Category: Work

Bananafishbones

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Today has been just one of those days. I only worked a half day so I could make it to a doctor appointment. I’m not going to go into details here, but I’ve been having some issues lately and my doctor has no idea what’s wrong with me. It’s frustrating to say the least. So the afternoon was not off to a great start.

On my way home I stopped at the library to pick up some books and was informed my card was expiring at the end of the month. This library isn’t where my card was issued, so I’m grateful they told me, since the actual library where my card is from didn’t say a word to me and I was just there on Friday! So I added that to my list of errands to run as I made my way back home. My next stop was CVS to fill a prescription, but there was a problem with it and my doctor’s office was closed for lunch so I couldn’t wait for my drugs as planned.

I went back out to my car and started it up, intending to swing by my home library to take care of renewing my library card, but the check engine light on my car came on. The car was running fine, but one of the last times this happened it wouldn’t start after turning it off, so I didn’t want to take any chances, and went straight home, even though I literally passed the library on the way home. When I got home I turned off the car, waited a bit, and turned it back on. The check engine light is still on, but it starts and runs fine. A trip to Autozone once Joe gets home is in order to get a diagnostic code. It might be an oxygen sensor or something. I hope it’s nothing serious since I really do not want to start dumping a lot of money into maintenance for my car, nor do I want to buy a new one until the Escape has been paid off first.

When I got home I baked some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for our Thanksgiving potluck at work tomorrow. I love this event and missed it last year because we were in Phoenix, so I’m especially looking forward to it. I know it’s going to be a busy day having missed a half day and going through an audit (at work) right now, but I hope I can relax enough to enjoy all the food because after tomorrow I’m going to start eating better and stop buying crap. Hell, I’m going to stop buying so much food in general. I threw out a bunch of expired canned food when cleaning out the pantry this weekend. It made me sick to have wasted not just the food, but the money too because I was trying to “stock up” and save. There’s only two of us yet the pantry is filled with food, a lot of it junk. That ends today.

Shower me with games

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Saturday we attended our nephew’s and his girlfriend’s baby shower. It’s been years since I’ve been to a shower which is a good thing because I’m not into that sort of thing. That being said, this one wasn’t bad, although I felt anxious when it reached 4:30 pm (it started at 2) and the guest of honor still hadn’t gotten to opening our gift. We needed to leave at 5 in order to get back home in time for game night which I was hosting and had planned two months ago before receiving the shower invitation. Luckily we did end up getting out of there on time and all my guests arrived late so we were home with plenty of time to spare. Oh, and I won the “Baby BINGO” we played. The prize was a box of mini diffusers in “Linen” scent which smell really nice.

Game night was a blast!!! It’s tough finding people who are truly interested in playing board games but once they were introduced to Aggravation, my friends couldn’t get enough. I don’t know why I even own so many other games when Aggravation is the bestest one ever! :) My new-found friends, which happen to be my new boss and new Director (and her boyfriend), are awesome. I feel very comfortable around them. We get along great on work and non-work levels which is such a refreshing change after all the bullshit I’ve had to deal with over the years. Joe really liked them too and I hope we all get together soon, although with the holidays coming up it might be awhile. Who knows.

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DST. Should I complain about it because everyone else is? Truth is I didn’t notice any difference in my sleep schedule. But I don’t understand everyone’s happiness about the light in the morning. I really couldn’t care less if it’s dark or light when I’m driving to work. I much prefer the sunlight once I’m off work. Also, now my commute into work involves the rising sun in my eyes and the drive home is the setting sun in my eyes. Woo hoo. Not.

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Recently they upgraded our computers at work to Windows 7. I have a laptop since I work from home once a week, so they installed Windows 7 on a new machine, a Lenovo ThinkPad. My old laptop is a Dell, which I loved, but they stopped supporting them at work, plus the Lenovo has a faster processor and twice as much memory. So while it functions better, I don’t like it because of the following reasons:

The internet cable port is on the side instead of the back.

The USB ports are on the left-hand side whereas they were on the right with my Dell.

The power code doesn’t wrap up nicely like the Dell one.

The control key is not the bottom-left key, the stupid function key is, so I’m constantly thinking I’m copying something when I’m really not. Are there no standards to keyboards?!? Pretty much every other one I’ve ever used has the control key in the bottom-left corner. WTF Lenovo? Do you think you’re special?

And most importantly, the thing is just ugly. No, FUGLY. Just look at the thing!

The 90’s called and it wants its laptop back.

Biking & Jetta Woes

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Whoa, it’s May already! Holy crap. It certainly doesn’t feel that way with the cool weather we’re having right now. It didn’t even reach 60 today which sucks because we recently had a hitch installed on the Escape and bought a nice bike rack and have only used it once so far. Last weekend we took the bikes to a local path and biked nearly 6 miles. My iPhone has a cool GPS map on it that not only tracked our path but gave us stats such as our average speed and time. It got a bit screwed up when we stopped to rescue a little Virginia ctenucha caterpillar who will later become a tiger moth, though. Joe nearly ran him over so we moved him off the path. It’s funny how most of the fuzzy caterpillars end up being rather ugly moths.

Virginia ctenucha caterpillar

Wednesday the check engine light came on while driving my car to work so based on past maintenance issues, we determined it was most likely the coil pack that needed to be replaced. You know, the same thing we’ve replaced approximately three times already even though Volkswagen claims it’s not defective (even though the same exact part has been recalled in other model years, just not mine). Joe ordered the part online since he’s become quite familiar with replacing it, and since my spark plug wires are over five years old, we bought new wires too. He drove me to work on Thursday and Friday and then repaired my car Friday evening which saved us a few hundred dollars in labor. I’m happy that my car is back to normal, not just because I love driving it, but also because I don’t like getting to work early so that Joe isn’t too late getting in.

Friday afternoon we had an audit party via work. We went to this fancy bowling alley, Pinstripes, in South Barrington. I hitched a ride with our new Director which is good because I don’t think I would have found the place otherwise. It’s really nice inside and even though I hadn’t planned on bowling, because I suck at it, I did anyway and had a good time. I played with a few people who were just as challenged as I so I didn’t feel too bad about my top score of 81. Now when it comes to the Wii, I’m a pro, and average 198 a game, but alas, it’s not so easy in real life.

I drank way too much coffee this weekend, although most of it was decaf. Starbucks is offering half-priced Frappachinos during Happy Hour from 3-5 pm through May 16th so Joe and I stopped for some after he picked me up from the bowling alley Friday. Then yesterday we got more. I like that you can customize them because I’ve been avoiding real milk lately since my body can’t handle the lactose. In fact, I’ve been buying lactose-free milk at Target. I also tried almond milk, which is ok, but the vanilla flavored one is rather overwhelming, plus too thick for my taste. I’ve yet to try soy milk, although I’ve had it in my custom frapp. I get it with decaf too since I’m so sensitive to caffeine. Even when I drink tea, which I’ve been doing lately, I get the jitters. I almost feel like I’m going to pass out or something. I make sure to have some food in my stomach so it’s not so bad.

Easter

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I spent Easter with the flu this year. I woke up on Good Friday knowing something wasn’t right. I had a fever, chills, hot flashes, etc. So I called in sick to work and spent the entire day in bed not eating or drinking. I didn’t throw up, which is always a good thing, but I still had other stomach issues. I spent the next few days barely eating, feeling extremely tired, and sleeping a lot. We still tried to show the kids a good time while they were here, though. Friday evening E opened his birthday presents and enjoyed brownies instead of cake. Saturday the kids had an Easter egg hunt, and Joe made a nice Easter dinner (which I did eat a little).

Sunday after the kids had left Joe and I got around to coloring a few eggs. Things started off innocent enough, with us creating eggs with our names on them, and then making cute eggs, but they got progressively naughty, culminating with some vulgarity worse than posted here. Yes, we’re like children, thanks for asking.

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Resolution-less

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Didn’t I write something before about making it a goal to post an entry a day? Geez, way to break a “resolution” right from the start, huh?

Well, in my defense, I’m not the only person who can’t keep their resolutions.

Ok, so let’s be more realistic. I will make an effort to post more frequently, but I’m not going to set down any hard and fast rules. Same goes for the fact that once I’m done using all the coupons I’ve been getting for my birthday for free food, I’m going to start eating better and exercising. I can’t say exercising more since I’ve really not been exercising at all.

I’m not looking forward to going back to work and actually having to be there all five days. Yuck! I have to work on my birthday too. I guess I could take it off, but what would be the point? It’s on a Thursday and I’d have to work Friday anyway, and probably more furiously to make up for missing Thursday. No thanks. Maybe next year when my birthday is on a Friday I will take the day off.