2004-01-16

 

Kimmy sent me a picture of Molly and JR from her party. I think JR and I now have the same haircut...

posted by bethanye 2:05:00 PM   

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They're roasting a leg of lamb for company lunch today, in a rotisserie oven in the kitchen.
Damn it smells good. Mmm... rosemary...

posted by bethanye 12:03:00 PM   

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2004-01-14

 

O.P.P. Other People's Pens. I keep finding them in my desk drawer. The thing is overflowing with writing implements I've never seen before.
Damn gremlins.

posted by bethanye 11:35:00 AM   

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Oh, how the mighty have fallen... I started working for Bill in January 1997, so approximately seven years ago. Seven years... That's a long time. I had worked for LTC since early 1995, and then I moved out of Packaging to work for this guy who, in my experience up to that time, was a total jerk. But it got me out of production, and the guy was overworked (I had personally had to call him at 3AM a few times when I was on third shift), so maybe he would be less of a jerk when he had another set of hands.
That was a rough year.
I met Scott and Jim and Jeff that year -- they were our primary hardware vendor. Jeff and I are about the same age. He had worked for the vendor for about a year (maybe?) longer than I worked for Bill. I remember he tried to hire me once, for less than I had made as a production operator. I was a very good production operator, though, and I had a shift differential. At any rate, I didn't take him up on it. That was a good decision for me, long-term. Not just because of the money, but because of the opportunity. I've gotten better, but I certainly was not the person you wanted to put in front of your customer in 1997. Too inexperienced, too overwhelmed. But I got better.
And now look at us. I read Jeff's blog a few times a week. He's working in newspaper production, which oddly enough is comfortable and familiar to me after all these years. I haven't worked in a daily newspaper since 1993, and a lot has changed. A lot stays the same. Jeff was a good guy, but a bit abrasive sometimes -- young, cocky, confident. And still, he seemed to me to be like me -- desperate to prove himself, misunderstood, with an appropriate amount of self-righteousness thrown into the mix. We've lost touch, but at least I can keep up with him from afar.
Scott came to work for us, then years later went to work for some electricity start-up. He's a big financial uppity-up there, which suits where he felt like he should be. He was so depressed at the p-V... but so were most of us. I don't blame him for being so despondent, but I do wish he hadn't acted like such a prick at times. It sometimes made him difficult to work with.
Jim also came to work for us, through LTC and p-V. He's still there. I wish I had more sympathy, but if you keep doing it to yourself... Of course, the economy there sucks. Maybe he can't leave, but maybe he just won't. I don't know. Not my place to judge him.
And then there's me. Here I am. Out in foggy California. And (mostly) happy, despite some "I'm not worthy" moments. Truth be told, I fell more worthy than I used to... that's a good thing, yes?
Anyway, this ramble was sort of a "look how far I've come" babble, I guess. I don't know why it struck me. I guess I just feel like there's so much distance between that time and now. Some days, it feels farther than others.

posted by bethanye 10:32:00 AM   

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2004-01-13

 

Actual email sent by me today:

Hello, [intern-seeker].

[Our company] is not currently offering any internships, nor do I know of any openings coming up in the near future. Also, my name is not "Beth".

~~b

------------------
[email signature]

posted by bethanye 11:03:00 AM   

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2004-01-12

 

We are older than old. Old old old OLD!! And I have proof, here. For when this link goes away, let me recap briefly. There is a new radio format sweeping the nation - "Classic Alternative". Yep, you read that right. KEXP Seattle music director says, "Somewhere down the line it's decided that now it's old enough, now it's time to be a nostalgia format."
"Nostalgia Format?!?!"
OMFG we have gotten so old...

posted by bethanye 1:57:00 PM   

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An old-school conservative discusses the NeoCons, here, at the "American Conservative" magazine website. It's an interesting read.

posted by bethanye 12:50:00 PM   

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2004-01-09

 

Guess where we're going on Sunday? To SF, to see these guys live. Yay!

posted by bethanye 11:47:00 AM   

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Does anyone else have this happen? My name is 'bethanye'. Three syllables -- beth-uh-nee. My name is NOT 'Beth'. I know a lot of 'Beth's' -- some of my best friends are 'Beth's' (ha-ha). But it's NOT my name! Anyone who actually knows me knows that. Either call me 'bethanye' or 'b', but not 'Beth'.
I've noticed that most of the people that start calling me 'Beth' are people that I don't like anyway. Over time, I've learned to use it as an indicator -- if someone calls me 'Beth' once, I'll correct them. Sure, they may be trying to get too informal with me, but they might also have just forgotten my name. But if they keep doing it, then they're probably asshats.
Now that I've opened up that pet peeve for the entire world -- well, at least this board -- I guess I'm asking for it. WTF... I just had to get that out of my system. Got an email from someone who had an intern offer from us last year and turned it down. He wants another crack at the internship... and he started the email calling me 'Beth'. Now I have to be extra sure that when I tell him no-go-kiddo that it's because we really don't need the help, and not because he irritated me.
Oh, well, back to work...

posted by bethanye 11:23:00 AM   

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2004-01-08

 

One v/o later... One less project on my list. That's a good thing.

posted by bethanye 11:54:00 AM   

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2004-01-06

 

Let's talk about my body for a moment. I'm going to come clean. Right here, right now. I am overweight. Yes, yes, I know this is a shocker, but it's true. I have decided that the only way to keep me honest is to set the "public" option on my FitDay journal, which I have been keeping on-and-off for over a year. It's here. See that? Now you know that I porked out on fried chicken from Rudy's Can't Fail Cafe for lunch, and that I had oatmeal for breakfast. You can see that I haven't exercised today at all -- not one tiny bit. And you can see that, according to my nifty new scale, I weigh about 212 pounds. My old scale said 216, but then it would wildly vacillate up to 220, so I'm going to go ahead and just trust the new one. Now, some analysis on this subject:
My nifty new scale also says that I have 35% body fat. 35% falls into the category of "obese", no matter who you ask. The math goes like this then:
212 * .65 = 137.8 So, I have about 138 pounds of me that's actual meat and bones, not just fat. 23% is considered very trim indeed, so another quick calculation:
138 * 1.23 = 169.74 It follows that if I exercise and don't lose any muscle at all, I will be very healthy at... 170 pounds? Is that possible? But everything I read says that 170 pounds is overweight for my height. How does that work, then? If I weighed 170, that would give me a BMI of 24.91 (which iVillage says is "Great!"). So why do the height/weight charts screw me over if I make it down that far, then? Buggers.
Short version: My goal is to lose some weight -- not too much -- and to maintain or perhaps even increase my muscle mass this year. I like being strong. It makes me feel confident and sexy -- definitely a worthwhile goal.

posted by bethanye 5:41:00 PM   

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I'm going to bitch about this and see if it calms me down any to vent. Is it just me, or does just about everyone in the state of California have a work ethic deficiency? Sure, I'll count myself. Why not? I'm bitching on my blog instead of working... Well, I'm waiting for some software to install, so I don't think I'm too bad. Remember me from way back when? When I had tons of energy and got lots of stuff done? These days, sometimes all I see is a sea of crap that needs to be done and no one, including myself, stepping up to the plate. It's not just on the job, though that's where I am at the moment. It's around the house -- "oh, I'll pick that up later." Or -- "I don't feel like cooking, let's get takeout." When did I become so damned lazy?
To be honest, I think my overall frustration with this "work ethic" issue is that I wonder if mine is slipping away. God, I hope not.

posted by bethanye 4:04:00 PM   

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2004-01-05

 

No wonder my eyes are killing me. Both of the bulbs above my desk have burned out. Gotta do something about that...

posted by bethanye 3:56:00 PM   

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And now a delayed friday five:

What one thing are you most looking forward to . . .

• ...today? Today, I will re-examine all of my work stuff and make a plan for the week. And, I admit, I like the planning stage.
• ...over the next week? I'm going yarn shopping with Jamie on Saturday. That will be nice. I'm going to make a cardigan for myself.
• ...this year? This year is going to be great! I just know it. I have a lot of work to do this year -- exercise and work-product work -- but it will be very satisfying. I'm also looking forward to seeing the family at Thanksgiving.
• ...over the next five years? Stevie's college graduation will be nice, and that's within that timeframe. Also, within five years, Jake will be old enough to come visit during a summer or spring break. That will be nice.
• ...for the rest of your life? Wow, no pressure there. You know, I used to be one of those people who lived in the future. "It will be better when..." But not so much anymore. As darling Dave sang, "The future is no place / to place your better days." The future will have good things and bad things, and that's just life. I can't cling to one and flee from the other, because it doesn't do any good. I can only accept that the good times are precious, made doubly precious by the bad times.

And onto that work list I was looking forward to!

posted by bethanye 11:26:00 AM   

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