frissonic

i've done that before. twice, actually. lined up a new gig, quit the old gig 2 fridays before the new gig starts, effectively giving me a 9-day weekend ... always a smart play, especially if your company is one that buys back your PTO bank. hell, i even got laid off once, and as an accidental severance package, the HR dept. cut us checks 3x what we had in our PTO bank. oops. :) of course, they called the next day and asked for the money back. that conversation went something like this: "are you out of your mind? you just laid off 60% of the company, and now you're asking for the PTO check back?" "yah ... sorry. it was a clerical error on our end." "i don't care if it was a clerical, computer glitch, or whatever. you distributed the checks, then laid us all off. my wife and i had an emergency budget meeting last night. that money is already earmarked for at least 3 months of bills." "but ... but ...... we need it back!" "look ... am i in any way legally obligated to pay it back? cuz really, this is your f***-up--not mine." *long pause as hr chick ponders her next response* "well ... no, but it would be nice if you would." "yah? well it would also be nice to still have a job. i believe you have your answer. see ya." that was flat-out ballsy. the best part was that i hired on with a financial firm as a contractor and was making about 1.5 times what i had been making at my previous job. i actually made money on the lay-off.

do you have a new gig lined up?

you know you're in for a long-ass day when it's 7 am and you've already been at work for over 2 hours. blueberry cheese danish, cheese and bacon omlette, and a coke. hopefully, that'll help slough the sleepy shackles that still burden my eyelids.

how about skipping out on half day of work to just go putzing around with a camera? yah. it's that kind of day. 60s, cloudless, and the bird refuge north of me is now fully paved and mosquito-free. too cold at night for them to survive. see ya. and happy friday to y'all.

hey, is this thing on? test, 1 2 3 .... *tap tap tap* okay, i'll start off. obvious. 5-1 start to the season. how about seeing articles like this? libya is free. sort of. maybe. eventually. hey, they have a better shot of it now than they did, right? pumpkin walk tonight with my two little pumpkins. </cheese> weekend. sabres game saturday. bills game football on sunday. pizza for breakfast. cold. fresh out of the fridge. rockstar punched as the beverage of choice. iOS 5. why not?

i heard that NASA was developing a new flavor: prune.

there's always a reason for a high attrition rate. if the money is good, the position solid, then there may be something more "sinister" that is going on than you might realize. having been in both places (low man and middle management), that's been what i've noticed. when i was 'the lowly worker bee' and the company had issues, we all sat around and speculated what the issues were. from middle management, i *knew* what the issues were ... i just couldn't discuss them openly. i opted to keep my team at least semi-informed by speaking in 'hypotheticals,' which were pretty obviously not so hypothetical. i had some jump ship. others stuck around. the ones that did were richly rewarded when the proverbial ship righted itself. i hope everything works out for ya, man.

i've worked at small companies. not quite *that* small, but we had the same turnover rate. people left all the time--either voluntarily or through layoffs. in 2009, there were 3 rounds of layoffs in 6 months. it was ridiculous. they lost 70% of their work force--engineering, sales, tech support, management ... no one was safe except the president and the CEO. it was sad. good luck man. who's the low man on the totem pole? maybe ask the last remaining middle person if the turn-over rate is normal?

one great perk to having 0 fans is this exact scenario. well, other than my wife. maybe my kids. other than that, i'm content with my "no fans" status. :) steven king is one twisted sumbich, but man he's brilliant.

they did, but they actually said that their x-ray machine isn't as powerful as what most local hospitals have, so they said that it's entirely possible that there may be a hairline fracture, and that waiting until the calcium has time to form over the fracture will be the only way they can know for certain *at their facility.* however, the doctor also said that he'd be very surprised if icing, elevating and rest didn't take care of the inflammation and pain. the inflammation is down, but the pain level is exactly the same as the first day, which was 2 mondays ago. i went to the hospital yesterday and had it re-x-rayed. sure enough, it's actually fractured. frickin' awesome. as for the drugs, yah, i was mostly joking in asking about them. can't have you getting arrested for illegal distribution, trafficking across state lines, illegal use of the postal system, etc. :) re-break tomorrow morning. i'm going to demand general anesthetic. none of this local crap.

mis-diagnosed ankle sprains. it's actually fractured. guess who gets to have his ankle rebroken so the fracture can be properly set. shrader, still have those drugs? oh happy day. mother ****, this is an unparalleled level of pain.

we will call you cygnus: the god of balance, you shall be.

OR will she demand to go back to your place and watch the game with you? EH!? THAT is the sign of a keeper. If she starts throwing pillows at the TV if the Canes score, then you know she's worth it. :)

1. Twisted ankle. It's pretty bad. "Umm ... exactly *how* is that a good thing? Should this not go in the 'Complaint Thursday' thread?" Yes, it should. And it did. However, a) I've had the entire week off of work. With pay. Doctor's orders. I've sat around and watched movies, played X-box, ripped hundreds of CDs in prep of iTunes Match at the end of the month. b) Lortab. 'nuff said. :) c) THIS WAS ALL MY BOSS' IDEA. He's the one who called and suggested that I take the week AND Monday and Tuesday of next week to rest the ankle, keep it elevated, and let it heal. He said he would contact HR and get the paperwork rolling on short-term disability. WHO has the winner job? *I* have the winner job! WHO has the best boss ever?! I think you already know the answer to that one. :) 2. HOCKEY 3. Good friends coming over for the game. 4. Good food for dinner. 5. HOCKEY!!!!!!!!!!!

Twisted ankle. It's pretty bad. "Umm ... exactly *how* is that a good thing? Should this not go in the 'Complaint Thursday' thread?" Yes, it should. And it did. However, a) I've had the entire week off of work. With pay. Doctor's orders. I've sat around and watched movies, played X-box, ripped hundreds of CDs in prep of iTunes Match at the end of the month. b) Lortab. 'nuff said. :) c) THIS WAS ALL MY BOSS' IDEA. He's the one who called and suggested that I take the week AND Monday and Tuesday of next week to rest the ankle, keep it elevated, and let it heal. He said he would contact HR and get the paperwork rolling on short-term disability. WHO has the winner job? *I* have the winner job! WHO has the best boss ever?! I think you already know the answer to that one. :)

is there a way to nominate posts as 'quote of the year'? cuz man--this one wins.

having used a metric sh**-ton of OTC drugs for upper back and tension headaches, i can tell you this: *always* cut the pill in half. even with lortab 5s (the weakest normal dose), i cut it in half because a full pill knocks me on my keister for literally a day. a full 10 not only does not help the pain, but it leaves me with a chemical hangover that's exponentially worse than the original headache. so i've learned that the full pill is not only not necessary--it's sometimes detrimental. as for not wanting them on hand, i can understand that. however, as a recommendation, i would keep at least a few on hand, again cutting them in half and using as necessary. you never know when something *that* unbearably painful is going to come along. as long as they're out of the reach of kids and in a locked, secure cabinet, i'd hold some back for those "didn't see that coming" moments.

this is good advice ... depending on what they gave him. lortabs, vikes, and anything ending in 'codone" or "cet" will do the trick. anything ending in "odol" might not have the desired affect. "gee chris ... know much about OTC drugs?" yes, sadly. yes i do. :)

sounds like the woes of a project manager ... sorry man. :)

Yah, I'm calling them later today and asking for something stronger. This stuff just makes me drowsy and does nothing for the pain, so I sleep, but it's hellish cuz every little bump causes my ankle to flare like a forest fire.

Two words: Rockstar Punched. :) Okay, but in all seriousness, yah--that sucks man. Especially the "Who the hell am I living with?" issue. 20 pages can be a lot, especially if it's research-related. Good luck, man!

On Monday, I stayed home because I had a pretty bad head cold, and I didn't want to spread it around the office. Not quite feeling like utter hell, I tried doing some cleaning upstairs. Our city has a dumpster program: A resident stops by the facilities management office, signs up for a 15-foot long, 7-foot tall dumpster to be brought to your house; you load it up with whatever you want (minus what's on the "no-no" list [e.g. paints, chemicals, old car batteries, etc]); they haul it away. All of this is for free. My wife asked me to take an old vacuum cleaner out to the dumpster. "Sure." Lugged it out, stepped up into the dumpster, tossed it to the back, turned around to head out, and I stepped right on this relatively small tree branch with the inside of my right heel. My ankle rolled really severely, I crumpled to the ground, and screamed out in agony. Wife and 5 year old daughter come tearing out, and help get me to my feet. Well, okay ... foot. I couldn't put ANY weight on my right foot without feeling like someone was taking a sledge hammer to my right ankle. Short story long (yes, I wrote that exactly as I meant it), I'm off until Monday with a severe sprain. Don't qualify for short-term disability because I was only off 4 days. Friday is a normal day off and doesn't count towards STD. I'm burning my last few days of PTO for the year on this dumb sprain. Awesome. Also, the tramadol the doc prescribed helps precisely none. Lovely.

oddly, these weren't even the worst calls made today. try being carolina. new orleans is scrambling to get a field goal unit on before time expires in the half, and carolina calls a time out? really? and what was the final score? 30-27 NO? yah. brilliant move, rivera. way to give nawlins a great chance to settle in to the play. whatever. bills are 4-1. sabres are 2-0. name the last time you can recall THAT happening.

while i'm excited as hell for the new season, it makes me kind of sadly nostaligic for living back in buffalo. all y'all get to rally around the F'NC, discuss the game the next day at work, GO TO AN ACTUAL GAME ... man, out here, we've got precisely bupkiss for hockey excitement. for 99.83 percent of this state, today is just another day. for about 10 of us, it is THE DAY. you lucky fish poops (get it? bass turds!). it's days like today where i really, really envy you. thankfully, i do have the center ice package, so i can watch the game, but there's no water cooler discussion, kicking the feet up on the cube and shooting the sh** for the first bit of work the next day, no buying "top shelf" perrys ... live it up, you buffalonians, cuz you are the lucky ones.

i truly am sorry for your loss. my grandfather lived to be 85. strong as an ox up until the last couple of years. i don't know what your grandfather meant to you--i can only assume that he meant a lot based on the "gonna be lots of crying" today" comment. mine is the reason i went into english. his command of the language and his expansive vocabulary were incredible. i always loved chatting with him over breakfast, or listening to his stories about WWII. i know that the phrase "he's better off" means nothing to the grieving. however true the phrase may be, it can't begin to take away the pain of loss as we reflect on a lifetime spent together and the memories those times created. all i can say is that it does get easier, but there will always be that twinge of sadness behind the reminiscing *because* we love so unabashedly and deeply. cling to that twinge, for when it disappears, then your grandfather truly is gone ... but while that pang of loss still touches us, no one can ever fully die.