In mememe news, next week we're going down to Alabama to spend a week with my mom, who's undergoing chemo for lung cancer. We'll be gone Tues.-Mon.

I like my new job. It's either the best or second-best I've ever had. But this week it's been crazy. My to-do list has been expanding far faster than I can cross anything off of it. I just got an urgent "sort out this impossible bureaucratic tangle by Friday or world go kablooey" task dumped on my desk. And that's leaving aside everything ELSE in my life, like sudden urgent parent-teacher conferences at daycare (AFAICT Annabel is just being a normal limit-testing 3-year-old, but they called us down Monday afternoon as if they'd never heard of such a thing as acting out during naptime), trying to get our house clean enough to not shock my friend who's watering the tomatoes and picking up the mail, suddenly remembering that I'd forgotten to judge a writer's contest and have three entries to get through by Sunday, etc.

Anyway, I thought I'd make work a little less stressful by dividing the to-do list into "before Alabama," "after Alabama," and "either."

80% of the list is "before Alabama."

AUGGGHHHH. Send cabana boys. Cabana boys who understand government/university/hospital bureaucratic protocol.

Oh, poor Emmett.

Also, Yum is gone?!? That sucks!

Work~ma for javachik and Susan.

We have been approved for our loan. Home ownership is very close to actually happening.

Poor Emmett is right!

Can you counter it in other ways? More vacation time, flex time, or something of that sort?

Unfortunately, it sounds as though they're giving her an opportunity of a lifetime. Sometimes it does take jumping companies to do this. I've been fighting for a promotion and a raise for her here (and just about to get final approval), but what they're offering is too much. I'm very pleased for her. And she's giving me a month's notice. But I am getting on a plane for the UK Friday the 10th, and it's a lot of pressure on my remaining staff. This is where the true test of whether I am a good manager is anyway, right? I inherited a great team; it's what I do from this step forward that reveals just how good (or bad!) I am.

But I'm gonna miss her!

ok, just for clarification... is "Cabana Boy" kinda the women's equivalent of "call girl" for us guys? They say it's not always about sex, but someone to dote and listen, ya? (at least that's what those DC politicians have been saying of late).

Cabana boys bring drinks and give backrubs.

I don't know how others use it, but I've always thought of it as "pretty eye candy fantasy man to serve my every whim, whether my current whim is sexual or facing my to-do list so I don't have to."

I have decided, using David's definition, that Padalecki is the perfect cabana boy. Plus he's ubertall*, so he could totally get you the top shelf liquor for drinks, which makes up for the notion that he'd be hot glueing random trinkets to your glass between refills.

Ackles may be prettier, but seems less suited for the job over all.

* I've heard tell that his girlfriend's roomies used to call him when they needed lightbulbs changed. Don't know how true it is, but the notion amuses.

My cabana boy normally knows where my muse has run off to and can get it back to work, while at the same time bring me lovely drinks and will tell me wonderful stories in an enthralling voice. Then there may be shagging.

Can I get a cabana girl? Muse, drinks, stories in lovely voice, with possible shagging sounds good.