MFA Mama

The Precious is dead! Long live The Precious!

   Hello lovelies! I've been hella busy and not at the computer much, and also The Precious died. Like, DEAD-dead, no trade-in value, won't accept a charge or turn on, DEAD. Nothing happened to it or anything, but I think its time had come. RIP, The Precious I: 9/20/11-5/8/14.

   Welcome to the MFAmily, The Precious II! Or more like The Precious 5s, since I was due for an upgrade and, with a combination of that and a Mother's Day sale, it cost me $99 to upgrade to the (current, and for five more entire minutes) top of the line. Which has resulted in Instant Elderly, because HELLO? I'M SORRY DOLLIN I JUST DON'T KNOW HOW TO WORK THIS PHONE, WHERE'S THE..."

   If you know my phone number for any reason (and uh, aren't Stalky, et al), please shoot me a text (same number still) with something in it to let me know who YOU are so I can add you back to my contacts.

   Now that THAT'S out of the way: the new job. It's pretty great, and has its pluses and minuses, but I think the pluses (things like being an extremely highly-ranked property with an excellent reputation, good management, new facility, free parking, free Starbucks drinks any time I want them, etc.) will outweigh the rest. So far I get the impression it'll be slightly less money, but then I'm already starting on my third department there already and my skills are in demand, so we'll see.

   In my spare time I've been working in the garden a lot, and it's starting to come together.

   How are all of YOU?

this and that and I THINK I've fixed RSS feeds

*   Today was a good, albeit SLOW, day at work. I was told, after Tuesday's debacle and Wednesday's exhaustive interview with HR, that someone would call me yesterday to let me know What Was Going On or, if no information was available yesterday, that someone would definitely update me today. Neither of those scenarios panned out, but The Offender has not been at work since Tuesday, so I am hopeful that HR has, in fact, Handled Their Shit and I have nothing more to worry about regarding Matters, Comma, Confidential.

*   I haven't made any inquiries because if things remain as they were today (no Offending Party, and The Bastard in check) (oh yes, this is a separate issue from The Bastard) then I will be quite satisfied. I am extremely fortunate in that a friend of mine who I met through this humble little website is a Professional Handler Of This Sort of Shit, and has volunteered to step in and play the heavy on my behalf in need be. I hope I don't need her help at all, but it's very reassuring to know that if The Process turns out to be untrustworthy I have an option besides quitting my job or resigning myself to a hostile work environment on an ongoing basis.

*   Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Isis DESPERATELY wants to be friends with the kitten. The kitten isn't against this, per se, but the dog comes on a little strong and ruins it for herself. Skeeter is fine with existing in close proximity, both being on the bed with us, and playing as long as it doesn't go any further than licks and nuzzles and no-contact running around. The dog, unfortunately, wants to play full-contact rugby, and has earned herself many swipes to the nose through rough wooing of the kitten, who can outmanuever her easily and fit into hiding places (under the couch, on the other side of the gates, etc.) that the dog can't access. This mean that the dog spends much of the day whimpering plaintively. I cannot WAIT until they work this all out! And no, of course we are not leaving them alone together unsupervised.

*   The children are nearly as fond of Skeeter as Isis is, and are almost as unsuccessful in getting him to be friendly with them, largely because they are very loud and jumpy and high-energy. Skeeter mostly wants a warm, STILL lap to sit on. The children keep exclaiming enviously over how much better the kitten seems to like Hotter and me, but I think that's mostly because we're willing to sit still and ignore him while he purrs and kneads blissfully on us with his little bald paws.

*   I picked up a part-time gig working for another department at The Ritz, and my first day there is tomorrow (which is my day off from my main gig there). It's something I've done before at other venues, so I'm not worried about it at all, but I'm interested to see how it works at The Ritz (and excited about the extra money!).

*   I'm PRETTY sure I've fixed the RSS feed. Here is the information Feedblitz says I should give all of y'all:

Feed: http://feeds.feedblitz.com/mfamama

Mobile: http://m.feedblitz.com/mfamama

Email: http://www.feedblitz.com/f?Track=http://feeds.feedblitz.com/mfamama&Publisher=34416264

*   How are all of YOU?

my hairless pussy (SFW, believe it or not)

   Tuesday my workday went pear-shaped in ways I don't think I could legally go into even if I wanted to. Suffice it to say that while *I* am not in any trouble, and my employer's Head Honcho of HR is SUPER-nice, it sucked a lot and I was a hot mess with a crying-induced headache by the time I clocked out. As I walked to my car, I went over options for how to handle this in my head. The elliptical is still out due to various injuries (although my knee and back are both MUCH better of late). My initial impulse was to just get stinking drunk, but I've still been dipping into the NSAIDs here and there, and alcohol is a blood thinner, and hangovers are not conducive to waking up at oh-god-hundred for work the next day, so I decided that was probably a bad idea. Then it occurred to me that MFA Kitty was already ready for pickup, and it had been MY decision to wait until Wednesday.

   A quick phone call and a stop at the bank later and I was on my way; the hour and a half drive without Hotter asking questions about The Day From Hell or children shoving worksheets needing to be signed up my butt was just the thing to calm my racing mind, and by the time I got to the breeder's house I was much more serene. When the breeder placed our kitten in my arms and I felt his tiny body vibrating with purrs and life, I knew I'd done the right thing.

   I still questioned myself a little on the drive home (I forgot how much cats hate being in the car, OMG), but the moment we walked in the door, the kitten hopped onto Little Child's shoulder and purred. AWWW!

   Work yesterday was much better, although I still had to spend some time in HR's office recounting various incidents, which was Not My Favorite. I mean, FFS, I am a WAITRESS. All I want to do is go and pour people's coffee and be nice to them and chat about their day, and have them give me a few bucks that I can use to pay my bills. I do NOT want to Talk About Incidents and describe How They Make Me Feel to people who write down everything I say and have me sign it afterward. I'm actually starting to question whether The Ritz is a good place for me to work or not (especially if they don't follow through on their promise to Handle This this time). It's screwing with my mental health, and even my marriage, because when I said I was DONE if The Ritz's process didn't Fix This PDQ Hotter said "THE HELL YOU ARE" and, when I said I didn't want to continue to work in a hostile environment, informed me that if it paid this well I needed to suck it up and find a way to deal. Which...WOW. Yes, it's good money. No, it's not worth being afraid (at least not to me). Fffffffuuuuuuudge.

   But hey, look, KITTY:

Figure One: Innernet, meet Skeeter. Awww.

Figure Two: He looks decent-sized...

Figure Three: ...until you add my hand for a sense of scale.

Figure Four: Just what the doctor ordered. It's hard to hate life with a sleeping baby animal on you.

   So that's what I've been up to. Thank you to those of you who have reached out to make sure I'm aware my posts aren't showing up in Feedly; between the almost three-week comment glitch and now that I'm surprised anyone's still reading, but I'm glad you are.

   How is YOUR week going?

yay and boo and Happy New Year

*   2012, which was not my friend, is over.

*    I celebrated New Year's Eve by coming down with a fresh cold (Hotter: "Seriously, DO you have an official immune deficiency diagnosis you forgot to tell me about?"). I still have it (the cold--I do NOT have any sort of immune deficiency that I am aware of), but am not blaming that on 2013.

*   My lungs, however, are holding their own so far.

*   The kids got back from their holiday visit with their father full of tales of visiting with That Insane Relative of Their Father's and "going to Red Robin and getting to order WHATEVER WE WANTED, EVEN EXPENSIVE THINGS!" I...yeah. 

*   Hotter and I are good again. I still don't think he fully understands just how much I hate Co-Dependency: The Blame Game, but he at least gets that I REFUSE TO PLAY THAT OR ENGAGE AS A SPECTATOR and as long as he remembers that we'll be okay.

*   I got some troubling news at work (Job #1) having to do with our location maintaining its franchise status (or possibly, uh, not)...this could result in some employment upheaval toward the end of the year, and well, SHIT.

*   Our innernet is working! This post is not Sent From The Precious! The innernet here has been up and down for months, and was totally down for three days then just now started working. Probably because another technician is coming out tomorrow. But hey, INNERNET! I'm going to go and make sweet, sweet love to the connection while it lasts.

things from around the facespace

   SO! I am off work today, and had a hideous migraine, and took a TON of meds for it, several of which contained caffeine. HI! LET'S BE FRIENDS! OR POSSIBLY GO AND LIFT A CAR! WHOO! Also I found out my blog was broken, then fixed it, then played around with a bunch of settings and I don't even know anymore.

   Here are some things from the facespace!

*   This video. I heart it so much! (Yes, I know The Bloggess posted it already and you probably all read her, but you could always watch it again because awwww, baby bears!)

*   This. Wow. I already did not love the Salvation Army, because I have headaches a lot and those emm-effers with their bells don't even know that they are frequently taking their lives (or at least their colorectal integrity and the cleanliness of their bells, ahem) into their own hands by ringing that shit at me and my sensory-challenged children. BUT OMG LOOK:

*   This. Hey lookie, your favorite currently displayed blog has a facespace page now! I'll probably only beat it to death for another day or two.

 

in which a reader of this humble blog saves the day

   Y'ALL! MFA Mama reader Jessica, of Idol Analytics fame, SAVED ALL OF MY DATA FROM THE OLD LAPTOP! All of my music, all of my pictures...why, it's almost enough to make me kindly disposed toward Dell in restrospect! I mean, I had a dying old laptop with all of my data, and then I didn't have a laptop at all for a month, which sucked, but now--NOW? Now I have Das Uberlaptop, WITH all of my data on it, which beats the old dying laptop hands-down, and all it cost me was several small rage-strokes and a month of computer time. Which wasn't even that bad thanks to The Precious. So the morals of this story are 1) warranties are good to have, 2) Apple >>> Dell, and 3) everyone needs a Jessica.

   And how are all of YOU?

this is why I had it tattooed on my arm

Disclaimer: I am about to bitch about some things that are currently NOT enriching my life in any way. If that is not your cup of tea, you might want to skip this post.

*   Dell e-mailed me; most of my laptop is a lost cause. I don't quit understand how the LCD, keyboard, motherboard, hard drive, and one other thing that I am forgetting, I think, could ALL be dead; the technician swears the box was not crushed or otherwise damaged in shipping but I just...REALLY? All of the data is lost, including all pictures from the past two years. Yes, I know, I should've backed it up. Dammit.

*   Oh, right, that's the other thing: the battery, which is the only part of the computer NOT covered by the warranty. I already knew the battery needed replacing, but now that my computer is old enough that replacement parts aren't even available through Dell's website, they pretty much said that unless I bought it through them I would waive the remainder of my warranty. So that's $160 I didn't want or need to spend. BALLS!

*   Remember when I said my neck was acting up? Well, it's still doing that. It's not any worse, so I'm thinking it's some type of subluxation/pinched nerve/stress thing/chakra being thrown out of whack by the dental work on the same side (kidding on the last one, mostly). I dunno. It's not bad enough that I feel like putting my brand-new insurance through its' paces to see a doctor, given that that costs money, I already know what PT exercises to do for a borked neck, and I already have narcotics on hand should I decide the situation warrants them. Other than that I'm treating it with "tincture of time." Most aches and pains not associated with trauma (and even a lot of the ones that are) respond well to that treatment. Sucks, though.

*   I dropped a mandolin, of the large, industrial steel kitchen variety, not the musical sort, next to my right foot at work yesterday, and it clipped the point of my anklebone with enough force on the way down that it bled a bit despite layers of sock and pants covering it and is still really sore. Whomp whomp whomp...

*   So yeah, oder gor oder gornit. Everything or nothing is constantly wrong, and today it looks more like everything, despite happy marriage, thriving children, gainful employment (and even sidework where I am encouraged to make free use of the innernet, hence this post, formatted, with a link, even), private health insurance, clean drinking water, a full stomach, and a warm, safe place to sleep (with a seemingly totally healthy dog at the foot of the bed to put my cold feet on). I'm an asshole, and an ungrateful one to boot.

*   I am quite certain this is COMPLETELY UNRELATED to any of the above, but I got the PMS Buddy e-mail of doooooom last night (PMS Buddy is what I use to track my Monthly Time Of Furious Unhappiness, as without a uterus there is no forensic evidence to go by). Men, children, animals, co-workers, and readers are advised to take cover for the next forty-eight hours and avoid eye contact, as I may interpret that as a challenge.

*   I had given myself a pep-talk about avoiding excessive sodium in light of the last item, but said fuck it and had a giant dill pickle from Jimmy John's at lunch. It was delicious. I plan to drink water and swell up like a tick later. Good times!

*   How are all of YOU?

an administrative note for those of you with mobile devices

   My dear friend Aurelia, who often reads from her Blackberry, pointed out that MFA Mama was not very easy to read that way. Something about the text column getting really narrow? I don't know, if she'd just get an iPhone she wouldn't have that problem, because along with every OTHER way they're superior to Blackberries* they're MUCH EASIER to browse the web with, but not everyone is a) rich** and b) discerning enough to have an iPhone and I like to include everyone whenever possible.

   Know who doesn't always think that way? TYPEPAD. It turns out there's no easy way to set your Typepad blog to display in mobile format when viewed from a mobile device, although you CAN accomplish that by adding /.m to any Typepad URL. Entering URLs is a pain in the butt on Blackberries too though, not to mention that /.m is hard to remember, so I've put up a link at the wayyyy top of the right sidebar where you can click to view MFA Mama in mobile format. I hope that makes it easier on those of y'all who like to read from your mobile devices of ALL kinds! xox

 

 

*   I'm not sneering at anyone who is without an iPhone either by misguided choice or out of fiscal necessity, y'all, I promise. That's mostly just smacktalk for Aurelia's benefit, because she's Team Blackberry and I'm Team iPhone :)
**   Yes, I know, I have an iPhone and am far from rich, as someone has already pointed out in the comments. So, you know, replace "rich" with "impulsive" if you like, or whatever. 

Monday lunch-hour kvetching (EDITED)

*   I wore a dress to work today, and managed to get runs in both legs of my pantyhose before 9 a.m. Clearly I fail businesswear. *. I kind of hate Typepad's mobile site. It screws the spacing up every time I use it and won't let me choose more than one category. So this post will look like shit until I can fix it from my laptop at home.

*   It's Monday, OMG! I work seven days a week when I can get the hours, and spent Saturday and Sunday both at Weekend Warrior Job, so I find all the OMG Monday-ing on everyone's part to be just a little precious. But because I'm a receptionist during the week, I have to make sympathetic noises to over a thousand employees and visitors here at PseudoCorp when they point out that it's OMG Monday and sounds of agreement over the need for more coffee in everyone's life.

*   I do very much like PseudoCorp as an entity, and everyone here seems very nice, but running the front desk here must be what it's like to be an air traffic controller. In between all of the good-morninging and OMG-Mondaying I have to check visitors and contractors in, answer several lines at once, accept small deliveries for everyone who forgot their lunch or their phone at home, call people taxis, take delivery of their rental cars, coordinate with security and the visitor center on meetings and their guest lists, and smile the whole goddamn time.

*   I don't love corporate culture.

*   I might have a new stress fracture despite all my precautions (I'm hoping I'm wrong and it's just...I don't know, something ELSE), and if it's any worse after tonight's run it'll be walking only for a month or so. And god dammit, I LIKE running! I hate my stupid defective collagen. * PseudoCorp is making me take an hour lunch, and I hate that. I can't exactly go for a walk in my dress and heels, and would much rather take a much shorter lunch, but oh well.

*   Last night I dreamed that CATHERINE's mother was asking me if I thought her daughter was in any danger from the XY, and whether she ought to try and stop the wedding. It was a very uncomfortable conversation. Since I have no idea what CATHERINE! or her mother look like, the part of CATHERINE's mother was played in the dream by the woman the XY cheated on me with in 2006. FUN!

*   I fixed this post, obviously, since it no longer looks like one big block of shit. Now it's bullet-points of shit with proper spacing. You're WELCOME!

well, yesterday sucked

*   I dropped Hotter in front of Local Teaching Hospital and circled around to find meter parking, because I hate the hospital valets. $5? SCREW YOU.

*   I got a $20 parking ticket, though, so I guess I didn't actually save any money. DAMMIT.

*   And it looks like someone rammed the back end of the MFA Minivan while it was street parked, and now the rear hatch doesn't open. Which since I don't currently have car insurance is now just going to be part of life. Fuuuuuck.

*   Hotter got two vaccines at his appointment (flu and pneumonia), and they were both killed virus shots so I don't think he's CAUGHT flu or pneumonia or anything, but he did get super-cranky, start shivering violently, spike a fever, and pretty much look like death when we got home. Whaaaaat?

*   Plus the creepy repairman? Pronounced our water heater to be an "odd size" and had to order the new one, which means that we still have an ongoing leak in the house and no hot water. SERIOUSLY?!?

*   I'm expecting Creepy Repairman back any moment with the new water heater, or rather he said to expect him back between nine and ten. I? Am not holding my breath.

*   In light of current world events and even current HOUSEhold events this is a very minor little first-world problem, but I upgraded to iOS 5 on The Precious and I don't love it. I got rid of that stupid little Newstand thing with The Coding Massacre's hack, but am unreasonably upset about Apple changing the little orange iPod icon to an orange box with a stupid music note inside it. I LIKED MY MOTHERFUCKING LITTLE ORANGE IPOD ICON, APPLE, AND THIS WILL NOT STAND. Oh, wait, I'm stuck with it? Well, I guess it WILL stand but I will NOT like it!

*   How are all of YOU?