MetaChat - Thursday Three Point Update

1. Migraine yesterday left me with a case of the stupids. My brain is working in only the slowest gears.

2. Work environment is still miserable. My co-worker who was promoted to boss seems intent on making enemies.

3. Brazil sounds wonderful.

posted by toastedbeagle 18 November | 09:57

1. left-over Indian food + Diplo psychedelic mixtape (tracklist) = good morning

2. I really should move away from the computer and take out the trash, but I'm still here.

3. Something else.

posted by filthy light thief 18 November | 10:05

1. Back at the office. My honey looked at me this morning with admiration and said, "Oh, [Madamina], you're wearing pants!"

2. I don't want to talk to anybody today... but I think that I kind of have to.

3. Package count: five mooched books and one free Conan t-shirt. I guess that's something good about being gone.

p.s. I'm sorry that I'm being such a whiner about a stupid cold when there are lots of people here with much more difficult health issues right now (and ongoing). I suppose it's a function of whatever you're used to... and in my case, it reminds me of how damnably susceptible to weather changes I am, and about the last awful breakup I had, which also came on the heels of a three-day spell of crud.

So I hope everybody feels better soon.

posted by Madamina 18 November | 10:38

1. Yet another showdown with crush at work yesterday. His refusal/denial to go out when he's so obviously interested is starting to border on the bizarre. And yet he's the one who keeps initiating all our contact. People are weird.

2. Making myself a new winter coat. Need to finish it up soon!

3. Life is short. I miss the days when the week before Christmas was agony for the waiting.

posted by Melismata 18 November | 10:41

1. Feeling mopey and sad and frustrated and just not wanting to exist and hating the fact that the holiday season is here and I'm expected to act like the proper daughter when I fucking hate those in my family.

2. Almost done with this semester of school. I'm just not motivated to work on any of it because I could really give a fuck less about everything that isn't sleeping at this point.

3. Have 3 doctor's appointments this weekend (shrink today, blood work for vitamin deficiencies and pdoc tomorrow) and I'm hoping that something will actually help for once (because nothing is helping at the moment) because I tried to talk to my brother and that is obviously just not going to happen and there's no one else in my family that I can trust because if I try to talk to the other black sheep in the family (who I can't stand), I'm sure she'll just turn around and stab me in the back in order to try and get back into my father's good graces. grar grar grar.

posted by sperose 18 November | 10:44

1. My landlord believes that boilers should be replaced in November rather than, say, July. No heat all week.

2. I hate hospitals. And doctors. But especially this hospital and this doctor who is a raging prick.

3. I need to find more things to cook.

posted by enn 18 November | 11:04

1. Applied for a promotion at work. I don't think I'm a top candidate, but promotions literally almost never happen here so it's stupid not to apply.

2. Trying to get in the holiday spirit. Starting the 2-day drive to Florida for Thanksgiving on Saturday.

3. Also trying to come up with a good cold lunch for the road. All I got so far is leftover pizza.

posted by JanetLand 18 November | 11:18

1. My ID card expired today, and the security guard downstairs is being a dick. I did give him a piece of my mind when he refused to call my boss's boss (Director of Something Something) and instead insisted I go back to boss's boss and tell HIM to call the security guard. I didn't tell him to stop being a cliché, though, because I didn't want to sound all "elitist" by using a French term. Really, I was nice to the guy the whole time, but I was met with a dicksproportionate response. (Note, the security guys here are almost all REEEEALLY nice guys, including, I thought, this guy.)

2. Great date last night. Things are looking up in that area.

3. These days, I'm working on giving myself credit for things that I *have* done, instead of focusing so much on what still has to be done. I grew up in an atmosphere of "I put my laundry away!" "Great, but did you do your homework?" "I did my homework!" "But you haven't done the dishes yet." And so on. Never good enough.

Well, I'm deciding (lil bit by lil bit) that it *is* good enough. There will always be more to do. That's not a reflection on me.

posted by Eideteker 18 November | 12:32

Eide: for what it's worth, I sometimes wish I'd grown up in a household with some of that. It's better than "hey, I could use some guidance here growing up." "Nope, sorry, we're too busy looking at our own belly buttons."

posted by Melismata 18 November | 12:37

Well, I grew up in both environments at the same time, depending on which way the wind blew (or some other arbitrary factor), so we're all screwed.

Here, have a hug.

*hug*

posted by Madamina 18 November | 12:42

1. I had a 6-month review with my boss today and he is really happy with my work. Yet still I am worrying that at the end of the 12-month secondment I'll be sent back to my old job, even though nobody who has ever been seconded to this position has ever gone back.

2. My boiler is providing fluctuating hot water, so I think I need to have my water system power-flushed (this is a hard scale area). This is not covered by my boiler insurance so I'll have to pay for it.

3. Where did all these silver hairs come from? Desperate chemical measures are required this weekend.

posted by Senyar 18 November | 13:14

1. The MetafilterCares gift drive has begun! Eeeeee I'm so excited.
2. Dad flies in Saturday morning. So much to do to prepare the house- including leftover cleaning from last night's doggy disaster. Freakin' PETS, ruining my life. I really want an in-home washer/dryer :(
3. Hoping that a week with Dad doesn't completely exhaust me. Here's hoping!

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 18 November | 13:17

1. My eyes are still quite light sensitive from the shingles, but my stamina has improved greatly over the last week. I may not see what I am doing but at least I am doing something again.

2. After the first night separating the cats, we have had no accidents and alpha cat, who is confined to my bedroom, is totally bewildered.

3. I haven't played guitar or keyboard during this shingles drought in my life, so I will spend the rest of November getting my fingers back in shape. Enough summer woodshedding, it's time to start writing and recording.

posted by Ardiril 18 November | 13:20

I did get a belated birthday gift in the mail today (delicious Girl Scout cookies in my favorite flavor plus earrings and a bird for my collection) PLUS some of my bellydance costuming stuff so today may be looking up for a tiny bit. Except I have therapy in about 40 minutes. Crap.

posted by sperose 18 November | 14:22

1. Bought my wedding dress last weekend and managed to get the photographer we wanted on board, so wedding anxiety has magically dissipated a bit. Which is nice, because it was interfering with sleep.

2. I seem to be having a migraine aura, I think, which made talking to my previous client odd in that she kept looking like she was REALLY CLOSE and then REEEEEEEAAAAAAALLLLY FAR AWAY and it's hard to be all encouraging and supportive when you can't trust your perceptions.

3. My partner has now hired a really good receptionist, so I can stop filling in, which means I can finally wear jeans on a daily basis again, which is good because I love jeans. Jeans!

posted by occhiblu 18 November | 14:24

1. My left eye kind of hurts when I close it hard. What's that about?

2. Second half of my periodontal cleaning in an hour (left side of my mouth!).

3. I can't wait for Thanksgiving and the long weekend. Lots of stuff going on.

posted by amro 18 November | 14:57

1) I feel like somebody wrung me out and dropped me. I'm exhausted, I'm in pain. I don't know if it's sadness or illness. I've been on the Lyme treatment for just over a week now.

2) Husband is definitely sad and I wish I could help.

3) I am really, really clumsy this week. Having a dropping-things week (went to plastic-only dishes for me but still tried to wash household dishes, oops) and also tried to take a chunk out of a finger when slicing bread. I'm still not sure how that finger ended up there. It's just one of those periods where my hands don't quite do what I tell them to, even when I'm being careful. Related: it takes a lot more paper towels to clean up a dropped egg than I thought it would.

posted by galadriel 18 November | 15:53

1. Tallying up clothes for donation. I need to get both the donation value and the cost basis in order to get the tax deduction.
2.Learned a disturbing thing about someone (not a bunny).
3.Won't be able to get out of the city until after Christmas.

posted by brujita 18 November | 16:00

1. Had a long discussion with my husband last night, and at last he has stopped acting like a jerk. Since he is normally a fabulous person who I love to pieces, this is good.

2. Meanwhile, one of the people I work with is throwing a snit. And has generally been an emotional yo yo lately anyway. I find this tiresome but at least she didn't overlap with my husband's jerkish phase.

3. Counting down to Thanksgiving break. Going to Oregon coast with husband and dog. Only downside is I'll miss my usual Black Friday early AM excursion, I suspect, but the trip should be wonderful.

posted by bearwife 18 November | 16:02

1. Going out tonight, for geeky games and dinner at a friend's house. This sounds like a welcome break.

2. NaNoWriMo is going well! Unfortunately, my fear that the house would go to hell and be unbearably messy even by my admittedly slovenly standards if I concentrated on doing just the bare minimum and NaNo is proving true. Grar. So much for "oh, I'll pick up the slack. Honest! How hard could it be?"

3. Thanksgiving planning is now in full swing. Feeling kind of overwhelmed and blue, though I really like the holiday.

posted by lriG.rorriM 18 November | 16:29

1. Sat and watched a bald eagle IN MY PASTURE this morning. Stunning. Then he dove toward my house and flew away. His power and grace and control amazed me, and his flight was a joy to see.

2. Cleaned a small section of the barn out (finally!).

3. Dutch Babies have risen nicely and kids will be fed soon, yay! (I can't cook and they're fussy eaters, so the ability to make something they like is a double win.)

posted by monkeytoes 18 November | 17:12

1. Writing! I haven't been keeping track in my NaNoWriMo profile because most of my work this month has been research and brainstorming, not full-on writing. But it's been going so well! I'm feeling very excited about this project.

2. Doing much-needed laundry! And it only took me ALL DAY to get to it, even though I had the bagged clothes, detergent, and coins all set aside yesterday! Whatever: however long it took, I AM DOING IT NOW WHEEEEEEEE GO ME!

3. Oooooh, Dutch babies! Sounds good, monkeytoes, and I might have one tonight, too! I accidentally left last night's gorgeous leftovers out all night, so my anticipated dinner is now trash. A nice Dutch baby could make up for that.

posted by Elsa 18 November | 17:40

1. Very sore right shoulder lately (makes certain bodily necessities difficult). Thought it might be my backpack, so I picked up a wheely bag, which seems to be helping. My students call such bags, "Sparky."

2. Driving to work's been lovely. Traffic's not always easy, but I'm there usually in less than a half hour. This is a very nice thing, and I'm not nearly so exhausted. Home in time to watch Judge Judy.

3. Looking forward to Thanksgiving. Jon's mom's cooking. Mmmm... turkey. And four days off. I plan on sleeping, watching movies, and stuffing myself. Then sleeping some more.

posted by Pips 18 November | 17:59

Going to Oregon coast with husband and dog.

Where are you going?

posted by danf 18 November | 18:30

Cannon Beach, danf. The Surfsand Resort is really nice, reasonably priced and dog friendl. They made a reservation for us at the Wayfarer Restaurant next door, which served us a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner in 2008, last time we were there.

posted by bearwife 18 November | 18:57

1. TheDonF and I got the apartment we wanted!

2. We are looking for jobs.

3. Trying to not be stressed out about the joblessness.

posted by Specklet 18 November | 19:54

Mrs. Doohickie is feeling better after being sick for over a week. :)

Mr. Doohickie (me) is now contending with a cold. :(

We both have all of next week off. :)

posted by Doohickie 18 November | 21:41

1. sperose- keep your appointments, I am concerned for you, and I hope you are ok.

2. I made a choice to jog around the office park at work today at lunch and totally fell at the big main intersection. You could see the cars slowing down to be ready for the people to get out to see if I was ok, so I popped back up and continued on my way - so embarrassing. I was messing with my ipod over cobblestones and I am over forty and should know better.

3. WHY will my managerial types not believe that PDFs can't be converted back to word and it takes me days to make documents and makes me cry? WHY???!!!

posted by rainbaby 18 November | 21:48

Bearwife, not sure if they are dog friendly, but this is a really sweet place.

posted by danf 18 November | 22:06

rainbaby - are these scans or what? Would OCR help?

1. Made a commitment to walk at least a half mile every day, and it's been helping my mood.

2. Still miss the kitty, but volunteering and being slightly liquid is helping my spirits as well.

3. Got a new boss starting soon, and if the big boss was trying to unite the lower staff, I'd say "Mission Accomplished". Shoddy work, man.

posted by lysdexic 18 November | 22:07

Not OCR, I thought that was old school, is it better now? No, just open PDF and convert to word. Even though the whole point of PDF is to EXPORT things that can't be altered. But I am supposed to manage a library of mysterious PDF stuff. Which one off, is a nightmare to change, but hey ok, I'll do it, but lo, there is a logo change, so all PFDs must be re-converted to word and I weep. I will talk to co-worker for help plans tomorrow. Boo hoo.

posted by rainbaby 18 November | 22:19

Oh, yeah. OCR is very good these days. Couldn't tell if you were dealing with scans or locally produced things.And yeah, that's...some weird requirements.

posted by lysdexic 18 November | 22:22

That's an odd process indeed. We publish a lot of documents as .pdf, but we keep the original so that changes can be made and then re-published. Which is how I thought it was supposed to work?

posted by dg 18 November | 22:47

1. Got a tour of the state library with some coworkers today. Among other things, they're the state library for the blind. The librarian described how they only finished the transition from records to cassette tapes a few years ago, and now they're going to these nifty mp3-playing dealies. I couldn't stop wondering what they did with all the records.

2. Picked up the CSA basket today--no gallon of milk, but half a pound of raw-milk jalapeno cheddar, and a whole chicken. And a ton of apples. I'm pretty into it.

3. Today was my last day at work until December (I tried saying it a few different ways, and that's the one that makes it sound longest).

posted by box 18 November | 23:09

Danf, it looks great, but sadly no pets are allowed. And a lot of the joy of being there for me and my husband is taking our dog to the beach and seeing him rejoice at being there. Here's the webpages for the Surfsand and Wayfarer, FYI.

posted by bearwife 19 November | 19:10

18 November 2010