Back from the dentist, and the pintos are on the stove. I hate how beans smell when they first start cooking! Smells like boiling dirt.
I took Dad to the opthalmologist on Wednesday, and he is having cataract surgery on Thursday. So I only work three days next week, then I’m off from Thursday 4/14 through Tuesday 4/27. I had already planned to be off 4/18-4/27 for vacation. My brother is coming to visit for Dad’s 87th birthday. So i just tacked on a couple more days.
My company is so awesome. We get 20 days of sick time, and they let me take sick time to take Dad to the doctor. So with all that time off, what with holidays, floating holidays, Fridays off, sick time, and vacation - I only have to take two days of vacation! w00t!
Just got off the phone with the IRS. I must say, the person I dealt with was very nice. We spent some time commiserating with each other over the whole federal budget debacle and she was very helpful. I know what exactly what I need to do now, and although I’m still not happy about paying; I don’t feel like I’ve got a thousand pound gorilla sitting on my shoulders.
I’m cruising the news sites and reading Government Executive to see if there is any progress. As I expected, there is much, if any.
I have some chores to attend to today, along with some grocery shopping to do. I think this will pretty much be the extent of my day. Sounds exciting, doesn’t it?
I started making calls this morning to the places I swore I’d never go back to. Never say never, I guess.
I’m going to St Louis for the Loopy Ewe’s Spring Fling. I kind of regret signing up now, since it would be nice to cash out those vacation days but whatever.
I’m wearing my shark tooth necklace this morning as an unspoken statement about my mood.
Ugh. I picked up the crud that KT had earlier this week. It starts with a sore throat and then turns into a fever/coughing/congestion cold. Fun times. If the timing of my cold matches his, I’m going to spend all weekend on the sofa with a fever. I’m so glad we share. :rolleyes: It does sound like one of my coworkers had this too, though, so even if I didn’t pick it up from KT, I still might have gotten it. Love these late season colds.
The announcement of Manager’s and my promotions went out yesterday with many congratulations coming back. My two teammates had already figured it out so they weren’t surprised. I’m definitely feeling better about it now. I know there will be difficult times, but I have good support here. That said, we did have one fun management time this morning. Manager-now-Director and I had to talk to another manager and team lead about one of their employees who isn’t doing her job, and it’s effecting our team. That wasn’t a fun conversation, but I do feel good about working to fix things that cause my team problems.
The government shutdown stuff sucks. I hope it’s short-lived if it happens. It really seems like everyone, both sides, has lost track of actually running the country instead of just running for reelection. If you’re in Congress, you actually need to, you know, do some work between elections, not just move from one campaign into the next. Grrrrr. I hope they all get booted out in the next election. Doesn’t matter which side they’re on. Just get rid of them all and start over with people who maybe will actually make some of the tough decisions that need to be made. It’s going to take cuts in spending AND tax increases, making everyone unhappy. And that’s the way it is going to be. Get over the fact that you’re going to lose some votes and make the tough call. Ugh.
One of the stoopidest things about the possible shutdown - all employees have to show up to work and sign a piece of paper that tells them they’re not to work. For some idiotic reason this is required. They can’t just get a phone call. Some folks have a 2 hour commute to work for a 2 minute evolution. Can you say road rage?
Altho my personal prediction is that the buttheads on the Hill will have this resolved before Monday. They’ll do their grandstanding and sound bites all weekend, then come to an agreement in time for everyone to work on Monday. Meanwhile, untold hours have been wasted playing these pre-furlough games. Little got done in my office - everyone was talking about our moron reps. I’d turn on the CNN stream, watch a little, get pissed off, then turn it off again.
What really pisses me off - a shutdown won’t save any money - it’ll cost money because the work still needs to get done, and it could require OT to catch up. Contact your congresscritters and tell them to do the damn job they were supposed to have done ***SIX MONTHS AGO!!! ***grrrrrrrrrrr
OK, I’m done. It’s raining and ick out. No idea what we’ll do for dinner. Tomorrow, Taz gets chipped at Petco. And that’s pretty much all the excitement from hereabouts. I need chocolate…
I work at Naval Air Station Key West and have been told to close my office for Sat and Sunday and wait for word about Monday. We must be non essential in the Information, Ticket & Travel office. :dubious:
It’s even worse for me. The contract I work on has 6 months of funding in place, so we keep going until funding runs out, shutdown or not. It keeps the paychecks coming, but John Q. Public doesn’t understand it.
I’m sitting in on a conference call right now about project scheduling, and the Chief Engineer had a very entertaining ‘blow his stack’ moment aimed at the prime contractor. Made having to do this on a day I planned to take off all worth it.
If they shut the government down, they will shut the Blue Ridge Parkway down. That means I’ll have to put up a sign announcing that fact and then I’ll have a bunch of people whining about it.
**
THANKS WASHINGTON, D.C.**
I didn’t want to malign the good name of Washington State, which AFAIK, has never made my job more annoying.
Here’s another really crazy thing - each agency has it’s own contingency plans, which are not supposed to be shared/talked about with any other agency, btw, and each of them have their own little quirks, apparently. We do NOT have to report to work to sign a paper, like at FCM’s office. We’re to listen to the tv/radio/media over the weekend, and then will get a call on Monday. I have a doctor’s appt. at 9:10 am, I’ll be en route there (it’s my endocrinologist, it takes two months to get an appt. with him!!), so hopefully they’ll call early.
What a mess - we didn’t get much work done today either, everyone was pretty grumpy. I’m still hoping that they’ll find a way to work things out, at least before Monday morning.
I just received official telephonic confirmation that I’ll be furloughed. I was also told I still have to come in on Monday to sign my furlough letter. What a waste of gas and time.
That’s a messed up way to handle furloughs, by the way. I very much hope that they’ll be able to work things out so that people will be able to get back to work very quickly.
Hope you have a fun vacation, Shadow, and find a really good new opportunity soon.
Living a block away from a playground is da bomb. We went over to shoot a few hoops and wound up spending almost two hours. The boys made friends and wound up playing dads against sons for a while and I shot baskets on my own, then went and swung for about 20 minutes. There are lights (it’s the playground that’s attached to the school), so we were able to stay out there way past sunset.
Shutdown averted - for now. Funded through Wednesday or Thursday while they hammer out the details for full budget (oh, we’re only 6 months into the fiscal year now …). It’s still a house of cards, imho. One “jiggle” and it could all fall apart. But at least there won’t be a shutdown and we won’t be furloughed. Whew!
Up, and thanks to melatonin, I had a pretty good night. Weird dreams, but close to 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep, so yay!
Regarding the budget idiocy, it was aggravating when I just looked at CNN’s site and it said something like “Budget Battle: Who Won?” Therein lies the problem. The emphasis has gone inordinately to one party vs. the other. Big deal. This is about the country, not some silly political machine. But at least the idiots collectively did something right. Perhaps. We’ll see…
Altho it pooped on my prediction that they’d fart around till Sunday. Maybe it’s because they wanted to finally get it done so they could go on Easter vacation. Idiots.
When we go get the critters chipped, I’m going to run by Lowe’s and get some 'maters and cukes and peppers and whatever other plants or seeds appeal. Plus some composted manure and some plant food. And tomorrow, I’m going to get my veggie bed done, finally. Things are starting to grow like crazy here, so I don’t want to fall behind. I may even try a few berry bushes. Oh, and something to keep the stinkbugs away - a coworker said catnip works…
Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffienatin’ on a very warm mornin’. ‘Tis 70 Amurrkin out with a predicted high of 89. We’re gonna go do OYKW’s yahd this mornin’ and I need to spray some weed killer around da cave. Fun times. Plus, friends comin’ for dindin so there’s that too. Also, I need to get a baby gift over to a baby shower for YP and Wife at the church house this afternoon. My intentions are to drop the gift off, hug Allison, go “Yay, for baby!” and leave.
I was tahrd when we got home last night. Lots of fish 'n chips cooked for 50 people. Nobody left hungry.
Ok, need some brekkies for rumbly tummy and then yahd stuff awaits!
Happy Sattidy Y’all!
ETA: Yay for no government shutdown at least for now!
Morning. TomKitten was teething last night. I’m going to drag Mr. Lissar out of bed in a few minutes- so he got home at midnight, he wasn’t the one being woken every half hour.
Chores and maybe the playground and having a friend over this evening.
Good morning all! I’m up and starting to caffeinate. Yes, it’s late for me, but it is Saturday. I stayed in bed a bit longer this morning, watching Animal Planet’s “Last American Cowboy” reality show. It was one I’d already seen more than once but I enjoyed it all the same - I hope they’re going to bring it back w/new shows!
LiLi, sorry that the teething TomKitten kept you from getting a good night’s rest, and hope that you can nap during the day today to make it up. FCM - I don’t want to tell ya what I think when you say you’re going to have the critter’s chipped! LOL Let’s just say it’s -not- a pretty picture. Chipped should mean groomed, but in my haid it’s bringing up something else! Glad to hear that YP’s wife is doing okay, Swampy–I had meant to ask you when the baby was due, so it must be soonish! Good wishes to all, btw.
I’m so happy it’s the weekend; I hope everyone will be able to have a great weekend.
I’m still hoping that they’ll find a way to work things out, at least before Monday morning.
Chipped should mean groomed, but in my haid it’s bringing up something else! Glad to hear that YP’s wife is doing okay, Swampy–I had meant to ask you when the baby was due, so it must be soonish! Good wishes to all, btw. 