More Exciting Than Watching Paint Dry, Barely.

Dating is exciting in some ways and boring in others. It is exciting when you meet new people. It is boring when you realize there is just no chemistry between the two of you. I try go to for at least 2 dates. The first date you tend to be tense so I feel the second date is more realistic if you can get to a second date.

This was date number four. The first two were after insanely exhausting days at work so I couldn't tell if I was falling asleep due to an extreme lack of sleep or the fact I just wasn't really feeling anything with her. After having 2 more dates I've come to the conclusion: we just don't match up well in real life. Oh paper things look good, but that's why you have to test the theory and see if the reality matches.

I feel sorry for her. I can tell she likes me a bit. I think that is the worst part.

On the plus side I have date number 2 with someone else tomorrow night. Some chemistry is there so perhaps this could develop into something. Who knows, right?

I Just Wanted To Leave At Lunch.

I have far too many things going on right now in my life and far too little time to get things done. I was willing to take a half day of vacation today just so I could finally get to a few important things that needed to be done! It doesn't help when the people you need to see operate at the same work hours of 90% of people during the day including yours truly.

I had most of the morning hearings and The Boss had most of the afternoon ones. How about a swap and I leave at lunch. It was a simple plan that went horribly wrong. The Boss scheduled quite a few pretrial conferences today. For some reason he loves to get a lot of them done in one day. That method has proven quite problematic in the past but he shows no sign of adopting my "squeeze one or two in here and there" approach. The problem we run into is sometimes the courts will decide to schedule hearing during times we've scheduled pretrial conferences. Usually we adapt and can make it work. This time The Boss sabotaged himself. No wait, he really sabotaged both of us!

The Boss doubled booked his pretrial conferences this morning, twice! Normally about a third of pretrials follow Option #1, and a third follow Option #2, and a third one or both parties fail to appear. Yet I knew that since it would be incredibly inconvenient if everyone appeared that would be exactly what would happen. Of course I was right. Karma is a bitch. and she hates me.

I wanted to try to take some of the overload, but I had my own court hearings in the morning. Every time I came into my office the clerks wondered if I could do something, but I told them I was either getting ready to head to court, or fixing a problem that came up in court, or trying to fix a problem before we went into court. I finally finished my morning hearings at 11:30 and suddenly I'm trying to do a pretrial with two parties and a file I've never seen before. Not only that, but they had 3 cases involving them so it took me some time to figure out what was going on. At least they agreed on the important things so that made my job easy. How to fit their agreement into the context of all 3 of their cases would prove to be a bigger problem, but not one that had to be fixed today. So lunch really started at 12:20 today for me.

Oh wait, The Boss also scheduled pretrial conferences for the early afternoon. Looks like I'll need to stay until 2:00 p.m. just to make sure everything works.

I'm just tired of having to catch all of The Boss' mistakes. How do you double book something that is totally in your control?

Oh well at least I got the big important things off my to-do list, but what a grind it was for the late afternoon.

Cascading Entropy Of Liquid Failure.

Let's see. Water got into the wall behind the bathtub so the wall needed to be replaced, along with two others since I had to replace it. I haven't had a shower at home since last Thursday. The leak around the tub drain that falls into the downstairs bathroom got worse. I guess the repair I did last year is failing. Now the kitchen sink that has a slow drip has sped up to a quite annoying tempo. My cell phone was catastrophically dunked into water and can't hold a charge for more than 36 hours.

All this within a one week period or so. Water, water, everywhere and it is seriously screwing up my life! When it rains around here it really pours.

Water And Cell Phones Don't Mix!

I swear if someone invents a cell phone that can survive being capsized with me in a deep creek or a bullet going through it I'll buy it.

I'm pretty good with my phone, but when I do something to it I REALLY do something to it! At least it still works after being dried out, but when the battery only lasts for 2 days that just isn't going to work. Given how little I'm at home I really need my cell phone. Maybe AT&T is running a special.

Paint The Town British Racing Green!

You Paint the World with Calming Colors

You are a true friend. You are very dependable. Your friends can always count on you to be competent. You are good at anything you do. You are a truly successful person ... though sometimes it's hard for you to appreciate your success. You are quite cautious and conservative. You like to weigh risks carefully.

How Do You Paint the World?

There Has To Be A More Dignified Form Of Transportation.

On the drive home tonight a piece of my car fell onto me. I was completely in shock. Normally my car doesn't attack me, but it did tonight. I hope the beast holds together, but I have to remember, it's not the years, but the mileage!

I Haven't A Clue.

The Boss is a nice guy, but rather clueless sometimes. Perhaps absent minded is the more accurate phrase. About a week ago I discovered he was going to be out of the office on Tuesday for a conference. After discussing his schedule, my schedule, the court's schedule he finally let it drop that he was going to a conference. Oh!!!! Suddenly that conversation make so much more sense!

I'm about to go home today and I'm chatting with a clerk for a few minutes. I mention that I'll be in tomorrow for only the morning and leaving the office around lunch. The clerk then mentions that Boss will be gone for Monday and Tuesday for a conference.

*Deep Sigh!*

If my workload is going to double, can someone let me know ahead of time? It isn't like the conference come up suddenly and the dates just fell from the sky. I'm doing more and more of Boss's job because he's burned out and some things just run smoother through me, but I'm getting tired of doing Boss's job because he doesn't get around to doing them or doesn't tell me he'll be gone. There's no malice behind his actions, he's just burned out and clueless.

I can't take this any longer. I need another job soon.

I Can't Win Sometimes.

The clerks stated they needed to get information faster so they designed a form for us to fill out during hearings. When done just hand the form to them and they'll do what they need to do. Important things will be done in a timely fashion and they aren't stuck for someone to bring the file to them or write an order or something that only an attorney needs to do first. Sounds like a good idea in theory, but in reality I find it nothing but a pain in my ass.

The form isn't particularly difficult, in fact it is rather simple. Given what the clerks want they really need some of the basic info of a case. The problem is I can't fill out the damn form to their level of satisfaction. For example, addresses.

I fill in an address.
Clerk: "Wolfrham, this address is the same as we currently have. Why did you fill it out?"
Me: "The form has an address field."
Clerk: "Well if it is the same we're just double checking something that is already there. It makes more work for us and the form is supposed to simplify things."

I don't fill in an address.
Clerk: "Wolfrham! How come you didn't fill in the address part of the form?"
Me: "There was no change in address. I didn't want you to double check an address that is already good. I wanted you to just do the things that need to go out ASAP!"
Clerk: "Well if you don't fill in an address how will we know the info we have is correct?"
Me: *DEEP SIGH*

I filled out the address field with the words "No Change" and figure this is fine.
Clerk: "Wolfrham! What is this 'no change'? No change from what?
Me: *Tick on face is developing and my blood pressure rises*

I'm about ready to either shove their form up their collective asses or bring them in and politely ask them how they would like the form field out for every field. I will gladly fill out the form they way they want me to, but I want ONE STANDARD! They more they tried to simplify and improve their work processes, but more complicated they've made mine!

Seize The Opportunity.

I'm not in an active job hunt mode, but if I happen to stumble upon something I'll take a look. I'm on one website today trying to find an address and there is a "Job Opportunities" link. I decided to click on it and discover there is an attorney position that I'm at least half way qualified for.

I think I'll fire up a letter this weekend. Why not eh?

I'm Just An Arms Dealer At Heart.

How to raise money for big purchases (like a home).

1. Save up as much money as you can from your job. Check.

2. Sell the few meager stocks you have. Check. (Bonus for being able to take the capital lose on the tax return next year. Not like the stock market is rebounding anytime soon.)

3. Sell a shotgun. Not done that yet and it sounds like a Small Town move, not a Big City move but I could probably get $150 for it.

4. Look around for other trinkets to sell.

Sometimes I wonder if I've been exposed to Small Town too long when selling weaponry is an option to raise money.

November 30th is the last day of the 10% first time homeowner credit. I hope I can swing this deal in the next 3 months.

3 In A Row!

I don't know what has changed or if suddenly things are working. I now have consistent internet access on our wireless network.

SWEET! Frustration level is coming down.

I was going to go into work, but waking up at 11 a.m. put the kibosh on that idea. Ah...sweet sleep!

Connected Upon Booting Up!

Okay what has changed! Booted up ye olde laptop and it connected to our wireless.

SWEET!

I admit the internet is mostly an escape, but I also do a lot of research online. Nice to have it back....I hope.

Poll Time

Which is the most annoying part of my life?

1. Insomnia that awakens me at 4:00 a.m. for the last 2 weeks.

2. Occasional internet access at home due to roommate's ...whatever he did to the wireless setup!

3. Inability to get orders written due to distractions at work.

4. Inability to get orders written due to attending a million hearings in a week.

5. Inability to get orders written due to solving other people's problems. Wait that sounds a lot like number 3.

I really need the ability to fashion an 8th day of the week that no one else has access to. I would love to have one day a week where no one can reach me, I have no hearings, and I can just catch up on things. People may say do more with less but we've reached the point of you need more to do more!

Spotty Internet Access Just Plain Sucks

The Fabulously Gay Roommate has been monkeying around with our wireless network. He's been trying to get the wireless printer to find our network and print! The wireless capability of the printer was the big reason I got the printer before the end of last year and yet it is the one thing we haven't gotten to work!

The Good: FGR says he can no see the printer on our wireless LAN.
The Bad: We still can't print to it.
The Suck: I have to screw around with my network settings on my laptop for at least 15 minutes before I connect to our wireless network. IF I CONNECT AT ALL!

If you don't hear from me for a few days assume that between too many hours at work, too many hours on the road, and the roommate's infernal modification of our network that I'm not dead, I'm just silent!

You Did What?

The Boss is occasionally a forgetful person. He certainly does things differently than I do, but usually he's a logical and rational person. So I'm befuddled by this problem. We set up with the courts to handle a special project on Fridays this month. At least that's what I thought. I'm checking the calendar for this month and it seems the courts got a late start and started the scheduling towards the end of the month. Okay fine. I guess our project will go into September. I'll have to check into that later, but I kept things off my calendar for this month.

Boss: Wow we're busy the last Friday.

Me: I had assumed we would be busy on every Friday. I guess the courts needed a little more time.

Boss: Did you schedule any administrative hearings on that day.

Me: I didn't schedule any hearings because I thought we would be busy the entire month.

Boss: Uh-oh I think I scheduled 5 admin hearings on that Friday.

Me: You're joking right?

Boss: Checks his calendar. Yep I scheduled 5 for that Friday.


I don't know which is worse. The Boss scheduled ANYTHING on a Friday that we knew ahead of time was supposed to be for our project. Or is it worse he scheduled 5 admin hearings when 3 in a day is exhausting! My clerk asked me if the Boss thought that scheduling 5 hearings would result in 2 complete hearings because we always have people missing. I don't know, but that means once again I'm shouldering the load alone on a busy day.

It is bad enough I do the work of 2 people because we need at least another person, but when I'm doing my boss's job as well I get peeved. It seems like I cover him A LOT more than he covers me.

So Hard To Get Good Help These Days.

Me: Okay Fabulously Gay Roommate flip the breaker.

FGR: 11 or 12?

Me: 11 controls this circuit.

*hear a solid snap*
FGR: Okay you're good.

*screwdriver touches a live wire* FLASH, POP, SNAP!

Me: DUDE!!!!!!! I just got zapped! I thought you said I was good!

FGR: Oh wait, sorry. I flipped the one below it.

Me: Tell you what I'll give you the screwdriver and I'll just randomly flip breakers until your hand goes numb!

The Money Sled.

Only two more payments and my used car is completely mine. A friend sold it to me so I got very favorable financing. However this year the damn thing is turning into a money pit. First, I needed to replace the front tires after I hit a pothole the size Belgium. That left front deflated in less than 2 minutes. Then I needed a transmission rebuild. It is good to have 1st and Reverse again. I thought I needed an alignment, but instead the tire rotation I had 3 weeks earlier brought the old tires to the front. One had a busted steel belt so I needed 2 more tires.

Now the damn headlights won't turn on. What are the odds both bulbs would burn out the same night? I doubt that, especially given the occasional odd electrical glitch the headlight have given me in the past. Electrical gremlins, did I buy a British car from the 1960's?

At 176,000 miles I need this beast to last. I can't afford a new car right now including the cost of fuel and higher insurance rates for a new car. If this keeps up I'm going to need either more money or less commute. Why do I either feel like the working poor or the struggling middle class?

So Much For That Idea.

I got an email today. Big City interview stated they must cancel the interview. They were unable to offer a position at this time and would keep my resume on file.

Crap!

Did the position just disappear? Did they already find someone to fill it? Did the fact I had to wait until Tuesday to interview kill my chances? Who knows. I hate second guessing things.

I honestly don't know how much longer I can last in Small Town. The hour long commute. The extreme work hours based on the work load and the fact I do the work of three people. A boss who just doesn't seem to do anything urgently. Hell the boss doesn't seem to do much of anything. The boss is burned out and in a sore need of a six month sabbatical. Fine, but that means so much of the behind the scenes workload gets routed to me. All that does is burn me out.

So much for the hope of getting out of the burden of Atlas' shoulders.

Thriller Indeed.

I know I'm a little late to the Michael Jackson death, but I felt I should talk a little bit about it. I only own one CD of his, Thriller, and I hadn't even taken it out of the wrap. I remember buying it about a year ago. I bought it because I knew I needed at least one MJ album and Thriller was what sent him to superstardom. Back when MTV still played videos this was one of the best ever.

I don't know what happened in his personal life. In the best light he got weird. In the worst light he did a lot of bad things. One thing is certain, he was the King of Pop and for 10 years nobody came close to him.

Though I never bought an album until a year ago, he made a lot of the music I grew up with. Michael Jackson, perhaps this Halloween I'll learn the Thriller dance in your honor. Long live the king!

Hope?

I saw the ad for the position in Big City. It is under the same program as my current job in Small Town. I gave some thought to whether or not I should apply to it. In many ways I really dislike the subject matter of my current job. Why would I want to continue on in that particular field?

Yet, it would be a job in Big City. The commute would be less time. I would regain an hour of my life back simply from the shorter drive. I wouldn't spend as much money on gas, oil changes, tires, and maintenance on the car. I would also be in the Big City job market. In the future I would hope I could find job leads around town that would get me to where I want to be. Granted I have no idea where I want to work when I grow up, but I need to start somewhere.

The few people I ask said the same thing: apply it won't hurt.

Given it has been a few weeks I figured I didn't even make the first cut for interviews. Until the email came. Big City job asked for an interview. Luckily we figured out a time. Day One wouldn't work at all, but I asked if the afternoon of Day Two was fine. Luckily yes.

Now the games begin. Stay chill at work. Don't let anyone know I'm interviewing. Come up with a doctor's appointment I need to attend that afternoon. I like the people I work with. The crew is good, but I can't keep working this one job. Too many issues with the job itself, the outside stuff related to the job, the commute and other stuff. I simply want to go home if I can. Is that too much to ask for?