Friday night movies, the weekend and getting sick...

So, last Friday night was Pirate of the Caribbean with a bunch of people. I really enjoyed the movie. There wasn't nearly enough Johnny Depp in there for me, but I was glad to see what I did of him. There were some really funny parts. There was one moment which harkended back to memories of the ride at Disneyland when the screen went black. I think I was one of the only people in the audience who laughed out loud. I think for a three-parter, it was overall a good trilogy, unlike so many others.

Saturday I started about doing some errands. Everything was going splendidly when I made the decision to go get an oil change at Jiffy Lube. While I was there, I made the mistake of getting my coolant adjusted/flushed. After I paid I got into my car and noticed the coolant light was on. I told the guy and he told me to bring it back around and he would refill it. I did. He did. I then drove around for about 20 more minutes making a couple of errand stops before I noticed the temperature gague was moving beyond HOT (past the red zone). The heater was producing no heat. I turned around and went back to Jiffy Lube. They assessed and couldn't find anything wrong. I called a tow truck and the guy said he thought it was my water pump. Of course, towing the car (thanks AAA) was free. But being that my car trouble fell on a three day weekend, the shop wouldn't be open until Tuesday. I had a nice walk home. The weather was great and it was nice to see people out and about.

Later that night, Amanda called me to come and meet up with her at Auggie's Island Grille. Dan and Amanda's b-friend Scott (ME) was there. We had a great time talking and was later joined briefly by Scott (VT). It was so nice that Amanda thought to call me! I had a nice walk to downtown, which made me appreciate where I lived even more than normal. It's a nice stroll to downtown B-town. I am looking forward to walking to work more. I digress.... Onto the rest of the weekend....

So, being without a car, I had cut short my plans and errands for the weekend. I had planned on working (catching up before vacation and Sunday at the gstore.) With Stephanie having guests in town and Carrie and Heidi living 10-15 miles away, I didn't feel like I could call them to ask for a ride to the g-store. However, new friend Jen, was available. I bought her lunch and she took me to work AND picked me up! After that, we went to a co-worker's house in St. Albans for a little bbq and games. While several people were trashed or rapidly intoxicated, Jen and I didn't drink. It was entertaining watching one of my co-workers putting the moves on Pierre who was also pretty drunk and trying to make the moves on several of us. Then SHE got pissed because she felt he was giving her mixed signals and decided the drinking wasn't working for her. (Why is he flirting with me one second and everybody else the next? Why did he move seats - to across the way? I thought we were flirting and getting along so well.) Jen drove me home and I think I was asleep by 2am.

Monday - I woke up feeling icky. Throat and head were stuffed up and achy. Maybe it was the rain, damp air and smoking from last night. Maybe it was being overworked and finally running out of steam. Either way, I was sick. Great considering I was leaving for Austin in the morning. I didn't do much during the day other than rejecting two Memorial Day parties. I HAD to go to the office. I went in in the late afternoon (nice, slow walk) and worked until about 8:30pm. I didn't get enough done, but I was glad I made the time.

I was up until 12:am trying to get things prepared for my trip. (Austin details coming soon.)

Why I love movies...

Happy 30th Anniversary, Star Wars! It was movies like this that inspired me to get into film. And guys like this that made me want to date bad boys. I remember when the first Star Wars movie came out I was in 4th grade. I saw it 14-16 times that summer. It was the most amazing movie I had ever seen.



Though there aren't any sub-titles on Greedo's lines, this is how the scene REALLY was before Georgie decided to change Han Solo's personality. I love HS. Sigh. He's so dreamy and violent!

I would also like to throw out some shout outs to my peeps in LA, especially the ones crazy enough to go participate in the Star Wars party this weekend. A little bit of me wishes I was there

Chick things...

...so if you are uncomfortable reading about chick things, come back another time.


I just really have one thing to say. I would like to take an opportunity to say that cramps suck. I would like to be in bed with a heating pad but I can't because I have work to do. Damn these cramps.

Here's a on-the-spot poem:

CRAMPS

Punching
Sloshing
Beating my body like you drill into cement
BAM!
BAM!

Kicking
Pounding
My body buckles under the pressure
POW!
POW!

Drifting
Gliding
The torture passes I am free
KABOOM!

(I know. It's quite brilliant. You are probably sitting back astounded at the depth and intelligence in that poem.)

Client Aimless = Mini-Client Flintstone

By now I should just realize that when it is May at Company X, I will undoubtedly get a big ass client that will cause me to go insane. Client Aimless is that. Why? Allow me to list a couple of reasons.

1. They are a huge-ass client that is and will (if we do well with this) give us big business. That means they are paying $ and have the attitude that because they are paying bucko bucks they can get whatever they want.

2. The package (like Client Flintstone) was either sold with promises of things we would do for them that we really can't or aren't client ready or the client blew things out of proportion from what they 'thought' they were getting and now we are rushing to get things done in an unrealistic amount of time.

3. We have new tools that aren't fully functional that not only I am using but the client uses too. I haven't even worked with the tool before. I can't show the client how to use it because I don't know how to use it. Plus there are problems with it and I can't do certain things because either I don't have the right access or because that part of the tool isn't functional yet. I think it makes us look bad when things don't work right and they client and I are scratching our heads trying to figure out how to make it work.

4. I can't handle multi-tasking. Just because I have a touch of ADD and shift subjects doesn't mean I can handle multi-tasking.

5. I have other clients

In any event, here is a client I am working 12 hours a day with and am pulling out my hair to get things done. I can't delegate because nobody else has time either. Several of us have huge projects. I am probably blowing the whole thing out of proportion. This project isn't nearly as bad as Client Flintstone of 2006 was. There is a huge amount of work the client and I have to do to make it work. It will get done. And the client has been pretty reasonable so far. I told them at the beginning of the project that I would disappoint them. I would let them down. I would fail them. We had a good laugh and I think that got us off on a good foot.

Big news - Company X is moving!!

It has been officially made public that Company X is moving office space. Not just moving, but moving across the street to what will be a swanky, environmentally friendly building. Ranging from soy-based paints to lots of natural lighting and maybe solar or wind power, it will be one of the most eco-friendly buildings in Vermont. In addition to that, we are going to have a cafe with organic food (no soda), a gym, tennis court, showers, ping pong tables and one-on-one basketball court. It's all about health and wellness.

I have already challenged the Big Enchilada to a doubles match. No, I don't play tennis and have already told him that I know he will cream us, but it will be fun. I am also working him on getting a lap pool. He thinks it's a good idea. Now if we can just get him to add that into the budget....

It's great getting speedy service...

I had a problem yesterday with my latest group Client Aimless and a specific site that wasn't working with our tools. It was near the end of the day and I was getting frustrated. I had already bugged it but I have a really short timeline on getting this project done and wanted immediate fixes. So I went upstairs and found Jai. Jai is one of the heads of our technology team. He's a super busy guy, but he took the time to address and fix my issue. I really appreciated that. I hate throwing last minute things at people especially when I believe that for most people "your emergency is not necessarily my priority" and he could have told me to wait until today to address it. Our tools may not always work well here at Company X, but there are certainly some good people here.

(Also he's a new reader to my blog and I haven't ever written about him. ha ha)

BREAKING NEWS: Aladdin and Jasmine NO MORE

This just in...

There I was, sitting in the break room of the g-store minding my own business. PL is sitting with JL discussing the latest in g-store news.

PL: You know why Jasmine never showed up to work?
JL: Yeah, because she called me at 2am because she was afraid to come into work.
Me: Afraid? Why?
JL: Because she and Aladdin broke up.
Me: WHAT? No Way!
JL: Yup.
PL: Yeah, she was emailing me that she was looking for something else. Something new. She wants more in the relationship and Aladdin wouldn't let her hang out with her friends and let her go out. He wanted her all to himself.
JL: She called me to say that she was afraid of how Aladdin would be at work since they had just broken up, so she didn't call into work. Just ditched.

Ah, to be in high school again. How sweet it is. Though it is sad that the Aladding and Jasmine saga is probably over, she is a wild one and makes her way around the store so I am sure there will be other stories of Jasmine. I wonder if any of it had to do with me telling Jasmine that I thought her b-friend looked really cool with the eye liner? ha ha ha

I am about to embark on a write a script in a month task and feel that the g-store is the perfect subject.

It's 3am - you can't sleep. BAKE COOKIES!

I had some caffeine when I went to dinner at Elissa's last night. We had a delightful dinner and chat. I even caught some of the Red Sox game.





Then I went home, watched a little TV and was in bed by 11:30ish.





Then I stayed awake. I got up and wrote for a little bit and tried sleeping again, to no avail. So I decided to do something.

If you can't sleep, bake cookies!

Thank you, IRS

In 2004, I was a 1099-er and forgot to take money out for my new job with Company X. As a result, I screwed myself with the IRS. It took them a year and a half to catch up with me. After months of going back and forth on how much I owed, I got the final bill. Only $1378!! Yipppee!!

Thanks to my 2006 tax return, I only have to pay the IRS about $800 now. They took the rest.

Thank you IRS!

He's just not into you...

I was watching an episode of "Sex in the City" where the ladies are out to dinner discussing a recent date Miranda had. The date dropped her off at the doorstep with an excuse of having something to do early the next morning. Miranda's friends gave her words of encouragement, but Carrie's date told her "He's just not into you." Sure it was blunt and it may not be true in every situation, but it was a good tv show moment.

He's just not into you.


Ain't that the truth. Sigh.

Songs that remind me of way back when...

Recently, I was listening to a song by The Carpenters. If you have no idea who they are, check them out here. Anyhow, the song was "Close To You". It reminded me of a time when I was in high school and I was a girl who was very easily infatuated and sort of "stalked" guys. You know what I am talking about - you find out their class schedule, where they live, what they like to do for fun. Who do they hang out with? How can you be in the area without them really seeing you, but seeing you at the same time?

LGH was my true stalker-lust for my junior and senior years in high school. Though I did stalk-like another, he was in college during those years which didn't afford me much stalking time. Anyhow the song goes on about how the world is entranced with the person that is the center of the singer's affections. Stars, birds, moondust and other chicks stalking the love interest. Nice. That's pretty much what it was about for me too. LGH did have blond hair and blue eyes. My friends knew I had a major crush on him, though I think I denied it many times. I even went as far as to toilet paper his house to show my affection.

Ah, those were the days. Maybe that's what I should do now? All I need is somebody to lust.