I think that lj being down means I don't have to do anything, because I keep my to-do list there. Yes, I knew they were going down and I could have moved my list, but I didn't. So now, freedom!

Or maybe not. I think I'm just feeling giddy from feeling better and from having finished my federal paperwork.

It's been years since I had my hair long. Long enough for me to forget how much I hated maintaining it. Maybe I should just grow it out. It'd be cheaper.

We just got an email that the building was told to turn the heat off -- there are a shitload of ConEd trucks outside and around the corner, doing who knows what, but the key point here is that it is 38 degrees outside. We need the heat ON! Brrr.

Twitter and LJ down! I'm dying here!

It's going to be down for at least four hours, Trudy-- they're migrating servers.

I'm going through WITHDRAWLS!!!!

Puppies are being adorable though.

Twitter down, too? AUGH. They should know better!

Candied bacon

God bless the pig, that tastiest of critters.

Oh my friend got the bacon salt and baconaise (like a BLT exploded in your mouth...in a good way) and with her package she got bacon lip balm! It's her new pickup line "my lips taste like bacon."

Puppycam needs a cleanup in aisle two, though.

Huh. My firm just sent out a communication to managers around new policies on pay increases given the current economic state. Never a good thing, but I really like how they've done it:

The new process was designed to be fair and equitable, protect employees who are most vulnerable to the current downturn and reward our top performers.

Employees below $X base salary will be eligible for merit increases (to both base salary and target bonus) providing performance is at an acceptable level (manager discretion)

Employees between $X - $200,000 base salary who are “top performers” will be eligible for a merit increase to both base salary and target bonus (top performers will be determined using evaluative data, such as IPMP scores, talent review data and calibration of contributions relative to one's peer set)

Employees over $200,000 base salary will not be eligible for merit increases in 2009 to either base salary or target bonus

They've also bumped the effective date to March 1 instead of Jan 1, which sucks - no retroactive bump as in past years.

But still - it's really nice to see an actual progressive approach to this kind of thing so that it hits hardest where people have most capacity to absorb it, rather than holding the line on the lowest end of the food chain while people at the top keep raking in big bonuses.