1. Just received the brochure for the church's young adult retreat over Labor Day Weekend. It's not just our church, we're going in conjunction with a few other churches in the area (including the one where stynxno works as an intern). I swore to myself 10 years ago (after a horrendous weekend) that I'd never go to another church retreat as long as I lived but it seems there is no way out. Although it's possible it will be fun, I am still dreading it. Must figure out a way to rally.

2. It's a gray day here and everyone here at the office from the top down is miserable.

3. I have a huge list of things I'm looking forward to over the next 3-4 months, and yet, it seems that time is going far too slowly for them to ever actually happen. Maybe it's because I have daily countdown tickers for all of them and I look at them multiple times a day. If that's how I waste the time away, so be it!

1. HELLO SUMMER or at least its equivalent here on campus. I had a bit of a meltdown a couple weeks ago thinking about all of the empty time and the trouble I have without my usual structure, but I have a few bigger projects that will hopefully occupy me.

2. Our favorite pizza place, for which we are currently Customers of the Month, is having a Food Network crew come in today. The manager asked us to come in and gush on camera. How sad is it that the first thing I thought of was, "Oh, god, not with THIS fat neck and bad skin!"?

3. God, I would be ready to share my stupid wedding website if only ONE THING would not appear in the wrong place despite editing every got-danged WordPress template I can think of. (Why yes, it IS serving to distract me from everything else that could possibly make me crazy. Why do you ask?)

Does anyone know HTML/CSS enough to say "oh hey there it is"? I have looked over every piece of documentation/tips I could find, but could still use some help.

1. I have scheduled forklift training for everyone at work and thus, have finished everything I put on my performance appraisal plan for the year. Which ends in October.
Oops.
Now, if only I could get my manuscript training done by someone who has to come down from the main campus but is one of 3 in her department and they have a reading room that they have to cover and so we've been trying to schedule that training for over 2 months now.

2. I keep trying to go to this Wicca 101 class that's held at the local witchy shop (which is one of the first places I've been able to go to without having my SA kick into high gear, so I'm interested in going to a class there to see if maybe I can start to get out more) and it seems like every fucking time it's scheduled, my family decides to have some bullshit dinner. (The class is on alternating Saturdays.) And now they're trying to do it again for this week. I told my brother that I'm not changing my schedule again because I'm fucking tired of always being the one who has to change plans because he fucking fails at planning. If schedules do change because of me, people do nothing but bitch about it.

3. I feel like I'm being pulled in a million different directions and I know that a lot of it is me doing it to myself and it just seems like there's not enough hours in the day, which is probably due to the fact that I go to bed at 830, but if I go to bed later than that, I can barely keep my eyes open at work the next day. I'm taking 13 days off work at the end of the month and I have appointments scheduled for 9 of them. Some fucking vacation. And I was going to use that time to work on plotting my novel, but people keep adding things!

1. I want to learn how to drive a forklift.

2. Mum's weekend visit was nice but low-key (we didn't do anything except read, watch tv, watch her work on her needlepoint and go out for food a couple times).

3. Right now I'm drinking some yummy tea in a nice mug and contemplating going back to bed since I had only five hours of sleep last night.

1. Took wife for colonoscopy yesterday. After a miserable day-and-a-half of fasting and drinking vile stuff, she was told that she has the colon of a much younger woman. Spotless. . Now I have the Dr's card in my pocket and the expectation is that I shall call and get an appt. for one. Yikes!

2. iPod died last night. It would not charge, and I thought that, at best, it was time for a new battery. Instead I got online and ordered a refurb 160g iPod (my present one is 30g). Then I got to work and the iPod charged just fine, here. Probably the cord at home. Oh well, I have wanted the other one for a long time, and used the 6-month-no-interest deal they have.

But last night I just panicked at the thought of going more than a few days without my iPod. Sound silly now.

3. This weekend is our anniversary, and, as always, we are going down to Ashland for the weekend to see a play or two. A fun place to hang out in.

Deborah, it's really not all that difficult since all of us learned how to drive it on our first days here. The training is more because none of us are trained, which is basically illegal, according to OSHA. If we ever had an accident (*knocks on wood plzdonthappen*), the university would be in some serious shit.

sperose and deborah, there is really not much to driving a forklift. They all have slightly different controls, but the key is to just relax and lean what the various levers and pedals do. Although, I can imagine, as a woman, it might be hard to deal with all the guys who are watching, just waiting for you to screw up.

So the key would be to just relax, learn the forklift you are using, take your time, and maybe hint that any derision from guys on the floor might be dangerous for them, given where you are sitting.

note to danf: The prep is the worst part.

1. Working from home because my office computer is busted. again.
2. Going to see Lykke Li tonight which should be fun- my sister got me these tickets for Chanukah and I've been waiting a long time for the day to be here.
3. Saw Bridesmaids and Everything Must Go and liked both

1.Changing lightbulbs. Need to order more.
2. Want desperately to tell someone (not a mefite or bunny) that I think he's a craven hypocrite , but it's not in my best interests to do so.
3. A giant hotel complex is being built two doors down and the builders sent a note that they want to work 24/6. Unlike most of the others in my building, this is my only place. Am considering asking them to pony up for a quieter place if they are allowed this.

1. Just saw Bridesmaids. Funny!

2. I finished work this morning and have the rest of the day and all of tomorrow off! Yay! Unfortunately, there will be cleaning and errands taking up a lot of that time.

3. FIL's birthday next week. Better start thinking about that.

1. Trying to figure out what has led to a astronomical uptick in the amount of dog vomit these days. No change in diet, energy levels seem fine, doesn't appear to have gotten into something she's not supposed to. If she doesn't straighten up and fly right in a few days, we'll be off to the vet. I hope she just has an upset stomach.

2. Sad event later on, really not looking forward to it. It'll be over soon enough, I suppose. But on the upside, I envision alcohol in my future after number 2 is done!

3. Going to see Bridesmaids with a good girlfriend on Thursday night! Yippee!

1. Had my last real day of work today. Going in to meet with my kids one last time, which is going to be painfully sad.
2. Filed for unemployment.
3. Have a phone interview on Thursday for one possible job and after a surprise phone screening yesterday, am waiting for another company's HR to schedule me for a phone interview. I'm not sure I'm that great at the phone interview. I rely far too much on visual cues and tend to babble awkwardly.

1. Having the day off, I a planted a few more flowers around, got potting soil for my Topsy-Turvy Tomato planter (wish me luck), and a new shower-curtain rod for the boys bathroom. Plus laundry. Still need to dust and sweep.

2. It's cool enough so tonight I'm making lasagna. Yay! I love lasagana. The kids do, too, so much that sometimes there really isn't much leftover.

3. Eldest son turns 18 next week; I'm starting to plan a combination birthday/graduation party for him. I've invited members of his dad's side of the family that we haven't seen in years, and gotten positive responses, and this makes me feel very happy. It'd be nice if my ex-husband could make it - he hasn't seen his kids in almost four years, but it depends on where he is in rehab at this point.

1. The seeds we planted in our garden last week are mostly sprouted -- we have tiny salad sprouts, tiny beets, tiny carrots, tiny peas and beans, and tiny morning glory sprouts. Still waiting on the cucumbers and zucchini, but there are squashy-looking sprouts coming from the compost pile, along with compost tomato sprouts.

2. Mr. Oats has some sort of lymph node swelling which may or may turn out to be lymphoma. He is having a meeting Thursday to schedule a biopsy. Cancer scares the crap out of me, I start thinking about raising our kids without him and it freaks me right out.

3. Gloomy weather is not helping.

1. Ran half marathon on Sunday and am still recovering. My ankles are sore as hell.

2. Spending too much time on the Aporkalypse Minecraft server playing that stupid blocky game. Annoyed that I can't log in as 'octothorpe' and have to use '8thorpes' as my username.

3. Really want to see this movie.

I drove a forklift for two summers in college. It was an ancient Toyota gas powered manual unit with a clutch, meaning that you had to work the steering, gas, break, clutch, shift and both lift levers all at once. It was really underpowered too so to raise the lift you had to gun the engine with the toes of your right foot while holding the brake with your right heal and the clutch with your left foot.

1. I made a comment at a presentation today about how slow our outdated IT system is (a point I've made many times over the years, along with many other people) but because I'm now in a senior role, within an hour our Ops Director had ordered the head of IT to give me a new computer. I'm embarrassed about this because I didn't make the point to get special treatment, but I'm not going to turn down a new PC. In reality, it's not going to make a massive difference, because it's the infrastructure that's overloaded, but it'll be better than the old thing I'm using now.

2. I've joined a running group at my gym, which is designed for really unfit people. The first session was tonight, and it was great fun, our trainer is a lovely guy and I wasn't the oldest or most unfit person there.

3. One of my 'guilty secret' TV shows is on tonight - Dating in the Dark. I am ashamed and embarrassed that I like this show so much.

1. Ran a half marathon on Sunday and I am STILL hungry and exhausted. Also, may have a stress fracture. Naughty body! But I'm super super proud of myself.

2. I'm getting shit done and it's awesome. Finished my grad school essays and sent them to my sister for review; got presents for upcoming celebrations; test drove a couple cars this weekend (I'm liking the Focus); may have worked out a complicated situation with a friend; made a bunch of food so I can stop eating so much delicious delicious cereal. So, this weekend I'm going to see old friends, buy a car, and have a visit from my brother and sister-in-law. YAY.

Still to do: buy new keyboardy thing for laptop.

3. Everything's starting to get busy again. My weekends are booked through June, and I'm traveling for business the last two weeks of July. And moving August 1. And starting grad school at the end of August. For once, having things planned is exciting, not overwhelming.

My dad let me drive the forklift at his warehouse when I was two. Of course, he operated the gearing (FWD/REV), but he let me steer. >=D

Using the same schema, I got my name in the High Scores for Pole Position the same year. Too bad we couldn't really afford go carts and whatnot when I was little. I'd probably be a champion racecar driver now!

1. I'm going to a doctor tonight. I've had the same cough since at least a week ago last Tuesday.
2. Planning my birthday party. I'm hoping to get the same karaoke room I rented last year!
3. The story up above counts as my #3.

1. Major stress symptoms this week for some reason: more freezing than usual if that's possible, itchy skin, not sleeping. I wonder if it's the beginning of perimenopause. Will ask my doctor when I see her in a couple of weeks.

2. Sometimes I can't tell if the symptoms are caused by aggravating life things, or if the symptoms are actually the reason for the life things being aggravating. (I.e., doing stressful freelance work perhaps isn't all that stressful if I weren't wrapped in four blankets in May.)

3. Going to annual Boston Handbell festival tonight. Haven't missed it in 24 years. Woo-hoo!

Have less than no interest in seeing Bridesmaids, but would love to drive a forklift.

1. Sat in a training session all day about how not to blow 501(c)(3) status for my employer and about whether or not to register as a lobbyist. Now trading tweets with my brother-in-law about which of our conversations trigger reporting requirements and who has the bigger paperwork burden.

2. Seeing Echo and the Bunnymen tonight and am so.very.thrilled. Even if Slack-a-go-go did not reassure me about not liking the opening act.

3. Sorry that I wasn't able to ride my bike to work yesterday (home sick) or today (scheduling issues).

All the forklift love, yay!

I just find large machinery like that fascinating and chances are I'll never have the opportunity to drive/use any of it. *sigh* My oldest brother works in a machine shop (he's head of facilities). It's one that does government contracts etc. so it's a big, big place. I finally got a tour a few years ago and I could have stayed for hours watching stuff happen.

PS to danf: Do the colonoscopy. The prep, as OR said, is the worst thing about it.

I can drive a forklift but have no license as I learned way back when such things were for sissies. I have driven a 10-tonne, unregistered forklift down a public road with a load on that was so unbalanced that it had to have three guys sitting on the back edge of it to stop it tipping off the forks, even with extensions. Ah, the good old days ;-)

1. The last couple of weeks have been marked by an absence of training, as I was on a course all week and my training partner was away the week before. We both paid the price on our 30 km training walk on Sunday - amazing how fast the fitness falls off if you don't keep the exercise up.
2. On the other hand, I raced in the 10k at the Corporate Games on Saturday and did a new PB - 46:22 for a course that was short by about 400m due to flood damage to the track, so i'm fcalling it a 48:00, which is 5 minutes better than my previous best.
3. Course last week was awesome in many ways but slightly dissapointing in one - it confirmed to me that the strategies I have put in place over the past couple of years are pretty much in line with contemporary regulatory practice, so there are no dramatic improvements to make. That's good, of course, but now I'm not sure that the $6k cost of the course was worthwhile.

Melismata, cold & itchy - ask yr doc to check thyroid. My doc put me on thyroid meds even though my tests were okay - helped a LOT.

1. Work continues to suck, though maybe just a tiny bit less. I need to care a lot less. Not sure I can do that.

2. The weather report = rain. it's been raining. rain every day. more rain after that. Note to self: grow gills. Note to hair: settle down, willya? It's just moisture.

3. I need a good book to read, so I'm going shopping. (goodwill has pretty good books) Been doing a little too much retail therapy, but cheaper than a therapist, so far.

1. Back from vacation (including running 100th Bay to Breakers, which was amazing and truly fun, on Sunday) and still catching up. Not quite unpacked either.

2. My new Ipad 2 came while I was gone. I think I'm in love. Apple sure puts out a slick product.

3. Work is tough right now. A lot to do and read. Trying to be relaxed about that.

1. Last night I saw My Heart is an Idiot and was knocked out by it! It's a documentary following Davy Rothbart (of Found magazine) through a romantic adventure, and it's really fantastic: affecting, intelligent, funny, and engrossing. It's playing Somerville, MA, tonight and hits two venues in NYC this week (and other dates are on the website). Both the director and Davy Rothbart will be at each screening for a Q&A. If you can get out to see it, I really encourage you to do so! [disclaimer: the director is a nodding acquaintance of mine and a friend of my husband's.]

2. Saw a matinee of "Thor" today, which was fun but not great. Oh, Kenneth Branagh, why did you make such a flabby, lazy film? I was surprised and impressed with Chris Hemworth, who played Thor. I've never seen him before, but he really sold the whole godlike hubris thing. (Also:I usually go to the movies about once a year, but have been twice in 20 hours. I am all popcorned up!)

3. I thought the house was vibrating a tiny bit, then I realized it was just me. I guess the concession "medium" Coke was a little much on top of my morning espresso and afternoon coffee. Oops.

1) Vacation! Yay! Going away with Mr. G to hang out in a small town cottage and eat seafood and window shop and sleep in and play with the dogs.

2) Saedy seems to be celebrating our May vacation the same way she did last year: by stopping eating just before we leave. Argh dog! Argh! At least this time she is coming with us, so I can go through the various stresses (waiting the three days until it's safe to give her the meds that stimulate appetite, hand feeding her as much as I can convince her to eat, cooking things like chicken to try to get her to eat) instead of my MIL.

3) Erm. Where did this tachycardia episode come from? I've been good, I swear!

1. Got my appetite back and gained ten pounds. I feel so much better, but I think school makes me depressed. 60% of grad students are depressed but I don't know if I can take 5-7 years of it. I got a lot to figure out, like what is really going on and if I can do anything about it.

2. My life is such a nuisance right now, and it's only going to get worse. I wonder if my ankle bracelet will get in the way of teaching. I'd like to think not but they may get all snotty about it, and why the hell not? I have no idea what is going to happen, but what a mess and what a wait til it gets sorted.

3. I got a lot of threes. Possible garden, the refound love of HBO, the rediscovery of pleasure, the appreciation of a Northwestern pinot noir, Camp Nanowrimo, a possible art contest, new projects, new easel, I could go on but it's just because a nice glass of wine has me in a minorly hopeful mood. Things are actually pretty bleak, but one soldiers on.

2. The weather report = rain. it's been raining. rain every day. more rain after that.

1. Weather report here (middle of England): no rain. For WEEKS if not MONTHS. It's very weird. Can we have some of yours please? Our gardens would thank you.

2. Workworkworkwork - large quantities and it's BORING and DIFFICULT. Not a good combination.

3. Takeaway for dinner tonight. It's not even 9am and I'm already excited about that.

1. a) Weather report update - it rained! For about half an hour!