January 16, 2002

Of dubious interest.

prev home mail archive next Momentary Thought As I typed "2002" up there, I suddenly stopped to wonder how often I've been writing 2001 so far this year. Did I do it on any entries? Did I write it on any checks? Am I too lazy to go back and check? High/Low High: My raise came through after all this year! Low: AB and Mark's dog Sadie died yesterday. :( Current Obsession Ih, ya know, I'm pretty relaxed at the moment. Grin Source One of the ladies I work with brought me a gift from her vacation to China. It just tickles me to get stuff bought just for me in a foreign country. Singing These five words in my head scream are we having fun yet... Nickelback - "You Remind Me" A Year Ago More or less I aspire to be the Queen of White Trash. Storyteller Bio Dramatis Personnae Who I Read Recipes

Just to let you know, the pictures have pretty much nothing to do with anything I've written in this entry. My day has begun well. That's all I really ask for in life, because if I can start out well, things usually end up well, too (I almost wrote "as well", but, well, that's just too many wells). I can usually manage to drag a day that has started badly out of the gutter enough to end up on the positive side of things, but I'm grateful when I don't have to expend the energy. I mean, I spend enough energy just getting "it" done. "It" being getting up, going to work, slogging through the crap, taking care of life's details, and ending up at the other end of the day with my sanity intact. The last thing I want to do is try to kick my daily karmic energy in the butt. I've had a wide-open calendar handed to me like a precious jewel. I anticipated starting an AcronymCo sponsored Stats class this week, but it got pushed out until next week to accommodate last minute registration. That cleared up 8-12. Beta testing for a new system is not going well (a bad thing), so this afternoon's schedule of activities was cancelled (a good thing). That cleared up 1-4. I have one little meeting to take care of from 4-5. Dude, things like this just don't happen to me very often. My boss had sent me an e-mail outlining three projects she wants to see the status(es?) on by the end of the week. I was able to knock all three of them out of the park due to some adroit networking yesterday afternoon, in anticipation of her requests. So when I sat down with her at 8:15 this morning, I could say "That one's done, that one's done, and that one is scheduled for completion next week." Hot damn, I actually looked effective. Imagine it. Readers: "We can't." Laura: "Hush, you." AcronymCo's earnings announcement came out today, and with it the news that our postponed raises will be proliferated in April. I'm hugely grateful for that little nugget of news. Every little bit helps, and I like to feel a little lurve coming my way from the Powers That Be. The sheer amount of positive things happening in my life lately is frightening. I dread the swing of the pendulum. More than likely it'll knock me on my ass again, but for right now I'm enjoying the hell outta circumstances. And I deserve it for once, right? Readers: "Well..." Laura: "Hush, you." ******************** I ordered my class materials for the Philosophy class I start in February. Believe it or not, Philosophy falls under the "type" of class I really get into. Like the Critical Thinking class I took last year. Or the Humanities Class I gushed over. I'm actually looking forward to exercising my brain again. It's been so benumbed by the tedium of work lately that I had the fleeting thought that I've forgotten how to learn. I've left it since last May when I dropped that thrice-be-damned Stats class (which I mentioned quite a bit in the sidebars of my entries for the first few weeks of last May). Fortunately enough, the Stats class that AcronymCo offers will qualify for an Assessment of Prior Learning credit through my university. Then with the whirlwind that blew through life last year - Michael's trip to boot camp, Gram's passing, Michael's graduation *from* bootcamp, the stuff that happened in New York, the holidays, and the Audit from Hell - there was no way I could take any classes again until now. The four classes I've signed up for (the others are two accounting classes - shudder - and an economics class - also shudder) means sacrificing my Monday evenings from February through until the end of September, which I do hate. But for some nerdy reason I *like* having homework and I *like* taking notes. I'm *good* at writing papers (duh) and making presentations (double duh). I never, *ever* re-sell my textbooks back to the bookstore. Although if I did, I'd make a profit. AcronymCo pays for my tuition *and* books, so if I re-sold the books I'd be able to keep the money. Shhh... I don't think they've figured that out yet. Up until that stupid Stats class, I liked all of my classes reasonably well. The management classes are dry, to be sure, but I excel in those by virtue of the OJT (On the Job Training) I've received at AcronymCo. I love coming home and talking with Calvin about what I learned that evening. I feel proud of myself for every 'A' I've earned (and I'm still maintaining that 4.0 average!). I endured the teasing I got from Marie for the 'easy A's' I got in my Algebra classes - I already knew the stuff but they wouldn't let me test out of the classes, and Marie was fond of chirping up with "Gee, Laura, you're studying the same thing in college that I'm learning in Seventh Grade!" I guess the real reason I look forward to taking classes is the evidence of progress. I've always felt slightly ashamed of my degree-less-ness, surrounded as I am by MBA's and PhD's here at work. I guess my on the job training and experience passes me off well enough that I'm already degreed, since I'm referred to as an "Engineer", and people assume I'm going for my MBA when I say I'm going to school. But *I* know that I have yet to achieve that goal. It'll happen, but it sure takes a long time when you're working and maintaining a family life at the same time. ******************** Strange. I just got fed up with this entry all at once. I write about incredibly boring stuff sometimes. Placeholder entries that just remind me that I was alive, awake and breathing on the date specified. Let me do some thinking and see if I can't come up with something interesting and entertaining - something I'd be entertained by reading a year from now. I'll get back to you. Also, I'd like your opinion on something. Storyteller has had next to nothing in the way of contributions for the last several months. I actually tried writing something for it for this month, and I've pretty much given it up as a lost cause. A more boring piece of writing you never did see in your life. So here's the question - should I give up on Storyteller as an idea that never quite took off, or should I keep plodding determinedly along in hopes that somehow, someday, it'll spark and take off? Let me know what you think. Thanks!