ALL the snow is gone. Finally. And my car almost looks black again - it's been looking kind of grey lately, from all the road salt and snow-crud caked all over it. We needed a good rain to get rid of a lot of that stuff.
I checked yesterday after work, and did not find any of my bulbs to be sprouting. My prickly pear cacti are all still shriveled and slumped over, too. So spring has not yet reached into my micro-climate, even tho it is showing signs in other people's yards. I already knew I have an odd micro-climate here, tho, so no surprises.
The grey day has made me droopy, like my cacti. Took some extra vitamin D - gummies! - to try to counteract this. I'll have a nice salad and an early bedtime. Tomorrow is another day, and like Annie sings, the sun will come out tomorrow.
I'm still doing that - everything anyone says or does, a song pops into my head to fit. It started getting really intense on Weds, and has not let up yet. I wonder if I can count that as a sign of spring? Or maybe just a sign of impending lunacy.
Saturday, March 14, 2015
Saturday, March 7, 2015
One hell of a week
Ok, I had a great time in LA last weekend. Went to LA Opera, saw Ghosts of Versailles, saw Barber of Seville. Went to the beach, did some roaming. I always enjoy roaming, I discovered a few nice places that were new to me, and revisited a couple of old favorites.
Funny that I always seem to feel better near large bodies of water, and I enjoy looking at boats. Mind you, I don't want to be in or on the water, and won't get in a boat except in extraordinary circumstances. So being near the ocean was nice, and seeing boats of various purposes was nice. And staying on dry land was nice.
Coming home, the flight actually arrived in EWR an hour early. Then, supposedly due to weather conditions (a little bit of snow) we couldn't get a gate so we could get off the plane. That took more than a couple of hours, and involved the plane driving around the airport quite a bit, from one end of the United terminal to the other, and back. Then when we finally did get a gate, and were able to get off the plane, it took over an hour for the luggage to be offloaded and reach the carousel. I guess that's not so unusual in EWR, but as I don't normally check luggage, it was a new level of annoyance for me.
Got on the train to MetroPark, which was running late (always is, tho, so nothing new there), and found more snow, some ice, and noone with shovels to clear anything. Walking on ice for several hundred feet to the garage, pulling my rolly bag, is not my idea of fun. The Parkway was a slushy mess, and slow going. Local roads were more snowy than slushy, and that generally doesn't bother me overly much, just making it a slower than usual ride home.
Next morning, got up for work, found the world covered with ice, and after sliding most of the way off my deck, decided to stay home. Called to tell them I wasn't going to be there, after the hour when someone is normally in the office, and nobody answered. Called back a while later, same result. Left a message.
Sometime later the admin called me, and said, oh, you didn't hear? - Didn't hear what? - The other guy I work with a lot died on Sunday. In the office. Of a heart attack. The EMTs took almost 15 minutes to get there. They are just a couple of blocks away, and it was Sunday afternoon, so you'd think no big traffic jams.
This is NYC, don't ever have a heart attack there and think you might survive it.
So if the travel delays weren't enough to kill the happy buzz form a lovely weekend, the Monday morning news was more than enough to snuff it out entirely.
Had to re-imagine my work week, as the newly deceased and I were going out on an audit together on Weds, and now I was doing the whole thing myself. Had to put up with the "I'm more hurt by this than you could ever be" thing from the admin and company owner, who couldn't figure out how to work with this guy for the year and a half he had been with us, but all of a sudden it's like he lost a brother, yada, yada, yada. Got a call from the deceased's fiancee on Tuesday evening, asking for help getting his possessions out of the office, since the owner wasn't interested in turning over the guy's laptop and accessories, and had told the bank the guy died so she wasn't able to cash his last check. Had to endure an attack by the admin when I asked about these issues, and was accused of "being on the wrong side," to the point where I said I would quit if she didn't lay off the vituperative bullshit.
Then the owner started in on the "you promised me three days this week, you've only been here two" line of crap. Yes, but I can't control the weather, asshole, and when travel is not possible on one of your days, you lose. I have a schedule to keep, and I can't rearrange it on a moment's notice.
I still may quit, but probably not for a few weeks, at least. I've had it with these idiots. Bad karma. I have a policy of removing bad karma from my life. It's past time to do so.
I did have two very nice, calm and productive days with my other boss in Red Bank. Also saw a couple of my own clients, also nice and calm and productive. The bad karma has got to go, and sooner rather than later.
Between all that and the shoveling - we had a shitload of snow on Thursday - I'm exhausted. It's supposed to be warmer for the next week or so, tho, so all this ought to melt, and we can start all over.
Someone I know assures me that this was the last snowstorm of the season. I'm hoping he's right. The birds are singing, and in spots where the snow has melted off, you can see bulbs sprouting, so maybe he is right. Fingers crossed.
Funny that I always seem to feel better near large bodies of water, and I enjoy looking at boats. Mind you, I don't want to be in or on the water, and won't get in a boat except in extraordinary circumstances. So being near the ocean was nice, and seeing boats of various purposes was nice. And staying on dry land was nice.
 |
| San Pedro, CA waterfront |
Coming home, the flight actually arrived in EWR an hour early. Then, supposedly due to weather conditions (a little bit of snow) we couldn't get a gate so we could get off the plane. That took more than a couple of hours, and involved the plane driving around the airport quite a bit, from one end of the United terminal to the other, and back. Then when we finally did get a gate, and were able to get off the plane, it took over an hour for the luggage to be offloaded and reach the carousel. I guess that's not so unusual in EWR, but as I don't normally check luggage, it was a new level of annoyance for me.
Got on the train to MetroPark, which was running late (always is, tho, so nothing new there), and found more snow, some ice, and noone with shovels to clear anything. Walking on ice for several hundred feet to the garage, pulling my rolly bag, is not my idea of fun. The Parkway was a slushy mess, and slow going. Local roads were more snowy than slushy, and that generally doesn't bother me overly much, just making it a slower than usual ride home.
Next morning, got up for work, found the world covered with ice, and after sliding most of the way off my deck, decided to stay home. Called to tell them I wasn't going to be there, after the hour when someone is normally in the office, and nobody answered. Called back a while later, same result. Left a message.
Sometime later the admin called me, and said, oh, you didn't hear? - Didn't hear what? - The other guy I work with a lot died on Sunday. In the office. Of a heart attack. The EMTs took almost 15 minutes to get there. They are just a couple of blocks away, and it was Sunday afternoon, so you'd think no big traffic jams.
This is NYC, don't ever have a heart attack there and think you might survive it.
So if the travel delays weren't enough to kill the happy buzz form a lovely weekend, the Monday morning news was more than enough to snuff it out entirely.
Had to re-imagine my work week, as the newly deceased and I were going out on an audit together on Weds, and now I was doing the whole thing myself. Had to put up with the "I'm more hurt by this than you could ever be" thing from the admin and company owner, who couldn't figure out how to work with this guy for the year and a half he had been with us, but all of a sudden it's like he lost a brother, yada, yada, yada. Got a call from the deceased's fiancee on Tuesday evening, asking for help getting his possessions out of the office, since the owner wasn't interested in turning over the guy's laptop and accessories, and had told the bank the guy died so she wasn't able to cash his last check. Had to endure an attack by the admin when I asked about these issues, and was accused of "being on the wrong side," to the point where I said I would quit if she didn't lay off the vituperative bullshit.
Then the owner started in on the "you promised me three days this week, you've only been here two" line of crap. Yes, but I can't control the weather, asshole, and when travel is not possible on one of your days, you lose. I have a schedule to keep, and I can't rearrange it on a moment's notice.
I still may quit, but probably not for a few weeks, at least. I've had it with these idiots. Bad karma. I have a policy of removing bad karma from my life. It's past time to do so.
I did have two very nice, calm and productive days with my other boss in Red Bank. Also saw a couple of my own clients, also nice and calm and productive. The bad karma has got to go, and sooner rather than later.
Between all that and the shoveling - we had a shitload of snow on Thursday - I'm exhausted. It's supposed to be warmer for the next week or so, tho, so all this ought to melt, and we can start all over.
Someone I know assures me that this was the last snowstorm of the season. I'm hoping he's right. The birds are singing, and in spots where the snow has melted off, you can see bulbs sprouting, so maybe he is right. Fingers crossed.
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