Joining the rest of you...finally

I'm going to attempt to upgrade to broadband over the next week or so. Because of this potentially messed up plan, I won't be able to access the internet for awhile. Therefore, no blogging. Granted, I've been a bit lax of late so it probably won't seem all that different from the norm. I'll save my "best of" lists for my return.

Happy New Year!!!

Go see Juno--very, very good and very, very funny.

Bliss

COOLEST

THING

EVER!!!

Please also enjoy my 70's era living room carpet.

Guess who got a digital camera for Christmas....

ouch

Just for reference, I stand on the other side of the wall of boxes. My computer is just under the clock that you can see on the left hand side near the top of the photo. Also, towards the bottom right hand side, just over the gray table add about 40 more boxes and directly opposite that on the other side of the door that you can't see add 40 more boxes and that's what we got in on Tues. If you look up at the top of the picture, over the boxes, you can just make out our inflatable green alien named Dave. He has spinal issues.

grrr...f*ck work...grrr...crowds suck...grrr...

Hey gang. Just a quick entry tonight. After being bogged down with boxes for about 3 weeks now, management have decided to suddenly give a shit. One manager came back to say they had called a few people to see if they want to pick up extra hours by working in back. I have no idea if any of these people know what they are doing...my vote is maybe one or two. One of those called currently can't lift anything over 5 lbs. which makes them better for shelving than receiving, which I pointed out.

The uber came back around 3:35 and asked when I was done for the day. I told him 4pm. I would've stayed later, but I had a chiropractor's appointment that I'd already rescheduled once before so I needed to get home ASAP. He says something about taking the last 25 minutes of my shift to explain to someone how to sort because, "Everything's been scanned right? All that's left is to sort..."

Now, to most of you the horror of this statement will be lost. To anyone who works at the store, you know just how idiotic and freakishly wrong his sentences are. After I regained consciousness, I reminded him that the only boxes we scan and don't open are bargain promo and gift. The other boxes get received as we pull them down and plop them on the work table to then sort the books. If you receive a box and just let it sit there, the computer (correctly) states we have the book in our inventory, but no one will be able to find it.

Trust me when I say I was floored, disappointed and immediately angered by his stupidity. I asked for help from an employee I know has been trained. I asked the uber, in fact, about 2 weeks ago. His response was to pretty much mumble and do nothing. If I had gotten some help then we would have probably been closer to being caught up. As it is, the computer currently has us listed as getting a double tomorrow of 346 boxes at over 6700 lbs.

I realize that there are much bigger issues in this world than where I'm going to cram these boxes and when they will get done. I know that people are suffering much worse fates in this world than myself. Doesn't mean I don't get pissed off and need to vent though. Thank you for your time.

Quick last bit: Went and saw I Am Legend. I really enjoyed it, but it is depressing as hell so be mindful of what sort of mood you are in before checking it out. Really enjoyed the Dark Knight trailer before it and probably would have liked the Cloverfield trailer except only the sound was working at that point...sounded good though.

I will try and post during the next couple of weeks, but between probably pulling extra hours at work, STILL needing to finish up Christmas shopping, going to a memorial service on Friday and trying to get together to celebrate X-mas with visiting friends, I'm not going to promise anything. Try and feel the love for me and say a couple of prayers for my sanity.

I Want A Daemon!!!...and an Ice Bear

Went and saw The Golden Compass last night. I just started reading the book, but I am only 9 pages in so I pretty much had nothing to go on when I went in. Upon arrival, Jackie and I were approached by a goth-y dude who gave us props for not caving in to the Catholic Church's protests over the film. I almost told him that I didn't really listen to the Pope since I'm not Catholic...and he's way creepy looking to boot.

I enjoyed the film, even though I thought it started out rather slow. I know they needed to set up a lot and explain a lot for those of us that haven't read the book, but I'm not 12 so I think they could have picked up the pace a bit. The film looks really good and the young girl who plays the lead does a solid job. I thought Daniel Craig was sadly underused. I'm not sure why he is in so much of the promo material as he is barely in the movie. Hopefully he'll have a bigger part in the film of the second book (assuming it gets made).

I loved the idea of having a daemon--it's your soul that has it's own form that walks with you outside your body. Lyra's daemon was voiced by that cute kid from Finding Neverland. Freddy High something. I want to say Highmore, but it could be Hightower and I'm too lazy to check. I was somewhat surprised that I was more concerned about him and the Ice Bear than any of the human characters. There were several tense moments for me in regards to the Bear that helps Lyra.

This movie lays the ground work for the other two books/films and does a good job of being entertaining in its own right. It might be a bit intense for kids under the age of 12 though. The fighting with the Ice Bears is pretty harsh and the way that you can harm a daemon and the person it belongs to will suffer the same pain is rather oogy as well. It could be unsettling to small kids.

As a bonus, we got to see the trailer for the next Chronicle of Narnia flick and it looks freakin' amazing. I'm hoping to get to I Am Legend this weekend...in addition to finishing up my Christmas shopping. I have never been this far behind before. Eeek!!

As an FYI, the quote at the top of the page is from the Bob and Tom show. I heard it a couple of weeks ago and it just stuck with me.

Snow Day Please...

As much as I sort of hate to say it, I really, really, really want a snow/ice day tomorrow. I just want to stay curled up under a blanket catching up on episodes of Stargate Atlantis. That, or watch my Shakespeare Retold dvd that I recently picked up. It's been a long few weeks and I don't relish the idea of possibly driving to my demise just to make sure someone can get their copy of Eat, Pray, Love that they ordered last week.


One downside to not working tomorrow will be I will have to wait an extra day to pick up the following:

The Bourne Ultimatum
Harry Potter 5
Lost Season 3

If you want to check out a new blogger, go visit Laura's land o' fun at www.6000whistles.blogspot.com. Be sure and comment to keep her at it.

We had a "We Listen" session last week at work. I sort of knew it was coming. How did you know you may very well ask? Go ahead, ask. I'll wait.

I knew about the repeated attempts to get an email/letter to the We Listen people. Our regional Human Resources person came down for a day of chatting. Sadly, due to having just way too much stuff to go through in back, I couldn't spare the 30 min. to go talk to her. I figured chatting while I ate my lunch probably wouldn't work. It's going to be awhile before anything, if anything, happens. I hope it isn't one of those "be careful what you wish for" situations. But, if it's like any of our other We Listen moments, it will be just that.

I need to pick a new ISP. I'd like to go faster than my current dial up speed, but I like not having to pay crap loads of cash for the service. I already pay an insane amount for my digital cable and I can't justify paying insane amounts just so I can quickly download music. Any suggestions? I'm looking at AT&T 'cuz they have a cheap package and Earthlink. If you'd had experience with either let me know as I can use some advice and I need to make up my mind soon since my service ends at the end of the month. I'd really like to move on from these people. I haven't been able to access my ISP email account in about 3 years even with repeated service emails being sent by myself. Help.

Be careful out there.

I WANT MY MASTERPIECE THEATER!

Quick note tonight, my local PBS station is on the verge of being no more. Check out this link for the story. http://pjstar.com/stories/120607/REG_BF4IOQQ9.009.php

PBS is the one non-cable source people have for good children's programming, in depth news programming (Frontline, BBC World News), and really good dramas and comedies (Masterpiece Theater, Mystery, etc.). Now I know sometimes the programming can be sleep inducing and very retro, but I think this is a forum that needs to survive. If you live in my area and you think you can donate something, please help out. I'm a member and have been for several years. Thanks.

Drowning, Not Waving

I've signed up for a trip to Scotland this coming June. Yeah! That's a definite plus. The potential down side you may ask? As I discovered at the info meeting, most of the other folks taking this trip are old enough to be my parents...or older. The only folks near my age were the local weather chick and her hubby. I should mention the trip is sponsored by a local tv station.

Let me put it this way, one of the ladies asked the following question in all seriousness.

"Do they speak English?"

Holy crap. Granted, there are local tongues about, but really, most of the freakin' world speaks English at this point. We're the only industrialized dicks on this planet who can't be bothered to put an emphasis on learning other languages. Other important issues covered included the availability of bathrooms, the availability of food (we get to roam around town and fend for ourselves for lunches which to me sounds heavenly), and how late will we be out. I can't wait to see how these people react when it's still light out at 10pm in the northern part of the country.

Still, I am desperate to take a trip since my original plan had to be pushed back a few years. Plus, this trip only covers Scotland and we will get to see many places that I didn't get near the last time I was there. I consider myself very lucky to even have the chance to go so I'm going. I'm afraid I won't be able to bring back whiskey for all of you as we are only allowed to bring one bottle per person on the plane (in checked luggage I believe)...this was also a major talking point at the meeting.

In other news, I'm still behind at work...hence the title of today's entry. I went in early to try and make some headway. I had gotten to where I'd accessed the two piles of boxes from last Mon. (I am not kidding people) when UPS arrived and promptly dumped 50 more boxes on my sorry butt. GRRRRRR!!! We are "only" getting 125 from the big boys tomorrow and maybe I'll get lucky and not get my ass kicked by UPS. I'd really like to see the back wall of my receiving area before Easter. The uber came back Mon. just after the truck had been delivered and seemed surprised to see all the boxes. I wanted to shake him really hard. It's not like the boxes went away for the weekend to go skiing and came back in the wee hours of Monday morning. They'd been there this whole time so I don't know how you'd miss piles and piles of cardboard looming over you. I asked if we could have another person come back for a few days. Not surprisingly trying to "replace" someone who works 40 hours and is freakishly efficient with a newbie who works anywhere from 8-12 or so just doesn't quite get the job done.

Alright, don't bitching...for now. If you have the time I recommend the following:

Superbad--out on DVD today.

Imperial Life In The Emerald City--I am about halfway through this great book that talks about how and why Iraq got so messed up after we invaded. It's amazing just how boneheaded the Bush administration can be. Why bother, for example, to hire someone who has expertise in rebuilding after a military action just because they are a Democrat when you can hire a 24 yr. old who you found out about from their attempt to get a job at a Conservative think tank? Logic was sorely missing throughout most of this process.

things to do when the power goes out

This evening my electricity was out for about 2 1/4 hours due to an ice storm. I'm guessing that was the issue as my cable is still out so I can't check the news to see what was up. Here's what I did tonight.


Finished wrapping most of my Christmas gifts.


Made soup by candlelight because it was the one thing I could cook for dinner that didn't require opening up the fridge.


Wondered if the pain and soreness just below my left shoulder blade is a muscle strain or the result of sleeping funny last night.


Listened to music to start organizing the track list for my annual Faves mix cd.


Thought about my place and function in the universe.


Okay, didn't actually do that last one, but I did wonder about whether or not the power would be back on in time for me to see the season finale of Torchwood. Sadly, this did not happen.