Would you rent or buy the home of your dreams if a brutal murder had taken place there? What if you got to live there rent-free? Would you think twice if neighbors warned you that it was haunted?
Is venting about a co-worker's laziness allowed? If not, let me know and I'll remove this post but I didn't see anything about it in the rules.
Anyway, I'm mostly a barista in the Seattle's Best at my Borders, but I'm cross trained on the floor. Since we have a new full time barista transfered from a Cali Borders, I've been moved from cafe to the floor to help with our never ending shipment of skids.
I am not happy with this new barista at all. Lately he is leaving the cafe a disgusting mess which is always a bad thing but is *especially* bad because our entire store plus cafe is being ultra ultra scrutinized by our new DM (and word is that he's secretly making his rounds to all the stores...not a good time for a lazy cleaning job).
He leaves a half hour early every. single. shift. Which is fine when you get your job done, but is so not okaa when it's half assed. This guy (for two straight shifts) has left the cups unstocked, milk fridge unstocked, the old whipped cream in the milk fridge, the condiment bar unstocked...he hasn't cleaned the coffee machine's sprayheads, he left coffee in the drip tray, didn't clean the steamed milk and espresso spots off the espresso machine, and didn't clean *any* of the sticky, crumb filled tables, and he didn't clean the mat nor the counter that the steaming pitchers sit on so there was steamed milk residue everywhere. Gross D:
Not only is this lack of cleanliness disgusting, it's incredibly rude. He has *plenty* of time to get it done which is obvious because he leaves early every shift. And guess who gets to clean up after him?? I do, when I should be doing my own job. I would *never* leave that kind of a mess for the opener. The opening barista has enough to do in the morning besides having to the closer's job as well. I've had to do it before too and it's not fun!
This guy is ruining cafe's morale and I'm not here to clean up after his mess. I've complained to my managers twice and documented what he hasn't done. I hope he fixes his attitude or they find a replacement.
ex's (the ones that were wrong for you) are only interested in you/in getting in touch when your life is on a perfect track. They try to sway you, they usually fill your mind with ideas of what couldashouldawoulda beens. EXCEPT when things are so perfect, there's NO ROOM for improvements and upgrades are no longer a possibility.
First, a quick updated on my NaNoWriMo progress: 2808 words, well short of the 18,337 I "should" have by now. Stubbornly refusing to admit defeat and waiting for the story to catch fire that will get me caught up. Or at least closer to caught up.
Is anyone reading the story so far over in karakwrites? Any comments / criticisms of the story so far?
This last weekend I attended two weddings; both had an undercurrent of "It's about time!" though this was stated overtly at the first and more subtle at the second.
The first was for a pair of friends I met within the last few years through alarin612 and they have both agreed to be a part of the Alternia Comics family. They had been dating since high school and friends and family expressed the "it's about time!" sentiment during the reception. The wedding itself was simple, short and beautiful. The groom, a self-described steampunk, wore tux-tails and a top hat, and was actually ten minutes later to the chapel than planned because he went to different coin shops to find a victorian-era silver six-pence for his bride to put in her shoe. There were less than 75 guests, I think. The round of toasts ended with the groom saying that when he and his now-wife sat down to make the guest list, they decided to only invite those people they would be happier if the invited was present than absent.
The second was for a family friend. Up until 2002 or 2003, most if not all of my Thanksgivings were at their house. This wedding had a longer guest-list, upwards of 150 people. While the first was indoors, the second was an out-door, evening affair near the shore of a reservoir. Beautiful, but chilly, and the wind played merry hob with the microphone. One thing that sticks out in my mind is the music that played as the groomsmen walked alone to the altar: a violin instrumental of U2's "With or Without You." The couple wrote their own vows and both referenced that they had known this wedding was coming since they met at age 13, 11 or 12 years previous. The reception felt crowded, and definitely lacking in seating. I was with my mother and sister at this wedding, and we left early to get dinner.
One thing I've found about being open about my current employment status (unemployed and looking) seems obvious: in talking about it, employment opportunities present themselves. Case in point, at the first wedding, I talked with a new friend about helping him out and taking extra IT work when he's overloaded. And another friend asked me to help her transfer some files archived on 3.5" floppy disks readable only by an Apple IIc Plus, which of course has no ethernet, wifi, USB or firewire capability.
I found a piece of software (ADTPro) which can be used to transfer data from older Apple computers to modern computers over the Apple's serial interface. In trying this program, I ran into a stumbling block I hadn't anticipated; the Apple's serial port looks nothing like what I'm used to calling a serial port. Confusingly, it does have a 9-pin port on the back that a serial cable can plug in to, but the Apple doesn't send serial traffic over that port. Instead, it's ports are round, mini-DIN-8 serial ports, now commonly used in computer audio equipment. For now the project is on hold while a DIN-8 cable is being shipped from an online seller. Since the client is a friend, we agreed on a relatively low hourly rate for this sort of work, and I noted that I would not demand payment if I was unable to resolve the situation. She has, nonetheless, insisted on paying me at the end of two two-hour sessions that have yielded little result so far.
Another opportunity presented this weekend was for a nationally-recognized aerospace manufacturer with an office in Colorado needs a SharePoint administrator. I am reticent to say more at this time, but I remain hopeful.
Current Location:sunroom, listening to the rain :) Current Mood: amused Currently Reading: fred parris & the five satins - days gone by
*warning* menstruation facts ahead. sad as it is to admit that i know such people, there are actually a few on my friends' list who can't handle anything that happens between a woman's belly button and knees unless they close their eyes/are intoxicated.
so i know this type of list shows up a lot in my world. the lysol ad has ceased to surprise me. modern douches are just slightly less awful than actual lysol, and women that use those will still wrinkle their noses at the lysol ad lol. the whole origin of hysteria and sears catalog vibrators, also old news. biblical sacrifices - not as weird if you know the whole Red Tent thing. even the "if women study too much their brain will suck up all the blood they oughta be usin' to clean up that nasty uterus for baby makin' and stuff" isn't old news. as the first female in my family to graduate from college and get a job and not "get married before no one wants me any more", i have heard subtler variations of that my whole life at family reunions :)
but the ones that were new to me:
1) The Ancient Greeks, believing that menstruation was the body’s way of getting rid of diseased blood, came up with bloodletting. It supposedly mimicked a woman’s period and was prescribed for all illnesses for centuries, causing unbelievable harm. George Washington probably died from the-almost seven soda cans’ worth of blood drained from him in the name of medicine.
i didn't know that menstruation was the inspiration for bloodletting, but it totally makes sense.
2) Vicarious menstruation is a rare and truly weird physical condition in which monthly bleeding occurs not only from the uterus, but from other parts of the body. Women have reported blood issuing harmlessly from the nose, arms, lungs, breasts, gastrointestinal tract, mouth, bladder, eyes and ears every month, only to taper off after a few days.
whoa.
3) In 1971, members of a feminist reproductive health self-help group came up with a do-it-yourself “menstrual extraction kit.” Consisting of a pump and some tubing, the kit allowed women to get together in the privacy of their homes, hop up on the kitchen table, and suction out their periods (or the fetus from any unwanted pregnancy).
haha i love how many DIY abortion kits were marketed as random hygiene contraptions throughout the years
4) Ancient superstitions about menstrual blood include: it can make seeds infertile, kill insects, kill flowers, kill grass, cause fruit to fall off trees, dull razors, drive dogs mad, make a horse miscarry. As recently as the 1920s, menstruating women were barred from certain churches, Mexican silver mines, and Vietnamese opium labs. Kaffir Black Southern African women were forbidden from drinking milk during their periods, since it would cause the cow it came from to die.
O_o most of these i've heard, plus more, but the whole "drinking the milk will cause the cow it came from to die" thing is a stretch of logic. neat.
I was reminded while talking with maudelynn that I've been meaning to post my latest iPod playlist of Songs I Can't Stop Listening To, just for fun and because I think it's a neat collection.
This set of songs would be defined as "songs I ONLY obtained after hearing them on TV". So in other words, even if it's a song from TV (like Cake's Short Skirt/Long Jacket, i.e. the themesong of Chuck) that I like, if I had already heard it or already owned it, it's not here. Just stuff I specifically hunted down from TV. I recommend all of these songs, obviously. :)
Songs from TV
Time Lapse Lifeline - Maria Taylor Bones: Ep. 4x23 - The Beaver in the Otter
The highlight of this whole week was Tim and I lying in bed after work last night singing "No Scrubs" and 4 Non Blondes "What's Going On". I used to love that song like crazy. 25 years and my life is still / Trying to get up that great big hill of hope. Although when I used to sing along, it seemed unfathomable that I would ever actually BE 25.
It figures - one day after I go to the doctor so they can tell me there's nothing they can do, my illness finally gives up, calls a full-retreat, and agrees to all conditions of its surrender. I've only lost my voice in the battle. My throat (the battlefield, if you will) is still sore and scarred, but is much better. I'm still coughing a little, but nothing like the last few days. I just can't really talk much above a gravely whisper.
So, I'm going to school tomorrow. I've got to make up a lab, take a missed exam, visit three art shows, write journals about them, and go work out (maybe.) That's a lot for my first day out. Hopefully, none of them require the gift of gab.
By Claire Bates Last updated at 10:01 AM on 11th November 2009
Although no one noticed at the time, the Earth was almost hit by an asteroid last Friday.
The previously undiscovered asteroid came within 8,700miles of Earth but astronomers noticed it only 15 hours before it made its closest approach.
Its orbit brought it 30 times nearer than the Moon, which is 250,000 miles away.
Part of the devastation in Tunguska, Siberia, in 1908 after a meteorite struck. The impact created a blast so powerful it levelled 1,200 square miles of forest
But before you head for the nuclear bunkers you will be relieved to learn the tumbling rock was only 23ft across. Similar sized objects pass by this close to Earth about twice a year and impact on the planet about once every five years.
So, is everyone here working their inventory 'Truck-to-Floor'- in -24 hours? Because we sure as hell are not and our DM and RM accuse us of being an outlier. Now we almost have the hours to even have a realistic shot at keeping up but the remodel this summer left us with no shelf space.
Current Mood: cranky Currently Reading: Kate Nash - Mouthwash
There was no sun today. Oh sure - it was out in a bright light of glory, yet it felt easier in the shadows. The shadows hid your fangs and claws and silly, irritable growls. Get over yourself, eh?
Along with this, I thought I would post some more thoughts about the closing announcements.
As a company, we continue to eat ourselves to continue to sustain our operations. The Waldens closings are just another sign of the need for us to find some form of revenue stream in the short term regardless of the long term costs. We need cash. Store closings generate huge amounts of revenue for a retailer. It is a dirty secret they don't want you to know. Most people think they are getting a good deal when in reality they may pay more than would because of the psychology involved.
The next announcement of BSS stores to close will be interesting. Will it be announced around the 3rd Quarter numbers or will they continue to hold out until next year? From what I know, the lack of capital is a real issue and if it doesn't change soon, it will be all over.
On another side note, I have it on very good authority that it has been acknowledged that the external hires that have been made to replace many good managers, general managers, and others has been a big bust. Most are not working out or they are going to take so long to get any kind of level of competence that will help them succeed that it will be too late.
I am thinking that Nero is playing a fiddle while Rome is burning and could care less. If you can find a way out, the time is now.
Among the issues that this one notes is that Borders has a debt to equity ratio of 210% which is insanely high while Barnes and Noble's debt to equity ratio is zero, meaning they have no debt. The rest of it is the usual list of why Borders is doomed, blah, blah, blah.
Is Borders the Next Circuit City?
Circuit City, once a well-known retail fixture, is no more. If it can't survive this holiday season's impending price war, bookseller Borders(NYSE: BGP) could be next.
Wal-Mart Stores(NYSE: WMT), Target(NYSE: TGT), and Amazon.com(Nasdaq: AMZN) are all playing the "how low can you go" game to lure shoppers seeking hardcover best-sellers. That can't be good for bookstore rivals Borders and Barnes & Noble(NYSE: BKS). The bricks-and-mortar book behemoths already face many disruptive influences, including the rising popularity of e-books. Handing penny-pinching shoppers great deals on hot books while they're bargain-shopping at their local discounter, or browsing Amazon.com from home, doesn't exactly help.
Even beyond that dire outlook, Borders must confront serious financial challenges. Check out how its key metrics stack up against those of some of its book-selling rivals:
Company Name
TTM Revenue Growth/(Loss)
TTM Profit/(Loss)
Debt/Equity Ratio
Quick Ratio
Borders
(13.2%)
($4.60)
210%
0.1
Barnes & Noble
(5.1%)
$1.28
0%
0.2
Wal-Mart
1.8%
$3.41
67.5%
0.2
Amazon
19.6%
$1.70
3.2%
1.0
All data from Capital IQ, a unit of Standard & Poor's. TTM = trailing 12 months.
And now for the recent stats for the fabulous urban fantasy adventure about a neurotic vampire/thief and her wealthy blind client, now with Bonus! Cuban drag queen and military intrigue:
Project:Bloodshot New Words Written: 2060 (meh) Present Total Word Count: 70,032 words Goal: 95,000 words by December 12
Things Accomplished in Fiction: Finally wrapped up that scene. It’s a good scene, and important — but it felt like it took forever to write. I’m sure I’ll get around to the revisions and decide it’s either (a). awesome, or (b). terrible and needs to be cut … but whatever. Sometimes you just have to write through these things, because there’s no pole-vaulting over them or tunneling under them.
Things Accomplished in Real Life: Day-job work; housework; important official correspondences exchanged; visited B&N forums to answer questions; did more prep for tomorrow night’s event; went to post office.
Reason for Stopping: Going to grab a bite to eat before Ellen comes over to do (yet more) prep work for tomorrow’s event. Then we’re going to jaunt out to the airport to pick up our friend Avionne and her husband Gordon, for they are flying in from Scotland to stay for a few days. In advance of having these folks in town and/or having other things eating my life, I think I’ll also try to sneak in some more day-job work, to keep my head above water.
[Crossposted to/from my website. If you'd like to comment, you can do so either here or there.]
Current Mood: scared Currently Reading: All I Want -- Joni Mitchell
"I feel your leg under the table leaning into mine. I feel renewed, I feel disabled, by these bonfires in my spine. I don't know who the arsonist was, which incendiary soul, but all I ever wanted was to come in from the cold." - "Come in from the Cold" -- Joni Mitchell
Currently Reading: When U Love Somebody - Fruit Bats
I've been out walking I don't do too much talking These days, these days. These days I seem to think a lot About the things that I forgot to do And all the times I had the chance to.
The Noughties Were Shit, proclaims one British blog, looking back with a jaundiced eye on the decade just gone. Personally, I paid zero attention to the celebrity chefs and crappy inventions the blog marshals as evidence of the decade's inherent excrementality. Any decade is going to look like rubbish if you pay attention to celeb chefs, let's face it. And complaining about things you nevertheless fail to switch off -- and even, in fact, switch on specifically to hate and slate -- is a key symptom of The British Disease, much more likely to perpetuate crap than end it.
I want, over a series of Click Opera posts, as we approach the end of the year and the end of the decade, to look back at my noughties, and specifically the five or six albums I released. If I had to conjure a single metaphor for how the decade felt to me, back in 2000, I'd liken it to a blank piece of paper. I felt as if there were no rules, no commercial expectations. Just as I was free to travel (I spent the decade in New York, in Tokyo, then, mostly, in Berlin), I was also free to "experiment", to make things up as I went along, to improvise, to develop a sonic grammar that was mine alone; an electronic folk-lieder aimed as much at the "salons" of Chelsea art galleries as the rock circuit.
Although some of my more conservative fans -- notably Swede John Thelin, once (as "Count V") the mainstay of the alt.fan.momus newsgroup -- characterised the noughties as a time in which "Momus forgot how to write proper songs", others -- notably the Web 2.0 generation, who ranked Nervous Heartbeat and Frilly Military at least as high, in terms of YouTube views, as my old hit Hairstyle of the Devil -- liked my noughties stuff better than what had gone before. With 154,000 views this -- my 2001 collaboration with Montréal group Bran Van 3000, reggaeton vocalist Eek-a-Mouse and actress Liane Balaban -- is the most-viewed Momus-related track on YouTube:
So how did things stand with me, musically and stylistically, at the lead-in of this "fresh reel of blank tape" of a decade, the one we learned to represent with two zeroes? I think a key track -- and one I still like a lot -- is my 2000 collaboration with Dusseldorf band Kreidler, entitled Mnemorex. It's key to what comes later because, for a start, it proposes a new sort of electronic folk song:
As in the Bran Van 3000 song, I'm only responsible for the topline melody and the words and singing here, but this points the way forward -- my 2008 collaboration with Joe Howe is still very much on the same page:
Mnemorex also points forward in the sense that it's German, and references Japan (the Osaka World's Fair, also known as Expo '70), and I'll spend most of the 00s with a predominantly German-Japanese frame of reference. Even living in New York between 2000 and 2002, the records I was listening to were mostly made by Berliners like Tarwater, F.S. Blumm, Pole and Rechenzentrum. In 2000 I returned to Europe to tour Germany with Kreidler, who really deserve their own Click Opera entry; after a long absence they released a new album last month called Mosaik 2014:
I don't want to snow the blank sheet with too much data, so I'll close this scene-setting entry. Next in this series I'll cover the first proper Momus album of the new decade, my, ahem, folktronica album, Folktronic. In that entry, and the ones that follow, I'll be re-listening to my noughties albums, tracing their influences, intentions and themes, and recalling the times and places they were made in. And one reason I'll be doing this is that it's pretty safe to hazard the guess that nobody else will, though there'll no doubt be endless artistic explorations of, for instance, the UK's Top 10 bestselling albums of the decade. Here they are, just to set the scene:
James Blunt Back To Bedlam Dido No Angel Amy Winehouse Back To Black David Gray Wide Ladder Dido Life For Rent The Beatles 1 Leona Lewis Spirit Coldplay A Rush Of Blood To The Head Keane Hopes And Fears Scissor Sisters Scissor Sisters
This sounds not so good becuas eI havent been practising lately. But today was a holiday so mamma got her squeeze box out and danced herself to the end of love.
I have also been listening to my L. Cohen music non stop since the concert. Its made me crazy this week, crazy in a good freaking mood. I even threw a pack of ciggs to a homeless dude who crawled up from under governors drive bridge. I mean I bullzied it and it bounced of the middle of his chest.
The next day I was still feeling totally humane so I decided to give this other homeless dude who I know well through Mike a ride to AA becuase it was raining. He is a Navy vet so I did a good deed and recognized the vets in my classes. Thank god my classes were all sweet this week. I would have hate to of had to be a ball buster while I was feeling so good.
went to a managers meeting as a sit in for my boss. Methinks managers meetings are a soul sucking waste of time, but at the same time I found myself almost dominating it.Our department has so much cool stuff going on. It was pretty weird.
This morning I dug out Dad's flag that he always put out on patrotic holidays. It really felt nice doing that on the holiday instead of being at work. I even swam this morning and there were no creeps in the pool.
This one I accidently uploaded so thought I would go ahead and post it
Tonight is one of those rare nexus points upon which many things are occurring. I had multiple invitations to many decadent events. I wanted to be all Hollywood about it and hit up as many as possible but that's simply not realistic as I regain my footing in the realm of nightlife creature.
Instead, I'm headed to the infamous H.Wood tucked into a corner of the Hollywood & Highland complex for the grand opening of Lucent Dossier's new residency with DJ Pumpkin of The Wandering Marionettes. As icing, it's been declared an official Metblogs outing and I will be accompanied by my beautiful girlfriend Esza Kaye.
There's more glamour about to happen but I'll save each little morsel for maximum enjoyment.
I really wanted to get a night vision scope for camping, but I didn't want the crap Gen.I intensifier from the 1950s, even though they're totally justifiable at $200, nor a mediocre Gen.II from the 1970s (around $1500). No, I wanted the newer Gen.III stuff that gives twice as bright of an image as the Gen. II (so starlight is all you need to see, versus at least a little moon with Gen.II). Most are around $3,000. Ouch. No wonder you don't see these in Best Buy.
No, I can't justify a Gen.III scope. At least not when I can spend ONLY $1,000 more and get the FLIR scope- which can see in absolute total darkness. I figured out that I can mount it to my car and have a small LCD display and use it to see EVERYTHING at night. It's weatherproof and small enough to easily use while camping. I could also use it to detect heat leaks in my house! (I really need to reseal my front door insulator.) And... and...
NO BRAIN YOU CAN'T HAVE A $4,000 TOY UNTIL YOU CAN FIGURE OUT A WAY TO MAKE MONEY FROM IT
... :( ... Please?
NO. STOP.
:(
I authorize one person to punch me in the balls if I get this within the next 24 months.
Yesterday was the first day I haven't blogged in over two months. I almost wasn't going to blog today, but thought I would share some verses that are helping me right now.
I consider our present sufferings insignificant compared to the glory that will soon be revealed to us. (Romans 8:18)
I'm leaving you with a gift: peace of mind and heart! And the peace I give isn't fragile like the peace the world gives. So, don't be troubled or afraid. (John 14:27)
Dear friends, don't be surprised by the fiery troubles that are coming in order to test you. Don't feel as though something strange is happening to you, but be happy as you share Christ's sufferings. Then you will also be full of joy when he appears again in his glory. (I Peter 4:12-13)
God, who shows you his kindness and who has called you through Christ Jesus to his eternal glory, will restore you, strengthen you, make you strong, and support you as you suffer for a little while. (I Peter 5.-10)
Create in me a clean heart, a God; and renew a right spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10)
Come to me, all who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)
If any of you are having trouble, pray. If you are happy, sing psalms. (James 5:13)
That is why we are not discouraged. Though outwardly we are wearing out, inwardly we are renewed day by day. (2 Corinthians 4:16)
Thanks to everyone for your prayers and kind words, and to Cari at Dinnervibe.com for the little PayPal gift :)
I'll be back soon with recipes and all that jazz.
P.S. Matthew was able to go to the dentist and has antibiotics now to wipe out some major infections. Next week he should be going back for extractions :/
Oliver has drinking issues. He hates the water dish, even though I change it twice daily. He and Lilo are always in the sinks and tub trying to drink from the faucet. I hope that this gadget brings them joy.
Edit: Best $75 I have ever spent. The cats were trying to drink out of it while we were still setting it up! Plus, it is super quiet - you can't even hear the water flowing. A+ would buy again.
I will be traveling via Greyhound on Thursday the 19th and returning on Monday the 23rd.
My appointment book has some events already slotted in, but I'm taking a head count of others who also know they'll be there. Please reply if there's any chance I'll see you there.
I'll put my schedule and itinerary in a later post as it gets closer to the con. You'll probably also be tormented with a to-do list.
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