On Friday Jake started talking about getting a bookshelf for all his books that he has lying around and in a big ole box in the closet. After fretting about where we would put it I remembered that Cat helped re-design a house before using her Sims program. I called her up and asked if she could help. Within minutes I was being sent different options on where to place all of our furniture. Here's the current design and the one we chose. She even offered to come over and help with Mark so we could get all the heavy furniture moved. I cannot even begin to say how much I appreciate all that they have done for us. Besides being tired Mark still said yes and within a few hours we had everything in place.

The next day it was back to Hell. Ikea-Hell, that is. I cannot even start to talk about how much Burbank is like the fifth ring of Hell for us. Especially at that fucking store. The people are pushy, cranky and it's almost like war in the pick up area. After returning the extra flooring for a 200 dollar credit (yay!) we ventured our way back into the bowels of Ikea to look for a bookshelf. Jake wanted to high tail it out of there but I said no. I'll be damned if I was going to make another trip to this place... EVER (unless Cat or Mark needed something). We found a decent one and bolted for the door. After paying for the bookcase Cat suggested we head over to Islands for dinner. Since they knew where it was I waited for them to get their car. I thought I saw them and pulled out of my space (big mistake). When I realized it wasn't them I pulled to the side and hit the hazard lights and waited. Some complete idiot pulled up behind us and started flashing his lights. I rolled down my window and waived him on... nothing. He just sat there. He yelled something and I yelled back, "Don't you know how to go the fuck around!" With that I gave up and headed for the entrance... with the idiot in tow. He followed us all the way around the corner before parking and jumping out of his car. He slammed his door, stomped to the passenger side, opened and slammed that door too. It was... odd. We made it to the restaurant and tried to cool down while Mark laughed about how we manage to get the biggest idiots to deal with. We're lucky like that. :/

It's freezing at my work! If it's above 68 degrees I'll eat my panties. Try typing with frozen fingers. GAH! I can't believe they expect me to type like this. We went through this last year and had to resort to gloves scarves. You'd think this was the East coast in the winter with all the jackets and blankets draped over people just so they could work. I swear I'm half expecting to see my breath.

Meanwhile all the heifers with hot flashes who bitch about the slightest change in temperature are cheery and I'm freezing my ass off. I'll probably regret this in ten years or so but right now I feel like they should stick a couple of ice cubes up their butts and let me thaw out. The worst part is it's still stuffy in here. No wonder I have yet another sinus infection.

Bitch bitch bitch bitch bitch.... And I'm not even PMSing... YET. Fear my blog, man...

...meets the laziness of state employees. Yesterday my boss went to a meeting and I was left in charge of making sure the calls were being taken care of. Abandonment rate is a big deal for a phone center, which doesn't mean the employees care. Left and right people were putting themselves on Not Ready, making call outs when three people were in the cue and just not caring. By the end of the day I wanted to rip my hair out and dance on their lazy heads. You'd think they would care that each call is a person in need of medical attention. But they were too busy fucking around and not hustling when the busy time started. I'll bet they'd hustle if each call lost equaled an hour of pay. Fuckers...

When I first started on the web I was a normal American internet surfer. I lived in my bubble where foreign news was a blip on the screen and nothing more. Two seconds of a statistic. A death count. Then on to fluffy kitties and children who did lame science projects. I was pro military, pro death penalty and everyone loved the US in my eyes. And why wouldn't they? After all, we had ALL the technology, the medical breakthroughs and good will donations. When I first saw anti-American sentiment I was shocked. How could they not like us? More and more negative comments came up and I chalked it up to ignorance. After all, they didn't know us. Then 9/11 hit and the world came flooding in. Slowly my eyes opened, REALLY opened, and I saw what other people saw. The bullying. The arrogance. The facade. Our media fed us Grade A American Born propaganda and we joyfully swallowed each bite. After all, we were the good guys.

Six years later I am still forming a more enlightened opinion of the world and our role in it. I support the military, but not it's actions. The death penalty isn't a deterrent... and is hard for me to support. My country... that's the hardest one. Someone asked me how I could love ground. That it made no sense. To them, the only place you should feel a sort of dedication to ends at your front door. I can understand his point, but I am not ready to make that change. I probably never will. For all our mistakes it's still a great place to live.

The hardest part for me is to read comments from people just starting on the web. The 'unenlightened' souls that swear the US of A is the best place to be and our military is nothing short of heroic. They beat their chests and swear we're the most powerful country and everyone else just needs to follow our lead and it will be okay. G-d help those who don't. One nation, ONE religion and everyone else is tolerated... but barely. Racism is okay when it's against those who are different. Our Constitution is just like the Bible... Unless the Bible has different ideas. The worst part is that they don't want to learn. They don't want to know how others feel. They just don't care.

One world. One life (seriously, shut up). One kind. Simple rules we all can follow with this in mind. I wonder if we'll ever get to the point of breaking down the walls that keep us from growing. If we can just get past the borders....

It's always nice to know people have got your back. Take yesterday for instance. I walked around for an hour and a half with coffee on my nose without a single person telling me. We're not talking just a little dot, either. I could have won the Brown Nose award of the year with that baby. I noticed people staring at me with some odd expression, but figured it was because the coffee hadn't kicked in. Why not just go the extra step of telling me? Instead, I had to walk through a group of executives and three assistants with coffee on my nose.

I've always been the one to point out the little mishaps. Skirt hiked up? lettuce in your teeth? Have no fear, super-embarrassing-moment-saver is here. I'll even offer my compact so you can pick that wad of food right out on the spot. All I ask is that you let me know IF I HAVE A FUCKING GLOB OF COFFEE ON MY NOSE. Jeesh...

On Friday I got a call from the Verizon Complaint Center at the Corporate office. A nice lady talked to me about my ordeal and tried to get the ball rolling. First, the Modem was STILL not sent because they were using my PO Box to send it. It was down to the wire and I finally decided to buy the fucking thing myself and she agreed to credit my account. One little detail: I had to find a store that sold the type they suggested. After calling around I found a Verizon store who agreed to sell me the modem after reminding me it usually comes with a deal. Gee... thanks. I took off early and bought the damn thing ($60) which they billed. After setting it up we were back online. Of course that's not the end of it. Now I have to send back the other Modem that should arrive this week and wait until tonight or tomorrow to see what speed I can even get with my lines. Two more days and I *hope* it will be the last I will have to talk with Verizon for a long while.

I have no internet connection. *cries* Here's my saga...

Last week I called my DSL/Cell phone/telephone company about my bill. $200 a month was just too much with everything going on, especially when $70 of it was to my telephone line, which I never use. After talking to a guy who told me I should be getting some Triple Freedom discount for using all their products I mentioned that my DSL plan was still on the 768kb download speed and I hated how I couldn't get a faster speed. "Of course you can!" said the cheerful employee. "You can get 3mb on a newer relay." Heart be still... And since I was on the OLD DSL setup I was only able to get the Double Freedom discount (whatever) but they could switch me over and all would be better. Of course, there would be a three to five day downtime of internet access... *choke* From that point on it has been a complete nightmare. Here's the timeline of errors for posterity:

6/15/07:

* I spoke with a nice guy who said I would be able to get a Triple bundle discount if I upgraded my DSL from the Relay Frame (old kind) to the ATM Frame (newer kind). I said sign me up! And he transfered me to the DSL section. Only downside: 3 to 5 days without connection

* I end up in the Philippines. Another nice guy listens to what I want and says he will put in the order. They will send me a new modem (for free) since mine is ancient and I will get a call the next day about my order. He says no downtime is involved.

* I get home and a nice gal from tech support says she checked the line and doesn't see the problem I reported. I explain the situation and she says to call tech support and make sure the order is still on.

* I call Tech support and a nice guy says all is well and to expect a call tomorrow. Yippee!

* No call happens.

06/19/07:

* I call the DSL department and talk to a so so guy who tries talking me out of getting the upgrade. At least a week of down time, closing account and opening new one, blah blah... If you're happy with the speed stick with it. Oh, and no order was placed.

* I say fuck that but ask to be transfered to tech support anyway. I end up in India. Some nice woman with a shitty connection reads from a script and puts me on hold for 3 minutes/4 minutes/eight minutes for each question asked. I finally ask to speak to the person she's asking the questions to. She hurries me off the line, saying the order has been placed and that someone will call me to answer all my questions. I try to explain that I don't want ANYTHING done until I find out what the realistic downtime will be and she tells me someone else will tell me. She hangs up.

06/20/07:

* A nice guy who's local calls me to ask what the line problem is and I bite my tongue. I tell him the WHOLE story and he says I won't have any downtime, but I also won't have a faster service without ordering it. The only plus is that I can have the option to get a faster service on the new system. After explaining the way it works he tells me he has to call me back in about ten minutes because he is having some problems with ordering the new modem. I cheerfully say 'no problem!'

* Ten minutes later the guy calls back to say he can't order it. I can either order it through Verizon or on my own. Afterwards I can be changed. I was NOT amused. I politely (while gritting my teeth) say I think that it should be on them since EVERYONE has said I could get the modem and he asks for a day to work on it. After offering to call customer service and complain he talks me into waiting til tomorrow.

Again... I am NOT amused.

06/21/07:

* IT guy calls back to say that he will be able to send the new modem to me for free... but he doesn't know when. Aparently there's some problem with their system, blah blah blah... and he'll call me back once it's ordered.

* IT guy calls to let me know that the modem is on the way! Then he asks if the PO Box is okay for them to send it to... I say, "It depends. How are you sending it? UPS won't deliver to a PO Box." "I'll have to call you back." *screams*

* ...*siiiiigh* I get home and there is NO internet connection. I call the tech department and get some guy in India who tells me he has to look through the script even though I tell him the answer won't be on there. Then he puts me on hold to ask someone. Eight minutes later he tells me he's still asking and I ask to speak to a supervisor. TWELVE minutes later the only jerky guy I've ever spoken to at Verizon answers. He's stand offish and simply says, 'Yep, they changed it over. Yes, there is a note saying to wait until the 27th. I guess they just ignored it. You'll just have to wait until Tuesday for the modem. You can call billing tomorrow about temporary dial up, but they're closed now'. When I tell him that's unacceptable because we start online classes THIS WEEK he says, 'Tell the teacher Verizon says we're sorry'. Rather than explode I opted to say, 'Oh, this phone call needs to end NOW.' He started to read off the Verizon script then stopped and simply told me to have a nice night. I had my fill. I sat and cried for a good thirty minutes before calling friends for advice.

06/22/2007:

* I call Verizon and push the the first tier of tech support to the dial up section. After giving me all the info he starts to walk me through the set up. That's when I learn I don't have a fucking Ethernet connection. ARGH!!!!! Now I have to buy one and then call back. I also was transfered to the Complaint department where a nice lady listened to my saga and said someone from corporate would be calling me back within four hours (after they open). We'll see...

* I spoke with a woman from the Complaint Department, who was really nice, and I *may* be on my way to being online again. Here's the catch: I have to go out and buy a modem (and they'll reimburse me) or wait until Monday for it to be sent via Next Day Delivery. Apparently the one that was ordered before went into a hold bin because they were trying to send it via UPS to my PO Box. The woman was VERY empathetic and said she would help me until it was finished. She said they would also address the unprofessional comment that the supervisor said. Of course there's always a catch... Best Buy didn't have the Modem they suggested and the Verizon store said that while they have it they can't check to see if they can bill me until I get there. Yeah, fun times... So now I have to leave work 1/2 hour earlier to drive to the store, get the DSL and then call the woman back. After that I have to try and install it before 4:30pm so I can go and pick up JakeD for our movie night.

I had better be able to notice a difference after all this. Fuckers...

That lazy cow. My coworker pissed me off three shades of red. No, FOUR. After running a report I noticed one of the referrals was wrong. I called up my coworker (we'll call her HEIFER) and asked what happened. After doing her usual song and dance she said the doctor on the patient's referral wasn't listed so she picked another doctor's name with the last name of 'Weis....'. Oh yeah, THAT just makes all the sense in the world. It's like referring a patient to a Neurologist who needs a Hysterectomy (not real medical problem of patient). Her response: I just chose by the last name I guess. When I said that means my reports are fucked she backed up saying she's sure she doesn't do it all the time. Then I felt my eyes bulge. Heifer is in her 50s. Mentally... not so much.

I tried to find this doctor in the Medical Group and came up empty. He's NOT our doctor. When I mentioned it to her she tried blaming the nurse who didn't catch it. I told her she was right... but that she was ALSO responsible for making sure we had the right info. She blinked. She scrunched her face. She made a 'bullshit' face. I wanted to rip that face right off, too. Apparently I didn't hide said face ripping feelings because she started to back away. After going over to my friend and bitching up a storm I took a deep breath and went over to Heifer with authorization in hand. "Call Facey and let them know the doctor isn't ours and have them change the name. Then get Medical Records. THEN call the patient and let them know." She started to argue about having to call for medical records and my eyebrows flew off of my forehead... then landed back on in a furrowed position. She snapped her mouth shut and took the paper.

Honest to G-d, these people are lazier than a cat in sunlight. We've got some good workers, but it's the ones that don't want to do ANYTHING other than the minimum required that get my panties in a wad. It's not like we're working in McDonalds for Pete's sake! We help patients. These people depend on us. GAH! I need chocolate.

Why do I *always* get bad news on a weekend when I can't do shit about it... except panic. I just got a letter from the IRS saying I owe $2899 in taxes. I have been getting my taxes done by the same guy for over ten years now and they decided to redo mine, saying there was a discrepancy. Now I can't get a hold of the CPA guy and I am at a loss as to what to do. Do I fight it? Do I just pay and pray it was a random check and they're not going to redo all of mine? I can pay the amount, but it *almost* wipes out my savings. If I get a loan I'd end up paying more than if I just paid myself back over time. Same amount of pain, but for less money. Oy. How the hell do I know that his itemized choices are wrong? GAH! I need a drink. NO... I need a COUPLE of them.

My body hates me. Just when I was starting to feel good about losing weight and buying clothes that actually compliment my body instead of just covering it I stop losing weight. What's worse is that I made the worst mistake and weighed myself at night. It said I gained four pounds. After hyperventilating and pitching a fit Jake peeked around the corner. Seeing that it was the scale my wrath was aiming at he cautiously asked what happened. I ranted. I raved. I... pouted. I swore off all sweets, breads and pasta. I went to bed... sulking. In the morning I peed and got back on the evil scale. Apparently I had four pounds of urine in me. I hadn't lost any weight... but I hadn't gained any either. I know people hit plateaus... I tried to ready myself for it. I reacted about the same as my first major dent in my car. Pitched a fit and paid dearly to have it fixed. unfortunately throwing money at my body won't will the weight off. It WILL get some odd looks from coworkers though.

I hit a pole while parking this morning. I am just so pissed at myself. It's painted the same color as the wall and only comes up to my hip which means it's RIGHT where you can't see it. My bumper is dented and my wheel cover has white paint on it. *sigh* Now I have to spend the weekend trying to get pricing at body shops. Considering my insurance has a $500 deductible I'm probably going to just pay for it myself. If it's over that I'm going to cry.

What started out as a relaxing weekend ended up filled with drama. That friend who decided to post about my weight loss flipped his lid when my other friend (his ex-boyfriend) told him it upset me. While it bothered me I wasn't going to mention it. I know the drama would outweigh the request to remove it. And oh how the drama flowed. I was PM'd at least twelve times, each one saying a different variation of the same thing. I tried my best to nip it in the bud, which worked against me. Apparently he was dead set on having the last word, even if it was irrational and wrong. In the end I woke up to one final PM, and the message that he blocked me. This is third grade stuff here... but I am semi relieved. No more messages, no more accusations, no more 'you talk to him and not me' bullshit. I lost a friend... but gained control of my PM box again.

To the friend who blocked me: Thank you for all your kindness. You've helped me through some tough times. You've been kind to me and I harbor no ill will towards you. Good luck on your life and I hope you find the happiness you need.

/ end friendship

Oh my fucking G-d. Was yesterday 'let's drive the Red Rav4 driver bat shit day'? I left early to go to my doctor's appointment and managed to get behind every slow person driving in Los Angeles ALL the way to the office. I'd get behind a car and they would automatically start to crawl up the road. I'd swerve into the next lane... same shit. Within a mile I was edging up the road surrounded by a bunch of slow driving people who KNEW I wanted to pass. I tried the 'be cool and pretend it doesn't bother me' approach when the glanced over but my white knuckles told a different story. I could have landed planes with those babies. I was two blocks away from my turn when a HUGE truck pulled in front of me and went about two miles per hour. I swear to G-d I was hyperventilating by the time my street came up. There's no such thing as taking a drive in LA. It's called 'testing your willpower'.

Jake and I had a less than enjoyable weekend. We got into an argument over the usual stuff and I went to bed. That was Friday at 5:30pm. I woke up on Saturday still feeling the same and decided it was time to have a serious heart to heart. It started out with me asking him to look for an apartment and ended with him making (the same) promises to show he was serious about our relationship. School full time, savings for himself and paying me back for the car. We'll see. Needless to say, I haven't been in a blogging, chatting or just cheery mood. At the fact that we're still being sued for the car and our apartment is being held hostage by the handyman and I cannot WAIT for this to pass. Oh, and next month I turn forty. Fuck!

Two floors of hell. Two floors of me fighting the urge to rip the gum out of this woman's mouth and beat her with my coffee mug. Two floors of snapping, popping and chewing like a cow. I thought for sure that I could make it. It was easy as pie. Focus on the "L" and dive when the doors opened. The elevator 'dinged' to alert us of our floor and I yelled out "GAH!" I almost made it. She glared at me, did a final snap and walked out. Oh sure, as if I was the rude one.

When I was a child I snapped my gum in front of my dad. I was six and we were in the middle of Disneyland. I snapped it once and he stopped. "Do that again and you're wearing it on your nose." A few steps farther I snapped it again. "Put it on." I ended up wearing that pink blob of Hubba Bubba on my nose for the rest of the day. When it fell off he made me put it back on. I NEVER snapped my gum again. Maybe I should have forced her to wear it. Staple it in place even. Yeah...

JakeD is still getting over walking pneumonia and I am (hopefully) getting over this fucking cold soon. We ventured out to the Toyota dealership this weekend for an oil change and hung out while it was being done. We joked around with one of the workers there (who was black). He was really nice and tried pushing the mechanics who were working on our car to finish faster. An older man arrived to pick up his car wearing a UCLA teeshirt. Even though the sleeves weren't that long he tried rolling them over to give some sort of half assed muscle shirt look. Plus, it showed his tats. The Toyota worker greeted the man and mentioned his UCLA shirt. The guy responded with, "Yeah! You probably went to the University of South Central, right?" The only sounds were jaws dropping on the ground. I told JakeD to cover his UCLA jersey that he was wearing as I stared at the man in utter disbelief. The Toyota guy politely said no and the guy's car arrived. POS beat up blue car. Fitting...

The ignorance of people never ceases to amaze me. They scream to the heavens about racial profiling in the police force, yet our society is one of it's biggest offenders. I'd be lying if I said I never did it. But the difference is acknowledging it and realizing that it's wrong.

Yet another installment of why old people shouldn't drive. I was searching for street parking the other day when an elderly woman signaled that she was leaving. I watched her slowly back her new Lexus into the BMW behind her, then slowly move forward till she hit the SUV in front. She backed into the BMW once more before pulling out and ending up on the other side of the street parked in a driveway. Thinking she might get out I waited, only to see her back into another car before slowly taking off. All I could do was laugh. This old biddy managed to hit three cars in less than one minute. And she was sober! I parked in her spot after looking to see if the other cars had any telltale signs of belonging to elderly people. I know I should have gotten her license plate, but I was too busy hoping she wouldn't smack my car while making her getaway.

Another group of kids are in the news for brutally murdering a homeless man. What does this say about our society? Another kid arms himself and shoots up a mall full of people. What does this say about our rules. I am not a parent. But someone had these kids. There has to be SOME connection between the violence and their upbringing. Some blame music, some blame the movies. Others point their fingers at video games. Those groups point to the parents who in return point to the teachers. All I see is a circle of blame around some pretty violent people being let loose on society. Where do we stop with the blame and start trying to find the problem? Most of the issue is about money. No matter where the finger is pointed, someone's going to lose some cash. As society buries the innocents we need to start making a plan of action. Where would YOU start?

I used to think that wisdom came with age. Now I know better. The only thing you can count on is wrinkles and a slower metabolism rate. I've grown a lot over the years. Love, friendship, finances... they all were hard lessons learned. But I DID learn from them. What I learned about myself is that you should never count on someone else to complete you. Never expect someone else to be the prince who takes you away from all this. Never depend on someone else to catch you when you fall. Sure, it's nice to have all those things, but you shouldn't live your life expecting it. Instead, take care of you. Feeling lonely? Don't bother looking for that special someone. You need to find yourself first. You want to get away? Start saving now, baby. Instead of hoping someone's going to catch you try making sure you have a safety net. A little caution saves a lot of broken bones (and hearts).

It's that time of the year again. Time to start panicking about bills. Every year I do the same fucking thing. Come mid March my tax refunds come in and everything is hunky dory. I have extra money in the bank, bills are paid off and all is well in the Odessa/Jake household. A few years back I made some major computer upgrades with my refund and the money dissipated. But for the last two years I haven't done jack shit with it. Yet somehow the money still ends up gone by the new year. A few months back I decided to take a large chunk of it and put it into a online savings account. The interest rates blew my local bank out of the water so I couldn't resist. Still... I kept some in the checking for emergencies. No emergencies happened and here I am, panicking. I have money in savings. It's not like I'm down to the wire. But if I am ever going to move out of this shitty little apartment and into something nice I have to forget those accounts even exist. I think it's the idea that I can't just go out and buy something for two weeks. I can't pay any bills (except rent) and it's going to be tight. I worked hard not to live like that. It was something I did a long time ago and still cringe when I think about it. Robbing Peter to pay Paul and begging Mary for an extension.

My other issue is that I look to Jake and want to start grilling him on his finances. Truth is, I'm afraid I'll never move forward and it kills me to think about it. I don't want to live like this. I want to be comfortable. I'm not talking rich, just enough to be able to eat out when we like and buy a video. I want my sites to work. I want to travel. I want to see my friends in Georgia. Little things that are just out of my reach right now and it's killing me.

Then there are the big things. Marriage. I want a ring. A nice ring. My friend and I talked about this earlier in the week and she said that engagement rings are pointless. I disagreed. Not just on the traditional meaning of the ring, that it signifies commitment, but that it also proves he is able to save up for something he really wants. You save for what you want. No excuses, no 'next week'. If you want it then no one has to remind you to do it. I don't want to ask about if he's been saving up because any answer but 'yes' would kill me.

Money makes me crazy.

My boss should be in the rodeo. I've never had someone ride my ass for so long without at least getting a leg cramp. If all goes well she'll be with her family today while her mom has surgery. As I was leaving she mentioned coming here. I flipped. I said, "Are you out of your mind?" When she protested, saying that there was nothing for her to do there I semi yelled, "Yes, yes there is. You can be with your family. Supporting each other. You need to be in the waiting area with your family." I didn't want to mention what else was on my mind. If something happened and her mother died on the table, she'd be all the way out here. No WAY would I wish that on anyone. I don't get people. If I dropped dead today they'd have someone in my seat tomorrow. When it comes to the important things in life you need to put work second. I know I do. I cannot wait to have surgery for my back just to get out of there for a while. I am not even going to answer the phone. If they can't figure out how to do something then they can improvise. Then again, it's said that I'd go under the knife just to take some time off. :p

I got an email the other day asking to either give credit or remove a post. She gave a snarky remark about me being in 'bad taste' by not giving her credit. I clicked on the link she provided and was sent back in time. Back to 2003... when the thread was created. This shit wasn't even current. I don't post things without giving credit so I was pretty miffed. In the FIRST line of the thread I stated that it was something I found on MSN. You know, one of those life style posts that people send their work in to be published. It was so old that the link was no longer valid. I also placed the 'meat' of the post in quotes. The reason is that a lot of threads go dead fast and I wanted some referrence kept. Considering it was so old I simply removed the quoted bit, but kept the referrence to the dead link so she could she there was credit given. It wasn't good enough. Apparently she thought her name should have been there. Oh give me a break. I quote parts of news articles all the time and link back to the source: the website I got it from. It's not like I'm quoting from some book. These websites (MSN, CNN, Local news stations, etc...) PAY people for their articles. They want recognition? Write a fucking novel. Bah! I'm done...

Let me get this straight... The coworker who worked a grand total of 5.5 months out of 12 last year takes off for a week and I have to do her work? AND she doesn't even do the work from last month (yes the WHOLE fucking month) and someone else had to pick up her slack? What kind of deal did she make? Sign me up... I've been on edge every day with the amount of work dumped on me and all I hear is 'you missed out on 30 minutes worth of work because you didn't ask if someone was done'. This job is getting OLD.

I called in sick again and my boss was pissed. There was a huge report due today that wasn't finished. I felt bad until she started in with 'I gave you extra time' shit. The two weeks prior were taken up by Thanksgiving and her constant little tasks. Everything was priority and even when I told her that I needed to work on the Month End reports she stacked more shit on my plate. I was waiting for the AAs to add the missing information so I could complete that report. When I gave the sheets to their supervisor I got 'they don't have time to do this' and she handed them back. Fine. I went to my boss and asked what I should do and she took the sheets, saying they had to make time since it was information they left out. Lovely... Away went my report and that's the last I heard if it. When I mentioned it to the boss today her response was, "Well I guess I gave it to them then!" She was one step from yelling. I finally said, "Look. I've been sick all last week and came in to do the reports. Now the hives are bad and I can't wear clothes. You know I'd come in if I could. I did last week." After that she said "I know" a couple of times and then started complaining about having to do the reports herself. I offered for her to send them to me so I can do them from home but she ignored me and hung up. I am sooo not looking forward to tomorrow. I have to go in, but I dont want to hear the flack. I just need to keep repeating, 'You gave me twice the work on top of the other added tasks not counting my own and expected me to do it in half the time." If that doesn't work I'm going to start looking for a job pronto. This is bullshit.

/ rant

My first day back posting the rant for NoChickTrix and it was shit. I was so tired from tearing that tank apart on Sunday that Monday morning's rant was the last thing on my mind. It's hard to have any train of thought at 5:30am in the morning as it is. People tell me to try doing the rant the night before, but when I get home the last thing on my mind is doing anything work related. I wonder how some of these sites manage to turn out funny rants and levity on a daily basis. Jake says that it's all they do all day. Maybe they work on the 3rd floor of my work.:p

I didn't eat the apple. Hell, I don't even like apples unless I have peanut Butter to smear on them. Why do I have to suffer for what ONE ditzy broad did? Man can denounce G-d, destroy the earth, start wars and eat hoofed animals. Some chick eats fruit and I have to deal with cramping and mood swings that may get me committed one day. Evolution my ass... This shit was premeditated.

CNN: Whatever bloggers are writing about work, employers don't like it. Employees reportedly have been fired for blogging at a number of companies, including Starbucks, Delta Air Lines, Wells Fargo, Friendster and Kmart.

In a January survey by the Society for Human Resource Management, 3 percent of human resource professionals reported disciplining an employee for blogging, and none reported dismissing an employee for such behavior. Nevertheless, ejected bloggers stand by their claims.

I found myself leaning towards the bloggers rights on this issue. While there are some instances that I can see a company having the right to discipline a worker for blogging about their job (posting confidential information, etc...), that's where the rights end. A person should be allowed to freely speak their mind about their life. If someone at work pisses me off, I should be allowed to bitch about them (without listing their name). As far as I am concerned blogging is just another means of expressing oneself. I hear people bitch about their jobs every single day. The work load, the customers, the supervisors, the working conditions... People need to sound off about their frustrations. What's next? A person overheard bitching about their job at dinner is fired for insubordination? Maybe a neighbor hears a coworker complaining as they are sitting in their house... When do we have the right to speak our minds?