Howdy, Bobbi.

Hi, Bobbi - welcome.

I think I need to nap before I go pick up my HP tonight. Though, in truth, I'm just as likely to fall asleep for the night and just get it in the morning. And, I mean, if I'm asleep, what's the difference, right? Well, anyway, I won't be taking pictures on this book road trip - it's all dark and stuff.

Heh. See, I think I'm overpaid and have a somewhat annoying but nonessential job. (Except when I'm training my backup and realize I actually have some talent. Skills? Maybe not, but to me it's not that hard. But apparently, it's harder than I think.) My mom (a teacher) so deserves it more than me. I was surprised at that percentage. Never seen that before. But then, we had a few retirements and re-assignments that meant people left the contract. I'm guessing there was money left over.

Welcome!

Yay for leftover money that works its way into payechecks.

Welcome, Bobbi!

I haven't seen a 7 percent raise since the '80s.

I'm headed off to a bookstore Harry Potter event in the next hour. It's made me keep singing, "I'm off to see the wizard...."

Because you are!

Huh. So it's an anomaly, huh? So maybe I should be more flattered.

I swear, I'm so dysfunctional about this job. I have no perspective whatsoever.

I think about finding something else and then collapse into paroxisms of "I'm not worthy."

I need... something.

Hello, Bobbi! Welcome.

The only time I've ever gotten anything like a 7% raise was getting a promotion. Even my last promotion wasn't that much.

I think of my job as useful but nonessential. Which is fine. They could pay me more.

This weekend I plan to hermit. Though I will make a pilgrimage to B&N.

Ugh. The past couple of weeks I've meant to ask if anyone was watching Standoff. I wasn't into it when it first came on, but then they moved it to after the Bones reruns when there's nothing else on so I started watching and it was a lot better than I remembered. And Tim Minear is apparently a producer. So okay.

Tonight's ep? Volatile couple, guy comes home (with women!), then flips out when he thinks wife is sleeping around, yanks out gun, takes hostage, yadda yadda. Things get worse. Half hour of show later, the protagonists, the fucking hostage negotiators, are all "but it's so obvious they love each other. We just have to get them talking", with all sorts of parallels to the main characters own relationship troubles.

It's fucking sickening, is what it is, and I'll be turning the tv off rather than watching this BS again.

Ah. Money left over from a contract is good. DH was told this year that they love him but can't give him a raise--no $ in the contract.

Thanks, Sarameg (and Brenda M and JenP) for the welcome. Your mom (a teacher) and I (a nurse) have been in the same boat paddling in circles for many years. But we all have our different talents. My DH is a systems analyst. Now in his job for 13 years, he makes boatloads more than I do after 30+ (He started in retail.). It's a good thing. It helps us take care of the quadriped kids. (We have 4: Sam, Bonnie, Lucy, and Punky. They were all adopted through Lab Rescue and are all senior citizens. Punk has diabetes and Cushing's disease, but she's a happy girl and has no clue she's chronically ill.)

So now I'm working on my master's degree so that I can become a nurse educator. You've heard of the nursing shortage? The nurse educator shortage is just as critical. And once I finish and get a job teaching new nurses, I'll make LESS than I make at the bedside. But I'll have summers off.