Seriously

Work seems to be fraying. The department is about to fall apart. I wanted to be the one to leave, but at this rate it may have imploded before I have my six months in. And I've been sort of binge-eating again. My weight loss has ground to a halt. I'm at an OK point right now, but still have like 15 pounds to lose. Grazing through the kitchen is a bad habit, and it has to stop.

Career

With the Quality Manager gone at work, there is a void. They hired some guy to be the new QM, based on the fact that he could program the CMM. Except he can't. So he needs training in that. And he can't use Excel. So he needs training in that. What kind of manager at any company can't use Excel? And he said he can't start until after Labor Day because his son is having surgery, but then let it slip that he'll be at the cape and then on a camping trip in Yellowstone. There is a discouraged air brewing that does not bode well. I want to the first to bail, but it may be a race...

OMG

Yes, I know: I have been delinquent. No real excuse either. Just not on the computer much these days. And it isn't even because of the Olympics...

Summer

It's been warm. Fighting with Nauber over the A/C settings is a standard summer practice that will last until about late September. Otherwise, not much goin' on...

Olivier

Another quiet week.

Hotness

We had a HEAT WAVE this week. The news was of course apoplectic about it, although it really wasn't that bad. 95 and humid for three days. It wasn't instantly oppressive when you stepped outside, though. Thunderstorms currently rolling through, putting a quick end to that.

Crazy

Last weekend was Pride, which means my birthday got ignored. As usual. Pride itself was Meh. As usual. Shaun, however, loved it. She was gonna go to the Girl party, but chickened out when she saw a bunch of skeevy guys there. Doctor gave me great test results. Drive home from work today took TWO HOURS. I know it is not the job's fault, but just another reason to hate working there... Pretty distraction:

So busy

Just finished the AS9100 audit at work. Whewww. Tomorrow is my party, so tonight is prep night. No time to chat...

More Zombies!

Recently I posted about a dream I had where an asteroid collision caused the zombie apocalypse. Well, I had another zombie apocalypse dream. This one, however, was set back where I grew up in Wisconsin, though there were a LOT more people at my house than usual. After some running around, as per usual for zombies, we stumbled upon a secret operation and discovered the source of the zombies. There was an alien invasion going on, and the aliens were "mining" human tissue as a resource. The zombies were then rounded up and the tissues were collected from them. It was sort of like bees making honey, only the aliens were using zombies to collect human tissue to make their special juice. Having been harvested made the zombies slow and stupid (missing brain matter?), but still had the function to collect more. It is a fairly logical take on the zombie mythology. I also had an anxiety dream this week about being late for work that culminated in the IT guy at work having infected my work computer with porn spam viruses.

Eye candy

Nothing new. Just stare at this for a while...

Really?

We have had paychecks from work bounce. I hear last year they went four months without health insurance coverage (in Massachusetts, no less, which has a mandate). People claim that the CFO brought in two years ago is kind-of incompetent and rude, and all the woes began when he started. It keeps getting worse... Happy thoughts, happy thoughts:

Grind

Nothing new. Workin' Working out Repeat...

It's been a while since I've subjected people to a dream story. I had a pretty good one Thursday morning. I was in New York City with a friend. Not exactly sure who it was, but it was a girl. There were reports of an impending meteor strike, and the government was apparently planning to shoot at it in order to break it up. My friend and I were at this little park (Not Central) enjoying the beautiful day when we saw the space rock approaching. Then we saw the rocket fire from off in the distance and blast the rock into smaller rocks. These then started falling directly on NYC, several decent sized pieces coming right for us. I managed to dodge the first couple, but then a rather large chunk came at me, and I couldn't get out of the way in time. That dream stopped. Then it restarted. At the park in NYC, we saw the approach. There was no rocket launch this time, and the single piece headed toward NYC. We were not in the direct path, but it was close enough that we could see it was about the size of a cruise ship. I imagine in real life a piece that big would cause a blast radius of damage, but in my dream it was more like a piece of building falling off - still dangerous, but only locally. This dream, however, then went off in a new direction. The damage did knock out various utility services, such as power. We decided to head out of town. Soon, we noticed zombies wandering around. Luckily, these weren't hungry, aggressive zombies, more like confused wild animals that suddenly awake from anesthesia and have no idea where they are. We were at the house of the friends we were staying with, trying to gather a few supplies, when zombies started coming into the house. A mad scramble, and we got in an RV, then headed out. That was about when my alarm went off. There were some other details, but I couldn't remember them... I thought the idea of an asteroid releasing whatever it is that causes a zombie apocalypse was quite interesting. Not versed enough in my cinema lore to know if that's been done already or not, but it seems to me like a fresh take on it. Here's someone I wouldn't mind snackin' on, though not in a gross, zombie kind of way...

Oooooo maybe

I got an email this week from the federal job that I was referred for earlier. The hiring manager (not just a computer!) asked if I was still interested in the position. He also mentioned that I didn't have an aerospace background. I double checked the posting, and it said "Mechanical Engineer" and required a Mech Eng degree. Not sure why he complained I didn't have aero background. But he also said pay would be between $55k and $66k. So, the hours would be better, the pay would be better, the benefits would be better, the organization would be better, and the location would be better. I immediately replied that Yes I am still interested. That generated an out-of-office message saying he will back on the 23rd. So, I guess I will find out more next Monday, but I may get another job offer. One of the co-workers where I am now has taken to saying "You're still here?!" every time he sees me. It is based largely on the fact that the guy I replaced was only there a short time, then stopped showing up. He also left with a laptop, and having 'borrowed' money from people. Of course, now the thought that runs through my mind whenever he says it (and others, 'cuz it is apparently now spreading) is that I may be giving notice already in a couple days! Wouldn't that be funny...

Week One

Well, Monday I hated my job. Tuesday I liked it. By Friday I was just weary of it. I am so sick of small manufacturing companies. The pettiness with which the owners treats the employees is so annoying. The thing I liked on Tuesday, though, was that my boss's boss is into consulting, knows tons of people, and is already impressed with me. So, he may be my ticket into something more fulfilling.

Also went to the gym every night after work. For one, I need to lose a big o' chunk of weight. For another, traffic heading along 93-south at 4:30 is generally hell. By spending time at the gym, the traffic has generally eased by the time I am heading home. Still always bunches up right by my exit, but I'm not going to wait until 8 to get home just to avoid an extra 5 to 10 minutes.

Progress

I got my car this week. I stopped by the new job to do the drug screen. After that, I stopped in at the Planet Fitness around the corner and joined the gym. I have a lot of work to do! Then my RosettaStone (portuguese) arrived, so I can start working on that.

I have spent close to 7 grand this past week, mostly the car, but also new clothes and just getting everything 'ready' for next week. Here we go!

You Better Work

Well, the company that I was expecting an offer from finally got around to giving me an offer on Thursday. I accepted, since income is priority #1 right now. I start on the 9th, at $22/hr as Quality Engineer. It is so 1998 all over again. In fact, I bought a 1999 Honda Accord, since I need a car, and didn't have a lot of money.

Incidentally, RuPaul's Drag Race is awesome, you should watch.

Whyyyyyyyyyy

The sure-thing schmuck job never called and is not responding to my email inquiry.

And I have apparently gained a chunk of weight over the winter because none of my shorts fit anymore.

It's always darkest before the dawn, right? I'm ready for the sun to come up!

EDIT: Just got an email from sure-thing company, apologizing for the delay. She said they would most likely have a decision on Monday, and she hopes I am still interested. That implies I am front-runner. Pre-dawn glow may be starting...

Irish Eyes are ... Doing Something

Rather quiet, non-eventful week. Still no advancement on the job thing.

Today I met up with Brad and Danny. Cris joined later, as well as Brad's friend Gina and her bf Chip (who did shot-boy at Blu), Lauri and her new bf (don't remember his name). About 40 and lightly raining today, not the best for wandering the city, so we pretty much stayed in the Quincy Market area the whole day, though we did go to some of the old Irish pubs in that area, not the chains and food court stuff.

Here We Go Again

I had an interview again this week. (Sad that an interview is newsworthy.) It went very well, and I feel like a no-contest winner. Of course, I had that similar feeling when my friend Nish was going to hire me, and then his boss said No Way In Hell. But this job would be depressingly not what I wanted (despite the happy face I gave in the interview). Quality Engineer (my job title in 1998) at a small (ugh) family-owned (augh) manufacturing (ughh) company in Woburn (awhh). Redeeming factor one: I need a job, and this would pay money. Factor two: it is an AS9100 registered aerospace component manufacturer, which would open up a number of doors to aero jobs once I had this firmly planted on my resume. They apparently have a 'few more interviews' to do yet, and will let me know. So, there is still a chance this will turn into abject failure, as well.

On a completely different topic, Nauber has taken to watching telenovelas on the Spanish channels at home (Univision and Telemundo). There was this really hot guy on one of them the other day. Shortly after seeing that, I saw a run-down of the competitors on the new Dancing with the Stars. The hottie on the list looked REALLY familiar. Well, now I had a name! Which means I could Google Image search!

Say Hello to the ridiculously handsome William Levy: