Unplugged it right away. No removable battery. Way past warranty, is from 2011. Okay, Genius Bar it is. Thanks all. Good night.

Huh. Watching Grey's--they'd obviously been foreshadowing the Shepherd/Owen thing but I didn't expect them to go right there so soon. Huh. I thought there'd be more...buildup.

Also, am going to a dance weekend and can't decide if I want a room for one or two nights, and if I want to pay for it with money or with points. Hrm. (It's on the other side of town, but dancing tends to go quite late)

I found out today there's a new Mediterranean place on the sketchy side of town! Depending on sleetfall, I may give it a try for lunch tomorrow.

... and they both complain (at length) to me, so I feel like I can see both sides of the issue when they can't.

The last time two coworkers managed to put me in the middle, I ended up saying to both of them, "I know you have been stressed out, so I have tried to be a safe person for you to vent to. But something has to change. In order to manage my own stress so I can do my job effectively, I'm making a new rule: No dumping on Andrea." The next attempt to continue the topic got suggestions of various non-me resources for them to handle it (ie, work it out with the other party, take it to the next layer of leadership, make use of the Employee Assistance Program, etc.). The third attempt got a firm, "I need you to stop."

At one point, H. (very young, 20 at the time) used the word bitch to describe W. (in her 50s), I came down like a ton of bricks on that. I'm generally pretty easy going but, "No. You do not use that word to me about [name]." Very stern. When H tried to do the "I'm sorry, but..." explanations and justifications, I kept saying, "No." When H finally said, "I'm just trying to apologize." I said, "The way to do that is, 'I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. No buts.'" At which point H said, "Ok, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that."

Lee, maybe we can just plan a day off instead?

From way back, but yes please. This week has just been epically NOT FUN, and mid March is just too far away.

Talk about a blended family. [link] (video of a kitten and his dogs)

On Wednesday I helped someone take someone (didn't succeed at getting it all) take nail polish off her finger nails. The three fingers I was holding the cotton balls with remover are now so dry and sandpapery that my new iPad no longer recognizes their fingerprints. Repeated applications of Amlactin and my own skin goop aren't making much improvement. Last night at bedtime I topped off the Amlactin with petroleum jelly based arnica ointment and covered my hand in a sock (can't find my cotton gloves). Upon waking, the sandpaper is a much finer grade. So, improvement but not much. At the moment I have that hand in a sandwich baggie into which I squeezed the contents of gelcaps of vit. E, and A & D supplements mixed with lavender and olive oils and aloe vera gel. Is there anything more or better I can do, because I am not confident this will do the trick. Also, it smells like fish and lavender.

Yikes, WindSparrow! I have no better ideas for you.

I just looked at my calendar, and I basically have meetings from 10 to 4. I have 15 free minutes at noon, and as much as a half hour at 1. I need to figure out my food strategy! Especially since the 12:15 is an interview, so I probably shouldn't eat through it....

This morning it was 4, with a windchill of -10. Much better than yesterday. But the maintennce guy in my building was still amazed that I was walking 9 blocks to the train station.

The walk was OK. I should get long underwear, as my legs were cold, but I compensated with lots of layers under my jacket so my torso was hot.