Monday, September 11, 2006

Random Thoughts



Gah. I'm having issues with my rotating schedule. After seven years of working a regular 9 - 5, this whole weekend thing is messing with my head. While this weird ass weekend schedule has its advantages, I'm still trying to adjust.

For the second week in a row, building services decided that Sunday would be an opportune day to wax the floors where my desk is located, which resulted in me getting very little work done today. Our newly formed registrar team is incredibly backlogged, and one of my co-workers is about to go in for arthroscopic surgery. (We have a full time temp filling in for her, but she has been trained on nothing... but seeing as how I'm still struggling to catch on to two other people's jobs, she's not that far out of the learning curve.)

On a good note, I got to meet the two toed sloth that will be residing in the Discovery Forest (the exhibit in the Education Center) today. I never thought I would say this about a sloth, but she's adorable.

Despite what I'd decided earlier today, I subjected myself to the 9/11 hoopla and watched the updated version of the documentary shot by the French brothers that originally had planned to shoot a documentary about a rookie firefighter. (This was the only footage of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center.) Much weeping ensued. I didn't know anyone that died in the events of 9/11, but it's one of those moments in time that (like much of the nation, I'm sure) I've been trying to deal with since that day. I've been to Ground Zero and made my peace (and came very close to lashing out at the vendors making money on the tragedy by selling commemorative snow globes and T shirts), but the way the current administraion uses it as a "patriotic" rallying cry sickens me. I do not appreciate the fact that my questioning of their subsequent actions has made them invoke Godwin's Law. Last time I checked, this country was founded on the questioning of The Powers That Be. You can blather on all you like on a public forum all you like, Mr. Cheney. I call shenanigans, as does John Kerry and Keith Olberman and numerous others sources. Please stop using the tragedy of five years ago to prop up your administration's lies.

And yes, I chose to watch the documentary of the actual events, as opposed to the fabricated crap on ABC. (Numerous editorial links can be found here.)

(I didn't mean to go off on a political tangent, but I'm still upset. I'm stepping off my soapbox... right after I throw this out.)

I'm trying to stay positive, focusing on next month's vacation and Midpoint. Homework assignment for myself: slog through the 200+ bands and work out a decent schedule for the weekend. Oh, and stop watching CSI:, since it's making me think I'm gonna end up on a slab in Vegas. Thanks, but I can think up much better ways to interact with Grissom. Heh. Back off, Sidle.

There is an advantage to my screwed up schedule: I'll be home on Friday to listen to the WOXY signoff, and then I can drown my sorrows at the Halfway to Saint Patrick's Day celebration at Molly Malones. (And I'll have the next day to sleep it off. Whoo!)

It's nearing 2:00, and I'm not sleepy yet. Perhaps a little more Stoli....

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Planning Ahead



Yeah, I've been MIA for a while. Time passed, things happened. It's probably better for everyone involved if I don't explain it further than that. On to present matters at hand...

Over the weekend, Zappagirl gave me the heads up that Blogathon 2006 has been scheduled for the weekend of July 29th. This gives me a little time to plan ahead. On my to do list:

- Pick a charity. I'm currently considering Planned Parenthood (my charity of choice in Blogathon 2002), World Wildlife Fund, Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, Inc., Sierra Club Foundation, and Amnesty International USA, Inc.. Any comments or suggestions are appreciated to help me choose.

- Open a Flickr account (or another online photo management site) and become more familiar with my digital camera. After the Skeleton Fashion Show in 2002 and the Impromptu Pirate Party in 2003 (in which I was able to participate due to being doped up on Percocet), the insanity must be recorded for posterity and shared. Besides, I've been meaning to do this for some time, and now I have a reason to do so.

- Talk friends and family (and complete strangers) into sponsoring me. I have to get a minimum of $20 in pledges to participate, which shouldn't be that difficult. Just in case, though, I'll probably find a way to shamelessly bribe... I mean reward folks who choose to help out. I'm thinking possibly a MyoMix CD, but that's something I'll need to think about as well.

- Select songs and burn MyoMix CD. Also select music to blog by.

- Buy coffee. Lots of it. Also plan snack food.

- Find comfortable yet presentable clothes to wear. I'm going to spend 24 hours hunched over a computer in a small room with at least two other people. Granted, this is isn't all that differnet from how I spend many weekends, but we don't usually have photo documentation.

- Try not to show up hungover on the morning of Blogathon. Yeah, the fact that the annual employee party was the night before back in 2002 probably didn't help. The fact that a group of us decided to continue the party at Daniel's Pub definitely didn't help. Lesson learned.

- Find something to actually write about. Of course, this is one of those things that seems to work itself out. I'd made a list of things to write about in 2002, most of which I never touched because we got sidetracked on dressing up Ignatius the skeleton. That's the fun of the event - going off on strange tangents and just following along wherever the day takes you.

The official signups begin on July 1st. The shameless begging for pledges will begin shortly thereafter. You have been warned.