Quo Vado?

Well, we met the second set of ridiculous deadlines today and mailed out 78+ sheets of drawings. The drawings are ‘permitable’; which means a permit may be obtained with the drawings as they exist though there are definitely holes to be filled before issuing final construction documents. Yesterday’s conversation about politeness took on another new twist today; Bossman encouraged me to keep up my attitude as I spoke to him in a blatantly disrespectful tone. Apparently the smile on my face makes all of the difference. Can I just say weird?

In other news, the number of large speed bumps on the way to work nearly doubled overnight. The six rolling riders in the park make sense, even two of the new bumps near the kill-me curve but the other three just annoy me, please let me go the speed limit.

kMom continues to do well, though she’s really beginning to struggle with boredom and wanting to do too much. She’s even finished my taxes for me; that I don’t need to spring for her annual ‘odd’ gift. I don’t mind going out to look for the crazy thing she wants, but her last year’s requested started an odd habit - I now pick up two straws at the QT. The larger of the two straws lands in the glove compartment for kMom later and I use the other in my 32 oz drink. If I use the longer straw I too often miss my mouth and hit my nose. Graceful, eh?

Well, Bossman forfeited his Above and Beyond the Call of Duty card today. I knew that returning to work after my visit to the new homestead would challenge my ability to hold my temper, but today took the cake. Bossman and I have been butting heads every time I turned around for the last three months or so and I’ve been working remaining polite and not being sarcastic or disrespectful when speaking with him. Today, I was told I was being disrespectful because I was being too polite. I don’t get him. I don’t understand just what he wants from me, and I don’t think it’s even possible to pin down.

The whole being disrespectful because I was too polite represents the icing on the cake for a weeks worth of griping, complaining, and disrespecting my work and I finally lost my willingness to whatever it takes to get something done. I’m people pleaser, I hate being yelled/hollered at, I suffer grand guilt pains and failure isn’t an option but the junk that’s been dished to me lately broke the last straw. No more above and beyond work for me. I’ll do my time, I even work overtime, but I’m no longer going to kill myself for the job.

Now, I’m off to watch murder and mayhem and hopefully make it up early tomorrow.

I just saw a television advertisement for Case on CNN. Would someone please check to make sure that the sky isn’t falling? Thanks!

ETA: Philip, I know the site doesn’t look correct in IE, but I’m not sure what the problem is. I’ve fiddled with it for too long and now I must bed so I can try to work tomorrow.

I left kMom in quick recovery mode and with one large problem. My mother cannot sit still, defines ‘disturbing independence’ as I’ve come to embody it and has been ordered to spend the next five weeks ‘taking it easy with no lifting.’ Given that reading and walking will only go so far, I’m not quite sure how she’s going to do that. Any suggestions from the gallery?

A minor miracle occurred during my visit to the new homestead, I finished a non-fiction book. blink by Macolm Gladwell explores the how we routinely make decisions based on small pieces of information. The first portion of the book illustrates and defines thin slicing, the act of taking relatively small pieces of information and using those slices to make decisions/determinations about a variety of things in our lives. Gladwell uses the remainder of the book and four main case studies to illustrate the amazing power and inherent risks thin slicing brings. For me, the book encouraged the conscience use and development of my thin slicing development and stressed situational awareness to avoid the blind/stress induced miss interpretations.

The ATL area regained a slightly offbeat character this afternoon.

Arriving mid-afternoon, I walked two concourses talking to The Kid, making his day as I confirmed that I would be in the office tomorrow. The plane landed with sufficient time to head into work, if I really wanted too. To say the least, going to work failed to make today’s mental TDL. The next two weeks will try every grain of patience I have. The Kid said Bossman’s skating a very thin edge because we have three deadlines next Monday. Given that Bossman doesn’t understand how our plan development process works or how to determine just how screwed our current completion level makes us. I’ve also figured out that he and I design and assemble a project in two completely different orders. For these five projects (we received a week extension on two projects) I allowed him to pressure me into working on pieces of the puzzle out of the order I find logical. I prefer to begin with the ‘common’ framing, from the top down, move on to the ‘special stacking’ areas, complete the lateral design and then begin refine the contract drawings; his pressure moved my focus to the contract drawings way too soon in my process. Oh, well, live, learn and try to resist next time around.

Well, kMom came through surgery with flying colors. Part of yesterdays lost post concerned my lack of empathy in the hospital. After kMom came out of surgery yesterday, I sat with her in recovery having no idea what to do next. My natural tendency to deflect fear with humor makes it difficult to express empathy or sympathy when faced with mortalities possibilities. Luckily, Aunt Barbie came to the rescue, having been through the procedure a couple of years ago, she did the reassuring and I did the joking. She had an easy night in recovery and I brought her home this afternoon. After arriving home, she spent most of the afternoon sleeping, so it hasn’t been too bad.

I have yet to start working, as I keep getting mad at my boss for doing dumb things. He’s 13 hours away by car and still manages to do things that make me want to strangle him. This time he folded the vellum sheets I’d printed and put in a tube because I specifically didn’t want them folded and sent them to me via FedEx and made it so that they couldn’t just leave them at the door. So, not only did I get them a day later, he made it nearly impossible for me to use them in the manner I’d intended. Colorful language flowed when I saw what he’d done.

Being in the new homestead as the caregiver, rather than a visitor, results in some interesting phenomena. First, my ability to sprawl a load of stuff should win me some kind of award. I think I’ve managed to invade every room, excluding kMom’s bedroom, with some thing of mine. Secondly, I forgot that I don’t actually live at the new homestead and tried to take a shower yesterday without soap or shampoo - it didn’t work too well. Thirdly, the silence of this part of the country is amazing. I failed to notice during my previous trips how quietness fills the house. Oh, and I made a great first impression on the neighbor lady - I met her in my black tee-shirt, English riding boots and red checked summer weight sleeping pants while out in two inches of snow retrieving the mail. It’s taken six years, but I’m now showing signs of being a ‘dumb southerner’ when it comes to dressing for the weather.

Well, I suppose I should be getting to work. Have a great evening everyone.

I had two better than average posts ready to publish; but I forgot to save them before trying to connect to the internet so they were lost.

kMom is doing pretty well, though she was whiny upon waking up. I’ll try to write more later today. Have a fun Thursday!

Alm frequently finds herself rolling her eyes at my practicality in the face of all sorts of tough, seemingly complex questions. I can now look at her and tell her that such an attitude flow not only from kMom but also from the area I grew up. In perusing yesterday’s paper while waiting for toast this morning, the following headline made me laugh, “Why did so many motorists take leave of their senses?” The article talked of the folks who found it necessary to cross police barricades to travel down flooded roads last week and said maybe Fr. Wayne is as unintelligent as Men’s Health magazine said the city was. The first part of the article was reasonably well written, but the headline speaks to a practicality I don’t often see; sorta, like a welcome home to me.

In coming home, I’ve learned that I cannot make toast. I think the problem involves a combination of the toaster in question, the oat bran bread I’m trying to use and me. So far, I’ve burnt six, yes six, slices of toast in the last twelve hours. I hate burnt food, whether we’re talking hamburgers, toast, or pizza, blackened food doesn’t trip my trigger so I’ve tossed six slices of bread in the trash not feeling too much guilt. Hopefully I get this toasting thing down soon and remember to pick up bread tonight on the way back from the hospital.

I’m headed to the new homestead again. kMom is going in for ‘routine’ surgery Wednesday, and it’s one of the doozies that takes six weeks to recover from. As Squid ran away from home (not really) last week, I’m going to be present for the first week of recovery, trying to keep her from doing something too silly. So, if you all could give IP+GV (Intercessory Prayers + Good Vibes) as appropriate, I’d appreciate it.

By the way, I know I’ve just had update type of entries here the last couple of days, there are other small commentaries floating around my head, but I’m trying to let the thoughts coalesce some more.

Well, I’m done tinkering with the way this site looks for now. Please let me know if you think it’s become awful and why. I”m not happy with the banner, but my eyes really don’t work to well now, so I’ll fix it later. Have a great rest of the weekend.

For various and multitude of things that bother me something amazing as the spoon urges smiles and giggles at unexpected moments. I love the spoon. Forks and knives are indeed useful utensils, but the spoon has stolen my heart. The frighteningly versatile tool serves up ice cream, replaces a fork easily in most cases, balances on my nose, makes a great catapult, stirs in honey, and cuts out hearts. Add to all of those things the ease of cleaning a spoon and how it seems to go with my favorite foods; it makes the perfect tool.

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The sky was an amazing patchwork of blue as I drove home from work this evening. Without a 64 count of Crayola box in front of me, determining where to start the description of blue boggles the mind. A cross between cerulean blue and teal, the main background became accented and shaded as clouds passed through the field, bringing with them darker, richer blues that melted from one hue to the next. Dude, I wish I had a digital camera or even a better grasp of descriptive words. I’d add the former to my b’day wish list, but then I’d have to actually research them and pick one out.

Well, it’s Saturday morning (kindof) and I’m watching BookTV on C-Span2 and trying to find the gumption to take a shower and go into work. I don’t know why, but I like BookTV until people start asking questions, I guess I’m trying to feel more intellectual. The cold I’ve been trying to stave off for a couple of days seems to have been coralled. Hopefully, I haven’t spoken too soon.

I BlockClicked through a site that referenced Mommifer’s history lesson. I’ve learned a new thing today!

ETA: 3512 steps yesterday.