The Final Grinddown

It isn't a countdown this week, it is going to be a grind down. There is a three week break pending at the end of this week and a ton of work that needs to get done before it hits. And not enough man and woman power to get it all done which means some projects, even some high profile and important projects are just not going to get finished. Heck, some of them aren't even going to get started.

One of the hardest aspects of my current position, aside from having effectively, five bosses, is that my time on site is so limited and there are always fires to put out or other priorities that derail attempts to complete stagnant projects. And those stagnant projects get pushed a little further back each time they are shuffled off.

So much to do, not enough time to get it all done and sometimes that realization can paralyze me in the gates. Which project to pick up? Which project to ignore? Which teacher to wave off, which one to help? My job is nothing if not a constantly shifting mass of obligations, partially fixed problems, request for rights and scrounging up of parts because ordering them would take more than a month if the order actually passes through the freeze committee that has to approve of every single purchase.

In other news, it appears that I will come in second in our neighborhood football pool again. This will make the fourth or fifth week this season I've just barely missed the money spot. The upside to this is that I will likely move into first overall which would be okay with me so long as I can hold on to it for the overall win. Otherwise I paid a lot of money and didn't get jack squat in return. And I'm not really a fan of the jack squat when I want me some jack scratch, ya know?

We are engaged in the house hunting process trying to find a smaller house but closer to Santa Cruz. Reduction in monthlies is the goal but the secondary goal is to get closer to our friends, mountain bike trails and away from Watsonville which has never really made me feel totally comfortable and settled. And there is the whole pain in the ass of having to load up my car with my bike to get on some trails. I'm tired of that crap, for sure.

Anyway, time to get the lead out, do some software installs, make tech behave and then go do it some more at another school this afternoon. Can you tell how excited I am about this week? No? There's a reason for that.

Good and Bad Ideas to Celebrate St. Patty's Day

As with pretty much every holiday around the year, retailers and restaurants are looking for ways to capitalize and squeeze a few dollars out of consumers. There are good and bad ways to go about doing this.

Good:
Corned beef and cabbage giveaways in bars.

Bad:
Corned beef and cabbage pizza. No lie, this was advertised in a local paper.

Good:
Green themed accessories, i.e. cups, plates, silverware, etc.

Bad:
Green themed food that isn't normally green. Adding green food coloring to things can be nasty and stomach churning.

Good:
Rollicking Irish pub music.

Bad:
Not so rollicking Irish funeral dirges.

And that's about all I've got thus far. Celebrate the day, have a good time and all but stay away from green beer and greened food.

Also, here are some alternative lifestyle changes to celebrate the day.
St. Flatty's Day - the holiday for small chested women.
St. Fatty's Day - the stoner holiday.
St. Catty's Day - the day for cat fights with cougars and cougars in training.
St. Hatty's Day - haberdasher's delight.
St. Satty's Day - the day for time shifted people to pretend its Saturday.
St. Nappy's Day - the dreadlock attack holiday.
St. Sappy's Day - the day for maudlin reminiscences. (as an aside, I love the word maudlin).

I could go on and on and on but we'll stop here, there's tech work to get to doing! Cue the superhero theme music!

Happy Everybody's Gonna Be Running Late Day!

Gosh, don't you just love the Monday after the time change when 7 is actually 6 and 8 comes before you even wipe the sleepy seeds from the corners of your eyes? I know I do. I know I love having forgotten to change the time on the automatic coffee maker so that there was no coffee when I got up and walked through my one hour earlier cold house.

I know I enjoyed stepping on the Hot Wheels cars left on the floor in my bedroom that I couldn't see because its friggin' dark out. Or having to scrap the ice off my car before I could see where I was going and I live in Northern California where the only snow we know is up in Tahoe (okay, that made me smile).

And I especially love rolling in to work about ten minutes late but feeling like I'm nearly an hour early.

Thanks a whole fucking hell of a lot, Ben Franklin.

Hope you have a Happy Everybody's Gonna Be Running Late Day. Now I'm going to freebase this cup of coffee and probably still fall asleep at my keyboard.

If Valentine's Day is About Love Then....

How about a holiday dedicated to lust too?

Just a thought.

Happy Drunk Day

St. Patty's makes me think of one person from my past. A cute though deeply alcoholic friend of mine whom I dated for a short period of time. How deeply alcoholic was she? She was bad enough that she needed (note needed not wanted) to stop at the dive bar near our houses so she could get a couple of shots in on her way to breakfast.

There was a doomed relationship if there ever was one. She didn't even have to sleep with the guy who was moving into our house though she did.

Anyway, she's what I think of when I think of Saint Patrick's Day. And I think about the bullet I dodged which makes me think about the bullet I did not dodge.

Whee, are we having fun yet?

One More Day...

Until the end of the awful Christmas ads.

I'm trying not to get all bah-humbuggy but it is all but impossible sometimes. The bombardment to spend, spend, spend to prove, prove, prove your love for your family and friends is incessant and wears you down. Not unlike a trip to Las Vegas where you don't gamble at all the first day but slowly, slowly they get their hooks into you and, before you know it, you're blowing twenty bucks a hand on blackjack and down a thousand bucks.

One more day and then the world starts to return to whatever passes for normal. Actually more like 36 hours since today has just begun.

I wish I could find even a speck of holiday spirit but I'm so thoroughly beat down and tired of the whole stupid ass charade that I am just in a holding pattern until the storm passes.

Let's face it, Christmas for adults sucks. Not that it shouldn't but there's so much run up, so much hyping and then the actual day is, without fail, a depressing letdown.

On a mildly positive note, I did, eventually, get some cards printed up to send out. I guess they're called holiday cards since there's no chance they go out before Christmas. Not that it matters really, does it?

Anyway, without getting into too much of it, I'm having a crappy holiday break. I think I need to get away for a day or two and see if I can regain a little perspective.

Happy Information Day!

Happy 411 Day, today is the special day when you are supposed to call information and thank them for all their selfless help. Oh wait, they charge a buck for each number they look up for you.

Nevermind.

[Update: And today is 4/12 anyway. Damn. And where the hell are my pants?]

Nice Work ProFlowers, Or Not

I ordered some flowers for today's Valentine Day holiday from ProFlowers.com because it was pretty easy and a pretty good deal.

I'll leave my annual rant about the mad run up on rose prices in the last few days for next year. The annoying profiteering just pisses me off. A dozen roses last week was ten bucks or so, this week, that same damned dozen roses will cost you forty or fifty bucks easy.

Anyway, I put my order in to ProFlowers which included a vase and chocolates, since what is Valentine's Day without chocolates, right?

When the box arrived yesterday, the roses looked fabulous and the vase wasn't broken, which was a nice touch. But there were no damned chocolates in the box and that annoys the hell out of me. I called them and the chocolates are on their way but they won't be here until next week. Will I use ProFlowers again? It depends on what kind of a deal they have and I'll make for damned sure to remind them that I'd like everything in one shipment all at the same time.

Tags: Valentine's Day, ProFlowers, roses, chocolates