Same Shit Different Month

So when my old Spanish mobile phone started chirping on Sunday, I naturally was thinking, "what the fuck is going on?"


The phone has been switched off and stuffed in a drawer for months.


Fortunately, it was a reminder to wish Kendall a happy birthday. Sure, I get points for setting the calendar properly on the mobile, but miss the gold star on account I failed to sit down and send her an email until this morning...the day AFTER her birthday.


At any rate, that wasn't half as bad as me forgetting Heather's birthday, which was last month. So, I'll take this opportunity to give the happy belated birthday greeting to her now. Thanks also for the party invite; I'm sure that was a nice time. I assume I'm off the Christmas Card list but will hopefully redeem myself at some point early in 2008.


Things have been fairly wacky in recent weeks, as usual. Constant ups and downs with the job, daily conversations with myself about going off and finding something else to do, and incredible bewilderment that this industry I work in is such a disaster.


I was having a particularly bad day early last week, but was getting through the day. I went over to visit with a couple of girls who work on my team, and they went on to exclaim how much they enjoyed having me for a manager. "You do things differently, Bryan. You actually care about what's going on. You constantly check to make sure we're doing OK. You're great!"


I was really really touched. They went on to say that a lot of people that work in the repair site would just as soon work on my programs. That's pretty good feedback to have.


Of course, my fuzzy feeling lasted all of 24 hours. The next day the customer managed to call me a dipshit (I didn't even know the Flemmish knew that word) and make me feel like the world's biggest ass. In fairness, I had used some poor judgement which helped fuel the customer's frustrations, but once again, I'm struggling to see their need for 20 people to individually voice their displeasure. One time would have sufficed, and would have kept the teleconference from lasting 2 hours.


So, the beat goes on. I certainly don't care as much as I once did, but I haven't really stopped caring, either. I missed a couple of days work a few weeks back, feeling it was better to get over a cold in the privacy of my own apartment. Today, I just didn't feel like going in to work, so I called up and told my boss that I would work from home.


A year ago (ok, maybe 2 years) I would NEVER have done something like that. However, a year or two ago, I might have been able to take more than 4 days off from work, too.


At least I've booked my flights for Christmas. Once again, I'll be bringing joy and good cheer to Meliana, Alboraya, and Valencia. Jose Miguel, we'll have to abuse alcohol one or two nights while I'm there. Hope you don't mind making that sacrifice!


I've got to sign off and run next door for a little dinner and the Arsenal match, so I'll leave you with a few last bits:


I'm currently reading Redemption, the Stan Tookie Williams story. Wow, that's quite the story to improve your humor.


I ran my dishwasher today, and I'm not sure if I've done it right. There's no soap on the floor, but I'm not sure when the load will be through. I'll keep my fingers crossed.


Last but not least - the tunes are still in heavy rotation:


Axodry - You
Alkaline Trio - Don't Say You Wont
Secession - All the Animals Come Out at Night
Bowling For Soup - Ohio
The Pogues - Body of an American


keep the faith
bryan