Hippo Birdie two ewe Deer Swampy!!
plus also,
[COLOR=“darkorchid”][COLOR=“Magenta”]Happy Retiring, Mooooooooom!!![/COLOR][/COLOR]
My pointless meeting was canceled. I truly hope that didn’t result in Mom’s retirement being canceled. 
I’m beginning to think that DH and I were not meant to be cooped up in air conditioning for two months straight. After living in or near San Francisco where we could have windows open most of the time year-round, we’re now jammed into an artificial environment and we’re both getting sick. Blah!
[center][Ethel Merman]
Happy Birthday to you1
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday dear swampy!
Happy Birthday to you![/Ethyl merman][/SIZE]]
Happy retirement, MMMMMooooommmmm!!!
It’s gonna be 100 today, just in time for me to unload the truck. I hope I survive, my “just friend” is getting off work early tonight.
doggio you reanimated Ethel Merman just so she could sing “Happy Birthday” to me? That is both impressive and strange. I like impressive and strange.
Thanks Pearl, CatDude, Rebo and Taters!
And I am badgeless and jobless. It was a huge… nothing. Weird. I went to the security office, gave Brenda my badges, read some stuff reminding me that I can still go to jail if I reveal secrets and telling me to contact the FBI if someone tries to get me to reveal secrets. I signed a few papers, she walked me to the lobby, and I went out to my car. Tada… No confetti. No band. No parade. No cheers. But many thanks to all of you!! Youse guys rock!
Sadly, I didn’t get to see Al before I left. He was in his office most of the morning with the preliminary pink slips (Dave got one - he was expecting it by I think he was hoping it wouldn’t happen. I’m really bummed for him.) I went to say goodbyes in a couple other offices, and when I got back Al was gone. So I wrote what I wanted to tell him in an email, and that was probably the best thing anyway. I was tearing up as I wrote, I know I’d have been blubbering if I’d tried to say those things. And we’ve already invited him to go sailing with us when the heat breaks, so I’ll be seeing him again.
And because I forgot to do this first thing this morning:
Happy swampster day, you old geezer!!!
Scallops are teh yum! I seem to recall that we had scallops on our one and only date at Whitey’s! 
That had to be 8 years ago…
So, first act upon getting home was to load the washer. Daughter called - she was just leaving her friend’s house and heading to Ocala and she wanted directions. It’s obvious she inherited her dad’s sense of direction. **FCD **is in DC today for a meeting. I’ll be heading just south of there for a happy hour this afternoon with some folks I know from a work network.
**BBBobbio **- did you hear about the accident on the Nice Bridge yesterday? Four cars, one of which burned up. Bridge closed for a least 2 hours. Had I worked a normal day yesterday, I’d have been caught in that mess. Nope, definitely won’t miss that bridge.
Don’t forget that I get the next MMP - I’ve got it half composed, in my head anyway.
OK, off to run the vacuum thru the living room.
Okay, first things first:
**HAPPY RETIREMENT FCM!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWAMPY!**
So much still going on! Still finding our way around Albuquerque and slowly but surely things are coming together. We’re getting new stuff and replacing old stuff a bit at a time. Yesterday I got some new shoes and today I’m getting cable. Honestly, this move (when was that?!) to all HD channels so that you need cable or an antenna to get any reception on your tv seems like it’s all a scheme to get more money from people. Also, why do employers seem to want to give applicants the Third Degree for a minimum wage job?! Geesh! Not that I am the one looking, but others in my household have been. 
Hope everyone has a great weekend. I’m thinking that my son might come to visit this weekend - I sure hope so, I haven’t seen him in about 5 weeks!
Happy Birfday Swampy!!!
Happy Retirement FCM!!!
MOOOOOM, I can’t imagine just not dissolving into a puddle of tears. I’ve cried when I left a job that I’d only been at for a couple of years.
At work, skipped out for a doctor’s appointment: my PCP sent me to my dermatologist for my swollen/red leg. The dermatologist said “:dubious: Why did your doctor send you to me? That might be a blood clot.” I’m convinced my PCP just loves me wasting money on specialist copays.
So now I get to go navigate the [del]big[/del] [del]huge[/del] monstrous and intimidating hospital to get some tests done. Why do doctors always skip to the most terrifying diagnosis? Like the eye doctor this winter who said “it’s either nothing, and will resolve, or it’s lesions or cancer in your brain. Follow up with me in a month.”
**donkeybear **- maybe you have The Rickets! That’s what **FCD **has been claiming lately - he’s suffering from The Rickets. And gout. And whatever else he sees advertised on TV. I must say, he is entertaining…
But I take so much vitamin D! I use those packs of multivitamins, and if there aren’t 10 or more pills in there…
I dunno - according to FCD, there’s an epidemic of The Rickets… He’s not a doctor but he watches a lot of those trauma shows on TV…
Daughter has arrived safely at grandparents’ house - yay. She’ll be leaving an a few hours for her girlfriend’s place in Orlando. First load of laundry is done, folded, and my stuff is put away. I’ve got a load going now with sheets and the dog’s collar. She’s been bathed, so I want her collar to be clean also.
I didn’t vacuum. Tomorrow. Probably. I’ve got to leave in half an hour for my happy hour and I don’t want to be all sweaty and stuff. It’s evilly hot here. I’m tired of summer - let’s get the cool of autumn in place pronto! I have spoken!! 
OK, that’s all for now. Maybe more when I get home. Maybe not - we’ll see.
Aw, man, I just got the sweetest email from my boss. Turns out he was kinda avoiding me this morning for the same reason I kinda avoided him. I knew he was a sweetheart. He said he’d keep me up to date on the goings-on at the office, and we’re definitely going to go out on the bay - I’ll get to meet his kid and his new girlfriend. Wait, I think I sorta met his kid back before the divorce when he and his wife had a party at their place. Anyway…
I feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Even if he is a West Point graduate…
I haven’t been around- my mouth surgery had complications and I’ve been feeling pretty crappy. But I couldn’t miss coming in to say:
Happy birthday to our Silly Ol’ Bear!
ETA: And happy retirement FCM: Enjoy!
Many happy returns on your special day, swampbear! I hope you get everything you want and that your celebration is one for the books! Good luck blowing out all the candles!
Bri2k
**Happy birthday swampy!
Happy retirement Moooom!**
Now, to continue with me being a Big Ol’ Ray of Sunshine this week (blame the Locusts that descended today)…Last night The Mom of The Boys called and told them their grandpa (step-grandpa?) has The Cancer and has about eight months left.
Also, there was a big fire at a medical place in town yesterday and a firefighter died of a heart attack responding to it. Another firefighter is in a burn center in Georgia with 3rd degree burns over 80% of his body. For some reason the building didn’t have sprinklers because “they weren’t required when the building was constructed.” 
Okay, so nobody thought that sprinklers or a fire suppressing system *might *have been a good idea? Especially in a building that contains an oxygen chamber? Anyone? Bueller? :smack:
On the good news side, Detailed AGM was thinking of applying for a sales manager position that just opened up at The Company but he didn’t. Big Boss about had a fit yesterday when the opening announcement came over the fax because he just had to get a work divorce from Mama Bear (the former executive housekeeper who just became GM at Sister Property by the Airport–Big Boss’s former job). I caught a glimpse of Detailed’s draft letter to She Who Must Be Obeyed saying that he’d rather stay where he is so he can work with people rather than accounts. Detailed is one of the few reasons I’ve stayed with The Company as long as I have.
Also, I think I have stopped the computer from crashing after Culinary Boy’s little overclocking experiment yesterday. I still want him to dial it back, though. Spaz no like system crashes.
Nope, didn’t hear about it, but then I’m in Indyanner. And we left through DC, avoiding the bridge.
HAPPY RETIREMENT MOOOOOOM!!!
So now I suppose the family will be gettin’ crocheted doilies for every occasion and everybody at Denny’s will you know you by name at the early bird special. 
Thanks everybody for all the bday wishes! It’s been, well, a day. I irked, of course, then we went to the seafood place for dindin. I’m glad I remembered to get the half order of broiled scallops. I’s stuffded! OYKW is stuffded too. He got the seafood platter which is hyuuuuuuuuuuuuuge! I nixed the fried dill pickles cause I knew dindin would be right plentiful.
I’s also tahrd as is OYKW. A full day of irk and a big dindin will do that to ya I guess. Oh and I now have to endure five months of bein’ called a cradle robber. Sigh Yunguns these days!
ETA: I also nixed candles on my bday cake cause I don’t want to set off the smoke detectors.
Swampy–is the shindig tonight or later this weekend with the poke tenderloin and fixins?
I would guess since you went out for din din the shindig is later :smack:
I am glad that boy is still in jail so i guess i am evil too.
again, hb swampy
hr–fcm
sig to all.
Home from happy hour - it was nice. I met 5 folks I only knew online, so that was fun. Once it devolved to people comparing smart phones and stuff, I decided it was time to go. I cornered our server and paid my share, and he got a big tip - $3 on a $7 tab. 'Cause I’m nice, dammit!
I stopped to pick up a late dinner for FCD, which he just finished ingesting. We need to put fresh sheets on the bed and I need to crash - I’s pooped. I woke around 4, so it’s been a long day.
I still get a little teary re-reading the email from my boss. I’m glad I wrote what I did to him - it was really important to me that he know how I felt. He was a damned good boss, really a model worthy of emulation, and I’m so glad I got to work for him as long as I did.
Now, I wonder if I can send a gorilla-gram to him at the office??