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musical desks
October 27, 2014, 8:58 P.M.
They made us move at work last week. Not for any practical reason, not to a different location--they just shuffled my department around in the same area for no reason. Made a lot of racket, stirred up dust, sprayed cleaners around, triggered an allergy migraine, wasted a bunch of my time, STUCK ME NEXT TO A STINKING WINDOW AGAIN...and for what?
Well, the ostensible reason was to get the people who work together to sit together.
But there's a funny thing about that. I went from sitting directly between the two people with whom I work most closely, to sitting NOWHERE NEAR EITHER OF THEM. But, interestingly, the exact same distance away from the incessantly nattering
Personally, I think it was a newly promoted middle manager pissing on her territory. They all do it, and it's something we all have to live with in business. But rearranging staff like they were so much furniture is a good example of the disregard they have for the people who do the work.
Talked to Daddy the other day; he's been super-busy. The first sale went fairly well; he managed to pocket $1300 after all was paid and done, but he said the money, while nice, wasn't as important as being rid of all that crap and having room to put his cars in the garage. And he's had various weddings, reunions, and housewarmings keeping him on the trot. He did drop a bombshell--he is planning on going out to Arizona for Thanksgiving--and not coming back till March. After my initial surprise, I warmed to the idea. Auntie and cousin will be delighted to have him, he has other friends and relatives in the Southwest he can visit, he will avoid a harsh winter, and I would be off the hook for those monthly work visits till spring.
We had rather a quiet weekend. It got off to a pretty good start--homemade pizzas on Friday night, and I got up early on Saturday and gave my fridge a good cleaning. And when Spouse got up, he did the same to the freezer!
We didn't have much shopping to do, so we attacked the housework a bit first, then showered and dressed. We ran out to Pete's for breakfast and knocked our errands out pretty quickly. Stopped briefly at Lowe's appliance department, (more on that below), and headed home. we just kind of lounged around the rest of the day...aside from laundry. For dinner, Spouse grilled steaks and made some kind of packaged frozen potato dish, and I made a salad.
Spouse has decided that I am right (up to a point), and the washing machine is on its last legs. But while I wanted to look into getting it fixed, he thinks the answer is a new washer. And after tallying up all the things that are probably wrong with the old Speed Queen, he's probably right. I know it needs a new brake, it sounds like the transmission is going out, the seals are shot and it's starting to leak, and the timer is wearing out again. But I really love my old girl--and it seems 20 years of dependable service should count for something. Plus, there's no way I am going to be able to buy anything that well-made today. Even if I could afford a new SQ, it won't be built like that.
So we did some shopping around this weekend, and settled on a model we both thought hits the sweet spot between price and quality. It's a high-efficiency top loader from Samsung, and the best price for it is $540 (from BB and HHG). Loads of good reviews, 4.0 cubic ft. capacity, lots of cycle options, and free delivery/haul away. Plus, we have a $25 BB gift card (left from our old phone credit) and a $50 Visa gift card (birthday gift from Auntie) that we can put towards it to take the price down a notch. We'll probably go buy it next weekend.
I was going to try out my Dremel pumpkin carver on Sunday--on Saturday I bought a pumpkin, got the tool put together and was ready to go. But I woke up sick in the night and felt like recycled crap yesterday. So I skipped it. I will try to do it after work some time this week. This isn't really something I feel like doing, but I think Spouse will be very diappointed it I blow it off, since he gave me the carver as a gift.
And depite being sick to my stomach, I had to work my way through two major meals yesterday. Spouse was in full-on cooking mode, and his fragile ego wouldn't be able to stand it if I didn't dig in. He made his homemade breakfast sausage and Cook's Country "Fluffy Cornmeal Pancakes" for breakfast. The pancakes were actually quite delicious, but I am afraid the first shot at sausage was a flop. Too lean, too much nutmeg and allspice, not enough sage and thyme. Live and learn. He's already figuring out his next batch. Then for dinner, he made a stuffed pork tenderloin with an apple-honey glaze, mashed sweet potatoes, gravy, mixed vegetables and crescent rolls. It was marvelous. My gut was rebelling a bit, but it certainly was a delicious meal.
Got bad news early on Sunday morning, which didn't help. Old family friend passed away. One of my mom's besties way back in the day, mother of a lifelong friend of mine, mother-in-law of another. Made me feel pretty sad. She was a wonderful lady. She was one of those people who was close enough that we couldn't call her Mrs., so we called her Aunt.
So yesterday I was just kind of a lazy, icky-feeling bum. Spent a lot of time in bed, actually.
I think that's what convinced Spouse I really was feeling very crappy--I kept going back to bed, and I didn't even feel like getting showered and dressed till after 12:00. I managed to finish up my outside stuff (winter prep), since there was just a tiny bit left. I put away the pool ladder, the cushions and the patio umbrella. Glad to have it out of the way. Spouse is hoping the yard will dry out a bit so he can move the filter and empty the sand without tearing up the grass. That is the last thing to do (besides move the table and chairs to where the wind won't get them), but the ground is just too soft still to wheel that big heavy filter across it.
Reading: "Madison and Jefferson" (2010), by Andrew Burstein and Nancy Isenberg.
"An Engagement of Convenience" (1908), by Louis Zangwill
Listening: Lorde, Hozier, Ray LaMontagne, Lou Reed
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