The reason for the tumbleweeds drifting through thr columns of this blog is because my work is owning me. It is the end of the fiscal year and there has been tales of long hours and general evilness, and this past week I was doing 60 hours, Monday to Saturday, 10 hours each. Same will go for this week, followed by a 50 hour week. If I wasn't trying desperately to make up some dough for vacation, I wouldn't bother. Then again, it's not like I have much of a choice anyway.
There really haven't been much else happening when one works so much, other than develop a unhealthy disdain for one of my co-workers. I am cordial with him, but I don't show much interest in what he has to say, mostly because he thinks rather highly of himself. Well, I think highly of myself as well, but I don't throw my weight around and order people about. Ah, i'll just drop it now. Too much time is wasted on the issue.
My wife had 5 days off, because of some ironic karma, so when she told Zoe she had to go to work today, Zoe was pretty teary eyed and sad. Nothing a little Smash Bros Brawl didn't solve, but it was nonetheless a little secretly comforting to my wife. See, Alex for the past few days have been asking if my wife is working, and is disappointed when she isn't. He likes it when its Daddy watching them. We figured out later that it was linked to my phrasing. Whenever Alex asks if he could play Mario fighting game, I always say, "After Mommy goes to work", so that the kids wouldn't just ignore it when my wife leaves and says goodbye to the kids. Well, Alex interprets it as we never play the game unless Momy is at work, as if it were something secret we do when mommy isn't home. Silly tots.
Dansen and I have done a couple podcasts now, and they are slowly improving over time. Biggest issue right now is syncing, the first one was horrendous and the second one is much improved, but the audio doesn't quite sync up. So like a responsible friend I simply forwarded the audio to Dansen and just let him deal with it. Like I mentioned: 60 hours. I get a little picky about how I spend my time.
I'm looking forward to the release of Grand Theft Auto IV, coming out later this month to much hype and pretty good previews. I'm ready to drop sixty on the bad boy, although the experience will undoubtedly be dampened by not being able to play it 90 percent of the time I'm awake, because those are the times when the kids are awake too. Poor me. I'm having the same problem with Half Life, not being able to play it unless everyones out or sleeping. Because the game has zombie elements as well, that even rules out when my wife is around. But nonetheless, still excited about the game.
Well, my thumbs are getting a little numb and the kids are starting to picket, so I best be starting some form of entertainment for them. Maybe more later when I figure out something to say.
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Inspiration Struck and Hit Dansen
Yeah, it's been a while since a posty posty, but it's mostly because I was trying to let the April Fools joke take effect, since I know not everyone reads the blog everyday like my wife does. And then I got lazy and inspired!
So I was listening to the podcasts at work, slighty worried because twice in the week static electricity had travelled up my ears and shocked them. And yeah, it hurt like hell to get shocked inside your ears, and you do really hear a pop before the pain follows. So anyway, listening to podcasts and actually missing broadcasting. Shooting the witty banter and doing a bit of creativity. I thought about how to possibly find a mate to do it, and I couldn't figure it out. Then I thought of a guy whom I had great chemistry with, but he's in Japan. So we met up, he's game for it, and we're going to give it a go tomorrow night. We'll see what happens. A lot of technical obstacles, i'll say.
Work sucks.
Production had been on hold for the past 6 weeks and it had been absolute torture. They want us to stay busy, but there's really nothing worth doing. So I've been doing odd little menial tasks, like scraping old stickers off carts and moving shit around. Well, there was a glimmer of hope for about a day, but now a field action is causing us to basically be on hold for another 4 weeks. Aside from the additional dead time, it also means that all that sweet overtime that I've been anticipating is going down the drain. Because the company fiscal year ends in April, I doubt there will be any overtime for a while.
Apart from the homemade electroshock therapies I've received, my ipod is trying to fail on me. It freezes in mid-podcast, forcing me to reboot and rehunt where I left off. I would say about 8 reboots every day I work, which can be quite a nuisance. So I've done some research, and I've come up with a plan to get a nano sometime in September. Why then? Well, every September since its launch there's been a new redesign, and I'm guess they will likely bump up their base model to 8 gigs, easy. Furthermore, I'm siding with the nano not only because of the price, but also because it, like the touch, has a flash drive. The 3.5 drive in the classic is skipping in mine, I suppose they're not really made for too much movement or drops. So, that's the plan. If the ipod does die, I'll try my best to substitute it with something else. Between my PSP and my phone, I should have some alternative.
Right, its late now.
So I was listening to the podcasts at work, slighty worried because twice in the week static electricity had travelled up my ears and shocked them. And yeah, it hurt like hell to get shocked inside your ears, and you do really hear a pop before the pain follows. So anyway, listening to podcasts and actually missing broadcasting. Shooting the witty banter and doing a bit of creativity. I thought about how to possibly find a mate to do it, and I couldn't figure it out. Then I thought of a guy whom I had great chemistry with, but he's in Japan. So we met up, he's game for it, and we're going to give it a go tomorrow night. We'll see what happens. A lot of technical obstacles, i'll say.
Work sucks.
Production had been on hold for the past 6 weeks and it had been absolute torture. They want us to stay busy, but there's really nothing worth doing. So I've been doing odd little menial tasks, like scraping old stickers off carts and moving shit around. Well, there was a glimmer of hope for about a day, but now a field action is causing us to basically be on hold for another 4 weeks. Aside from the additional dead time, it also means that all that sweet overtime that I've been anticipating is going down the drain. Because the company fiscal year ends in April, I doubt there will be any overtime for a while.
Apart from the homemade electroshock therapies I've received, my ipod is trying to fail on me. It freezes in mid-podcast, forcing me to reboot and rehunt where I left off. I would say about 8 reboots every day I work, which can be quite a nuisance. So I've done some research, and I've come up with a plan to get a nano sometime in September. Why then? Well, every September since its launch there's been a new redesign, and I'm guess they will likely bump up their base model to 8 gigs, easy. Furthermore, I'm siding with the nano not only because of the price, but also because it, like the touch, has a flash drive. The 3.5 drive in the classic is skipping in mine, I suppose they're not really made for too much movement or drops. So, that's the plan. If the ipod does die, I'll try my best to substitute it with something else. Between my PSP and my phone, I should have some alternative.
Right, its late now.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Phone bloggin'
Since production at work has been ground to a halt for the fourth week in a row, and I'm just daft sick of taping floors, making labels, and staving off boredom by pretending to read company policies on the computer but in fact, am actually staring at the computer screen with glossed eyes listening to my podcasts. I decided to take a voluntary day off so now I have a four day weekend. Which allowed me to have this super slumber whereby I dreamt that I slept for over two whole days. Every moment I woke up and then went back to sleep, dreams would surge right back in like I never ever woke up. Its kinda nice.
Work has been a little interesting in a way. One of my coworkers got selected for the hiring process earlier this week - package of info and the works. That was Monday. By Tuesday he was dropped when they found out he didn't finish high school. My new co-worker, whom I suspect makes either the same or a tad higher than me, told me that he never even did high school. Later that day he asked me how to spell, "since" and "college" while he was emailing. Now I'm not acting elitist in the slightest bit, but it does bother me that I spent all that time in college for seemingly nuts all. The other interesting thing, if you want to call it that, instead of a workplace accident, was when I put a labeler down and accidently squirted a stream of alcohol on my face. My thick ass dork glasses saved my eyesight once again, and my face was very clean after that. After that, I got micromanaged by some co-workers and I just thought, that's it. Taking the day off.
Yesterday my wife had the distinct pleasure of taking our kids to the dentist, and while Zoe was a good little patient, Alex got a little freaked and didn't last for more than two minutes. He has another appointment next week, so we might just try the approach of handing him over to the dentist completely, and waiting in the waiting room. The idea is that if we're not there elude to, he might just learn to cope.
Well, I might blog from the phone differently, maybe directly into blogger. I hate to reformat the breaks from the post on the computer afterwards.
I'm not certain how it got to where it was, but Zoe mentioned that Swiper didn't like to hold the skunk, and my wife asked why.
"Because smoke comes out of his bottom," explained Zoe.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Pie Week
Well, it's not as tasty as it sounds. It simply addresses the situation at work. We're currently having problems with the boards, so they can't build any units and therefore the whole assembly line has been halted. Although shipping is slightly more fortunate in having something to do, we have no real quota to meet and no one's looking up our skirts to see what we're up to. So there's a lot of pressure gone and I'm feeling more relaxed at work. I'm seriously tired of being so stressed all the time. Of course, this will mean that the next week or month will be insanely busy, with us playing catch up. Also, after just having a 4 day weekend, we won't be working Friday because of the shortage so I'll have another 3 day weekend. Sweet.
My love affair with NPR continues. Today I've been just listening to NPR for the whole day. I used to like Whad'ya Know on Saturdays, but since they don't really showcase the whole show as a podcast, I've really taken to "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me." It's a great news quiz show, with great humor and interesting guests dropping by. All and all, it's a great listen that has made me laugh out loud while working, inciting some looks from co-workers. But even the Movies podcast or the Tech podcasts are top notch, going beyond the usual glossy summarized and highly opinionated slant of mainstream media and providing a much more classy way of bringing me new information. I've just been really glad to be getting all this stuff into my brain. Now I don't feel like such a drone.
Today at work, I was scraping stickers off the floor with a razor blade and a co-worker came up and looked at me.
"Keeping busy, huh?"
"I know, it's not the best utilization of my abilities."
She smiled and nodded.
"Then again, I do work here after all."
I laughed at myself out loud, probably as some sort of self-mockery and realization that it was the sad truth. College education and I'm scraping stickers off the floor with alcohol.
I'm revisiting Band of Brothers again, having missed one of the episodes when I watched it on the History Channel a while back, and this time I'm watching it uncensored (just language) and for some reason, it doesn't come with subtitles. I'm a funny sort, I enjoy subtitles for some reason, likely due to the fact that I'm an aspiring screenwriter, but I think it also helps my comprehension. Although it does ruin a lot of comedies for me, since I'm a speedy reader. I get the jokes before they deliver them.
For some reason, today the kids are either acting super crazy therefore becoming more accident prone, or as I am always suspected, the house is slowly getting smaller. But so far tonight, Alex kicked the hard floor with his foot, Zoe tried to round off the kitchen counter corner with her head, and Alex tried to sharpen his toy sword on Zoe's hands.
The other day, when we were having our family day at Pike Place Market, we were hanging out at the park and they found a little boy to play with. Nothing complex, they just running around each other and having a good time. Anyway, at one point the little boy ran off further than usual, and Zoe reached that invisible radius between herself and me and so she stopped dead in her tracks, and for good measure, stuck out her arm to prevent Alex from going any further. She was so serious doing that too, which made me proud and laugh at the same time.
Just put the kids to bed, and we were playing "What are you going to Dream about?" The kids enjoy that, as do I, though we get a little goofy sometimes. Alex dreamt that I have two butts for eyes, and Zoe dreamt that I only had one tooth. Now their lights are off, but they're still talking quietly which is pretty cute.
Oh, one of the things Alex did again tonight was to mumble incomprehensible phrases really loud, like "Oola!" and "Nohnoh!". I told him to stop shouting it so loud and he said he was speaking Spanish. Thank you, Dora. Now they think they know Spanish.
My love affair with NPR continues. Today I've been just listening to NPR for the whole day. I used to like Whad'ya Know on Saturdays, but since they don't really showcase the whole show as a podcast, I've really taken to "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me." It's a great news quiz show, with great humor and interesting guests dropping by. All and all, it's a great listen that has made me laugh out loud while working, inciting some looks from co-workers. But even the Movies podcast or the Tech podcasts are top notch, going beyond the usual glossy summarized and highly opinionated slant of mainstream media and providing a much more classy way of bringing me new information. I've just been really glad to be getting all this stuff into my brain. Now I don't feel like such a drone.
Today at work, I was scraping stickers off the floor with a razor blade and a co-worker came up and looked at me.
"Keeping busy, huh?"
"I know, it's not the best utilization of my abilities."
She smiled and nodded.
"Then again, I do work here after all."
I laughed at myself out loud, probably as some sort of self-mockery and realization that it was the sad truth. College education and I'm scraping stickers off the floor with alcohol.
I'm revisiting Band of Brothers again, having missed one of the episodes when I watched it on the History Channel a while back, and this time I'm watching it uncensored (just language) and for some reason, it doesn't come with subtitles. I'm a funny sort, I enjoy subtitles for some reason, likely due to the fact that I'm an aspiring screenwriter, but I think it also helps my comprehension. Although it does ruin a lot of comedies for me, since I'm a speedy reader. I get the jokes before they deliver them.
For some reason, today the kids are either acting super crazy therefore becoming more accident prone, or as I am always suspected, the house is slowly getting smaller. But so far tonight, Alex kicked the hard floor with his foot, Zoe tried to round off the kitchen counter corner with her head, and Alex tried to sharpen his toy sword on Zoe's hands.
The other day, when we were having our family day at Pike Place Market, we were hanging out at the park and they found a little boy to play with. Nothing complex, they just running around each other and having a good time. Anyway, at one point the little boy ran off further than usual, and Zoe reached that invisible radius between herself and me and so she stopped dead in her tracks, and for good measure, stuck out her arm to prevent Alex from going any further. She was so serious doing that too, which made me proud and laugh at the same time.
Just put the kids to bed, and we were playing "What are you going to Dream about?" The kids enjoy that, as do I, though we get a little goofy sometimes. Alex dreamt that I have two butts for eyes, and Zoe dreamt that I only had one tooth. Now their lights are off, but they're still talking quietly which is pretty cute.
Oh, one of the things Alex did again tonight was to mumble incomprehensible phrases really loud, like "Oola!" and "Nohnoh!". I told him to stop shouting it so loud and he said he was speaking Spanish. Thank you, Dora. Now they think they know Spanish.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
January was Suck Month
I don't know what it was about January, but it just sucked royally. I should be a little careful though, the month isn't quite over. Better look out for saws dropping from the ceiling or the like.
Right now, the kids are sick - they are coughing a great deal, first hitting Alex and then moving through to Zoe. The doctor ruled out strep throat and is testing for whooping cough, but it's still pretty inconclusive. One night was so bad that he'd cough and wake up crying, leaving my poor wife to stay up with him most of the night, sitting in the rocking chair consoling him. She definitely earned a Mother of the Year award for that one. I slept mostly because I knew I couldn't do any less than 5 and a half hours of sleep. I would implode or have some structural failure if I tried.
So now Zoe has it, but we're laying on the cough medicine, which he hates, to at least let them have some rest at night. Being sick and sleep deprived makes for a very cranky and irritable kid. They're on the mend, but we're kinda trying to take it easy, stay indoors, and watch Daddy waste away his weekend with PS3 goodness.
Work was hard. I'm on my feet for the 10 hour day, walking back and forth, doing lifting and sorting and the like, and holding in repressed anger at my co-workers for redefining the personification of "Lameass". In addition to that, we had a few 58 hour weeks, and either one or two days off. I don't care who you are, but after you work that much, you really start to lose sight of everything else, like who you are and people around you. I was dreaming about work, it was so bad. My coworkers and I got into a high tension discussion about my supervisor taking roll call in the morning, and marking people up for tardies and ultimately firing the repeat offenders with as little as one warning.
Their argument was that it was just a few minutes, and that shouldn't matter. I argued that if it was a big deal for them, then just show up on time. Work starts at the same time everyday. My co-worker accused me of living too closely to work (7 minute drive), and that some people had to commute on the freeway and traffic was what it was. I said again, work starts the same time everyday, and a lot of people show up on time or early. Then I put it to him this way, if the supervisor came to him and said, I'm going to take a few minutes from your lunch today, how would he feel, since we were practically stealing time when we show up late but still filled in the timecard as 40 hours. He said it doesn't matter, since we leave work a few minutes early anyway.
At that point, I do this thing when I'm done talking to him, which is to say, "I don't know." repeatedly until he leaves me alone, then I just put on my earphones and walk away. It's much like aruguing with children when I'm at work. They want it their way, have no logic to back it up, and can't see more than 2 seconds ahead of what the consequences will be.
One of my other projects in the new future, in addition to finishing the wedding, planning the trip to California, and all the other daily crap that I ignore, will be to go through some emails from my wife and pull up excerpts of kid adventures. I've neglected to report a lot of their shennigans and so I'm trying to remedy that.
Right now, the kids are sick - they are coughing a great deal, first hitting Alex and then moving through to Zoe. The doctor ruled out strep throat and is testing for whooping cough, but it's still pretty inconclusive. One night was so bad that he'd cough and wake up crying, leaving my poor wife to stay up with him most of the night, sitting in the rocking chair consoling him. She definitely earned a Mother of the Year award for that one. I slept mostly because I knew I couldn't do any less than 5 and a half hours of sleep. I would implode or have some structural failure if I tried.
So now Zoe has it, but we're laying on the cough medicine, which he hates, to at least let them have some rest at night. Being sick and sleep deprived makes for a very cranky and irritable kid. They're on the mend, but we're kinda trying to take it easy, stay indoors, and watch Daddy waste away his weekend with PS3 goodness.
Work was hard. I'm on my feet for the 10 hour day, walking back and forth, doing lifting and sorting and the like, and holding in repressed anger at my co-workers for redefining the personification of "Lameass". In addition to that, we had a few 58 hour weeks, and either one or two days off. I don't care who you are, but after you work that much, you really start to lose sight of everything else, like who you are and people around you. I was dreaming about work, it was so bad. My coworkers and I got into a high tension discussion about my supervisor taking roll call in the morning, and marking people up for tardies and ultimately firing the repeat offenders with as little as one warning.
Their argument was that it was just a few minutes, and that shouldn't matter. I argued that if it was a big deal for them, then just show up on time. Work starts at the same time everyday. My co-worker accused me of living too closely to work (7 minute drive), and that some people had to commute on the freeway and traffic was what it was. I said again, work starts the same time everyday, and a lot of people show up on time or early. Then I put it to him this way, if the supervisor came to him and said, I'm going to take a few minutes from your lunch today, how would he feel, since we were practically stealing time when we show up late but still filled in the timecard as 40 hours. He said it doesn't matter, since we leave work a few minutes early anyway.
At that point, I do this thing when I'm done talking to him, which is to say, "I don't know." repeatedly until he leaves me alone, then I just put on my earphones and walk away. It's much like aruguing with children when I'm at work. They want it their way, have no logic to back it up, and can't see more than 2 seconds ahead of what the consequences will be.
One of my other projects in the new future, in addition to finishing the wedding, planning the trip to California, and all the other daily crap that I ignore, will be to go through some emails from my wife and pull up excerpts of kid adventures. I've neglected to report a lot of their shennigans and so I'm trying to remedy that.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Going Pro
Well, to start off the blog, I had a terrible day.
Okay, not terrible like I got hit by a bus and then subsequently trampled on by a marathon of soccer players with metal cleats, and then getting picked apart by vultures and rodents. But maybe terrible like being hit by a little girl on a bike.
Work has been stressful this month - they decided to make January crazy ass month, which means they want us to work 50 hours for sure, but they also reserve the right to work us on Saturdays, which means 58 hour work weeks. I escaped the first round simply because we were too productive, but this week we've been struggling to meet numbers because of various reasons. Anyway, today I kinda got caught in all that crap, when two bosses with two different priorities want me to put theirs ahead. Then almost cruelly, neither of them will directly tell the other to bugger off, instead just giving me the privilege of deciding for myself which is more important. Anyway, they are expecting crazy numbers from us - like abnormal numbers considering the amount of lifting and walking that we do.
Anyway, I think that in itself is plenty challenging, but my co-worker manages to top that with a slice of oblivious idiocy. He really is a nice enough guy, but one of his main faults is that he's a compulsive complainer. And pessimistic as well. If you know me, and I say that someone is pessimistic, that has to be pretty bad. He likes to concentrate on blaming everyone, and complaining about certain things that nobody has control over. In fact, there are times when I have to interject all the commotion about who's responsible and just say, "Let's just solve the damn problem already." Needless to say, spending 10 hours everyday with him gets old fast. Some days he's neutral and okay to talk to, but some days, especially today, he's a royal pain.
So I came home and logged online, forgetting that today was actually Macworld. I watched the keynote and it cheered me up a bit, seeing the cool MacBook Air (no optical drive? You're insane!) and how they're really trying to revamp AppleTV, which I'm jonesing for a little. They improved the interface and will single-handledly kill Vudu, I believe. AppleTV has got me thinking if that's something I should aspire for when I sell my videocamera. Either that or a 360. Hmmm. False substitutes for true happiness.
The one thing I did do was to use my allowance for the week to splurge for a Flickr Pro account. I've been eyeing that for a while because I wanted an online archive of all my photos, incase the unspeakable happens and I lose all my photos. Plus if I set up my RSS feed to run that as a screensaver, that would be awesome too. But mostly because I really wanted to archive my photos and have a backup.
Sigh. What a life.
Okay, not terrible like I got hit by a bus and then subsequently trampled on by a marathon of soccer players with metal cleats, and then getting picked apart by vultures and rodents. But maybe terrible like being hit by a little girl on a bike.
Work has been stressful this month - they decided to make January crazy ass month, which means they want us to work 50 hours for sure, but they also reserve the right to work us on Saturdays, which means 58 hour work weeks. I escaped the first round simply because we were too productive, but this week we've been struggling to meet numbers because of various reasons. Anyway, today I kinda got caught in all that crap, when two bosses with two different priorities want me to put theirs ahead. Then almost cruelly, neither of them will directly tell the other to bugger off, instead just giving me the privilege of deciding for myself which is more important. Anyway, they are expecting crazy numbers from us - like abnormal numbers considering the amount of lifting and walking that we do.
Anyway, I think that in itself is plenty challenging, but my co-worker manages to top that with a slice of oblivious idiocy. He really is a nice enough guy, but one of his main faults is that he's a compulsive complainer. And pessimistic as well. If you know me, and I say that someone is pessimistic, that has to be pretty bad. He likes to concentrate on blaming everyone, and complaining about certain things that nobody has control over. In fact, there are times when I have to interject all the commotion about who's responsible and just say, "Let's just solve the damn problem already." Needless to say, spending 10 hours everyday with him gets old fast. Some days he's neutral and okay to talk to, but some days, especially today, he's a royal pain.
So I came home and logged online, forgetting that today was actually Macworld. I watched the keynote and it cheered me up a bit, seeing the cool MacBook Air (no optical drive? You're insane!) and how they're really trying to revamp AppleTV, which I'm jonesing for a little. They improved the interface and will single-handledly kill Vudu, I believe. AppleTV has got me thinking if that's something I should aspire for when I sell my videocamera. Either that or a 360. Hmmm. False substitutes for true happiness.
The one thing I did do was to use my allowance for the week to splurge for a Flickr Pro account. I've been eyeing that for a while because I wanted an online archive of all my photos, incase the unspeakable happens and I lose all my photos. Plus if I set up my RSS feed to run that as a screensaver, that would be awesome too. But mostly because I really wanted to archive my photos and have a backup.
Sigh. What a life.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Haven't talked much about kids, but it's a bit overdue, so here it is.
The kids have been rather cute lately, picking up odd little things wherever influence seeps in. They spent pretty much most of today chanting, "I don't like Candy Corn, no I don't like Candy Corn" which is rather cute.
And yesterday, they were signing one of the Snoopy songs from "Snoopy, Come Home," one of the lesser known ones that I just happened to rent. The one mystery song still remains whereby the two of them will start singing:
"I'm notttt perrrrr-fect. I'm nottttt Perrrr-fect..." I don't really know where they got it from, but it seems aptly appropriate most of the time, which is pretty ironic.
And one of the best ones so far that I think would be perfect for a trip to the bar is actually from me. Sometimes Alex gets a little overexcited while drinking and he'll choke on the water and cough at the dinnertable. So when I say something like that, it's appropriate. But just imagine what people must be thinking when they're out in public, and out of the blue they'll just say:
"Take it easy with the drink."
They might guess that's why Mommy always says about Daddy.
Oh yeah, yesterday during the refreshing walk, this happened: toward the end of the walk, even though I had my iPod on, I heard them giggling and laughing back there so I glanced back and say that they had a new game. Kissing. They would lean in, kiss, and fall back laughing. It was really cute, and sometimes they would go in, linger, maybe have they mouths open, and then kiss, and then laugh heartily. I thought it was funny - at first.
And then they kept doing it. And we were in public.
I didn't want to overreact about it, being how they've never done it before and it's not like they were making out, but it sure felt a little odd after they kept doing it. I know that it's completely innocent, but in my mind I'm thinking, it's always a bit fun to be doing that. After all, that's why we all do it, don't we? So I just gently told them they were being too crazy and by the time we got home, they were done. But it was a strange moment for me.
Kinda like this I suppose.
Oh, and Alex started Playschool a few weeks back, whereby he'll be at a facility whereby he'll interact with other kids, doing fun activities, and squeeze in some learning. He's been saying some cute things too, when a teacher exclaimed after noticing Alex's head that he was sweaty, Alex replied, "Oh. I'm sorry." Zoe started gymnastics, which is just a bit of jumping and climbing. She's doing pretty well, except she does want to constantly embark on her own agenda.
We were feeding the ducks today and Alex and Zoe were conversing with a two year old. Then Alex turned to the Mom and asked, "What's your name?" "Ronnie," she replied.
"That's a good name," reassured Alex.
We've been trying to teach him about talking to strangers. That's not going that well, as you can see.
---
I took the risk and applied for a different position at work. I don't know if it'll come to anything, but it's a good company and I'd like to stay with it, although not in the same position I'm in now. I just think things won't improve and my patience will once day implode if I stay at my current position for any longer than 9 months.
The kids have been rather cute lately, picking up odd little things wherever influence seeps in. They spent pretty much most of today chanting, "I don't like Candy Corn, no I don't like Candy Corn" which is rather cute.
And yesterday, they were signing one of the Snoopy songs from "Snoopy, Come Home," one of the lesser known ones that I just happened to rent. The one mystery song still remains whereby the two of them will start singing:
"I'm notttt perrrrr-fect. I'm nottttt Perrrr-fect..." I don't really know where they got it from, but it seems aptly appropriate most of the time, which is pretty ironic.
And one of the best ones so far that I think would be perfect for a trip to the bar is actually from me. Sometimes Alex gets a little overexcited while drinking and he'll choke on the water and cough at the dinnertable. So when I say something like that, it's appropriate. But just imagine what people must be thinking when they're out in public, and out of the blue they'll just say:
"Take it easy with the drink."
They might guess that's why Mommy always says about Daddy.
Oh yeah, yesterday during the refreshing walk, this happened: toward the end of the walk, even though I had my iPod on, I heard them giggling and laughing back there so I glanced back and say that they had a new game. Kissing. They would lean in, kiss, and fall back laughing. It was really cute, and sometimes they would go in, linger, maybe have they mouths open, and then kiss, and then laugh heartily. I thought it was funny - at first.
And then they kept doing it. And we were in public.
I didn't want to overreact about it, being how they've never done it before and it's not like they were making out, but it sure felt a little odd after they kept doing it. I know that it's completely innocent, but in my mind I'm thinking, it's always a bit fun to be doing that. After all, that's why we all do it, don't we? So I just gently told them they were being too crazy and by the time we got home, they were done. But it was a strange moment for me.
Kinda like this I suppose.
Oh, and Alex started Playschool a few weeks back, whereby he'll be at a facility whereby he'll interact with other kids, doing fun activities, and squeeze in some learning. He's been saying some cute things too, when a teacher exclaimed after noticing Alex's head that he was sweaty, Alex replied, "Oh. I'm sorry." Zoe started gymnastics, which is just a bit of jumping and climbing. She's doing pretty well, except she does want to constantly embark on her own agenda.
We were feeding the ducks today and Alex and Zoe were conversing with a two year old. Then Alex turned to the Mom and asked, "What's your name?" "Ronnie," she replied.
"That's a good name," reassured Alex.
We've been trying to teach him about talking to strangers. That's not going that well, as you can see.
---
I took the risk and applied for a different position at work. I don't know if it'll come to anything, but it's a good company and I'd like to stay with it, although not in the same position I'm in now. I just think things won't improve and my patience will once day implode if I stay at my current position for any longer than 9 months.
Today I took the PSP out to Starbucks and used T-mobile's promotional access to their hotspots to test if the internet connection did indeed work outside of my home. The internet worked just fine, and the Locationfree worked pretty good too. The video was a little muddy at first, but it found a better encoding and that worked just fine. So now I know it works for sure. Doing it from home at 100% quality was a little deceiving...
Not a whole lot going on over here. I am thinking about applying for an entry sales position in my company, just to get away from the manufacturing part of it. This past week has been really something for me. The supervisor has been doing time crackdowns - thus making us feel like little kids who've been late from lunch or sitting around talking. A couple of my co-workers effectively redefined laziness and poor work ethics, and one of the most annoyingly chatty people just filled a shipping position on Thursday. One of those guys that you'd never want working with you because he does Schwarzenegger impressions and can't stop talking about how much shipping experience he has. I think it's high time for me to move on.
I was feeling sluggish this afternoon - the kids had their downtime, but I was ready for a nap and they certainly weren't going to give it to me. I didn't feel like going on just to go out, and I don't feel like fighting the crowds at the malls or spending more money, since I have a poor sense of will power. So I decided that I should take the kids out on the wagon and go for a walk. And walk I did. iPod in my ears, I walked to the local mall, which is maybe a mile and a half or so, got the kids a couple of lollipops, and then walked back. It felt good to do the walking, even though I wasn't really dressed for it. I felt energized and not so sluggish. It might start a new trend. Might not. When it gets colder, I don't mind the walking but the kids might think otherwise.
I've been feeling better about the kids too, trying to really watch my attitude and tone around them, and they are so much happier now. I'm happier with myself as well, knowing that I've been a better parent, a more patient parent, and one that doesn't have to rely on volume and threats to get the kids to listen. So that's cool.
Well, bedtime for me. It's 2 in the morning and guess what? Monday morning I have to get up at 4:30am. Prove positive that I'm not cut out to be a morning person.
Not a whole lot going on over here. I am thinking about applying for an entry sales position in my company, just to get away from the manufacturing part of it. This past week has been really something for me. The supervisor has been doing time crackdowns - thus making us feel like little kids who've been late from lunch or sitting around talking. A couple of my co-workers effectively redefined laziness and poor work ethics, and one of the most annoyingly chatty people just filled a shipping position on Thursday. One of those guys that you'd never want working with you because he does Schwarzenegger impressions and can't stop talking about how much shipping experience he has. I think it's high time for me to move on.
I was feeling sluggish this afternoon - the kids had their downtime, but I was ready for a nap and they certainly weren't going to give it to me. I didn't feel like going on just to go out, and I don't feel like fighting the crowds at the malls or spending more money, since I have a poor sense of will power. So I decided that I should take the kids out on the wagon and go for a walk. And walk I did. iPod in my ears, I walked to the local mall, which is maybe a mile and a half or so, got the kids a couple of lollipops, and then walked back. It felt good to do the walking, even though I wasn't really dressed for it. I felt energized and not so sluggish. It might start a new trend. Might not. When it gets colder, I don't mind the walking but the kids might think otherwise.
I've been feeling better about the kids too, trying to really watch my attitude and tone around them, and they are so much happier now. I'm happier with myself as well, knowing that I've been a better parent, a more patient parent, and one that doesn't have to rely on volume and threats to get the kids to listen. So that's cool.
Well, bedtime for me. It's 2 in the morning and guess what? Monday morning I have to get up at 4:30am. Prove positive that I'm not cut out to be a morning person.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Bored at Work
By the way, it's boxes of instruction manual, a tape machine, and a counter for the number of units shipped. Yes, I was there for 10 hours and we shipped 13. It was a slow day.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
This, then that.
You have to read my bitchin' before you get to the super kawaii photos of the kids having a ball jumping off the couch. Didn't hurt that I had fun taking those photos as well.
---
Today's been an asshole day. Usually I refer to it as a clown day, but no, today's unique. It's a stinky butthole day. It's been one of the worser days at work bar none. I cannot even fanthom days like this at work at any other time in my history of working. It's just too bizarre and idiotic. A lot of little things, but mostly three major things that really rubbed me the wrong way.
1. Asshole Quality Guy. This guy is probably about my age, maybe younger. I think the only way to find out is to extract the stick out of his ass, cut it, and see how many rings you can find on the stick to determine how old this putz is. At first, I thought he was just misunderstood because the guys always made fun of his long, unkempt hair. Then as time passed, I realized that he's just a prick. Everytime he comes by, he'll make a comment or two about something we're doing wrong, and it got to the point when I realized that either we're not doing something wrong, or whatever we're doing really isn't a big deal. A real man would just compensate and roll with that shit. I complained to the boss today because he found something to complain about - that he had already seen the orders and we didn't need to call him on his pager - which was protocol. It's like, fuck off, man. Grow up. You're not happy with your life, go tell someone who innocently asks you how your day was. When you're at work, do your job and shut the hell up.
2. Coworker hit me. I didn't work around guys for most of my life, so I've been kinda out of it. But I've managed to gain a certain respect from the guys I do work with because I treat them with respect, I listen, and I'm a pretty logical guy. I don't talk shit about most people, and I speak intelligently. Some of the guys have taken to punching each other for sport, and yeah, it's pretty much like grade school most days. Because of the language barriers between everyone, it's down to pretty primal displays of communication. I've stayed out of it mostly. But today, one of the American co-workers that I get along with decided to grab my neck with my back turned, and so I whipped around and told him to never do that again. The one thing about me is that if I get surprised, hit, or any amount of pain is inflicted on me suddenly, I will go from Bruce to Hulk in seconds. I get crazy angry. It's almost scary because I have lost it with almost anyone, even my wife. She once shot a rubber band at my face and I had to storm off before I yelled at her. Just don't touch me, and it's all good. But if you do something to me physically, you'd better run. Anyway, he tried to joke it off and I told him again, don't do that ever again, I AM NOT JOKING. But in the same conversation, we talked normally, though for the rest of the day, we had semi-normal conversation but it was definitely a little weird and different.
3. Fucking Racism. One of the most evident things around where I work is that Race is front and center. It's not always about that, but it's all about that at the same time. Yesterday two contracters who were painting the building got into a bloody fight and they were two different races. May not be race related, but sometimes it's indirectly about that. I think even problem number 1 is subtle racism, in that there's a miscommunication and the main difference is that everyone's a different race.
Well, today during lunch a old issue came up again, when my co-worker pulled up an image from his email of fetus soup. It's a fucking chain mail that has pictures of "Canton" people from China, basically preparing said topic. The photos are realistic enough, and it's graphic, but what smarts is that words like, "The Chinese are crazy." and "The Chinese are disgusting" come up between the co-workers over and over again. When I'm standing in their midst. I've raised my objections, but they largely ignorant of their implications.
Now, I'm not the ambassador of Chinese people throughout the world, and fuck if I know what billions of Chinese people do or not do, but to slander a race based on some photos really irks the shit out of me. It's the blatantness of their exclamations, the generalizations of their accusations, and just the blind naivete of eating whatever bullshit is fed to them just pisses me off. As an educated guess, those photos are either shopped or they are effects. Mostly because we do have the laymen's skills to do that kind of effects. Furthermore, it would just be retarded for anyone to allow any photographer that obviously had a lot of skill capture the whole thing. The thing looks very set up, instead of the amateurish nature one would associate with highly immoral or illegal footage of that sort. Most the most logical explanation - one that I shared with my co-workers, is that no matter what culture, what country, what religion you're from, cannibalism is pretty much a no-go. Baby cannibalism, as one could imagine, is a definite taboo. Just not going to tolerated.
I searched online to look for facts and clues to bust that hoax, and I've come up with that it originated from a now defunct tabloid, there are no sources, but I also learned about Blood Libel. Basically when a race libels another by attributing a horrendous inhumane act like cannibalism in order to trigger that instant blind revolt toward the other race. I've read that a couple of senators and pro-life American advocates had jumped on that, and I've read all the racist crap that pours out of the comments from this discussion. Slurs, generalizations, disgust. Blood libel in action.
So all I have for my co-workers is just reasoning through common sense. So you really want virility and sexual prowress. You don't mind paying a ton of money. You don't even like kids. But seriously, who the fuck would want to resort to cannibalism?
Sigh. Hopefully tomorrow will not suck so hard.
---
On a lighter note, early September's looking pretty exciting. Next Wednesday, OSX based ipods with flash memory is going to surface, and even the Nanos will have video capability. I had a friend's video iPod yesterday and that puppy sucks up battery like nobody's business while playing video because of the hard drive. So even though I'm likely not going to get an iPod due to the redundancy factor, I'm still excited.
And the PSP too.
---
Today's been an asshole day. Usually I refer to it as a clown day, but no, today's unique. It's a stinky butthole day. It's been one of the worser days at work bar none. I cannot even fanthom days like this at work at any other time in my history of working. It's just too bizarre and idiotic. A lot of little things, but mostly three major things that really rubbed me the wrong way.
1. Asshole Quality Guy. This guy is probably about my age, maybe younger. I think the only way to find out is to extract the stick out of his ass, cut it, and see how many rings you can find on the stick to determine how old this putz is. At first, I thought he was just misunderstood because the guys always made fun of his long, unkempt hair. Then as time passed, I realized that he's just a prick. Everytime he comes by, he'll make a comment or two about something we're doing wrong, and it got to the point when I realized that either we're not doing something wrong, or whatever we're doing really isn't a big deal. A real man would just compensate and roll with that shit. I complained to the boss today because he found something to complain about - that he had already seen the orders and we didn't need to call him on his pager - which was protocol. It's like, fuck off, man. Grow up. You're not happy with your life, go tell someone who innocently asks you how your day was. When you're at work, do your job and shut the hell up.
2. Coworker hit me. I didn't work around guys for most of my life, so I've been kinda out of it. But I've managed to gain a certain respect from the guys I do work with because I treat them with respect, I listen, and I'm a pretty logical guy. I don't talk shit about most people, and I speak intelligently. Some of the guys have taken to punching each other for sport, and yeah, it's pretty much like grade school most days. Because of the language barriers between everyone, it's down to pretty primal displays of communication. I've stayed out of it mostly. But today, one of the American co-workers that I get along with decided to grab my neck with my back turned, and so I whipped around and told him to never do that again. The one thing about me is that if I get surprised, hit, or any amount of pain is inflicted on me suddenly, I will go from Bruce to Hulk in seconds. I get crazy angry. It's almost scary because I have lost it with almost anyone, even my wife. She once shot a rubber band at my face and I had to storm off before I yelled at her. Just don't touch me, and it's all good. But if you do something to me physically, you'd better run. Anyway, he tried to joke it off and I told him again, don't do that ever again, I AM NOT JOKING. But in the same conversation, we talked normally, though for the rest of the day, we had semi-normal conversation but it was definitely a little weird and different.
3. Fucking Racism. One of the most evident things around where I work is that Race is front and center. It's not always about that, but it's all about that at the same time. Yesterday two contracters who were painting the building got into a bloody fight and they were two different races. May not be race related, but sometimes it's indirectly about that. I think even problem number 1 is subtle racism, in that there's a miscommunication and the main difference is that everyone's a different race.
Well, today during lunch a old issue came up again, when my co-worker pulled up an image from his email of fetus soup. It's a fucking chain mail that has pictures of "Canton" people from China, basically preparing said topic. The photos are realistic enough, and it's graphic, but what smarts is that words like, "The Chinese are crazy." and "The Chinese are disgusting" come up between the co-workers over and over again. When I'm standing in their midst. I've raised my objections, but they largely ignorant of their implications.
Now, I'm not the ambassador of Chinese people throughout the world, and fuck if I know what billions of Chinese people do or not do, but to slander a race based on some photos really irks the shit out of me. It's the blatantness of their exclamations, the generalizations of their accusations, and just the blind naivete of eating whatever bullshit is fed to them just pisses me off. As an educated guess, those photos are either shopped or they are effects. Mostly because we do have the laymen's skills to do that kind of effects. Furthermore, it would just be retarded for anyone to allow any photographer that obviously had a lot of skill capture the whole thing. The thing looks very set up, instead of the amateurish nature one would associate with highly immoral or illegal footage of that sort. Most the most logical explanation - one that I shared with my co-workers, is that no matter what culture, what country, what religion you're from, cannibalism is pretty much a no-go. Baby cannibalism, as one could imagine, is a definite taboo. Just not going to tolerated.
I searched online to look for facts and clues to bust that hoax, and I've come up with that it originated from a now defunct tabloid, there are no sources, but I also learned about Blood Libel. Basically when a race libels another by attributing a horrendous inhumane act like cannibalism in order to trigger that instant blind revolt toward the other race. I've read that a couple of senators and pro-life American advocates had jumped on that, and I've read all the racist crap that pours out of the comments from this discussion. Slurs, generalizations, disgust. Blood libel in action.
So all I have for my co-workers is just reasoning through common sense. So you really want virility and sexual prowress. You don't mind paying a ton of money. You don't even like kids. But seriously, who the fuck would want to resort to cannibalism?
Sigh. Hopefully tomorrow will not suck so hard.
---
On a lighter note, early September's looking pretty exciting. Next Wednesday, OSX based ipods with flash memory is going to surface, and even the Nanos will have video capability. I had a friend's video iPod yesterday and that puppy sucks up battery like nobody's business while playing video because of the hard drive. So even though I'm likely not going to get an iPod due to the redundancy factor, I'm still excited.
And the PSP too.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Emotion Overload
It's been a roller coaster for the past few days - so many ups and downs that it rivals a white bear that swings both ways. Bipolar! Bleah, that was terrible.
---
Today I was spared the laborious exertions that was yesterday, when me and 3 other blokes had to move huge racks with no directions whatsoever. I almost got myself fired because I was just so fed up that I was ready to snap. But today, I was assigned to my hired position, and although it was dreadfully slow (4 items shipped. No joke.) I just didn't have to strain my back some more. I'm pulling so many muscles that my groin muscles were starting to hurt. Hernia, anyone?
But today was a little odd too, the one guy who likes to mock others, surf on the internet, talk on the phone, and ignore other people pleas for help, got fired. We didn't know if he just called in sick or not, but when we noticed his girlfriend gather his stuff from the locker, we knew that he was probably not leaving on his own accord.
So I got to spend more time with one of my co-workers today, a guy who's been here for like 2 years and is taking ESL classes after work. And conversation with him is fairly difficult. Often times I will start talking to him and he'd either drift off, smile blankly, or just agree to nothing in particular. He's a nice enough guy, but after each attempt of mine to start a conversation, I'd just end up feeling a bit disappointed that he either didn't seem to understand, or that the conversation wasn't deeper. I didn't mind explaining things to him, like "being on the fence", "pissed off", and "felony".
Speaking of that, found out that the new guy had indeed done a year of juvie when he was younger. I had to explain to my coworker that new guy doesn't have a permanent record because he was a minor and the crime was a misdemeanor, and not a felony. I told him misdeameanors were like minor crimes, like shoplifting, or in the new guy's case, "stabbing a Mexican."
But I do feel a bit bad about the new guy and his dad. Turns out that his dad had served in the South Vietnamese army as a captain during the Vietnam war, and when the communist state resumed power after the Americans left, the North Vietnamese imprisoned the poor guy for 10 years. He then came over to the States for five more years and then he died.
But yeah, the job is getting to be sorta okay. Of course, I could always be...
---
Video game testing! It was so weird, because I had coveted the job like crazy, and then when they called last week, I had hoped that it was come back to me. Yesterday they did call when I was having such a bad day, and it seemed like great news at the time. But after a furious debate between my logic and my blind lust, I decided to back out on my Friday interview and Thursday class.
Thing is, it sounds like a fun gig, it really did. It was for a Xbox360 Party Game that was due for this holiday season. Problem was, the work shift was late, so my wife would have to flip her schedule around. Overtime was highly probable, but with kids it made it impossible. The contract was "anywhere from 3-9 months" as she mentioned, but a big giveaway was that the game was advertised to be out holiday season, which means it would be 4 months of so before I was out of a job again. I looked at it logically and thought, well, I like video games, and that's the only reason why I'm wanting this job. So, I should just buy some games and call it good, instead of reorganizing all my family member's lives just to take this job.
Funny to think that months ago, I would've loved to be a game tester.
---
So today was pretty cool because when I got home, it just got better. The plumber was about 5 hours late, and when he came in, Alex asked him if he was the mailman. He was pretty good humored about it, even when Alex offered to show up the problem with the ceiling and starting to give his rendition of what needed to be done. When the guy went upstairs with me to look at the bathtub, we could hear Alex say,
"That man is Black, huh?"
And a surge of slight worry came over me. Luckily, I said the best words I could say in a surprise situation, I just turned to him and smiled, and said, "He's just 3."
He mentioned something in agreement - I don't remember exactly what, but just relieved that the moment had passed. Even tonight, I thought about all the justifications for Alex's statments that would've just sounded wrong, even if it was well intended.
But the plumber was pretty cool, he diagnosed the problem, said he couldn't really do anything for me (water damage, not leaking pipe), but told me how to prevent further damage and what I needed to do. I asked him to look at the garbage disposal under the sink, which had been stuck either because of the sand I washed out of the kids shoes or the bones my mom fed the disposal. He did, quoted me some prices, but also told me that if I had an Allen wrench, we could try to turn the motor free, and see if that does the trick. It did, and he simply told us no charge, even though he was stuck on 520 for an hour getting to our place, and had come out for essentially nothing. I offered him a Snapple in return, but was very impressed that this guy wasn't just concerned about his paycheck. I would definitely call him again if I had a problem because he had earned my trust.
Then I decided to go out with the kids, something I didn't normally do after a work day, and we went to the Summer Concert thingie at the mall. We got there early, so we had a short wait at the inflatable castle. But then there were no kids once Alex and Zoe got in there. Just the two kids, and my kids. The guy said they could stay in there as long as there weren't any kids in line, so they were in there for a good 10 minutes. And then when the kids lined up, he gave them a 2 minute warning - so when Alex and Zoe finally had to come out, they got so much bounce time that we didn't even need a second pass. Which was great, because the lines got ridiculous after us.
We got a couple Javanilla shakes at SBC, and then just hung out, playing with bubbles, a bit of time at the fountain... So, it was a pretty good day. And tomorrow's my Friday too! Bonus!
---
Today I was spared the laborious exertions that was yesterday, when me and 3 other blokes had to move huge racks with no directions whatsoever. I almost got myself fired because I was just so fed up that I was ready to snap. But today, I was assigned to my hired position, and although it was dreadfully slow (4 items shipped. No joke.) I just didn't have to strain my back some more. I'm pulling so many muscles that my groin muscles were starting to hurt. Hernia, anyone?
But today was a little odd too, the one guy who likes to mock others, surf on the internet, talk on the phone, and ignore other people pleas for help, got fired. We didn't know if he just called in sick or not, but when we noticed his girlfriend gather his stuff from the locker, we knew that he was probably not leaving on his own accord.
So I got to spend more time with one of my co-workers today, a guy who's been here for like 2 years and is taking ESL classes after work. And conversation with him is fairly difficult. Often times I will start talking to him and he'd either drift off, smile blankly, or just agree to nothing in particular. He's a nice enough guy, but after each attempt of mine to start a conversation, I'd just end up feeling a bit disappointed that he either didn't seem to understand, or that the conversation wasn't deeper. I didn't mind explaining things to him, like "being on the fence", "pissed off", and "felony".
Speaking of that, found out that the new guy had indeed done a year of juvie when he was younger. I had to explain to my coworker that new guy doesn't have a permanent record because he was a minor and the crime was a misdemeanor, and not a felony. I told him misdeameanors were like minor crimes, like shoplifting, or in the new guy's case, "stabbing a Mexican."
But I do feel a bit bad about the new guy and his dad. Turns out that his dad had served in the South Vietnamese army as a captain during the Vietnam war, and when the communist state resumed power after the Americans left, the North Vietnamese imprisoned the poor guy for 10 years. He then came over to the States for five more years and then he died.
But yeah, the job is getting to be sorta okay. Of course, I could always be...
---
Video game testing! It was so weird, because I had coveted the job like crazy, and then when they called last week, I had hoped that it was come back to me. Yesterday they did call when I was having such a bad day, and it seemed like great news at the time. But after a furious debate between my logic and my blind lust, I decided to back out on my Friday interview and Thursday class.
Thing is, it sounds like a fun gig, it really did. It was for a Xbox360 Party Game that was due for this holiday season. Problem was, the work shift was late, so my wife would have to flip her schedule around. Overtime was highly probable, but with kids it made it impossible. The contract was "anywhere from 3-9 months" as she mentioned, but a big giveaway was that the game was advertised to be out holiday season, which means it would be 4 months of so before I was out of a job again. I looked at it logically and thought, well, I like video games, and that's the only reason why I'm wanting this job. So, I should just buy some games and call it good, instead of reorganizing all my family member's lives just to take this job.
Funny to think that months ago, I would've loved to be a game tester.
---
So today was pretty cool because when I got home, it just got better. The plumber was about 5 hours late, and when he came in, Alex asked him if he was the mailman. He was pretty good humored about it, even when Alex offered to show up the problem with the ceiling and starting to give his rendition of what needed to be done. When the guy went upstairs with me to look at the bathtub, we could hear Alex say,
"That man is Black, huh?"
And a surge of slight worry came over me. Luckily, I said the best words I could say in a surprise situation, I just turned to him and smiled, and said, "He's just 3."
He mentioned something in agreement - I don't remember exactly what, but just relieved that the moment had passed. Even tonight, I thought about all the justifications for Alex's statments that would've just sounded wrong, even if it was well intended.
But the plumber was pretty cool, he diagnosed the problem, said he couldn't really do anything for me (water damage, not leaking pipe), but told me how to prevent further damage and what I needed to do. I asked him to look at the garbage disposal under the sink, which had been stuck either because of the sand I washed out of the kids shoes or the bones my mom fed the disposal. He did, quoted me some prices, but also told me that if I had an Allen wrench, we could try to turn the motor free, and see if that does the trick. It did, and he simply told us no charge, even though he was stuck on 520 for an hour getting to our place, and had come out for essentially nothing. I offered him a Snapple in return, but was very impressed that this guy wasn't just concerned about his paycheck. I would definitely call him again if I had a problem because he had earned my trust.
Then I decided to go out with the kids, something I didn't normally do after a work day, and we went to the Summer Concert thingie at the mall. We got there early, so we had a short wait at the inflatable castle. But then there were no kids once Alex and Zoe got in there. Just the two kids, and my kids. The guy said they could stay in there as long as there weren't any kids in line, so they were in there for a good 10 minutes. And then when the kids lined up, he gave them a 2 minute warning - so when Alex and Zoe finally had to come out, they got so much bounce time that we didn't even need a second pass. Which was great, because the lines got ridiculous after us.
We got a couple Javanilla shakes at SBC, and then just hung out, playing with bubbles, a bit of time at the fountain... So, it was a pretty good day. And tomorrow's my Friday too! Bonus!
Monday, July 30, 2007
Blogging from Work, sorta
Writing this (well, transcribing now) entry manually at work to evade the snoops that might monitor my account for unauthorizzed surfing or blogging for that matter.
Anywho, work is boring as ever. Nothing is going out of shipping due to some authorization issues, so a lot of folks are doing housekeeping. many trying to look or stay busy, and word is tomorrow we'll be getting 7 or 8 more new contractors.
Been entertaining finding another job, except it gets tough trying to look for jobs while working. Something inevitably gets ignored. But there's just too many slow days here, and not enough conversation to keep me engaged.
---
My uncle is visiting from Woodstock, Canada, doing a road trip across Canada and the US. They stopped over to celebrate my nephew's first birthday, and is spending today with my Mom doing the Seattle thing. Space Needle, Duck Tours, that sort of thing. My uncle and aunt are pretty nice folk, and it's my first real impression of them, especially him. I knew him when I was younger of course, but at that age uncles are just your father's borther who gives out red packets during the holiday and not much else.
But getting to know him was kinda nice - he has a lifelong love of photography, so the conversation's easy. He has some interest in video as well, though I think my quick attempt to sway him to Apple was fruitless. It did get me thinking about how my life would've been different if my father was around to help coach, encourage, or even just been around to listen to me. Spending time with my uncle certainly gave me a little preview.
---
Back at home. Boy, work certainly has it's fair share of characters. So the new guy has the kind of attitude that he wants to save some work for tomorrow, even though there's an hour of work left on the shift. I ignore him and continue working anyway, and I think out of guilt or whatever motivated him, he brought over the other receivers to help. I didn't really need the help, because with every project, there's always the possibility that too much help can actually be counter productive. And did they put that to the test.
One of the guys proceeded to form a human chain, from the pallet of freight to the shelf. It is literally a step or two from the pallet to the board, and there was going to be a four man team working on it. I broke the chain and said something smart alecky, and just stepped back. It's just ridiculous. What topped it was that guy who wanted to quit an hour early then talked about how lazy other people were. I am close to tearing my freakin' hair out. I might just be job hunting. Lower pay doesn't seem as bad as bad company.
---
I'm a proud Daddy! My wife started training Zoe on the potty today and she hasn't gone the whole day while wearing underwear. She sat on the potty and played some Nintendogs. Then a few minutes later, she went again. Then a few minutes later, I asked her because she was being touchy, and sure enough, she went on the potty. Yay for her.
---
So yesterday was my wife's birthday, and we spent a majority of the day at my brothers because it was my nephew's first birthday. But then my wife and I went to see "The Simpsons Movie" and it was exactly what I wanted. It was like a super-sized episode, except it was actually more cohesive than the usual episode. The plot was actually quite coherent, and like a fine-tuned Pixar movie, every line, sight gag, and joke is carefully timed, well-placed, and never disappointing. The crowd enjoyed it as much as I did, and the PG-13 rating is perfect for the movie. It never felt like they were just trying to skew it older just for the movie - the jokes that probably bumped up the rating was well deserved.
I actually thought of Dave because there's a whole chunk devoted to Alaska, so that was fun too. I won't disclose any jokes - they are just great to discover on your own. The only thing I'd advise is that there are indeed a little bit of stuff after the credits, though having seen the after credit sequences, it's nothing major you'd be missing if you end right after the movie.
One more thing, the movie actually is pretty touching in one spot.
Anywho, work is boring as ever. Nothing is going out of shipping due to some authorization issues, so a lot of folks are doing housekeeping. many trying to look or stay busy, and word is tomorrow we'll be getting 7 or 8 more new contractors.
Been entertaining finding another job, except it gets tough trying to look for jobs while working. Something inevitably gets ignored. But there's just too many slow days here, and not enough conversation to keep me engaged.
---
My uncle is visiting from Woodstock, Canada, doing a road trip across Canada and the US. They stopped over to celebrate my nephew's first birthday, and is spending today with my Mom doing the Seattle thing. Space Needle, Duck Tours, that sort of thing. My uncle and aunt are pretty nice folk, and it's my first real impression of them, especially him. I knew him when I was younger of course, but at that age uncles are just your father's borther who gives out red packets during the holiday and not much else.
But getting to know him was kinda nice - he has a lifelong love of photography, so the conversation's easy. He has some interest in video as well, though I think my quick attempt to sway him to Apple was fruitless. It did get me thinking about how my life would've been different if my father was around to help coach, encourage, or even just been around to listen to me. Spending time with my uncle certainly gave me a little preview.
---
Back at home. Boy, work certainly has it's fair share of characters. So the new guy has the kind of attitude that he wants to save some work for tomorrow, even though there's an hour of work left on the shift. I ignore him and continue working anyway, and I think out of guilt or whatever motivated him, he brought over the other receivers to help. I didn't really need the help, because with every project, there's always the possibility that too much help can actually be counter productive. And did they put that to the test.
One of the guys proceeded to form a human chain, from the pallet of freight to the shelf. It is literally a step or two from the pallet to the board, and there was going to be a four man team working on it. I broke the chain and said something smart alecky, and just stepped back. It's just ridiculous. What topped it was that guy who wanted to quit an hour early then talked about how lazy other people were. I am close to tearing my freakin' hair out. I might just be job hunting. Lower pay doesn't seem as bad as bad company.
---
I'm a proud Daddy! My wife started training Zoe on the potty today and she hasn't gone the whole day while wearing underwear. She sat on the potty and played some Nintendogs. Then a few minutes later, she went again. Then a few minutes later, I asked her because she was being touchy, and sure enough, she went on the potty. Yay for her.
---
So yesterday was my wife's birthday, and we spent a majority of the day at my brothers because it was my nephew's first birthday. But then my wife and I went to see "The Simpsons Movie" and it was exactly what I wanted. It was like a super-sized episode, except it was actually more cohesive than the usual episode. The plot was actually quite coherent, and like a fine-tuned Pixar movie, every line, sight gag, and joke is carefully timed, well-placed, and never disappointing. The crowd enjoyed it as much as I did, and the PG-13 rating is perfect for the movie. It never felt like they were just trying to skew it older just for the movie - the jokes that probably bumped up the rating was well deserved.
I actually thought of Dave because there's a whole chunk devoted to Alaska, so that was fun too. I won't disclose any jokes - they are just great to discover on your own. The only thing I'd advise is that there are indeed a little bit of stuff after the credits, though having seen the after credit sequences, it's nothing major you'd be missing if you end right after the movie.
One more thing, the movie actually is pretty touching in one spot.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
The almost perfect day and the much delayed update.
I haven't blogged in a while because honestly, I was a little depressed initially about our money situation along with the new job. But I'm a little better now.
---
Yesterday was our day off as a family together, when I had the day off and my wife takes the same day off in order to fill in for me or whatever. I always look forward to the Bite of Seattle, because, well, I'm a bloody glutton and I love food. Not enough to want to cook or am I particularly picky about what I put in my mouth, but I sure like good food once in a while.
So imagine my delight when I found out that Bite was this weekend, so we headed down to Seattle yesterday despite the constant rain the didn't seem like it was going to let up. Umbrella and raincoats in tow, we had devised a plan to get the most out of the Bite. We would only order one thing, and we would all share it - extending the maximum food exposure, instead of just filling up on one thing.
So crab cakes were the first, and they were delicious - even at the 5 dollar price for two of them. Then came the Ham and Cheese Crepes, the frosted sprinkled strawberries, BBQ rib tips, and roasted corn for me. There was a frozen banana incident as well, when the kids were sharing a frozen banana and I took a bite of it. I was cringing the bite because the kids weren't really biting it as licking/chewing/gumming/salivating on it, so that bite wasn't very pleasant. Anyway, I made a face while taking a bite, turned around, and then looked back at my wife. And it was gone.
"Where did it go?" My wife had thrown it away, thinking nobody was really eating it. Then Alex wanted the frozen banana too, and was a little upset that it had disappeared.
But anyway, we went to the Science Center and spent a bit of time there, looking at the exhibits when I ran into an employee I used to train with in Bellingham. We were training to fill in for the regular Time and Attendance person, and we weren't really going to take over, just fill in for vacations and whatnot. Anyway, she told me that the person who used to do it had indeed retired, so she was doing it now. So in my mind, I'm kicking myself again because I always seem to have the worst timing. That job could've been mine, and the receiving job that was mine I left because of the videography. Bah.
We came out of the Science Center a little beat, but ready for more action. We went to the arcade and the kids got on some of the rides - the outdoor rides weren't running because of the rain, so we did a couple kiddy rides and one very nervous frog ride. They went highish, and it hopped down and up on a relatively gentle jolt. But the look on our kids faces were just sheer nervousness. Alex looked pale and all the muscles in his face went limp, and Zoe just looked like she was paralyzed.
After that bout of child abuse, we went on the wet Ferris Wheel ride, which Alex wasn't particularly fond of. Even though I was sitting next to him, he just collapsed into himself. I'm not a big ride fan, but Ferris Wheels are pretty tame. But after that, we had just enough for food so it was back to the bite.
We got a couple Gyros and a hot brick of fries, followed by some yummy fudge, and then back to the Science Center for the Lazer Show. I was really looking forward to it because it was the Beatles, and it was an experience I wanted to share with the kids. Alex wasn't so sure at first, seeing all the other people lie down on the floor made him feel a bit suspicious of what was going to happen. Then the room went pitch black, and he went, "Too dark Daddy! Too dark!" I struggled to flip him around and then he saw the lights, and he was captivated. His hand reached up to feel it, and he was saying a bunch of stuff to me that I couldn't really hear, because either the music was too loud or I was singing along too loudly.
So we had spent a good day at the Seattle Center, and we went home just exhausted. The kids were having a snack before bedtime and I noticed something horrid. Two huge water stain on the ceiling, and one of the spots had actually split open to reveal the surface underneath the paint. It looked like the ceiling had ripped a hole. After my wife took a shower, the split got even bigger and it was actually dripping a bit too. So, that bummed me out for the rest of the night.
But otherwise it was a near perfect day. I wish I would've brought the camera but I think it would've been a logistical nightmare with the rain and all.
---
Okay, to catch up with the lost two weeks? I started my new job and for the first few days, it truly sucked. The first day we were to show up at 7, whereby we would meet this person. Well, there were four of us, and we sat there till 7, and there was nobody there. But we waited anyway, having signed in and checked in with security. At 7 there was a shift change, when the security went home and the world's dumbest receptionist came on. We waited and waited, and then at 7:30, I went up to the receptionist and told her we had a 7am appointment, and she called the person. So we waited more. Then at 7:45, someone finally came over. It wasn't who we were supposed to meet, but another receiver who showed us some training tapes. We ran into the person later, who said that nobody called her to let her know we were there. Hello? Four new contracters show up and you didn't know we were there?
Then we were skirted off to training, whereby we learned about the history of the company, the security, the policies, and all that jazz. When we were asked who our supervisor was, we had no idea. After that was over, we didn't even know where to go, so I hunted down the receiver who had escorted us earlier, and she told us to just "hang out" till 4 pm. I left feeling thoroughly unimpressed and frustrated.
The second day had a slightly better deal, though not much. At first they had forgotten that I was a receiver, not an assembler. I spoke up and they had to look it up. Another thing they confidently told us was that we were just numbers, and we don't use our names. Nice. Then I got recruited to help with the construction work going on, moving furniture, taking it apart, running to the dumpster... I was pissed. I wasn't sure I was going to last.
Since then, it's gotten a little better. I got placed in my applied position and got to know the two receivers there, who are pretty nice guys. The demographic there is seriously skewed - mostly Asians of different ethnicities, mostly immigrants, probably a median age of 42 or so. I was completely out of my element. To make things worse, the majority of cubicle employees and business employees were White. You can imagine how down I was with that. Even though there may not be any racism that I could see, the basic structure of the work environment was enough to make me uncomfortable.
Luckily, the two guys that I work with are pretty decent guys. A funny family man from Indonesia, and a 24 year old guy from Cambodia. They were relatively easy going, and fun to be around. There's a third guy, and even though he's not terrible to deal with, he does wear on you. He has conspiracies and theories about the police, 9/11, and the government that make him sound just misinformed and uneducated. He's the kind of guy just looking for validation from any kind of source to reinforce his prejudices and biases.
This last week, production on my line was halted due to a part shortage, so I've been sitting around with the guys, not doing anything. My repeated pleas with the higher ups for something to do has been largely ignored - seems like they don't know what to do with me either. Basically FDA has got this company halting domestic shipments, which account for 70% of orders, so we're basically doing overseas orders only. So this last week, I've just been sitting around, killing time, volunteering for projects. I'm not entirely comfortable with it, but the powers that be seem like they don't care.
On Thursday I was oddly assigned to deal with freight, which I don't mind, but I don't think I'll stick with it once receiving gets up to speed. I ain't doing that kind of heavy labor when I'm pulling in those wages with no medical. And the person in charge is a bit dodgy. He even looks dodgy. So for now, it's just going.
---
Taking it easy today. The kids are probably tired from yesterday, and I need to catch up on a lot of things, including blogging.
---
Yesterday was our day off as a family together, when I had the day off and my wife takes the same day off in order to fill in for me or whatever. I always look forward to the Bite of Seattle, because, well, I'm a bloody glutton and I love food. Not enough to want to cook or am I particularly picky about what I put in my mouth, but I sure like good food once in a while.
So imagine my delight when I found out that Bite was this weekend, so we headed down to Seattle yesterday despite the constant rain the didn't seem like it was going to let up. Umbrella and raincoats in tow, we had devised a plan to get the most out of the Bite. We would only order one thing, and we would all share it - extending the maximum food exposure, instead of just filling up on one thing.
So crab cakes were the first, and they were delicious - even at the 5 dollar price for two of them. Then came the Ham and Cheese Crepes, the frosted sprinkled strawberries, BBQ rib tips, and roasted corn for me. There was a frozen banana incident as well, when the kids were sharing a frozen banana and I took a bite of it. I was cringing the bite because the kids weren't really biting it as licking/chewing/gumming/salivating on it, so that bite wasn't very pleasant. Anyway, I made a face while taking a bite, turned around, and then looked back at my wife. And it was gone.
"Where did it go?" My wife had thrown it away, thinking nobody was really eating it. Then Alex wanted the frozen banana too, and was a little upset that it had disappeared.
But anyway, we went to the Science Center and spent a bit of time there, looking at the exhibits when I ran into an employee I used to train with in Bellingham. We were training to fill in for the regular Time and Attendance person, and we weren't really going to take over, just fill in for vacations and whatnot. Anyway, she told me that the person who used to do it had indeed retired, so she was doing it now. So in my mind, I'm kicking myself again because I always seem to have the worst timing. That job could've been mine, and the receiving job that was mine I left because of the videography. Bah.
We came out of the Science Center a little beat, but ready for more action. We went to the arcade and the kids got on some of the rides - the outdoor rides weren't running because of the rain, so we did a couple kiddy rides and one very nervous frog ride. They went highish, and it hopped down and up on a relatively gentle jolt. But the look on our kids faces were just sheer nervousness. Alex looked pale and all the muscles in his face went limp, and Zoe just looked like she was paralyzed.
After that bout of child abuse, we went on the wet Ferris Wheel ride, which Alex wasn't particularly fond of. Even though I was sitting next to him, he just collapsed into himself. I'm not a big ride fan, but Ferris Wheels are pretty tame. But after that, we had just enough for food so it was back to the bite.
We got a couple Gyros and a hot brick of fries, followed by some yummy fudge, and then back to the Science Center for the Lazer Show. I was really looking forward to it because it was the Beatles, and it was an experience I wanted to share with the kids. Alex wasn't so sure at first, seeing all the other people lie down on the floor made him feel a bit suspicious of what was going to happen. Then the room went pitch black, and he went, "Too dark Daddy! Too dark!" I struggled to flip him around and then he saw the lights, and he was captivated. His hand reached up to feel it, and he was saying a bunch of stuff to me that I couldn't really hear, because either the music was too loud or I was singing along too loudly.
So we had spent a good day at the Seattle Center, and we went home just exhausted. The kids were having a snack before bedtime and I noticed something horrid. Two huge water stain on the ceiling, and one of the spots had actually split open to reveal the surface underneath the paint. It looked like the ceiling had ripped a hole. After my wife took a shower, the split got even bigger and it was actually dripping a bit too. So, that bummed me out for the rest of the night.
But otherwise it was a near perfect day. I wish I would've brought the camera but I think it would've been a logistical nightmare with the rain and all.
---
Okay, to catch up with the lost two weeks? I started my new job and for the first few days, it truly sucked. The first day we were to show up at 7, whereby we would meet this person. Well, there were four of us, and we sat there till 7, and there was nobody there. But we waited anyway, having signed in and checked in with security. At 7 there was a shift change, when the security went home and the world's dumbest receptionist came on. We waited and waited, and then at 7:30, I went up to the receptionist and told her we had a 7am appointment, and she called the person. So we waited more. Then at 7:45, someone finally came over. It wasn't who we were supposed to meet, but another receiver who showed us some training tapes. We ran into the person later, who said that nobody called her to let her know we were there. Hello? Four new contracters show up and you didn't know we were there?
Then we were skirted off to training, whereby we learned about the history of the company, the security, the policies, and all that jazz. When we were asked who our supervisor was, we had no idea. After that was over, we didn't even know where to go, so I hunted down the receiver who had escorted us earlier, and she told us to just "hang out" till 4 pm. I left feeling thoroughly unimpressed and frustrated.
The second day had a slightly better deal, though not much. At first they had forgotten that I was a receiver, not an assembler. I spoke up and they had to look it up. Another thing they confidently told us was that we were just numbers, and we don't use our names. Nice. Then I got recruited to help with the construction work going on, moving furniture, taking it apart, running to the dumpster... I was pissed. I wasn't sure I was going to last.
Since then, it's gotten a little better. I got placed in my applied position and got to know the two receivers there, who are pretty nice guys. The demographic there is seriously skewed - mostly Asians of different ethnicities, mostly immigrants, probably a median age of 42 or so. I was completely out of my element. To make things worse, the majority of cubicle employees and business employees were White. You can imagine how down I was with that. Even though there may not be any racism that I could see, the basic structure of the work environment was enough to make me uncomfortable.
Luckily, the two guys that I work with are pretty decent guys. A funny family man from Indonesia, and a 24 year old guy from Cambodia. They were relatively easy going, and fun to be around. There's a third guy, and even though he's not terrible to deal with, he does wear on you. He has conspiracies and theories about the police, 9/11, and the government that make him sound just misinformed and uneducated. He's the kind of guy just looking for validation from any kind of source to reinforce his prejudices and biases.
This last week, production on my line was halted due to a part shortage, so I've been sitting around with the guys, not doing anything. My repeated pleas with the higher ups for something to do has been largely ignored - seems like they don't know what to do with me either. Basically FDA has got this company halting domestic shipments, which account for 70% of orders, so we're basically doing overseas orders only. So this last week, I've just been sitting around, killing time, volunteering for projects. I'm not entirely comfortable with it, but the powers that be seem like they don't care.
On Thursday I was oddly assigned to deal with freight, which I don't mind, but I don't think I'll stick with it once receiving gets up to speed. I ain't doing that kind of heavy labor when I'm pulling in those wages with no medical. And the person in charge is a bit dodgy. He even looks dodgy. So for now, it's just going.
---
Taking it easy today. The kids are probably tired from yesterday, and I need to catch up on a lot of things, including blogging.
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