I wish it didn't make me so angry. It just seems like a waste of time to spend all this energy trying to figure out when people are available when we have a perfectly good tool at our disposal! And the some of the other assistants are the worst because this control thing gives them a little mini power trip.

people who prefer to call or email me about my bosses' availability rather than just attempting to schedule a meeting and seeing their available time MAKE ME CRAZY. Welcome to the 20th century, the rest of us will be waiting in the 21st whenever you are ready to get on board with technology.

I respond to emails like that by telling them my boss uses outlook calendar, and they STILL want to call me to discuss! I have other things to do-- supporting my boss administratively is literally 3% of my job description!

Whereas our office just appointed a new director from outside our division who autocratically decided to get rid of our crazy helpful access -based staff locator in favor of outlook, and I'm trying to organize a mutiny...

I have a huge case of the "don't wanna"s today.

calendaring is about 50% of my job because as a company (or at least my main boss) we seem incapable of sticking with a schedule. He reschedules almost every single meeting, often 5 or 6 times.

I already posted this on Good Stuff, but I love it SO MUCH. A Paralympic skier in costume as the lamp from A Christmas Story: [link]

That's awesome!

Matilda's school has gone all out for Halloween. The courtyard is filled with Halloween games like pumpkin bowling (the pins are plastic bottles painted to look like ghosties).

The teachers dressed up and each class grade came as themed groups. So among the first grade teachers, Mr. Draven came in full Edward Scissorshands costume, and Ms. Ekta (Matilda's teacher) and Ms. Schultze came as two of his clients. So their hair was sprayed four feet up from their head into sculpted forms. It was hilarious.

All the kids get dressed in costumes at 9:45 and parade the neighborhood and come back and play Halloween games. Then half the parents will check their kids out and take them down to the Giants parade.

I'm working from home today, as I usually do on Wednesdays. This time there are two bags of Halloween candy here with me. Less than 20 feet away. I don't want to give out crap candy, because I don't want to be that person--the one who feels they should give out candy, but kinda resents it, so they get the crappiest candy in the store, and then when the kids get home they eat the chocolate, and the sweet-tarts, and maybe some licorice-based candies, and then there are the crap candies sitting in the kids' plastic pumpkins, a sugar hit in a pinch but still a waxy, funny tasting bunch of candy that they probably don't want to throw away ('cause, candy!) but they don't really want to eat either, so it goes into the back of the closet and a month or so later they discover an ant infestation due to the sugar and the kid gets Ant Fear for the rest of his life, all because I handed out crap candy on Halloween.

So I have the good stuff (Reeses cups and Kit-Kats) and it's calling me.

But at least while I'm typing the longest run-on sentence in recent history, I'm not getting up off the couch and mugging the candy bowl for chocolate-peanut butter goodness.

So there's that.

do not eat the candy.

Nuh-uh, the names were drawn the other day.