Monday, October 31, 2005

More on Rosa

The funeral service for Rosa Parks has just come to a close after many hours and speakers. I could hear the entire service from my office, as it was being broadcast out to the street. It was pretty unbelievable. The streets were lined with bystanders. I watched as they loaded the casket and drove away, followed by a procession of metrobuses--one was circa 1950s to replicate the one she boarded all those years ago. Three others carried her family members. Applause broke out on the street as they brought the casket out, and again as they drove away. It was very moving.

And as far as celebrity sitings, I got to see Oprah and Marion Barry. Others saw Tyler Perry, Cicely Tyson, and Ted Kennedy.
History in the Making

Living in Washington DC is usually pretty interesting. I work right across from the church that is having the memorial service today for Rosa Parks. It is pure chaos outside with the police and camera crews and streets blocked off. President Bush was supposed to attend, which was going to make things very tricky, as we'd all have to have IDs checked, deal with Secret Service etc, but for some reason he cancelled.

Sunday, October 30, 2005


Happy Halloween!

Saw some interesting costumes over the weekend, which wound up being pretty quiet after all. I did a lot of shopping, which was fun.

This week is packed with interviews--one Monday, two Tuesday, and a second interview Friday. I swear, if something doesn't turn up from all of this I don't think I can handle it. But I will keep applying for jobs just in case. These interviews are the only thing that will keep me sane this week, as it's gonna be crazy at work.

Friday, October 28, 2005

A Day of Rest

I'm just exhausted after my week and enjoying my day off. I did have an interview this morning, which went well, but I don't want to curse myself so nothing more being said. Please everyone who reads this cross all fingers and toes for me that I get out of my hell job.

On a downer note, it looks like all is lost this weekend as far as getting out of town. I'm bummed. I could really use a break.

Now, I think I'll go take a nap.

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Bad Day

Oh boy, it's been a bitch of a week at the ranch. We had our board meeting, where of course everyone picked on everything that relates to my job. Oh, it was fun! Then we had a staff debriefing, where we had to rehash everything that pissed me off in the board meeting. Then the president tells me I have to get a press release out by the next day. A press release I haven't written yet. A press release that needs to be approved by several people before it can go out. She just has no grasp on reality, and how real work actually gets done. She thinks you can just blink your eyes and magically, it's all taken care of! This happened at 4 pm and I had just sent everyone a reminder that I was taking Friday off, so exactly how am I supposed to do this? So I remind her after the meeting--if I'd brought it up at the meeting she would have just used that as a reason to berate me and make me look like an ass in front of everyone as she loves to do--and she gave me some leeway until noon on Monday. Boy, isn't she nice?

Then I find out Jeffro has to work tomorrow and we cannot leave for our glorious weekend away from home at my alma mater, Wililam and Mary. I have an interviewed planned for tomorrow morning, but hell if I'm going to work after that. I've already put in for vacation, so I will have a nice fun day off. Wonder what I'll do after my interview. The possibilities are endless. I'm just thrilled I don't have to be at the office where they can all go to hell! Can you tell I'm at the end of my rope? I am seriously tempted to just up and quit without a job to go to, that's how bad it's gotten.

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Freaky!

This is the weirdest, most incredible thing I've seen, the Flash Mind Reader. How could this be possible? I tried it twice and it worked both times.

In other news, thank God today is calmer at work. I'm actually getting some real work done. But tomorrow's our board meeting, so I'm dreading that.

And lastly, I'm feeling sort of sorry for my sister in FL, although she is an idiot. Just about the whole state has lost power from this weekend's hurricane, and they don't know how long (could be weeks) until it is restored. She is freaking out cause everything is pitch black outside at night, she is running low on batteries, doesn't have enough nonperishable food, and needs ice because of a medical condition. Apparently she is making my other sister, who lives in the DC area, run around and buy things to send to her. That is, when fed ex resumes delivery. She can't leave cause so much of FL was damaged and she wouldn't have enough gas to get anywhere useful, and flights out are few and far between. Plus she refuses to leave her cats. Unreal. Maybe since she's lived in FL for 8 years she should have been better prepared? Especially after all the recent disasters.

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

The Fun Continues

Yes, it's been another joyous day here at the office. I actually decided to cancel my interview for two reasons: primarily, it's too far and I don't think a job there is realistic; secondly, I have too much going on here this week. In a meeting today with the boss and other staff, I was told by the boss that our old printed materials (which I am in charge of) are subpar and don't measure up to her standards. Isn't that nice? Now granted, I agree they're nothing great, but when you have no budget, you have no room to produce pretty things. So I've been meeting with designers and we're supposed to roll out a whole bunch of new pretty stuff. How we will fund this, I'm not quite sure.

If I haven't said it enough, my boss is the biggest fucking bitch that ever lived, and if I don't get out of here soon I will do something rash, like just up and quit. I swear, if I didn't have a mortgage I'd have done that already. The good news is I still have three interviews coming up.

Monday, October 24, 2005


Crazy

I think this place is going to drive me crazy, or cause me to become a heavy drinker. There is unbelievable crap going on today--people wanting to delay a big mailing--that is already 2 weeks late--yet again to reprint something that really doesn't need to be reprinted. Plus the boss is demanding a report by tomorrow that she originally told me I had 2 weeks to work on. I really think I'm the only sane one here sometimes, and I ain't all that sane. Luckily, I have another of my upcoming 3 interviews tomorrow.

I also had a doc appt today, where my pulse was racing, like 91. Hmm, I wonder why? They also discovered I apparently also have acid reflux, which is ever so fun. I sort of suspected I might have this.

The weekend was pretty low key, mainly rented movies and did stuff around the house. Which was just fine with me. This week is nuts, and Jeffro and I are going away this coming weekend, so it was good to get some stuff accomplished. Plus I made some apple crisp! Mmm.

Friday, October 21, 2005


ZZZ

Boy, am I done for the day. I've had various meetings, plus an interview during lunch. I am just beat. Looking forward to this rainy weekend, staying inside and relaxing.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Rock Star: Van Halen?

The rumor on the street is that Van Halen will be looking for a new lead singer via the Rock Star: INXS model that chose J.D. as the new lead singer through the reality tv/singing contest. How cool would that be? Eddie and Alex as judges?
Going Greek

In the Greek Orthodox church, of which I am not a member, it is a tradition to repeat things three times during the ceremonies. The significance of which I don't care about. In any case, I feel like I have been re-living that here at work. I have had nothing but dreary horrid meetings all week--with the same people, mind you--and I have heard the same "updates" now at least three times. Is this really a good use of my time? At least they fed us cookies this time.
Right On

Can I say how scary it is that my horoscope has been right on most of this week? Yesterday I had a hell day with my boss. We had an afternoon meeting that turned disastrous, as she chose to pick on me. She is such a bitch. Today is another staff meeting, but hopefully it will be someone else's turn for fun. I'm just going to keep my mouth shut, as that's what got me into trouble yesterday. (I didn't say anything bad, but she didn't like it nontheless.) At least I get to leave early today for the dentist. How sad is that when the visit to the dentist is a welcome event? Read the horoscope below.

Virgo(Aug. 23-Sept. 22)You've done your level best to keep a professional situation under control -- and with the confusing, even contradictory information you've had to go on, it certainly hasn't been easy. Take the night off to relax and congratulate yourself.

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

Prophetic?

Check out my horoscope today. How funny is this?

Virgo(Aug. 23-Sept. 22)A dispute is showing signs of escalating into a very serious argument, and soon, too. Your best bet is to put some distance between yourself and all parties concerned, as quickly as possible for as long as possible.
Get This

My lovely boss not only sent that wonderful email to the managers (see 2 postings ago), she wound up confronting one of them about it and was bitching to them in their office for like 1/2 hour. Man, she's lucky she didn't come in here. I do feel very lucky that I did not have to deal with that. She is digging her own grave around here, and very quickly. I think quite possibly everyone on staff is mad at her right now.
Martina McBride Coming to DC

It was announced this morning in an interview with Martina on local country radio WMZQ that she is coming to the Patriot Center in DC (well, Virginia) in February, with tickets on sale in November. Guess who will be going?
Bitch!

Ok, my new boss is the biggest bitch ever. She attempts to "team build" and "empower" people on the one hand, while smacking them down with the other hand. She sent the whole staff an email inviting us to a Shakesepeare play with her, saying this is her way of getting to know the staff. (Like I want to socialize with her after work?) This was yesterday around 2 p.m. I had meetings all afternoon then left early to run work errands. This morning around 10:30 a.m. I get the snotty message below from her, and of course I had to apologize when I really felt like saying "fuck you bitch!" I am sooooo getting out of here . . . two phone interviews today, and one in-person interview Friday.

Boss snotty message: I suspect your none response is a no..and I certainly understand, but as one of the managers I would hope you’d respond to my e-mails no matter what the nature of it is…thanks

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

More Wine?

Boy, I've had the craziest, stressful day of meetings. Luckily, one meeting did get cancelled, but the anticipation leading up to it makes me want to go home and pour a bottle of wine!

Timeless

Run right out today to buy a copy of Martina McBride's new CD, Timeless. It's a collection of old country hits like Rose Garden. If you buy it at Target, you get 4 bonus songs. Guess where I'm headed after work? Gotta have it on the release day!

Sunday, October 16, 2005


Weekend Update

It was a crazy one, frequently involving too much wine . . .

Friday night - Jeffro met me at work, where we were in the middle of a crisis at 5 pm on Friday to decide whether to "stop the presses," literally, on the invitiation to our December event. I'm like "look, I have to go, my boyfriend is on his way and we're going out." Very professional. We went to see Matt Nathanson and it was an ok show. Not as good as the first time I'd seen him.

Saturday - slept in late cause we'd been out late the night before. I had to go shoe shopping, and thought about calling my friend MJ, cause I hadn't talked to her since her brother's wedding, but didn't really have time. Ironically, MJ was there at DSW . . . . So we helped each other with our purchases and it was a good girly time. That night we went to his friend Bettina's housewarming party--and where the too much wine occurred. As we left, her parting comment was, "are you sure you don't want another bottle?" I didn't know whether to be amused or mortified. Oh well.

Sunday - my friend Cristine came over and we went to brunch at Cafe Mariana in Alexandria. She found this huge metal object in her salad, which caused us to get the entire meal free. Sweet! Then I did some errands/housework and had a nice cheese/fruit/wine dinner with my neighbor.

What gorgeous weather we had, overall. And I was excited to get to wear my sandals one last time.

Friday, October 14, 2005


Much Better Today

I'm so glad I stayed home yesterday. Drank tons of green tea and I am much better today, thank God. Because Jeffro and I have plans to see Matt Nathanson tonight at the 9:30 Club.

Thursday, October 13, 2005



Poor Poor Pitiful Me

I am home sick today. I've been feeling miserable all week, and decided to stay home and get some rest. After all, I don't want to ruin my weekend plans! I've been diligently checking my work email, and will go in this afternoon if I need to take care of something pending, but otherwise you'll find me on the couch with the tv and a good book or magazine.

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Joe Bland

Was anything but bland. He was a long-distance colleague that I saw about twice a year. Quite a character and funny guy, kind of a living legend. Unfortunately he's been sick for a while, and I found out this morning that he died on Sunday. I'm pretty bummed. So I just thought I'd write this little note about him, he will be missed.

It's a tough day today for other reasons too. I seem to be fighting off a cold and have a pretty bad headache. My sister who lives in FL is also going to the doc today, and we're not expecting good news as they've found another chronic condition that she has. I only came to work today because the boss is still out, and I'm expecting a proof I need to turn around quickly. Other than that, I think I'd be home in bed. Who knows, maybe I'll do that tomorrow instead.

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Interview recap

Liked the company, liked the salary, liked the benefits, liked the people, liked the friendly atmosphere and vibe. Didn't like the position. I think 2/3 people I met liked me a lot, the third liked me but realized I probably wasn't best suited for this particular position and sort of made that clear. And she's the one who would be my boss. She's right though, I think the position is actually too boring and narrow for me. So which is more important? I hate the place I work now but don't mind the tasks and I'm miserable. What if I hated the tasks but liked the place? Who knows, maybe it won't even be an issue.
Good Start

You know what makes a good start to the week? Having Monday off, and walking in on Tuesday to the boss being out for the next 2 days. Now that makes me happy! Plus I have an interview today during lunch, so that means no boss to witness my departure in the middle of the day. No details, don't want to curse myself.

Monday, October 10, 2005


Barbie Goes Country?

Ok, I'm sadly tempted to buy one of these . . . apparently my favorite country singer, Martina McBride has been immortalized as a Barbie doll. You too can own your very own for only $24.95.
Burn, Baby, Burn!

Would you believe this techno-phobic, neo-Luddite figured out how to burn CDs on my fabulous new computer tonight? It's a piece of cake, software is already built in. Let it rip!
ZZZZ

All I've been wanting to do all weekend is sleep. Today I didn't get to sleep in as late as I'd hoped, since I had the day off. Dogs woke me at 8:30, but that's pretty good considering it's usually 7 or earlier on the weekends. I wish just once I had absolutely nothing to do but curl up on the couch with a good book. Here's what I did this weekend instead.

Friday - sat in over and hour and half of horrendous traffic after work on my way to Jeffro's for dinner. Then we watched a movie, Crash, which was pretty good. My dogs refused to go outside because of the rain.

Saturday - got up fairly early--poor Jeffro, to go to work, me, to have lunch with a friend. Yes, in the pouring rain. This was definitely a day to just curl up on the couch, but instead I wound up going to Asia Bistro in Pentagon Row for disappointing sushi. And my dogs were impossible again about going out--I had to drag them out cause they hadn't gone the day before!

Sunday - slept till 11 and quite frankly could have stayed in bed all day, but it was off to my sister's for a birthday party for my 3-year old niece. Tons of food, which is why I guess my stomach isn't feeling too great today.

Monday - met a friend for lunch at Luna Grill, where they were only serving brunch, but neglected to tell any of their customers until they went to order something non-brunchy off the menu. Huh? Now I need to prepare for tomorrow, finally have an interview. Ironically it's right next door to where I work now so I'm going during lunch . . . fingers are crossed.

Friday, October 07, 2005

Iron Chef Comes to DC

This is too cool. Well, if you're a big kitchen stadium fan, that is. Three top DC chefs competed locally for a chance to be challengers on Iron Chef America. Morou of Signatures won and will compete with an iron chef in January. Read about the local competition.
Good Day?

Check out my horoscope. I can almost believe this today. For some reason, I woke up feeling extremely good today. Usually waking up is a traumatic and agonizing experience, and I feel like I've been hit by a truck every morning. But not today. I even had time to work out. I always want to, but it never happens. This bodes well for the weekend. Of course, now that I've said this, all hell will break loose instead.

There's a mixed bag of heavenly energies shuffling around upstairs at the moment, but they've all got one end in mind: to put you in the mood to have some unadulterated fun with your loved ones. Why fight it?

Thursday, October 06, 2005

Oh. My. God.

This is excerpted from an actual email exchange in my office. Comments in parens are what I really wanted to say. I swear I work with the most incompetent people and this kind of crap takes up probably 50% of a good number of days. This is like “who’s on first?”

Sept 21, from AA: Do you have a bio of our lovely boss? I need to edit it to put in the source book for our board.

Sept 21, from Me: Yes, let me attach it for you. (Which I did)

Oct 5, from Me, forwarding Sept 21 email: Have you finished editing lovely boss’s bio for the board book yet?

Oct 5, from AA: What bio? Her bio doesn’t go in the board book. Do you mean the source book? (Like, what the hell is the difference anyway??)

Oct 5, from Me: Yes, that is what I mean.

Oct 5, from AA: No, we haven’t even looked at that yet.

Oct 6, from AA, forwarding email from Sept 21: I’m cleaning out my email. Does anyone have lovely boss’s bio?

Oct 6, from Me, smoke coming out ears: This is what I just asked you about yesterday. (Are you that friggin stupid?) You said it hadn’t been looked at yet. Do you need another copy? (And if so why the hell didn’t you ask for it yesterday?)

Oct 6, from AA: Well, I don’t have it and no one is working on it. Who is supposed to?

Oct 6, from Me: (How the hell am I supposed to know who works on it, you asked me for it so I assume you knew!) Let me attach another copy. I have nothing to do with this sourcebook (so leave me the hell out of it!). Please send me the final version when you are done with it. (You figure out who is supposed to deal with it, but it’s not me! I do not want to hear another friggin word about this or I’m gonna run screaming from the building!)
Week. End.

Please I'm begging . . . I am just so done for this week. I am getting nothing productive done today except cleaning out my personal email. Not good. I have Monday off, and would really love to make it a four-day weekend by skipping out tomorrow. It's tempting.

Wednesday, October 05, 2005


Doggie World Part Deux


In a semi-related story, now you can order this fabulous Wonder Woman costume for your dog for Halloween! I used to love that show when I was younger!

Thanks again to Jeffro for the tip. Perhaps he has a little too much time on his hands??



Doggie World

It's a doggie world out there. Check this out. In Japan, Honda has designed a dog-friendly car with special seats for dogs. Too much!



Thanks to Jeffro for the tip.

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

I Hate My Officemates

They are driving me crazy today. No one can do anything themselves, they are scheduling me into meetings that I am not able to attend cause they haven't checked my calendar, and asking me for crazy things like: can we revise the invitation that is currently at the printer and over a week late? Um, how about no? Next I get to sit in on a meeting with my lovely boss, who I just gave access to my calendar. Maybe I should make a bunch of stuff up on there just to shock her. I predict leaving a little early tonight just to get the hell out of here, and possibly going home and having a drink.

Monday, October 03, 2005

Big Sister

Apparently our new boss wants full access to our Microsoft Outlook calendars. We all use these to schedule meetings--at a glance you can see people's schedule and whether or not they are busy at certain times when you're trying to set up a meeting. Very useful. Busy time or out of the office time show up as different color blocks, but no specific info is given on what the person is doing. The boss has decided she wants access to all of our calendars so she has all the details. I am so pissed! Not that I have anything bad on there . . . even I'm not stupid enough to say "3 pm, interview with XXX" but it's such an invasion of privacy. What is she gonna come track us down in the middle of a meeting now? Or perhaps she can come find us if we have lunch with a friend. Or maybe she could come with me on my doctor appointments. That would be fun.
Weekend

I must say I had a very nice weekend. I did a lot of fun stuff and some productive stuff. Wish I’d been more productive, but I seem to always choose fun over work these days. Here’s a recap:

Friday – met Jeffro for dinner and went to Matuba in Arlington. Very good sushi restaurant on Columbia Pike. Afterwards, I had to walk my neighbors dogs—2 of which were husky puppies rescued from Katrina. They were very cute and it was fun to watch them wrestle each other continually.

Saturday – I almost went apple picking with MJ, but couldn’t get my act together in time. So she got a few apples for me anyway, thanks MJ. I went instead to Art on the Avenue in Del Ray (Alexandria) and it was a nice time, although the day was hotter than expected. I bought a birthday gift for a neighbor and 2 pair of earrings for myself. That night we met some friends for dinner at Carlyle in Shirlington and had a lot of laughs.

Sunday – Happy Birthday to my sister. I had sent her a package for her b-day, so she opened it while I talked on the phone. I got her this funny book, Your Cat’s Just Not That Into You: What Part of Meow Don't You Understand?, among other things. My dogs got a much-needed bath, I had dinner and wine with a neighbor, then went grocery shopping with Jeffro. How peaceful shopping on a Sunday night!

And now we’re back at work and thrilled as always to be here.
Every Light in the House is On

For some odd reason this song by Trace Atkins keeps running through my head this morning. Perhaps it's because my wonderful boyfriend chose to put every single light on in his cozy efficiency, and without warning, as I was still in bed trying to get more sleep. I am the biggest crankster in the morning, and this is a well-known fact, yet for some reason he couldn't understand why I was mad and essentially stormed out.