the tempest

i think i've mentioned many times that i've had the 'week from hell'.. but this last week gave the phrase a whole new meaning. when seasoned managers and grizzled mechanics say they've never had a week that bad, it does give a fresh kid like me some perspective. and the week ended just like it started, with a resounding bang. friday afternoon my boss, the Maintenance Manager handed in his keys and walked out! just like that. then i got a call from the Plant Manager saturday telling me that he needed me to step up a few notches and help him run the department now!

i know you're thinking that this is a great chance to prove myself and all that happy crap, but this is like going from cooking at home, to being an assistant chef to Bobby Flay on the Food Network for a few months, and then hearing he quit so now you are expected to run the whole shebang! i've never been one to back down from challenges, but i was already struggling to juggle multiple responsibilities and tasks, working slightly insane hours and now graduating to being thrown a few firebrands to juggle as well, with fully insane hours - i'm gonna be working 3am to 2pm now, 6 days a week!

luckily all this work is keeping me from starting to wonder about my position here in the firm, since the guy who hired me is out now, and the other Supervisor got transferred to a different department. it's pretty clear that i'm not gonna be named manager any time soon, even though i'll be doing most of the dirty work.. i just hope they remember that when annual review time comes around in a couple of months!

i'm not supposed to be scared of anything
but i don't know where i am
i wish that i could move but i'm exhausted
and nobody understands how i feel

'Changes' - Three Doors Down

great idea #129

think about this, a sleek shiny pole right in the middle of the living room in your bachelor pad. you know that no girl who ever comes to your place can resist giving it a shot! i mean, is that a brilliant idea or what?! unfortunately i cannot claim copyright on this idea..

i know Bud Light made an ad for it, but this has been every man's cream-dream for eons and eons.. ok, at least since cavemen invented the rod after they invented the wheel, looked at the rod, looked amongst themselves, then looked at their womenfolk, then looked at each other again, grinned and went "urgh urgh hehehe!"

someone even went a step further and designed a coffee table with a stripper pole built in! now isn't a useful idea! and just to show you that people have indeed utilized brain cells in the pursuit of this noble endeavor, you can actually buy a portable one!

i got one too!

seems like everyone's doing it.. so here's me playing copy-cat..

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v-day swings by

here's wishing you a Happy Valentine's Day.. if you did not receive one by email then consider yourself wished here! this would be a great place for me to throw in a valentine's day anecdote, but my memory fails me, and i have none as of now. although, i do remember giving out my first Valentine's Day card and roses.. it was way back when i was 11, to a girl in my class who i had a crush on ever since the first day of grade one! she's now happily married far far away, and was gracious enough to remind me that she was my first ever Valentine.. heh!

those in the Midwest and Eastern parts of the USA, hope you are alive and well, and that the storm hasn't caused too much damage or heartache. most people have postponed their v-day dinner plans until the weekend, especially with this being a long weekend. i look outside at the snowdrifts and think this is a very good plan. i'm glad work didn't get cancelled or else it would have meant going in on saturday instead!

o ye celebrating or commiserating an anti-valentine.. rejoice, the weather gods have heard ye'r prayers!

still here, still around

yes yes, i'm still alive. nothing new to report. no shocking news. no dastardly deeds. just a life as monotonously straight as a road through the desert, occasionally swerving gently to avoid a sand dune or general depression, but otherwise heading in the same general direction.

which reminds me.. i saw something in the news here that amused me greatly. for a country that counts itself as one of the most immoral of the lot.. this new law allowing the widespread buying of the morning-after pill without a prescription is sure gonna make it even easier to play musical beds! i mean, here infidelity is more the norm than the revelation, and the 6th Commandment takes a daily beating (6th Commandment by the Catholic Church, "thou shalt not commit adultery")..

WASHINGTON, 08/24/06 (AFP) - Women may buy the morning-after pill without a prescription — but only with proof they’re 18 or older, federal health officials decided Thursday. The Food and Drug Administration ruling culminated a contentious three-year effort to ease access to the emergency contraceptive. Girls 17 and younger still will need a doctor’s note to buy the pills, called Plan B, the FDA told manufacturer Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc.

The compromise decision is a partial victory for women’s advocacy and medical groups which say eliminating sales restrictions could cut in half the nation’s 3 million annual unplanned pregnancies. Opponents have argued that wider access could increase promiscuity.

but i guess you gotta get on top of the family planning situation, the illegitimate children and the whole alimony industry.. so this is as good a step as any. sometimes legislators do things that just make you smile, and i gotta say this is one of them.. now get out there you naughty monkeys and have yourselves some fun!