ION, I was told in THREE separate official emails that nobody in my division will be getting a raise this year and we should be thankful that at least we're not going out of business entirely. OH YAY.

Hey, look at the bright side. If deflation's deep enough, it could feel like a raise.

I'm assuming I'm in the same boat. My company's announced they intend to cut the workforce by 20%. (And they're actually in fairly decent shape for a financial services firm.) I don't expect a raise this year, I'll be happy just to keep my job.

part of me thinks that it's unfair that she's dumping all of this on me

It is unfair.

It seems incredibly unfair to me, and those types of manipulative comments are even worse. I'm sorry you're facing this with her.

---

Laga, did you have a happy birthday yesterday?

Date seemed to go ok. Still not sure if it was a date-date, or just two friends getting together-date. But I am still smitten. The hard part will be, one of her cats sounds super ill, and doesn't sound like she wants to leave her place much. So how to push to do stuff, without sounding cold and uncaring for the cat.

ION, I think I finally found a bowling alley!!

I'm still tattoo shopping, and this one is pretty freaking awesome: [link]

So how to push to do stuff, without sounding cold and uncaring for the cat.

You tap the Buffista hivemind for sick cat tips, then call her and say "I mentioned to a friend that your cat wasn't well, and he suggested ______ I can bring some over and we could watch a movie, if you like."

It sounds shitty, but part of me thinks that it's unfair that she's dumping all of this on me when there are plenty of other people that she can rely on (like, my brother or her best friend).

That's not shitty at all. It seems completely realistic.

I wonder why her focus has shifted to you, rather than your brother and her friend.

I know it is hard, but I can't see tolerating comments like, "I wouldn't treat my worst enemy the way that you treat me" without saying (in my head only, of course) Great! I'll introduce you to MY worst enemy. You might just get along.

Emotional manipulation is so unfair and never seems to be resolved by going along with it.

My response when she makes statements like that is "okay".

What I want to say is "Really? Well, I wouldn't put up with this crap from anyone but my mother, so I guess we're even"

She said once "do you treat your friends the way you treat me?" I did not respond "my friends don't act the way that you do, and if they did, I would treat them much worse than you claim that I'm treating you."

Snowpocalypse '09: [link]

Chloe demonstrates how much snow we got (she is NOT a small dog): [link]

That right there is the coolest black and white tattoo I've ever seen. Fabulous concept and execution.