Today was one of those weird, strange days at work…the head of QC knows his job…very well, but problem one is he doesn’t have a clue when it comes to excel…I have no clue when it comes to the QC function…but I use excel on a day to day basis…heck hour to hour basis…so as he needs to learn excel for a new record keeping spread sheet…and he hasn’t a clue and I do…I’ve been given another job…like I needed one…don’t get me wrong…I like the R-guy…and I want to help…but I really don’t need another job…

I really hate having to walk into to buy anything from Farm/Tractor…I spent 3 minutes getting want I needed and a half hour in the check out line…but it’s the only outlet in town that has the cat food I have to buy…because my one cat has the feline urinary tract problems I am forced to buy very special cat food and Farm/Tractor is the only local store to carry it…but every time I go in there the line is long and there is somebody who takes 10 minutes to buy 5 dollars worth of goods…rats…

But word is that we are about to get a “Pet Smart” store and hopefully they will have the brand of food I need, at a good price, and be a bit quicker…

‘Tis end of month, and I’m sure that tomorrow will turn into an absolute freak show at work…

clerk went off this PM…seems like one of the customer service reps treated him like he was a total idiot and insisted on instructing him on information he knows quite well…really got under his skin…but it would do me and him and all the ships at sea no good to try to explain the problem to the rep because she never makes mistakes and is always right…(barf)

I got handed the project from the deepest reaches of h*ll today…I am required to submit my design for the removal of all of my department’s functions and relocating to the satellite warehouse…which I have done before and then had the project cancelled…I think that this one might actually occur…but they want a black and white plan and are giving me none of the information necessary to give them what they want…how the h*ll am I to gives detailed information and proposed location information with only general…unspecific information and no hard facts…

We are going through a transitional period with worship team, have lost a bunch of peeps…and will lose more…must recruit…

Nite all

(rant)

Went to work after 6 days

The plant is working 24/7 I literally was off 6 workdays…and as per usual 15% of what I do was done completely…15% was about 50% done and the rest of the 70% was totally ignored and waiting for me on my desk this and in emails and nagging phone calls this AM…I got nearly caught up but spent a little extra time to do it…I got one of those “how many of these can we stuff in a 20” container requests…and then 3 other phone calls, like why don’t I have that information yet…well first I have to get plugged back in…second it really can’t be my top priority because I have a ton of material issues to deal with that have a ultimate effect on whether we have the supplies to run this shop or not…and thirdly since you are asking something we’ve never done before the math and me trying to visualize the load doesn’t happen in 15 seconds…d*mn it…I’ve been off for 6 days…I have a pile of work that no one here will even attempt to do other then me…I’ve got a vendor I must see this morning…I’ve got 4+ hours to take care of at the warehouse because nobody will do what needs to be done while I’m not here…I’ve got a dozen jobs that need to be done yesterday…and a quote on an order which may never be placed…were the f*ck do you think that sits in my list of priorities…my biggest problem at work is that I have a ½ dozen peeps who think that I exist there only do what they want me

to do and are frankly totally incapable of doing themselves…and think that I only exist to do what they can’t…and when I give them an answer they can’t accept…insist on trying to explain to me how to do my job…one they have no comprehension of doing and no ability to do…and then I have to put up with the sh*t from peeps who forgot to give me inventory updates and then claim that the inventory error is my fault…not a great work day…someday…someday I’ll will get to the point that I can leave that place and then who will they blame…it’s probably not going to be themselves…

(/rant}

but a gentle evening…and I I feel pretty good…I have long since learned to disconnect from the work day and not let it effect my evening…

‘Twas a gentile day…the daughter is still on her summer vacation…teaches school…had made arrangements to take her out for lunch…was a little restricted time wise as she was helping out this week at her hubby’s family business…I had never eaten at the local “Red Lobster” and neither had she…but was very impressed…a very nice Caesar salad…not the best I’ve had…the best I’ve had was served at a local restaurant where the salad was made at the table by a salad chef…but the salad was very good and served on a chilled plate…I hate nothing more then going to a place to eat and getting a salad plate that obviously has been just taken out of the dish washer…a very nice iced tea blend…shrimp scampi, and broiled scallops…and some lovely crisp fries…a very nice meal…and a very attentive waitress…not to mention some fine conversation with the daughter…priceless…

Have just chilled the rest of the day…needed that…not physically at the top of my game…the toe is still giving me problems but I have decided that it’s arthritis and not goat…2 days left before work intercedes…well not exactly true…I’ve been off 4 days and got calls from work on three of them…even when I’m away I can’t really get away…rats…nuts…dang…

Have not accomplished what I had hoped to on the days off but have been dealing with some physical issues which have prevented me from doing what needed to be done…well there is a news flash…seems like lately every time I’ve taken time off I’ve crashed physically…I really hate getting old…I may accept it but I hate it…

Nite all

A better physical day then yesterday, and besides there were things that I absolutely needed to get done today…period…end of sentence…I needed to get the wills from the lawyer’s office…so we can get dad’s estate wrapped up…and a few other chores which I had hoped would have been done by now, but with my physical condition the first 2 days of my off time…just didn’t happen…still have a few things I had hoped would be done so maybe I could get out of town for awhile but it ain’t going to happen…ah well…still have some vacation time left…and maybe when I take it in October…where I want to go will still be active then…

(Pause while the mad one pets the purring lump of cat on my lap)

I was more wasted yesterday then I was willing to admit…I sleep for 10 hours straight…and failed to hear 2 phone calls, which I had to return messages that appeared on my answering machine…

Intend to call the daughter tomorrow and take her out to lunch…

Nite all

So I mentioned that day 1 of 6 off was spoiled by a collapse of energy, well I awoke at about 4 AM this morning with a reoccurrence of my old nemesis gout, always effects my big toe on the left foot, has subsided to a controllable level as of now but has restricted, hell has eliminated what I had intended to accomplish today…I really hate living long enough to collect a set of variables that limit my activities…

What a wonderful vacation I’ve had so far…yesterday, day 1 of 6 I just crashed out…and today. day 2 of 6 I awoke at 4 AM and realized that I was having a flair up of gout…for the last 20+ years I have had a reoccurring problem from time to time with said aliment…and I guess we are or must deal with it back again…been 3 or 4 years but it hits me when it is most inappropriate…and as it seems to always reside in my left big toe…it restricts my ability to get from one place to another…dang…

```I have come to understand that I reside in a demographic that network TV is totally uninterested in…except for Survivor or when a sporting event is deemed fit for network TV by the so called brilliant minds which control the networks…I never watch network TV…how rude of me…to not blindly accept what they think
I should watch…

Day 1 of 6 away from work…and has happened numerous times before, an absolute low level physical day, I had worked full or part time at the plant for 15 straight days, and physically I just collapsed today…I have a few things that need to be done in the next 3/5 days…and hope to feel in the mood both mentally and physically to get that done…

I just walked away from a 3+ year obscene tonight…I don’t feel like there was a concerted effort to drive peeps like me out…I doubt that was really true…I doubt that was what was intended…but that’s what the changes accomplished that was what was accomplished…at least for me…

Somewhere in the 5/6 days of off time I have left I need to do something extravagant…something just for me, which I can’t really afford…actually if not way off the wall I can afford it…but something for me…

Worship team practice tonight was a blast…the G-Lady was back…teeny with a whole boatload of talent…and J was leading…when J leads it’s always a challenge…not that he is not a committed leader, with a real talent…but his country/folk roots in music…forces this classically trained vocalist “out of the box”…but the 3.5 songs we worked on…3 full songs, + a chorus of a fourth, lent themselves to a cornucopia of an odd mix of idiot bass harmonies, and some high tenor/alto harmonies and one off the wall 2<sup>nd</sup> Soprano line…until I started with worship team I had never sung with a sound system…all of my experience had always been vocally “unplugged” if you will…no sound system…no dude or dudette in the booth manipulating the sound…but over the 3+ years that I have sung harmony in the style where mics and sound systems are involved I have discovered a weird thing…I have a range of 3+ octaves…a combo between full voice and ½ voice…some time’s referred to as falsetto…the more I sing with electronically assisted voice…I can’t tell anymore where I make the switch between the two vocal styles…

Bum’s me out a little…I have the ability to sing any harmony line between 1<sup>st</sup> bass and 2<sup>nd</sup> soprano…and all of the elements in between…but I digress…the real challenge sing harmony with the Big-J…is that coming from a tradition of southern gospel/folk… he never sings a consistent melody line…and I have to re-act to and fit a harmony part to a line that varies …from verse to verse…a very hard thing…but a challenge that I relish…singing with him as lead challenges me …it forces me out of my classical harmony box…and the one thing I have to say is bring it on…

Watched the last episode of “Work Out” tonight on Bravo-TV…only two comments…the first is…please give me another season…and the second is…what a surprise (trollie firmly puts tongue in cheek) Jackie gave Mimi her “marching” orders…

I am a reality TV junkie…my 4 favs in order or: “Project Runway”, “The Big Break”, “Workout”, and “Survivor”…it might be noted that of the top 4 only one is “network” TV, two are on Bravo TV, and one is on the “Golf Channel"...truth be told…the only network TV show I watch on any regular basis is “Survivor”…frankly the constant fare of sitcoms and poorly made dramas gives me the red arse…

Nite all

Okay so I’m still running ME, old computer, and never use IE as a browser…well almost never…but flash player will not work with Mozilla, which is the browser I run…so tried to boot up IE tonight…which locked up big time on the page that told me that microshit was no longer supporting ME…lovely…as of a month ago…

The weird thing about my life is that the one day that many people count on for sleeping in and getting up late and going to a nice Sunday brunch is the one day that I have to get up the earliest in the week, to get things to fall in place…when the plant is working 24/7 as it is now…I need to be at church around 8 AM for mic check and worship team warm ups…which means I have to get to work for my hour +/- at 6:30 AM…which is an in time an hour and a half earlier then normal…

I was going to take the first 4 days next workweek as vacation, but with what’s going on will work Monday and then take 3…have some business and other things to attend to and just need to be away from the grind for awhile…still have like 15+ days I could take this year and I need some down time…

I’ve had a nice evening, a nice dinner…and feel pretty good…we will note I made no mention of how work went…sheeeessshhh!!!

D*mit ask before you pull my help, and decide that I can handle the dailies + what I need to get done to day, and from a perspective of custermer service, please…oh please quit asking me to try to assume max truck load potential on products we’ve never made…and when I ask the peeps who should know they give me this…well figure it out b*lllshit…the last time this happened customer service reamed me because I was wrong…don’t blame me quoth I…production didn’t do what they said they could…

To add insult to injury 5 minutes before day end I got a call that I needed to ASAP attend a sit down with the CEO…new labeling for our products…that were in both English and metric measurements…and as the new labels were printed I noticed a mistake…my gift for finding the error was a printout of the entire data base which I have to work through tomorrow to check for other possible errors…well I’ve always held true that tried and true motto that “No good deed ever goes un-punished”

Please don’t throw a bunch of carp jobs on me just because the peeps who should do said jobs can find their sex organs with less then a 9 man scouting party…

(/rant)

but a gentle and restful night…I really was shocked tonight as to who was voted out on project runway…I really though that she would last a lot longer…I am confused

I am not sure of where I am right now, I need to work full 8’s until Friday, and part days the next two, and then I’m taking at least 3 vacation days…I am in a very strange place emotionally right now and need a breather…might actually go away for a couple…. the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter…

Worship team practice was a blast tonight…Jamie is back after a year deployment in Iraq…I really have to work on my harmony lines when Jamie sings as well…country/folk harmony lines he sings and the classical lines I sing just don’t always mess…and I’m the best suited to change and make it right…plus I respect him greatly…and am more then happy to adjust…

But a gently night…and I feel strangely calm and in place tonight…been a long while that that was true…

Nite all

I am getting increasingly annoyed with one co-worker…always on the attack…always blaming…never accepting the fact that they might have made a decision without asking advice from those who know…starting to drive me nuts…never admitting the possibility that maybe…just maybe the fault was theirs…I know why they are as they are and I under stand the pressure they’re under but I’m there to and not the problem… chill…

But a gentle night, and the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter…better days are coming…

Am still stiff and sore from the reunion…(see below posts)…but physically feel pretty good tonight. Am hoping to get a few days off this week…thinking about maybe taking a road trip to either the Adirondack Museum at Blue Mountain Lake…or maybe the Farmer’s Museum at Cooperstown…or just a long drive through the western Adirondacks…but if I choose the later option I’ll wait a while until the fall colors…

Dang…the alarm went off at 5:55 AM this morning…but I had to leave enough time to get what I needed to do at work and get to church for worship team warm ups at 8…voice was below par today but got her done…

Am listening to Elgar’s “Enigma Variations”…one of my all time fav pieces of music…particularly the “Nimrod Variation”…

I mentioned in the last few posts the reunion of the old gang this week end…they got together at R’s camp on the “Bay” today but I passed…I was stiff and tired after yesterday …and the early in to work today…

I still have 10.5 vacation days. + 5 personals and I intend to take a few this week…my work stress level meter is tacked…I need some down time…

(See below entry): so we were at the restaurant last night…an Italian restaurant…and they had a seafood patter, and one of their top end items…and despite the fact that the last time I was there…mark that that was 5 or so years ago I was disappointed with the entrée…I was in the mood for seafood…Shrimp, Scallops, and a crab stuffed flounder in garlic butter sauce…the Shrimp and scallops were very nice…but the crab stuffed flounder was ill seasoned and just frigging …well “off”…I came to the conclusion that they hadn’t made it fresh but had bought the pre-made thing frozen from a vendor…very disappointing…if the “fellowship” had not been good the night would have been a downer…will not darken that door again without good reasons other then food…

Been a weird weekend, got to gather with some guys I grew up with…or rather my brother grew up with but I played sports with, last night for dinner…and they were going to play street hockey today…their fav activity those many years ago…I went just to watch…but ended up playing the last two games and scoring the game winner +1 in the last game…now it’s been 25-30 years since I’ve played any street hockey…and although I maybe 58…except for R’s 20 something son everyone else was 40+…the weird thing about it was, despite the fact that everyone was obviously older, slower, fatter, and grayer…once the ball dropped…everyone acted as if time had not past at all…except for me…I couldn't help laughing my arse off at the fact that although everything had changed…nothing had changed…

The crew is getting together again tomorrow at one of the guy’s camps on Black River Bay…but I have work and church responsibilities, and I’m sure I will be stiffer and sorer then I am now, so probably will pass…but we have an email deal going so I’m sure I will be filled in…

Dang, I got little sleep last night…nothing really major bugging me…just couldn’t nod off…was in a fog all day…and a brutal day it was…glad I missed it…had a bunch of stuff I wanted to do this weekend but immediate boss is of until Monday…so must work a few on Saturday and at least an hour or so Sunday…nuts…there goes the plans for the week end…but if I can swing it will take a bunch of days off next week or the week after…

I have at least one night a week. One in seven, where the body seeks rest, seeks repose but the mind refuses that option…and tonight is that night…dang…

Dang…what a frustrating day…very busy morning…very warehouse intensive…never got to the day to day stuff until 1:30 PM with an hour and a half to go before close…not an overwhelming amount of work but orders to do, and phone calls to vendor(s) to be made…got a call which made me make a fast run back to the satellite warehouse, and when I got back with about 40 minutes before close with more then enough time to get everything done discovered we had lost our phones lines and internet access…and since our ERP software is net based…we were dead…

But a gentle, relaxing night…and I should have a better then even chance of getting even tomorrow….

Very wacky, strange day, both work wise and otherwise…really have not either the energy or the words to explain…

Ben a hot humid week, and I’m in a pretty bad place tonight, on every level…just stay clear and don’t ask

Weather wise today was the best day of the week, was still hot/humid/poor air quality…but better then the other four…but had a whole rash of vendor problems…and a bunch of well personality issues…

But a quiet, gentle night

Weather wise today was the best day of the week, was still hot/humid/poor air quality…but better then the other four…but had a whole rash of vendor problems…and a bunch of well personality issues…

But a quiet, gentle night

Today a not a bad wok day, not a good work day…(that’s assuming there is such a thing as good workday)…but tomorrow…depending on how things fall out my prove to be a monster…but it is suppose to be less hot, and less humid so it my be more tolerable then the preceding days this week…must make an appearance Saturday…but as the plant is shut this Sunday my streak of 20 straight days in the plant will come to a very thankful halt…

Still am trying to understand the carnage on the current season of project runway…what was Keith thinking…I didn’t like him…but he was a real possibility for the final 3…but struck me from day one as one who didn’t think rules apply to him and found out they did…really don’t see now a “clear favorite”…nor a clear peep(s) to root for…

It’s really strange, I talked to my sis on the phone tonight for about an hour and a half (mind you we only lives maybe 5 or 6 blocks apart) but we have never been close…and a bit of the conversation has been about dad’s estate…but the truth is we’ve talked more,…been more honest with each other …and been closer In the last 5 weeks or so since dad’s passing then we’ve ever been…and we’re 59 and 61…and it’s a good thing…

Boy did this day kick my arse, high 90*F temperatures…high 90’s % humidity and air quality that was well below standard…I am just a puddle of sweat that once was know as the mad one…