Friday, November 30, 2007

30? Already?

Wow... I didn't think I'd make 30 days, but I did. Of course, it's posts like this that make it easier. Although to be honest, I really only did have two or three filler posts.

I am pretty proud of myself, though, and I hope that if anyone has been popping in regularly, you continue. At least, until I stop posting. I won't promise to post every day. But I promise to try to post regularly. Fair enough?

Thursday, November 29, 2007

@!$#%!#Y!@$^%, the aftermath

I ended up going to the emergency room last night, and boy, wasn't that a little slice of heaven. There were three major auto accidents that had come in just ahead of us, so they told me the wait would be two to three hours. I sent Susie and the kids home, as there was no reason for them to be kept up all night.
Have you ever had a lash in your eye that you couldn't get out immediately? You know how your eye squeezes shut so tightly, like a bear trap, that it makes the other eye want to stay shut? Imagine a dozen eyelashes. And wait three hours. The pain wasn't just in my eye, either. The squeezing of the eyelids caused a massive tension headache (or maybe a migraine, I don't know). All the tears from the eye watering ran down into my sinuses, causing massive post-nasal drip and a runny nose.

And then there was Charlie.

Charlie was a little boy, 6 years old. He was in his pajamas, and he was there with his mom and his nana. He was there when we arrived, I think, and was still waiting to be seen when I left. Don't worry about him, though. I think he had a raisin in his ear or something, from what I heard.

Charlie never stopped talking the entire time I was there. No, wait. That's not true. Sometimes he stopped talking long enough to make airplane noises. Or car noises. Now, I'll give him credit for this much: he didn't scream. He didn't cry. He wasn't ill-behaved. But he was ... verbal. And, being 6, he had no concept of a "hospital voice," or even, it seemed, an "inside voice."

So for three hours I got to hear all the details of Charlie's world. "Mummy, look, I'm bein' a aeroplane! Eeeeeerrroooowww!! Look at this, mummy, the door to the house is smaller than me! And I can open it! Why are we still sitting here? I need to go toilet... I need to POOP! Hehe.. I need to poop! Where are we going? The toilet? But I don't need to go! Yes I do! NO I don't! What's in there? Why can't we go in there? Is the doctor coming out? Where is he? Remember when I was bein' a aeroplane?"

And so on. In his best 6-year old "mummy and nana are talking to one another so I'd better speak very LOUDLY so I'm sure they hear me" voice. Not yelling, exactly. Just loud.

To be fair, his mom and grandma didn't ignore him. They did talk to him, and answer his questions, so he never got strident or angry. But he just needed to have the attention. It made for a truly magical evening.

Oh, and my eye? Scratched up pretty good. One big scratch, two small scratches, and a "road-rash" scrape right across the middle. But I went to my own opthalmologist this afternoon, and he said that as bad as it sounds (and felt!), the eye heals quickly, and I should be back up to 100% by Sunday. Monday at the latest. So I got that goin' for me. Which is nice.

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

@!$#%!#Y!@$^%

I just came from McDonalds. As I was buckling Lily into her car seat, the seat belt slipped out of my hand, and it snapped up... right into my eye. I don't mean like getting hit with a punch, I mean the webbing of the belt went right across my eyeball. I am pretty sure I have scratched my cornea. The one that's only recently healed from PRK. In fact, I'm scheduled for my 6-month followup on Tuesday. I'm typing now with one eye open and the other squinched shut and streaming tears. And this happened 30 minutes ago.

Crap. Damn. and OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

The final stretch, indeed

As you NaBloPoMo folks know, we're down to the last few days. I must say, it has been both harder and easier than I imagined. Some days, it just seemed like there was nothing to say, nothing that anyone would want to read about, anyway, and yet I had to go and post about it anyway...and I ended up with a surprisingly cogent post. Some days there was so much going on that I thought I would never be able to write about all of it... and I wasn't.

Ain't blogging weird? There's such a stream-of-consciousness quality to it. Even now, I sat down with absolutely no idea of what I was going to write about. As I waited for Blogger to load up, I checked my email, and noticed the "final stretch" email from Eden at NaBloPoMo. That gave me my title and the first two sentences, but from there, this post just got away from me.

I hope I can keep up the posting. I know it will be hard, especially when I end up going away for months at a time, but there are ways... Ah, seeee, here's the stream-of-consciousness thing striking: I was going to mention how hard it is to think of topics every day, and I was reminded of a topic I wanted to get into based on a news story I've been hearing. Maybe I'll post it tomorrow, but for a preview, it involves a teacher and a teddy bear. And my opinion about how it reflects the state of things in the world and in my country. Which I probably shouldn't write about, for fear of alienating you, Gentle Reader (that's singular, I know). But maybe... just maybe, I'll get all in your face with controversy.

Because that's part of the point.

Monday, November 26, 2007

It's not FAIR!

I had some pretty exciting news to post here... but before I blog, I like to read Susie's daily post to see what she's written.

She stole my title. Harumph. :)

But, yeah, my assignment here got extended for an additional three years, which means we'll be here until the fall of 2011. That's what we were hoping for, and we're really happy about it. It puts David well into "Year 9" of the British schools, which is about the same as 8th grade in the US. That's a very good time for him to make a transition to the US educational system, as he'll have a good foundation to bring with him. It also puts Lily into Year 4, which is a very solid start and should give her a little advantage going into 4th grade.

Yay!

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Eating the raw earthworm

I was hoping it wouldn't come to this, but I don't know if I'm going to get a "real" post in this evening (too beat), so I'm posting this. Because "every day" means "EVERY day." I'll TRY to come back in a bit and post something pithy. No promises.

Saturday, November 24, 2007

There's a reason that movie takes place in the mall

We went to IKEA today, which was nice. IKEA is always a destination for us, not just a place to shop. Read Susie's blog for some insight there. Had a lovely lunch, the kids played in their play area, and we communed with the oddly-named flatpack furniture.

Then we went to the mall next door, Lakeside. Yesterday I said this mall wasn't a "big" one, and as American malls go, it's on par with some of the larger malls I've been to. Crossgates Mall in the Albany, NY, area is the one I think compares most closely. But malls are not what they do here in the UK. They do "the high street," which is what all the local merchants in the US are decrying the decline of. But when they DO get a mall here, they flock to it. Now, I'll grant that it's a month until Christmas, and that probably brought the numbers up, but the masses of humanity seething through this mall were enough to overwhelm the senses. They don't do Thanksgiving here, so it wasn't "Black Friday" shopping. I don't know what it was, but it was ... crowded. Let's just leave it at that.

On the other hand, for dinner, we went to a Japanese noodle place called Wagamama, which Susie was lukewarm toward as we went in but which turned out to be the calm oasis in our evening. In fact, it was calming enough that we decided to pop over to Borders (yes, Borders! In England! Woohoo!) for a bit.

Not so much. Borders closes at 8 on Saturdays. Huh?

Friday, November 23, 2007

Worlds apart

How different the US and the UK are, despite being so similar. I mean, in the US, if you want to go to the mall, you hop in the car and pop on over. Here in the UK it's a weekend outing. There aren't malls every 4 miles here. There are probably a dozen really big ones in the whole country, and maybe 20 small ones. And by "really big" I mean "would pass as a half-way decent mall in the states." And by "small" I mean "in the states these malls would probably be struggling for business."

Anyway, we're going away for the weekend. To the mall. And for a pilgrimage to IKEA. We're bringing a computer, so we SHOULD be able to blog.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm thankful for...

...the two greatest kids any dad ever had.
...the greatest wife any man ever had.
...not having had to go away for over a year.
...a wonderful home, in a wonderful village.
...a Thanksgiving dinner that didn't take all day to cook (or clean up after).

What are you thankful for?

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

The darnedest things

Because David and Susie both had appointments this morning, and I had the day off, it fell to me to get Lily up and dressed and off to school. As we were driving there, she asked me, "Can Jack come round?"

"I'm sure he can. We'll ask Mommy and she can talk to Jack's mommy and see when he can come."

"Because Jack really wants himself to come round," Lily explained.

"Ah. And do you want Jack to come to our house?" I asked.

"Well, I just want Jack to be happy," was her ever-so-considerate answer.

As I marveled at my 4-year-old daughter's thoughtfulness, she then asked me, "What makes time run?"

"I don't know, sweetie. It just does," I answered.

"Maybe God's hands make time run."

"Maybe so, honey, maybe so."

She thought about this for a second, and then said, "Time runs, but we walk."

There's a profundity in there. I have the best kids.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Now THAT's a nice day

Susie and I had a super day today. We wandered the high street in Kings Lynn, poked into the shops we wanted to, split up for a minute without worrying who would have to take the kids, and generally had a nice meander through town. Then we had lunch. Two words: Oh. My. God.

We went to a restaurant called Maggie's. The restaurant was formerly known as Rococo, but the name was changed by Gordon Ramsay after his "Kitchen Nightmares" visit last year. The chef and owner, Nick Anderson, who won a Michelin star in 2001, was doubling as the maitre d' this afternoon, which was nice. We chatted with him, and he said that Gordon isn't as mean in person as he is on the show... but that he talks exactly the same. So on his shows, when he says, "F*** me, are you doing that?" he adds the meanness, but in real life, he's liable to say the exact same thing and not realize he's hurting your feelings.

Susie's probably going to blog the food, so I'll leave that to her, but the restaurant was really nice, and it was so wonderful to have a fancy lunch with my sweetie.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Better than a jet pack... for now, anyway

Reflecting on yesterday's post while driving to work this morning on too little sleep, it occurred to me that I have a little leave time built up. So I put in for the next two days off... which gets me a whole week, since there's a 4 day weekend.
It's really nice to know that I can sleep late, spend some time with Susie, maybe have a nice lunch, and not have to do anything at all related to work for the next 6 days.

2 days of leave + 1 holiday + 1 free day off + 1 weekend = a month off, mentally.

Sometimes the whole IS greater than the sum of its parts. (Have I been watching too much NUMB3RS?)

Sunday, November 18, 2007

The eternal lament

Why are weekends only two days long? What happened to the "in the future, we'll only need to work a few hours a week" that we were promised, along with our jetpacks and flying cars?

At least Thanksgiving is this week, and we've already been told that we'll be getting Friday off. So, a three day week, and a four day weekend. I guess that's close.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

It's his party

David's decided on the theme for his birthday party this year. He wants a "Harry Potter" party. We've done themed parties for our kids every time they've had them, and they've been very successful, thanks in no small part to the organizing skills and idea magic of my dearest Susie. I don't expect this to be the exception. She's already been collecting interestingly-shaped bottles for "potions class," and we're in negotiations for a Hogwarts-shaped cake.

The real challenge is the guest list. We need to pare it down to about 6. We had about a million kids (maybe only 9) for his last party (a Doctor Who theme... no, wait! Come back!) and although it was a HUGE success, it was just a bit much for us. And that was for his 7th birthday; this is his 9th. The kids are just going to be that much bigger and rowdier, so we're going to have to reduce the numbers to keep the sanity. David seems pretty amenable to the reduced numbers, but the real concern is the ones who don't get invited. David's school is so small that no matter how few or how many we invite, someone's feelings are going to be hurt. This is going to take some thought.

Friday, November 16, 2007

Who are you?

One of the blogs I've started reading, thanks to NaBloPoMo, is called Are we there yet? Today, she posted a link to one of those "What accent do you have" quizzes. I was intrigued, because her result said "Neutral," which is what I thought I had. I know, everyone thinks they have no accent, but I mean I thought I had trained myself out of any regional accent, into a sort of broadcast-standard English. So, expecting the "neutral" response, I took the quiz. The result was this:

What American accent do you have? (Best version so far)

Northern

You have a Northern accent. That could either be the Chicago/Detroit/Cleveland/Buffalo accent (easily recognizable) or the Western New England accent that news networks go for.

Personality Test Results

Click Here to Take This Quiz
Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.


OK, well, I grew up in upstate New York, so it pegs me pretty correctly, which I found disappointing. I know that I don't have the "Chicago/Detroit/Cleveland/Buffalo accent," because my sister really does, and I think most people would agree that I don't sound like her. But then it goes on to say "or the ... accent that news networks go for." So I guess I have that. But I guess I'll have to work harder on getting the accent out.

In other news, here in England today is "Children in Need Day." Much like in the States, where the Labor Day weekend is associated with the Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon, the BBC sponsors a week of charity auctions and fundrasing events, culminating in "Children in Need Day." The mascot, Pudsey Bear, is recognized all over the country. and people dress as Pudsey and collect on the street. They hold bake sales. They pay their bosses £1 or so to dress in "fancy dress" (or what we Americans call "costumes") or to wear jeans to work. As I write this, they've raised nearly £2.25 million, and they still haven't gotten to the main event. That event is an evening of television programs, variety shows, skits, and the like, much like a telethon. But what makes tonight's version special, as far as I'm concerned, is the special mini-episode of Doctor Who, called "Time Crash." In it, the Doctor will encounter... the Doctor. A special guest appearance by Peter Davison, the fifth Doctor.

Now, I admit I wasn't a Doctor Who fan until this most recent sort of "next generationy" version, but I always wanted to be. I had friends who were, but it was shown on PBS, and since the episodes were all of odd lengths (74 minutes, and like that) with no commercials, I invariably tuned in, by chance, about 2/3 of the way through. It's tough to get into a show when you never get to see it. Still, I'm a big enough geek that I knew about the show, and had enough details to look forward to the new version with Christopher Eccleston when that started. Anyway, I share that only to say that I have never seen a Peter Davison episode of Doctor Who. It's just the inherent geekiness of the event that has me stoked.

Wait... come back. I'm not always this geeky.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Just go with the flow

I sat down just now to blog for the day, and I couldn't think of a thing to write. And then, all of a sudden, a poem popped into my head. It's not related to anything, not really seasonally appropriate anymore, and now it won't go away. You know how sometimes you get a song stuck in your head, a songvirus, and the only way to get rid of it is to sing it to someone else and infect them? Yeah, well... here you are. I won't even have to do the whole thing.

Once upon a midnight dreary....


Enjoy.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Nothing but the best

When we found out for sure that we were coming to England, Susie spent a bunch of time online, looking for places to live. Through a chance email to an estate agent (that's what the Brits call a realtor) she found this great house that's about 35 miles from work. Now, back in the states, that's not so bad, but here that's about an hour drive, each way, every day. Fortunately, the house is well worth the extra drive. It's an 18th century Georgian farmhouse, older than my country, but recently remodeled (as you can see if you clicked that link above; those pics are of the work in progress). It has a plethora of bathrooms: three upstairs, one downstairs, and one in what we call "The laundry house." Two of the upstairs bathrooms are shared, each by two of the four bedrooms. The third upstairs bathroom is in the hallway at the top of the stairs, and so infrequently used that I often forget it's there. Earlier today, I had occasion to use that bathroom, and was reminded again of oneof the quirky things I love about this house (click on the picture to see the writing):



That's right. It's a Royal Doulton toilet. How posh is that? (If you don't know Royal Doulton, here is the link to their wikipedia entry. By the way, they're now owned by Waterford Wedgwood)

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Uninspired

Yep, one of those days. A mostly boring day at work, with a little work done. Susie's off with some friends, the kids are asleep, and the telly is letting me down.

But speaking of TV, how's this for illogical: The program I'm watching doesn't have closed captions. (I often watch with captions so I don't have to turn the TV up as loud, since the TV room is right under David's.) But instead of just not seeing anything, this channel broadcasts its own caption. It just says, "We apologise there are no subtitles for this programme." And that stays on the screen the whole time. Kind of like those manual pages that say "This page intentionally left blank."

Uh, not anymore, hm?

Monday, November 12, 2007

The NUMB3RS Drinking Game

Here it is, folks, from my own fevered imagination, the NUMB3RS drinking game. Most of these I'm making up as I go along, but a couple I remember seeing when I glanced at the one at Television Without Pity. I may edit this post as time goes on, to add or subtract entries.

Here we go:

The Official Wit Farm NUMB3RS Drinking Game
Definitions:
sip: take a taste of your drink
drink: take at least one full mouthful of your drink
chug: finish your drink

Sip if:
Charlie uses the word "algorithm"
Larry uses the word "cosmological"
Alan uses the phrase "my city planning days"
Cody uses the word "Afghanistan"
Megan uses the phrase "it's a classic {anything} profile"
Don is in riot gear AND chewing gum
Charlie and Don play basketball
Charlie gets an inspiration (with CharlieVision) from something someone says

Drink if:
The team, in riot gear, break down a door, but:
a) the place is empty, or
b) everyone inside is dead
Don is in riot gear and NOT chewing gum
Don is NOT in riot gear, and IS chewing gum
Charlie gets an inspiration (with CharlieVision) from something he sees
Charlie and Amita ALMOST kiss
Megan kisses Larry (she initiates it)
Don kisses anyone
Anyone mentions "the caterer"
Charlie hangs a new blackboard
Ian Edgerton (sniper) is in the episode
Gary Walker (LAPD gang cop) is in the episode
Larry fondles some sort of toy
Don calls Charlie "Chuck"

Chug if:
Charlie and Amita kiss
Larry kisses Megan (he initiates it)
Larry's car is seen moving onscreen
Larry eats anything not white
Any reference is made to any of the actors' previous jobs

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Na-do-so-new-mo

If you're reading this, you probably know that it's National Blog Posting Month, or NaBloPoMo for short (by the way, what nation? Just asking.) You might also know it's National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. I guess November is a good month for these things, because it's also National Knit a Sweater Month.

In keeping with this, I hereby declare that November is National Do Something New Month, or NaDoSoNewMo.

Choose something you've never done before (even if it's "participate in NaBloPoMo", or "comment on someone's blog"), post it here, and let us know how it goes. (By the way, if you choose the "comments on someone's blog" option, and post about it here, you're already done! Hooray!)

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Title

{insert blog text here}

Ok, no, really, that's not it, but would it qualify? It does meet the letter of the NaBloPoMo rules, but not the spirit, I think. In fact, this meta-posting sort of skirts the intent as well, but I'm going to call it good. The family and I are going out and won't be back until tomorrow. I have a work-related social function to go to, to which family are not invited, but we're all going to go, take a room, and call it a mini-vacation. Susie and the kids will stay in the room while I get to have fun. I owe her, big time, but she's going to get her payback on Monday. That's a day I have off from work, but she's taking off with her new friend for a girls' day out. That means *I* get to take the kids for some doctor appointments. Right now, though, we're bathing the kids and packing up, which means this post must be short. So, I'm done. See ya!

Friday, November 9, 2007

Would you like to play a game?

My post the other day about the show NUMB3RS got me thinking. Thinking about drinking games, actually, and I thought I might create one for that show. But it seems like someone has beaten me to it, sort of. The folks over at Television Without Pity (which I recommend you visit anyway, if you watch any television at all) have a thread in their forums that's a prototype NUMB3RS drinking game. All of the rules are submitted as posts. Maybe I'll be a little plagiarist later and steal some of their rules, but until I do, go have a look at theirs.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Only connect

Susie's found herself a new friend, which is a good -- no, GREAT -- thing. She's always been really good at making friends, wherever we've been, but because we live in such small village, rather far from where I work, it's been tough. She keeps in touch with a lot of her friends from other places we've lived, and that's good, but it's not the same. It's nice to have "brick and mortar" friends, where you can pop in for a visit and have a cup of coffee and a real-time, face-to-face gripe session about whatever's on your mind.

And please forgive me for the title of the post... I really don't care for Forster at all. In fact, I once sort of ticked off my academic advisor at college when, in response to his asking, "What are you looking forward to in my pre-20th Century Brit Lit class?" I said "Not having to read any more E. M. Forster." You see, Forster was the subject of his doctoral dissertation, and strongly featured in his writing seminar which I had taken the year before. Well, I wasn't going to lie to the man... and THAT little story has absolutely nothing to do with anything.

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Signature moments

Susie and I have gotten into the show "NUMB3RS" recently. I'll admit, I'm a bit surprised at how much she likes it, since when it first came out she told me how much she really doesn't like Judd Hirsch. But we saw an episode about two weeks ago, and we enjoyed it enough that we bought the Season One DVD set. When we finished it, Susie said, "So, are you going to get Seasons Two and Three then?" We've been watching an episode or two every evening, and we now have two episodes left in Season Two.

We have noticed that watching so much of a series in such a back-to-back way tends to really highlight some of the subtle things that TV producers will do to sort of "unify" their shows. It's the kind of thing that leads to drinking games, or YouTube videos like the ones I pointed out a while back. Some of these things are specifically mentioned in the "special features" on the DVD, like what they call "Charlie-vision," but most of them are not. For instance, many people in the FBI offices wear lavender clothing, and the walls of the offices are lavender. The show is also big on exposition. I've noticed this in a lot of shows lately, but especially in this one.

Don: "It looks like they were victims of phishing."
Megan: "Right, where someone sends a fake email pretending to be the bank asking for account details."

See that? Don didn't ASK for an explanation; he seemed to know what it was just fine. And yet Megan felt it necessary not only to acknowledge that she knew it as well, but to explain it to Don, I guess so he knew she knew, but also to educate Great-Aunt Mabel watching at home, who might not even be sure she knows what a bank is. NUMB3RS does that a lot.

But the one that gets me is the one I've decided to call Don's Gun Gum. Watch the show. Any scene where Don is "going tactical," he's chewing gum. Especially if he's wearing his bullet-proof vest. No, if he draws his gun in response to an event, he might not have his gum, but if he has time to think about what he's doing -- busting into a room, making an arrest of a guy in a car -- he's chewin' away like there's no tomorrow. So, if Don chews gum, take a drink. If a character explains something for no good reason, drink. Any others?

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

This wasn't in the manual

It's pretty tiring playing hide-and-seek all day, I tell you what. To the guy who led me into the swamp: thanks. Those boots are ruined now. And we got caught, so yeah, as a strategy... not so much. But the worst part of the day is right now, after I've gotten home. Now I have to wash this off of my face:



I'm a guy. What do I know about taking off make-up? Here's what I know: I've already spent 10 minutes with the soap and washcloth, and Susie's going to have to wash the pillowcases tomorrow.

Monday, November 5, 2007

Olly olly olsen free!

One of the fun things about my job is that sometimes we get to go out and do stuff. A few weeks ago I got to go to a merchant marine academy and spend the day in their "ocean simulator." It's a giant pool, about 30 feet deep, that can simulate storms by creating 10-foot swells, rainfall, wind, and darkness. We learn how not to drown, if we're ever in a potential drowning situation.

Tomorrow I get to go out into the woods and play hide-and-seek. Of course, it's the first week of November and likely to be rather cold, but I get to spend the day running through the forest (more like slinking through the forest) while a gang of highly-trained assassins (hehe) tries to catch me.
-----
What did YOU shout, as a kid, when you were sick of "seeking" and wanted all of the hiders to come in? It's not like it's written in a book somewhere; you just pick it up from the other kids. You know that game, where you whisper to a friend, who passes it on, and so on, until the message is completely changed? That's what happened to our hide-and-seek call over the generations. I mean, it's patently nonsense, but to me it means "stop hiding, you win, come on in." It obviously had some meaning once. "All ye, all ye out's in free?" Maybe. Weird. And I call myself a linguist. Pfeh.

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Just in case

I want to post something more pithy than this today, but I can't quite put my finger on what it is I want to say. I'm thinking it over, though, and I do plan to come back and write it out for all the world (ok, you three who've found me) to read. In the meanwhile, I've added the NaBloPoMo badge over there, and I think that qualifies as a post, if you combine it with this. Right?

Saturday, November 3, 2007

Where you least expect

I posted a comment this morning on one of the blogs I read regularly. It wasn't anything particularly pithy or witty; in fact, it was pretty mundane. In it, I mentioned (without specifics) who I work for, sort of. It's not that it's a secret, but I really believe in the axiom of never posting what you wouldn't want your boss (or co-worker, or parents) to read. I also work for the kind of employers who tend to think that whatever you do, at work or away, you represent them. So I'm very careful about talking about work, or anything that might be related to work.

Anyway, I was less vague than usual over there, and I identified in a sort of nebulous way who I work for. When I went back to that blog later, I saw a comment addressed to me by name, expressing good wishes for my safety. Now, the job I do is considered by many to be one of those that carries a higher than usual degree of risk. While I admit the validity of that point of view, and in fact, I admire and respect my colleagues who do those very risky jobs, I am not, myself, in an especially dangerous situation, and I sometimes feel a little uncomfortable when someone shows me some special respect or consideration. It's a sort of reflected glory that belongs to those colleagues, not to me, but it would be churlish of me to point that out. So I accept, on behalf of them, the respect shown me, and the concern. If you know who I work for, you know they deserve it.

Friday, November 2, 2007

Sherman, set the WayBack Machine for...

Oh, my. I can't say anything. Just go have a look. I lived through this. Pity me.

Share and share alike

I've decided, for NaBloPoMo, that every day in addition to posting on my own blog here, I'm going to read at least one random blog from the NaBloPoMo site, and comment on at least one of them. If someone comes here from NaBloPoMo and comments, I'll read their blog in return, and try to comment. So, I'm off to read the blog of "not fainthearted," who commented on my post yesterday. And then I'm going to hit a random blog or two.

If you're here from NaBloPoMo, do me a favor: read some of the back posts, and post a comment. I don't care if you comment on something old or something recent. Just let me know you've been here and read something. And, as I said, I'll return the favor.

Roller Coaster

I've been expecting to go on this extended trip for work for a while now. We were expecting to leave next week. It's something that's important to me professionally, as it gives me opportunities to learn things I just can't do while I'm at home. I've been looking forward to it, both because it's to a really cool place, and because, frankly, I've felt a bit left out. Others have been to this place, but I haven't had the good fortune to be both at home and available when the trips came up. This time was for me.

Then last week something happened. Upper levels of management (and boy, is THAT an understatement) decided that we should go somewhere else. Oh, and by the way, the job you do? We don't need it so much over there, so you and your trainer (and a couple of other folks) will be taken off of the list, and replaced by a few others.

Sigh. OK, these things happen. But then they changed their mind, and said I WOULD go. Sadly, that lasted only a day or so, as they quickly changed back and decided that my trainer and I would best be served by staying home. But just in case we DON'T go to the other place, plan to go to the first place. It got as far as signing out of the office in preparation to leave, before they finally said no, we're definitely not going to the first place, and you're and those other 4 guys are staying home so we can take these 3 guys.

Yesterday I was out doing some other training. When I came home I checked my work email, and found that while I was out, they changed the list again. Everyone who was originally supposed to go on the trip to the first place is now back on the list, and the extra people are off. The list is back to where it was at the very beginning, but the trip is going to the second place. Oh, there's one exception. *I* am not on the list. My trainer is. And since I was out of the office all day, I don't know why not.

Now I need to go to work today and find out what's going on, and figure out how personally I need to take this. I sincerely hope that I don't have to take it personally at all, but I can't help feeling a little ... betrayed. Maybe that's not the best word, but it's the one that comes to mind first. We'll just have to wait and see.

Thursday, November 1, 2007

A true challenge

So... NaBloPoMo. National Blog Posting Month. One day, one post. A pledge to post at least once a day for a month. It doesn't have to be long, it doesn't have to be pretty. But it does have to be a post.

I'm going to give it a go. And this is number one. Thanks for coming by. :)