I'm a quick person. Everything about me is fast. I walk fast, I talk fast, I do my work fast, I think fast. I get frustrated with people who cannot think fast. Normally, this doesn't matter. Despite what my husband will say, I do manage to hide my frustrations sometimes, especially at work.
Just when I thought things were getting better between my boss and me, they actually got worse. For a variety of reasons, he lost any respect I may have had for him within the first 2 weeks he was my boss. I mean, c'mon, he can't even remember my job title. At least twice he's threatened to take away a promotion to my OWN job, on the grounds that I am lower level than that. For the record, I do have a promotion coming up, but he doesn't have a say in it. Also, it's a promotion to Project Architect, not a promotion to my current level.
Among other things, he's the slowest person I have ever met. When I'm stressed, I speed up even more than normal; today I was stressed about a deadline I needed to meet at noon. When he took 10 minutes to answer a 1 minute response ("Go ask someone else, I don't know.) I got frustrated and rude. I'm not normally rude to my bosses. It's a bad idea to piss off someone who will evaluate you. On the other hand, I don't want to work the way he does. 10 minutes to answer that he doesn't know the answer is extremely excessive and a waste of both our time.
In response to my rudeness, he hauled me off to the conference room for a "discussion" of our conflict. The discussion turned out to be him yelling at me for being snippy. Ok, ok, I was being snippy. To quote Alanna "If you are going to be rude, do it for a reason and only if it will get you the right results." Unfortunately, these were not the results I wanted. He spent about 20 minutes yelling, including multiple threats to fire me and shaking his finger in my face. (In my face! Really!) Actually, he does not have the ability to fire me. In addition, when I talked to the HR manager, which is the first place I went afterward, it turns out they are actually pleased with my work. Good to know. The HR manager sent me for a walk. Then she talked to both my boss and the department manager.
Anyway, I don't feel the conflict is resolved, but I'm glad I talked to HR about it. This isn't the first time he's had a "private discussion" with me, and I'm sure it won't be the last. At least this way it is being recorded.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Work, Cars and other fun stuff
This is going to be a short post. I got my car back from the dealership in plenty of time to make it to my troop meeting. The price was pretty high - $250 seems steep for a 90k mile tune-up, but perhaps I'm just not used to Bay Area prices yet. Getting to and from the mechanic went quite smoothly; I hope tomorrow's expedition to the dealership goes just as well. I still can't decide if I am hoping for a rental or not. I'd rather not put more miles on my car, but I don't like the idea of having to pay extra for a car that guzzles gas. I'm sure a hybrid is NOT on their list of basic rentals.
I turned in the review I did on my boss today. The department head asked me to put in a few employee specific comments, promised not to show it to the person I reviewed, and complimented me on the inclusion of solutions to the problems I pointed out. He was startled to read that the boss specifically tells people not to take lunch; I don't think the manager realized that mr. boss man actually breaks the labor laws when he feels like it.
In other news, our Haloween candy seems to be multiplying. We're out of mini 3 musketeers bars, but we've now added Smarties and something labeled assorted to our pile. If we don't get some trick or treaters, we'll both contract diabetes!
What I'm reading now: The Grey King. Greenwitch picked up about halfway through, though I still felt dissasociated from the story. I've only just started The Grey King, but I already like it a lot more.
Short post tonight, I'm heading out to Improv class.
I turned in the review I did on my boss today. The department head asked me to put in a few employee specific comments, promised not to show it to the person I reviewed, and complimented me on the inclusion of solutions to the problems I pointed out. He was startled to read that the boss specifically tells people not to take lunch; I don't think the manager realized that mr. boss man actually breaks the labor laws when he feels like it.
In other news, our Haloween candy seems to be multiplying. We're out of mini 3 musketeers bars, but we've now added Smarties and something labeled assorted to our pile. If we don't get some trick or treaters, we'll both contract diabetes!
What I'm reading now: The Grey King. Greenwitch picked up about halfway through, though I still felt dissasociated from the story. I've only just started The Grey King, but I already like it a lot more.
Short post tonight, I'm heading out to Improv class.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Car Woes
Over the weekend, I received a notice from Honda informing me that the warranty on my transmission has been extended to 100,000 miles due to a potential problem with "juddering and slippage." I've been noticing this shuddering feeling when I start up from stoplights for quite some time now. I have no clue how long; I can remember feeling it just after moving up here last February. I'm pretty sure, now that I've read the warranty extension letter, that it applies to my car. I wouldn't have bothered otherwise. The car is completely driveable, and the problem won't cause an accident. I have noticed that my gas mileage has been pretty bad for a hybrid. I hope the two are related. It would be nice to have both fixed in one fell swoop. Yay for free car fixes!
Also, if the car is not driveable according to the dealership, they'll hook me up with a free basic car rental for my trip. I'm not sure what a basic car is, but I heard "free car rental" and began hoping the car really isn't driveable. I plan to ask a mechanic to check the transmission if the dealership claims it's good enough for a trip to Oregon. I wonder how much I'd have to bribe them to say I need the rental...
Well, you say, those don't sound like "woes" at all. If you said that, you are right! The woe part comes in when I start to consider the amount of time (and money) I'm going to be spending at the mechanic this week. Since my car is close to 100,000 miles, I felt it was best to get it in before my Wednesday trip. I made an appointment for the 90k mile tune-up with a mechanic here in town for Tuesday. Luckily, they have a shuttle and will give me a ride to work after I drop off the car. They also have promised to get me back to my car before my scout meeting at 3pm. I haven't ever used this mechanic before, but they are the only in-town ones that specialize in imports.
I've been taking our cars to Landis Automotive for 6 years now, and I miss them terribly. Landis specializes in Hondas. I don't often trust mechanics, but this place is awesome. The first time we drove into their driveway with a problem, the owner got down on his back and went under the car, for free. We weren't pre-existing customers and we didn't know the guy. He just felt that was good service, so he did it. Apparently it was a good decision on his part, since I took both cars there until we moved out of the area. He always remembered me as the co-owner of a white CRX. He had a special affinity for CRX's. Now I have to find a new mechanic, and it's always a gamble.
Anyway, since tomorrow the car is getting a tune-up, that leaves Wednesday for the warranty appointment at the dealership. And do they have a shuttle service, like the mechanic? No! I have to drop the car off and get a ride to work. Luckily, Justin starts work at the same time I do that day, so he can just drop me off a little early. I am afraid that the dealership won't be honest with me about anything, particularly the transmission. I've never had a good experience with a dealership's mechanics. Usually, they overcharge, but I suppose that is par for the course among mechanics. I've taken my car to a dealership that charged labor on a "free tire rotation," dealerships that won't do warranty work unless I buy car accessories, and a dealership that told me up front they didn't care about my car, since I didn't buy it from them. Since the appointment isn't for 2 days, I'm probably going to worry about it until then.
In the meantime, I have a special assignment from my department head. Over the past week, I collected information about my direct supervisor. Tonight, I am supposed to write up a report on him, incorporating the comments from my direct reports. The department head let me know that it is possible, based on my report, that they will censure or demote the guy. Just how is one supposed to write a review of one's boss, knowing that even if he gets demoted, he'll still be my direct supervisor? I mean, admittedly, he is senile, can't work as a team member and has no leadership skills to speak of. But I can't write that, can I? He's still better than the boss at my last job, but mainly because he doesn't have the power to affect my raises or job security. I have just as little respect for him, though. I am glad that the department head realizes he put this guy in too deep, and that he will listen to the comments of the junior staff. I just wish the department head had understood my boss' limitations before hiring him!
Hmm... I seem a little negative today. I suppose the 9 hour work day had something to do with it. Here's a positive: only 2 more days until vacation!
Also, if the car is not driveable according to the dealership, they'll hook me up with a free basic car rental for my trip. I'm not sure what a basic car is, but I heard "free car rental" and began hoping the car really isn't driveable. I plan to ask a mechanic to check the transmission if the dealership claims it's good enough for a trip to Oregon. I wonder how much I'd have to bribe them to say I need the rental...
Well, you say, those don't sound like "woes" at all. If you said that, you are right! The woe part comes in when I start to consider the amount of time (and money) I'm going to be spending at the mechanic this week. Since my car is close to 100,000 miles, I felt it was best to get it in before my Wednesday trip. I made an appointment for the 90k mile tune-up with a mechanic here in town for Tuesday. Luckily, they have a shuttle and will give me a ride to work after I drop off the car. They also have promised to get me back to my car before my scout meeting at 3pm. I haven't ever used this mechanic before, but they are the only in-town ones that specialize in imports.
I've been taking our cars to Landis Automotive for 6 years now, and I miss them terribly. Landis specializes in Hondas. I don't often trust mechanics, but this place is awesome. The first time we drove into their driveway with a problem, the owner got down on his back and went under the car, for free. We weren't pre-existing customers and we didn't know the guy. He just felt that was good service, so he did it. Apparently it was a good decision on his part, since I took both cars there until we moved out of the area. He always remembered me as the co-owner of a white CRX. He had a special affinity for CRX's. Now I have to find a new mechanic, and it's always a gamble.
Anyway, since tomorrow the car is getting a tune-up, that leaves Wednesday for the warranty appointment at the dealership. And do they have a shuttle service, like the mechanic? No! I have to drop the car off and get a ride to work. Luckily, Justin starts work at the same time I do that day, so he can just drop me off a little early. I am afraid that the dealership won't be honest with me about anything, particularly the transmission. I've never had a good experience with a dealership's mechanics. Usually, they overcharge, but I suppose that is par for the course among mechanics. I've taken my car to a dealership that charged labor on a "free tire rotation," dealerships that won't do warranty work unless I buy car accessories, and a dealership that told me up front they didn't care about my car, since I didn't buy it from them. Since the appointment isn't for 2 days, I'm probably going to worry about it until then.
In the meantime, I have a special assignment from my department head. Over the past week, I collected information about my direct supervisor. Tonight, I am supposed to write up a report on him, incorporating the comments from my direct reports. The department head let me know that it is possible, based on my report, that they will censure or demote the guy. Just how is one supposed to write a review of one's boss, knowing that even if he gets demoted, he'll still be my direct supervisor? I mean, admittedly, he is senile, can't work as a team member and has no leadership skills to speak of. But I can't write that, can I? He's still better than the boss at my last job, but mainly because he doesn't have the power to affect my raises or job security. I have just as little respect for him, though. I am glad that the department head realizes he put this guy in too deep, and that he will listen to the comments of the junior staff. I just wish the department head had understood my boss' limitations before hiring him!
Hmm... I seem a little negative today. I suppose the 9 hour work day had something to do with it. Here's a positive: only 2 more days until vacation!
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Chores and other stuff
See? Only 3 posts into this blog and I've already skipped a day. My excuse is that I wore myself out yesterday cleaning the house. By the end of the day, I had this post all written in my head, but no inclination to type it.
I have this weird method of housecleaning. (No, I don't mean the fact that I don't clean until I know someone is coming over. That's not actually all that weird.) I'm talking about my random chore generator. First I make a list of everything I feel needs work, down to the little tetchy bits. For example, I write "Take out bathroom trash; scrub tub; clean toilet; wipe counters; and wash floor" instead of writing "clean the bathroom." On average, I spend about 5 minutes walking around the house before making the list, surveying the messes and deciding what needs doing and what I can skip.
I assign each chore a set of numbers, from 0 to 999, divided evenly, and get someone from FFXI to /random* for me. I have to get someone else to pick the number, otherwise I'm inclined to cheat, leaving chores I don't want to do for the very end in the hopes that they will go away. When Justin is home, he ignores the system completely. I'll go to do a chore and it's already done! This leads to more cheating on my part, which never works out the way I hope. Also, over time I discovered that it is pointless to put either the dishes or the laundry into my lists. Both those chores involve returning to complete them after an hour or two; not suitable when the chore is picked randomly.
Odd as it is, this system really works for me. The chores are so tiny that they only take 5 to 10 minutes each. Then I get to come sit at my computer and joke around for a few minutes until I feel like going back to work. Sometimes my friend Kaze will try to skip ahead and simply give me a new number the second I sit down, but I can just chat for a few minutes and then go do the chore he /random'ed. I don't have to work straight through, I can see the end of my list, and I get to make everyone in-game laugh about crazy Shrugged and her housecleaning. It's a win-win-win situation. I use my chore generator every time I have a lot of housework to do. It even works for packing boxes. When we are moving, the list consists of closets and rooms that need to be packed up, rather than chores to do.
The random chore generator stems from a parenting method my mother used to teach my sister and me household responsibility. Mother would make out chore lists for us, one unique list for each girl. I liked the chore lists a lot because they provided a clear ending point to what seemed like infinite cleaning. I didn't have to worry about when I would get to go play; reaching the bottom of the list meant free time. Also, separate lists delineated which chores we each were assigned. There could be no "Mommy said you have to..." when it was written clearly who did what. The only thing I hated about the lists was when my mother had to add things. This was worst was when I was more than halfway through my list. I was already estimating what time I would finish. New items lengthened the time I'd be spending on chores, and I would have to completely recalculate.
Besides working on my random chore generator list yesterday (it had 12 items, plus laundry and dishes), I also met Justin for lunch at Baja Fresh, baked an apple pie, ranked up to Second Lieutenant in assault**, and tried out two new assaults with Justin and Dragonx. No wonder I was exhausted!
The apple pie turned out okay. It's the first time I tried making pie crust from scratch, and it wasn't as difficult as I had heard. The crust is actually quite good, even though I don't have a blender or a pastry-making-tool-thing. I used a potato masher instead. I've never made apple pie before, either. I was disconcerted by the spiced liquid that came pouring out of the pie when I cut it open. The pie filling tastes really good, but I can't figure out where all the liquid came from! Did I just not cook it long enough? Perhaps it would have evaporated if I cooked it a bit longer. The apples aren't crunchy, so I thought it was done, but I suppose they could get a bit mushier. Is this supposed to happen?
Today should be less busy; my sister and I are going shopping, possibly dragging Justin along. We have to buy gifts for our baby nephew and our father. I also am planning to attend Limbus with Dragonx and Elhaym this evening. Of all the FFXI end-game activities, my favorite is Limbus. It's short, it doesn't require a whole lot of studying strategies ahead of time, at least not for the Bard, and there's always the reward of Ancient Beastcoins at the end. Much better than Sky or Dynamis, where you might only get a reward every 3-6 weeks, and even then only if you are high on the point list. Also, I like that it can be done with as few as 8 people. If all 18 don't show up, we don't have to cancel!
What I'm reading now: Greenwitch, the third book in the Dark is Rising series. I liked the first 2 books much more. I'm actually considering putting this one down for about a week and coming back to it. Hopefully, the fourth book, Grey King will be better.
There, a nice long post to make up for not writing one yesterday. I'm still not sure I can keep up a blog, but it's nice to not quit during the first week!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*/random: FFXI allows you make your avatar emote through one word commands preceded by a forward slash. For example, /smile makes your character "smile warmly" at whatever you targeted. /bow makes your character bow to your target (it is a japanese game, after all). /random makes a set of pretend dice roll a number between 0 and 999 and announces the results to everyone around you.
**Assault: an element added to FFXI during the expansion 2 years ago. In a party of 3 to 6 players, you go into a special zone with an objective to achieve in a limited amount of time. Sometimes the objective is to kill the monsters, sometimes it's spy work, and sometimes you have to rescue a computer generated character (NPC). There are 10 ranks modeled on army ranks. You start with rank 1, Private Second Class, and work your way up to the 10th rank. Second lieutenant is rank 9. Each rank gets a new set of assaults to try, though you can go back and repeat old ones.
I have this weird method of housecleaning. (No, I don't mean the fact that I don't clean until I know someone is coming over. That's not actually all that weird.) I'm talking about my random chore generator. First I make a list of everything I feel needs work, down to the little tetchy bits. For example, I write "Take out bathroom trash; scrub tub; clean toilet; wipe counters; and wash floor" instead of writing "clean the bathroom." On average, I spend about 5 minutes walking around the house before making the list, surveying the messes and deciding what needs doing and what I can skip.
I assign each chore a set of numbers, from 0 to 999, divided evenly, and get someone from FFXI to /random* for me. I have to get someone else to pick the number, otherwise I'm inclined to cheat, leaving chores I don't want to do for the very end in the hopes that they will go away. When Justin is home, he ignores the system completely. I'll go to do a chore and it's already done! This leads to more cheating on my part, which never works out the way I hope. Also, over time I discovered that it is pointless to put either the dishes or the laundry into my lists. Both those chores involve returning to complete them after an hour or two; not suitable when the chore is picked randomly.
Odd as it is, this system really works for me. The chores are so tiny that they only take 5 to 10 minutes each. Then I get to come sit at my computer and joke around for a few minutes until I feel like going back to work. Sometimes my friend Kaze will try to skip ahead and simply give me a new number the second I sit down, but I can just chat for a few minutes and then go do the chore he /random'ed. I don't have to work straight through, I can see the end of my list, and I get to make everyone in-game laugh about crazy Shrugged and her housecleaning. It's a win-win-win situation. I use my chore generator every time I have a lot of housework to do. It even works for packing boxes. When we are moving, the list consists of closets and rooms that need to be packed up, rather than chores to do.
The random chore generator stems from a parenting method my mother used to teach my sister and me household responsibility. Mother would make out chore lists for us, one unique list for each girl. I liked the chore lists a lot because they provided a clear ending point to what seemed like infinite cleaning. I didn't have to worry about when I would get to go play; reaching the bottom of the list meant free time. Also, separate lists delineated which chores we each were assigned. There could be no "Mommy said you have to..." when it was written clearly who did what. The only thing I hated about the lists was when my mother had to add things. This was worst was when I was more than halfway through my list. I was already estimating what time I would finish. New items lengthened the time I'd be spending on chores, and I would have to completely recalculate.
Besides working on my random chore generator list yesterday (it had 12 items, plus laundry and dishes), I also met Justin for lunch at Baja Fresh, baked an apple pie, ranked up to Second Lieutenant in assault**, and tried out two new assaults with Justin and Dragonx. No wonder I was exhausted!
The apple pie turned out okay. It's the first time I tried making pie crust from scratch, and it wasn't as difficult as I had heard. The crust is actually quite good, even though I don't have a blender or a pastry-making-tool-thing. I used a potato masher instead. I've never made apple pie before, either. I was disconcerted by the spiced liquid that came pouring out of the pie when I cut it open. The pie filling tastes really good, but I can't figure out where all the liquid came from! Did I just not cook it long enough? Perhaps it would have evaporated if I cooked it a bit longer. The apples aren't crunchy, so I thought it was done, but I suppose they could get a bit mushier. Is this supposed to happen?
Today should be less busy; my sister and I are going shopping, possibly dragging Justin along. We have to buy gifts for our baby nephew and our father. I also am planning to attend Limbus with Dragonx and Elhaym this evening. Of all the FFXI end-game activities, my favorite is Limbus. It's short, it doesn't require a whole lot of studying strategies ahead of time, at least not for the Bard, and there's always the reward of Ancient Beastcoins at the end. Much better than Sky or Dynamis, where you might only get a reward every 3-6 weeks, and even then only if you are high on the point list. Also, I like that it can be done with as few as 8 people. If all 18 don't show up, we don't have to cancel!
What I'm reading now: Greenwitch, the third book in the Dark is Rising series. I liked the first 2 books much more. I'm actually considering putting this one down for about a week and coming back to it. Hopefully, the fourth book, Grey King will be better.
There, a nice long post to make up for not writing one yesterday. I'm still not sure I can keep up a blog, but it's nice to not quit during the first week!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*/random: FFXI allows you make your avatar emote through one word commands preceded by a forward slash. For example, /smile makes your character "smile warmly" at whatever you targeted. /bow makes your character bow to your target (it is a japanese game, after all). /random makes a set of pretend dice roll a number between 0 and 999 and announces the results to everyone around you.
**Assault: an element added to FFXI during the expansion 2 years ago. In a party of 3 to 6 players, you go into a special zone with an objective to achieve in a limited amount of time. Sometimes the objective is to kill the monsters, sometimes it's spy work, and sometimes you have to rescue a computer generated character (NPC). There are 10 ranks modeled on army ranks. You start with rank 1, Private Second Class, and work your way up to the 10th rank. Second lieutenant is rank 9. Each rank gets a new set of assaults to try, though you can go back and repeat old ones.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Friday at last!
Not much happened today. Well, the administrative assistant in my department was fired for lying on her employment application. Turns out she was a convicted felon. I wonder what she did! She only lasted 4 days, but technically, she was fired yesterday. Yesterday was also our third brownie meeting. The girls made smores over a propane stove. Nothing like that smell of propane to roast those marshmellows! I also let them try lighting a match each, after a short lecture on matches and safety. Third graders playing with matches. Woohoo! Again, that was yesterday. Today was boring!
Tomorrow will be nice and boring too, since all I'll be doing is cleaning the house and getting my tires rotated. My sister is coming over on Sunday to shop for and subsequently wrap gifts for our new nephew and our father, and I want her to think I keep a nice clean house. Plus, this way I will already have the house clean when I leave for Portland. I'm quite looking forward to this trip. It's weird, but I actually like long road trips with my husband. I hear plenty of people say "Oh, I could never take that kind of trip, I'd go crazy!" I like it, though. It seems that we do our best chatting when I am half asleep and he's driving. I do have to buff up on the news for the next few days, or we'll end up complaining about the president again. Not that there's anything wrong with complaining about the president, but it will get old if we have to do it for 9 hours. Send me any outrageous news articles you can!
You know, I think I will have to take up skydiving or something! This is quite possibly the most boring post in the history of the blogosphere!
Tomorrow will be nice and boring too, since all I'll be doing is cleaning the house and getting my tires rotated. My sister is coming over on Sunday to shop for and subsequently wrap gifts for our new nephew and our father, and I want her to think I keep a nice clean house. Plus, this way I will already have the house clean when I leave for Portland. I'm quite looking forward to this trip. It's weird, but I actually like long road trips with my husband. I hear plenty of people say "Oh, I could never take that kind of trip, I'd go crazy!" I like it, though. It seems that we do our best chatting when I am half asleep and he's driving. I do have to buff up on the news for the next few days, or we'll end up complaining about the president again. Not that there's anything wrong with complaining about the president, but it will get old if we have to do it for 9 hours. Send me any outrageous news articles you can!
You know, I think I will have to take up skydiving or something! This is quite possibly the most boring post in the history of the blogosphere!
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Yes, I’ve finally given in. I started a blog. I’m trying to convince myself that being 6 years behind the trendy people means that I’m truly not mindlessly following a trend. If I just think it hard enough, surely I will start to believe it. I’m not at all sure that I can keep up with a blog in any case. I can’t even make a weekly post to my Brownie’s troop website! Who am I to think I can write a daily blog? My favorite blog hasn’t been updated for 12 days now, so perhaps if I skip a day or two, it won’t matter.
I’ve wanted to make a blog since we moved up to the Bay Area last winter. I started walking to work in March, and I realized I wanted to blog so I could complain about all the drivers who don’t respect traffic laws pertaining to pedestrians. (Hello? On a red light, you AREN’T allowed to honk at a pedestrian who is crossing in the crosswalk, with the walk sign!) Then I decided that complaining about drivers wasn’t a good blog premise. Such a blog would get boring really fast for everyone, including its author.
The only reason this has come up again is because my mother pointed out to me yesterday that I should communicate with my family and friends more. Yes, Mother, I am listening to your advice. Don’t go into shock! Apparently some members of my family are hanging around waiting to hear from me (riiiiight). I wouldn’t want to disappoint them!
Mostly, this blog is going to be about conveying what’s going on around me to my family and friends and the random stranger who pokes their nose in. What I have to say isn’t earth shattering; it’s just my life and things that interest me. I want to write about my efforts to become the first female architect in my firm, the engineers who won’t listen to me, the brownie troop I just started, my online FFXI adventures, my (non-existent) soap making skills and anything else I find to in my free time. Once in a while, I promise to slip in some rude comments about drivers who almost run me over and people who drive SUVs. Maybe I’ll even put them in the same post!
On every post (I hope), I’m going to put in a “what I’m reading right now” comment. If you want to read something I’m reading, or you have already read it, I’d love to discuss it with you. So few people enjoy reading the same books I do that I’m beginning to believe I’m crazy. I’d love to read your comments on the books. The only thing I don’t want to read is: “Those are kids’ books!” I read for pleasure, and to distract me from my life and to relax. I don’t care if I’m reading good characterization, good writing, books for adults, long books or challenging books, as long as it’s interesting and the author can spin a good story. I don’t watch TV, smoke or drink. If my worst vice is that I chose to be entertained by books instead of reading something challenging, I think I’m doing pretty well. If I want to be challenged, I will go study for my oral architect’s exam, which is coming up in March.
What I’m reading now: halfway through The Dark is Rising. I read Over Sea, Under Stone Monday and Tuesday. I’m reading the entire 5-book series because I went to see the movie based on the second book a couple weeks ago. If you haven’t seen the movie, don’t bother! Read the book instead.
I’ve wanted to make a blog since we moved up to the Bay Area last winter. I started walking to work in March, and I realized I wanted to blog so I could complain about all the drivers who don’t respect traffic laws pertaining to pedestrians. (Hello? On a red light, you AREN’T allowed to honk at a pedestrian who is crossing in the crosswalk, with the walk sign!) Then I decided that complaining about drivers wasn’t a good blog premise. Such a blog would get boring really fast for everyone, including its author.
The only reason this has come up again is because my mother pointed out to me yesterday that I should communicate with my family and friends more. Yes, Mother, I am listening to your advice. Don’t go into shock! Apparently some members of my family are hanging around waiting to hear from me (riiiiight). I wouldn’t want to disappoint them!
Mostly, this blog is going to be about conveying what’s going on around me to my family and friends and the random stranger who pokes their nose in. What I have to say isn’t earth shattering; it’s just my life and things that interest me. I want to write about my efforts to become the first female architect in my firm, the engineers who won’t listen to me, the brownie troop I just started, my online FFXI adventures, my (non-existent) soap making skills and anything else I find to in my free time. Once in a while, I promise to slip in some rude comments about drivers who almost run me over and people who drive SUVs. Maybe I’ll even put them in the same post!
On every post (I hope), I’m going to put in a “what I’m reading right now” comment. If you want to read something I’m reading, or you have already read it, I’d love to discuss it with you. So few people enjoy reading the same books I do that I’m beginning to believe I’m crazy. I’d love to read your comments on the books. The only thing I don’t want to read is: “Those are kids’ books!” I read for pleasure, and to distract me from my life and to relax. I don’t care if I’m reading good characterization, good writing, books for adults, long books or challenging books, as long as it’s interesting and the author can spin a good story. I don’t watch TV, smoke or drink. If my worst vice is that I chose to be entertained by books instead of reading something challenging, I think I’m doing pretty well. If I want to be challenged, I will go study for my oral architect’s exam, which is coming up in March.
What I’m reading now: halfway through The Dark is Rising. I read Over Sea, Under Stone Monday and Tuesday. I’m reading the entire 5-book series because I went to see the movie based on the second book a couple weeks ago. If you haven’t seen the movie, don’t bother! Read the book instead.
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