imperfect/unbroken

New Job

2009-12-05T02:56:12Z

The new job seems to be going well. Tuesday was getting settled in and screwing around with a mysql database. Wednesday was flying to Washington D.C. a brief meeting with a client and another meeting (over a very tasty Chinese dinner) with a potential business contact. Thursday was a longer meeting with a client and flying home. Today I finished with the mysql database and got my changes into production by EOB. I set up a simple database, wrote php to update the database, integrated the php into an existing website, tested and deployed in about nine hours without having any real prior experience with any of these things.

Go me. I just hope I can keep it up.

Two days

2009-11-29T15:32:49Z

Tomorrow is my last day at the job I've held for about 10 years. Tuesday I start a new job. Wednesday I fly to D.C. with the HMFiC to meet with a client. We'll be back Thursday evening.

It is fair, and probably an understatement, to say I have a lot of anxiety over this change.

National Adoption Day

2009-11-21T15:09:18Z

Hmm. I didn't even know we had one of those, but apparently today is it.

I can has...

2009-11-18T14:00:19Z

new job?

Yes I can.

An offer has been made.

2009-11-17T15:28:22Z

I'm going to take it. The new position will definitely be a challenge. It isn't a step up in money from what I'm supposed to be making (we took a hefty pay cut in January), but it is a step up in title, responsibilities, and opportunities.

grey_poet @ 2009-11-15T19:15:00

2009-11-16T00:15:12Z

That went well I think.

Nerves

2009-11-15T00:53:59Z

I get way too nervous and worked up over interviews.

Hallowe'en

2009-11-02T13:37:55Z

I took Red trick or treating through our neighborhood with two families from his Cub Scout troop. About two blocks from home we came across a cat in a driveway. The cat was too old to be a kitten but not fully grown, had no collar and was very affectionate. It also followed us for the rest of our trick-or-treating. The kids would go up to a door and the cat would sit on the sidewalk and wait for them. It was like we had picked up a familiar. The cat followed us for the whole two blocks back to my house (we took the long way), where we broke up for the evening. Gigs tried to name the cat Pumpkin since it had a orange-ish undercoat, but I discouraged that, because we didn't need to adopt another kitty. We gave it some water, played with it for a little bit and went back inside. I had to shut myself in my room so I couldn't hear it's plaintive mewing at the door. I think the kitty glommed onto another trick-or-treating group. I hope it made it back home.

Although I keep looking for it when I drive through the neighborhood. If it had stuck around, I wouldn't have been able to resist taking it in.

Short version - cute cat follows the kids around trick-or-treating.

grey_poet @ 2009-10-24T20:13:00

2009-10-25T00:13:18Z

Is sick and tired of being sick and tired.

I case you are worried

2009-08-14T17:08:46Z

I'm feeling a good bit better. The black moods kind of ease their way in gently and then build to a crescendo and then pass. But it is frightening when they are at their worst.

grey_poet @ 2009-08-11T11:14:00

2009-08-11T15:23:53Z

If you breakdown and no one is around, does it make a sound?

No because someone might hear and interrupt the process of falling apart.

Cici n'est pas un appeler au secours.

2009-08-10T12:23:29Z

When you see yourself in a crowded room
Do your fingers itch, are you pistol-whipped
Will you step in line or release the glitch
Can you fall asleep with a panic switch

I feel thin and tattered. Being on 60% pay for eight months with an uncertain job future in a wrecked job market is taking it's toll. My insurance company is still being a bunch of dipshits over a claim from last year. Having the boys gone with their mom for most of the summer isn't the vacation you might think. I'm not ready to have a son who is a senior in high school, although I know he will make me proud. The ac is out in my black suburban and this city's slogan is "Famously Hot". There's burnout at work although I think most of us are trying to manage our attitudes lest we all pull each other down. I've been at Gigs' throat for most of the summer. I've been taking Xanax off and on, debatably as needed, for anxiety. Sometimes it helps. Insomnia isn't helping. Taking the Suburban out Saturday to gas it up, I turned left to the station rather than right to self-admit.

I.am.trying.to.manage.it.

But I want to lose my shit, it's too exhausting holding it together.

grey

Where the Wild Things Are

2009-07-28T02:20:26Z

No matter how badly the final film sucks, and I suspect that it will suck terribly due to the Max doesn't like mommy's new boyfriend and that's why he acts out plot, it won't change the fact that the Where the Wild Things Are trailer is a thing of beauty.

I'd also like to note two things. One, I'm sick of daddy issues in films, can't we come up with something different. Two, they've made movies of two of my favorite children's storybooks, Where the Wild Things Are and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. I still have hope for WtWTA, but CWaCoM looks like refried ass. If anyone so much as looks sideways at Cars and Trucks and Things that Go, I'm going to have to hurt somebody.

Writer's Block: 5//7//5

2009-07-17T12:08:47Z

Sum up your day in the form of a haiku.

Submitted By cpnspuff

View 507 Answers

It's supplemental!
Primary is primary.
Stupid insurance.

Dreams

2009-07-02T12:39:33Z

Last night I dreamed that the Muppets were asking where Jim Henson was. No one had had the heart to tell them he was dead.

Back from the woods.

2009-07-01T17:49:15Z

I took Red to Weblos Woods Sunday and we just got back. I'm not a camping kind of person, but Scouts is what I do with Red, so I went. Even if I seriously considered throwing myself down some steps to get out of it.

Gigs helped me pack. She's the camper. Gigs even offered to come out to help us set up. I declined since I'd like to keep up the idea that I can raise a tent myself. We rode out to camp Sunday morning and met up with the other three boys from Red's pack. We found out the campsite (the local Boy Scout camp) had tents already set up for the campers, which makes sense given that this could be the first camping experience some of these boys have. The tents were old style canvas things with no built in netting. So we snagged one of the Adirondacks. I should also mention that we had the best campsite available. We were closest to the Dining Hall and the showers.

Red had a great time and earned four pins and some other stuff. I enjoyed myself too, much to my surprise. While it was hot as hell Sunday night and most of Monday, the humidity dropped late Monday night/early Tuesday morning and from that point on the weather was perfect. The food was good and plentiful. The other boys were generally well behaved and the people on our half of the camp site (with whom we were grouped) were easy to get along with.

So I'm back and at work for half the day. Partially to get my paycheck, partially to conserve vacation hours, and mostly to keep myself from taking a nap and ruining my sleep schedule for days.

Missing Governor

2009-06-24T14:23:09Z

Could Mark Sandford and his staff have handled his "trip" any worse than they did?

I did not know

2009-06-17T13:15:10Z

I was unaware that my anniversary was also Igor Stravinsky's birthday. Thanks Google. Had I but known, I would have put at least a snippet in our reception music.

grey_poet @ 2009-06-17T08:01:00

2009-06-17T12:08:39Z

Three years.

Nightmares

2009-06-09T12:20:18Z

I'm having recurring nightmares again. Woke up at least three times last night.

Up

2009-05-30T19:32:07Z

Go see it.

That is all.

Creamy Chicken Chipotle Skillet

2009-05-24T22:37:52Z

Tonight for dinner we had Creamy Chicken Chipotle Skillet. It was tasty, but when I make it again, I'm going to put some garlic and fresh ground pepper in with the chicken and onions while they are cooking. I wasn't sure how hot it would be so I removed the seeds from the chipotle peppers before chopping them up. It was just right.

Cnidophobia

2009-04-29T12:24:30Z

I am afraid of stinging insects. I don't scream and run around like a fool when I see one, it isn't that type of fear. Besides that sort of behavior will just entice the insect into aggressive behavior. But they do cause me a large amount of anxiety and I have recurring nightmares about being trapped in an enclosed area with a bee or wasp and not being able to escape. I don't wake up until I've been stung.

My drive into work this morning was even more tense than usual because a fucking hornet (or something) was crawling all over the inside of my windshield for most of the trip. I'm surprised I didn't wreck the car. And the horrible little bastard is still in the Suburban.

The weekend

2009-03-27T13:16:33Z

What's going on this weekend? Greyson is up at Clemson for the First Robotics:Palmetto Regional ( http://www.clemson.edu/tlt/stream/frc/ ). Scout has merit badge university for Boy Scouts. Red has pinewood derby for Cub Scouts. And Ali...we love Ali.

Gigs and I will be helping with the pinewood derby. I signed up to MC, no idea if that's gonna happen.

Busy weekend, but the fun busy, mostly.

Hmm... the mayor of Clemson is opening the ceremonies and just pulled up his right pant leg to reveal that he has a robotic right leg from the knee down. That's kind of moving.

grey_poet @ 2009-03-26T08:23:00

2009-03-26T12:28:45Z

Now that we have abstinence vampires (see Twilight) we need some vegan zombies.