Archive for October, 2007
Me first! Me first!
October 31st, 2007
What is it about urban drivers that make it necessary to be ahead of the car in front of them? Are they in a hurry? Is the world going to end if they don’t get to their destination as soon as possible? Are they so important that the laws of the road and common courtesy don’t apply to them?
Yesterday as I was driving home (and I don’t have a very long commute, DC-wise), I witnessed three instances of such behavior. First, a Cooper and a minivan jockeyed for position as the road narrowed from two lanes to one. Both cars sped up to get in front of the other. The minivan won, probably aided by the laws of gross tonnage. And what for? They ended up sitting at the same stop lights as me.
Ok, I’ll give them this: at said stop light, they were in a position move in front of the intersection. I take that back. The Cooper pulled ahead as another car (coming from the opposite direction) was trying to make a left turn. The left turner ended up having to do some auto gymnastics to make the turn (the driver was obviously irritated).
I stayed behind the side road, in case another car wanted to make a left turn. And what happened? A small SUV drove up in the left-turn lane and pulled in front of me. Nice. Apparently the laws of courtesy don’t apply to people whose shit doesn’t stink.
This is not the first time this has happened to me. I was sitting at a green light because the road ahead was full, and I didn’t want to fuck up traffic by pulling into the intersection. But the guy behind me was apparently immune to such courteous thoughts, so he pulled ahead of me. Because, you know, he’s much more important than me. I was pissed! I followed him closely down the road. I really wanted to rear-end the asshole, but I would have been at fault insurance-wise, so I didn’t. But when he turned off the road, I sped up & blew my horn at him. He gave me the finger. Because, you know, he was perfectly right to illegally pull in front of other cars and selfishly create traffic snarls. And of course, I’m sure his shit didn’t stink.
This time, however, I just let Mr. Asshole go on his merry way. Oh wait. He didn’t go on his merry way. He ended up sitting at the same stop lights as me and got to his turn-off one second before me. Yeah, he’s a big, important person who doesn’t need to be concerned for others. Oh, and his shit doesn’t stink either.
Lastly, when the road opened up from one lane to three, the car behind me sped up to roar past me on the left. And you know what? I made it through the same 2 stoplights he did. I’ll give you this, though; he reached his turn off two seconds before me.
You know what? Life is so much more enjoyable when you just let it go & leave the assholes to revel in their own fabulousness. Because, you know, they are fabulous. And their shit doesn’t stink.
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Stupid “smart” alarm clock
October 30th, 2007
Ah, and yet another reason I’m pissed at Congress. Sunday morning I woke up refreshed and ready for the day. I looked at the clock and it read 6:58. I was thrilled! I’d be able to get an early start to the day & get a lot done. I got up, looked at my watch, which said 8:05. Huh? I looked at the clock again. 7:05. Huh? Then I remembered…
The clock is really cool. You set it once, when you first get it (& then only if you don’t live in the Eastern time zone). After that, it remembers the time, even if you lose electricity. Granted, it doesn’t work when the electricity is out, but it has a little battery (or computer chip) that still keeps track of the time. AND, it automatically adjusts to daylight savings time.
Well, it did until Congress screwed around and changed DST. Of course, the computer and DVR didn’t change, because they communicate with the outside world and were able to be updated by external forces. But the alarm clock just sits there & keeps remarkable time. Until Congress stepped in.
Of course, now I have to manually change the time not once, but twice in the next couple weeks. (Obviously, I’d gone through this drill earlier this year, but I must’ve blacked out the experience from my mind. I still don’t remember it.) Still, I guess that’s better than some of the places like New York & San Francisco, where some of the clocks automatically changed; and residents were told to just wait a week and the clocks would be back to the right time.
Posted in Musings | Comments (0)
Remembering ADM Crowe
October 27th, 2007
The flag outside the building where I work was at half-mast this past week, in honor of ADM William Crowe, who’d served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff some years ago. I’d actually looked him up on Wikipedia last week because I thought his term as Chairman coincided with Dick Cheney’s tenure as Secretary of Defense (which is why I figured I had liked Cheney as SecDef). Turns out I was wrong, but it gave me a chance to read up on a man I really admired. He died the following day.
I never worked for ADM Crowe, but I was stationed in Naples, Italy when he served as Commander-in-Chief of Allied Forces Southern Europe, and I got to see bits and pieces of the type of man he was, and came away with three great “sea” stories.
1. When I first arrived in Naples, I signed up for a scuba diving class. There were a couple of attractive young adults in the class. As we went around and introduced ourselves, they said they were brother & sister, their names were Blake and Bambi, they were in college, but their father had just been stationed in Naples, so they came to spend the summer. I didn’t find out until over a year later, that their last name was Crowe. Not only did they not expect any special treatment as children of the most senior officer in the area, they actually down-played it.
2. The Officers Club (which was just across the parking lot from where I worked—but I’ll save those stories for another time) was nice, but wasn’t quite as lively as it wanted to be, especially when there weren’t any ships in port. So one Friday evening, the club had an event where all the drinks were free until the first person left. Then, that person had to pay for everyone’s drinks up to that point. (This was in the days before drunk driving became an issue; and, besides, this was Italy, where the wine is constantly flowing.) Of course, some of my co-workers & I went to support the club. The bar was packed and ADM Crowe was there. After an hour or so, ADM Crowe left. I didn’t see it, but my co-worker said that a couple of people had tried to leave, but were stopped at the door. One of the club employees let the Admiral know, so that he could be the first to leave and pay the tab. The whole event had been something he had planned with the club to enhance and support the military community.
3. My third story requires a little back-story. The Navy base that supported the U.S military in Naples was laid out along one side of one street. As you drove down the street, the first gate you encountered led to the retail-type stores; the exchange, commissary, bank, the package (aka liquor) store, etc. It was manned by contracted security personnel. The second gate was near the Public Works facilities. It was open only during business hours on weekdays, and it too was manned by the contractors. The third gate, however, protected the “operational” portion of the base, including a couple of fleet commands. This gate was manned by Marines.
After Blake Crowe graduated from college, he entered the Marine Corps and became an officer. (Supposedly, he had met one of the colorful Marine officers on his father’s staff, and was enticed by the mystique the Corps.)
The story goes that ADM Crowe’s official car came with a driver and Italian license plates. He wanted to stop at the exchange one day, but the car was stopped at the gate by the contracted guard. Since the guard was following standard security procedures, the Admiral didn’t mind. He got out of the car, but when he tried to enter on foot, he realized he didn’t have his ID, and once again was denied access. A lesser man of his stature might have raised a fit and expected special treatment, but ADM Crowe knew the guard was simply doing his job.
The incident was discussed at the Admiral’s morning update the following day. The colorful Marine officer then told ADM Crowe, “Sir, you should have just gone to the third gate and told the Marines on duty that you’re 2ndLt Crowe’s father. I’m sure they would have let you in.”
The highest praise I can give him from a personal level is that ADM Crowe was one of only 2 officers I would have followed into harm’s way, even if I disagreed with the order; for I knew that he had weighed all the options, and his decision was the best and right one. Many people of far greater stature than me have said ADM Crowe will be sorely missed. And for me, although I never knew him, the world will be a little less bright.
Posted in Military | Comments (1)
Take this job & shove it
October 11th, 2007
I was going to write a Thursday 13 today, but instead I just feel the need to bitch. And ironically, the 13 was going to be about work. Maybe next week
I am just so sick of being belittled by my co-workers. I make comments & recommendations, only to be shot down by my bosses. Then, their bosses say the same thing I said and now it’s all fucking ok. I’ve been in this business a long time, and while I’m not a technical person, I know what works and what doesn’t; what’s fair & what’s not. Perhaps people feel the need to discount me so they can make themselves feel better.
I’m not part of the”in crowd” in my organization. I suppose I should count that as a blessing, since the organization is considered one of the worst in the Department of Defense.
This is one of those times I need to remember that I am not defined by my job.
On the good side, tonight is a new Supernatural. Even though I wasn’t particularly impressed with the season premiere, a mediocre Supernatural is better than no Supernatural at all.
Posted in Work | Comments (0)
Back on the job, so I can make money to spend money
October 9th, 2007
Today was my first day back to work. I had only about 1/2 hour to myself this morning to actually do any work. Meetings. Then, this afternoon, it was so effing noisy, I couldn’t concentrate, thus was getting extremely irritable, and when my computer decided to take its own sweet damn time, I slammed my fist on the keyboard. I ended up having to go to the cafeteria to finish my work. The cafeteria was quieter than my office. (And the conversations in the cafeteria were more work related than in the office.)
And, since I didn’t go to the grocery store yesterday, I really needed to do so today, since I forgot to pick up my happy pills, which… well, just see paragraph 1. I ended up buying nearly $100 in groceries, not including the happy pills, which cost nearly $100 themselves. But a lot of the stuff I needed was on sale, so I went ahead & bought it. Non-edible things like shampoo, skin lotion, hairbrush, yadda, yadda. Oh, and edible things like the diet (100 calorie pack) Cheetos. And diet ice cream bars. Yes, I needed them, too.
Oh, and red wine, too. Remember the $200 trip to Target? (You may not because I wrote about it at my other blog.) One of the items I bought was a set of 4 balloon style wine glasses (for the grand total of $8). Since I finally washed & put them away, I thought tonight would be a good time for a test run. So far so good. (How many misspellings have I made so far?)
So now I’m just going to chill and watch a few hours of “Fashion Day” on QVC. I’m not sure if I’ll buy anything, but I might be able to get an idea of what I might possibly need this fall—once the weather decides to actually act like fall and not be over 90 degrees!
After doing very well abstaining from tv shopping—I didn’t even buy one thing during QVC’s Creed Silver Strike Day, which was Oct 2, when I was home recovering from surgery—I did end up buying a few things over the weekend. But a few of them are Christmas presents, and a few of them are items I’d been thinking about buying. I actually did restrain myself. But I’m sure it’s not going to feel like that once the credit card bill comes. Especially in light of tonight’s Giant episode.
Posted in Musings, Work | Comments (0)
Goals and such
October 7th, 2007
So, I had my week off and I accomplished almost nothing of what I’d planned to do. Maybe I needed the rest. I’ve been relatively productive today & yesterday, and even have the day off tomorrow (except for follow-up doctor’s appointment). I hadn’t even thought of Columbus Day when I’d scheduled the surgery.
Anyway, now that my mind is a bit clearer, I actually came up with a goal for October. This is quite unusual as I’m lousy at setting goals… and even lousier at completing them. But I thought that if I post them, perhaps it might make me accountable. Of course, Natalie is the only person who reads this blog, although Dannie & Jerry (not Dannie’s Jerry) have said they’ve stopped by, and perhaps also Megan. So, you guys, if your around, try to keep me honest.
For the past couple years, ever since I got my “new” computer (which really isn’t new anymore), I’ve been paying my bills from my laptop on my dining room table. The reason is that my MS Money is on the laptop. And while I bought a new copy for the “new” computer, I didn’t want to start using it until I had reconciled my accounts. Well, that’s been about two years or so—maybe more. Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t let my accounts go completely to seed. I have begun balancing them, but I’m just not yet up to date yet. You see, it seems that whenever I get *this close* to getting caught up, I let things slide back into minor disarray.
Well, I’ve decided that by Oct 31, I will have all my accounts balanced to date. And with the knowledge that my October statement is accurate (& I can account for everything), I’ll finally transfer my bill paying and bank statement to the quasi-new computer.
Um, now that I think about it, I may have to wait until my November statement to cash out. I guess I could make the extra effort to be up to date by October 16th (statement date), but October is already half-way there. Well, they say that nothing worthwhile is easy.
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The agony of sinus surgery
October 6th, 2007
I decided I ought to quit bitching about the blog design, and obsessing how to get it to where I want (e.g., spending most of my computer time trying to fix the design) and start writing more. I’m still working on the design, but I’m not going to gripe about it here. Maybe.
And now, the saga of the nose. I’m not allowed to blow my nose, but there’s a lot of stuff up there that’s driving me nuts. I know this is all part of the healing process, so I’m not alarmed. It just means that in addition to the regular nose junk, I have scabby tissue. (Sounds great, doesn’t it?) So, I rinse the nostrils out 3-4 times a day with salt water. The feeling is similar to when you get water up your nose in the swimming pool. And what’s really funny is that when you send the water up one nostril, it comes out the other as well.
Funny thing is, I kind of like it. Yes, it’s really perverse. I think I might become addicted to snorting salt water.
When I saw the doctor on Wednesday, he told me no bending or lifting anything heavier than 10 lbs. Sounds good in theory, but, how am I supposed to feed the cats or empty the dishwasher, or (most importantly) brush Kimmi when she demands it, without bending over? Yesterday, when I bent over to do any of these things, water would run out of my nose. It’s kind of funny, but annoying. Well, at least it’s clear liquid and not anything too gross.
The season premiere of Supernatural was on Thursday. I was a bit underwhelmed. It wasn’t a bad episode, it just didn’t blow me away, like last year’s season premiere. And, given the subject matter, the Seven Deadly Sins, it could have been so much more.
I’m trying to branch out with my tv viewing habits, watching a couple new shows that have gotten lots of buzz, but so far nothing’s really sucked me in.
Posted in General, Supernatural | Comments (3)
Happiness is total unconsiousness
October 4th, 2007
I’ve fallen asleep on the sofa more times in the last 2 days than I have in the previous 20 years.
I had my first experience with general anesthesia on Monday, and it was probably the thing I was most nervous about going in for septoplasty, i.e., surgery to fix my deviated septum and improve my sinuses. First of all, I knew that going under general anesthesia is pretty serious, which I suppose is why the person administering it is a physician. But I also wondered what it would feel like. Would I dream? Would I somehow subconsciously be aware of what was going on? Would it really make me impervious to pain? Would I even wake up afterwards?
I actually walked into the operating room. I got on the table, and the assistants started prepping me, putting a pillow under my knees, adjusting the head rest. The nurse said we’re going to give you something to make you relax.
The next thing I remember was lying in bed. I was pretty groggy and wondered when the surgery would start. As I lay there (too tired to open my eyes), I began to wonder if the surgery was over and I was in the recovery room. I was breathing through my nose, and I didn’t feel anything on my face. There was absolutely no pain. Finally, someone came in and asked how I was doing & if I had any pain. My first question was, “Is the surgery over?” To my delight, she replied, Yes.”
Obviously, I’d gone unconscious in less than one minute.
My friend brought me home and kind of mothered me for a little bit. Once I got settled onto the sofa with all remotes in hand, she left. That’s when the sofa sleeping began. I fell asleep at least 3 times before finally deciding I ought to go to bed. On Tuesday, I fell asleep a couple times in the morning and a couple more later. And I had an honest-to-goodness nap, where I actually went to bed and slept under the covers.
I imagine most of the tiredness was due to the anesthesia. They say it stays in your system for about 24 hours. But some of it might have been from the pain medication. Whatever it was, it worked really well.
Yesterday I went to the doctor for a checkup and he took out the splints. Holy cow! Those mothers were about 4 inches long! You’d think they’d be poking my eyes out. Now that I think about it, the sinus area under my eyes did feel a little swollen and sensitive.
I’d really been looking forward to having the week off from work. But here it is Thursday, and I haven’t done a darned thing. Of course, today is the first day that I’ve actually felt kind of human. I haven’t had to take any pain medicine, but my sinuses are still annoying. Of course, they’re still in the process of healing. I’d go into more discussion about them, but it’s pretty gross, so I’ll just leave things at that.
In other news, season 3 of Supernatural airs tonight. I’m oddly calm about it. I think I’m worried that the show has peaked with the death of the “Yellow-Eyed Demon.” Plus, the addition of 2 new chicks doesn’t thrill me. I also watched the “Director’s Cut” on the CW website, and was highly underwhelmed. I hope the show doesn’t poop out just when I’m trying to get more friends interested in it.
Then again, I wondered how could season 2 be better than season 1; and yet it was.
Posted in Musings, Supernatural | Comments (3)