One other thing, The local YMCA where both my boys cut their teeth playing soccer
is STILL run by the same man today as it was then. He is teh AWESOME.
I still visit to grade talent and split teams fairly. Parents ALWAYS try to cheat :mad2:
The most blatant way is when, say four dads all agree to "coach" the same team.
Just so happens their kids are the most talented. Add to that their other "friends"
claim they need to play on the same team because of rides. :rolleyes:
Right there you have 8 great players on one team.
He and I used to laugh at them and then split them all up. ;)

We don't want to be travel. This is not supposed to be a huge step up, it's supposed to be him and his team mates from the last few yars plus anyone else who's up for it with the same coaches just taking a different route to scheduling games. Because you don't have to answer to the idiots on the board so much when you're travel. He'd be the A Goalie with this team, the second tier team. He's not supposed to be offered the B goalie position for the better team. he probably won't be. And that will be good. But if he is....

Siting on the bench is different for goalies -especially hockey goalies. It's generally bad. Especially when the coach has been using the A goalie since they were 7. An incoming B-goalie would have his work cut out. and might never step on the ice in a game.

ok so we just got the word that there will be no second tier travel team for Spring. So most likely it will be busines as usual unless hector wows them tomorrow. And then there most likely will be a tier 2 travel team in the fall and Hector will likely be their A goalie. Feeling much better -it's the uncertainty I hate.

hm. The fuckers kept him until last to talk to him -10:bloody20 on a school night, in a rink half an hour away and he isn't talking yet so i think we can assume he didn't make the team (hurray, but silently.....)

The saga of the screwed up car service drags on. The car *should* be done by lunchtime today, which is pretty much now.

All the camping gear is prepared and packed and ready to load.

IF the car is mobile today, I'm heading off for around two weeks of festival and travel and hiking.

Waiting, waiting, waiting....

Husband's job thingy is taking a long time to finish the background check. He doesn't have anything to worry about as far as background or drug test, but the company takes a while to get through the onboarding process.

that part is agonizing. have they extended an offer? perhaps it is provisional. regardless, this in between time is awful. hang tough both of you.

Yes, they did extend the offer, but it was pending. I say "was" because he finally got the email this afternoon telling him he starts Monday. Yay!

YEAH YEAH!!!

:FISTPUMP:

We couldn't be happier. It's definitely one of the best moments of the last 2 years or so.

Hurrah!

Yes! The best part about it is we will have awesome benefits...by awesome I mean health benefits the likes of which we haven't seen in 10 years or so. No, the best part is the better pay than he has ever had....no, the best part is that he gets a bonus every year....well, okay, the whole damn thing is just roses.
I just can't stop being happy right now. Maybe I need to move over into the happy thread.

Congrats to you both/all Kero!
Thats great news.

Thanks, class. :)

Definitely in the wrong thread, because it worked out way better than just "OK" in the end. Congratulations, kerosene!

Yeah, I continued over there. Thanks, Clod!

Read this quickly, read it as buffets.
Well either deserves a celebration!
Pleased for you Kero.

Kinda irking me is that I brought home leftover bananas to make Mum some banana bread. Spoke to her about it, she agreed, end of. Now they are sposed to be slightly over-ripe. And of course the ones given to the childer at school are ripe. So Mon/ Tues I look over and see there are only three left. I question Mum, she binned the others because... they were over-ripe.

Now, she's also asked me to make her a coffee (flavoured) & walnut cake after the success I had with the one I made for school. I teased her at the time - it used to be her most hated cake because she had to have it every Saturday teatime growing up. It was Grandad's favourite (gosh I wish I'd thought of baking one for him) and as he was the breadwinner he chose the cake. Same thing, every week for years.

Anyway, I had already agreed I'd make one for Mum, as and we are having family and friends over all Easter I suggested Thursday that I would make it. You know, make up for failing to deliver on the Banana Bread front.

No. She has already promised Laura one of her chocolate cakes on Easter Sunday. Although she also has shop-bought profiteroles in the fridge I notice.

Sigh. She just jumps in. Doesn't give anyone a chance to help [light-hearted comment]

So although I would have liked the family to enjoy one of my cakes for once, I'm actually off the hook. I'll concentrate on my pastel (as opposed to rainbow) vanilla sponge. Even my family don't have 30+ people coming round for Easter, whereas the staffroom sees that many in a day.

Too many things happening at the same time this evening!

Water polo practice
Hockey practice
Figure Skating make-up class -only chance
Free ceramics class for newbs honored to be asked to help teach
Birthday sleepover party
Redwings playoff game

My mother is driving me nuts. Never lets me finish a flipping
sentence!!!!!! I want to squish her head!/

Do it Bri. When she's not looking.

Water polo practice
Hockey practice
Figure Skating make-up class -only chance
Free ceramics class for newbs honored to be asked to help teach
Birthday sleepover party
Redwings playoff game


problem solved

hhahahahahhahaha!

All happened. Now watching the game while the boys kill people on the xbox and drink sugary pop.

And i didn't mention that the hockey was preceded by science olympiad for Thor while I sold $5,000-worth of scrip. :D

I also worked out today. And did a ton of paperwork. I am knackered.

Good luck info. And yes, this isn't how it should be, but six of you are sticking together and standing up for yourselves. Good for you! I really hope you get heard.

Sorry limey, I deleted it. Got scared.

But thank you. I needed to hear it. t minus 4 minutes.

I said it before, but its not you. Reading the part about how you feel everyday exemplifies what I got out of at my old job. I "feel" better now, but making 1/4 of what I used to make is stressing me out in other ways. Like you, I'm the only income in the household.

Maybe thing will get better on Monday - you can hope at least.
Sucks all the way around. Sorry for your situation.

Thanks, that means a lot to me.

Well, I think my cow orkers were heard but I felt dismissed, when I brought up the regulatory issue I'm concerned about.

I don't know what will happen, if anything, but I can't live like this. I know what I'm doing. I have diverse knowledge because of the different areas I've worked in over the years. Yet what I say doesn't seem to matter. It not only doesn't seem to matter, there seems to be an almost pointed look that says "like you know what you're talking about..."

I don't know at what point in my life I became invisible, or insignificant. I used to be a person people looked to: for conversation, for answers or discussions, for advice. No one looks to me for anything, and sometimes I'm not even sure I exist. When did this happen? When did I become so inconsequential. I can't imagine feeling any worse than this feeling that I have nothing to offer anymore, to anyone. I used to be somebody, not somebody great or important in the grand scheme, but I was somebody to someone, for some things, and I felt respected.

Now I just feel like a pile of shit.

So, as to the thread, I don't think it's going to work out in the end.

What did the bigwigs say?

Was this just a meeting to let workers vent, or is there some sort of action they are going to take to fix things?

I had to leave early because I had a counseling session to do. I don't know what might happen. I can't see change happening that is drastic enough to make things as they should be. She has requested specific examples of the bullying, and that is on my cow orkers because the biggest bully isn't my direct supervisor.

But I hope, with everything that this place purports to be, that decency and common sense will effect change.

Sometimes that is more about self-perception, you undervalue the effect that you've had on the situation. I hope it works out for you and you get more satisfaction from your work - whether there, or if you decide to move.

infi, I missed all this, so sorry that is teh suxxors. But listen up. Insignificant people don't step up to be counted.

I suspect they are fully aware of you and know you know your shit, and that makes them realise their incompetancy, so they try to minimise that by not acknowledging your awesomeness.

Thanks you guys. You've really made me feel better.

Life is funny and you never know what can happen...so I'm ready for anything. I'll keep doing the best I can and let the chips fall where they may.

At the very least they can't say they aren't aware of what's going on over here, and I think M was sincerely shocked at some of the behaviors we described.

monster: if life gives me lemons Imma make lemonade. With vodka. ;) I'll be over around 7. :lol:

this week has been particularly stressful.

roommate had his lower back fused Wednesday which was a very very difficult procedure. i could go into detail but the procedure was pretty gruesome. it involved removing innards and screwing and bolting together rods and such.

i've got x-ray pics of his back after the procedure. very interesting. someone suggest where to put one or two of them and i will. i'm still not thinking very straight. he had me worried, especially yesterday morning because after the surgery was done on weds. they kept him under anesthesia due to some complications and didn't wake him up until mid morning yesterday.

it will work out in the end and i know the worst is over. but i'm still stressed.

eta: the one thing that iks me about all this is hey, aside from the cellarites i have on fb, i posted something about this wednesday. went ignored. completely. thanks y'all.

Don't worry plt. All will be well. And don't let the "I don't cares" around here bother you. Just keep on doin your thing and take of your roomie.
Peace yo.

i'm not so worried about it, it's just lately i've noticed that if you are not in the "click" you don't count and neither does your opinion.

Aw, plt, that ain't true. Sometimes people read, and they think sympathetic thoughts in their head, but they don't know especially what to say, or they feel like they've already said something but in reality they forgot to type it. I do hope your roommate feels better soon.

thanks. but the damage has already been done. i'm out. why the hell would i stay around a place that doesn't give a shit?

plt--I'm sorry. I was glad to see you post and I should have said something encouraging. I've been caught up in my own crap. I like you and I do care.

As for fb, haven't even logged on in forever.

... don't know if this is a deposit or a withdrawal from my karma account....

I was in a ratty little thrift shop the other day and saw some tools. I bought a craftsman channel lock style pipe wrench for five bucks. woot. then, I came back later and bought a no name red hedge trimmer for 15 bucks. no model number, plain red body "little wonder". right. looked like something from the dollar store. but I plugged it in and it went whrrrrrrrrrr. so, worth a 15 dollar chance since the one I have at home is dead.

got home, googled up "little wonder". I'd never seen or heard of them and it's "little wonder" since they're commercial grade tools. the high list price I found for the like new one I got was $445. so, I got a discount of about $430.

whoa.

And it cuts like a gorram lightsaber.

You are NOT to use that thing while standing on ladder on a table on the back of an elephant, got that?

Nice find! I think you're karmically clear - even thrift shops have google.

UPDATE:

My job still makes me miserable, and the atmosphere is no better, but they are bringing in consultants soon to examine processes, office 'culture' etc. Will things change? I don't know. I have some ideas for the office but this is not the sort of office 'culture' where there is any free exchange of ideas...something I realized right away 3 1/2 years ago.

I do feel better, not because I really believe there is any real light at the end of the tunnel but because I started Operation I Don't Care. I mean, whatever happens happens and making myself ill with worry gets me nowhere.

I'd like to see things change here...but I think more than anything I need to realize that perhaps I will not be one of those lifelong people in this profession. I think my experience and abilities almost make me feel obligated to keep doing this. I feel like I should keep at it because, in some cases, I actually help people.

I don't know if it's because of the problems here or if I am truly burnt out. I don't know what else I could possibly do.

The past few days the Dir has made it a point to question every thing I do...to keep shoving my nose in crap. She's mad now because I have a follow up doc appt today (another thing is they finally freaking figured out my hormones were seriously out of whack) and so she's sending meeting requests for the rest of the Mondays this month.

I'm not a fucking child. And Operation I Don't Care is taking another wobbly turn...all in the course of this post.

Bullies will get you, one way or another. :(

Oh, Infini. I have been in similar situations. Of course I have no idea how your day to day life at that office goes but I can relate on some points. I've been in many a hostile work environment. I wishI could say that I learned to keep my head down and my mouth shut but I never could. I am not good at playing office politics and maybe you aren't either but don't lose heart. that's actually a sign of intelligence in some parts of the world! ;) Of course, not in Corp. America though.

Don't you just wonder how the morons rise to middle management and then become so fucking evil? Imma ask the Universe that right after I ask it why the hell I had to be here in the first place. Oh, yeah: To "learn" and "grow" right?

hang in there child. maybe once the hormones get sorted you'll feel so much better.

Thanks sweetie. I needed that.

I'm not good at keeping my mouth shut either, and office politics? Ha! Why do they even exist? Can't we just be honest and real? It's piddly diddly crap that I have no time, patience, or taste for. I'm not saying there shouldn't be a certain level of decorum and protocol, but prancing about doing the monkey dance is insulting and I won't do it.

I really do hope that the combination of hormone sorting and consultant action makes things better.

I do like this place...as a whole it's a wonderful place to work and I believe in its missions. It's this department, plain and simple, and I think the bigwigs know that things need to change.

I really wish something would come up in another dept though. Ideally I'd stay here, but work in a different capacity.

So I swear she saw me smiling and wasn't quite satisfied that I wasn't visibly upset so she went right into her office and shot an email at me "And also...be prepared to blah blah blah.."

It's getting comical. Guess what? I bet your days are more numbered than mine and your failure at scapegoating me is making you awfully edgy, resentful, and vindictive. Yes, that is our office 'culture' and that is what the consultants will be hearing about...from almost all of us, I"m sure.

Thank gawd for documentation, documentation, documentation.

If i can just hang on that long.

Time for promotion to Director, so you can disprove the Peter Principal.

I hope you're right with respect to IM. Me? I embody the Peter Principle.

My own entry in the thread: My little teensy daughter is learning to drive. 35MPH has never seemed so fast.

Okay, so, I found the appropriate thread for this tale.

On Friday, three days before school starts, the school district informed our elementary school that their class ratios were unacceptable. Too many second-graders per class, not enough first-graders. One of the first grade teachers must become a second grade teacher, effective immediately.

First off--what the fucking fuck? This poor teacher is expected to do what?! Nevermind all the kids who have already met their supposed teacher, visited her classroom, set up their supplies in their desk, and so on.

Of course I'm telling you this story at all because they chose Minifob's teacher to fall on her sword. They spent all night Friday helping her move everything over to a new classroom and remake all her supplies, and then the principal called all the affected families on Saturday morning.

Fortunately, they moved him to another one of the teachers on our preferred list. We explained the change to Minifob, and he wasn't upset... because he didn't get it. He kept talking about how his new teacher, Ms. P, was going to be a substitute in Ms. McB's class. Or how his teacher was going to be some nonexistent combination of the two, named Ms. McP. So I marched down to the school building with him, hoping that surely someone would be there to let us in, and I could at least show him where his new classroom was.

We got lucky. I flagged down a teacher leaving the building, she let us inside, and it turned out his new teacher was actually there in her classroom setting up. She's a wonderful lady, and I think Minifob will do even better with her than he would have with his original teacher. So all's well.

I expressed my sympathy for the terrible situation the teachers were forced into, and she said there was actually one time the district had done it to them after school had already been in session for a week. They're just a bunch of giant dicks, apparently.

I'm glad that you were able to sort this out, for you and the Fob.
Confusing and upsetting for any child his age, but appalling for Fob specifically. Dicks.

I'm going in on Wednesday to do an extra day (overtime too! yay!)
I think one of the big jobs is finishing the move of all of Mr W's stuff into Ms M's classroom and vice versa. One of the boys moving up has an induction loop (not sure if that's 100% accurate - bear with me) and the equipment is in Ms M's classroom, but not in Mr W's.

Weirdly - very, very weirdly - they decided to allocate him to Mr W. Both teachers run identical classes at that end of the school. It's done purely on birthdays. Why couldn't M move up to Ms M's class instead of making Mr W move? He's been in his particular classroom for years and is well entrenched. Just silliness.

All I can think is that the school is keen not to treat M any differently to another child. But making teachers swap classrooms for his sake is pretty much treating him differently then any other child.

Still - overtime :)
(I'll probably end up cleaning out the fridges in the staffroom - blech!)

Clod, I admire, respect and like you very much but are you SURE you want to live in Texas?

I just popped in to say that this thread title makes me snort every time it pops up on the screen. :)

As for something related to the thread... I'm currently sitting alone in one of the worlds shadiest motel 6's, and I have to stay here for a few more hours. Came to help a friend out since her husband had to work at the last minute and she didn't want to stay in a motel by herself in an unfamiliar town. Probably a good bet now that we've seen the place.

BUT in a few hours my stay will be over, and hopefully it will be uneventful until then.

fuck me.

I started this post to complain I'd been on hold for an hour and thirteen minutes with the transportation office of the school district. understandable, it's the first day of school here.

As I typed, they fucking hung up on me.

Then, I lost this post, had to retype it all. whatthefuckever.
I have to leave the house now anyway.

goddammit.

Don't look in the mattress. Or at it for that matter.

People are like wild animal crazy today/tonight.

I picked a bad day to quit drinking. ;)

Gawd, the transportation department is the worst here. All the lines go straight to voicemail, no exception, and they don't even pretend to ever check them or call you back. Only the most degenerate people drive school buses, so only the most degeneratest of those people ever get promoted to run the place.

I didn't know you moved to Ann Arbor....

This is something that wasn't working out, but ended up amusing me.

Yesterday while driving the 50 moutainous miles from the coast to PDX,
I was behind a BMW sportscar whose driver was driving me and a hundred other following drivers crazy.

When the road was 1-lane each way, he slowed down to 35 mph, and when
there was a special passing lane he would and drive in the "passing lane"
When I or someone else would try to pass on the right, he would speed up just enough.
When the road was reasonably straight and I should have been able to pass, he would speed up to 60+.
By the time we got out of the mountains and to a double-lane road, I was almost a good case of road rage.

Then I passed him, and saw that he was a fairly young American Indian.
My reaction was... "You got me this time" :smack:

I don't know about other areas of the country, but here in Oregon,
driving that way is a form of public protest by some Native Americans.
Usually it happens on Reservation land, and you can get trapped behind
a carload of kids, doing only 5-10 mph for endless miles.
But it can happen anywhere, as it did to me yesterday.

The first time it happened to me, I did get upset.
Later someone told me what was going on, and since then I've sat back
and enjoyed the scenery and had the satisfaction of NOT getting all riled up.
After all, finally getting the message of someone else's protest is half the fun.

You need a faster car.

I was informed today that due to a sudden lack of work, I wouldn't be needed at my freelance job next week, and for the foreseeable future (hurricane aftermath and all. FU Sandy!).

It was a corporate decision to pick off the low-hanging fruit, to save whatever miniscule money they can in the wake of the disaster (Really? FU corporate decision makers, too).

But...it was nice that folks there were very pissed off about the prospect of not having me around. At least I was wanted, dammit! :) And it was a far commute, so it's kind of a relief not to have to travel all the way out there now.

I just have to keep my fingers crossed, and hope I either find other employment quickly, or qualify for unemployment...