my direct deposit split for checking and a little bit of savings each check. Don't make me get all angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry. Well, you'd probably laugh at my anger, because I'm told it resembles something between a pissed of wet cat and a fussy chipmunk at times.

So it feels warmer outside than it has been in a few weeks. We're talking a whole whopping 20 degrees here! It feels like it's in the 40's! It was below freezing for so long, I was forgetting what it felt like to not have the hairs in my nose freeze. That's pretty pathetic if you ask me. I suppose I should not complain about a little cold and snow when New York got nailed with 8 + feet of snow and counting. HOLY SHITE BATMAN! That's a lot of snow!

So this past weekend was Val Day and there were a lot of fencers there. Ran into a buddy of mine that I haven't seen since the last Val Day methinks. He says he still reads my blog to see what's going on with me. Hi Rick! Post comments are I'll poke you silly with a stick next time I see you. :) Lurking does me no good if I don't know you're out there dude. :)~ And unto everyone else out there who reads this, I enjoy comments and feed back. Except from Adam, because I live with him and I get his comments whether I want to hear them or not. =)~ Hee-hee. Kidding!

Alas, lunch is almost over here and I have to get some paperwork prepped. Perhaps on next break I'll post more or not. Nope, that’s it for me today…. Oh my how time flies!

T~M

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

More Annoyances

2007-02-08T18:50:00.002-05:00

To add insult to injury, I was moved into the cubby hole from hell the moment the intern walked in 10 minutes early. So I moved and prayed that I wouldn't go insane in a chair that won't adjust the height, banging my knees on the little table that feels like it was made for pre-schoolers to color at, and no FRIGGEN room to move without bumping into something with hands or feet. Throw in the fact that I've kneecapped myself on nearly everything within reached of this desk, I'm one happy camper. NOT! :(

I continued with my filing, since it was moved from the GREAT BIG EXPANSIVE DESK to dinky annoying crayon table where I feel like I am crouched over this damn thing like a scribing monk of doom. Grrrrrrrrr 45 minutes go by and all of my preemptive filing and checking and verifying for the intern so she won't have to waste her time on researching all this stuff before data entering W-2 information to get this ALL DONE before she leaves, she's nowhere to be found near the computer! Another 15 minutes go by and she still hasn't shown back up, but by that time I am walking my ass up to the front desk to sit there and file what needs to be filed in that area. (NOTE: It's colder than all get out up there. Probably 60 degrees and nearly impossible retain body heat. The desk is not ergonomically sound and uncomfortable. Again with the knee capping of myself on things that are within reach. :( It sucks.) So that's a short-term morning solution until 1 rolls around and that desk opens up for business with student and employee W-4 and international student help with their payroll and tax needs. 1-4 that desk is out of my reach. :( But hey, I managed to chew up enough time to come back to my regular area and file and fiddle and twiddle the thumbs until lunch rolls around.

I almost didn't get the use of this one for the simple fact that if you don't log yourself off of a station, no one else can log onto it for use. If you think you can be slick and just pull the plug and log yourself on after you plug the computer back in, guess again! Apparently it has been tried without much success. LOL It wasn't me thankfully, because that moron got YELLED at something fierce by several managers. Anyhoo, I come back from up front and find her checking e-mail and chatting it up on the phone about last night's whatever she did with her little friends. Dude, if I gotta give up prime real-estate for you to screw around half the time, I'm gonna get pissed off in a real friggen hurry here. The fact that I was desperate enough to log onto AIM and chat on my cell phone periodically just to get a technology fix was pathetic enough for me. Not to mention the fact that all the work she did the other day when she was here did not print correctly, nor was it verified if it was printed or not. So when folks came in to pick up their reprints and duplicates after 1pm yesterday, I had to deal with cranky people who wasted a trip because it wasn't done correctly. NICE! 8.50 an hour is not enough to put up with that kind of shit. Ugh. Oh well, I am going to finish eating lunch and then hit careerbuilder for more jobs in a bit.

I know, it's not the intern's fault and perhaps I am being mean due to stuff not going as ideally as I would have liked. It's a pain in the ass to move around and be stuck in a situation where you weren't consulted and then just told you were going to do something because there was a severe lack of planning on anyone's part! Ugh. She keeps coming by the printer to pick up stuff and trying to read over my shoulder. Perhaps I could just be annoyed by that. Right? RIGHT! She's a sweetie for the most part, so I shouldn't rag or fault her for management's lack of planning. Apparently she thinks it would be great to find my blog and read it too. Ummm, no, you wouldn't like me very much if you did find it chica. Not after what I've written this past week or so. I am fully aware of the fact that if someone were to find this blog and take offense at my ratings and observations, I would likely be fired for it. It's a risk I will take, because I would otherwise go nuts during my days here when there is nothing else to do. *sigh* Hope you're having a better day than me!

T~icked off~Molly

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

The Good Ol’ Days?

2007-02-07T12:55:00.000-05:00

I heard from one of the crazy people I used to work with in one of the other offices. She's always had this look on her face like she's been startled or surprised. I mean she was wide eyed like she'd been drinking a case of Bawls every morning. Granted, I introduced her to Bawls when she first started working in that office, but she was spOOky looking from day one. She's the drama queen type that everything is a huge deal and if you poke fun at her she gets really offended. She exhibited the kind of paranoia that perhaps was almost justified at times, it seemed to ooze from her. She was a smoker that tried to cover up the fact that she smoked. So it was perfume scented ash tray woman. Not only was she perfume scented ash tray woman, she would turn on her desk fan and nearly choke me to death with that raunchy perfume of hers that she wore quite often. Just so happens that Purdue has a no scent policy. So that means scented lotion, perfume, and stuff like that. It was never enforced in that office until our HR lady explained her severe allergies and observed my complaints about ash tray woman's perfume. So she knocked it off for the most part. If the perfume had at least smelled good, I would not have minded, but it was nasty perfume. :( So she wants to go to LBC for lunch again sometime. Perhaps, just to humor her, I will go to LBC and catch up on the office gossip from over yonder! :)

Yesterday, we received approximately 4-6 inches of snow. The first real accumulation all season. I left work an hour early and came in a half hour early this morning in order to make up some of that time. I've got plenty to do today, so I can't complain much. It's when I will have to be moved over to the cubby hole from hell when the intern is here that will bug the shit out of me. :( Anyhoo, I drove home SLOW as I could. I got passed up by a Wal-Mart truck that continued to fishtail its way down the road probably long after I turned off to go home. It scared the shit out of me. I mean I seem to have this luck for doing nothing but driving in a straight line and going slow and have my vehicle decide it wants to take a merry-go-round detour. Or someone else's car decides it wants to take a merry-go-round detour and smack into me. It just happens in the snow, it sucks ass that it has been like that in the past it seems. So I took the car home with the heart rate doing 120 beats a minute or better, death grip on steering wheel, and praying I didn't wind up in the Wabash River or one of its draining fields. The usual 10-15 drive turned into 30 minutes and me cussing at assholes who pull out in front of me when if they had waited 15 seconds, there was nothing behind me for miles! A'rooo?! What's wrong with people and snow? Does their IQ drop to retardo levels once they get behind the wheel?! ARRRG! Therefore, this morning, I took the truck into work. I felt so much better coming into work. No worries about getting stuck on a hill. I didn't drive like a maniac, not like the stupid ass in a Mustang that was sliding and spinning out everywhere. I didn't dare pass him up, figured I was better off a safe distance behind him rather than near him. *sigh* People are so stupid sometimes.

Tammolly

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

Oh Joy.... NOT!

2007-02-05T22:32:00.001-05:00

Grrr... Roar... And other explicatives I aught not say in the office. Here's the joy of being a temp at Purdue. I was informed that the intern gets to have my desk 3 days a week between 10 am to 5:30 pm. It's something like Tuesday, Thursday, and then Fridays are NOON to 5:30pm or something like that. My complaint is, my shit is at this desk, I have adopted this desk as my work space, not the kindergartner table they have crammed into one of the corners between the filing cabinets like a prison cell with poor lighting. My personal track ball mouse and USB extension cord is here. I don't want someone else using either one, they are MINE. I lose my happy quiet lunch space with the computer to check e-mail on lunch and type up my blogs that some folks actually like to read once in a while. Yeah, losing my desk at lunch pisses me off to no end; I lose it for break times on those days, so I won't have access to a computer. WTF? Apparently this is not uncommon around here. Ugh. I guess you can say I am fairly territorial about my stuff and my space. Besides, I went through the friggen effort to clean this area of food particles and other crap my first week here. I don't want to worry about someone else's cooties on the keyboard, phone, monitor etc etc. Did I mention I lose access to the computer and streaming music at my desk too? I'll be hooked up on the MP3 player more often than not then. Ugh. Yeah, this was not designed to make me feel happy today. Oh well, I have some other stuff to do.

So I am thinking now, they're running out of legitimate things for me to do and are looking for stupid things for me to stay busy with. They say they want to hang onto me as long as they can, but for some reason, I am thinking not so much so because of the whole getting bumped from my desk at least 3 days a week. Ugh. I am now sharing things to do with the other temp that trained me three weeks ago, so that's a scary thought. It's hard enough to feign busy with a computer at my desk, it's going to be hard to do so without a computer at my desk. Have I mentioned that there are at least two other departments on this floor without users for computer that just sit collecting dust since I have started working here? Perhaps it would be a good use of resources to put the intern there rather than bump me off my damn desk! Or let me go to another building where I might make more than 8.50 an hour doing much of the same thing or less. Blah-blah-blah-blah.

Almost forgot, scary thought. Sitting at a stop light with people in front of me, semi-truck decides blow through stop light and nail an SUV full of people. I don't know what he was thinking; he just flew on through the light and took this automobile out right in front of a bunch of people. EEK! Apparently everyone is ok, despite the fact the SUV got mangled, thank god for side impact air bags? I really don't know. Someone must have been looking out for them, that's for sure. It wasn't nearly as entertaining as watching stupid people sling up-side the right of a rig and have it turn into them. CAUTION! WIDE RIGHT TURNS! With pictures that show you what not to do. DUH! Not really the same thing, but hey, just thought I'd throw that in there. :)

Oh well, it's time for chocolate therapy.

T~Molly~Grumpin’

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

Vicious Squirrels

2007-02-01T21:06:00.000-05:00

I just happened to see something that made me almost pee my pants I was laughing so hard. I suppose it if happened to me, I wouldn't think it was very funny at the time. Apparently this is not something unusual for this particular building, but then again, I've never seen it happen anywhere else on campus. Some guy went to throw his trash in the can stationed at the front set of doors outside. As he reached in to deposit his trash, a squirrel ran out and up his arm. I don't think I've ever heard a man scream like a girl quite like this. It's right up there with the time a buddy of mine screamed like a girl when a herd of deer decided to attack the car while we were stopped in the middle of the road waiting for about 20 of the bastards to cross over to the other side of the road. It was hilarious on both accounts though. It's not often you see something worthy of funniest home videos; I only wish I had a video camera for either event! :)

That's my funny for the day and I think that's all I have to say too! :) At some point I have to return to the psychotic animal featurette. Remind me sometime to finish off the Chicago squirrel and Pigeon story at some point.

Tammolly ~ Having a good laugh.

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

Just Waiting Around

2007-01-31T12:31:00.000-05:00

WOW... So it just so happens that I had an interesting experience today. More interesting to me than anyone else I guess. I was sorting mail for our department and right now we're getting 1099 forms for us to file in our records. Not only are we getting 1099s, we're getting return W-2 forms because stupid people don't update their information after leaving Purdue and they come back to us. Jeez... I go through and open all of this stuff to look at what needs to be filed. Just so happens someone's stuff came here from where Adam works. I recognized the name and saw that it was a W-2 form that they were likely waiting for ALL MONTH LONG. I know I have not been the most patient person this year waiting for my W-2 information from 3 employers and unemployment. UGH! I just wanted to know if I was going to owe, break even, or get some cash back for once! Turns out, I am getting cash back, which is nice! :)

Anyhoo, I call Adam to make sure that person still worked there and then spoke with that person to let them know we had their W-2. From there, we made some arrangements and it is now in the correct hands. I for one am just glad it did not wind up somewhere it did not belong and in the wrong hands. I mean your whole life is on that W-2 and someone could just take your identity information and go to town on your behalf and not in a good way. I know this whole thing was alarming to the person, but I explained it was my job to open stuff and she didn't have to worry about confidentiality of her income information. At least she didn't have to order a duplicate W-2 and wonder what happened to her stuff. I mean, I could have just put it in another envelope with no explanation and mailed it back to her. I am not that mean! Besides, perhaps if I ever apply there again, my resume' might just stick out a little more for being so nice. So it wasn't an entirely altruistic intention I guess.

Onto other news. There stands a slight possibility that Adam might take on a promotion that may or may not come up within the next year. The positive is, it would be what he was hired on to do in the first place and he would be making more money. The possible negative is, he might have to move to corporate headquarters in north central Indiana. :( I don't object to this idea, mainly because I would not only go with him, I want to be with him. So moving isn't such a big deal when you get to do it with someone else. It's an altogether different calculation when you're moving alone because it's not as much fun and a lonely thought to process.

This will also make life interesting in the SCA since I will be closer to my fencing teacher. It also means some work to do with the group in that area since they don't have a regular practice if any at all. I looked at their web site before and I noticed you had to call to arrange for a practice because they just didn't have a regular practice set up. Eh? They are an odd lot up there; I've always heard that about them along with some other negative things. So it would be encouraged, nay-nay, required of me by my Warder that I get things moving along with that group if we were to move. Fun! Isn't it?

Not much else to ramble about. OOH! New hot water heater! No more night before work showers and waking up like a zombie for the day because I didn't get a hot shower in the morning. wOOt! Ooh and boiler explosion, or at least it sounded like an explosion this morning when the power went out on the entire campus. Someone, a moron of some kind, tripped a breaker that in turned tripped a shut down of a power grid, which in turn turned on the emergency pressure release for the boilers, which in turn made a really-really LOUD BOOM!. It made our windows, floors, and walls shake in our building since we’re right next to the damn power plant. Fun, yeah, anyone with any kind of post traumatic stress disorder issues probably shit themselves if they were anywhere nearby or in the elevators. The interviews have not returned back to me yet, I will hear from them within the next few weeks and if not, I will start calling back. One more interview tomorrow and then it's ALL DONE for now and just waiting to hear back. Yup, that's all I have to say now. =)

T~

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin…

Wish Me Luck People!

2007-01-29T22:10:00.000-05:00

I have more to do today than I know what to do with at the moment. Well, it's lunch time and I suppose that's a start in taking a break since I totally skipped my first break of the day to ensure some items were cut, stuffed, and mailed out by noon. I have another pile to do as well. This means lots and lots of crap to do. Supposedly, things are going to calm down at the end of the month. I don't know what that means for me just yet. Calming down mean I am gonna canned from here and move to another office again? :( That would suck ass, because the location for the morning commute is nice. First left onto campus and easy out the door to get home too. Then again, it's nowhere convenient to any place else on campus. I can't walk to Cafe' Vienna or McDonald's from here, not without losing a half hour to walking on my lunch hour. The walking, not such a bad thing, but the weather has finally turned cold enough to make me hesitate trekking about campus in dress shoes. Errrg.

Meanwhile, 20 minutes to go for lunch, I might have gotten to this sooner, but since one of the small nuclear kitchen devices (otherwise known as a microwave) was unplugged, the line was long in the break room to even heat lunch up. I then found out there was a second break room in the back of the office next to another set of rest rooms. wOOt! So then, I find out there are soda bottles rather than cans in the back break room. DOUBLE wOOt! I can get a bottle and not be so paranoid about people knocking over a soda can onto my desktop. Shite, that would suck, especially here. I doubt they are forgiving about dumping liquids into the computers.

I am still anticipating return interviews for WorkOne and First Steps. It hasn't been quite a week, but I am wondering what's going with the First Steps people, they said they were going to call back for a secondary interview to meet with another supervisor that could not make it to the last one. Joooy. I wonder if I should pester or just leave it alone. There is such a thing as overkill in following up. Again, not sure I want that particular job where I have to use the home I live in for work purposes. That, and I don't want to tear the shit up out of car with excessive mileage before it is paid off or traded-in. Sure, 44 cents a mile reimbursement, but I doubt that covers the repair costs and accelerated depreciation of the car. As if the normal rate of depreciation isn't bad enough, let me just take a sledge hammer to it. It would have the same cumulative value affect. Ugh. Somebody make up my mind for me!

Tomorrow is an actual Purdue Interview for a clerical position. What really cracks me up, they called me last week to see if I would take less than the desired hourly wage of 10.50 an hour. How much less we talking here? It would be $ 8.80-$9.84 an hour. OUCH! Yeah, I'll interview for the position, if it means the possibility of benefits, I'll interview for it. EEP! That's a scary thought. I'll be working next to another building I have worked in before. Fun-fun. The building is located near a faster route into campus than the other buildings I have worked in before. YAY-rah.

I am on a ROLL here!!! Got another interview with a place called Family Services sometime this week! Well, it's a call I got while doing something else, I have yet to talk to them directly just yet. This merely means another nibble has come up and I may very well have another interview coming this week wOOt! DOUBLE wOOt! Must of course call back, which I did, and the person who called was on the phone. So I am now waiting on them to call me back. Fun-fun. I gotta get back to work now though. Too much to do today. :(

Looks like, now that I am home, the new interview is set up for Thursday. Weeee! Happy-Happy Joy-Joy! So, there’s the number 61 that has shown up ever since I moved to Lafayette. The last four of my first LAN line number 8561, cell 2761, last four on my car plates 5361. The kicker today, the last four digits of the employer I called were 5361 as well. WTF? Coincidence or what? spOOky!

Anyhoo, that’s all I have to say for now.

T~Molly

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin...

MORE INTERVIEWS!!!!!!!!

2007-01-26T15:14:00.000-05:00

I am officially considered OK to use a computer in this building. Apparently, working in other offices on campus does not qualify me to use a computer until I am orientated here or something. Now, the restrictions to viewing web pages from other sites other than within Purdue’s domain are considered a NO NO NO. Welllll, I see it as, if I am on break, what I do with the computer on my break time is my time, so long as I am not stealing social security numbers and creating fraud and stealing identities or something. Right? Right! Meanwhile, I am told they have a program that monitors all of my browsing activity. It also goes through my desktop to look for illegal files that are not allowed to be stored on the computer. You know, stuff like pictures! So I will periodically have to put up my desktop photo of the fat cat sleeping on one of my pillows hugging it blissfully.

I have yet another interview, this time, it is with Purdue. YAY? I don't know just yet. We'll see what happens next week. The other two interviews seemed to go well. One went better than the other me thinks. First Steps would be working from home out of my own office and a lot of driving around the surrounding counties to meet with families and setting up their coordinating services. I am supposed to talk to another supervisor that missed the interview the other evening and go from there. The Work One interview seemed to go much smoother; especially since I am familiar with their services and some of the personnel there. I should hear something from them within a few weeks. They can't make a decision until their background check information comes back to both of them. Basically, there is one person for the entire state of Indiana running these background checks and she's a little behind so it could be longer than a few weeks. That's all I know for now. :)

The lazy part of me wants to get the Purdue job to just have a simple 8-5 Monday thru Friday job. No bringing home paperwork, working weekends, worrying about clients, and stressing out daily about other people's lives. Yet, there's that side of me that wants to be challenged. At this point, if someone offers me the job and I get benefits, I don't care it is or where it is. Work One would be nice, I would almost cut my commute to work in half if not just a little less than what I have to do now coming here to Purdue. First Steps, I would trash my poor car driving everywhere. *ugh* So actually, if the choice was between Purdue and Work One, it's a coin toss. Work One would be much more than the position that I will be interviewing for next week with Purdue. Oy-vey.

Oh well, not much else to report, I haven't had much time to keep up on the daily blog, but now that "they" are watching me, I will not be going near my actual blog until I get home. It's hard saying what they have looked at already, but it can't bode well for me to push the envelope on being a browsing deviant. :) Heheheh... Deviant. Heheheh :) Time to run.

Tammolly ~ Feeling quite excited now.

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom

And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel

I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin...

Interviews!!!!!!!!!

2007-01-22T22:57:00.000-05:00

Alrighty then. Let’s see, 12+ months of résumés and interviews. Lot’s of rejection letters and a few crap jobs. Not that working at the restaurant is/was a crap job; it’s not for me in the long run. Working for Purdue, too much uncertainty but a pay check when I am there workin’. Yeah, it’s working so far, but as soon as things slow down again, I will be in the same boat I was 8 weeks ago. :(

Alas, Subaru has their physical job site test this week, 4 hours of working there to determine whether or not they want to interview me for a higher on. I got a call from Department of Workforce Development. Then another government agency, First Steps, called me up today for setting up an interview. I got a half hour impromptu phone interview with them, a partial Spanish fluency test while on the phone, and just some general chit-chat and an eagerness to meet me face to face this week. Apparently they’re looking to hire immediately if possible. Eh? Really? How’s Wednesday right after work? YAY! Interviews up the arse! So is it a good sign they’re discussing salary requirements on the phone with the First Steps agency? Hmmm. I know, don’t get too excited, but hell, it’s a work from home type job and that’s cool too.

So now, with all that on the horizon, OT this coming weekend, I am going to reschedule Subaru for another week if I can so I am not losing the OT hours. :) Must get ahead on the bills damnit! That’s my news of the day. It was a busy day at the office and I hardly had time to check my mail. Now it’s time for bed.

T~Molly

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin...

Just Another Day

2007-01-19T12:50:00.001-05:00

Interview! I have an interview! Uh-huh. Oh Yeah! An Interview! Anyhoo, it's with WorkOne and I'd probably be doing something similar to what I did with WVH as an ESS. I hope it's not as frustrating as WVH if I happen to get the job. I dropped a few lines to a friend of mine who works in that building to see if he knew the guy I was interviewing with. I got some helpful information about the guy and have an idea of what to expect which is half the battle. WIsh me luck!

Meanwhile, I found out for sure I will be working all day tomorrow. There goes my saturday. :( It's not even OT! Monday was a holiday for the office, so I didn't get paid for it because I am a temp and temps don't get paid for time off. We don't get benefits or vacation time. We are the peons of Purdue. It's a wonderful feeling at times. WorkOne would at least be a step in the direction of social services experience. Yippy! We'll see what happens. :)

T~Molly

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin...

Socializing

2007-01-18T15:41:00.000-05:00

Had a chance to attend a farewell lunch today. Granted, I walked in and found Krispy Kreme doughnuts on my desk as a happy birthday present for everyone in the area. Apparently it's tradition to bring in doughnuts and treats for people on their birthday and I was told to go get some. So Krispy Kreme has these particular doughnuts called Glazed Cream Filled. It's essentially stuffed with vanilla frosting and then glazed. It is basically sugar crack and I can maybe eat two before I feel ill from too much sugar. Yet, it's TOTALLY worth tantalizing the taste buds for this stuff. We're talking diabetic sugar shock, kill the pancreas crack treats! Luckily, we've got a bakery/distributor in town and when the light is on, they're making the basic glazed doughnut rings fresh. Mmmmmmm.

Mind you, I used to think Krispy Kremes were da'bomb until I found a Tim Horton's. It's like a Dunkin' Doughnuts only sh'loads better. It's a franchise out of Canada that has been slowly infecting American culture with *GASP!* higher expectations in their coffee, tea, and pastry selections. They offer a fairly unique taste for even the most basic pallet. Gotta find a Timmy's if you can. I highly recommend a stop or two. :)

So here's the latest on the Purdue work front. It appears that this building eats up temporaries. I mean they come in as a temporary and eventually get sucked into the black hole otherwise known as cubicle hell, bennies, and a 40 hour week if not more. The girl who trained me my first day on mail sorting has been temping here since October. I told her she should keep track of the time she's spent here, because after six months, they are supposed to hire you into whatever department you've been suckered into on campus. I think it breaks down to six months or a 1000 hours, whichever happens first.

Had my boss look at my resume and she's telling me to make it bulleted for easier reading. Ummmm, I have looked at several bulleted resumes and I think they look like someone got too slap happy with a poka-dot machine. It's all good pointers to make it happen for Purdue though. I have always had it pounded in my head to keep my resume to ONE PAGE. Here, they want every single department you've worked in, all the stuff you did in each department, and then separate all that information accordingly. My resume looks like I can't keep a job! Four places in less that six months, but that's the way this system works. I just happened to fall into this one that may or may not actually pan out for me within six months. I assume they look to try to make you go insane with the most mundane tasks, which is what I think this building is, nonstop mundane torture for the ADD impaired.

Also, this is a first that I have heard of it, but I am not Purdue Temporary Staffing, I am working for Productions Unlimited which places me for jobs at Purdue. I am not a Purdue employee, but I sure as hell get a pay check that says Purdue on it. Things that make you go Hmmmmmmm. I am anxious to get that first pay check of the year. I am not even sure if it will be enough to make the car payment, but hell, it's worth a shot. Waiting on W-2s to get in from four sources last year. Apparently, even though I work in the department for taxes, I can't get my W-2 until the 25th. EH?! I just wan'na file and figure out if I get money back or owe damnit! It's just not cool to make people wait this long. *ugh* So lunch is almost over now, so I will be back later, like the next line for the last break of the day. Jooooooy!

So here's an interesting thought. I love to socialize, talking is like a sporting event for me most days. I've learned in new offices, you keep your head down and don't talk too much and listen to what people are saying and doing. It gives you a clue to what kind of people they are; it usually works on getting those first impressions right. Anyhoo, my point is, I've got a myself a very chatty office mate here, she comes through to gossip about other people in the office that I don't know. I have dirt on countless faceless names. It’s kinda sad that I gotta hear what everyone else is saying about everyone else. It means that if I tell her anything about me, she's going to blab it to everyone who will even listen! No thank you. I can usually hear her clomping up the carpeted floors/walls like a Clydesdale without a sleigh. I close up anything that might tip her off to my goings on and doings at my desk on my break times or otherwise. That whole post-it with the break times is meant for that particular person as well as anyone who happens to come by and see me drafting a blog in my gmail account. See, it's easier to draft it here and then go home and put it in Word and proof it, and then publish. If I have time here, I do that too, but I am über sneaky about it and don't do it often in order keep my arse covered. I know how to delete obvious history and don't save passwords anywhere on this machine.

Best of all, today I am told I am filing W-9s… ALL OF THEM. EH?! Turns out, there was a miscommunication and I am not being shared, as of yet, with other departments. I’ve had people handing me stuff on and off all day and I had no idea why or what to do with them. Nice. So that was straightened out. I am not being shared just yet. I get to stay in my little cubby hole and sort and file and hear Ms. Clydesdale clomp around like Godzilla. We’ll see how it goes later.

That's my thought of the day, makes for pensive facial expressions while I write this. :)

T~Molly

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin...

A Poem!

2007-01-17T21:21:00.000-05:00

Grown Up

The damp drape of winter
Covered in morning frost
Alarm clock awakens and steals dreams
Hot coco feeling like summer on the tongue
Autumn's fire wood under a tarp of drifting white
Snow days are but a distant memory
Grandma's soft knit scarf and mittens
Warm milk and red noses
All the while dashing through madhouse traffic

The old snow fort is now your cubicle
Buried in mounds of paper
Hot coco replaced with gritty bland coffee
That hat and mittens
Wal-Mart's last reject
The red nose isn't from a day of toiling with mischief
Rather it's caused by your prairie dogging office mate's bad hygiene
On your last day of your two weeks notice
Make snow angels from paper shredder confetti

So word has it, office #1 with the crazy office mate going off on the boss my second day is on “medical leave”. I am thinking perhaps mental leave in the nut house or something. I hear she’s going on vacation in Florida after the “medical leave” is finished. After that, her mandatory six months probation being stuck in office #1 will be over and then she can apply to other offices on campus. *shiver* I figured this out while looking at today’s latest job openings. I saw a listing for that department was open again and figured A) New girl ran away screaming and crying for mercy B) Crazy office mate finally went ballistic and the papers kept it quiet. C) Maybe it’s something else not related to the crazy lady that I shared a room with for over a month. It turned out that “C” was the correct assumption after some perfunctory nosing around with folks I made nice with while I was there.

Anyhoo, life is still interesting in this current position. The mail room has gone nucking futs and it was backed up for about 3 hours today if not more. They kept me busy enough that I didn’t have time to blog a few words and if I did, I wasn’t at my desk nor did I want to be, because the longer I was there the bigger the pile of stuff got aside from sorting departmental mail. At one point, I attached a post it to the back of my chair saying I was on my 15 minute break and it would be done at a certain time. Just so I could read e-mail in peace and quiet. Someone asked me what was with the post-it. I explained that perhaps since my job wasn’t technically at a computer all day that I wanted to check my office mail and e-mail without interruption on my break time. Tah-dah! It worked! I’ll have to remember that when people think I need more stuff to do. Yesterday I was on the verge of having nothing to do and that was quite fine by me. Today was just nuts. I am assuming that’s the way this building works. Yay-rah. Come on pay day! Time for bed now. Zzzzzzz

T~Molly

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin...

Office Holiday... SNOW!!!!!

2007-01-16T15:23:00.000-05:00

OOOH! We finally got snow. Not just a light dusting like back in December, but snow that requires some shoveling and scraping off the vehicles. I took the truck today, figured that treacherous hill on the way up to this building would be hellish trying to get up this morning. The truck with LOVELY 4X4 made it up the hill while some cars were still sliding around trying to make it across the highway into the turn. I couldn't believe how slow some people were going in some spots. Granted, I wasn't going insanely fast, but fast enough to get to work on time. There were some points where it would be iffy if it was cold enough to ice over, but we haven't had enough COLD to make the ground cold enough to maintain ice patches except on the bridge over the Wabash River. Apparently some roads were closed due to flooding. I am glad I don't live or work in an area that requires going over those areas prone to flooding and road closures. I know that folks at ol' Wabash Valley Hospital are going to have to literally hike up the back way in and up the hill. :) NOT ME! Buwahahahah!

Other than that, nothing much to say today, it's only just getting started. I have decided not to fret about the fact that yesterday was an office holiday and that makes 16 hours shy of 80 on my first paycheck back to work at jolly ol' PU! It means extra work on the database and outsourcing some of that to a friend of mine who could use some extra cash. I'm just having her verify the newly added stuff to the main page where I get my information from. Joooooy. It keeps me from having to go back and do it myself and I can continue to work on the stuff I have not entered yet. The excitement never ends. :) Such is the joy of an educated yet underpaid person in this area. Still no word on the resume updates or my inquiries about the newly opened positions in this department/building I work in. I'll keep nosing around for more information.

It looks like the interns are back, or at least an intern and it might mean that I get to lose my space when they are here. I hope not, I like having this space and sharing it would suck. When I say sharing it, I mean getting sent away from here to another department with no space to use at all. *grumble* It could be worse, I could have a new spot every morning and then I'd never where I was going to be stuck. Ugh. So far so good, we'll see what happens with the rest of the day/week.

And now the last fifteen minutes of my lunch hour has arrived. I spent the first 45 snarfing down lunch and writing a letter to my pen pal in France. Yeah, no e-mail there, except on occasion from her. We use snail mail. It's kinda nice too. I mean it's not often to get a letter in the mail when people find it so much easier to shoot off an e-mail into cyberspace. I find that can actually ruin a pen pal relationship sometimes. Several of my pen pals from over seas got e-mail and we wrote back and forth daily and suddenly we found ourselves with nothing to say but "Hey" "Hi" "How's the weather?" "Oh it's not bad, 12 degree Celsius and sunshine." "Celsius? Crap, I gotta convert that." "Oh it just started raining." Eh? It's much more fun to get a real letter in the mail, it means time was put into slowing life down long enough to write and say something that is hopefully meaningful to the recipient. At least it does mean something to me. I enjoy hearing from her and how her family is doing. It's kinda fun sometimes and that's a good enough reason to look forward to getting a real letter in the mail.

Meanwhile, it's time to get back to work. The US Postal Mail didn't run this morning which means this afternoon at 1:30 I am going to get slammed with departmental mail from campus and the post office. Hopefully it will keep me busy for a few hours, because I don't want to spend the last part of my day competing with the other girl that does the "matching" stuff. I don't care for doing the "matching" stuff, but when all else fails and I don't have monster filing and sorting jobs to do, that's what is left. *grumble*

So I think I'm done here, nothing much of import that springs into my mind that warrants the synaptic energy to type it right now. It’s the afternoon, nearing the end of the day where I have finished the mail delivery and sorting. All that is left is for me to drag out this fifteen minutes as much as possible and then go do some "matching." Someone just shoot me in the foot and get it over with! Blah. Time to run now... Hope you're having a more exciting day than me!

T~ Bored silly

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin...

Truckin' Right Along

2007-01-12T15:11:00.001-05:00

So I decided to take my lunch at my desk and work on this and munch as lunch cools down. Mmmm Bruschetta Chicken from TGI Fridays. Granted, it's very tasty, but the dining experience has left much to be desired. Service was slow, food was good, drinks were adequately filled I suppose. Along comes the bill and Adam is looking at it like HUH? So he shows it to me saying we were over charged. I look at it, sure as shit, it's an over charge. They have this $12.99 combo meal, certain appetizers, dinners, and desserts are included in any combination for that price. Apparently, there's a difference between Bruschetta Chicken and Bruschetta Chicken Parmesan. Well, the latter was in the combo price, the previous was not included in the combo price. So I got charged for the combo meal and a separate meal. Eh? Waiter failed to mention the difference and I failed to see there was a difference too. So he scurries off to talk to his manager, probably seeing the tip meter dwindling in his mind as he ran off. The manager promptly comes by with an apology about the miscommunication and took the extra meal cost off and the bill was reduced accordingly. It wasn't really a genuine apology, he was probably hoping the whole experience wasn't such a turn off that we weren't coming back ever again. I would consider it, but not any time soon. I'd sooner go back to Nine Irish Brother's for corned beef or fish and chips than TGI Fridays.

Now, Nine Irish Brothers is quite the authentic looking Irish pub and the food appears pretty authentic as well. According to Adam, they have a nice whiskey selection. I wouldn't know, because it all tastes like dookie to me. Some more so than others. Not a Scotch fan either. Ick... Adam says something tastes sweet, I'm thinking it wouldn't taste good even mixed with some sort of syrup flavoring. Ick... *blech* Give me a good stout, ale, beer, liquor, schnapps, or rum, not that other stuff!

I also found out that there are a few openings in this building, so I am gonna look into them and see if I can get on full-time regular. :) Also got my acceptance letter from Subaru for the third testing phase where I get to do workplace simulation for four hours on the 24th this month. Fun-fun-fun there. Also heard that lil' miss cranky with me yesterday is leaving in a few weeks for a new job away from Purdue. It explains why she's cranky, she realized that that job wasn't going to get any better than it was if not worse with the impending changes from ITAP for system integration. I am thinking benefits, I am thinking tuition reduction, I am thinking IUPUI tuition reduction. Ambitious yes, because it's a smart way to look at things for the long term. :) Besides, it's looking like another year before I can swing school anyway. :( Deadline is in less than 3 weeks and with an unsteady job front still on my horizons, school doesn't make sense right now. *grumble*

Other than that, nothing else to report here.

T~

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin...

Mind Reading

2007-01-11T14:36:00.000-05:00

I am obviously not a mind reader. If I was a mind reader or clairvoyant, I woulda won the lottery and been able to make everyone friggen happy! Be happy damnit and don't piss on my parade. Eh...Whatever. Day 3 consisted of finishing off the pile of sorting that ended being what looks like 2 feet of papers stacked and organized and categorized into tidy piles. So now it's the first break time of the day and I can't complain too much with the exception that it's some kind of pay roll day and if I don't get the mail done in a timelier fashion someone gets their undies in a wad because they have to enter certain stuff before a noon deadline today. Had I know a certain part of the morning mail run needed to be posted by a certain time, I woulda expedited that portion a little snappier that the last two days I've done the mail. Not really my fault, but nonetheless, it's somehow my fault. I must have foreseen the urgency and purposely dug my heels in to make someone else's life miserable. I take no pleasure in purposely making someone’s life more difficult or miserable. Although there are times when I can think of fun and interesting ways to make someone else's life momentarily interesting, misery is not something I would truly wish upon someone; perhaps a little discomfort or anxiety, but not miserable. That's all I got for the moment. I can't think of anything else that has tweaked me this morning. :)

I have run out of obviously filing/sorting to do. So I'll describe the latest torture delight. It's what they like to refer to as "matching". Matching PO# with the company form which is supposed to have the PO# included as well. Not all companies have the same format, so digging for the PO# is a pain in the royal ass. The file drawer is about 3 feet off the ground, not bad for sitting in a chair to do this, but the drawer is just tall enough when sitting down that I have to stretch my arms over the drawer to reach for folders. Yippy. The folders in the drawer are so tightly files that if you try to pull one piece of paper out; three want to slide right along with it. Paper cuts galore if you're not careful. So I used finger condoms, which sound so obscenely funny to me at the moment. *giggle* I am a bit phobic of sharing other people's sweat, that includes finger sweat in a used finger condom. ICKY! Not to mention the types of germs and fungi that might have an opportunity to nest where they don't belong. EEEWWW.... That's just gross. So I've managed to swipe a pair of rubber coated gloves that fit snuggly enough to make "matching" easier and my hands don't get cut up or dry or coated in other people's cooties.

So far I have been told by many o' cubicle dweller that I will get sick. This building makes people sick, like germ sick or dust mite sick. Everything is carpeted, including the cubicle walls. So they cling onto every bit of dust, stink, and grime imaginable. I actually don't want to imagine all the little critters that may or may not have taken up residence in these walls. ICK! I am also thinking that handling paperwork from all over the world can't be all that healthy either, I've seen coffee and other food related stains on paperwork, some of which I don't want to identify. It was like this keyboard and station in general, nasty crap on the monitor, keyboard, and mouse than don't belong here. I've seen some real slobs in this building too. I am not innocent of slop on my desk at home, but home is home and I am allowed to accumulate things within reason. I am sure if this became a permanent station of mine, it would get decorated and cluttered with the daily junk of working a clerical job. I say clerical, because so far, there's not secretarial that I have done. In fact, I don't even have to answer this phone yet. The voicemail is flashing, but I don't have to check it since the woman that sat here retired and the message is supposedly telling people to call another number. Working in the first office on campus and getting calls for the veterinary school to make appointments for people's pets, it tells me that the moron on the other end is not listening to what the person is saying when they answer the phone with department, school, and name identifiers. Believe me, there was a day when I made appointments for pets and then told them I wasn't a vet nor was I the person to make those appointments with, but sure, I'd look at Fluffy if they really wanted me to do so for them. *sarcasm* It happened often enough that I had the extension for the vet school memorized. I eventually set up a speed dial to that extension to save the next poor soul stuck in that position the headache. Aren't I so nice?! =)

Oh yeah, here's a good one I found toward the end of my day yesterday! They DON'T provide us with Kleenex! Eh? You mean I gotta use ass scratchin' toilet paper if I gotta blow my nose? EH?! I'm just glad I keep a personal stash in my bag, otherwise all the sneezing and wheezing from the dust content around here would have rubbed my nose off of my face. :( That's kinda pathetic. Did I mention the disparity issues I have noticed on this campus? 1# had all new stuff, really nice Dells etc etc. Color laser printer and copiers too. Limited break room usage if not reserved for something else. Office #2, nice copier and fax. Lots of paper in many many colors. Good computers too. More stuff that they knew what to do with. Also limited break room usage if not reserved. Office #3 brand new Mac system with all the bells and whistles except anything useful like MS products. Their color copier was always broken. The mono copier was a sad jamming piece of shit, four printers that didn't work right, and pathetic out of date lap tops that made my old Pentium 233 look speedy speedy speedy. Iba! Iba! Andale! Andale! Iba! Iba! Ooh yeah one single female restroom on the same floor and NO BREAK ROOM! Office #4, my current office, is as I have described so far. A rat maze of dust and mostly out of date office machinery. Some of their systems are so archaic that they only have 3.5 inch disk drives and maybe a CD Rom! A USB port is a bit of a commodity around here too. I happen to have one of the more modern machine with a flat screen, but it's still a pathetic machine compared some of the other offices I have worked in. Bored yet? Hope not, this is only my lunch break and I have one fifteen minute break left! OOOH! And a 1:30 PM mail run! wOOt! It just keeps getting better and better.

Second break has arrived, a little earlier than intended, but the afternoon mail run was small compared to this morning. In just under an hour, I managed to get it done! Wheeeee! My next project involves other people's W-2 forms and matching them up with other bits of information, then photocopy the back sides of the other bits, because any original writing needs to go with the W-2. The back side is someone else's information that I have to match up with the photocopy that goes with their W-2. Confused yet? I know I am. I am going to be standing and/or running back and forth to the photocopier with this stuff. I can't set it down anywhere because of the sensitive information on these forms, so I have to carry the stack with me at all times or lock it up if I leave my desk! Eh? Ok, I get it, but there are two other people in the immediate area that can curtail other's some swooping down on my desk to snatch up someone else's information. Sheesh. This will at least keep my occupied for the rest of the day instead of "matching" which is about as fun as watching paint dry or corn grow.

I think that's it for the day. I mean I think I have typed a sh'load of stuff here. It's a good stress vent for me. I am not necessarily stressed, but I am definitely tuned into everyone else's stress vibes which in turn makes me a little cranky about their stress and projecting the frustration at me. I am here to help I guess. I'll take on the tedium of sorting and filing stuff to help them get their stuff done. Or something like that. I'd like to think I am being helpful rather than just taking up space to clean it up for the intern or whoever is getting this station once I leave or move or whatever. CIAO! Hope you enjoyed the read.

Mad Molly ~ Not angry~ Just crazy! Arrrrrrr

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin...

DAY TWO!

2007-01-10T15:49:00.000-05:00

No, you're not seeing things. I went from green to PINK! PINK! BEAUTIFUL PINK! Buwahahahaha! It was just time to update the look. :) BTW Something I never planned out or did on purpose, but 2005 and 2006 have the same amount of posts. 26! Now that's kinda interesting.... ;)Ahem... Now I shall continue onward with the real blog! =)

I have managed to survive day two much better than the first day. I haven't been bounced around like a piñata every half hour. I have been working on monster sorting jobs. Not alphabetical, but numerical order with 4-9 digit account numbers, then sorted by date, and sometimes it’s alphanumerical and alpha! I can hardly contain my excitement. It's been an exercise in futility now that I have been labeled the sorting monkey on this floor. I don't know if that will last, I just know that this current 9 inch stack of paper is going to take me well into the morning. I also get to sort mail twice a day, which takes about 1-2 hours a pop. So 9am and 1:30pm are my mail sorting times. Funnnnnn.....

Step one on lunch was eat it of course. Then step two was cleaning this particular area that I have managed to cling onto since yesterday. I am at this station until the intern or the poor soul who is to be named "real" employee is hired in. So step two included about a dozen Lysol disinfectant wipes. I wiped dirt, dust and crumbs out of everything here. Apparently the retiree that worked here was diabetic and ate at her desk all day long. (I almost typed ate her desk. HA! I woulda liked to have seen that feat.) =) Sheesh. I wiped off what looked like dried yogurt or snot of this monitor too. Icky!

I have discovered this floor also has a hot water dispenser for tea making. It's alsoi supposedly 75 cents a month to use it. Eh? I am not using their Styrofoam cups or anything else. I'm not paying for water that I could get from the water fountain around the corner and nuke in the microwave. Anyhoo, I am now discovering more of the yogurt looking stuff on my keyboard and feel the urge to go wash my hands with rubbing alcohol. I will likely get out the community wipes again and scrub on this board a bit in a few minutes. YAY-rah. Time to sort more of the monster pile. TTFN

T~

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin...

Hi-ho-hi-ho It's Off To Work I Go!

2007-01-09T15:48:00.000-05:00

Day one, second break of the day and really the first time I've had a moment to look at a computer let alone breath without being handed something else tedious and menial to do for however long I can stand it before I have to get up and move and moan to myself at how tired I am since I didn't really nod off until 3 in the morning. Essentially, once I found out that I was going back to work yesterday, I spent the rest of the day doing laundry and cleaning and organizing and fretting about getting up in the morning to go back to work at Purdue. This office is a trap of paper trails and a maze of cubby holes and cubicles. I can't even prairie dog it here, the walls are just tall enough that I can't see over them even if I wanted to do so.

Meanwhile, back to a previous rant, it was all about the knitting! Yeah, you read it, the knitting. That's fine, I know not to do it at my desk, can't really do it at my desk, since this isn't my own station, just someone else's station who is not here this week. I have a 9 inch pile of papers to sort by numerical department codes staring at me for when I finish typing here. I can't believe I took a dollar an hour cut for doing twice the work I've ever done in another office and no office space to call my own. Sadness there, but hey, it's great motivation to take a break, a REAL break so I can do something besides add to my paper cut collection that I have accrued today. Only a little over an hour left and then I'm outta here! Then sweet nappy time or just a decent bed time hour tonight. *sigh*

Conveniently, the first turn I take off the highway is the road that leads straight to this building, it's slightly off campus, but hell, it cuts 10 minutes off the commute in the morning. For that, I will be slightly spoiled, but the work load more than makes up for it. *Daunted by piles of paper* Yet, I can leave at 5 and be done with it until tomorrow morning when I can look at it again and groan about it. It's a pay check; it pays the bills, for that I cannot rightfully complain. TTFN It’s time to work, and then I’m going home!

T~ Pooped

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin...

EEP! DOUBLE EEP! GRRR?

2007-01-05T13:25:00.000-05:00

*BEGIN RANT*

So, without much success in hearing from Purdue much if at all for the past 6 friggen weeks, I get a reply e-mail from the boss a few days later after I check in office re-opening day. The ominous message was, “we need to talk before I can place you again. please call me Monday afternoon.” EEP! So I looked around at my past blogs, thinking it might not have been such a great idea to self-entertain daily frustrations, because what if someone actually found this on the web and reported it to someone on campus? DOUBLE EEP! I shall deal with the consequences if that is the case.

*MORE RANTING*

Otherwise, let’s see here, this is a classic example that has happened to a few people I know. You don’t hear about the shit you do wrong until something like this happens. This being, getting fired, getting laid off, getting a work review, getting sent home at lunch time without warning etc etc etc. Iffin the underpaid monkey is screwin’ up by flinging too much poo, perhaps the monkey be needin’ to know these things first rather than pulling bullshit and not saying anything at all.

First of all, this is aimed at the supervisor types out there… Whether you have a BS, MS, or PhD degree, it doesn’t give anyone the right to treat others like gooey gum on the bottom of their shoe in the summer time heat. I observed one of my supervisors talking to someone on the phone for 45 minutes straight like an old buddy or something. It certainly sounded like an overtly friendly old pal conversation to everyone in the office. As soon as he hung up, he was going off about how that person was calling to inquire about the job opening in that office and wanted to come back like she never was a psycho lazy ass. Plus the explanation went on with how he would never bring her back there even if she was the only qualified candidate. Then listing the behavior problems and more reasons why he wouldn’t bring her back in. :( That’s not cool. She was obviously clueless or refused to acknowledge being a twit in the past. My beef is, would he do the same to me in my review once I left? Rather than address a problem behavior with me? Would he chicken out and just throw something in the review and send it off to my supervisor? *grumble*

The Mac office… I can think of a few things that would lead me to believe it was my fault. Knitting at my desk because I had nothing else to do, BAD IDEA. I realize that now and should have thought of that then, before the boss in charge of me came into the office. That was a strange office. Department head was one of those soft spoken, non-emotive types, appeared disinterested, yet she was the observant calculating type. The kind of person, that no matter what her mood, she had the same look on her face, like you were the village idiot. It made me feel nervous every time she came in and stood behind me. Oh and she had this “escape hatch” on her end of the office. She never really came in the front door; it was always through her door. Carpeted office floor, so she could and would sneak up behind me like she was trying to catch me at something I wasn’t supposed to be doing. Eh? That’s just creepy!

Mac office vs. office number two (#2) we would walk to McDonald’s on our morning 15 minute break for coffee or something. It’s an easy jaunt there and back and maybe a minute to spare, especially on a quiet morning. Cha-CHING! So I have knitting = bad. I have walking to McD’s on my break =BAD. I should deduct that from my lunch hour according to Mac Boss. Eh? Noooo, that’s not what I have been told in the past two offices I worked for this semester. Office 1# with crazy lady and the cranky PhD, crazy lady walked out of the building for her 15 religiously. Office #2 RULES: You get an hour lunch and two 15 minute breaks. You CANNOT save your 15s to leave early at the end of the day, if you don’t use them, you lose them… No problem. *grumble*

So that’s all I can think of as being a problem, other than finding creative things to do because they didn’t have shit for me to do after the first week there. I mean there was the open house thing they were doing when I first got there and there was a Saturday that I worked for that reason… I busted ass to do that with them and then after that, there was nothing to do but odds and ends that the student workers used to do before I got there. Ugh. I guess I should mention too, I was the only one there first thing in the morning, no one else showed up until after 9am and even then that was iffy. If someone took a day off, I never heard about it until the day after they came back. Gotta love the Mac office.

Meanwhile, I sit in the dark about what’s really going on, I can only speculate about it and hypothesize as to why this actually happened. Did they really not have anything for me to do in the last 6 weeks? It could just be the cumulative reviews from the past offices I have worked on campus and the fact that I was tossed at the last moment by the Mac Office. Or was it prompted by the fact that I filed for unemployment? Maybe… Maybe not… I won’t know until Monday when I talk to my supervisor. Ugh.

*END RANT*

Now I better get my happy ass back to work here. One can of ravioli and coca-cola later, I am done venting aloud. ;) Have a nice day! Buh-bye. Buh-bye now. Buh-bye.

Tammolly ~ Mildy freakin’ out.

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin...

Edumacation!

2007-01-04T13:11:00.000-05:00

Crunch time has hit like a ton of bricks after further examination of my returning to school for a master’s degree is social work. DEADLINE: February 2nd. LIST OF THINGS TO DO: Get 3 references, write a 3 page paper on some heated issue or topic and state how I would address and/or do to make that change – give or take a few whacko questions, fill out FAFSAs, decided on a curriculum full-time or part-time, part-time days, evenings, or Saturdays for the next two years, demographics form, résumé, self disclosure statement, GPA and official transcripts, on-line application, $150 =application fee and slot reservation for MSW program, and and and, I think that’s it! Meanwhile, I gotta work my ass off to make ends meet and pray that unemployment kicks in and is doable to pay the bills as they are. EEK! Thus the reason for a break from the tedium of data entry on a data base.

7 Mint Double Stuff Oreos later, I’m about to go climb the walls and go shoot people in CS:S or play some Chuzzle to relieve some stress and angst here. I gotta gain some more momentum before I switch over to the application process from data base entries. RELAX!!!!!!!!!!! ARRG! Freakin’ A Man! Perhaps I should lay off the sugar.

T~

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin...

Lucky Number Slevin…. Er-Um 2007!

2007-01-02T14:08:00.000-05:00

So here’s to 2007 being a better and luckier year than the last one. I have to say that aside from the bliss of having my schnookums around, sporadic fencing, sewing, and otherwise looking for a job, this year has to be better than the last! It does not look promising that I will be returning to Purdue for work. I haven’t heard anything from my supervisor at all. I e-mail once a week or so to remind her I am still around and willing to fill in wherever I am needed. It looks like the last office I worked at may have screwed me big time. I can even assume that the offices I worked for while at Purdue might have screwed me collectively. It’s hard to meet criteria when it’s not clear what the criteria happens to be at any given office. Right? Right! This is especially so when you’re treated like the idiot place holder for someone more “qualified” that you to do the job they already have you doing. Sheesh.

The joy is, I can refile for unemployment, it will be based off the last 18 months and that means my highest paid quarter of those 18 months would still include Wabash Valley Hospital; the irony being that was biggest screw over on me in the first place and it will save me from earning only the minimum pay of $50 a week from unemployment. Who the hell can live off of $50 a week? Perhaps if it was summer time and I had to live in my car, I could eat off that, but not live, not pay bills of any fashion… It makes me wonder if we should just live in an extreme socialist state for a while. Food for thought there me thinks.

So my New Year’s Eve consisted of fencing at Pieter’s house in the barn. Trying out a new fencing hood drape to see how much cooler it would feel to have it on over the mask rather than a hood crammed under the mask. I can hear better, I don’t feel like the fat kid getting the face squished together by grandma, and it’s just plan cool to be recognized as appearing to be a clown Sith fencing in a barn. Now that’s entertainment folks! Not to mention the bells hanging off the lire pipe on the back of the drape. wOOt! Gonna finish one for Adam within the next few days, but I gotta get some other work done first. Right now, I am just taking a break and it feels needed before I get all antsy and have to rummage through the fridge. I don’t want my ass hanging out of the fridge every half hour damnit.

Meanwhile, I guess I should get my happy as back on the job here and get some work done. I can at least keep that home “work” going until I hear what the verdict is on the unemployment and if I have to, start working at Julie’s again to keep myself occupied. I suppose I could claim all I can at Julie’s and offset the weekly claims to stretch it out as long as I can. Now that I know I can do that and keep looking for a job, it helps not to panic too much. TTFN

Tammolly ~ Hanging in there.

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin...

Dear Buddha, I’d Like A Pony And A Plastic Rocket

2006-12-27T09:47:00.000-05:00

Ever just toss and turn? Can’t get comfy enough to go to sleep? Then when you do manage to fall asleep, your dreams are so active that you can’t actually tell if you’re just thinking while you sleep or having a bad tuna dream. ARRG! So now I am up drinking green tea. I’ve already cleaned out the fire place and got a fresh pyramid of flames going; which are now slowly warming up the living room. Mmmmm… So fire + warm green tea = good so far. Tormented the cats *check* Parakeets fed *check* Cats tormented more *check* Looked for more jobs *check* Put together semi-lucid thoughts for blog = I’m working on it!

So, Dear Buddha, I’d like a pony and a plastic rocket. If you’re any kind of a Firefly/Serenity fan, you’ll know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t heard of Firefly or the movie Serenity, then y’all need to get out from under your rock and find the series and the movie. Watch the Firefly series first though, it’s not necessary in the big scheme of things, but it helps make the movie that much more enjoyable. BTW, for friends and family, we usually have viewing privileges for a small fee of pop corn and chocolate tolls. The cats are just a perk for your viewing pleasure! This time of year also includes a warm glowing fireplace, but I’m sure we’ll put you to work for firewood chopping either in the garage or out on the patio. Complete your viewing marathon with tasty tea or coffee bevies! There many flavors and varieties to choose from. I could even be bribed to make some Turkish Coffee as well, but that involves buying me dinner or pie from Julie’s Ranch House.

So no new job prospects yet. Julie is allowing me to come back to work for the restaurant, but not sure how fast that will help out or not. I can file for unemployment starting the 30th this month. Not sure how that will help either. The formula for figuring out how much money you get each week is not conducive to paying the bills! It’s something like the average of the highest paid quarter of the previous 12 months. Hmmm, if you mainly had unemployment bennies as your main income the first 6 months of the year, it’s not looking like you’ll get to maintain the same benefit amount the following year. Slowly dwindling down your income to the minimum benefit of a whole whopping $50 a week! Arrg!

So sometime after the first of the year, I get to do some skills testing for Subaru. I’ve made it to the second phase so far, have to complete the second phase, but that’s scheduled for the 3rd of January. Yippy! After that, I’m sure there’s going to be more fun to be had. It’s not a job I really care to have in the long run, but a short term fix would be most helpful to me. Then again, I have a bachelor’s degree. I would hope that counts for something in a place like that. I can even type; I can be a helpful office monkey. Office work = a job I wouldn’t mind having. I’m a trainable monkey as far as they’re concerned; just like the 10,000 + other applicants out there hoping to get into Subaru. Joyeeeeeeeeee!

Meanwhile, I continue to work on hourly stuff on the side in order to make ends meet. I have a small amount of leeway with it, but there’s not much of a margin for screwing around or the bills just don’t get paid and then I’m not a happy camper and then I’m cranky and then poor Adam has to deal with the crankiness and the bitchiness. I suppose there is the added benefit of occasional cuddles and dinner cooked when he gets home from work, but even that gets old when I’m cranky and bitchy and grumbly.

Time to go “work” now, make more tea, then work. NEED MORE CAFFEINE! =)

Tammolly ~In a funk

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin...

Christmas Kryptonite NO FRIGGEN $$$$$$!!!!!!!!!!

2006-12-19T16:39:00.000-05:00

So here's something that just popped into my head. (Thank you Katiefucious. I credit her with this bit of thinking today.) I have managed to avoid the Christmas humdrum and feeling like an unemployed Grinch. Watched something on the science channel while in the kitchen making pop tarts... and they said that an estimate of the number of families in the world, and giving Santa 48 hrs to complete his task (because he’s smart and goes against the rotation of the earth er. . .I think. . .) It left Santa something like 1/5000th of a second to stay at each house, and he would be traveling ridiculously fast, like Mach 650. Then some scientist got on and started talking about singularity bubbles around Santa. EH?! So I wrote some sort of poem…. Have fun! And HAPPY HOLIDAYS! Or some canned response to whatever heck you celebrate.

Happy masks
Carved upon the holiday faces
How did Santa get from here to there?
Weren’t we just at that other mall?
Is he a magical man?
Is he related to Superman?
SUPERMAN!
Urine soaked diapers and snot nosed screamers
Kryptonite for even the most stout of schleps in a red fat suit
Prezzies under the yuletide bush
Dysfunctional Xmas pasts soon forgotten
Poor grandma and that silly reindeer
Just like gifts of ugly jumpers and knickers
There’s no place like home

Tammolly ~ Waiting the spiff times of employment to kick in damnit.

(NO IDEA WHY BLOGGER INSISTS ON DOUBLE SPACING MY SIGNATURE)

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom

And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel

I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin...

Hate Being Sick

2006-12-11T12:25:00.000-05:00

Friday!!!! 12-8 This is a multi-part blog. Ugh, the flu sucks ass. Getting over the flu for the most part, then having Niagara Falls set up shop in your sinuses blows. Literally, I think I’ve managed to kill a small evergreen forrest’s worth of Kleenex this morning alone. Poor trees! *sniffle* *hack* *cough* This is the first day I’ve felt much better physically though. Yeah, the first two days were mainly in bed unconscious, buried under blankets, and sipping from a water bottle with a heating pad on my feet to keep the icicle feeling away. *ugh* This of course was after the barf fest that began initially. Could have been worse, throw up once, one big ten minute bout, then done. It could have been 2-4 days worth of that, plus the rest of the aforementioned misery. I remember getting flu in middle school, it happened right at spring break that year. I spent my whole week eating honey tea and saltines on the couch. I didn’t even watch TV, I just laid there praying for a coma because maybe the vomiting would stop so I could sleep. I lost 15 pounds that week!

Subliminal messages were in my head for those initial two days me thinks. I partly slept with the television on just for the sake of having noise and incase I wanted to stare at the glowing television hovering on the wall while I rolled over in achy agony. Once I woke up, breaking the fever and chills. I mumbled to Adam that I wanted pizza. Some time later, he asked me several times what kind I wanted, felt like an hour had gone by before I mumbled pepperoni…. Pan…. Pepperoni Pan Pizza…. Pizza Hut. Deliver. Zonk…. The next thing I know, VOILA, pizza arrives and I snarf down three pieces of pizza. I realized I hadn’t eaten in nearly two days. It tasted like crap of course, taste buds were fried from fever induced coma. So I remembered those days when I was a kid everything tasted like shit when you were sick. OH! And the medicine tasted worst then.

Saturday! 12-10 Woke up sounding like a squeak toy, creeping gunge in the throat and lungs. Hack-hack-hack-hack as though a horse has taken residence in there and won’t come out. JOY. Top that off, I coughed all night, didn’t sleep, got out of bed around 04:30 to at least let Adam sleep hack free for a few hours. Made chamomile tea with honey. Ate teaspoons of honey. Throat felt better, went to bed for about four hours. Got up, couldn’t talk, laid back down ‘til 4 pm. Got up, *ugh*, drank more tea, then managed to get out long enough to attend Christmas Court and come home and crash again. Yippee! My week in a nutshell.

MONDAY! That would be today. Feeling like the creeping gunge attack is trying to go away. I am not sure how many more Halls I can stand in my mouth. Such is the life of a poor health insurance-less schlep. Now I can go back to making some cash to pay the bills. Still waiting on friggen Purdue and anything else to come up and give me a break. Here’s to 2007 being a luckier year!

Tammolly ~Feeling a little better this week

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin...

POST TURKEY DAY SURVIVAL

2006-11-27T15:09:00.000-05:00

Managed to survive a four day weekend with family and significant other. It was all good. Went to the in-laws…. Well, as close to in-laws as they’ll get at this point. *GIGGLE* Spent Thursday there, had a huge dinner. Somehow the giant pot of cauliflower and broccoli was overlooked. It was pretty easy to do, a table full of food, more than anyone would be able to eat in one sitting or two or three, could possibly have run out by number four. Heck, there were nine people at the table and there was plenty left over and that did not include the dessert table. Adam’s Aunt began calling me Aunt Tammy for the sake of simplicity or something. Adam’s brother has a daughter and she looks at me like an Aunt I guess. She’s a good kid, smart, entertaining, and well behaved for the most part. I cannot complain about her at all.

Friday consisted of going to Dad’s where I got the latest of the electronic toys he has chosen to get rid of and not sell on e-bay. I guess he figures I have an appreciation for such things. Since I don’t have children that won’t tear the shit up that he gives me, I must be a safe bet on taking care of said toys that he’s giving away. Dad and the sister are still not talking to each other. Dad still hates sister’s third husband. Dad is stubborn and does not agree with sister’s choices. Dad needs to get over it and go see his grandchildren. Dad is not going to live forever and Dad should realize that. Seeing Dad this past Friday kinda shocked me a little. He’s gotten gray hair, he’s looking older now, and he’s looking his age rather than 10-15 years younger than he really is. I find that disturbing, yet it’s a part of life no one can escape.

Heard from Mom over the weekend. We talked for a bit and planned to see each other for Christmas at the sister’s house. I look forward to seeing her. I am sure she’ll have a few cans of Jelly Belly Beans for Adam and me. I guess because she’s found something cheap that she knows we both like, she buys them for us and mails them off to us whenever she gets the chance. Never mind the fact that we hit Meijer for about 5 pounds of our own mixes at a time. Mom is Mom and Mom likes giving.

Meanwhile, two dinners worth of leftovers sorta remain in the fridge at the moment. Crock Pot full of 15 Bean mix and soon to be ham bones and meat are now slow cooking on the counter top. Perhaps this will put the last of leftovers to rest or wind up pitched in the garbage. Mmmm Beans!

The rest of the weekend consisted of Adam and me, snuggles here and there, a movie, some more snuggles, dirty books at Borders, snuggles, cleaning, shopping, working on stuff around the house, some snuggles, reading, and sleep. Did I mention snuggles? Don’t think I’ll ever get tired of that. Snuggles are good. So that’s the post Turkey Day revel. Hope you had a nice Holiday!!!

Tammolly ~Still waiting on Purdue to call while seeking out new employment.

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin...

Grrrrrrr.... Stupid People

2006-11-09T12:00:00.000-05:00

Something I should have posted almost two weeks ago. I was tempted to just hit send after a complete tirade of I hate this fucking office, they all suck. I come in this morning, nothing much to do as usual with almost every single office I have worked in at Jolly Ol’ Purdue, where the University President is the second highest paid schmuck in the university system nationwide. I make $9.50 an hour, he makes $880,950 a year. A YEAR! WTF?! I guess after paying that bastard all the money, they could only afford $9.50 an hour. Nice! Isn’t it?

Anyhoo, this morning, I am coming in ON TIME because no one else in this office seems to know what their schedule is nor show much regard for what they have posted for student convenience. It’s always a craps shoot finding one of the two bosses in this office at any given time. I don’t like turning students away, dealing with irritated people because the prof isn’t there to talk to like the office hours said they would be. Lack of planning on anyone’s part does not constitute an emergency on my part. Big boss comes in, asks me if I have anything to do. Nope, that was yesterday. This morning, it was the same thing. She’s hard to read, doesn’t smile much, doesn’t express much, just is kinda there looking at you. I notice she makes some people nervous because she is like that.

I have recently adopted actually taking breaks away from my desk because I have found knitting to be an interest and I am not allowed to do it at my desk unless the office door is closed, like at lunch time… where I sit at my desk because there’s not break room in this building. It seems to be a theme for Purdue. No established break rooms, a sometimes break room in some buildings that can be yanked out from under your feet because someone decided to schedule a lunch meeting in that room. I especially liked getting bumped for two bible thumpers that schedule the room for two and expect you to be feel comfortable sitting in on it while you eat the food you didn’t say grace for. NOT!

Back to this morning, lots of tangents here. 9:30-ish rolls around, maybe it was closer to 10, or whenever boss number 2 decides to stroll on in. She just tells me, hey, we don’t have anything else for you to do, so go home after lunch. Don’t forget to turn in your keys. Oh and finish this before you go to lunch, I mean go home and don’t get paid indefinitely until you get places in another job somewhere else on campus. EH?! Thanks for the fucking warning you stupid ass biatch! Temp positions don’t grow on trees and definitely not this time of year when the semester is half over and winding down for any kind of need for a temp to fill in for a few weeks. SHIT! Bills to pay, stuff to do, stuff I coulda put off had I known I was gonna get the shaft. FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! Grrrrrrrr

SO there you have it, my rant for the day. I am not a happy camper. Time to go home for “lunch” now.

Tammolly ~Steaming mad

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin...

The Mice Are Playing

2006-11-02T12:29:00.000-05:00

So the cats are away and the mice are playing chatty-chat-chat in the office. Quandary, should I even feel bad about that when I have nothing else to do? Office drama, here you go folks. Just what you’ve been panting for! The adjacent office to us has some sort of gourmet coffee fetish- I mean club going on. It is 50 cents a cup or $8 a month. Fine, .50 is a bit pricey if you’re serving it in Dixie cups. Now my big honkin’ mug that could wire up the comatose would be worth the .50! I’d also clear out half a pot with it, or darn close to it. Anyhoo, I choose not socialize over the coffee, I won’t be here long enough to make it worth the effort of getting to know everyone and be buddy-buddy. Believe it or not, I don’t always play well with others socially. I tend to take it personally if someone doesn’t just accept me in right away and want to hear my wonderful observations and witty commentary on life. Oh well, it’s a military brat mentality, I am not gonna be here long enough to care, because I will be leaving here anyway. Etc etc etc…

Back to the coffee queens and their monopoly on the coffee pot. I got accused of pilfering coffee because I brought in my own nummy-num-num gourmet flavored coffee. It smelled like pumpkin and Irish crème. Apparently they had their own Irish crème blend too. Therefore I must have swiped a mug or two of coffee. ARRRG! DUDE! Y’ALL DON’T EVEN KNOW ME!

Basically they can keep their coffee and their false smiles and kiss me arse if they want to think I am a coffee bandit, got no time for anyone like that. Whether it’s a pirates life for me or not, coffee burglar I am not! Judge not, lest ye be judged yourself. Perhaps that is the point of me ramblin’s today. Arrrrr…

I have an engineering friend who thinks if you smoke, you’re stupid; therefore all of your decisions are flawed based on that initial assessment. Consequently you can’t build a building or bridge or machine, because you’re stupid. Eh? This of course has nothing to do with the coffee incident, but thought I’d toss that in there as food for thought.

Enjoy!

Tammolly ~ Who wants to go frolic in the ginko tree leaves outside. It's uber cool...

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin...

Tangential Fun

2006-10-26T19:16:00.000-04:00

I waffle on this one periodically. To pursue or not to pursue that which pays more money in order to not feel so much like a leech on the boyfriend or stick with what I've got going on now at Purdue until a regular position with bennies opens up? Yes, I still want to pursue my MSW degree. I want to continue on with that whole schooling idea; yet there are times when I feel like that's not doable or realistic. How much strain on a relationship is worth the possibility of causing it to implode by pursuing an academic goal? Sure, in the long run, it will pay more money. In the short run, it's going to be tons of stress and hard work. I hate feeling like I am not doing enough help out in the household. I'm not making what I used to. If I was, I could pay for stuff like utilities and groceries! ARRG! I am sure it will come to me, hopefully not too late in the game I guess. A little over a year with the schnookums now and I am still hopeful we're going to be together a long time to come; unless of course I drive him insane first.

Anyhoo, I still hate the Mac. It does not have features that work the way I am accustomed to working. MS WORD on the Mac is not the same as MS WORD on a PC. The Mac keyboard feels goofy and works kinda goofy. The key marked CTRL does not function as a CTRL key when it comes to using CRTL commands I would normally use on the PC. For instance, CRTL C does not COPY, it places a "C" on the text area instead of COPYING! ARRG! I have to hit the little key with an apple and funky squiggly box symbol in order for it to do what I want it to do. ALT TAB, what's that?! The Mac just sits there like it's getting an attitude, "You want me to do something lady?" "YES!" Again with the little key with an apple and funky squiggly box symbol + TAB to switch between windows. Grrrrrrrrrr.

Surprisingly, the new version of Windows (Vista) reminds me of the Mac OS X appearance. I wonder if that was on purpose? Was it on purpose?! :) That would be a hoot if was intended to mimic Mac OS X. I looked at the prices of this system too, crapola! It's more than double what you would pay for a PC decently loaded with a flat screen monitor. Perhaps if the MS Programs I use on a PC were on the Mac, it would be less of a pain to have to use.

Rain, can we just get the rain over with for a few weeks, get some sunshine and pleasant weather too? That way we can still fence outside on the weekends. It would make several people happy for a few weeks at least. Damn, I want a nap. Can I get a nap?! NO! I still have about 2 hours left in the office. Here's another tangent, no lunch room in the building. This means I sit at my desk all day long. If I don't leave the office to eat, I have to get up and answer the door for worker students and answer the damn phone too. Grrrrr.

Song of the day, I need to start that up. Heart and Soul by T'Pau. Other songs this week, one hit wonders of the 80's. Stay tuned for future one hit wonders! 99 Red Balloons by Nena! Owner of a Lonely Heart by Yes. Putin' On The Ritz by Taco. *grin* Yeah, I enjoy the 80's channel on yahoo music. That and I like the big band channel; it's just fun to listen to big band music. There's something classy about big band music. Hard to explain I guess.

Now that you think I've come completely unhinged, it's time for me to stop rambling and go find something else to do for the last two hours of my day. I could wall paper the cork board with rainbow post-it notes and use the magnetic words on the cabinets to make sentences like "dream in pictures often" I have no idea what else I can come up with besides watch the rain fall and enjoy the fact it's warm and dry in here. Mmmm… Nap…I still need a nap. ENJOY YOUR LIFE!

T~ Continuing to make you wonder what I am on these days. ;)

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin...

Macs Suck ASS!!

2006-10-24T14:16:00.000-04:00

So I am using the office lap top that students use because it’s an honest to God real PC! Yes, it’s a dinosaur of a lap top being five years old, no updates to speak of and it’s a community tinker toy unless I am sitting at the desk cursing the retarded Mac. I hate Macs! Just how the fucking hell do you right click a button mouse? Did I mention that the keyboard is institution white and shows all kinds of icky nasty things that I don’t want to know about? Meanwhile, there are no Microsoft products on the Mac. No Word, no Works, not even Excel. It won’t talk to the lap top and the lap top doesn’t care either way. I have to use this beast to check my Outlook mail because the Purdue system is not equipped to accommodate a Retarded Mac User. Oh yeah, my Gmail is also kinda not working/supported by Mac. As in, my quick contacts on Gmail won’t come up so I cannot chat with Adam. Adam so very kindly pointed out that Mozilla and FireFox will allow for the feature to work. YAY! wOOt! JOY! I still don’t like the Mac.

This morning, I find that I cannot find the tower that a PC would have. I am digging around like a mole on the floor looking to see where some genius placed the tower out of reach so I can’t access stuff like a disc drive. It turns out that Mac has some kind of ALL IN ONE SYSTEM. The monitor is so huge you could probably see it from orbit. The power button is on the back of this monitor and does not shut down like a PC if you hold the button down for a hard shut down. OY-VEY! Our resident computer geek says he has no idea how a Mac works; a source of contention since I have to be stuck here with this dinosaur lap top and Mac for a tentative 4-6 weeks. I saw the advert for this job listed on the employment site. I think I will pass on that one. Ugh

Anyhoo, I could go on and on and on and on about what I don’t like about Macs, but so far, I have stuck to the main points, because at the moment, I am supposedly working on a project database that won’t allow me access because none of the computers geeks have bothered to set me properly for accessing important things like a friggen shared drive! I am amazed with the disparity between offices on this campus. There’s an OLD Dell in the back room, with a funky Gateway keyboard that looks like it should have been put out to pasture, not to mention the monitor and tower looks as though they’ve been in a flood or stained in nicotine. It’s very sad here. Printers that don’t work, copiers that break down every time you use them, and a phone system that drops calls or won’t let you transfer. I still have not been able to check the voicemail. I hope there’s nothing important on there. It’s really kinda messed up and I don’t fault the faculty up to a small point. I could, but if it does what they need it to, why fix it? ARRG!

Here’s to a better time while I learn the Mac. Crimany!

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin

Two Weddings & A Funeral

2006-10-20T09:30:00.000-04:00

It was a bit of a joke last night that in our family, things happen in threes. For instance, when grandma died, less than three weeks later, Great Auntie Aggie died, and on the day we buried Auntie A, Uncle Billy Lynn died. It was a wild rollercoaster ride for the family. I think I have mentioned this before. So when Great Uncle Jack died, it was a moment for great pause and concern. Then my sister Tina gets the bright idea to say, “No, it’s two weddings and a funeral. It all evens out.” I know of one wedding that I can think of and one funeral, but hey, I’ll take that over three funerals.

As per usual would have it, the cousins all get together at funerals and we talk of how we really should stop getting together like this. We talk of family reunions and keeping it touch, but it never seems to happen. I see cousins now on my dad’s side of the family which I used to play with when I was a child. We had birthday parties and got together more often then than we ever do now. It’s kinda sad that someone has to die in order for us to get together again.

Aunt Betty was the one that set me to tears though. I was ok until the ancient color guard that looked as though they predated WWI in most respects, they came and presented arms. It was a tear jerker of a moment. Reminded me of a close friend’s funeral where they not only played Taps, they had the 21 Gun Salute. You don’t think something like that could bother you so much, especially when you see it or hear it on the media so much. When you’re the one standing there, hearing the guns and Taps and watching a friend or family member’s flag being folded up and presented, you feel little crack of the rifles in the air, every eerie little note of that bugle playing. Granted, we were in a funeral home, so no guns cracking the air, but Taps was just too much. It reminds you of every hard moment of the last experience. So my cousins and I sat there sniffling and crying in the back of the room, but back to Aunt Betty. She’s been one of those people in my family that inspires a lack of excuses and gets your ass motivated.

Sis and I, aka Tina, talked with Aunt Betty at some point or another and got the same result. “You girls have got to stick together.” She was referring to the very same thing I mentioned above, we all gotta stop getting together like this and get together for a family reunion. Basically do what we used to do when we were kids. I was ok talking with her about this until she did that look that only Aunt B can do and said, “You gotta promise me that if something happens to me, that you girls will do that.” I’m sitting here getting all teary eyed again just thinking about it. I totally agree. I suppose it is up to me to get that list of family members together and get it all going at some point.

To top all of this excitement, I get a call from my mom in Alabama to say that my cousin Dennis is heading to the hospital with chest pains and she’s really upset. To top it off she mentions that a few weeks ago, my youngest cousin was beaten to a pulp at the truck stop near my hometown. Apparently Dougie stood up for his buddy’s wife because these three hooligans were giving her shit at the restaurant portion of the truck stop. What the fuck is this world coming to these days? Sheesh.

Last but not least, my evening observations. My family will never get a break; I don’t think we’re meant to have any kind of extended good fortune without some kind of repercussions or bad karma catching up for some past deed that I have no idea what the family did. It’s kinda weird how it happens. I suppose we just can’t enjoy the good without the bad rearing its ugly head up more often than not. Stranger things have happened me thinks. I am sure there are other people out that there that feel the same way at times. Oh well, time to get back to work.

T~ Just kinda hangin’ out today.

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin

Yadda-yadda-yadda

2006-10-19T13:56:00.000-04:00

Ever been frustrated when you're trying to contact someone in a big office? I mean, take the office that I currently work in, there are several deans and supporting grad students. That is just this office and there are many many more like it on this campus. I had a woman call me just before the lunch hour looking for anyone and everyone. Not in a kind way, not even in a mannerly way, just rude, abrupt, and absolutely pissy because she could not get into contact with anyone. Mind you, there is no voicemail in this office. I am the lucky one stuck with taking down messages and ensuring they reach the correct people in a timely manner. Not a big deal, unless you have 3-7 people waiting in line for their forms to be signed and some PMSing bitch on the phone taking it out on you because she's feeling neglected by the BIG institution of bureaucracy and edumacative peeps, all the while your office mate is at home with "stomach flu" and you're about ready to climb up a wall with a banana and throw poop at everyone. Monkeys have it good and yeah, I love bitchy people that feel that you owe them the world when all you can tell them is that the person they are looking for is not available or in a meeting and hey, can I take a message for you? Otherwise bugger off and bitch at someone who gives a flying rat's ass about whether or not you feel you're having a bad day for waiting until the last minute to turn in something vital to your education or organization. Otherwise, not my problem and get off your fuckin' cell phone and drive like less of an idiot. ARRRRRRRG! Deep blue oceans- deep blue oceans- deep blue oceans- deep blue oceans. Screw it! I start at a new office on Monday and boy this ought to be interesting.

Still here? WOW! Anyhoo, yeah that was my day yesterday. Now today is wake and family fun with funeral biz. I can at least say that today is a somewhat happier note though. One year ago I got the first kiss from my schnookums. Yes, Adam and I kissed the first time on my porch under a blue light or was it a green light? I don’t remember what color the light was, but hey, it was a nice kiss. *BIG GRINS* Happy Kiss-aversary! Makes all those jaded people out there want to puke I am sure. Gotta go now. CIAO!

Tammolly ~Feelin’ like life could be far worse today.

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel...
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin

That Weird Sinking Feeling

2006-10-16T15:55:00.000-04:00

So I was psyched about having an interview this morning at DFC. It was the first time I got a call out of the blue that gave me a good feeling about the upcoming interview. YAY! Even did a ton of resume prep, paperwork prep, and an all around concentrated prep for this interview itself. So now I feel like I have bombed it miserably. Two essay type forms to fill out, not a huge deal, I have made treatment plans and assessments before. Buzzzzzzzzz. Eh? I am in the front lobby trying to fill this stuff out and I’ve got a Jerry Springer show going on in the room. I was putting forth my best effort to ignore this and continue on with the task at hand. So then, in the back of my mind, I am thinking to myself, “What if this is a test and I am supposed to intervene somehow?” I stayed out of it, because I somehow doubt a government agency would go through those kinds of lengths to ensure hiring a worthy employee. Right? I sure as hell hope so.

With that thought, I wonder if we as human beings, perhaps animals at our most basic levels, if we actually breed our future. That mother and daughter on Medicaid and food stamps, did she breed her daughter right into the system? Who’s paying for all this shit? ME! YOU! Yes YOU! Any hard working tax paying American is pumping funds into this Jerry Springer culture that I was stuck watching all too uncomfortably mind you. It’s sad that I am thinking this way today. I’m usually not feeling negative towards social benefits that are meant to help people. Crimany!

Perhaps I am feeling grumpy from the fact I’ve got a dying relative in the hospital. I really don’t want to contemplate a string of old relatives pushing up daisies. Shit happens in threes in my family, so I don’t want to think about who number two or three is going to be this year. Last time someone died in the family, it was grandma, then Auntie Aggie, and then Uncle Bill. The killer part of that deal was the day we buried Auntie A, Uncle B died. It was a messed up time for the family. Crap! I don’t want to think about this. :(

Oh well, I gotta get back to work here. Just want to update those who actually read this blog. :) Funny though, no one ever signs it or comments on it except in a chat here and there. Harumph.

Tammolly ~ Wishing for that sinking feeling to go away today.

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel...
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin

Silver Linings Or Some Junk

2006-10-10T14:02:00.000-04:00

wOOt! Interview on Monday-MONday-MONDAY! -turning off announcer voice now- So I am wondering if this is one of those silver linings people keep telling me about, an interview on Monday. I am told they exist out there somewhere. It’s like X-Files, the truth is out there, or some happy arse junk or another. I have nearly given up on finding another job in the social work field. I am essentially musing to myself at the moment, with the words, “Interview on Monday. BENEFITS! BENNIES! WHEEEEE Heeeeeeeeeeee! Yahoo!” Oh to make that much money again would be nice too. To be able to buy stuff and entertain the novel concept of paying bills in the household. Yah know, cable, phone, electric, water, garbage etc etc etc. I am sure the Adam would appreciate it too. Right now, I can pay my minimum bills, but that’s really not any fun at all. In fact, I hate it, but hey, my stuff is being taken care of for the time being. YAY to that!

Meanwhile, I am trying not to get my hopes up. This year I’ve had entirely too many disappointments with job searching in the past 10+ months. I really do hate to be disappointed. Although it’s fun to fantasize about the possibilities of financial freedoms, there’s that whole what if that sucks to think about if I do get the job. I hadn’t planned on the what-ifs with the last job and it didn’t end well in my eyes. One of the few pluses (silver lining) was the fact that Adam took me in like a little stray cat and a happy cat is me. MEOW! Purrrrrrrrrrr.

Fun nonsense in the office has been brewing. Only a minor source of contention, but it was bound to happen at some point. Right? Right! We're having the battle of the scented products in the office. We're not supposed to wear perfume or scented products. I would normally not complain about it, but the office mate to my immediate right wears stuff that reeks bad... I can now empathize with the Adam and his overly sensitive snout. HR lady can’t really handle flowers or scents and most perfumes. This all comes up due to the fact that one of the undergrads brings in a heaping bouquet of flowers comprised of lilies, roses and a number of other flowers that I can’t name. Essentially, it breaks down to when combined in such an enclosed area; they smell overwhelmingly like a funeral parlor.

Anyhoo, let’s get back to the fact that HR lady can’t take the flower scents and perfumes that give her instant migraines. She comments that the flowers smell strong on Friday. I agree that they’ve been a slightly nauseating thing for me as well. So we get on the subject on how we’re not supposed to have scented products on while working in this office due to student allergies and stuff. -SIGH- Ok, I can deal with that. I CANNOT deal with the office mate who douses herself in body splash, scented lotion, orange Listerine mouth spray, and other things scented in order to ATTEMPT to cover up the fact she just came back from a smoke break. So now it’s the body splash, scented lotion, orange Listerine mouth spray scented ashtray. It could be ASSTRAY for all I care; it just smells funky periodically throughout the day with her and the competing flower vase. (This coming from a former smoker mind you) Ugh. HR lady has now brought this up to the office mate and she’s not taking it well. Picking at anything I do, I have unscented hand lotion; she immediately fussed at me about it, saying how it better not be scented blah-blah-blah. Whateva woman! Leave me be!

Thus begins the office drama. I figured it had to happen sooner or later. The office mate is a temp like me, but she’s a spazoid if you ask me. Overly sensitive, drinks too many energy drinks, has a lot of pointless stories to tell that seem to be too far fetched to have happened to anyone real or even like her in the first place. She gets short tempered with me when she needs to go have a smoky treat. She’s taken over the office with anything she can possibly get her hands on and then wonders why she’s stressed out and cranky! Sure, it’s good to stay busy, it’s even better to not piss off your counter part by being a cranky kiss ass too. She yelled at me once and then apologized to me about it. Oy-vey.So here’s to the interview on Monday and me getting a better grip on the money situation. YAY! =)

Tammolly ~ Just goin' with the flow

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel...
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin

Oh Boy~ Here We Go?

2006-09-29T20:46:00.000-04:00

EEK! I thought the office was going to implode Wednesday. I mean, I was told the first day that they didn’t have screaming and yelling and other such nonsense going on there. All things are pleasant here, big smiles and stuff. Ok, I get to keep busy during the door and not have time to tap out a blog or two. Busy is good! It means the day goes faster. YAY! So Wednesday was a bit off and otherwise iffy when someone winds up in the office behind a closed door screeching. Oh shit! So we all got a 15 minute break and shoed out the door for a bit. Since then, things are going well. This is a good thing; otherwise I’d be asking my temp boss to get me the hell out there. That’s all I got to say about that.

Tammolly ~ Relieved

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel...
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin

It’s A Brand New Day!

2006-09-25T18:26:00.000-04:00

So I didn’t have time today to type up anything from work. The new job is pretty decent so far. I work with two other ladies, one of which is a temp, and the other a perma-employee who is transferring out to another office. So we’re getting another temp Wednesday. This means the current temp will have approximately 3 weeks seniority on me. That’s kinda funny actually. Other than that, I am so glad to be out of that other office and I truly hope that this one continues to go well. So nothing exciting, witty, or sarcastic today, just an FYI!

Tammolly ~ Who has to remind herself that when someone says Molly, it’s the perma-employee they’re talking to.

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel...
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin

Moving Right Along… Move Along Now… Yes You! Move Along!

2006-09-22T12:01:00.000-04:00

I’m free! I’m free! I’m free! I’m free! Yippee!!!!!!!!! I’m free!

No, I’m not excited at all about getting out of this particular office. I start a new campus gig on the other end of the world from here. It makes me giddy for a number of reasons here:

1. I can continue on with uninterrupted pay days.
2. I can pay next month’s bills!
3. I get to go shopping for other office clothes really soon.
4. Did I mention pay bills and shopping?!
5. I’m outta here!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today’s latest drama point is the coffee. Yes, THE coffee. Oh sacred bean of life and energy that brings forth the almighty beverage of daily morning joy. It has just come to my attention that we're out of the happy coffee with caffeine in it. I mentioned it to the officemate and she told me it wasn't her problem! Ok. Fine! Be that way, it's my last day. Technically not my problem either. I asked the former occupant of this job about it, and she passed it on to the boss to deal with it on Monday when the new person starts. He’s making a list. He’s checking it twice. He’s gonna turn it all in to HR with all the naughty not nice stuff she’s pulled since I’ve been here. (Ok so it doesn’t scan well to Santa Clause is Coming to Town.) I feel sorry for the new person coming on Monday. It’s going to hit her like a Mac Truck and I won’t be around to deal with it thankfully. See #5 in my list.

I have been told that the officemate has *always* been the purchaser of the coffee, as well as THE KEEPER OF THE COFFEE MONEY! She doesn't drink it, but she has always bought the coffee and made it when she gets here in the morning until the big blow up about a month ago. It's not the boss she's bothering by not making the coffee, it's the rest of the faculty that drinks it like water that it bothers. It’s all passive aggressive bullshit she’s pulling and she’s gonna get shit-canned even faster if she keeps it up. If she thinks she can annoy or inconvenience him somehow, I’ve seen her do it. Coffee being the classic example at the moment; I’m sure there’s something else I have not noticed.

Of course I can get the money and do it myself, but when I am going to have time to get more today? I’m not going on my lunch hour. I'm not here Monday, so I’m not going out tonight to buy more. Technically not my problem anymore, but I am a nice person and therefore have concerned myself with being considerate of the needs of others at the moment. I have already been making coffee this week in particular because I have been drinking it, otherwise the guys make it and it's a mess. Ick.

Meanwhile, my time here has been highly conducive to researching various masters degree programs within a reasonable driving distance. I have settled yet again on the MSW ~masters in social work for those who don’t know~ down at IUPUI ~Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis! I can dedicate the next 2 years of upcoming Saturdays for part-time degree pursuit and still work full-time. After that second year, it gets tricky with classes and practicum required during the weekdays. Looks like I can complete some of that in Lafayette as well, which will be nice. We’ll just see how that goes. Perhaps I’ll write some more later when I have not just been handed something to do.

Tammolly ~Feeling feisty today.

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel...
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin

Son of a Beach?

2006-09-18T16:04:00.000-04:00

So this Friday is my last day in this particular pit of Purdue. I have basically attempted to just keep my head down and avoid the flack and canon fodder known as the office mate and the boss snarking at each other periodically since day two on this particular assignment. At times I have decided the boss can be a little too abrupt, impatient, and make assumptions that aren’t correct; yet he’s made up his mind ~ there’s no reason for one to attempt an explanation. Simply put, he’s made up his mind, don’t bother with getting your side of the story and/or assumption he’s made already. I essentially sit here feeling like I have done or am doing something wrong whenever he gets flustered and walks away. This is especially so when he’s feeling like I am part of some conspiracy or “purposely” didn’t write a message as specifically as he would like. Well hell, get some friggen voice mail set up to your phone and take your own messages. No one wants to leave me a detailed message when they want to talk to him. Plain and simple, such is life and Friday couldn’t get here fast enough.

It gets better though. After I leave here, the office mate is still here, stuck in this job for a minimum of 6 months. The boss does want her out of here; he wants her gone due to the shenanigans of yore. Only the kicker is, because he filed a grievance, she can’t apply out of this office for 6 months due to some screwy Purdue HR policy. The boss wants the grievance to stick, so he’s not dropping it, yet he’s stuck with her because he won’t drop it so she can apply out of the office. HAH! HAH! I say HAH! What better way to stick yourself in the eye than be so stubborn that you can’t get what you want? It makes me giggle at the moment. Yet the boss’s comment about, let me see if I can paraphrase this one, “Despite some people thinking I am a son of a bitch, I am not the bad person you might think I am.” M’Kay, I never said he was, perhaps the office mate may think and feel that way, but I am genuinely trying to stay clear of this crap y’all have but me in the middle of; it’s really not appreciated actually.

Sadly the situation is just that, sad, two somewhat decent and nice people can’t get along. It’s tough on the rest of the faculty that happen to like the office mate and get along with her really well. Apparently there’s always been some kind of tension with this two and when he became acting department head, things just kinda boiled over without the veteran office assistant to buffer things. And people wonder why we’re at war in Iraq (or embroiled in disagreement with extremists and the like for that matter) when they can’t get along in their own friggen office?! ARRG!

You’d think I have PMS the way I am feeling right now. That was a few weeks ago and I didn’t feel nearly so cranky about this place at the time. I look forward to starting at a new location on campus simply because I am tired of the tension and the feeling of being caught in the middle. The rest of the faculty are pretty spiff and have good attitudes; did I mention they seem far more laid back than the boss? Conversations are much more relaxing and fun. Kudos to this department’s faculty!

Meanwhile I am counting down the minute and hours and days and moments to when I can get the hell out of here for the weekend and out of this particular office. I can hardly wait for that to happen. I hope the next office will be a bit more relaxed and less neurotic. I heard clerical is drama filled and a bit neurotic at Purdue, I sometimes think it’s the faculty that make the peons neurotic. REALLY! After three weeks here, I am beginning to believe that’s quite possibly true. Oh well. I need to make myself busy with something else now. Yeah right!

Tammolly ~ Master Thumb Twiddler

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel...
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin

So We May Never Forget

2006-09-11T11:52:00.000-04:00

~BEGIN RANT~

This whole weekend, at some point or another when the television has been in view at some point or another, I was either inundated with football or 9/11 documentaries. Football was kinda irksome, because I worried/wondered if I would get drunken phone calls in the wee hours of the a.m. The 9/11 documentaries were kinda worse than the actual day it happened. I remember not being able to look away from the television then, watching in awestruck horror. I remember the eerie sensation of not seeing planes in the night skies, not a single one, and if I did, I knew it was a military plane, because they weren’t grounded like the rest.

Needless to say, I was reminded of the ill feelings and the anger of what had happened 5 years ago this day. It doesn’t seem like 5 years ago, because by seeing the images and hearing all the documented phone calls people were making to loved ones as they died was a bit too much and all too painful a memory like it was fresh and happening again. Perhaps I should take a cynical view because maybe all these documentaries were put out to stir up these exact feelings so we forget to complain and feel pissy about our troops still being in Iraq.

What’s it all about? Can someone tell me this? Are we missing some fundamental reasoning that doesn’t allow us to understand that the extremists only feel that they are doing right in fighting the infidels? That some of these terrorists grew up in an environment being indoctrinated into this belief system is only one of the problems. Let’s see, send American troops to these places to get shot at while flooding their country with Western culture, goods, ideals, and the like. Let’s make the youth want our way of life and the stuff we have instead. Buzzzzzzzzzzz…. Nope, come on people! Wake up! We’re still infidels in their eyes. Actively funding Israel and perpetuating the violence in the Gaza does not and has not helped the situation. All the crap in Lebanon is merely a prelude to the ugliness that’s going to keep growing me thinks. Maybe I am wrong, maybe I’m not.

Something has to change. People need to wake up and look at the world for what it is and get their heads up out of their collective asses. I don’t claim to understand all the causes and effects of the situation, nor do I claim to have solutions. Although I’m sure someone has a better grasp of the problem and has a better solution than what’s happening right now, I don’t see anyone doing anything to fix it. Damnitall! Let’s do something and stop this nonsense!

~END RANT~

Anyhoo, other than feeling rantish, things are peachy! I’m finally getting a paycheck this week. I’m actually excited about paying bills. YAY! I can pay bills! I know that sounds strange, but the past 9 months of unemployment, rejections letters, stress, working at the restaurant that didn’t pay enough, and then finally landing this temp job, it’s a relief to be able to think about paying bills and not panic this month. I’m so relieved. It’ll also be nice to be able to do stuff without having to pester poor Adam for things like the smelly fabric softener he doesn’t like, getting my hair done, PARTY HAIR! YES! Red and blonde is back! Ok, it’ll be back once I get the bills paid up. I can buy clothes again and-and-and-and… It does boggle the mind to think about a budget again. YIPPEE!!

It’s now time to find a place to hide so I can eat my lunch in peace. Apparently the lunch room was reserved for today and tomorrow, so no microwave or quiet room, or a even a chair to sit in. Grrrrr. I will deal I guess. CIAO BABY!

Tammolly ~ Attempting to keep a sense of humor.

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel...
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin

He’s BAAAAAaaaaaaack!

2006-09-08T13:53:00.000-04:00

So I have to wonder what is going on in good ol’ JM’s head to suddenly, almost a year after the whole bug out on the T~Meister, why would he suddenly send me an IM on my Yahoo! Messenger at 3:45 AM this morning?! I find it disturbing, almost invasive into my mindset of security in believing that my Zen is pretty darn stable. Zen should just be the go with the flow and all that happy jazz. Now, when I go to bed tonight, I will be all paranoid about the phone ringing with Jason on the other end.

Oh, it gets better. Adam joked about football season starting up the other day. I kinda laughed. I figured it was meant to be funny. Now, I see the Steelers played Miami last night. Dun-Dun-DUN! I get an IM. Nice. I mean it wasn’t a phone call. That’s an improvement. Now I wonder if the phone calls will start up if the Colts play instead. Who knows? I’m not really all that eager to find out at the moment.

I can’t say that I’m not worried about the boy. I can’t say man, because he has to be drunk to call me or even speak to me. The remorsefulness should last only so long before you get over it. Did JM hurt me? Hell yes! Am I happy now? Hell yes! I care very deeply for Adam, he’s a wonderful man. I love the Adam. Adam is good. I don’t even want to hurt him either. I don’t ever want to inflict upon him or anyone else what it felt like to have the emotional roller coaster ride handed to me like JM did. It’s just not cool and no one deserves that.

Only time will tell what’s gonna happen with the boy. I hope he gets his shit together and seeks help soon. I worry about Kaitlin being around him when he’s drunk. He swears to me that he doesn’t drink around her, but I have to wonder. Then again, there’s another part of me that’s less sympathetic or would it be empathetic? Either one boils down to me wanting to put my foot up his ass and telling him to get it together, because I don’t need static in my life. I am quite content with life and life with Adam. I couldn’t ask for a better guy really.

Tammolly~ Just trying not to flip today.

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel...
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin

Brain Pans and Lack of Common Sense

2006-09-07T09:17:00.000-04:00

So I think this is week three of working in this office. I’ve seen several interviewees come and go; some have even come back twice or more. I don’t know if the boss can’t make up his mind or if he’s just being careful to find the right pick for this job that I sit around and do nothing all day long. I was even told by another temp not to be surprised about being stuck doing nothing all day long. It’s just the way it goes for temps on this campus. Ok ~ whatever; I just want to pay the damn bills!

At this very moment, the office mate and the boss are in his office talking very loudly again. I know she had an appointment with HR yesterday afternoon. I am sure that HR contacted the boss once again about a potentially bad situation for him. I really don’t know what’s going on, I really don’t want to know. It’s a real pain in the arse to come in here and have stuff like this going on all the time. Ok, not ALL the time, but a goodly portion of the time it seems.

She’s just come out crying and I am thinking she’s going to go home or something yet again. Strangely, she disappears about the time an interviewee comes into the office. I think this is a pattern up to a point. My office mate is living in Egypt! It’s called a state of denial! Or however that expression goes. I am sure all of this is getting noted in some book somewhere for employee records or some crap. For fook's sake, use your brain pan woman and stop the drama! Ugh. Oh well, time go find something else to do.

Tammolly ~Tired of all the drama.

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel...
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin

Guns A’Blazin’~ It's Too Early for This......

2006-09-01T08:49:00.000-04:00

I walk into the office this morning about ten ‘til opening time here. The metal security Venetian is up but ALL the doors are closed. So I open them up, prop things open the way they’re supposed to be and then I am asked to go for a 15 minute walk downstairs. Essentially go buy a coke or something, just don’t sit here, we’re talking. I commented, “This is kinda a strange way to start the day.” I was told to keep my comments to myself and just go away for a bit. FINE! Let me grab my keys.

I grab my keys, walk down to the copier room and grab a free coke. I decide I don’t want to drink a free coke this early in the morning damnit! So I wander the hallways looking at the bulletin boards and glass cases with departmental stuff in them. By this time, a few profs come in and see me in the hallway and just kinda make that knowing expression that something’s going on and they really don’t want to know either. I am feeling the same way, the less I know, the happier I will be, because I don’t want to be in the friggen middle anymore. :(

Now they’re both back in the office and no one is talking. Yay-rah. I love this job! NOT! Again, I suppose I gotta look at the bright side, I am getting paid to do nothing and I’m almost fine with that scenario. It’s time to go do other things now. Like make a packing list for MKAOD this weekend. MKOAOD! wOOt! YAY! Fencing! Arrrrrrrrg. :) A pirate’s life for me.

Tammolly ~ Slightly cranky today but hopeful about a three day weekend.

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel
...I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin

The Boss, The Office Mate, And The Temp

2006-08-28T15:14:00.000-04:00

So I get to work about 10 minutes early today. Bonus! I walk in; Office Mate is at her desk looking somewhat rested, but tense. At not quite a quarter past 8, Boss beckons me to the receptionist area to tell Office Mate to clean out her area, file everything on her desk, and pack personal items up. I’m feeling a wee bit tense now myself now. Although the interior design people came here on Friday to discuss what they could do with this office area to make it appear more professional, Office Mate was not here for that discussion. I mean, to me, if I was her, I would take the whole clean up your area request/demand a little paranoid-like. I was instructed to help the Office Mate to clean up the area and attend to the phone answering. Office Mate says she prefers to clean up her own stuff and take care of things she needs to get sent out. Etc-etc-etc. Now I am watching the phones, munching on honey wheat pretzel twists, and waiting for something to do besides twiddling my thumbs. Oy-vey. Meanwhile, I am waiting around for lunch because these pretzels really aren’t cutting it with me. I plan to make incremental entries here as I can. This is my way to stave off the boredom and keep my butt covered as things unfold. :)

Post lunch! I decided instead of eating cold Chef Boyardee from a can and forgoing the two bananas I packed, that I would walk down to Café Vienna. It’s an off campus coffee shop that makes decent cold sandwiches and vegan pastries. Both of which are adequately tasty enough to entice the 10-15 minute walk from my office to the café. Right now, it’s essentially the consistency of a vegetable steamer outside. Nice long hot walk.

Just a moment ago, the office mate approaches me after the Boss has left for an hour meeting. She wanted to inform me of why she’s so upset with the whole office situation. The prior occupant of this position apparently lied to the Boss saying the Office Mate wasn’t interested in this position. How dare they call themselves friends to her if they’re all lying in some big conspiracy to keep in her monkey cage? I don’t know why there could possibly be a conspiracy. She just told me she can’t stand the guy and that he’s also a temporary department head himself! Ok, what does this have to do with me other than I am just a place holder for the regular office monkey to come in and take the position? Eh?!

There doesn’t appear to be anything else to babble pointlessly about at the moment. Blah-blah-blah; a bird just rammed my window. Harrumph. I am also beginning to think that I don't fit the physical profile for a secretary here... I'm not middle aged, chunky, and wearing bad make up from the retro-era of the 1970s. I also have all of my teeth, they're straight, and I'm markedly more intelligent in most respects. Scary...spOOky even! I have noticed that unless someone is in an authoritative or administrative position, there’s not much intelligent life out there. Sadness.

I think I will stop scaring myself now and finish off today’s saga of as the office collects dust around me. Man I need a nap.

Tammolly ~Quite bored and feeling somewhat isolated from the real world.

...So if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
And I'll go wearin' my naughties like a jewel ...
I'm still an angel to a girl who hates to sin