Screw the hotness. Life is not being very nice to me this week and every day seems to bring a new level of suckitude.

Yes. Suckitude.

Here are some short lists.

Things that have bitten the dust at my house:

1. My deep freezer and about $200 worth of food
2. The glass patio table in my backyard (oh, it’s still there… it’s just in teeny tiny little pieces)
3. My desktop computer (since replaced, but oh how funny that I don’t have the proper cable to hook up my printer)

Things that are still working, but not quite the way they’re supposed to:

1. My car. I spent $500 getting both front wheel bearings replaced, but the accelerator still sticks in warm weather. It’s a recall issue, but GM has assured me that the recall was already fixed. Um… then it needs to be fixed again! On the advice of my mechanic, a complaint has been lodged with the NHSTA, but it will take at least two months before anyone even looks at the complaint. Who knows how long it’ll be, if at all, before the car gets looked at.
2. ILLIAD, our new computer system at work. I love what it does. It simplifies my workflow in amazing ways. Except that right now, I can’t actually scan and deliver articles electronically. I get error messages. And since delivering the articles is, you know, one of the whole points of interlibrary loan, I kind of need for it to work correctly.

Undefineable:

1. JL is coming home. JL is “surprising” me by coming home. Here’s the thing, though. He wasn’t hired back for fall camp, so basically he’s coming home because he has no job, at least until December. He also has no vehicle to drive once he’s here and oh right, there’s the little matter of him asking me to remove him from my auto insurance policy last spring, because it was “ridiculous” for him to have to pay for it monthly when he didn’t have a car. And it was an ASTRONOMICAL AMOUNT, don’t you know? A whole $55 per month for nine months of the year. For a single, 22-year old male. Who wants to wager that he’ll find something comparable now that he’s not under my umbrella?

My head hurts. I’m going to bed.

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I’m starting to think it’s not a coincidence that HOT is the theme for August NaBloPoMo and a crushing heatwave is taking over the country. I’m not in Texas or Oklahoma, but it’s 79 degrees in northwest Ohio at 10:10 p.m. and my northern blood doesn’t like this at all. AT ALL.

It’s too damn hot to write anything remotely coherent. I’m going to drink some more water and try to fall asleep in front of a fan. Because there is no central AC here. Which means I’m feeling pretty damn bitchy.

*Growl*

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I mentioned to my mom yesterday that my thyroid medication seems to be a little more effective now that I’m taking it in the morning, because I don’t feel quite so irritable lately. I spoke too soon.

We were at the drive-thru of a well-known fast food restaurant for lunch today and first of all, I was mildly annoyed when the woman taking my order couldn’t hear me and I couldn’t hear her. But we resolved that issue and all was well. When I pulled up to the first window to pay her, I realized she was the manager.*

I tried to pull up to the second window to retrieve our order, but a white mini-van in front of me hadn’t given me enough room to do so. At first, we thought they were making sure they had all their food and that seemed to be the case as the driver started to pull up a bit further. After stopping again, it became clear they’d been asked to pull ahead and wait. In the meantime, the employee at the window greeted me, looked ahead at the van, shook his head and said, “Some people just don’t know how to drive.”**

He then apologized for also having to ask me to pull ahead, and suggested a parking spot off to the side. I wasn’t irritated by that; I understand that they get slammed sometimes, and this was a strange time of day (2:30) for a lunch rush. So, I said, “Sure, no problem.”

Except that it *was* a problem, because there was a line behind me and I had no room to back up, and I was already within a foot of the mini-van’s rear bumper. I started to cut the wheel and try, but it was clear there was no way. I honked the horn and heard voices yelling unintelligible things in response. So, I yelled, “If I hit you, it’s not going to be my fault!”

At this point, the passenger (male) got out and started yelling at me, “She can’t pull up, there’s someone in front of us!” Miraculously, she did manage to pull up at that very moment. As I maneuvered out of the spot I was in and made the turn into the indicated parking space, I saw there was easily four feet or more between her front bumper and the car ahead of her, which my mom and I BOTH pointed out. Both the driver (female) and her companion screamed at us that the other car had JUST NOW pulled up, and for good measure, the guy yelled “BITCH!” at me.

Yeah, well I see your “BITCH!” and raise you: “Fucking bitch!”

I know. Really mature of me.

I guess the thyroid medication might need a little more adjustment after all.

* The manager who was nowhere in sight even though she had three vehicles of very aggravated people, some of them cursing at each other. And it was a completely different third employee who meekly brought out everyone’s food. Not very managerial, in my opinion.

** In my defense, the employee at the window had a much better view of the entire situation, and he still seemed to think that she could pull up further. So, I really do think she was just being… well… a fucking bitch.

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Newsflash! If I’m in the market to get my roof redone, I am NOT going to select the guy who comes knocking on my door, wanting to give me an estimate. In fact, if you show up on my doorstep for any reason, for your sake, I hope I invited you. Because if I didn’t? And I don’t know you? Don’t expect me to be friendly. Don’t expect me to listen to your little speech. This may be what you do for a living*, but when you interpret my open front door as a potential sale, rather than the access to fresh air that was intended, as far as I’m concerned? You’re trespassing.

Now stop looking in my screen door and get the hell off my land!

*Also, you religious types who feel the need to preach to me? I’m already going to hell, so please go “save” someone else. Thankyouverymuch.

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1) Every single baseball announcer comparing Kosuke Fukodome to Icharo and Matsui. I get it - they’re all from Japan. But every. single. game. with a new announcer… they throw up the photo of Fukudome next to a shot of Icharo… it’s getting old. Wake up, baseball announcers! You’re not saying ANYTHING new - especially you ESPN guys.

2) Every single baseball announcer commenting on the fact that it’s strange for Alfonso Soriano to be hitting in the lead off spot. Does it really freaking matter? After the first inning, there’s no guarantee he’ll be up first again. Again, old news. Quit rehashing what others have already stated. You all make me want to turn my volume down! Except Len and Bob, of course.

3) The three men currently residing in my home. Hellooooo… doctor’s orders state I’m not supposed to be doing dishes. Pick up some slack, you slackers. And do NOT point out to me that my cereal bowl is still sitting on the counter, unless you’d like a rundown of how many things you currently have strewn about the rest of the house. When everyone else living here is working 40 hours a week, we’ll talk about the unfair distribution of housework. Until then, do my bidding - you bastards!

4) Tendinitis. It hurts. ‘Nuff said.

5) Crying over the fate of animals. After watching the Kentucky Derby yesterday, I ecstatically rooted for Eight Belles and was thrilled to see her come in second, beating out all those boys except the favorite. And then I was devastated only moments later when they announced that she’d broken both of her front ankles and had to be euthanized right there on the track. I looked at The Boyfriend in absolute horror and pleaded with him to change the channel immediately. And then I burst into tears. I know it was the humane thing for them to do, but the bizarre timing of the two events just rattled me. I’m tearing up again just thinking about it.

6) Being abandoned by The Boyfriend on a gorgeous spring day. He met friends for disc golf at noon. At 4:30, he finally called me to say he was at JoJo’s. And then he went back to the park for more golf, finally sauntering in at 7 p.m. So, I hung out here alone all day, frustrated over the fact that I couldn’t do any yardwork because of the tendinitis. And now? He’s sound asleep, oblivious to how pissed off I really am. Dork.

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I’ve been excessively whiny the past few days. The bulk of it comes from needing sleep, with the frustration of having limited use of my hand. I always thought I was somewhat ambidextrous until I *had* to stop using my left hand for most things. Turns out that about the only things I can do well with my right hand are:

1. Using a mouse
2. Operating a 10-key adding machine
3. Drinking
4. Throwing things in frustration over all the things I can’t do with my right hand

In an effort to avoid #4, I may have to soon engage in #3. Excessively.
I had a huge fight with JL last night. A very aggravating, repeat topic fight. And I started composing a blog post about all of the emotions that I was feeling; all the things I’d love to be able to say to him; all the reasons it upsets me that he just doesn’t get it.

But then I started to cry as I was typing, and it was really hard crying, and jeez… it just depressed the hell out of me. Life sucks sometimes and 2008 hasn’t been all that great so far. Bad things have happened to other people. One of my favorite bloggers lost her father earlier this year, for example. Last year, her cat lost a leg. I lost my cat this year, but I still have my dad (although he did lose a nipple).

My point is, I’ve been through worse. Others have been through worse. Still others are going through far worse. What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. Suffering builds character. All that jazz.

And yet, I still whine. I’m still cranky. I need sleep. A bona fide full night’s sleep. Anyone know where I can get one?

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Friday night, I came home and promptly started working on this week’s Photoshop assignment. A half hour later, I was cleaning my kitchen in frustration. I just could not figure out how to complete a particular step in the assignment, no matter how many times I tried to start over. But man, my kitchen looked great!

Saturday morning, I tried again. It still didn’t work. I finally posted a message on the class discussion board pleading for help. The Boyfriend had plans to go to a Tigers game; a game he wanted me to attend with him, but there was no way. He left and I gave the assignment a few more futile attempts before starting to watch the Cubs game.

They won. Which is more than I can say for the Tigers.

Somewhere in there, my dad returned a call to me. The bathroom faucet has, in the past couple weeks, dramatically decreased in water pressure. Without my dad to tell me, I would have just replaced the whole faucet (which needs to be done, eventually) instead of pulling out the aerator and cleaning it out. Voila! Instant water pressure!

Nothing says empowerment like solving a plumbing issue for free.

I checked the discussion board and some lovely person named Teresa had responded. She’d had the same problem and she detailed what she did. It worked like a charm! Unfortunately, it hasn’t worked for a couple of the others who have posted since then, and our professor has yet to weigh in with any advice.

Today, I decided I wasn’t doing any homework, even though I have two major projects due on the 15th. The Boyfriend’s car died on him last night in Maumee. Unfortunately for him, it was on a street with “No parking this side of street” signs. Guess which side he was on? I called Maumee Police to let them know we’d get it out of there in the morning by noon today. Even though I have Triple A, we were hoping we wouldn’t have to have it towed. It started right up, though, which was good because halfway there we realized that neither of us had our cell phones. We are BRILLIANT!

So, today during my no homework day, what did I do? Changed up my blogroll and added a contact form. You know, for the LEGIONS of people who have been wanting to get in touch with me on this site but are too afraid to leave me a comment.

And then I went back into the bathroom to measure the bathtub for a shower surround. And pulled the funky fake tile looking wallboard away from the plaster to see what was underneath, because I want to yank it all down and just paint.

But you know that’s not how it works, right? It’s never that easy. I’m not going to tell you what I found, because truthfully at the moment I’m not quite sure. All I can tell you is that it’s going to require a lot more work than I was hoping. And this is why people should not make cheap ass repairs to their house, because someday… someone is going to want to change it up, and the cheap bastards make it that much more expensive in both time and money to fix it.

I just really hope that somehow this comes back to bite those previous owners in their asses…

** ETA - I’m more than a little annoyed at the professor in this Photoshop class. She was apparently able to log into our course to upload the assignments for next week, and was able to send us all an email to remind us that our projects are due a week from tomorrow, but unable to post to the discussion board regarding any of the issues that students have been experiencing. Nice feedback.

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It’s bad enough that one of my professors is making our online exam due the first day of classes after spring break. But it’s 10:50 on the night she said she’d have it posted, and there’s not a chance in hell I’m going to be able to take it now, when I should be in bed getting a decent night’s sleep.

I don’t want to have to think about school next week. I’m trying to get all assignments completed before this Friday. Because I have things I want to do this weekend. Things that don’t involve homework.

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Yes, I work at a state institution but because we get Christmas Eve and the day after Thanksgiving off of work, we don’t get Columbus Day or President’s Day off of work. So, I headed off to the second week of my new job early yesterday morning.

It actually didn’t occur to me that yesterday was a holiday until someone mentioned it. That would explain why traffic was so light on the way to work, even though I didn’t get out of the house until 7:30, when I prefer to leave no later than 7:15. It would also explain why I only had 17 requests to deal with yesterday morning, instead of the normal Monday morning amount. It ended up being the only smooth part of the day.

I finished all of the daily processing before noon and asked for permission to take half a personal day. I had my reasons. Sunday night, I’d thrown a load of laundry into the washer, intending on tossing it into the dryer when I came home from work yesterday evening. But at 2:30 Monday morning, my sinuses were congested thanks to me forgetting to take my allergy meds before bed, and when I went into the kitchen to get some water, I heard the washer running.

“Odd,” I thought, and wondered briefly if JM had stayed up and thrown a load in after mine. But he was out cold on the couch, so I couldn’t ask. I went downstairs to the basement and found everything as I’d left it; a load in the dryer that I’d washed earlier and the empty basket on top. If JM had washed another load, he’d done a good job of hiding the one I’d been drying. So, I opened the washer and discovered my 11:30 load still merrily agitating. The timer indicated it hadn’t even gone into the first spin cycle yet.
Not good.

I stopped the timer and went back to bed, trying to figure out in my still congested stupor how in the hell I was going to manage to deal with it, between a trip to the grocery store, my homework assignment due last night and the homework I want to knock out of the way before next weekend.

“Screw it,” I thought, “I’m too tired to think about it.”

So, the morning’s light workload wasn’t a disappointment at all. I was given permission for my half day of personal time, and I headed home just in time to say goodbye to The Boyfriend as he headed off to the gym and then work. And then I decided to call my dad, just to get his opinion on whether or not I should mess with trying to turn it back on after it ran for a good three hours the night before.

My stepmom answered and sounded a little harried. Turns out my dad wasn’t there; he’d just been taken to the hospital via the rescue squad.

I started to freak out. She told me he was going to be ok; he was just having problems breathing. I asked if I should go up to the hospital and she said no, and that she’d call me later and let me know what was going on.

In an effort to calm my nerves, I attempted to call my mom’s cell phone. I’d been trying to call her for the past two days with no success, since her phone was shut off. I’d emailed her and she hadn’t responded. There’s no landline at my sister’s in SC, so I had no other way to get a hold of her. I called my sister in Ohio and asked if she happened to have my SC brother-in-law’s cell number and surprisingly, she did. I left a message on his voicemail and waited. Mom called me back shortly afterward and I learned that SHE was going to have to see a surgeon this morning for a baseball-sized cyst underneath her arm.

WTF?

If that wasn’t enough, my sis in Ohio called me back a little while later to ask if I’d gotten a hold of our mom. She’d just tried and gotten voicemail again, but she needed to get in touch with our SC sister, because their stepmom (I’m a product of my mom’s second marriage) had also been admitted to the hospital Monday!

So, to the best of my knowledge, everyone is ok. Mom didn’t have to have surgery, Dad called last night and said he’d be going home today (I haven’t talked to him today, but I also haven’t heard differently) and it didn’t sound like the situation with my sisters’ stepmom was very serious.

And the washer? Total goner. Fortunately, I have a backup in the garage and the boys will help The Boyfriend haul it out on Thursday. I can relax, right?

Riiiiight. That’s why when I got to work this morning, my computer died.

Something tells me it’s going to be a long week.

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The past week hasn’t been a lot of fun for me, so I’ve refrained from posting. I can only handle so much, “Woe is me” drivel in a month.

I’m in the process of trying to learn my new job while still performing certain functions of my old job. It’s been a frustrating process, particularly because when I originally moved to second shift 15 months ago, no one was ever hired to replace the position I vacated. For that reason, some people in my department really don’t want me to stop doing what I’ve been doing all along. It was already getting tough for me to juggle the two positions once OhioLink took us back up to high lending. I can’t juggle three positions and learn what I need to know.

The biggest part of what I find is unfair is one co-worker’s annoyance that I’m not working my normal 3:15 to midnight shift. (Of course, she won’t say so to my face; that’s not her style, and while I’d love to say more on THAT subject, in the end it will make no difference.) I’m not quite sure what she expects me to do. The person I’m replacing is moving out of state. At present time, she is the only person who knows what her job entails. It’s doubtful that my supervisor could even show me what I need to do, because the way things are being done has changed considerably in just the last three years.

So, for me, it’s imperative that I get as much sit down time with my predecessor as possible. That means matching my shift to hers. I’m very sorry that working 3 to midnight doesn’t fit into that schedule, but had I left the organization completely, I wouldn’t be there from 3 to midnight either.

At any rate, I have probably four days left to train. A field trip to another organization, my predecessor’s farewell party and the fact that she’ll probably leave early on her final day will all cut into the time she and I have to work together. She’s been really good about having me perform the daily functions, though. She’s definitely enabling me to “learn by doing” which is far more effective with me than anything else.

If I can just avoid getting the bug that appears to be taking people down all over the place (we had three students call in sick yesterday and one of them just came back after being out for the past week), I’ll be in good shape.

Cross your fingers for me!

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