When a Monday doesn't go half bad, I get paranoid. Such is the case right now. While the day didn't get off to a very good start, it didn't suck nearly as bad as Mondays past! I woke up around 1:30am from a really horrible dream and I just could NOT get back to sleep! I finally did drift off around 2:45 or so. I'd gone to bed at around 10:45, so I hadn't been asleep very long in the first place....add that to the fact that I have to get up at 5:45am and you've got one tired BryM!!   The dream that woke me up was a really bad one about my grandmother (I called her Nannie)....it was one that I've had a lot since she died 11 years ago---in the dream I relive the day that she had the cerebral hemmorhage that caused her death 2 weeks later. That damn dream has tormented me a lot since Nannie died---although thankfully it doesn't happen nearly as much as it used to!!

                    So when the alarm clock started going off at 5:45, I was MISERABLE!! I hit the snooze button a few times but I was so sleepy that I was literally in pain! You know what I mean...when you're so exhausted that every muscle just aches!! BLECH!! Finally at around 6:30 I decided that I'd just leave a voicemail for my boss and let him know I wouldn't be in until about 12:30 or so. Then I got back into bed and the next thing I knew it was 9:30---but I felt SOOOOO much better!!

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                   I get to work at 12:30 figuring that all hell would have broken loose in my absence, but amazingly enough it hadn't!! I'd gotten an assload of emails and a few voicemails but nothing too horrible. My supervisor wasn't mad at me, and none of the hens in the barnyard gave me the 3rd degree about why I was late! I kept waiting for the bottom to fall out, but it never quite did. Hmmmm.....

                     By the time that 5:30 rolled around I was REALLY paranoid---but nothing happened. Could it be that the black cloud of doom that normally perches itself above my head had taken a day off??!! I mean really---I even got MORE than my required amount of work done in the 5 hours I was at the office!! THAT **NEVER** happens!!

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                   I bit the bullet and finally did my taxes tonight. Folks, trust me when I tell you--I absolutely DESPISE doing my taxes!! It's not like they're all that complicated--I have always been able to use the EZ form, but it's just annoying that as much as I pay in through the year, it's STILL not enough most of the time!! I just barely get by during the year and then to find out that I --STILL-- didn't pay enough out just infuriates me!  

                   Get this though---for the first time in a tribillion years I'm actually getting a REFUND for BOTH federal AND state!! YAY!!

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                   Ok so last night I wrote again about the very disturbing blog that I came upon a while back---the author fancies himself not only a modern day Nostradamus (sp?) but a hybrid alien as well. His prediction was that today we would learn of a horrible terrorist attack on India and that this would lead to the invasion of the United States by several other countries, which would eventually result in the fall of our country----World War 3 or perhaps the end of the world itself.

                     So I waited patiently all day for the beginning of the end.
                      I'm happy to report that it appears as though the world did NOT actually end today! Perhaps our hybrid alien is now so embarassed that he'll be going back to the planet Blobdorg in the Gamma Sector at the far reaches of the galaxy?

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                   That's all I've got for now! If the world is still around TOMORROW, I'll be back with more!!

                    About a week and a half ago, I talked about Cindy's decision to hire someone besides my other neighbor Todd to build a fence in her front  yard. Both Todd & his wife were a bit peeved about the situation since Todd owns a fencing company. Luckily things got smoothed over within a couple of days and all was well on the cul-de-sac again.

                   So the guy Cindy hired finished up on Friday and everything looked pretty nice....from a distance. Unfortunately it turns out that the guy who built the fence isn't very well versed in that area----he can build a house all day long, and he can lay brick with the best of them----but he can't build a fence worth a damn!   Cindy didn't notice the major problems until yesterday....where her yard starts going downhill towards the back of the property the fence DOESN'T go down! In fact, there's a 13 inch gap between the bottom of the pickets and the ground!! Apparently the guy didn't realize that he was going to need longer pickets to deal with the incline. Then there are the gates....Cindy has a circular drive so there's two entrances that she wanted gates on. One of them drags the ground and the other won't stay closed. Needless to say, Cindy is not a happy camper right now! So she headed over to Todd's today and is going to hire him to fix the mess the other guy made--which of course is going to cost even MORE money!! YUCK!! It's a good thing Cindy smoothed things over, huh??!!

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                   I had a bit of a meltdown this afternoon----since Christmas 2006 when I got my video camera, I'd been wanting to get the card & fire wire USB to transfer some video onto my computer. The problem was that the card & USB cost about $80+ for both---not TOO bad of a deal, except for the fact that I just haven't had the extra money to get them. Well a few weeks ago I found this handy little device that was far less expensive and didn't require a new card, so I jumped on the deal.

                   So today I was trying to upload some video of various different things and the damn transfer unit kept cutting off on me!!!   Do you KNOW how irritating that is?? Now I've got to put my brain into gear and figure out what the hell I'm doing wrong---GRRRRR.

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                   On a more bizarre note----I stumbled onto a blog a few weeks ago that is really quite disturbing. The guy who authors it has been predicting that our "end times" are near----near as in February 4th----tomorrow! He is predicting that by tomorrow afternoon there will have been some major terrorist attacks on India and that this is going to lead to the invasion of the United States within a few weeks.....starting at Los Angeles and ending in North Carolina. This of course will be the beginning of the end of the world because of the fact that we'll be officially into World War 3. Seriously folks, you'd have to read this stuff to believe it!

                   Admittedly, I was a bit alarmed when I first started reading this guy's entries---but all of that alarm went out the window when I came across his bio in which he states that he is a hybrid alien.
                   So we'll see tomorrow afternoon if Mr Gloom & Doom's predictions are correct...........

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                    That's all I've got for now. Ugh. Tomorrow is Monday. *sigh                      

                    As I sat looking at my bank balance online this afternoon, I started doing what I always do---I stressed about how much money that I do NOT have in the bank!   I keep asking myself if I'm going to have enough money to make it through the week until I get paid again on Friday. Then I worry about how much money is going OUT of the bank as soon as the direct deposit hits----and then it's back to worrying about having money until the next payday.......

                    While I was parked in front of the computer fretting about having enough money to get back and forth to work next week it dawned on me that no matter how bleak things look right now, I'm still in a MUCH better place than I was 10 years ago at this time:

{Insert wavy, blurry memory video here}

                      February 1998 wasn't a great time for me. I'd moved to a suburb of Philadelphia just a few months before and no matter how hard I had tried to make a go of things, they just weren't working out for me. One of the bigger issues that I was dealing with was that everyone I met found me utterly "fascinating".....not because I'm some profound philosopher or a studmuffin, but because they realized that I'm actually quite intelligent despite my accent! All I had to do was open my mouth and people looked at me as though I'd just beamed in from some distant galaxy. Then when I'd say something that proved I wasn't some hayseed Gomer Pyle, I got the same look! I've told the story before about how I worked at a bagel shop & the owner's wife (who'd never been outside of Pennsylvania) asked me if people in the south lived & behaved like Bo & Luke Duke on The Dukes of Hazzard tv show---well if that had been the only time I'd gotten some off the wall question like that it wouldn't have bothered me, but it seemed as though I got it EVERYWHERE!   While I know that there were a lot of folks who didn't mean any harm, it still annoyed me to no end to be labeled as a hick just because of my accent & family heritage.


                    Aside from the culture shock that was going on, I was also having some other dilemmas---such as living with my Aunt & her family. She's my favorite aunt, but her household is enough to drive even a PRIEST to drinking & swearing! There was ALWAYS some sort of chaos going on, though a good majority of that chaos was due to my cousin who was a toddler at the time. This is the cousin who's got that strange disease that makes you grow abnormally fast--he's now 13 years old and is 6'2" tall and has some SERIOUS mental issues going on! Ten years ago he wasn't much different---he was still whacked out, only smaller.
                     Another issue at the time was my struggle with having just come off of a period of substance abuse (drugs & alcohol) a few months earlier. With the chaos at my aunt's house & adjusting to life in a new part of the country, it was NOT easy for me to resist going back down that place known as Addiction Alley!!

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                     Fast forward to today: February 2008, I live in a nice home on a quiet (most of the time!) cul-de-sac in a little subdivision just outside of a rapidly growing town. My house is filled with a lot of nice 'things' and everyone who visits is impressed at how well the house is kept up.   The chaos of my aunt's house has been replaced by a certain serenity----sure, there are times when things aren't so peaceful here, but even at its worst it's still nothing compared to the aunt's household!! I'm not saying that I don't like my aunt or her family, but there's MUCH to be said about not having to come home in the afternoon and deal with two teenagers and an insane toddler!


                     The job at the bagel shop making $8 an hour has given way to a nice (although unnerving at times!) cozy office job making more than double the money & doing something that I actually LIKE to do!!


                      So now that I've taken a look back at what WAS, I find myself feeling pretty greatful about what IS!!


                     

There's an age old saying among those of us who are a part of the working world....."TGIF, or Thank God It's Friday"....

This has been one hell of a long week for me, but that may have actually been somewhat beneficial...I actually got more accomplished this week than I have in the last several months--at least at work anyway!   I'd said Wednesday that by the end of today that I would be caught up with everything and actually ahead by the end of business today. Well, I accomplished at least part of that goal....I'm exactly where I need to be--not AHEAD per say, but at least caught up. Had I not been involved in all of the drama yesterday, I would have been at least a week ahead of the game today, but I can live with what I accomplished. HOPEFULLY next week will be the beginning of smooth sailing from now on where work is concerned.



Another accomplishment today was discovering a well kept secret about the ladies that I work with...when they fight amongst themselves, all I have to do to make them stop clucking is throw some chocolate their way and all will be right with the world! I don't know if it has a calming effect or if it just makes their beaks stick together, but it sure shuts them up pretty quick!   Ok ok ok....I'm just kidding! But "Mona" and "Conchetta" DID make peace today over a handful of Hershey's Kisses & Reese's Peanut Butter cups. Of course this was only after Conchetta, Jenny, Vanessa, & Lila (she wasn't at work yesterday) came to the conclusion that Mona is suffering bouts of temporary insanity due to all of the medications she's been taking lately. Yes, this was before Mona arrived at work.


I also saw something that I don't see every day at work----"Vanessa" was teasing our boss "Lance", saying that she was going to "beat him down to the white meat", to which he replied, "don't make me come across this partition after you....." (The partition is about 4 feet tall altogether with about 18 inches of it rising above our workstations)....So Vanessa told Lance that he didn't have the guts, so guess what he did---he jumped up onto Mona's desk, stepped over the partition, hopped onto the floor and got Vanessa into a headlock all in the course of about 3 seconds!! It was HILARIOUS!! We all know that the very LAST thing that any of us should do is DARE our boss to do anything, but none of us would have guessed he'd hop over a partition and put anyone into a headlock!   In case you're wondering, yes I do realize that I have a very cool boss!


Later in the day our little group got word that someone will be joining the barnyard on Monday morning. He'll be sitting in the same 'cube' as Jenny. I feel sorry for him---hopefully he'll be a somewhat older man who's learned how to deal with crazy people!! Although he will have a few weeks to get used to my hens & me because it's certain that none of us will talk to him during that time. Those first few weeks of ignoring him are so that we can see if he's suitable for our little clique. Ours is a group that is very exclusive and we don't let just ANYONE join!!


OH GOOD LORD!!! Something just dawned on me----remember when I first started this job and I wrote about how everyone in the office has their cliques and how annoyed I was that I seemed to be shunned from all of these little groups? Well looking over the last paragraph I realized that somewhere along the line *I* became a part of one of those dreaded circles!!!  


That's all I've got for here---I'm heading over to my other blog here with some more words of wisdom for the masses!

The cast for tonight's entry is as follows:

• Mona---an exceptionally pretty woman (at least in MY opinion anyway!) who's also more than a little self conscious about MANY things in her life

• Conchetta---originally from South America, she just this past summer officially became a United States citizen (the RIGHT way!) who unfortunately is still struggling a bit with the English language; she's also somewhat moody most of the time
  

• Jenny---a really decent person most of the time, she's a bit gruff to begin with. Definitely someone that you "have to get to know" in order to find her good side

• Vanessa---about 80% of the time she's pretty decent but the other 20% of the time she's a complete bitch. Whatever her current mood though, she's the most two faced person I've met in quite a while and I'd never DREAM of telling her anything that I wouldn't want to get around the office in 5 seconds

The ladies I've mentioned above are my co-workers.
Naturally I've changed their names to protect the innocent--namely ME!!

Just as I arrived at my desk this morning Mona comes over, plops her rather large "endowments" onto my desk and proceeds to ask me if I thought that Conchetta was mad at her for some reason. Apparently Conchetta hasn't had a lot to say lately and Mona is convinced that there's something wrong between them. I tell Mona that I had noticed that Conchetta was a bit distracted and short lately, but given our workload lately it's completely understandable. So Mona goes back to her desk and life goes on.

Meanwhile, Jenny is having some issues with a lack of manpower in the area she covers. Unbeknownst to me, Jenny has stirred up what's about to become quite a large "situation" by calling a field manager and informing this manager about the lack of resources. The manager then calls the VP of our entire region to complain----about ME. Apparently Jenny "inadvertantly" blamed ME for the situation. So then the VP calls my boss and reads him the riot act about my "incompetence", which of course led my supervisor straight to my desk. I was at first blindsided with the ordeal, but past experience has shown that I can't panic in this type of situation. So I took a deep breath and started looking at the orders assigned for today hoping to find a solution to the unfolding catastrophe that I had apparently been accused of setting into motion. It took me less than 5 minutes to not only find the ANSWER to the problem, but the person who really HAD caused it in the first place! Guess what. It wasn't ME that had screwed up---it was JENNY!! SHE had apparently been the one who overbooked two of the 5 field service guys in the area. The 4th guy had scheduled his own work for today which of course compounded the problem. The FIFTH guy had just marked himself as busy for the entire day when in actuality he was sitting at home doing NOTHING. So after I pointed these things out to my boss he seemed satisfied and a little relieved. Come to find out---YET AGAIN no one had BOTHERED to do any investigating before they went off the handle and threw all of this into MY lap!! Yeah---I was MAD!!

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After THAT incident was resolved, I get a call from another one of the field managers. He asked me why one of his guys had only been told yesterday of an appointment that was due today. After a little investigation and 45 minutes on the phone, I present the manager with the proof that his guy had known about the order for over a month!! Long story short, all the manager wanted was to have the due date extended and felt that trying to blame my office would be the best way of going about that. I explained to this manager that all he had to do was TELL me that the guy was so busy he'd fogotten about it!!   JEEEEEEEEEZZZZZZZ!!!!!

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Around 4:45 this afternoon, Mona decides that she's going to confront Conchetta about the animosity between them. This turns into quite a heated argument between Mona & Conchetta, with Jenny and Vanessa jumping into it as well. Folks there was so much clucking going on that I was just waiting for one of them to lay an egg!!   During all of the mayhem, I'm sinking lower and lower into my chair until I'm almost under my desk, hoping to just disappear until the dust settled. Well, right about the time that I was ALMOST safely under the desk, Mona looks at me and says, "so what do YOU think about this??!!" I reply, "my name is Bennett and I am NOT in it!!" This dismayed my little hens to the point that they all just looked at me and went "HMMMPHH!!" Five seconds later, they were all friends again and they all went back to pecking at the ground with their beaks.

5:29 rolls around (FINALLY!!) and I turn off my computer, put on my coat, and bid the biddies farewell for the day. Their collective reaction was not quite what I'd expected...."what??!! It's not 5:30 yet!! You can't leave until it's exactly 5:30!!"

I ran as hard as I could out of the building, jumped into my truck and sped away into the cold North Carolina dusk!

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So today's hard learned lessons are:

1) The vast majority of my colleagues are lazy, two faced, & just plain stupid;

2) WOMEN ARE INSANE!!!!!