Today marks my 8th wedding anniversary. Needless to say, it isn't the happiest of days for me at this point. But I am pressing forward. I have sent a number of resumes to Michigan, and am hoping that one of them finds its way into the right hands. I am actively looking for a home there; the fact that I still don't know where I'll be working is obviously hindering that process somewhat. It would make no sense for me to live in Holly if I'm working in, say, Saginaw. The drive alone would "drive" me nuts. See what I did there?
Oh, and a bit of good news...one of my dogs, Kiska, is coming back to me. On the day of her surrender, she bit the director of the shelter. Not good. She was terrified, of course, but that doesn't matter. She got 10 days in bite quarantine for that little maneuver, but because of who I am and my relationship with the shelter I'm able to retrieve her. I pick her up on Thursday, so I'm looking forward to that. It may take quite a few treats for her to trust me again, but that's a risk I'll just have to take. I have to start socializing her as well, so we're going to be taking some weekend excursions to parks, etc. She'll wear a muzzle (the soft kind) to ensure safety of others, but at least she has a chance. The other six are all adjusting very well...leash training, spays, neuters and vetting is complete to include vaccinations. They're all going to a rescue organization together, which is completely awesome, and really more than I could have ever hoped for or accomplished on my own. I have the Friendship APL to thank for that.
Well, I should probably get back to work...have a good day :)
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
Empty...
Warning: This post is not funny. If you're prone to tears, do not continue.
Saturday afternoon, I surrendered my Eskies. All seven of them. To see what I'm talking about, Google "Miniature American Eskimo Dog" (sans quotes) and click on Images.
It was quite possibly the hardest thing I have ever had to do. And I've done a lot of things that have been difficult. I thought waiting for the APL representatives (who were completely awesome, by the way) was difficult, but when I individually carried every one of these dogs to the van and put them in crates to be taken to the facility, I lost it. I cried with each individual dog. I told them all goodbye, and that I loved them very, very much and they will get wonderful families. I looked at their faces as the door was closed, looked at them through the window and actually felt my heart breaking as I sobbed uncontrollably. This post is dedicated to them...
Attu, with your twirling and howling and soulful eyes, I will miss you always.
Kiska, with your propellor-like tail wag and your boundless energy, I love you very much.
Kadi, with the sometimes quizzical look on your face, head tilt and tremendous Eskie hugs, you will be the star of your new family.
Jack, the size of your heart belies the size of your body. You will make somebody very happy, and will make everybody smile.
Moose, like your father, your eyes will haunt any who look upon them. Your high-fives when I walked into your room are and will be sorely missed.
Petey, your brilliance is surpassed only by your playfulness. Keep play-bowing, buddy...and know that I miss you.
Sweetie, who learned to hop by watching a chihuahua do it, I miss your arguments. I miss you waiting to be petted when you came inside from a potty break.
Sweet babies, you will find your people and soon. You all now have the opportunity to run and play and be the stars of your own shows, whether on the lap of a nice lady or running on a farm chasing butterflies. You will all shine now, brighter than ever before.
I love you all, dear sweet Eskies...
Saturday afternoon, I surrendered my Eskies. All seven of them. To see what I'm talking about, Google "Miniature American Eskimo Dog" (sans quotes) and click on Images.
It was quite possibly the hardest thing I have ever had to do. And I've done a lot of things that have been difficult. I thought waiting for the APL representatives (who were completely awesome, by the way) was difficult, but when I individually carried every one of these dogs to the van and put them in crates to be taken to the facility, I lost it. I cried with each individual dog. I told them all goodbye, and that I loved them very, very much and they will get wonderful families. I looked at their faces as the door was closed, looked at them through the window and actually felt my heart breaking as I sobbed uncontrollably. This post is dedicated to them...
Attu, with your twirling and howling and soulful eyes, I will miss you always.
Kiska, with your propellor-like tail wag and your boundless energy, I love you very much.
Kadi, with the sometimes quizzical look on your face, head tilt and tremendous Eskie hugs, you will be the star of your new family.
Jack, the size of your heart belies the size of your body. You will make somebody very happy, and will make everybody smile.
Moose, like your father, your eyes will haunt any who look upon them. Your high-fives when I walked into your room are and will be sorely missed.
Petey, your brilliance is surpassed only by your playfulness. Keep play-bowing, buddy...and know that I miss you.
Sweetie, who learned to hop by watching a chihuahua do it, I miss your arguments. I miss you waiting to be petted when you came inside from a potty break.
Sweet babies, you will find your people and soon. You all now have the opportunity to run and play and be the stars of your own shows, whether on the lap of a nice lady or running on a farm chasing butterflies. You will all shine now, brighter than ever before.
I love you all, dear sweet Eskies...
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Meltdown...
Yeah, today was fantastic. Started with my dogs going off @ 4:30AM. Then my "elder statesman" of the pack decides that 4:30AM is a great time to go pee. The problem with that is, he didn't "let me know." Instead, he simply saunters into the hallway off the kitchen, hikes, and empties. I swear to God he peed literally for 2 minutes straight, even with me yelling "STOP!!!" Unbelievable.
So after cleaning his lake of pee I tried to go back to sleep. Yeah, that's happening. So I lay in bed for roughly an hour in a futile attempt to salvage what was left of what precious little sleep time I have. Yeah, that worked out.
So I drive in to work, and honestly really don't remember the drive. I get to work, and contact the auto repair shop I called two days prior to see how much it would be to fix my exhaust. The guy tells me its going to be $800, and I literally laugh at him on the phone, thank him for his time, and hang up.
So here I am, with a car that really needs to be repaired, no sleep, and with all the other shit swirling the bowl I start melting down. I go to my immediate supervisor; you remember her, right? Ms. "Do we need to make a change?" I ask if I can have the rest of the day off to get things taken care of, and to just have a minute to breathe. I get the lecture about being a salaried employee blah blah blah (which, by the way, I have had 80 hours or more on every two-week timesheet since I started, save one) and that I'm "skating on thin ice."
I stop the meeting right there, and invoke my right to speak with HR, and tell my immediate supervisor that she has essentially threatened my job no less than five times since I started, and has created a hostile work environment, and I leave her office. She steps out and asks, loudly I might add, if I'm leaving for the day. I answer, equally loudly, that I was going to inform the VP that I need to speak with HR.
I finally find the VP and explain the situation as best I can, as I'm essentially nearly in full-on meltdown/two-steps-from-a-nervous breakdown mode. She tells me that she needs to hear both sides of the story before determining if it was indeed a hostile work environment (odd that somebody who wasn't present for any of the other comments gets to determine that, but whatthefuckever). She also asks me to step out for half-an-hour, which I do, and when I return I set to getting some work done. I avoid everybody, as I'm not feeling all that sociable at this point. I sit in the computer room and try to remotely remove profiles from lab machines, but can't get to the admin shares. I get to do this in the labs themselves. Yay.
I'm heading to the labs, and run into my supervisor again, who informs me that she needs to talk with me with another member of the staff (who happens to be a lawyer). She tells me that I need to take the rest of the day off and that I need to compile a list of duties and responsibilities (which I did for her months ago), blah blah blah.
My question, dear readers, is this: Why the fuck didn't she just say "hey, I understand, take the rest of the day" in the first place instead of getting on her feminazi high-horse?
I have no fucking clue either.
Tomorrow should be interesting...
So after cleaning his lake of pee I tried to go back to sleep. Yeah, that's happening. So I lay in bed for roughly an hour in a futile attempt to salvage what was left of what precious little sleep time I have. Yeah, that worked out.
So I drive in to work, and honestly really don't remember the drive. I get to work, and contact the auto repair shop I called two days prior to see how much it would be to fix my exhaust. The guy tells me its going to be $800, and I literally laugh at him on the phone, thank him for his time, and hang up.
So here I am, with a car that really needs to be repaired, no sleep, and with all the other shit swirling the bowl I start melting down. I go to my immediate supervisor; you remember her, right? Ms. "Do we need to make a change?" I ask if I can have the rest of the day off to get things taken care of, and to just have a minute to breathe. I get the lecture about being a salaried employee blah blah blah (which, by the way, I have had 80 hours or more on every two-week timesheet since I started, save one) and that I'm "skating on thin ice."
I stop the meeting right there, and invoke my right to speak with HR, and tell my immediate supervisor that she has essentially threatened my job no less than five times since I started, and has created a hostile work environment, and I leave her office. She steps out and asks, loudly I might add, if I'm leaving for the day. I answer, equally loudly, that I was going to inform the VP that I need to speak with HR.
I finally find the VP and explain the situation as best I can, as I'm essentially nearly in full-on meltdown/two-steps-from-a-nervous breakdown mode. She tells me that she needs to hear both sides of the story before determining if it was indeed a hostile work environment (odd that somebody who wasn't present for any of the other comments gets to determine that, but whatthefuckever). She also asks me to step out for half-an-hour, which I do, and when I return I set to getting some work done. I avoid everybody, as I'm not feeling all that sociable at this point. I sit in the computer room and try to remotely remove profiles from lab machines, but can't get to the admin shares. I get to do this in the labs themselves. Yay.
I'm heading to the labs, and run into my supervisor again, who informs me that she needs to talk with me with another member of the staff (who happens to be a lawyer). She tells me that I need to take the rest of the day off and that I need to compile a list of duties and responsibilities (which I did for her months ago), blah blah blah.
My question, dear readers, is this: Why the fuck didn't she just say "hey, I understand, take the rest of the day" in the first place instead of getting on her feminazi high-horse?
I have no fucking clue either.
Tomorrow should be interesting...
Sunday, April 3, 2011
I would make a fantastic Agoraphobe...
I truly believe that if it wasn't for having to go to work, I would never leave the house. I'd definitely rarely get dressier than sweatpants. Why bother?
I left work at the customary 5PM on Friday, and I haven't left the house since I got home Friday evening. I went outside today to help load a few critters into their new owners' car, and took out most of the trash, but that's it. Shut-ins everywhere would be proud!
I don't know what it is, but I really don't feel like being physically social with people. What I mean by that is I don't want to put forth the effort to get all gussied (jeans and a t-shirt) up and go out and mingle with humanity. I really don't. I have no problem smoking and joking with my friends in WoW over Ventrilo; quite the contrary I talk to everybody in there. Wow, I might have some serious issues here...
So, as a result, my weekend diet consisted of pop-tarts, fruity pebbles knockoff cereal, hot dogs, and a Di'giorno pizza. Stuffed crust, no less. Yeah, I got all fancy this weekend LOL. I didn't even want to hop in the car and head to a drive-through. Anti-social? Probably. Lazy? With the exception of taking care of the dogs, cleaning animal cages and going through more crap to toss on the curb, you betcha.
I am looking forward to next Saturday, though, as I'm planning to head to Michigan to look at potential rental property to secure. I've tossed a dozen or so resumes out thus far, and am looking for even more work; basically if you shoot enough shotgun pellets, something will hit the target. I'm taking my shepherd-mix with me, primarily so he doesn't pee on my kitchen and/or bathroom floor while I'm gone, but also to get some quality alone-time with him. He's been shell-shocked since my wife left, and needs to be the center of attention for a day. He's really a great dog. Maybe someday I'll post pictures here, but not yet. I want the reader to be intrigued, not repulsed ROFL.
Anyway, I'm going to sign off and get to bed at an actual decent hour. It will be nice being rested again going into what promises to be one really excellent week of psychofem bosses freaking out over things they have no control over, then wanting me to fix what I have no control over. Yeah, good times ahead...
I left work at the customary 5PM on Friday, and I haven't left the house since I got home Friday evening. I went outside today to help load a few critters into their new owners' car, and took out most of the trash, but that's it. Shut-ins everywhere would be proud!
I don't know what it is, but I really don't feel like being physically social with people. What I mean by that is I don't want to put forth the effort to get all gussied (jeans and a t-shirt) up and go out and mingle with humanity. I really don't. I have no problem smoking and joking with my friends in WoW over Ventrilo; quite the contrary I talk to everybody in there. Wow, I might have some serious issues here...
So, as a result, my weekend diet consisted of pop-tarts, fruity pebbles knockoff cereal, hot dogs, and a Di'giorno pizza. Stuffed crust, no less. Yeah, I got all fancy this weekend LOL. I didn't even want to hop in the car and head to a drive-through. Anti-social? Probably. Lazy? With the exception of taking care of the dogs, cleaning animal cages and going through more crap to toss on the curb, you betcha.
I am looking forward to next Saturday, though, as I'm planning to head to Michigan to look at potential rental property to secure. I've tossed a dozen or so resumes out thus far, and am looking for even more work; basically if you shoot enough shotgun pellets, something will hit the target. I'm taking my shepherd-mix with me, primarily so he doesn't pee on my kitchen and/or bathroom floor while I'm gone, but also to get some quality alone-time with him. He's been shell-shocked since my wife left, and needs to be the center of attention for a day. He's really a great dog. Maybe someday I'll post pictures here, but not yet. I want the reader to be intrigued, not repulsed ROFL.
Anyway, I'm going to sign off and get to bed at an actual decent hour. It will be nice being rested again going into what promises to be one really excellent week of psychofem bosses freaking out over things they have no control over, then wanting me to fix what I have no control over. Yeah, good times ahead...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)