The INSIDE of my house is now officially decorated...unless of course I find something to add to the theme! Anyway, here's the pictures:

This is the den:


This is the living room:


This is the center island in the kitchen:



This is another one of the den:


In other news>>>>

>>It wasn't an entirely BAD day at work, but I've had better days, that's for sure!! I have come to the conclusion that I absolutely DESPISE the sound of a telephone ringing now! Between the technicians calling me every five minutes and the great hunt for 3 hospital administrators in Dallas I was quite frazzled for most of the day! Is it Friday yet??

>>Driving home after work is proving to be more and more aggravating these days!! There are two exits just after the exit that I take to get to work that are literally lined up for a mile and a half every single night!! What's really bad is that those pinheads who insist on using the left lane all the time cause a good portion of the backup because they find out that it's impossible to get into the line for one of the two exits. Yes, I'm getting some serious road rage!!!

>>One more thing...I've opened a new blog here...it's called "Sticky Notes"...it's just some really random stuff from the mind of BryM!

Dear Lord..help us all!

That's all for now!

The first day back at work after being out for any length of time just plain sucks! I got in this morning and attempted to make a copy of my doctor’s note (I learned my lesson about THAT a long time ago!) and neither of the damn Xerox machines would make a copy of the damn thing until I ran it through the automatic thingie..vowing that I’d rip it apart piece by piece if it shredded my note!! Luckily, it didn’t…

So then I head over to my desk..which I was dreading!! Sure enough, I opened my Outlook and I had 50+ emails waiting for me!! Of course, I also had about 50 voice mail messages too…all of which were follow ups from the people who had sent the emails…they wanted to know why I hadn’t answered their email!! I could have gotten on top of my desk and shrieked, “damn people!! I was sick for two fucking days..give me a break!!”

There was one good thing this morning at least…remember the name issue? Well I had an email from the knucklehead who announced that I would be changing my name…he was letting me know that there has been a delay in the change and he’d let me know when it would take effect. That’s a good thing because that gives me enough time (hopefully) to get my name changed legally. ;-)

After the chaos of this morning, I came to the realization that I’ve just got to slow down and take each crisis as it comes. I’m already so far behind from the class time that there is NO WAY that it’s going to be caught up anytime soon…so I’m just doing the orders one by one…if they’re not on time, they’re just not on time. I’m not going to stress over it anymore.

On a lighter note>>>

Cindy is doing some serious ‘downsizing’ lately….from her cabinets and freezers. Since Kevin is no longer here, she’s getting rid of all the foods that she had for him but that she didn’t like…and sending it over here to me and Chris! She’s already sent three boxes of Cap’n Crunch cereal, frozen waffles, cookies, etc etc…She figures that if she knows she’s not going to eat it then there’s no sense in keeping it in the house and letting it go bad or something.

Well, that’s about it tonight…we’re putting up the second Christmas tree tomorrow so after that’s done I’ll be posting some pictures to get everyone into the holiday spirit…a month early! J

I’m FINALLY feeling like a human being for the first time in several days…although I have a feeling my “human-ness” isn’t going to last very long. I’m going back to work tomorrow and I’m dreading it a LOT!! Remember, I was three weeks behind while I was in the training class and had accomplished VERY little in the way of getting caught up before I got sick. So tack on another two days to the deficit…and add on the fact that I’ll be expected to start doing another task of the position as well. Someone in the company thought it would be a wise idea to combine the job that I currently do with the job that I was doing before. It’s already proven to be a complete disaster, but because so much “thought” and “money” had gone into making this decision, the powers that be won’t acknowledge their fuck up until either there is a mass walkout or the company starts to lose money because they’re getting sued for breach of contract by the customers. In the meantime, I’m in an especially bad position because where ¾ of the people who work there haven’t been trained in both positions, I HAVE!! Damn this intelligence and common sense I’m cursed with!! Oh well..at least I’m somewhat of an asset at this point…I hope.

On to other topics…

>>Cindy is doing ok and is actually going to try and go back to work this coming week. She says that it looks like weekends are going to be the hardest for her. That was the time when she and Kevin could just have some down time and basically just not do a whole lot of anything. I can certainly understand that…when you’ve spent over 20 years with someone and it’s always been just the two of you for the most part, it’s definitely a very difficult adjustment to make! She is trying to keep a positive outlook though…she told me that she just wishes that the whole ‘adjusting to life alone’ phase would hurry up and get here! I can understand that…she KNOWS she’s going to be ok, but she wants the OK to make its presence known…

>>I have a dilemma. I realized this morning that I am going to have to do something that I think is despicable….I am going to have to shave off my mustache!! I’m completely traumatized by this realization!! I’ve had this ‘stache since I was 17 years old…the ONLY time I’ve EVER shaved it completely off is when I was in the Navy, and I only got rid of it because I was FORCED to!! So what has brought about this sudden shake-up? Two reasons: 1) it’s getting FAR too much gray…..now, since I’m actually a natural blonde, the gray isn’t as obvious, but it’s definitely there. 2) somewhere along the line in the last few weeks, I’ve apparently caused some “in-growth” which is actually quite a nuisance because it looks like there’s a big ol’ zit in my stache…AND it doesn’t feel very good! The only way to correct the problem is to bite the bullet and shave the damn thing completely off! It’ll grow back within a couple of weeks, but that’s a LONG time to go without what sometimes is considered my trademark! Not to mention the fact that I look like an 11 year old without it!! Ugh! I hate this…

>>Chris put up one of the Christmas trees this weekend…I knew he’d never last another week!! In his defense though, I will say that putting the trees up is a very daunting task and he wants as much time to enjoy the trees that he spent so much time assembling! Of course by the time that New Year’s Eve rolls around, we’re really SICK of Christmas trees and they end up coming down very shortly afterwards! At least they look nice though!

>>Another thing that I vowed I’d never do again is build an entire website. The last one that I did was received pretty well, but it was a serious pain in the ass to maintain not just the site itself but also the characters that I’d created! So while I was sitting here the last few days with the bug from hell, I came across a server that’s MUCH easier to use so I signed up and started on the new site. When I get it done I’ll post the link…

Well, it’s time for bed. Hope everyone has a good week ahead!

I woke up yesterday morning feeling as though I’d been run over by a truck while I slept. Not a great way to start the day….especially given the week that I’ve had so far! I attempted to get ready for work, but didn’t make much progress. I’d gotten into the shower, hoping that I’d somehow feel better afterwards, but it didn’t work. So I decided to stay home for the day. Given the fact that the day before I’d raised such a stink about the whole name issue, I figured that I’d better make an appointment to see my doctor so that no one at work would think that I was pouting about the previous day’s events. So I called the doctor’s office and made an appointment…when I told the lady who answered the phone what my symptoms were, she told me that they had been seeing a lot of people this week with those same symptoms and that I probably had the nasty little virus going around.

I got to the doctor’s office, and sure enough….the waiting room was full of people who looked the way that I felt…like shit! I can only imagine what I must have looked like! I hadn’t even bothered to brush my hair before I left, which is a sure sign that I wasn’t feeling like myself. So I finally get called back to see the doctor and he confirms what I’d heard on the phone….I’ve got the dreaded bug going around. He asked me if I worked on weekends and I told him no, to which he replied, “well, you’re going to have a really long weekend because I’m taking you out of work until Monday.” Unfortunately, a virus isn’t really anything that can be treated with antibiotics, so he said I’d have to suffer through it but to make sure I got plenty of rest and drank a lot of fluids. Easier said than done, unfortunately. I spent the rest of yesterday camped out on the couch in the den watching tv and feeling like hell.

This morning I’m feeling a little bit better, but still not well enough to venture out into the world just yet. I did manage to get up in enough time to leave a message on my supervisor’s voicemail letting him know I wouldn’t be in today. I’m SO glad that I went to the dr’s office yesterday…..by getting a note, I won’t have to worry about having any bad marks against my attendance at work. I’ve got enough grief going on there…I certainly don’t need attendance issues being heaped on top of that!

Cindy called a few minutes ago….she offered to make me some chicken noodle soup and leave it on the front steps for me. Ugh…even though I’m feeling less green today, food still isn’t on my list of things to acquire right now. She actually sounds like she’s coming down with something herself….that’s ALL she needs right now huh?! I told her that if I was feeling better this afternoon I’d let her do the chicken soup thing. Then she got on the topic of the holidays…Thanksgiving isn’t going to be that bad because she and Kevin never really did much….but Christmas is going to be extremely hard for her. It’s her favorite holiday, and she’d always decorate her house really nice and have a huge party on Christmas Eve…the house would be packed from early afternoon until late in the evening. This year though she’s contemplating not even decorating, much less having a party. It’s upsetting to hear her say that, but I definitely can’t blame her. The first set of holidays are going to be the worst, and I’m sure that she’s not going to be up to being around a lot of people during that time. I have already decided though that Chris and I are going to have just a little something for the 3 of us. That way she can still have the holiday and not have to worry about putting on a brave face for a large group of folks. I remember how it was for me during the first holidays after my mom died…since I had taken her death especially hard, everyone around felt it was their mission to help me “forget” what had happened just a few months earlier. I was invited to no less than 10 Christmas parties that year, and couldn’t get a minute to myself for the whole month of December! Even though they all meant well, it’s just hard to explain to those folks that the holiday is going to suck no matter what anyone does or says.

Speaking of Christmas…..
I’m sure everyone has noticed I’ve got the holiday theme going on….since I’m not wild about Thanksgiving I decided to skip turkey day altogether and jump right into Christmas. I’m still undecided about the look though…I’m thinking I might have to play around with it some more before I settle on one design.

Well, that’s it for right now. I hear a toilet calling my name….of course it COULD just be the Tidy Bowl man….!!

I have an assignment for my fellow Blogstreamers’…..your task is to find a word that describes an emotion that is beyond mad….so mad that you literally feel like you’re going to faint….or explode. Or plot mass devastation. Livid isn’t good enough. Infuriated also won’t work. I need a word that surpasses all the others.

Here’s my story:

When my mom was pregnant with me, she had a unique situation: I had a maternal grandfather, paternal grandfather, AND a step-grandfather…all of them still alive. Now, since ALL of my grandfathers knew that mom was having a boy, AND I was going to be the first born grandson, they ALL wanted me named after them. Needless to say, mom was in a pickle. In order to satisfy them, my name would have to have been Robert Hugh James…..or James Robert Hugh….you get the idea. Anyway, after several months of bickering, my mother made an announcement that shocked everyone…she was going to name me after my father. She felt that by doing that, she wouldn’t offend anyone, and I wouldn’t end up with three names. The biggest problem with that little solution though was that my father had a rather HIDEOUS first name. Even my mom hated my dad’s first name. My own GRANDMOTHER (dad’s mom) hated his name. No, I have NO idea why she named him that if she hated it, so please don’t ask.

Anyway….the first name having been decided on, the next dilemma was my middle name. To avoid the whole grandfather thing again, she bought a book of baby names, and chose one for me. Now…here’s a little secret……you all know me as Bryan…..and there are a few different ways to spell it….Bryan and Brian are the most common spellings of it. WELL…mom felt that spelling it “Brian” would curse me to a life of my name being spelled “Brain”…which admittedly, I have seen quite frequently over the years. She also felt that the “Bryan” spelling was a bit feminine…so she scrapped THAT idea. So…what did she come up with? Remove the “a” and put an “o” in its place. Now, so as to alleviate any hard feelings about my first name, mom decided that I would be called by my middle name. Clearly, mom did some serious acid back then….hey, it WAS the late 1960s after all! I didn’t grow up being called “Brian”, and I never had my masculinity questioned because of the “Bryan” spelling, but it’s little consolation to me because of the fact that literally ALL of my life, the first thing that people call me when they see the spelling of my name is B-Y-R-O-N. If there is one thing I hate in this world more than my FIRST name, it’s the spelling of my MIDDLE name. I have had arguments with people about my middle name…in elementary school, mom had to bring my birth certificate to school because my teacher was telling me that I was spelling my name wrong!! SO……that is the reason that when I’m putting something in print with my name attached to it, I spell it with the “a” instead of the “o”. As annoyed as I get when someone screws up the spelling of my name, it has saved me a lot of headache by just doing the alternate spelling. I have actually considered legally changing the spelling of it MANY times over the years, but allowed my parents to talk me out of it. “Your name is UNIQUE” is what mom used to tell me.

Ok, so the middle name issue aside……since most everything in society today is geared towards people using their FIRST name on stuff, I’ve always ran into the problem of people not knowing who I am because they see the first name and just assume that’s what I go by. Not one single time in my life have I ever had to correct anyone more than once about my name, so it’s never been a huge issue for me…I just correct them and life goes back to normal. The only thing that ever carries my first name is ‘official’ stuff like bank accounts, paychecks, driver’s license, etc. Not a big deal. Until now.

The day that I walked into my office building for the first time, I had a couple of people call me by my first name. As usual, I corrected them and I’ve been known by my middle name ever since. No harm done, and that’s what EVERYONE at work calls me. So when I was made a ‘regular’ employee back in September there were several things that needed to be done for the transition such as changing a “tag” on my email account, filling out the company paperwork, and getting my logon ID’s for the computer system. Again, not a huge deal. Or so I thought.

I came to work one day and was informed by our IT person that my logons and my email were going to be changed. The company had mandated that everyone in the company would have to use their legal name on everything. Not a big deal on internal stuff such as computer ID’s and the like because I’m pretty well used to that. Where the big issue begins is the email address. I do a LOT of emailing every day to many different people, all of who know my by my middle name. When someone needs to email me but doesn’t have my exact email address, all they have to do is look me up by my first or last name in Outlook. Since they don’t KNOW my first name, they’re not going to look for it when doing a search. You can imagine the confusion resulting in “name not found” in their search results. These are the reasons why I went through hell to keep my email address from changing back then. Someone in IT actually had a coherent thought and decided that since I’d already been with the company for a few months, it’d be difficult to make a major change like that midstream. So the email address stayed the same.

So keeping everything in my middle name has caused only a very few problems, but nothing that couldn’t be easily corrected. I figured that the issue had been resolved and I could go about my business as usual.

Today I arrive at work and find that I’ve gotten an email from “central security” telling me that my computer logons were going to change as well as other “official” stuff attached to my name. I didn’t think much of it, because as I said I’m used to the ‘offical’ stuff having my first name on it. Then I read a little further and saw that these idiots were once again going to change my email address. I sent an email to my supervisor and told him what was going on and he in turn called the main office to have the email change stopped. A little while later, he comes to my desk and tells me that he’d been told that the email couldn’t be changed….so he went around to all the IT people in my office to see if any of them could stop the change. No luck.

I asked my supervisor why I was being FORCED to use a name that I have not (even once) EVER used. He tells me that he’s not sure what the reasoning is. Not a big help there, buddy. I was so angry that I was literally starting to shake! I could NOT believe that people who have never even laid eyes on me were sitting somewhere dictating what name I can and can not use. I spent the next little bit just stewing over it, and then it hit me: I’m going to give the company EXACTLY what they want. Since the company flatly refuses to recognize my middle name, I’m going to have it legally changed….dropping the first name altogether and making the middle one my FIRST name! Drastic measures? You bet. Worth it though? ABSOLUTELY. But at least this will put the issue to rest once and for all.

While changing my name may end up being a daunting task, it will be more than well worth it because the very day that it’s official, I am going to go to work and announce that everything in the company with my name on it will be changed. From the network logins to my paycheck……they will carry my new “LEGAL” name and there won’t be SHIT that they can do about it, and I will DARE them to even TRY. Imagine the bullshit that the geniuses in “central security” will have to go through to change every last reference to me!! Hey, they asked for it though. They refused to even keep ONE thing halfway convenient for me, so now they will be FORCED to instead of keeping one thing the same to change EVERYTHING.

Ok, enough bitching for one night. I’m going to bed.