And now we wait

So, the interview went pretty well, I think, given how stomach-clenching and sweat-inducing I find such things. No matter how many times I tell myself that it's good practice, that the worst thing that will happen is a brief feeling of stupidity followed by no job offer (which leaves me about where it finds me), that in any case it will be over soon ... I still reach for the Tums. Urg. But I think it went well, and now we wait and see (and wonder, and second-guess, and take Tylenol PM tonight for sure).

And it was a beautiful day to be in Boston. There are lots of tulip beds in the Public Garden, and you know I had my camera with me (when do I not?).

Purple

Dark red, nice

Wait, one purple in a bed of yellow? Heads will roll!

Pink

Yellow with red stripes

Yum

Even white

Swan boats

And swans

(Want more flower pictures? I put the photos I took Sunday, at the Arboretum and in my friend's garden, up on Flickr, here. Lots of lilacs!)

I enjoy the contrasts of Boston architecture. Always look up!




And of course one of my favorite parts of Boston is near North Station, home of my Bruins. A promo Hummer:

Flaming logos on the hood, interesting

A trash-talking billboard for the current series:

Did you know the Garden is right next to the highway?

Yes, I'm in the right place.

The signs are everywhere. Tuukka:

My boy Patrice:

Indeed, the signs are everywhere.

You can disregard the green signs. I did.

I feel so at home here.

Now, no trip is complete without a swing through the Pro Shop. There's a surprising amount of green merchandise for a store I consider the Bruins' property, but we can overlook that.

Some of the things I managed to deny myself included this pet set:

Temporary tattoos:

And a Bruins mouse with a floating puck:

I actually think the floating basketball in the Celtics version comes across better.

But did I get anything? Well, yes. I had to get a Bruins key chain with my name on it (of course), and then, well, yeah. A shirt. The thing is, my recent adventures in flying the colors showed me that I don't actually have a general Bruins t-shirt, and while I love the Terry O'Reilly one I got when they retired his number, you know, a girl needs more.

And this one feels really nice, has a faded look I like, and feels really nice (some of them feel like crap, you know? thin and cheap). It was marked down from $36 to $20, and while I still think $20 is a lot for a t-shirt, well. Sleeve stripes!

It followed me home. I'm keeping it!

Gratuitous Carlos shot, your reward for making it all the way to the end!

A Very Good Day Indeed

I woke to a beautiful day and the knowledge that the Bruins travel to Philadelphia up two games to none. Very nice!

Next: the boil-water order was lifted! Given that I broke out the huge pot over the weekend so that I could boil more than 2 cups at a time, I've been feeling like Laura Ingalls with a dipper for a few days now. This is good. The dishwasher runs even now.

Oh, and? I have an interview tomorrow. Woo-hoo! It's for a proofreader, too, though it is a temporary position, expected to go to October. Still, foot in the door, you know? I'm glad to get the interview practice, if nothing else.

I went out to run some errands, and what comes up on the radio but my favorite group, Depeche Mode, always a pleasant surprise. Then there they are again on another station, maybe ten minutes later, and it's the same song:

All I ever wanted,
All I ever needed,
Is here, in my arms.

Made me laugh, anyway! What are the odds? Please keep your fingers crossed for me, around 11 tomorrow.

Day One Out of the Asylum

What?

I didn't get a lot done today, in part because it was hot (I am NOT complaining, I am just saying), and I found that when I broke a sweat just sitting at the computer, the idea of bustling about Getting Things Done lacked appeal. I do have some plans for the time off beyond the obvious (sleep late; find another job), but Day One was largely unaccomplished. Which is actually fine with me.

I was going to jump into some office organizing, because I watched "Hoarding: Buried Alive" on TV last night and oh my god, does that ever make me want to clean up, but just call me Scarlett, perhaps I'll start tomorrow.

I did try to post the flower photos from my Friday walk earlier today and boy, Blogger was still not in the mood. Error, error! I consulted Google and adjusted my Settings (who knew there was a new photo editor?), and that was even worse! I mean, I suppose it makes sense that if there's something new, it's because they changed how it works, but ugh. Not working! I stomped away in a snit, and when I tried again the old way, cautiously, tonight (after The Bruins Won!), it worked. So here we go!

I saw violets all over the place, which kind of surprised me. Pretty, though.




And I love these pretty trees with the feather-stroked petals.





This one is my new computer wallpaper.



I didn't recognize these at all:


Anyone?



The other type of flowery tree.


And flowery bushes, too (I love this time of year, sneezes and all).



And bluebells! Who knew?


My old friends tulips provide welcome color variety.


And bleeding heart, too.


But best of all? Lilacs, lilacs, everywhere.












Here a lilac, there a lilac, lilac scent everywhere. And these are just photos from my neighborhood! I was back at the Arboretum yesterday, wait til you see those. Ahh, the flowers.

Hockey Good, Weather Good, Water Bad

Marc Savard is a little excited.
(I think this is kosher, right? I'm not stealing the photo, I'm promoting it? Thanks Yahoo, thanks Getty Images, for a great photo!)

So! How about that hockey game? The Bruins get an early lead, Philly catches up, OT, and Marc scores the winner in his first game since early March. Very entertaining, and the promise of a good series.

In other local news, you may have heard about Greater Boston's little water problem? A major supply pipe blew a gasket (or something), and I'm one of 2 million people told to boil water. For the immediate future, "hopefully days not weeks" they say. Well, hopefully! To wash hands, brush teeth, do dishes, prep food, or drink ... well. This isn't fun.

I don't mind conserving water where I can--I wasn't planning to wash my car, I don't have a lawn to water, and I can even hold off on laundry for a while (oh, the sacrifice), but the idea of boiling enough water to do all the dishes is unappealing. It wouldn't be so bad if I'd been caught up when this started, but I wasn't. Yuck, basically.

On the other hand, as I don't have to go to work on Monday (ahhh, choirs of angels singing), I have time to deal with this as it goes. Though on the other other hand, my now-former company isn't in the boil zone. I could have been drinking all the water I could hold on Monday morning, no muss no fuss... nah, still not worth it.

The weather has been very nice, and I saw lots of lovely flowers when I went for a walk Friday evening. I want to share them with you, but Blogger is not in the mood, apparently. I'll try again later. Hope you enjoy your Sunday!

Free

The song of the day is this:



Unless it's this?



You pick!

And why is that, you ask? Why am I linking to songs with lyrics about being free, and going from misery to happiness?

Early release from the asylum That is, today was my last day of work after all. Out, done, gone! Whew. Here's the story line so far:

Today is the day I originally gave notice for. Plenty of notice.

My boss then asked me to stay another week, and caught by surprise, I agreed. But they didn't actually need me for anything more (I think I was asked as a test, which I therefore failed but oh well, I never was that good at power plays and mind games).

This week, I was talking to my boss about how, since I trained The New Guy on everything, and how he was therefore doing all the work, it felt a little pointless to be staying on next week, both for me to do and for the company to be paying me. She went to her boss to see about releasing me from the extra week, and he apparently went off on how if I haven't solved world peace*, how can I say I don't have anything to do?

*Not actually world peace, but a big long-term project that I was not authorized to complete on my own, and which in fact he is the one working on. Jerk.

So I told myself that I could leave any time if anything went particularly kablooey, but otherwise resigned myself to "working" next week ... and this morning my boss told me that he told her I could leave today after all. I barely reacted at first, I was so surprised, but when it sank in, what a relief.

And the weather was much improved today. Temps of 70s, very windy but mostly sunny, not bad at all.

And I went to Wilson's after work and they had peas! From California, and not the best ever, but boy still pretty good, first of the year.

And raspberries, on sale and smelling divine.

And some corn on the cob (I'm finally remembering to try Leslie's way of cooking it).

When asked what I will do next week, I replied, "Sleep late." If you want me Monday morning, I'll be singing this in my sleep:



P.S. Go Bruins, go Bruins!

Let me sum up:

hockey, work, headache theory, flowers, cats, knitting

So it's the Big Bad Bruins meeting the Broad Street Bullies!

Sorry. The Globe mentioned that Boston and Philly haven't met in the playoffs since 1978, and I had a flashback to the 70s there.

Game 1 is Saturday at 12:30 in Boston; the early start is apparently to accommodate the Kentucky Derby, and yeah we finished sixth and have home ice in the second round, how weird is that? This is one strange year in the playoffs so far.

Go Bruins, go Bruins!
(Sorry, Kate.)

**********


Work right now is like being on call, or what I imagine what it would feel like to be on call. I have to be there, but it hasn't been busy, and I don't feel inclined to find long-term projects to fill the time. I'm there for when my replacement has questions, or to check his work, but he doesn't have that many questions and he's been doing fine, so I haven't really been working hard, I have to admit.

Say, did you know that at Project Gutenberg, you can read books online, free?

**********
I read, or rather skimmed through, a book on headaches recently, which proposed a rather radical diet scrub to remove all possible food triggers. The idea is that any one of these many types of food could be triggering your migraines, so you remove them all, then you can gradually reintroduce them one at a time to see if they actually are a problem. It's a little extreme, but in theory I don't disagree with it. Also, I appreciate that someone believes there is a connection between my headache tendencies and the stiff, "crunchy" feeling at the back of my neck.

However. In practice, the idea just about gives me hives. I have enough trouble managing everyday tasks, laundry and dishes and grocery shopping and cooking and preparing and storing and holy cow. Just balancing healthy eating and the budget taxes me. I can't imagine working around not eating anything with:

• chocolate
• caffeine
• MSG
• nuts and nut butters
• vinegars (including ketchup!)
• onions
  
• citrus fruits and raspberries
• fresh bread products
• beans
• much dairy (cheese, yogurt)

The only way I could possible handle that diet was if someone else prepared it all for me, and all I had to do was eat it. Even then, I would miss everything, but I think it would be worth trying to see what results it had. (Though I shudder to think of giving up so many things for 4 months, which is what he advises.) In the world where I live, it's just not going to happen.

I mean, let's talk about chocolate. I love chocolate. Love it. Yet if I knew that it would always give me a headache, would I eat it? No. Even if I knew that giving up chocolate would mean I never got another headache, that would be worth it. But to give it up because sometimes it gives me a headache? Yeah, not so much. Some things make life worth living.

If you're wondering, I refuse to follow the advice given to people with seasonal allergies, too. Minimal time outside, don't open windows at home or in the car ... why don't I just shut myself in a box and never come out? I'd be "safer" there.

**********
My, am I grumpy lately or what? You'd never know that I've been enjoying all the flowers and slowly-improving weather. I mean, daffodils and forsythia I really only like for being harbingers of Spring, but crocus and tulips and now lilacs?


LOVE.

Also a certain furball makes me happy.


A boy and his bear.


Even his sister was amusing me yesterday, rolling on the floor trying to catch her tail.

And I started swatching for the next pair of socks. Socks That Rock may call their yarn Goody Goody; I will call it rainbow sherbet.


So, you know, in case you were worried? It's not all bad here.

Cranky! grump grumble

Here are some reasons why I'm cranky:

• The weather. It's been in the 40s today, cold and blowy and raining. It is supposed to improve over the next few days--but they were saying 80s this weekend and now they're saying 70s! This is why I should never watch the weather forecast. I feel cheated of degrees of warm.
  
• Work. I am everloving sick of the place, and even with only seven days left, it is wearing on me.
• My hands are hurting. Slight flare-up of the tendinitis I had last fall, with possibly some arthritis flare-up as well. Ow, damnit. And it means I have to cut back on the knitting, when I'd like to be plowing ahead. Argh.
  
• Car insurance. I got my renewal notice from Progressive today, and boy are they progressing! My premium went up 27%, based on who knows what as nothing has changed in the last 6 months. Now I have to shop around, which is a total PITA. Grrr.

And ... I think that's all, actually. I shall go apply a hockey game to my temper and see if it helps. I'm not actually rooting for either team*, which makes for an interesting viewing experience.

*I usually like to root for the underdog in these situations, but it's very hard for a Bruins fan to root for Montreal, no matter what.

In conclusion, and totally randomly: Go Bruins, go Bruins.

Hockey and Work and please send warm weather

Of course I was very pleased and excited when the Bruins won last night, defeating Buffalo to move on to the second round. I was also laughing out loud, thanks to a few new lines from the very excited Bruins announcer Jack Edwards (listen here):

"The Sabres' hopes sleep with the Edmund Fitzgerald", really?
"Snowball one, hell zero" I quite like.

Now, I will admit to being slightly, but only slightly, superstitious. I don't exactly believe it ... but I'll knock on wood anyway (though frequently, I'll knock on my own head when wood is not available, so perhaps that doesn't count). But I don't worry about black cats or Friday the 13th, and the only reason I won't walk under a ladder is because I'm claustrophobic and clumsy, two traits which don't go with confined spaces. (I'm always bumping into door frames and table edges and the like. Ow.)

And yet. Last Monday I wore a Bruins t-shirt with a Bruins oxford, and Bruins socks (yes, I do have Bruins socks). The Bruins won Monday night.

On Wednesday I wore my Bruins hooded sweatshirt over a hockey t-shirt (it says Give Blood, Play Hockey), and Bruins socks (yes, I have 2 pair!). The Bruins won Wednesday night. In fact, they won in OT, so on Thursday I wore my Cows t-shirt showing hockey-playing cows, with the header "Team Moo pumped up for sudden death overtime."

On Friday, since I hadn't done laundry during the week, I wore nothing hockey-related. And the Bruins lost.

So if you think I wasn't wearing Bruins apparel yesterday, well, wrong. I'm not into jinxing my favorite team.

And, it worked! Or at least, the Bruins won, which is what counts. On to round two, against a team to be named later (either Pittsburgh or Philly, depending on the result of Montreal-Washington in their game 7 tomorrow). Maybe starting as soon as Friday!

I'll have to do some laundry again.

**********
Sunday night I slept badly. Lots of dreams, cats jumping over me and only mostly missing my head ... it seemed like I woke up a hundred times.

One of my dreams was that I was at a restaurant near work, in fact the one where my department is taking me for a farewell lunch next week. It's a place with a buffet, and in the dream after I got my food, I found myself sitting at a table alone. One of the managers came over to get me back to the company table, but he was trying to get a man at the next table to come too, and I was objecting because the man didn't work for the company. Then I was out in the parking lot and everyone else had left, and I was going to call someone to come back and give me a ride, but then someone came along who said she was a friend of a former employee and she could give me a ride.

And I tell you this not because I think it's fascinating, but because when I mentioned it at work, someone said that it sounded like I was having separation anxiety. And I was taken aback: I interpret it as wanting separation from a place that won't let me go! I want to separate, to sit at a different table, and they're not letting me.

What do you think it means?

Also, I heard today that that manager is not going to come to the lunch, because he's "disappointed" that I'm leaving the company during this busy project. Un-huh. So does he think he's punishing me? Because I think he's kind of a jerk, and I'm pleased if he doesn't come.

**********
The weather is supposed to warm up by this weekend, but I don't know if I can wait that long. It's rainy and cold today, and brr. Please send warm thoughts.

And energy. Why am I so tired, so early? So falling-down-dead-in-a-fit-of-tears tired?

Just A Word

Okay, two: Go Bruins, Go Bruins!

Or is that four?

A Year Later, if you can believe it

I can't start this by saying anything along the lines of how time flies, because the last year has not flown. It was at times painfully slow, in fact, and though not all bad, much (much, much) of it was less than optimal, shall we say. Still, I just can't believe it has been a year since my dad died. It still feels impossible. That's not funny, I want to say. Cut it out. Bring him back.

I had a dream recently where my mother and I were somewhere, and Dad wandered by, and I wasn't sure it was him because he looked so lost. That's not something he ever used to look like. Mum knew it was him, though, and then the dream went somewhere else in the way dreams do. It made me sad, in a nagging, back of the mind way. I didn't recognize my dad, because that wasn't what he was like, all my life. I miss the man he was, the part of my life he filled.

The difference from a year ago, I guess, is that sometimes I can forget the hole is there. Other times, of course, I still fall right into it.

I think that from now on, three days a year will be particularly, or rather predictably* bad: his birthday, the day he died, and Father's Day.

*Any day can be a bad one, but some are more than likely to be.

That said, today wasn't a bad day. I went to the grocery store, did laundry, watched some non-Bruins hockey with a cat sleeping on my lap, made dinner, and even got to open a window for a while. Really not that bad.

For a bad day.

Hockey Mishap

I don't know if you have to be a hockey fan to find this so funny, but I have tears in my eyes. Chicago's Antti Niemi made a save and afterward, they couldn't find the puck in his equipment! For minutes! It got stuck! Please, go watch it and tell me if you find it funny.

So?

I mean, the referee searching the pants ... that's when I started laughing.

Friday thoughts of working, hockey

I may not be the most stylish person around (I heard you--yes, you over there, the one choking, stop it), but I'm actually not sure whether it's a point for me or against me that I don't usually build my outfit around my socks. Today, however, for the first wearing of my new socks, I did in fact carry the socks to my closet and see what went with them. (Other than jeans, obviously.)

Again, I'm not quite sure what I should be apologizing for here, but for some reason I feel apologetic.

**********
My recent work history is filled with change. When I moved back to Massachusetts in 2003, I signed up with a couple of temp agencies. I did one short (day-plus) job, then started the job I was at for a couple of years before the layoff. I job-searched briefly in the fall of 2004 before being extended; then again and for real in the summer/fall of 2005. After getting laid off from that job, I was searching again in the summer/fall of 2008. I have a point here, I promise: what's interesting me is how I've seen the technology of the job search process change in such a relatively short period of time.

In 2005, it was kind of a funny, unexpected thing that people contacted me after seeing my resume on Monster. Applications could still be made through the actual mail, as well as sent by e-mail. There were lots of job ads in the newspapers, but you could also sign up to have those ads e-mailed to you based on your keywords. In fact, that's how I found the job that I got: an e-mail of an ad from a newspaper (though not in the Globe, so I wouldn't have actually seen it in the physical paper I read).

In 2008, I was mostly applying through e-mail. There were fewer ads in the paper, too. I found my job through a recruiter who saw my resume on-line.

In 2010, the ads in the paper are kind of a joke, a few pages of mostly nursing and educator positions. Instead of e-mail, every company seems to want you to apply through their own website (and the interfaces are without exception tremendously annoying to use). Of course, it remains to be seen how I will find my next job.

One tool I've been thinking of using this time is business cards. I hesitate because I'm not sure they're necessary, and I am being very stringent with the non-essential spending until I have a new job and its attendant paycheck, but I can see how it might be useful to have a form of "here's my contact info" before the "handing over the resume" step. What do you think?

And if I do get them, what do I want them to say? "Proofreader" is good but might be slightly self-limiting; "Wordsmith" speaks to me but might seem too cutesy to an employer (though at the interview for my proofreader/copy writer position, the manager did say they were looking for a wordsmith, so perhaps if you're looking for one, the word wouldn't turn you off?). "Proofreader/Copy Writer/Editor"? I want to go for creative without being too much. Suggestions? Thoughts? Guide me, please!

*************
Mr SVP gave me the oddest look this morning, the exact sort of smirk I would expect him to have if I announced that I changed my mind and would like to stay on at work, please. The thing is, I am never going to say that. Is that really what he was thinking, or am I anthropomorphizing? Perhaps it was just his being pleased that someone else, a person he reportedly did not like, gave her notice today? I really don't know.

*************
The New Guy was in a long meeting* this morning, resulting in an unexpected peaceful period at my desk. He came out reporting that one of things about the new project that was supposed to be taken off was now to be put back on. I kind of wanted to laugh, and I refrained from telling him that dude, they change their minds All The Time here. It's like being managed by someone with the attention span of a 2-year-old.

*I wasn't invited to it, didn't even know about it, and if you're wondering if that hurt my feelings, well hell no. I'm glad they're divorcing themselves from me, as I am from them. I'd far, far rather spend a quiet hour at my desk cleaning out my in-box of two-year-old e-mails than sit in a meeting trying to look and sound as if I cared the slightest bit about the project. Whew. I can tell you, I'm never giving more than a two-week notice again.

**********
Of course I hope the Bruins win tonight, though I won't panic if they don't. More than winning, though, I want them to play well. As the announcers love to say at this time of year, hockey is a game of mistakes. I hope the Bruins don't make too many.

And whatever happens, I can sleep in tomorrow! Ah. It's the simple things in life.