Burnt Popcorn

12-24-09

Merry Christmas Eve!

Here I am, stuck at work. Sigh. Not cool. Oh well. Hopefully the day goes by quickly. I have mostly been dinking around on the net. I have cleaned my desk a bit, and other than that, really not much of anything. I am happy that I made coffee since one of the warehouse guys came in and was grateful someone made fresh coffee. One of my IT guys just arrived, so there are a couple of people here.

I am driving Ken’s car this morning. Ken and the boys were going to go get my oil changed. Plus, Ken needs to have a car at home that he can put the kids in. His car, well, let’s just say one of our projects this next week HAS to be cleaning it out. And I thought my car was gross because of a little bird poop!

Knowing how things work around here, I have a feeling I am stuck till my normal leave time. My boss was already being annoying yesterday, so I have a feeling that in his boredom today he is going to think of something he needs for an account (not necessarily mine) and he doesn’t know how to do anything. So he will then have me do it. Fun.

Ken wrapped all the presents yesterday. Apparently there are way more than I realized. Oops. I guess we may have spoiled the children.

He also broke my excitement in many little pieces when he told me their bikes are incredibly easy to put together. Dammit! I wanted them to be hard so that Ken has to get annoyed the night before Christmas as he built them.

It is now 7 am, which means the boss is probably due soon. I realize I did my project yesterday a day too soon.

The only thing we don’t have at this point is Matt’s present. It is in theory supposed to arrive today. If it doesn’t, I will be stopping by the K-Mart on the way home from here to see what I can get him. Plus, I will probably then go get some gift cards for fast food since he loves that stuff.

Tonight we are going to probably watch Santa Buddies, and then set out cookies for Santa. I think then it is time for bed and Ken and I will set up the tree on the floor and get all the presents out and ready. We plan on watching Love Actually, since it has been far too long, and it is very Christmasy. Of course, dinner will be pizza, as this is a Brenan holiday tradition.

I have explained to the boys that they have to be extra good today since Santa will be watching very carefully. Nothing better than instilling the fear of Santa in kids in order to keep them good for a day.

I WANT TO GO HOME!!!!

Ok, just read some more crap online. I think I have decided I really like Time Magazine. I read an article on the passing of Britney Murphy, and it was really good. Only one small error, when he credited Tom Waitts when it really is Tom Petty who voices Lucky on King of the Hill, but other than that, a very touching tribute, which I thought was so much nicer than all the other crap written about her. I also love Joel Stein, who writes for the magazine. If I could be half as good as him, I will make it some day.

I was very pleased when I also saw that the boy that was kidnapped essentially by his mother 5 years ago and taken to Brazil was finally reunited with his father. The story, for those of you not familiar, was that the parents were married and living in Jersey with their 4 year old son. She took the boy to Brazil for a visit with her family. She never came back. She opted to divorce him, and ended up getting remarried. My understanding was that the dad has been in contact all these years, but never was permitted to see his son. Then she died in childbirth last year, so the dad had his window. With him being the only birth parent alive, he should get custody of his son. But the stepfather and his family fought tooth and nail. They felt that since the boy has been there for 5 years, it would be bad for the kid. No, people, what was bad was when you denied this child his rightful father for 5 years. You lose. You should have talked sense into your wife/daughter when you had the chance. I feel bad for this kid. Of course he has probably done stuff like say he doesn’t want to go. But do you blame him. Who knows what these people tell him. Plus, yes, he has been technically happy for 5 years. But it isn’t fair to have kept him from his dad for this long. Father and son were reunited on Christmas Eve (the true Christmas Miracle if you ask me) and he is supposed to return home to America soon. I know the grandma and step dad want to meet with dad to tell him a bunch of crap, like things he likes to eat, etc. But they have vowed not to appeal the case. That is impressive, but I still say it is too little too late. I hope that this little boy doesn’t resent his father, but actually see how much his dad loved him to fight for so long and hard to get him back. What a bitch that woman was. Damn her. She didn’t just hurt this man, she hurt her son in the long run. I find that to be just downright deplorable. I certainly can’t say I wished her death, most of all, not in the midst of childbirth, but wow, she certainly didn’t exactly give Karma much of a choice now did she? Sorry, I am feeling a bit feisty this morning. I don’t normally condemn folks to death until after lunch.

Ok, it is now almost 8, and no boss. I wonder what is up with that. Maybe he will come in late because he is letting me cover the early “shift” and then he will cover the later part of the day. Oh, wait, I am so giving too much credit to this man.

Being here is so killing my normal cheery demeanor for Christmas Eve. It is sucking the jolly right out of me. Grr!!

Time for Hot Chocolate.

It appears that IT is installing some new servers. So there are giant boxes all strewn about so not only am I all alone here, I am literally boxed in. How incredibly depressing. Look, I know I don’t like most people, but I am like poor Lycos. I want to bark at everyone, but really, I would rather just play and have fun with folks.

I made hot chocolate, but I don’t think I want it. First off, it is the packet of powder, and I am spoiled with my good stuff. Second, I really don’t want it, I just made it to get up from my desk for a few minutes.

While I am ranting, I might as well yell at this article I read yesterday. It was about the poor kids and people who have to deal with Christmas when they are of a different religion that doesn’t celebrate Christmas. Look, Christmas doesn’t have to be religious. I don’t believe in god. I LOVE Christmas. And maybe that is what annoys me so much. People complain about either the lack of Christ in Christmas or that there is too much. People, yes, it is originally celebrated as the birth of Christ. I don’t take that away from people who believe in it. I actually think it is a very sweet story, real or not. But these days, you don’t have to only look at it that way. With America being the melting pot of cultures everywhere, we get to see all kinds of different ways to celebrate this season. Some of them do other holidays, but let’s look at Christmas. It can be celebrated 1000 ways, and by all different races and religions. That is truly what makes Christmas magical. Not the presents. Not the trees. It is the time of year when we all take a little bit of time to do nice things for others, do some decorations to be cheery, and to see friends and family we might not see all year long. Some people eat Turkey. Some I know eat Lobster. Some eat a dish that has no animal by products at all. All of them are wonderful! Some people have big families sitting around. Some have only 2 people and the bump that will be inside out in a couple months. Some people travel to snow, some travel away form it. But isn’t what all of it really means is love? Hell, Christmas is the day when you tell people you love them. Not Valentine’s Day. It is Christmas. Sometimes you tell them with a giant sparkly. Sometimes you tell them with a toy train. Maybe it is just a card with a picture of your family, smiling big on the outside. Maybe it is just a status update wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. It is all good, no matter what religion or background you may come from. So I propose that we don’t just look at it as the birth of Christ. We don’t look at it as an insult to Jews or the day before Kwanzaa. It is a holiday all by itself that happens to have all the different ways to celebrate. Stop treating it like a curse. And if your kid happens to be Hindu and comes home from school with an assignment of what do you do over the holidays, don’t get all pissy. You still get time off, jackass, so have your kid tell us what he did during that time. Trust me, your ignorance of what it is all about is worse for your kid than any assignment that might mention Christmas in it.

The boss has arrived. I told him that it was dead here. Of course, we both just got an email from the customer that drives me to drink. Mind you, there is NOTHING we can do about said email today since no one is in the office who can take care of it, but he will still fret about it and make me want to kick him. I already told my coworkers if when they come in on Monday there is a bloody corpse by my desk to not be surprised.

It is now 9 am. I am bored out of my skull. I had to talk to one customer, and apparently I was charming enough to get him to laugh even though he was annoyed. But other than that and a couple of order releases, it is dead. It is like popping popcorn. The bag starts with nothing, then a bunch of pops, which was this week. Then it gets to the point where just about everything is done, so there are way less pops. Now, the pops are so infrequent that you tend to open the microwave to enjoy. I am still in the fucking microwave, and the already popped corn is starting to burn. Let me out!!

LOL!! I was on the phone with Ken and I talked to Dax. After I was done talking to Dax, I asked him to hand the phone to Bobby. Dax hands him the phone and says, “Here, Bobby, Mommy is in here.”

Sigh. My morning now has been spent going back and forth from my desk to the boss’s to show him how to set up a read receipt and delivery receipt on emails he sends. Then, I had to talk back and forth to test it. Oh, and of course, it doesn’t work on his. Sigh.

My CFO just gave me my yearly Starbucks gift card. He gets them for all of the department under him. I still have my card from last year since I don’t drink coffee. But on the plus side, instead of only $5, I now in theory should have $10 since each card is worth $5. LOL! Maybe I will need to actually go get something.

20 till 10. I am still bored.

20 after 10. I am still bored. Yeah, this is beginning to be a theme.

Dax told me they were fixing my wheel. I wasn’t sure what he meant, so he clarified. “The black wheel”. Luckily I was able to figure out he meant they were getting my tire changed. I have been driving on the spare since Disneyland. Luckily, the spare was a full sized tire. I guess right now they are at Spires eating brunch while waiting for the oil to be changed. Ken is playing single parent right now. LOL! If they are getting the oil changed where I think they are (based on the fact that they are at Spires), then my car is also getting nice and clean. WOO HOO!

No sign of anyone thinking about this being an early day. I am not surprised. The people who have the power actually have work to do since it doesn’t involve customers, so they don’t understand us grunts being bored. My CFO explained to me how many emails he had waiting for him after his meeting with some bankers yesterday. I would feel sorry for him, except the meeting was a golf game. I am not sure that counts as ground for a pity party.

I think that at noon-ish, I will remove my Christmas lights from my desk and get that all packed up. That way if a Christmas Miracle does occur, then I can just walk out.

Wow, no blogs probably until the first of the year. Of course, I might get bored and post one anyway.

On Monday, the plan is now to see Sherlock Holmes. Ken said Avatar is probably the best film he has ever seen. So now I am torn, especially since in reality, that is one to see in the 3-D on the big screen. I am still skeptical of it. I mean, sure, Titanic was hailed as brilliant, but the only good part about that movie was Kate, cause, let’s face it, she is awesome. Don’t get me wrong, I cried at the movie. It was well done. And maybe I am tainted since we saw the damn thing on NYE when it came out and that wasn’t my idea of the best New Years party. But what I am trying to say is, there was a lot of hype. I tend to not like movies with that much hype. Then again, because I would go into it knowing I will not like it as much, perhaps by lowering that bar, I will in fact love it. Who knows. Ken said he would like to see it again, so perhaps that will be what we see. Either way, it is a movie Monday morning, and then lunch with my hubby. Woo hoo!

I was going to bring in donuts this morning as my suck up device. I opted against it. I wanted to see if the boss would actually think about something like that. Of course not. I now wonder if I should have brought them in. Oh well. I have to get donuts tomorrow morning. It is a Bowlby tradition for Christmas morning to get donuts. I was going to get them tonight, but I think I will go in the morning. I will see who wants to come with. Sometimes, only one of them wants to go, so that might work out just fine.

We got some gingerbread men raw hide treats for Luna and Lycos for Christmas morning. We also got these squeaky toys that look like giant Christmas lightbulbs, along with a small assortment of other squeaky toys for Luna to play with in the yard. She seems uninterested as of last night. I may need to put them in the sandbox as if they were toys for the kids and see if then she might be intrigued.

I was excited to see this morning that my happy making sandals from Sketchers are still made and on their web site. It means they may still have some cheaper ones at the outlet store. Woo Hoo! There are several kinds that they have that I was drawn to. I trust they will rock since I have now owned 4 pair of Sketchers sandals, with 10 out of 10 success on 3, and I would say 7 out of 10 on the other pair (they squeak, so that cuts them down, but other than that, they are comfy and cute). So I think one of my shopping adventures will include replacing a lot of my shoes that have been falling apart.

It is bad enough when I am in my corner alone and I don’t see people most of the day. But now, I am alone not just in my corner. Not great! Poor Ken is in for a full on Chatty Cathy when I get home.

Alright, I just heated up my lunch. It is 11. I started Wiki surfing, which kills some time. I will probably go back to it here in a bit. I am not even bothering with copy and pasting in word. No one is here and I am pretty sure no one will fault me for dinking around.

I hear my boss on the phone. Never a good thing. Hopefully it isn’t a call eh wants me to be conferenced in on. I hate it when he does that. Especially since he does all the talking, and in reality, I think I am just there as a witness that he made the call.

In an act of, wow, what a crappy mom, I have just put out all of the Halloween candy the boys got in a giant bowl at work for my coworkers to enjoy. Look, those kids ate plenty of the stuff, and let’s face it, with a diet looming in the future for me, I don’t need any extra temptations. Also, a lot of the candy is stuff they won’t eat. Plus, I am pretty sure they are going to get stuff tomorrow as well. Heck, if only in the Life Saver books I just had to get them. LOL!

Have I mentioned how much I want to go home yet?

11:30, no signs of goodwill so far. I bumped into the boss when I was putting out the candy. He helped himself to some Dots. I also just watched who I think was the CFO leaving, which doesn’t bode well for our heroes. Sure, I could hope he was just going out to get lunch, but in reality, I could so see him leaving and not bothering to let anyone know. What is funny is, I actually think of my company as pretty good to their people. Despite some major communication issues they still seem to struggle with, over all, they try very hard to do nice things for us. So I don’t know that I can really fault them for not attempting to shut down early. I mean, if they send me home with pay, that cost. If they send me home with no pay, they still run the risk of an order coming up that no one can release. Then again, if they let everyone go, there is no orders being placed. Of course, then you lose a potential order. Clearly, I have been reading the books the boys got too much. The Braskins present to them was books (with a corresponding stuffed friend) from the “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” series. Basically, it is a book showing that if you do a nice thing, be prepared for that person to take advantage of your generosity and will keep asking for more. Dax’s book is “If You Give a Cat a Cupcake” which takes the cat from a cupcake, to sprinkles to the beach, to the gym, to the merry go round. Bobby’s Pig, which gets a Party in the book, proceeds to have a sleepover with friends and the non porn style variety of pillow fight. Both sets are super cute, with the boys loving the crap out of them, but it makes you wonder what someone was thinking when they wrote these books. Had they recently been screwed over by some a-hole they were being nice to? Maybe there is the grown up version of “If You Give a Bum a Quarter”. See, once you give him the Quarter, he will then ask for a can of beer. Then if he has a beer, he is going to want peanuts. Of course, when he has the peanuts, he will want to go to the zoo to feed the elephants. Once he sees the elephants squirting each other with their noses, he will want to take a shower. Once he takes a shower, he will want some new clothes to get all warm. Once he has the new clothes, he will be ready to go get a drink and is going to need to call for a cab. And of course, in order to call for a cab, he is going to need a quarter for the call. Trust me, if you have read these books, you would be laughing right about now.

I AM BORED!!!

Alternate path for my bum story. Once he sees the Elephants, he will think of horses and want to go to the race tracks. Once he is at the tracks, he will want some money to gamble with. Of course, once he wins, he will want to spend his winnings on hookers and blow. Once he finds what he is looking for, he will need a cheap hotel room. Once he gets a cheap hotel room, he will need a condom. So he in order to get a condom, he will ask you for a quarter to get one from the vending machine.

Seriously, get me out of here soon or else I will end up writing more of these!