askye, it's good you were able to let it happen without being mad at yourself for it. Sometimes that stuff just comes flooding up and you can't stop it.

JZ, good grief, that sounds hideous. I would be wearing a thick hoodie and sunglasses to work every day, I swear I would.

Wow, askye, gold star for pushing through your dentist anxiety and getting it done. I'm really glad your dental team was kind and cool and professional about it all.

Speaking of gold stars, after 10 years of procrastination, Tom and I finally got our wills drawn up, signed, and notarized, thanks to an awesome lawyer friend of ours. I am relieved and proud of myself and just generally giving myself a gold star for doing this instead of blowing it off like usual.

That's worth like 10 gold stars!

Nora, I actually think that any time any buffista publishes something it should be announced on the board. I had the impression that Press is more appropriate the Apocalypse if it is actually available and that Apocalypse is the place to post if it has been accepted or a contract signed, but is not actually available yet. However whether that was the original intent (and I'm not positive it was) these days it seems that either kind of announcement can go either place.

Does anyone here understand FMLA stuff? I'm very confused about my employer requiring me to get FMLA paperwork done. A few weeks ago I pulled a muscle in my lower back, tried to tough it out at work for a few days and someone convinced me I was never going to get better if I didn't take a couple days off to heal. So I did - policy is to find your own substitute, which I did, and then informed my supervisor of it. When I realized that I still was unable to really do my work so I went to see my primary care nurse practitioner who let me know that this kind of injury takes about 2 weeks to recover from. So she gave me an excuse/release stating I could return to work with no restrictions in a week. Our employee handbook does not specify when a doctor's excuse is needed or any other details about using FMLA. I just figured that 1-2 days of "I don't feel good" is ok but for more than that, I'd better have an official excuse. When my supervisor insisted on calling it FMLA leave I was confused, because I thought it specifically covers longer term illnesses. I've been back for two weeks, and suddenly got an email from HR essentially saying, "Here, get this FMLA certification form filled out by your medical professional." With the form is a thing saying what kinds of events qualify for FMLA leave; for "serious personal illness" it specifies needing to take time off work and at least two medical treatments. I only saw the nurse the one time. And I don't see what all the fuss is about, why am I being asked to get these forms filled out for such a short absence. (I can also say I'm a bit put out by the fact that this process is not transparent. The employee handbook should give more details other than "we expect employees to show up on time, every time, but if you can't get your own substitute, and if we think you are unreliable, we'll fire you.")

My knowledge on FMLA is patchy at best, but they might want the paperwork already in place in case the condition goes on life longer/recurs.

That or they're totally clueless and just doing it wrong :)

They probably also want to make sure it's not workman's comp.

Thanks, Typo!

We have a "quiet room" in my office - it was originally set up for, yes, expressing milk. It has a fold-up crib and a couch and is largely used for storage. I use it a fair amount - my back is giving me fits and I've found that lying down for 15-20 minutes during the day relaxes it enough that I can get through the rest of the day.

A previous office they decided to go with the completely open office plan (a very small - less than 20 - staff) since it was a weirdly shaped building with a fair number of windows. Well, the head person NEEDED an enclosed office. And then the department heads REQUIRED enclosed offices. When the rest of us were spread out on counters (seriously - counters) with little partitions maybe a foot tall separating you from the person across, but not the person next to you, they found that the noise and distraction levels were just too high. People weren't getting stuff done. And they had another department that ABSOLUTELY HAD TO BE closed off. So we had glass partitions to the ceiling. But the closed off department NEEDED PRIVACY ... so workmen came back and did something to give them frosted glass for about six feet up and the rest of us frosted glass a foot or two above the partitions. So ... kind of a habitrail effect.

My office used to have an open office plan, and contrary to all expectations of an introvert like me, I enjoyed it. It was broken up into "blocks" of 8 desks, arranged so that there was a wall infront of you and no one was directly staring at anyone else, but only a low wall between people, so you could converse with someone just by turning a little. People were generally quiet, and it was actually an enjoyable, busy, supportive social atmosphere. When they boarded it all up and put us in 6x6 cubicles like veal, I felt isolated. It took away the social environment that made me feel engaged with my job and my co-workers. That was about the same time they rolled out the new Automated Workflow Management Software, which was a near-unusable stinking pile of shit, and my job turned into paper-pushing drudgery. I was ready to leave. About a year later they instituted telecommuting, so I did. If not for that, I probably would have been looking for another job.

Last night as I was falling asleep, I dreamed that a tall skeletal winged being wearing a cape slid into bed beside me and wrapped a bony wing (and the cape) comfortingly around me and prepared to fall asleep beside me. It was rather nice. Then I woke up wondering WTF was that? if Death had paid me a visit, and if I should be concerned. Then I realized, well, it wasn't particularly scary, regardless, so I fell back to sleep.