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just need to vent
May 12, 2011
I dread when this guy comes to work. He reeks of stale smoke, bad burnt coffee, and�I don't think he even bathes on a daily basis. The stench rolls off of him in waves.
He wheezes and chokes and coughs his way through the day. He pounds the keyboard on his laptop. He holds VERY LOUD MEETINGS all day long, at his desk, or on speakerphone. And I know he can�t help the broad Lancashire accent. It does, nonetheless, drive me �round the bend.
He is totally oblivious to the fact that his desk is physically attached to MY desk on the other side of the cardboard cubicle wall--and slams things down, throws drawers shut, and when he sits down, he rolls his chair into the edge of his desk so hard that the force of it ACTUALLY ROLLS ME AWAY FROM MINE.
He is constantly pouring his foul-smelling coffee glugglugglug from a thermos, because apparently he's the one man in this company for whom even the crap machine coffee isn't BAD enough. He lives off of junk food, and scrabbles around in the noisy cellophane and Mylar packaging like a foraging rat.
This plays out the same way EVERY SINGLE WORKING DAY. I am beyond insane from it at this point. And I�ve been told nothing can be done, because he�s a consultant. If the person who is supervising his project complained to his company, they would probably just pull him and send another. She doesn�t want to do that, because she values his work.
My boss, of whom I am fond but who drives me crazy because she is a bit of a wimp, won�t deal with it either.
Maybe I�m just stressed out this week�huge upheavals going on everywhere. At work, major shit going down, having profound impact on my project. Funny how that initial decision to cheap out keeps coming back to haunt us again and again. The company will never learn, and that�s a fact of life, I guess.
And then there was Spouse�s battle with school. After pressuring the students to register IN FEBRUARY for the summer session, the school turned around and forked him again.
On a chance meeting with an instructor, he found out totally by accident the HIS ENTIRE SUMMER SCHEDULE HAD BEEN CANCELLED. No notification from the school until late yesterday morning, after he had already scrambled frantically to get everything sorted out with the state and put together a new schedule so he wouldn�t lose his benefits. Even then, it was a flat automated voicemail informing him that his classes had been cancelled. No explanation at any time. When the woman from the state office emailed and asked what was going on, she got a response that addressed a totally different issue.
Hell, even the instructor who clues Spouse in didn�t get an explanation when HE found out his entire teaching load for the semester was cancelled, so why expect the students to hear, right?
Spouse wrote an amazing and elegant letter to the president of the college, to apprise him of the situation, and got a response back to the effect that the guy �didn�t know class cancellations were going out so late and he would address it with his staff asap�. Whatevs.
I�ll tell you one thing�state workers get a lot of flack from the taxpayers, but the women that handle the TAA/TRA programs in K-town are wonderful. They have been super supportive and accommodating to Spouse at every turn. We owe them a lot for helping us navigate the system and maximize the benefits. Spouse has earned in his years as a veteran and a taxpayer.
So, Spouse is apparently okay now�he was able to find a welding class and three other classes that he can apply to a second degree, due to the big overlap between the Electromechanical Technology and Automated Manufacturing Systems degrees. And he re-entered his registration in the four cancelled classes for the fall semester, so he�s supposedly ready to go for that, too. Fingers crossed, right?
And, at least he did find out that his schedule was wiped out BEFORE he actually showed up for class�unlike last semester!
I made no actual plans for myself for this upcoming weekend. I�m fully booked, regardless. Another round of dog-sitting for W&T, as they complete the�well, I don�t know what to call it. None of these crotchety old women who gave birth to my friends ever allow funerals. She�s being scattered, so it isn�t a burial. I don�t know. Laying to rest, I guess?
Anyway, I started after work today and will have to maintain a schedule through Sunday afternoon, total of about 13 visits. Plus, I have Niece�s swing choir show on Saturday night and Nephew�s pancake breakfast on Sunday morning. That�s on top of the usual weekend errands and chores to be done. And Spouse has decided he wants to attempt boeuf bourguignon on Sunday.
And it�s gonna be another weekend where yard work will be out of the question, due to heavy rain. Guh. So very, very sick of the rain�
Been having a reasonable good week on the weight management and Smoking Cessation cessation fronts. That isn�t a misprint. Although I was fairly pleased with the NRT as an aid to quitting�that, too, must eventually cease. I am cold turkey on the gum this week�this being day four without a single piece. I have not been rushing to get off of it, but it feels like the time is right now. I have to say that I am not missing it as much as I thought--but it isn't the weekend yet, either. Weekends seem to really be rough even now.
I stopped on Monday intentionally in order to give me a few days under my belt before hitting my problem zone of Friday afternoon thru Sunday night. But I still have some gum on top of the fridge, and if it comes to a choice between smoking and gum, you better believe I'll be chomping my jaws off. I fought this demon too damned hard to want to smoke.
On the weight management side, I have been able to maintain a rational relationship with food, and am pleases to say that my calorie total for Monday through today is averaging just under 1800 a day. And not because I starved for three days and binged for one, either! I mean I came in pretty tight to my goal every single day. Ate lots of fruits and vegetables, drank lots of water, drank my milk. Took my vitamins.
And started a new fiber supplement every day. More gummies! These things are great. Like Dots, only tastier, and they help you poop!
What I really need is to get off my keister and start walking. Easier said than done. When you have so little free time, as I do, you kind of want to spend it doing fun stuff. Walking for exercise is never going to come in under the heading of �fun stuff� in my book. Plus the weather has allowed for around zero good outdoor days in the last couple of months. We only had three days in April when it didn�t rain. On those days, the wind blew at 35 m.p.h. May hasn�t been any better. May has had more times of nice weather�and all during hours when I have to be at work or in bed. How helpful.
But somehow, I need to make it happen for me. I have lost a few pounds, but all that really means is my tone is even more abysmal than usual. Flollop-y blobs of flab flying about is no more comfortable that the weight itself. Sigh. That�s enough pissing and moaning for one day, I guess.
Reading:Hobby--"Under the Lilacs" (1920), by Louisa May Alcott.
Also reading: "The Mystery Of The Boule Cabinet: A Detective Story" (1911), by Burton Egbert Stevenson"
Can�t seem to get much reading done. it doesn�t feel like there is any time. And today, like a moron, I forgot to put my e-book in my purse--so I couldn�t even read my books at lunch.
Listening: Kind of off music at the moment�nothing is speaking to me. And even NPR makes me tired.
Surfing:
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