HR Through a Whizz-Bang Vacuum!

Hi!

Well. Here we are on another hot, muggy and slightly rainy Sunday afternoon. And yes, summer is still hanging on by its fingernails, and the humidity isn't in a rush to go anywhere it's wanted either. So, even tho the sun has been rising later and later, the awful summer weather is still here. Which is all a big bummer because it basically means the longer this summer hangs around, the sooner next summer will arrive! Hmmmmm maybe will move out of the little apartment after next summer is over - get as much from the "free" a/c as I can! But enough with the whining about extra long summers (5 months of this so far, but who's counting). We still have the hip n' groovy jazz tunes (they just never seem to get old for some reason), got another nice glass of that Taylors Estate Chardonnay, got a nice little breeze - yes, life is good!
 
So work. Yep. Is good. Believe it or not HR finally did something to validate their existence. They waited until 4pm Wednesday the 26th to present me with a permanent contract. Nice work guys, way to rally the brain cells at the last minute. So that's a pretty big hurdle - only took 3 years and 4 months but we got there in the end. Biiiiig relief too, to finally have a job with no end date. In fact, it's my first permanent job since I worked for A&E in NYC - and that was in 2000!!!! And this little permanent contract qualifies as the last bit of info to turn in for the PR application. Now the trick is for those HR brain donors to actually hand the application in......... I suppose they need a vacation tho to restore all those brain cells they exhausted getting my contract together........ Fingers crossed they actually turn the application in...... Watch this space....... But yes, I finally have a "real" job! YAAAAAAY! And say, sit tight for a wee while and maybe one day I'll be able to transfer with the company to the US (California... somewhere).....?! So there you have it - gainful employment for the long-term, foreseeable future! HOORAY!!!!!

And then there were a couple weekends in there. Apologies for not checking in last weekend. Saturday was busy getting things together for the world's smallest "American" BBQ. My friend Dave came around and we watched, via the good ol' interwebs, baseball's season opener of the Dodgers and Diamondbacks down in Sydney! Oooooooh how I wish I could've been there, but never mind, the bank was pretty happy I wasn't. It was a pretty decent game too, tho the D'backs lost. Meh, am more of a Padres fan anyways.... Still, it was pretty bitchin' to have hamburgers and hot dogs, potato chips and french fries, coleslaw and potato salad while watching baseball in mah little living room! Cooooool!

And then Sunday was quiet - catching up on all the chores neglected over the week and Saturday........ Dull but necessary.

And then this weekend was just as quiet, which was fine. It was a really stressful week with the fretting and worrying about my job (thank you HR for all those extra gray hairs I didn't need) so by the time Friday rolled around, I was absolutely beat. In fact, I meant to do all the chores yesterday but just couldn't gather enough energy. Although, I did manage to clean the bathroom and vacuum - with the world's coolest vacuum cleaner going! Wooohoooo! Pretty good to have a real vacuum cleaner. Life is sooooo much easier with one that actually works amazingly well! I could probably vacuum these floors for a week straight and never pick up everything that lives in there (~shudder~). And it's something to just look at too. Vereeeee modern. Space-agey. I love it. Highly recommend it. And then that was all the energy I had for the day. I know, dull dull dull.

And today was meant to be slightly more productive than it's turned out to be. The owner was having a repair dude come out to fix up a couple of bald patches in this supremely crappy carpet (of which, amazingly, the vacuum cleaner only ate a little of) around the little apartment. But no. At 9.30am the owner showed up to tell me the guy wasn't coming because he was "sick" (hhhrrmmmm 'hangover' more like, but maybe he has a 24-hour flu. It could happen....... Naaahhhh!) And for a second I was terrified the owner was going to try to fix it himself as he thinks he's a dab hand at being a handyman (he isn't really, but he thinks he is and who am I to tell him otherwise - the collapsing, rotting Palace is testament to his prowess as a useful owner/handyman). So who knows when this dude is meant to come around, probably while I need to be at work.... Hmmm. In a fit of insanity, I offered to pay for half if the owner took out all the carpet and

put vinyl flooring in. He appeared really confused at that, just muttered something about demolishing the place in a few years. Maybe he works in HR? So the rest of today has been laundry, grocery shopping and general fluffing around. The weather bureau has threatened wicked storms, but that warning was issued at 9.30am and it's after 2pm and we haven't had much more than sprinkles.... And wait, is that sun? Hmmmm. Maybe I will bake... something? Naaah, too hard when it's 90% humidity.... Maybe will watch an episode of something on the little laptop as the TV is still dead dead dead......? Naaaah, too couch potatoey.....Maybe I'll sew something....? Ooooh, so many options to be productive! Then again, napping is productive.....!

So there you have it. Gainfully employed for the foreseeable future and have happily welcomed the coolest vacuum ever to the family. It's been a good couple of weekends. Honest, every weekend of summer means it's gotta end sometime and then you'd be more than welcome to c'mon down! So get planning and c'mon down already!

BYE!

J!

 

Cheesecakes in Ikealand!

Hi!

Well. Here we are. Another hot and muggy Sunday afternoon. So much for summer waltzing off into the sunset. I don't mind, just one more chance to use the a/c a little bit more (and enjoy not having to pay the power bill) - hooray! The birds have been happily chattering away out there all day - they're locals so must be used to this stuff. Tho you'd think that after 8 years I'd be used to it too (7 & 3/4 without a/c). No. Humidity + heat = crap no matter where in the world you are. Tho I must be honest, having picked up the a/c so late in the season, I was kind of sad about the weather turning cooler..... So here we are on another hot muggy day - yay! Both the little laptop and I are always eternally grateful to the lil' ol' Pinguino! So we're here basking in a cool breeze with the usual hip n' groovy jazz tunes, and in the spirit of trying new things, we're trying a new white - Taylors Estate Chardonnay - there're a bunch of silver medals across the label so it must be good, surely...... Ahhhh yes, with a/c, life is good!

So work. Yep. Is good. Going through a little quiet streak at the moment, which is fine. I always have stuff to do but there's no mad rush to do it, which

is nice. We're all in the same boat, our little team, so we sometimes spend half the morning solving the problems of the world, or predicting where that poor missing plane ended up........ We'll be moving to a new building in July so every now and then an update will come through the grapevine about how tiny our kennels will be and how the whole floor will be "open plan", a set-up none of us are looking forward to. And all because they're too cheap to spring for higher kennel walls. I suppose it's time to start investigating noise-canceling headphones...... Then again, I always meant to buy a good pair for the plane rides anyways..........! Still no word on the PR or a contract extension - that ol' clock is ticking down - I'm due to finish on the 28th of this month and then the money stops! Eeeeek! I hope a couple of those brain donors down in HR can organize a brain cell or two among them to cough up an extension and get it to payroll in time.......!? Otherwise, all is well. Happy to have the work..... for another two weeks at least! fingers crossed something good happens in the meantime?!

And then there were a couple weekends along the way..... Apologies for not checking in last weekend. It was a busy weekend. Saturday was chores and cheesecake-making for the neighbors to celebrate their new, tiny baby boy! He's sooooooo cute, and so small! And then Sunday was spent with my now ex-neighbor and her adorable little boy at Ikea where she bought a couple bookshelves for their new place. I love my little Rav4 and it's ability to haul everything from three-seater sofas to 7-foot bookcases, even if it does spend most of its time as a lawn ornament......! Then I hung around to babysit and help her build them. It was actually a really nice, fun day. Then again I'm always up for a trip to Ikealand! Thankfully the place was a mob-scene and we were on a mission, so I wasn't able to stand around and look and ponder - that always makes my bank account nervous. This time I managed to walk out with a set of sheets, a shower curtain liner (plus new rings), a set of thin room-divider curtains, and a little lamp for my desk....... A safe trip by the bank's standards! But I do have a very grand idea to give the little apartment a complete makeover, seeing as will be here at least another year trying to get the savings up....... watch this space!

And then this weekend was fairly quiet. Chores and lots of internet surfing getting ideas for how to change this place around and yet not spend a ton of dough, tho I'm not too worried - I'm pretty good at dressing this place up for next to nothing and still have it look good. It's been pretty much the same for what, 6 years, so it's way past time for a change, although not so much the little living room, I like it pretty much as it is, but the rest of the place........ Am thinking "beach hut resort style"..... or something like that. Hmmmmm......! The TV is still dead, so have only been watching a couple things on the computer. I did manage to buy a new vacuum cleaner tho (good lord it was expensive, but a friend has one and it's the best thing since sliced bread - better be, cos it's the last one I'm ever buying. Ever.), so hopefully that will arrive next week........ The one I've had for 7 years is finally falling apart so bad I can barely use it. Ha! I see what I did there - chose a vacuum cleaner over a TV - different priorities I guess! Hell, depending how I do the place up, maybe the next TV will just be a little thing - I'm not that devoted to it....! 

And that's about it really. I was this close to buying my plane ticket today but chickened out because I bought the vacuum cleaner instead. Might see if the ticket price comes back down a little more, will get paid this Wednesday and hopefully I'll hear something about mah job........ I am coming up there for a visit tho - fear not! 

So, hope you're all well up there! Honest, summer really should be on its way and you'll be good to c'mon down any time!!!!! And if you time it right, I may have designed it all with a better way to sleep besides on the couch (tho I've slept on it lots over the years and it's actually pretty good)! C'mon down and try it! And maybe by then I'll have a TV too!

BYE!
J!

Baby Steps to PR and a Dead TV.........!

Hi!

Well. Here we are on another Sunday afternoon. A little late, yes, but we're here now. Got the hip n' groovy jazz tunes, got a very nice, cool glass of the stand-by white... The chores are more or less done, the laundry is out there tempting the weather, and the birds, to just dump on it. It's been kind of a strange day for weather - one minute it's perfect,then it's hot and humid, then it's cool, sprinkling and breezy, then it's hot again.... But all the while there are some mean looking clouds gathering out there like a bunch of angry union activists about to strike...... So I've given up and fired up the best friend in a/c a gal in a tiny hot and gross apartment could wish for (and paid really good money for) - and now cool bliss! Yay Pinguino!

So work. Yep. Is good. Busy one minute and then dead quiet the next. I think I may have mentioned last time that they're getting rid of the only other editor in the building that I know of.... She leaves on the 21st of March, and she couldn't be happier, lucky thing. 'Course, she's got a husband who makes crazy money, so I'd be over the moon too if I didn't haaaaave to work. So, in light of her imminent departure, a couple folks have gotten really excited about my picking up her slack with regards to other various projects she may have once glanced at briefly a few years ago..... But the really funny thing is, if she was as busy on alllllll these other projects like they say she was, then they wouldn't've let her go on maternity leave for nearly two years without filling her position, and when she did finally come back it was only for two days a week, at best. So I'm thinking it's just a couple folks with a storm in a very tiny tea cup. They've tried to do this to me before, eventually they get the hint and go away.

Oh, I know a little bright spark - I finally got the draft PR application

paperwork to review, amend, add to (they want my resume updated all the way back to 1996!), sign, pay for and hand in..... The gal's email said she was still waiting on work to do a couple things on their end - no surprise there - so fingers crossed I don't spend stupid money only to have the HR brain donors drop it........ I swear, I will not rest or be happy until I officially have PR and these HR idiots have nothing more to do with it. But for now, it's baby steps to the finish line..............! Otherwise work is good. Hell, really, work is always good!

And then there were a few weekends in there.... Last, last weekend I didn't check in because I was dying of a full-blown summer cold - bleck. Even took a sick day off it was kicking my butt that bad. So, by the time the weekend crept around, I was dead. All I had the energy to do was watch movies. Bummer dude.

And then last weekend was spent helping my neighbors (downstairs, underneath my place) move to their "new" digs. Heh, I say 'new', here the Palace is 70+ years old, theirs is about 60+ years old, but it's in muuuuuch better shape (bigger too)! The move went well and super quick - that's the one good thing about having such a tiny apartment with zero storage - it certainly makes for a quick move. They had one friend with a pick-up with a trailer, one friend with the smallest van I'd ever seen and a trailer, and then me, Dave and my RAV helping so it went pretty quick. I enlisted my friend Dave to help out- successfully bribed with pizza and beer. Then, because the move went much faster than we expected, we ran a few errands, collected the pizza and the beer and watched a couple movies. Ahhhhhh! Productive yet lazy weekend! And then Sunday was catching up on the chores, helping to babysit while the soon-to-be-ex-neighbors cleaned, and getting stuff ready for another working week........ Amazing how fast the hours fly by on the weekends... It's so unfair in light of how slow the week crawls by.

Oh yeah, I know who moved in just after the neighbors downstairs moved out - my neighbors (living room-side), Tanya and Veejay (India-Indian) welcomed their first baby, a little boy! Three weeks early, the little scamp, but he's happy and healthy with an awesome set of lungs! I saw him briefly Thursday evening - he's so tiny and sooooooooooooo cute. He looks like a mini version of his father - all brown with a huge amount of black hair. So cute.

And then this weekend has been somewhat productive - spent yesterday getting all the PR paperwork checked and amended, and building the world's longest resume. "They" want to know what I've been up to since leaving U of A in 1996. Good grief, had to limit the resume to just a couple jobs, I was too scared to list every single one of them - they'd never get through it! 

Oh, and yesterday I pulled apart the back of my TV because it died. 3 & 1/2 years old and the other night it went "click-click" and off went the screen with the little flashing green light and that was the last I saw of it. Pulled it apart because I wanted to see if there was anything I could do (or vacuum) but no. It's just one big computer and any of those boards could be the dead one. Crap. Figures. Right when I really have no money to buy a new one. So it's going to be a while until I get the money saved for a new one.... Maybe April? May? Really tho, I'm not too torqued up about it, aside from watching movies, there's nothing on TV worth watching anyways. But yeah, buuum-mer dude!

And that's about that! Still keeping an eye on the plane ticket back up thataway in July but it recently shot up an extra $1,000, so will just sit tight for a bit longer and watch what the prices do. Eeeessshh. I'll never get my head around the logic behind airline ticket pricing. Otherwise, all's well down here... Just happy February is over with so hopefully Autumn can kick this hot and humid weather outta here for good! And then it'll be lovely smooth sailing until December, November....... So if you can find a plane ticket for cheaper than what I can at the moment, c'mon down! You'll love it!

BYE!

J!