Tired, Busy, and Work Stories

I slept badly last night. Part of it was that I didn't get home until 9*, by which time I am usually winding down and getting into my pjs. Instead, I was kind of wound up, and ended up reading for a while (what, doesn't everyone do that when they're wound up? perhaps I should define "wound up" here as "surprisingly able to stay awake"), and didn't get to bed until almost 11. I slept for a few hours, but then woke and tossed and turned most of the rest of the night.

*It was totally worth it, I had a great dinner with half a dozen good friends, but oh, zzzzz.

In fact, it was one of those exasperating times when I thought I was awake more than I really was. I know this because when my alarm went off at 6, I awoke with a vivid "memory" of deciding to change the time to 6:30, then having awful trouble working the setting on the clock, where it kept flying past the time I wanted, and I would go back and whoosh too far, over and over. Dreams should not be both vivid and irritating that way.

Tonight is a unisom night, obviously.

And even though I'm tired, I got a ton done after work. Here's the list:

• stopped at the library to pick up a book on hold
• stopped at Ocean State to return a defective thing and pick up a few things
• went to stitch and bitch to hang out and knit, and make plans to see this at the ICA on Friday (knitting at a museum! knitting performance art! how cool is that?)
• went to the grocery store, and can I say that I tried to take a more direct route from SnB to the store and I ended up totally lost but remarkably calm, until I was driving over a "road" (and I use the term loosely) that was as level as a cheese grater, and at the end of this surface from hell I went down a steep what-is-this-a-driveway and was ... exactly where I'd been trying to get. only I could not retrace that route for a million dollars. weird.
• stopped at another library to pick up more books on hold
  

And finally I was home, ready to collapse and watch the Bruins game. I will say that of all times in the week before Thanksgiving to grocery shop, going when the Patriots are playing Monday! Night! Football! is an excellent choice. You know the game is a big deal if I heard about it, and the store was totally reasonable. I loved it.

Work Nuggets
Today I went to the second meeting of a team I've been added to, and one person who was not there last week was there this week. This isn't someone I've met before, and the strongest waves of hostility were coming off her ... as though she was there against her will, thought it was completely stupid, and wanted everyone to know. After the meeting one of the other people at the meeting came to my desk to quietly ask if I had noticed, so it wasn't my imagination. Hostile! Weird.

*****
(Don't read this next part if you're eating.)
My nearest neighbor at work has been minorly sick, what you might call working sick, since sometime in October. One result is that when she blows her nose, it tends to sound ... extremely productive. (I just went back and added the pre-paragraph warning. You're welcome.) Now, first off, I sympathize with her not feeling well (she certainly didn't choose to be this way), and second off*, I blow my nose a million times a day so who am I to cast stones.

*Why does that sound so odd, when "first off" sounds perfectly normal?

Still, the sound turns my stomach. I swallow hard and think repeatedly, "It's not her fault, it's not her fault." I do hope she gets better soon. (She went to the doctor today, but all he said was rest and soup. Thanks, doc.)

*****
If you are one of those people in an office who sighs, "Oh, I have all this vacation time I have to take before the end of the year," like it's some great chore, please shut up. Think before you speak. Chances are, someone within earshot has no more time off, and would love to have your problem.

Ahem.

I know, that sounds bitter. It's just that I don't really understand people who don't use up their time off, and really I think it's better for you if you do take time off. Certainly it's nothing to brag about that you haven't. And especially if your absence is going to make other people have to take up the slack, just hush. Either take it as unobtrusively as you can, or don't take the time. I know, you'll lose it if you don't take it! Don't whine. The rules have been in place all year. You knew.

*****
One drawback to working at a company that does medical-related work is that they want you to believe that NHL stands for non-hodgkin lymphoma. Everyone knows that NHL is the National Hockey League. And CCR certainly does not stand for Clinical Cancer Research. Ahem.

*****
There was a little excitement at work. when at 4:30 the lights went flick-poof and the whole building lost power. And, it turned out, the building to either side (well, one is a gas station, but still, no power). We sat around for a while waiting to see what would happen, but the answer was not the power returning, so we were released at ten to five. So that was nice. Especially since there were some piercing beeps coming from various computer-back-up-power things (forgive the technical term), which were really grating on my nerves.

I suppose we probably will have work tomorrow, but hope springs eternal. Especially since I just tried to log in to my web mail to see if there's a message about it, and I couldn't get in. Maybe because the building still doesn't have power? Cross your fingers for me!