I’m from the government and I’m here with your MMP

I’m feeling better today. It’s November! November 1 is my favorite day of the year. Thank you for all the well wishes. Taters, I still have my gall bladder. They did an ultrasound last year and found that I have a fatty liver, which isn’t in itself anything to worry about. Either it’s gotten worse or there’s something else going on. I just have to wait and see.

At the moment, I am frustrated about a calendaring issue. I talk with everyone, confirm the date and time, and then get emails saying, “Why did you book this meeting? What’s this for? That time doesn’t work. I never agreed to that.” Sigh. I know it’s not my fault, it’s the person I’m calendaring for. She has a reputation for being rude and disruptive to other people’s schedules, so I’m suffering for it. (Insert pause here.) I just spoke with my cube neighbor and confirmed that it’s not me, well, except for finding my way into the pecking order. That’s the fun part of a new job, isn’t it?

And, of course, while I was talking to her, the gastroenterologist’s office called 3 times. Now I’m waiting for them to call back.

I had a ton of Trick-or-Treaters last night it was fun.

There was one little guy in a tigger outfit that was terrifed of the little plastic skulls I had outside my door. His Mom was having to stand in front of them and hide them so he would come to the door! Bless him - he was soooo cute so he got lots of candy for being brave :slight_smile:

Later I had a couple of 16 year old boys come round - not dressed up no effort at all and a back pack held out. I told them they were to old - if they had been dressed up it would have been different.

I have meeting day from hell today :mad:

Hi, all. Appropriate hugs all round…even one for spec1…though he’s a greedy bugger. :wink:

Not as many TOTs as usual last night but still quite a few. We used to have a haunted house a few houses away that was quite popular but the owner moved.

I am so ready for the weekend this week, and if I never send another efax I’ll be happy.

Not much else going on.

Tupug

Evening all. Hubby is cooking dinner and HRH is finally asleep, after crying and grouching for a good 30 minutes after we got home from the mall.

Well, today proved that I will be the only one suffering from going back to work and putting Noor in daycare. I went back at about 12:45 to collect her and she had eaten her lunch and fallen asleep in one of the cots there. So I came home again for 45 minutes, then went back to pick her up at 1:30, by which time she was awake and ready to go!

Oops, din-dins is ready! More later …
(Nooner, behave yourself!)

It’s a little sad when your children are so happy to leave you, isn’t it, Dotty? I still remember when snowbunny was 2 or 3, and I took her to her first day at a small preschool that was held in a room at the end of a looong hallway. We came in the doorway at one end of the hall, and she took one look at all the kids and toys at the other end and took off like a rocket. No goodbye, no hug, and certainly no tears. Except mine…sniffle…I guess we should be glad we raise children who are happy to be a bit more independent, but darn it, a little dependence at such a young age is soothing to Mom, if not to kidlet!

I took the Idiots for a ride to run up and put my paycheck in the credit union. It’s warm enough today that I had all the car windows open, and Isaac spent most of the trip riding shotgun in the front passenger seat, hanging his head out the window with a look of pure bliss on his face. He had many admirers. :slight_smile: Then we came home and chased the Kong. Life is goood when you’re a spoiled puppy! Rusty just wants snacks; he prefers the intake to the output of calories. :smiley:

Okay, back to work. I’m struggling to get into gear today, which is not good because I have so much that’s due tomorrow. But it’s not my fault, the office sent me that monster Job From Hell that ate up a big chunk of my work time this week! It’s always good to blame someone else, right?

Afternoon, all!

Dotty, it may be distressing to have your kid grow up so quickly, but imagine if Noor were the other way around, like I was – the first time I was put in daycare, I screamed, ran to the window, and cried for my dad to come back, bawling my eyes out. Your child is showing capability for growth and adapting to new situations, definitely a good skill to have in life!

Does anyone remember how I mentioned that my best friend was sick earlier this week? She didn’t get better. At 1 am last night, she had to be taken to the hospital. :frowning: She was having an allergic reaction to the meds she was given, which it turns out wouldn’t have helped her anyway, since the “doctor” at the campus health center wildly misdiagnosed her… :mad: At least she’s doing better today though. The actual, qualified doctors at the E.R. gave her (what we hope is) the correct medication, and she was able to go to class this afternoon (barely). Here’s hoping she’ll just have an upward climb from here.

And in case any of you are wondering what Ali’s been up to, you might want to check out these pictures of him from last night… My roomie and I spent two hours creating this masterpiece!

He’s all dressed up!
With a purse
And chatting on the phone

Well, I found out that next week will well and truly be a Week From Hell[sup]5[/sup]. The other project I’m assigned to, the one for which I’ve had nothing to do for over a month, is hosting a Working Group on Weds and Thurs next week. Apparently, my part of preparing for this fiasco is to help one of the other analysts make power point slides. OK, no biggie, but I see it as a huge waste of money for someone of my paygrade to be doing what amounts to clerk work. But if that’s what they want…

Worst, tho - I’ve been informed that I’ve got 4 10-hour days at least next week. On a project for which I have nothing to offer. Whatever.

My other project, on the other hand, is going to be really exciting. I’ll get to learn to do some linear programming to create the model that we hope to present. Unfortunately, I’ll have to put that on hold for a week.

I had some clay play today - I made 2 sets of critter dishes. **FCD ** is going to make stands for each set. I also made a dish that’s going to become (I hope) a basket-like object, and another piece that will be a penguin.

Tonight’s plans include going to look at a computer a coworker rebuilt. If it’s what he says it is, we’ll be buying it and sending it to the kid. So here’s hoping.

Saturday is FCD’s 51st bday. I had hoped to take him to a local community theater production, but none of the companies in the area have any performances scheduled now. So I dunno what we’ll do. I’ll figger something out.

Meanwhile - is it Friday yet??

I hate being part of groups where I feel like I’m wasting my time. I tend to be rude and take my laptop to such meetings and work on e-mail and other stuff while the meaninglessness persists. Hope next week goes by fast for you, FCM.

Oops. Forgot to wish JoeDawg a happy birthday!

Wow…I would never have recognized him, meli! That’s a great costume! Hope your friend gets better quickly. Student health clinics can be good for routine stuff, but I think most of them have their limits. I know there was at least one doctor at MSU (a million years ago or so) that was known for having a diagnosis repertoire of 2 diseases (mono and ???-can’t remember).

I’m glad HRH was content at day care. As meli said, it’s preferable to the complete freak-out (even if it does make you teary). I was a very clingy first-grader (I guess the transition from half-day to whole day was too much; also, I loved my kindergarten teacher, but the 1st grade teacher was much stricter and less flexible. Not sure how my mom (and the teacher) survived me.

Welcome to November, Shadow!

If QD ever decides not to marry DH, I have first dibs on him, OK, LiLi? He is clearly a saint. Will he be dispatching Idiot CW on your behalf? I can’t even believe the latest nonsense. :rolleyes: It’s sad that he’s unable to see his own limitations, but it’s also sad that no one has socialized him properly by now (if that’s even possible).

I got my Punjabi CD from Meeks today. It’s really really cool. It’s all kind of blend between modern Western music and Indian music (how would you describe it, Meeks?) There are some parts that sound a bit hip-hoppy, which I don’t normally care for, but somehow the Indian influence makes it fun. And she included a really funny card, too. Yay!

Boy, there’s a lot of traffic between rooms 304 and 403, isn’t there?

Hope you’re having fun with the forecast, taxi. So, do you like it more or less than swampy likes 3rd shift.

Hope your day went better today, Kid.

Where has kai got herself off to again? And where’s Roo?

Found a way to defuse what was going to be a horrible meeting. But there’s still hope for one next week. I guess I can stockpile ninjas in the meantime. (Maybe I’ll get one of those nice ninja-launchers taxi linked to earlier.)

Gonna watch the webcast of Chuck, I think, then read for a while, then crawl into beddie-bye.

Back after a while…

GT

Hello, all. Am home from work, and errands. You’d think since I did the errands today, that I’d have tomorrow errand-free, no?
No. :frowning: Must food forage, although I may be able to put it off until Saturday am.
Nice, quiet day at work. I got paid to surf the Net and really, do nothing. I’ll take it!
Not much to add here. Off to fold laundry.

Howdy Y’all!

JoeDawg says thanks for all the bday wishes. Really. Well, he didn’t growl at anybody last night. For a Chee-hoo-ha-hoo-ah that translates into thanks. Why, he even let me feed him his Pupperoni by hand! High praise indeed!

Meli do tell Ali how stunningly b-yoo-ti-ful he is! :smiley:

Ok, apparently a few of you are still confused about my feelings towards third shift… so, to put it in a nutshell…

I HATE THE LIVIN’ HELL OUTTA THIRD SHIFT

That bein’ said… I have yet another week on third shift comin’ up. Le Sigh.

So, anybody come forward for next week’s MMP? If not, I shall [del]draft[/del] persuade somebody, if needed.

Ok, off to do some stuff before work. Light blue pocket t and blue jeans tonight.

Later Y’all!

Why does the google ad have info on moving your stash without getting caught? My only stash is fabric. Well, and weird foreign food in jars.
swampy, I’m not sure I understand your feelings about third shift. Could you be clearer? :smiley: I hated it when Mr. Lissar worked overnights. He did, too.
meli, Ali is very attractive and feminine. Nice costume!
Black beans and rice or stuffed potatoes for dinner? Someone have an opinion, quick!

Ali looks hot, meli. :smiley: And I’m so sorry to hear about your roommate. My best friend almost died as a child because of a misdiagnosis. :mad: I hope she feels beter soon!

**LiLi ** I vote for black beans and rice. I would love the recipe as well. I keep meaning to google for a recipe, but haven’t yet, and if you have tried and true one and willing to share…

Er, well… it’s going to be packaged…
I have made it from scratch before, but Ithought I’d compare my even-farther-north-than-yankee conception of black beans and rice with a packaged but genuine Cajun brand, and see what the differences and similarities are. I generall cook some black beans in ham stock with onion and celery and tomato, and then add rice. And cheese on top. It’s quite yummy.

I’m confused. I thought** Ali** referred to AlistairMcCello, who is guy. A guy who wouldn’t make a bad looking woman, except for the sideburns.

If Ali is a woman, I do most humbly beg your pardon.

Off to more nothing.

Too funny about the prepackaged beans and rice!

Thanks for all the compliments on Ali’s costume, everybody! :smiley: I’m glad I’m not the only one who thought he turned out lookin’ good. I would definitely be questioning my sexuality right now if I didn’t already know that I’m occasionally attracted to women. :stuck_out_tongue: My roommate (one who is not sick right now) and I put a whole lot of effort and laughs into putting his ensemble together, right down to the rouge and mascara. I just wish I’d taken some studio-style photos; those would have been priceless, and very lovely, also!

rigs, to clear up the confusion, Haze is talking about two separate people. Ali is the same as Alistair McCello, who is male. She’s also referring to my sick friend, who is female and most definitely not Ali.

gt, if a doctor at MSU is really that misinformed, I dread to imagine how terrible the health clinics might be at other, less prestigious and smaller universities. (Then again, that probably says something about my uni’s clinic right there…) And Haze, that situation with your best friend royally sucks, but I’m glad s/he was able to make it through despite the misdiagnosis!

The sick roomie/best friend is moving about and says she feels slightly better now. I’m hoping her meds are starting to take care of the problem and that she’ll feel much better tomorrow.

<goes back to being heterosexual>

I’m too old for all this stress.

:slight_smile:

Ali ** looks positively fetching in his female guise! Clearly he enjoyed being done up as the fairer sex, too. :smiley:

GT, I got CDs from Meeks today, too. I tried to email her a thanks and got a “I’m busy with NaNoWriMo right now” auto-reply, so I hope she sees my note. :frowning: But if you’d like to try some more, I’d be glad to trade you – my email’s in my profile, drop me a note if you’re interested! I really enjoyed the last batch she sent me, too. It’s a nice change from western music!

I realize I’m too late, but I vote for black beans & rice, too, LiLi. I adore black beans, but Papa Tigs doesn’t like them. In fact, basically every kind of beans I do like he doesn’t like. It’s quite frustrating for us both. Fortunately, our tastes intersect with red beans & rice, which is the ultimate comfort food. At least the way they make them in south Louisiana. Darn, I’m making myself hungry just thinking about it.

Hey, swampy, you never told us how you feel about working third shift. Do ya love it?

I skimmed because I am wiped out from rehearsal. We ran thru the show twice and even tho I won’t actually be in the BIG performance, I do have to know all the music and choreography because we’ll use some or all of it for our upcoming holiday sings.

::gropes all willing male mumpers, and some of the not-so-willing as well::
::hugs the female mumpers::

Appropriate reactions all around - I am off to sleep

Okay, so I was bored and blue tonight, so I decided to curl my hair and take a bunch of stupid pictures. (Yeah, I combat the blues in weird ways. Sue me.)

I dyed my hair, but it’s hard to see unless there’s light.
ennui
Slightly sheepish smile.
Re-enacting the Ring.
Look, I’m a blowfish!