In Land of Me news, I seem to be out of money, and my rent check may bounce. Something's not right here... and it looks like a deposit didn't get counted. Great. Now I have to argue with the bank, and possibly find about $400 real fast.

Ouch. Good luck with the bank.

Thankfully I'm in decent shape financially (saving up for a couple years with the plan to eventually buy a house makes for a decent cushion) and they still owe me 4 weeks of vacation time, so if I wanted to just up and quit I'd be okay for a few months if I watched my spending, but it's a lot easier to find a job when you have a job, and I don't need the extra stress of trying to find a place to work before I run out of the money I spent so much time saving. The temptation of saying "Fuck you, I quit" is very strong, but I know in the long run it so isn't worth it.

And hey, as screwed up as it is, I still have a job. And the girlfriend only lives 20 minutes from the Corp office. I might talk to her about coming down to visit with her earlier in the afternoon, and then drive from her place into the office. It will add some distance, but I'll be able to avoid a good deal of sitting in rush hour traffic. And she'll probably appreciate being able to see me, since this is going to totally hose us spending time together on the weekends.

Actually, thinking about it, there's no way I'll be able to get anything resembling real sleep. 12 hour shift, plus 2 hours driving each way due to rush hour only leaves me 8 hours for sleep, eating and getting ready altogether. This is just stupidly-ridiculous all around.

If/when this becomes official, I will most-definitely bring up the added expense, drive time and complete desctruction of my social life with my boss to see what can be done to alleviate it somewhat (until I get the hell out of there).

My world is just all askew. This place was my first for really-real job (my time in retail was pretty BS) and it sucks that it can just suddenly turn so wrong like this after 9 years.

Kalshane, when I had a night shift job we got time+ 1/2 (and double time on Sunday night) over the day shift. They can't possibly expect to keep a qualified person in that shift without some financial incentive.

Thanks Jesse. Am dying not getting to watch the Agassi match.

Damn, Kalshane, they're sucking up all your time and not paying you more for it? Screw that. You're right that it's easier to get a job when you have one, but don't let the energy drain of the current job keep you from looking for a new one.

This site has a similar function to the Birthday Start thing, and has an RSS feed you can subscribe to so it will automatically tell you when new stars enter your light cone.

Awww, Todd. Your poor brain! Take care of it.

I think Hec needs to come by for this convo. I'm sure he has an opinion.

Cat poop! I manage to miss this particular discussion and then I am invoked. If I was a demon I'd be pissed. And take vengeance. Probably with cat poop in your favorite footwear.

Quick! Someone ask about harircuts!

Everybody should get them!

msbelle, I scoff at you since you are about to engage in a long-term relationship with Mac.

Gud, I suggest now is the opportune time to tell your wife that if she wasn't home schooling the kids then y'all would have enough time to start a home business.

Laura, I know that in your mind you think this is impossible, but I'm going to throw it out there: Brendon Jr. can get his own damn self up. I had to get up for my 6:30 bus on my own when I was in junior high. I knew how to make a bowl of cereal. Honestly, he can handle that responsibility.

Of course he'll miss a few at first, but he'll get the hang of it. He's going to have to learn to live with alarm clocks instead of a wake-up knock anyway.

Via Teresa Nielsen-Hayden's blog ("Making Light")

Some poor guy lost his ipod down the airline toilet. (It was attached to his belt.) This resulted in the airplane being grounded for a possible terrorist device, the guy whose ipod it was intensely questioned as a possible terrorist.

BTW - they don't let you take water on the airline but you can take ipods? I'll bet exploding ipods are easier to make than exploding water bottles.

[link]

Not sure if this is a repeat or not, but the white stripes on Charlie Rose. yep - repeat from 10/05

pbbbhhtt David - longterm relationship and parenthood are different categories in my head.

pbbbhhtt David - longterm relationship and parenthood are different categories in my head.

Well let me point that (a) you won't be living like you're single; and (b) you won't be getting sleep like you're single after Mac arrives.

Still excited for you, though.

JZ's news from her doctor visit today is that the baby is no longer transverse, but head-down. Which will probably change again before birth, but this her first attempt at a head stand and we applaud her cleverness.

Then again, she just headbutted Mom in the hip bone from the inside.

So far, no, no mention of additional compensation. But we'll see what happens Tuesday when I get back to work. I had a phone conversation with the girlfriend and she's pretty flabbergasted about the whole thing too. I'm hoping the "official" announcement won't seem as absolutely ridiculous as what I know so far, but we'll see.