Oops

Regarding item #1 in my last post, I am no longer mad at the tech guy at work. I found out a little while ago that he is being laid off. He just found out yesterday. The poor bastard. Him and about nine secretaries and administrative assistants in our front office. Things are starting to get scary around here. First the offering of early retirements to our warehouse workers, now this. If they decide to trim back on supervisors I would probably be one of the first to go based on my salary and seniority. I hate to even think about it. I'd lose my house for one thing, because I'd never find a job that pays what this one does. Period. Not now, anyway. I could just see me moving back to Ohio at 50 to live with my folks. Right. Well enough of that.

I've transferred my anger on from the tech guy to one of my cohorts. How can I easily explain this? At the beginning of the shift he borrows one of my workers "just until lunch" to work Fed Ex shipments. Being a team player, I agree. After lunch the employee doesn't come back. My cohort decided that he needed the employee for something else so he just kept him. Oh no you don't. I took the employee back. My cohort asked if I really needed the employee or if I was just trying to make a point. I answered "both". So now he's mad at me. I'll live, and if he doesn't get over it, I'll still live.

That is all. I'm out. Good night.

Friday By The Numbers

1. I'm so pissed right now at our IT guy. I told him at 3:30 that I was having major problems and he said he would come to see me in a bit. Well he left at 5:00 and didn't see me. I have no access to Word, Excel, Access or our mainframes- everything I need to do my job.
2. I'm looking forward to Superbowl Sunday. Go Cardinals!!
3. We are supposed to get another snow from what I hear. I know that my family in Ohio just got dumped on, so we could be next. We seem to get their weather a day or two after them.
4. My great-niece is crawling around now. The thing that attracts her attention the most is the dog's food and water dishes. Wonderful.
5. My daughter has been away from home for fifteen years now, and she still has all of her mail sent to the house. Then she rags on me if I forget to bring it to her on Sundays. It's annoying. My son does the same thing. I keep telling them to do a change of address but it's to no avail.
6. I can hear what sounds like someone shooting a gun outside. A lot. Not a good thing.
7. Work is somewhat slow tonight. You all know how I hate it when work is slow on Friday nights. It makes the time just drag and drag.
8. I'm glad that I have Monday off. Other than taking my car in for service, I plan on sleeping in and generally being lazy.
9. Everyone have a great weekend. Enjoy.

Of A Death

Like I said in my last post, it is bleak:

Of A Death

I hardly knew you, yet a vision arises:

The boney fingers of your velvet death lie still,
clutch at the air beside the dank waters.
A muse mourns and wails on nearby
hillside for the love’s life lost.
The moss grows thick over closed eyes
that face towards the sky, clouds suspended,
unseen. It interweaves in tangles of auburn hair.
Lungs blackened, now just empty cavern cavities,
hold no breath, move neither up nor down.
Spine and pelvis, a crooked shovel, begin
to crumble, broken bits of humanity eroded.
Lips, blue and waxy are parted, doorway
into a life no longer there. The wild ivy vines
wrapping tendrils around emaciated legs
will soon cover the entire body,
drag it down into the humus
from which all things come,
and to which all things return.

As you lie, the clock plays its drum beat,
lumbering and laborious into eternity’s fire.
Pan plays his pipes, a wicked melody to the rhythm
as the dark ones smile on from behind
and inside the wisps of blue-gray smoke
that hang pendulous in the air and spread
like a caustic fog. You have smoked your last.

Good bye, and good night.

Another Day Off And Stuff

Well, I had a whole long post writen out in my head a little bit ago, and then got distracted by something here at work. When I turned back to the computer, the post was completely out of my head. Has this ever happened to you? It's distrubing.

I slept very well last night and the RLS did not beat me up much. In fact, I woke up barely in time to get ready for work. I hate when I do that. It's not as cold today although there is still snow on the ground. There is actually a bit of daylight left right now at 5:15 PM, which is good to see. Work is moderately busy tonight, and this afternoon I got hammered with "to dos", in our safety committee meeting, for which I am the chairman.

I had almost forgotten until late this afternoon that I took Monday off because of the Superbowl. So I made an appointment to take my car in for service that afternoon just to get it out of the way. A couple of months ago a friend from work invited me to her house for a Superbowl party. She has yet to say anything more about it since then. I know that her family has been having a very had time financially lately. Her husband is a new car salesman. I'm thinking that they may not be able to afford to entertain at this point, so I don't want to say anything to her about it. I may end up making other last minute plans for the game. I know that my son and my daughter's boyfriend still plan on watching.

I've been working on a rather bleak poem about the aunt of mine that died, whom I posted about yesterday. I may share it later. She died of lung cancer. She was another life-long smoker. She actually ended up in the hospital because she fell asleep while smoking and set herself on fire. She was apparently burned badly, and her lungs could not handle the overall bodily stress. So this poem is about her and it is also another about smoking. I have written many of those.

Well, it's apparent from the activities going on around me here right now that I need to do some babysitting. I truly hate that. More later.

Snow And "Visions"

Well, it started snowing pretty heavy on my way home last night. The roads most of the way home were alright. They had been salted pretty good. That was, until I got into Burlington County. As per the usual, nothing had been done to the roads in my home county, and they were slippery. The traffic was moving at about 35 MPH on the freeway. It took me a little over an hour and a half to get home.

The RLS kicked in big time last night about 3:30 AM. It has been pretty calm lately. Despite taking a half a sleeping pill before I went to bed, it woke me right up. After thrashing around in bed for a half an hour I got up and sat on the couch with a blanket in front of the television- CNN. I fell asleep sitting up pretty quickly and didn't wake up until around 10:00. I got up, got dressed, and went out to shovel the snow off the walks. It was foggy outside and drizzling. The snow was all slushy and heavy. I got it done though, and went back in and got a shower and dressed for work. I sat back down in front of the TV and fell asleep again. This time I woke up in time to leave for work at 1:00.

I think that tonight I'll take a whole sleeping pill, just to make sure that I don't have a repeat of last night. The involuntary leg movements and not being able to sleep are almost unbearable on nights like last night.

Work is somewhat busy today. I had a "career visions" meeting with my boss this afternoon. The topic of such a meeting is what I want to do with my career in the future, what my strengths and "improvement items" (read "weaknesses") are, and what needs to be done to help me improve and meet my goals. I take these meetings with a grain of salt. They have been having some form of these things every year that I have been here, and it's always the same: I'm doing great. I'm a big asset to the company. I'm very promotable. Yet, somehow, it never happens, and there is a different reason why every time I put in for a promotion and don't get it. I usually play along in these meetings like the good soldier, but this time I told my boss, who is relatively new to the company, just what I have said here. He didn't have much to say back about it. I'm not really concerned. I'm glad to have a good job to go to at this point, honestly.

Not Yet

Well, so far, no snow. Not one single flake. Maybe the weather guys were bluffing. Or don't know what they are talking about. It is getting colder out, though. I have this funny feeling like my ride in to work tomorrow could be a mess. I sure hope not.

I'm still at work for the moment, cleaning up the evening's mess. It's been a pretty hectic night. I'll be out of here as soon as I complete a couple more small tasks.

Everyone have a good night.

I Knew It

Well, the front offices had their big meetings today, and we had one, too. Those of us over 55 with more than ten years of service are being offered early retirement packages. They want to cut heads through synthetic attrition, as I call it. That does not include me. I couldn't now anyway. Also, there will be some restructuring. Some jobs will be moved or consolidated, some will go away. About 100 jobs in sales and marketing will go away, we were told. 100 out of a company of about 2,500 or so. It could have been a lot worse.

It has not started snowing out yet. In fact the skies are half-clear right now. It is still plenty cold, though, and the air feels damp. I have a feeling things will change in the next few hours.

This morning I got up early and went to see my psychiatrist. I still have to stick to all of my meds. He did put me on a cheaper version of one of the meds though, so that helps. He had a general lack of appreciation for my Ohio State ball cap. He went to the University Of Michigan. I had forgotten about that. Oh, well, he was light-spirited about it. After my appointment I went to the gym and worked out for an hour. I came home after that and promptly fell asleep on the couch until almost time to leave for work. I have a feeling that I will sleep very well tonight.

In the next few days I have to have a talk with my ex about something and I'm not looking forward to it. Nice, maybe too nice, guy that I am, I get her her lease car for her through my company because it's a great rate and the insurance is included. The payments are deducted from my paycheck each month- I get paid monthly. We had an agreement that she would pay me back half of the cost every two weeks. Well, she paid me nothing in December and has yet to pay me anything this month, which is almost over. At this point she owes me about $800 for the vehicle lease. In spite of what she may think my circumstances are, I need that money. I have bills to pay and so on. That should be a happy little chat when it happens, which will be sometime this week yet.

An aunt of mine died over the weekend. I had not seen her in probably over 30 years. Although a nice person, she was never really close to the family. I think that maybe she distanced herself because of my uncle, who was an alchoholic and a schizophrenic. They divorced when I was very young. He was my mother's brother, so this was an aunt by marraige. I remember very little about her. It's a shame when things happen that way. I only have one aunt (blood) left now, and she lives somewhat of a hermit's existance somewhere out in Arizona. I haven't seen here since I was probably six or seven years old. I don't even remember what she looks like. All I know about her is her name and where she lives. Sad, isn't it?

Well, I don't want to end this post on an unhappy note, so I'll say that I am starting to plan a trip t go home to visit the family sometime in February or March. I haven't been home since July. Now is the time to go while gas is still reasonable. I can't wait. I'm thinking that I will surprise my parents this time and only tell my siblings that I'm coming. I can hardly wait.

More Drek

Well, I learned something about Blogger today. I forgot to title my last post so the title defaulted to the first sentence and a half or so. The title is now, "This weekend was nice and easy, sort of. Friday du...". Nice.

It is still plenty cold outside but for some reason it doesn't feel quite so unbareble tonight. Maybe it's the lack of humidity. That probably has something to do with it. The weather forecasters are talking snow for us for tomorrow afternoon and evening. That should make for a fun ride home tomorrow night. And I just got the road salt (and puke) washed off of my car, too.

Early tomorrow morning I have an appointment with my psychiatrist. I'm going to talk to him again about the possibility of getting me off of some of these expensive meds, or at least getting me into some more generics. Between the meds for my bipolar, blood pressure and diabetes I'm spending about $160 a month on meds, and that's with decent insurance. Awful, isn't it? I don't know how people worse off than I am manage. The brand names cost me $30 a piece and the generics cost me $10. That's some difference.

Well, that's it for me for tonight. Everyone have a great evening.

This weekend was nice and easy, sort of. Friday during the day I slept in, and went to get some much needed groceries. I went to the gym, then napped on the couch in front of the TV. Friday night's poetry reading was good. We had what I felt was a decent turn out (every seat was taken), and everyone read well. Our featured reader, Nzadi Keita was especially good. The after party was good as well. I was starving by then. I ate a nice big helping of chicken fingers and cheese fries, washed down with a couple of beers.

Saturday was a different story. I woke up sick again and spent most of the day in bed sweating or throwing up. I wonder now if it wasn't food poisoning, as this happened to me after the last after party. We ate at the same place. So Saturday was a wash out except for the time spent sleeping.

Sunday I woke up in the very late morning, feeling okay. I cleaned the house, then went to have dinner with the kids. Dinner was good- chicken parm on spaghetti. Everyone was talking Superbowl plans, or rather, non-Superbowl plans. It seems that almost no one is going to watch since the Eagles aren't in it. I plan on watching at a friend's house and not going to work the next day. I'll be rooting for the Cardinals. I always like the underdogs.

Today is very busy at work, and it looks like the next two weeks will be very busy. Tomorrow is the big meeting up in the front offices, the topic of which is still a secret. I did find out today that it doesn't pertain to us in the distribution center, though, so that's a relief of sorts.

Well, back to work. More later.

Good Night

Well, it's been a long night here at "work". Week end review: By tomorrow I will have spent three nights at home, and two nights playing on the net. I will have been paid for this, at about the rate of $33 an hour, plus benefits. Life is good. Heh. The next two weeks look to be very busy around here based on the forecasts, though. I really am glad for that. You all know how I hate it when it's slow at work.

Tomorrow starts the weekend for me, and other than the poetry reading and dinner with the kids on Sunday, I have no plans. I should recaulk the bath tub. I should fold the three baskets of laundry that are waiting for me in the laundry room. I should catch up with Billy Boy out in San Diego and see what trouble he's up to lately, and find out when he's coming back. I should hit the gym a couple of times. I should go buy groceries. We'll see how much I actually get done. I could see me getting really lazy. The couch and a comforter is always so cozy when it's cold out. And there is always good stuff on the Discovery Channel and TCM.

Good night, all. Have a great weekend. See you on Monday.

Fishing For The Right Words

I like to imagine that my idols will stare at a blank screen
the same way I do, just waiting for the words to come:
Collins, eyes glues to the screen, Kooser, eyes glued
to the screen, Komunyakaa, eyes, glued, Wright, eyes glued
as he runs his hands through his thin hair.

It’s a lot like fishing. You have your tools, your instruments,
your tackle. You throw a line in the water and wait for a solid tug
at the other end. You stare at the bobber, watch intently
for any sign of movement. It’s a slow, slow process
that may or may not yield in the end.

Some can smoke and drink while doing this. Others can eat
sandwiches and chips or even carry on conversations or listen
to the radio while they wait for that bite, but not me. I sit quietly
and stare at the water, holding the rod upright. Just like I imagine
all the greats did, except for maybe a couple of people.

At the end of the day, sometimes I go home with a great catch
in my creel, sometimes with nothing but an old suckerfish or eel.
Sometimes I go with nothing at all, my landing net loose and dry.
But I know I’m not the only one who has to occasionally
and boisterously tell a whopper to the boys later on at the bar.

Night Two

So, here I am at night two of "Nothing At All To Do At Work". I started at 2:00 PM today and right now, at 4:30, all of my paperwork is done. I have nothing else to do. And they are paying me to do it. I won't complain. It's just going to be a very long night.

I had almost completely forgotten that I have a vacation day tomorrow because my poetry group has a reading tomorrow night. That get's me out of this trap for then. I have not yet decided what I will be reading. I hope that we have a much better turn out than we did last time. Now that the holidays are over we should.

I slept in a bit this morning, when to the pharmacy, and went to the car wash to get all of the puke cleaned off. A little air freshener, and it is liveable in there now. I'm feeling better today than I did yesterday, although my stomach is a bit queasy right now and my throat is very flemy. Say, what's green and ice skates? Peggy Flem. Heh, heh.

One of my managers keeps slipping in and out the back door this afternoon. He is sneeking a lot of smokes, I suspect. Speaking of which, there is still no word on when our big boss will be replaced or who the replacement will be. I'm thinking that they will wait until the end of March when our fiscal year turns over. There are a number of prospects that I could live with, and one or two that I would dread. We can only hope and wait.

There is supposed to be a big meeting on some currently secret topic on this coming Tuesday. I suspect one of two things: 1) the company will announce that no raises will be given this year, or 2)the company will be offering a number of early retirement packages to certain senior employees in an attempt to cull the herd. Or it could be both. I know I'm not taking a retirement now. I can't afford to do that right now.

Well, I'll post more later. I'm off to read some journals and visit Facebook for a while.

Back From The Dead

Well, I hope that no one thought I dropped off the face of the earth. I have been at home sick for the past two days- not just feeling lousy, but full blown sick. I could have handled the attack of the throat flem at night, the dry coughing fits, even the throwing up, but it was the fever that really got to me. Except for the fact that I puked inside my car on the way to work this afternoon, I'm fine now and over it, ready to put it into the past.

My weekend was great. I had fun at the home of Lubie and family on Saturday afternoon and evening. She and I have the same tastes in music which was good to find, and her family is very nice. She also loves the drums. Cool. They have a very nice home, the kind in which you feel immediately comfortable. I like that. And visiting with DeleteMe was fun as usual. We get along well. We all had a good time, especially drinking and playing a game called Dirty Minds.

Sunday I slept in until about 1:00, and didn't do much except hang around the house and watch football until time to go to dinner at Beni Hana's. Sorry if I offend anyone, but I'm not an Eagles fan. I am glad they lost to the Cardinals. My son, daughter and her boyfriend were a bit upset with me for feeling that way. They'll get over it. It's just football. Anyway, dinner was excellent and we all had a decent evening, even with six of us crammed into the ex's Rogue for the half-hour trip there and back.

Tonight there is no work, and there will probably be none for the next two days. Apparently there has been very little the last two days. There is a good reason. Every year the Japanese take a week off in December for some holiday, and since shipments take about 26 days to get across the ocean to us, plus five days on the rails across the US, the effects of their shut down hits us a month later. So this must be it. All of my people are off working in other departments. The next two days many of them will even be working on a different shift. I will be here, at night, doing whatever there is for me to do and getting paid.

Well, back to the paperwork I'm trying to catch up on...

Dragging...

This evening is dragging like an iron anchor on a muddy bottom. People have been leaving this place early in swarms all night. There are now exactly three people left here with me- in a 285,000 square foot warehouse. The silence is deafening, and I have to stay here until 11:30.


It looks like tomorrow I will be going to south central PA to visit Delete Me, aka SWG, and The Lube Faerie and family. A little road trip across the turnpike sounds like a good idea to me. At least I have a vehicle now that can make that ride without burning up a whole tank of gas. I'd better get my beauty rest tonight- if I can in this horrible cold.

On Sunday evening I am going with the kids and the ex to my very favorite restaurant, Beni Hana's. I will be going for the Hibachi Shrimp dinner with fried rice, and maybe a mai tai or two. Man, I love that place. There is nothing else like it. Except for maybe Penang in Philly's Chinatown.

And then there is this, newly finished by me tonight:

Shaving The Face

I don’t like shaving.
It’s not the first thing I would prefer
to do in the very early morning.
I don’t like that six hours after doing it
I’m all stubbly again.
I don’t like the ritual or the tools:
The surgical razor, the steamy mirror,
the cold can of foaming goop,
the soapy water in the scum-lined sink.
I don’t like the dripping down
the front of my undershirt.

When I was very young
and looked up to my father,
I couldn’t wait for the day that I
got to shave my face.
He lathered up with a brush
(badger’s hair) and a mug
of special shaving soap. Cool.
Once you have to do it every day
you won’t think it’s so cool,
he used to admonish me.
Damn him, he was right enough.

Since then I have joined the weary,
the tortured, the predisposed,
the world-wide army of men who partake
in this daily chore.
And daily we stand at this alter of Schick
with our styptic pencils held high
and pray for no cuts, scrapes or nicks.
It’s part of what makes us
the manly men that we are.

So, there you have it. I hope that everyone has a great evening and a wonderful weekend. Enjoy, Okay?

All Kinds Of Stuff

Grab a cup of coffee or some hot chocolate and settle in for a nice long post. There is no work tonight, all of my employees are off working in other departments, and I have little to do, and a few things to talk about.

First of all, it is frickin' freezing outside. It doesn't do much for my throat, which is teatering on the edge of being okay and not being okay. I'm not coughing much, but am still sneezing regularly- snotty sneezes. Eeewww. At least there is no chest congestion or aches to deal with at this point. I'm more than ready for normal Jersey winter weather again- rainy and low 40s.

I got tagged on Facebook with one of those things where you list twenty five facts about yourself then tag twenty five other people. I'll do it, but I don't think I know that many people on there yet. I'll have to think of some interesting facts. I'm sure there are a few, like when I went to Japan. How many people have made that trip that you know of? It was a great two weeks, other than the fourteen hour non-stop plane ride. I love it there. What's really interesting to me about Japan is that they are very limited on living space, real estate is at such a premium, so they all live in these tiny houses or apartments. Living in such quarters, they don't have room to accumulate all of the posessions and junk like we do. So, what do they spend their money on? Eating out, going drinking, socializing and taking trips. These people lead great, very busy social lives, nothing like we do here. Well, more on that another time.

Another great story about my grandfather: When I was little, like second grade, my grandfather lived with us for a while. He was divorced from my grandmother at this point, and was a man about town. One Saturday my mom went out shopping. Grandpa had some girly stripper movies that he wanted my father to see. They wanted to get this done before my mom got home because he knew she would flip. It was raining outside and grandpa was, in his rush, carrying from his car the film projector, screen and canisters of films all at once. He slipped on a step on the front porch, and down he went. He ended up taking a trip to the hospital in an ambulance. He broke his leg in three places.

When he came home he was in a cast from foot to hip. He was on crutches and could not sit down or get up on his own. He was home on the couch all day. My father would help him go to the bathroom before he left for work and when he came home in the evening. He was a big guy, just too big for my mother to handle. So, my father would come home from work and grandpa would be waiting to go. "Thank God you're here Don", he would say, "I've been about ready to pee my pants for an hour." My father would look at him and say, "Well if you have to go John, just get up and go.", and then he would walk off into the kitchen, leaving my grandfather sitting there cussing him out. My father would eventually take him, but not until grandpa had used up every swear in the book.

Us kids got in on the action, too. We learned quickly how far grandpa could reach with a crutch while sitting down. We would stand just far enough away that he could not reach us and make faces at him and call him a silly old fart. Or we would wait until he was absorbed in a TV show, then we would coume along and change the channel on him, knowing that there was nothing he could do about it. Of course, having his own sense of humor, my father encouraged this behavior on our part. This all went on every day for the eight weeks that my grandfather had the cast on, and we never let him live down how he came to get the cast in the first place.

Well, that's it for now. I'll post some more later on this evening.

Night Cap

I'm feeling a bit better than I was earlier this evening, although I have been sneezing a bunch. Of course, that could always be from all the cardboard dust in this place. This place is terribly dusty even though we clean and run a floor scrubber daily.

I'm working on a poem tonight about shaving. I hate shaving. I remember when I was a tween, watching my father and wishing I could shave. "Once you have to do it every day you won't think it's so cool", he used to tell me. He was right, of course. Sometimes I don't shave all weekend if I have nothing particular going on.

It's still cold as hell out tonight, but right now it seems like it was colder earlier in the evening. It's colder than a witch's tit in a brass bra, as my grandfather used to say. He was some character. I think I got a lot of my sense of humor from him. He was a very funny guy. One of his biggest thrills was teaching us kids nursery ryhmes wrong and teaching us to sing popular songs with the wrong words. He liked giving us sips of beer too, only because it made my mother mad. He loved doing things to get under her skin, like putting his cigarette butts out in his plate, which drove her up the wall. She got so tired of that trick that one night she served him his dinner on one of those big coffee table sized ash trays. He only had a third grade education but he was a voracious reader, worked several crossword puzzles a day, was killer at Scrabble, and taught himself to play the organ. He was a great, warbling whistler, too, which I think is a lost art form nowadays. Yeah, I looked up to him in a big way. Always will.

Well, almost time to go home. I hate getting into that cold car at the end of the night, and I don't have the patience to wait while it warms up. Besides, that wastes gas, even in my little car. Good night everyone.

Still Ill, Will

I'm still battling the throat illness today. I woke up with it feeling pretty sore. I also woke up to snow on the ground, although it was only about an inch. That's more than enough.

I heard last night that there have been major changes at the Dodge Foundation and that there may not be a Dodge Poetry Festival held next year (it's held once every two years) because of the changes. I'm sad for that, but also very glad that I went this past year. It was great to see all of those big name poets read and give talks. Something like the last ten Poet Laureates attended and participated. It was great. And now it may be no more.

I'm glad that the weekend is almost here. Unfortunately this deep cold is supposed to stay with us now through the weekend. Brrr.

Well I'd better run. Someone from IT is coming right now to re-image my computer. More later, I promise...

Ouch. Very Ouch, Baby

So I didn't take any zinc, vitamin C or colloidal silver this morning because I was feeling better since yesterday, and now my throat is starting to hurt again. I know it's partially this damned weather. The air is so cold and damp feeling. That can't be helping.

It's been a very quiet evening at work. I've spent a fair amount of time here and on Facebook. I plan on getting home on time tonight and getting right to bed. I want to get up early tomorrow and hit the gym for a workout. I also want to bathe Bosco if there is time. He needs it, the little chipper. I'd post a photo of him here, but JS ate all the digital dog photos I had. They were all posted and saved there. I haven't yet been able to replace my digital camera. Remember, it and my phone took an accidental dunk in Lake Erie with me in June when I fell off the boat on vacation. I've replaced the phone but not the camera. Little money and other priorities, you know.

I'm off to read more jourmnals now. Everyone have a good night.

Yay Wednesday

I'm glad this week is moving right along. I can't wait for the weekend. The weekend is open. No plans except for dinner with the kids and the ex on Sunday night. I like weekends like that. I'll just take things as they come. The house is staying pretty clean, too, so I'll only have to tidy up a little bit.

It is getting very cold out right now. By tomorrow it's supposed to be in single digits or something ridiculous like that. There is a nice hard, crusty ice layer on the snow around here now. Man, I hate cold weather.

Work is kind of slow tonight. We may be sending a bunch of people home early tonight. A few have already been asking about it.

There is lots of high drama at work right now. Employee A was sleeping around with employee B until he (A) found out that she (B) was living with someone. He went on a drunken rampage, slashed all of her tires, busted in her windshield and smashed out her headlights and tail lights. Then he threatened her with physical violence. He got arrested for all this. Not knowing how to leave well enough alone, he came back to work and started threatening her, trying to make her quit her job. She went to HR about it all. Now HR is investigating the whole thing and both emloyees are home on "administrative leave" pending the results of the investigation. She now has a restraining order on him, as well. Ah, how the worm turns. This is why people say not to get involved with coworkers. Yeah.

I see that some people are trying out the new JS. I really hope that they don't abandon Blogger. As I said last night, I'm liking it here and happy for the people that have come over here from JS. I don't want to lose touch with people again.

Well, back to the salt mines...

The New Journalspace

I heard around Blogger tonight that there is a new JS. I've not gone there. I really don't want to pull up stakes and set up shop again. Besides, I'm busy enough between this, Dorrie's Fun Forum, Facebook and hotmail. I'm staying here. I like it here. I sincerely hope that everyone of my followers stay here, too. To quote Ozzy Osbourne, I love you all. Good night.

Misc. Tuesday Debris

I got up this morning to find that something is wrong with either my blood sugar testing machine or the test strips themselves, becase I got nothing but error readings this morning. I don't like not knowing what my levels are. I have to call the machine manufacturer's hotline tonight to find out what is going on and what to do about it. I already talked to my pharmacist about this and she was no help at all.

Well, I am feeling quite a bit better today than I did yesterday, especially after working out at the gym this morning. I actually got a few things done this morning. Besides the gym, I did some shopping, went to the pharmacy and did some laundry. All thrilling stuff, I know. Such is my daily life through the week.

There is no work in my department today, so everyone is working in the other department that I am watching. My lead man and I are working on a special project. We are scraping old bar code labels off of push carts, cleaning the carts, then applying new labels to them. It's pure drudgery, but it's something constructive to do. I can't see me hanging with it all night, though. My attention span isn't quite that long and I do have a few other things to do.

It is supposed to get much colder over the next couple of days. I'm not happy about that but obviously there is nothing to be done about it except put up with it and wish for the spring. At least we aren't getting any snow with the cold. I'm having a nice hot bowl of New England clam chowder for dinner. That should warm me up a bit.

Well, more later.

Cracking Wise

I've been slowly working on a manuscript for a poetry chapbook that I want to get published in the spring. So far I have 14 pages out of what will probably be 25 to 30 pages, not including bio page, art work and all that stuff. I think I'm going to title it Big Time. That's my pat response to a lot of things in conversation- "Did Joe get embarassed when she slapped him?", "Yeah, big time." - like that. I'm thinking about using photos of some of my awful paintings for art work in the book. I'd also like to include a spoken word CD of all the poems in the book as a bonus. I'd love to do a small (11X17) poster for the book based on the cover art, too, but that's just a pipe dream that I probably can't afford. Still, it's nice to have a goal.

On Facebook this evening, R commented that she "is the proud new owner of a vintage Royal Quiet De Luxe." I asked her if that was a vibrator. I know damn well that it's a typewriter. I can be such a smart ass at times when you get to know me really well. heh.

Well, I'm feeling a little better as the night has gone on. It will be real interesting to see how I feel tomorrow morning. Usually when I get sick, if I get worse, I will get worse over night and not during the day. I've been popping Hall's all night, so my throat is feeling a bit better, actually.

Well, almost time to leave work for the evening. Good night one and all.

The Illness Cometh

I'm afraid that I am getting sick. I woke up in the middle of the night with a somewhat swollen, slightly sore throat and keep having that feeling like I might puke in the near future. I am downing the zinc tablets and colloidal silver to dry to beat this thing before it can really take hold of me. This is not a good week for me to get sick. My partner supervisor is on vacation this week, so I'm running two departments.

The weekend was good. For once I spread the house cleaning duties over both days. It seemed like less work that way, so I may do it like that from now on. Saturday night I went to a taco party at R's house, and had a good time. The food was good and the company was great, as it always is at R's place. Sunday night was the editorial meeting with the poetry group. We are finally done reading submissions. Hooray for that. It's a double-edged sword- It's a lot of work but I do enjoy it.

The rest of the weekend was napping and watching old movies on TCM. One of particular interest that I watched was Harold And Maude, which I had not seen before. It was king of bizarre, but I liked it. It is about a rich, very young man and a bohemian, much older lady who become friends and fall in love. She dies in the end. I took down the tree and Christmas decorations while watching movies. That is always a melancholy time for me.

I talked to Billy Boy over the weekend. He will still be in California for a couple of weeks yet. He is doing well, and is enjoying the 70 degree weather that they are havng right now in San Diego. Damn him. We are supposed to get sub-zero temperatures in the next few days. Wonderful.

Well, I'd best get back to work for now. More later, maybe.

Lunch Of Champions

Today I feel very much
like a ham and cheese sandwich.
It’s tasty but a little sloppy-
The meat is sliced thin and hangs off the sides.
The rye seeds fall off the bread and onto the desk.
Besides the lettuce and the tomato slice,
it is as plain as the cellophane it’s wrapped in,
but it is also cool and filling.
It goes great with a soda and a bag of chips.
It could sustain you on a camping trip
or a trek through the forest.
It’s as all-American as it is average,
so be quiet now and eat.

Friday By The Numbers

1. Yes, I'm continuing to do this. I like lists. I'm a listy kind of guy. Not lusty, but listy, well yes, that too, for sure, but...well...nevermind.
2. We are supposed to get a big snow on Saturday night- about eight inches. That's big for here. It's just enough to royally screw things up on the roads. We are having wild flurries right now.
3. I have an editorial meeting this weekend for the poetry magazine. It is hopefully the last one, because I'm tired of reading the submissions, although this latest batch seems to be the most promising yet. I'm just glad that I don't have the job of sending out the rejection letters/emails. That would truly suck.
4. The employees are fighting over lockers today. The more senior people feel that they should have the larger lockers and the less senior people should have the smaller lockers. The less senior people who are currently in the large lockers think that's petty and trivial, of course. I'm glad I'm not in the middle of that mess. What next?
5. I've been singing a little made up song to myself tonight. The lyrics are simple: "I don't want to be here, I don't want to be here...".
6. Tonight my body feels like it's all full of electricity or something. It's a mildly strange sensation. Hmm.
7. My pet peeve for today: Whiny people. Being the boss you hear lots of it at times from lots of people. As my grandmother used to say, it makes me want to hit them in the mouth with a sock full of shit. See also number 4. above.
8. And finally, I hope that everyone has a great weekend. Enjoy.

That Dream

I'm missing the JS homepage as a way to track things like who is on line, but I am getting rather used to this. I'm seeing more and more JS members coming on over. There are still a couple of people I felt I was close to that have yet to show themselves either here, on Dorrie's Fun Forum or on Facebook. I can only hope.

Today a couple of people made entries about their strange dreams, so I thought I would record mine from last night. The beginning is fuzzy, but my ex came to me with something in a bloody hanky, and I easily and quickly recognized it as a piece off the end of my dog Cortez's chin. I took the piece of bloody bone and skin and went looking for him. I found him lying on his side next to the back porch by the smoker grill. I took some antiseptic and poured it on his wound. As soon as I did his head and chest burst into flames. I tried as hard as I could to quickly blow out the flames. Then I woke up, and as I did I found that I was blowing air out of my mouth very hard and fast. I was about out of breath. Very strange and disturbing, huh? I have no idea what it means and probably never will.

I am still tired, and just want to go home at this point. I am tired of dealing with people tonight, and I rarely feel that way. Well, one hour to go. Good night.

Almost...

The weekend is almost here. It can't come too soon for me. I actually have some plans for the weekend.

Man, was I ever tired after last night's overtime. I got home about 2:45 AM and went right to bed. I fell asleep immediately, and didn't wake up until noon today. That's with taking a half of a sleeping pill. If I had taken a whole one I might still be in bed. I do feel pretty sleepy today, though. I may have to get up and tool around on a forklift for a while just to stay awake. Well, at least it looks like I will not have to work overtime tonight. Hooray for that.

The list of followers of my blog is growing daily. I'm really glad to be reconnecting with so many friends from JS. I'm getting used to this site, and starting to even get a bit comfortable with navagating around on it. It's starting to feel a little homey.

Well, I'm off to read some blogs for now...

I Need A Break

When I left here last night at 1:30 AM we were getting the freezing rain that was promised. I had to spend fifteen minutes scraping it off of my car before I could leave work. I got home alright, although it took me a bit longer than usual. I slept in until about 11:30 this morning since I got home at almost 3:00. I woke up to a continuation of the rain. In fact, it's still raining right now. We'll all wash away soon.

I knew this would be a long week. So far I'm right. I'm feeling it. And work is absolutely hectic tonight. I don't know if I'm coming or going, I have so much going on all at once. It's a good thing I have my lead man to assist me or I'd be having a melt down right now. I hope things slow up as the evening progresses.

I saw that I have ten followers on here now. That makes be very happy. For some reason I really seem to need the community that these sites provide. I just like it a whole lot. I hope that I get to make more and more reconnections with people as the next week or so passes.

More later. For now, it's back to the grind.

Oh Yeah, I'm Happy

This evening has been a good one for a couple of reasons. First, the weather has stayed rainy. No snow or freezing rain as of yet. Knock on wood. Just drizzle and that kind of damp cold that cuts through your clothes.

Second, and this is the big reason, I am quickly finding old friends on here and reconnecting. That is a big lift to the spirits, really. I had been feeling lonely on line here to tell the truth. I hope that more and more friends come to find their new homes here in the coming days. So, hello to Shannon, Lori, Natalie, Bobby, Jen and King. I'm glad we are all here together!

Accomplished

Well, I feel like I got a bunch of things done before I even got to work today. I actually got up early this morning. I paid all my bills and got them in the mail. I went to the township hall and got the dogs their 2009 licenses. I got air in my car tires. I vacuumed the whole house. I did it all before even starting to get ready for work. I'm sort of proud of myself for that. The timing was right, too, as I probably have to work overtime tonight, until 1:30 AM, and so will be getting up late tomorrow. Unfortunately, too, we are supposed to get a nice mix of snow and freezing rains tonight. That combined with dropping temperatures should make for a very interesting drive home later tonight. Right now it's sprinkling. Hopefully that's all that happens. Man, I hate the winter. Come on Spring.

I just now heard the most annoying song on our PA system here at work. It was a fast-paced instrumental version of Dixie, and at the end of it a chorus sang, "Amen". Amen. I wonder what redneck is responsible for that little gem.

I rarely talk politics, but I'm going to right now. I have been noticing that, with increasing regularity, television news is talking about civilian war casualties as if it was something new. It's not new. It's a regular part of modern warfare and has been, probably ever since firearms and cannons were put into military use. The outcry seems to be somewhat one-sided, too. For example, with the current siege of Gaza by Israeli troops, a lot of press is being given about Palestinian civilian casualties. Nothing is said about the number of civilian casualties caused by Hamas sending rockets over into Israel. Not exactly fair reporting, is it? I won't belabor the issue. CNN and Fox News take note. I just wanted to point it out.

Typical Monday

Today is a typical Monday. The work is piled high. In fact, it's so busy in shipping that all of the people in my department are there helping out. Meanwhile, our work is sitting undone, which is not helping our department service objectives any. We'll just have to do the best we can the rest of the week to catch up.

The weekend was pretty nice. I took Cortez to the vet early on Saturday morning. When I got home I found that Bosco was mad at me for not taking him with me, too. I knew this because he left "turds of vengance" on the living room carpet for me to clean up. After that I took my filthy car to get it washed and ran a few other errands. I spent the rest of the day napping and watching television. In the evening I went to see the movie Slum Dog Millionare. It was a very good movie, and I recommend it highly. After I came home I watched a little more TV, then went to bed and read a book for a while before falling asleep.

On Sunday I slept in until about 1:00 PM. Then I got up and went to the gym for a workout. I was surprised by how quickly the time went. When I got home I showered and got ready to go to the ex's for dinner with her and the kids. We had a good meal mainly consisting of A1 burgers, beans, zuchini and potato salad, which I hate- I can't stomach mayo and I'm alergic to eggs. Then we played a few exciting games of Buzzword. It's a pretty fast-paced game and is a lot of fun. After I got home from there I got ready for bed and finished reading the book that I have been reading.

The book I have been reading is pretty interesting. It is old, and as far as I know has been out of print since about 1927. It is titled Archy and Mehitabel, by Don Marquis. It is a book of poetry, of sorts. The idea is this: Don Marquis is a newspaper columnist. Archy is Shakesphere, reincarnated as a cockroach. When Marquis leaves work each evening, he leaves a blank page in the typewriter, and Archy types out stories, theories and philosophy as mostly free form poetry by jumping from key to key. Obviously he cannot work the shift key, so there is no punctuation to the writings. The subject of much of Archy's writings is his close friend Mehitabel, a promiscuous, hard-luck alley cat who believes herself to have once been Cleopatra, among other grande dames. The book is illustrated by George Herriman, the creater of the old comic strip Krazy Kat. I got the book from my step-father, who aquired it in college in the early 60s. Where he got it I don't know. I suppose you might be able to find a copy on Ebay.

Well, back to work. There is plenty to do and the evening is already starting to go quickly.

The Inaugural Post

I find myself here quite by accident, and it was not an accident of mine. You see, I was blogging on Journalspace for nearly the past six years. I liked it there very much. I had about forty online friends there, some of whom I care about very much and some of whom turned into real life friends. Well, something happened to Journalspace the week before Christmas. It suffered a serious problem with its hard drives that was going to take one to two weeks to fix.

To cut a long story short, I tried to log in today and was greeted by a message that started out, "Journalspace is no more". I don't understand all of the technical computer stuff they talked about in the message. Employee sabotage was mentioned. The point was that it is not coming back in any way, shape or form. Ever.

I am so saddened by this. It isn't so much that I lost six years worth of my life chronicled and archived online- the high points, the melt downs, all of it. It really hurts me that I lost touch with all of those people. The realization that I will probably never again get to talk to or read about these people whom I had come to know so well is actually painful for me. I hate losing people. The thoughts of some of these people, especially those whom I shared personal pain with, will haunt me, I know. Out of forty people I have email adresses for two, a phone number for one, and a snail mail address for one. That's it. I can only hope that some of the remaining number of people look for and find me here. Nowhere else on the web do I use the moniker "Knifeboy".

Besides the connection to people, my journal was much-needed therapy. You see, shortly before I started journaling online I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which took me on a long slow ride to hell and back. My therapist directed me to keep a diary or journal of some sort, and I hate handwriting, so it was natural for me to go online. When I was troubled or lonely or depressed or on a manic high I would write and it helped. It always helped.

Anyway, My very close friend R advised me to come here. I'm glad that she did. I hope that in time I come to like it here as much as I did on Journalspace. I like it here already. And I hope to get to make some new connections here as well. Thank you Blogger for being there in my hour of need.