Watching George Carlin do his complaint department schtick last night got me in touch with my inner grumpy old man. I was in Wegman's and this close to St. Patrick's Day, they can't swing a special on the stuff. Strikes me as a cynical "It's Irish, we'll charge what we want" approach. Bastards! I buy the draught cans of the stuff semi-regularly and hate seeing a good beverage reduced to Tchotchkey status.

One of my coworkers was giving me some gentle shit about the parade. "How can you not love it, being actually irish and stuff?" Easy, the parade itself has always been a tad lame. The real fun is the people who come to see it. It's a great reason to get folks together, but as a featured attraction, it's a little wanting. Can't go anyway.

It's March madness alright, or the month my visa card loves me. Already waded through the birthdays of Number one Son, his mom and my mom, only to be greeted today by my older brother getting older. He's 48 today. I, being me, have taken great delight in reminding him that it really isn't one of those cool number ages, say like 43. I need to win a office pool to pay for these high holy days, as I still have my sister's day in a couple of weeks.

Gotta miss the St. Matty's Day party for reasons domestic. Got the youngins with me. I'm not trying to be antisocial. It's just working out that way. Reminds me that I'm 0 for 2 in 07 for parties at the 24, got to reverse that trend soon. Hope it's a great day for you (e:Matthew) . Enjoy.

I get to chat about getting my marketing post back first part of next week. Consider this an official request for good vibes.

I had a feeling it was going to be one of those days. I took my kids to work and number one son slipped and landed on a buttcheek to start the day. After solving that crisis, I went into work where in football parlance, the turk was collecting playbooks. With the exception of myself and another woman in the room, everybody else who wasn't already getting the boot, got it. It was difficult to watch. Another soul from another department noted the presence of one of the higher ups with the comment that no good news ever follows him into the building. So, my office is like that scene in "The Goonies" where the floor is disappearing. Fortunately, it is another shit storm that managed to miss me.

So much so, that my former department wants to have a conversation about me rejoining them. They have a post that is web heavy but capable of all the other marketing/graphic stuff. In essence, after all the foolishness, I might very well wind up where I should have been all along. (e:jason) might want to be my one day intern again soon.

Never a dull moment round the cable farm.......

for some folks in my office. It's been a little manic of late. The poohbahs are training some staff on a new billing system, while others are doing clean up on the overall database, which has left just about every department short staffed.

My current desk is in a room with 11 other people, 9 of whom were fired today. They were told that four jobs are coming back but are radically redefined, basically no guarantee that they have a shot. I know the world makes no guarantees, but damn. I watched it all unfold from a distance and I wouldn't wish that on anybody. Nothing about it that doesn't stink.

Felt a little strange to know that I'm secure, got a raise (maxed out what I possibly could get in fact), & had to enjoy it quietly. The ironic thing is that while these folks have been shown the door in a sense, there has never been more work for them.

Ah, beat goes on I guess.

My little dysfunctional family got together yesterday for brunch to celebrate my ex's turning 44. It was really great. I got to bond a little with my nephew and a good time was had by all. All hail the Ambrosia omelet, didn't need to eat for the rest of the day.

Post martial arts class, number one son and I grabbed his sisters and headed over to the zoo. (e:theecarey) 's post reminded me of it. And I love the area's tourist attractions when the tourists aren't here. I did learn that I'm no animal photog.





Who knew Polar Bears were that stealthy?

I being me had to catch a shot of my three favorite critters


It was a hoot, kind of like having a private showing at the place.

In other news, I got a groovy new phone that can mobile post and works great, except the lens in the camera is fucked up. Everything is upside down in the taken images so I'm off to the Sprint store to plead my case.

Still nothing new on the cable marketing front except said marketing director made a point of coming to see me to say she couldn't do anything for another two weeks. I appreciate that and am trying not to read anything into it. Although, I do wish they'd quit dangling the carrot in front of me and let me have a bite already. Didn't get much of a chance to think about it. We were very shorthanded so I got pressed into customer service on Friday, which on a first friday of the month in the city, you can imagine how much fun that was. 137 customers later, I found I had the night off from everything. I had time and money, but without the giddyap to get off the couch. A few beers and the Sabres game -- thankfully they won -- were the recipe for renewal.

I did get to a little of the Celtic Sessions at Nietzche's yesterday, didn't see anybody I knew, but it was good to get out for a little while, and the two pints put me in a good mood for the rest of the evening.

Happy Sunday ya'all, see ya round the hood maybe..........