That is one thing I really like about my company. We have one pot of Paid Time Off, not separate sick/holiday, and as long as you are taking PTO, no one complains. I accrue a day off each pay period.
Now, between being a mom and dealing with my mom, I feel like I burn through them as fast as I earn them. Like today. Tried to work from home this morning, but my brain just isn't in it. Today is going to be a day off and in an hour we head out to the hospital for mom's biopsy. I'm supposed to be in training all next week - hopefully we get some good news and she recovers pretty quickly.
Well I just ran an end of year vacation plan, and if I take the min days I really want at T-day and Christmas, I should have 2 extra days. I just put in for our "free" day (since 7/4 is a Sat), so I'll probably use one of those extra days in June while mac is in school and then I should be good.
Ooh. Time to post some creationism crazy:
The spread of the so-called 'swine flu' demonstrates yet again how useless and sometimes deadly a mutation can be. Furthermore, as the infection spreads around the world, the search for an antidote is desperately sought, but the very fact that the virus is seen as something to be opposed actually supports the Biblical view of this world. It is always good and right to oppose sickness, but in evolutionary terms, why don't humans simply resign themselves to it and allow the strong to survive? The evolutionary point of view would say the virus has a 'right' to live, so 'good luck' to it!
From PZ: A little study in contrasts
eta: This is the guy's solution to the Swine Flu:
The great hope for this fallen, diseased, weatherworn world, is the return of Christ, who has promised to bring restoration, everlasting health and peace to all people.
I have a micro-manager for a supervisor. I took PTO this past Wednesday and left a message for him, wherein I said, "I'll see you tomorrow." A few hours later, he calls to find out if I'm going to be in the next day. Asshat, I told you so in my message! I know you're just giving me the passive-aggressive "I know you're taking time off and I'm watching you" thing! He's such a local Utah boy, with no clue how to use authority like a grown-up and utterly unable to cope with an older female who doesn't subscribe to the patriarchal world view.
He actually asked me why I have to take a bathroom break in the middle of the morning every day (OK, I'll take a long bathroom break, because that's the only break I get in the morning), and why can't I go before I start work. The first few times I told him that I had to go--which I did. The last time I gave him a five-minute lecture on the middle-aged female bladder and offering to go with him to the head of our HR department, who is a woman a little older than I am, to find out if my middle-aged female bladder was an anomoly. I tacked on a brief mention of the menstrual cycle and how all gastric bets are off at that time, and if he wants to explain why I need a new chair and am going home to change clothes, he's more than welcome to insist that I don't take a bathroom break when I need it.
None of which advanced the cause of women in the workplace, but god, the colors his face turned.
Listening to Flight of the Valkyries, O Fortuna, and Ode to Joy in sequence has failed to make things more exciting. Now I just want to go home and do something dramatic.
hey, natterers, do you think of a "cracker" being used to as a perjorative to describe a poor, white person or a rich, land-owning white person?
I've always thought "poor".
Mmmm... crackers. I must get some. And herring. And brie. (But not herring and brie at the same time. That would be wrong.)
Poor.
I just got all excited for a minute, because Ellen (on yesterday's show) is giving money to a Stephanie in Cincinnati, but it not Our Steph. The "anie" should have been my first clue.
