I loves my coffee, but for the sake of my poor congested nose today I am drinking tea.

Thanks, Burrell! Oh, and did you see my comment to you about what things I learned by doing the annotated bibliography I was bitching so much about?

Ooops, sorry I missed it. I am a notorious skipper, especially if I haven't been around for a few days. So I guess the assignment went well for you?

We just discovered that we don't have the Nebraska code books anymore. Oops.

Do you need something looked up, Sparky? We have them just down the aisle from my desk here.

Quick hivemind advice request:

I'm home sick today, so I expect to do a lot of catching up tomorrow and Friday. But remember a few weeks ago when I was grousing about long delays in setting up appointments with specialists? Well, I just got a call from someone who can fit Annabel in for a screening on Friday afternoon. (It's a speech evaluation that both her pediatrician and preschool teacher recommended she have.) And if we don't take the Friday appointment, between our schedule and the therapist's it'll be nearly a month before she can fit us in again.

DH is going to look at his schedule and see if he can be the one who takes her. But if he can't, should I email the office *today* and let them know I'll have to leave early Friday, or do I wait till tomorrow morning, get there early, do the most urgent things, and THEN tell them?

I wouldn't even be worried if it weren't for the new boss issue, because the people who've been there all along know I'm reliable and so on. Sigh. Now I'm wishing I'd dragged my sore-throated carcase in this morning, especially since I'm feeling so much better after a nap and some Dayquil.

Normally I'd say tell them asap, but since you're home sick today, I'd wait until morning.

Do you need something looked up, Sparky?

Fortunately, what we needed was in the supplement, which we do have. It's only the bound volumes that have gone AWOL. I'm going to cross my fingers that the law review article doesn't cite to Nebraska again.

Susan, could you go in for a couple hours this afternoon and win yourself some dedicated-employee points that way while you let them know you'll be leaving early Friday?

I'm in the "give as much advance notice as possible" when it comes to emergency time off. First thing tomorrow should be okay. Though if your boss usually arrives after you do, "first thing" means any time before boss arrives.

So I guess the assignment went well for you?

Yeah. It was actually fairly useful. Go figure. Also, I had it turned in a week early. Oops. My prof was all, "No one else turned this in. Are you sure it was due?" First time I've ever been early due to misreading a syllabus!

Susan, I agree with the others. I'd think first thing tomorrow morning would be fine.

Susan, could you go in for a couple hours this afternoon and win yourself some dedicated-employee points that way while you let them know you'll be leaving early Friday?

At this point it's probably too late, partly because of commute logistics. I won't bore you with the details, but suffice it to say parking is expensive and hard to find and the bus schedule is impossibly convoluted except during peak hours when the express I take runs.

I think what I'm going to do, since it does look like it's going to have to be me instead of DH taking AB to the appointment, is get him to do the daycare drop-off and pick-up tomorrow so I can go in a bit early and stay till the very last express bus leaves that evening. I'll tell them first thing in the morning, then spend the day being impressively productive.

As I keep having to remind myself, I do work for chaplains who explicitly prioritize self-care. And even if my new boss is more efficient, driven, and bureaucratically minded than any of the other staff chaplains, she's still, you know, a Buddhist priest. Not that being a member of the clergy guarantees that you're a wonderful person or anything, of course, but still.

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Daft Punk is playing at your house?