Off kilter

For the start of this week I think my place of employment has turned into something sort of interesting.

Not all good, mind you. But interesting.

Yesterday morning, Monday, as I came up the elevator with a rather bland woman, a fellow co-worker in my dept, a 350 lb-ish IT guy, and a middle-aged business man sporting a chic briefcase, the lift started. Then dropped. My stomach turned. My co-worker gasped. The lift paused after a bit of another shake. She punched the button again when our floor (six) unlit itself. 11 and 14 still were lit.

I said, "Ooo, that didn't feel good."

350 lb man said "It's been doing this a lot lately." Ever so calmly.

Bland woman just stood there looking bored & put out.

The lift started again, dropped. "Oh geez," I said. Am I the only one freaking out??

The lift seemed to settle and stop completely. The floor light we all watched intently with worried gazed disappeared and went black. Black is a bad thing on an elevator.

"Great now it doesn't say anything?" I said as the rest of us figured we were stuck between floors.

"It did this to me last week," said IT guy. Business man shifted & gave a worried look to him. My co-worked simply asked, "Really?" But it startled her more than she led on. Where was a spare blood pressure pill when she needed one, she was silently asking herself.

Business man pushed the emergency call button. "Might as well," he said, "We're not going anywhere." But rather than sticking around with 4 other people, one very large, in a very tiny elevator that was quickly closing in, he, with his black (what other color would it be?) briefcase in one hand and brute strength in the other, pried the doors open with the tips of his thick fingers. The step looked small from where I stood in the back. We were slightly above the 7th floor. We should have been delivered to 6 if it weren't for the elevator's hiccups. Business man said, "It's quite a step." And, ever the gentleman, gave a hand to the 3 of us women as we hopped down to the floor. It was dark & looked like a basement. Unfinished, unused. It was like a secret floor they didn't even identify on the elevator button options. Floors 7-13 didn't exist until now.

Ah, revelation & a heart attack before 8 a.m.

Today, the event was one on which I missed out. Fortunately.

Guy from 2 cubes over asked me if I caught the commotion that was going on earlier today out the office window. No, I hadn't. Someone spotted a girl in nothing but her skivies prancing around her apartment with the curtains wide open for a while. Everyone apparently then ogled out the window to catch a glimpse of this topless maiden. Several got an eyeful I believe but poor guy from 2 cubes over was 30 seconds too late. Darn.

This is very funny, or ironic, however you want to see it. The only straight guy in our dept just misses it and yet the old biddies and all the gay men get to "enjoy" the show? Whatever is wrong with the world? Something must be off kilter this week.

But, jilted guy says he'll "trade" cubes with me. I've got a prime window seat should she ever do this again. Too bad I was too busy blog reading to notice.

Say what??

Just a couple rants:

Tell me now, honestly, is anybody really surprised by this??
He's not guilty

Here's another one for you to ponder, I don't even know where to begin there's so much wrong with this:
Their vows say what?

"The formal wedding of the Hollywood stars [affectionately known as TomKat] in Italy on Saturday is shaping up as not only the celebrity wedding of the year but as the most famous Scientology wedding since science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard founded the church in Los Angeles more than 50 years ago.

In the old-fashioned language that marks the Traditional version, the groom is reminded that 'girls' need 'clothes and food and tender happiness and frills, a pan, a comb, perhaps a cat' -- and is asked to provide them all.

The bride, in turn, is told that 'young men are free and may forget' their promises."

Besides the fact that I'm really concerned about the pan, this is a feminist's nightmare of a religion... but good thing for Kat that Tom is no longer a "young man" then, huh? Add this to the bowl of nuts category: "People do have a lot of questions but in a few years from now when a few more thousand people have attended Scientology wedding ceremonies, it won't be something people have heard about but have never seen," said Church of Scientology spokeswoman Karin Pouw.

Sure, I'll get right on that.

What I've learned....

In the last (almost) year of being a parent:
(well I could really count the length of the pregnancy too since that is really the start of being a parent--thinking for 2, making decisions for 2, eating healthily for 2, getting proper medical care for 2, etc. From the moment of the double pink lines you've got a new #1 in your life). But, just a few things for you non-parents out there.

1. Cupcakes are the new birthday cake. And the cakes they get to devour on their 1st b-day actually have an official name: "smash" cake.
2. Socks? Eh, who needs 'em. 30 degrees outside? Heaven's no! Why wear them when they taste better than they look?
3. Brushing only 8 tiny teeth--a lot harder than it sounds.
4. Sucking snot out of a sick baby's nose--not easy or fun. Nope. Not at all.
5. Letting baby watch in bathroom mirror while you suck snot out of his nose--completely fascinates him. He actually lets me do this gross job w/o a fuss if he gets to watch what's happening. Is this not odd to anyone else?
6. Sweet potato barf does not come out of carpet. And the apt is worried about the dog??
7. If you think you'll be inundated w/ unsolicited parenting advice when you're pregnant...just wait.
8. This is in no way parenting advice. I don't think I'm technically qualified as of this writing.
9. I've learned the words to every annoying children's song & like it, only because nothing's better than singing a stupid song & doing a silly dance & making my baby laugh hysterically.
10. He looks older and somehow wiser when he sleeps & then I realize he grew up during the day while I was at work. But he's peacefully asleep & I don't dare wake a sleeping baby, no matter how much I'm dying to get back those lost 8 hours of the day with him.

Unfortunately, I realize many of you may not find quite as much sentiment or humor in this now...but one day....one day, you'll be making a bottle & turn your back for 2 seconds, only to discover a mere fraction of a moment later that your 10 month old just found something really cool to play with--in the garbage can (you didn't even know his arms could reach that far!).... aaand he just put whatever it was in his mouth.... aaand, you stick your finger in his mouth to fish it out only to be bitten with quite an unexpected ferocity from such a little thing & you'll ask yourself if you have a child or an animal.... Then, only then, will you get this.

Not-so-scary Halloween Puppy

Get a load of this ferocious little ankle-biter! Be careful! He really does bite!








































(Photos courtesy of a co-worker, mine are still on my camera. Time, time, I wish I had more of it.)

The Good and the Bad

Okay, since nobody likes bad news I'll get that out of the way first.

I ordered invitations for Afton's birthday (which is in 1 month) and I checked USPS tracking & it says my package was delivered yesterday morning to my work address, but I never got it. So I went up & asked them if they ever got anything and they haven't. So now I'm worried that it's lost somewhere. I was hoping to get it by today to get them ready to go out this weekend.
:o( The mail room said it was probably mis-delivered, but somewhere in the building, just the wrong company. Ugh... They were really expensive invites & I only even ordered 8 of them so I can scan one & print the rest myself (oops, did I say that aloud?) & now I don't even know where they are!

And, the good news... I had a great annual review yesterday (even though I've only been here about 6 months) and got a fat raise to account for some new projects I took on in the last couple months, namely the dept newsletter & the dept's intranet site. I was told there will be a title change coming though I'm not sure if it's a "formal" promotion. It's great getting paid nicely for fun stuff and for the great work experience which nobody else would give me. This country is messed up in that dept btw, you spend a fortune in tuition b/c companies want you to have a degree & formal training. But then they won't hire you w/o actual work experience. But you can't get the work experience unless they hire you. Of course this is nothing new, but I just have to rant about it anyway. So, back on subject, I'm getting real work experience in some of the stuff I've been formally trained in (though it's not photography) so I'm really thankful I came back to a place that trusts me enough to give me a shot at something other than the mind-numbing repetition of pushing papers. The boss said she hopes to keep me challenged enough that I stick around for a long, long time, but said she also understands I'm a creative person & my true career path may end up taking me somewhere else. So, unless Hallmark comes calling, I've got enough incentive to stick around here for a little while & gain more of that useful "real world" experience that everyone seems to be looking for.

To celebrate, Chris got me creme brulee for my lunch dessert today! Creme brulee! Creme brulee! Yes, yes, I say! Creme brulee!

New Existence

So, I'm very excited that I've finally gotten a new url for my photo site. It's still under construction but hopefully it won't be long. I'm working on my mom's website first & then I'll have time to do my own. But, for future reference it's www.StudioPphoto.com.

My mom & I will be sharing hosting that allows enough space for both of our own sites. And since I'm doing hers anyway, it made great sense to split the costs. I don't know why I didn't think of doing that sooner.

Check out IXwebhosting.com if you're ever interested in a great hosting plan. I used them in the past for my "old existence" and never came close to using all the space & features it had...even with all my photos on there...& you all know how many pics I had on there! It only took us a couple weeks to decide to get their cheapest plan (3.95/mo) that allows 2 different domains & has 100GB of storage. I think last time I used 8% of my max storage & at that time it was something like 100MB. :o)