Post #2 of 2012 - So Exciting!

Oy vey, work's killing me. I'm not happy about it at all. Another 11 hour day and I could still be there I have so much work to do. I didn't even have time to eat my lunch today. I brought it back home and ate it for dinner.

For the first time ever, I made a New Year's Resolution...which I'm failing at miserably. My resolution is to knit for myself more. I have a ton of yarn that I've bought specifically for me, bought/found patterns which I want to make for me, etc., and so far, not so good.

Part of the issue is work. The other is all the people in my life having babies. I've already finished one baby blanket (co-worker's baby was due today). The second baby is due at the end of February (another co-worker) and I'm waiting for the pink yarn to show up (I don't generally buy pink yarn, as I don't like pink). Then there's my cousin's baby shower in March (it won't be done by then), and then a co-worker whose baby is due in May (yay, a boy, so I don't to knit with pink yarn), and then one more co-worker whose baby is due in July. *sigh*

I've told some people pointblank that they're not allowed to get pregnant, because I just don't have time to knit for them, dammit.

I have yet to finish my SIL's scarf from 2010 Christmas. *sigh* I hope she's forgotten about it and it'll be a surprise when I do finish it.

I signed up with my Knitting Guild's Sneaky Sheep (think Secret Santa, but not at Christmas) which means I'll have to knit something for someone. I think it's due at April's meeting. Let's hope I have time to complete whatever I end up knitting.

This past weekend I went to the Redford Theatre to see Forbidden Planet with a bunch of friends. I had never seen it, and I'm glad I went - I liked it. Only $4, plus reasonable prices at the snack/candy counter...and real butter for popcorn. The weekend before that I went to the Detroit Film Theater (DFT) at the Detroit Institute of Arts to see a restored "Director's Cut" of Touch of Evil with Orson Welles and Charlton Heston. This coming Saturday I have plans to head back to the DFT, this time to see Andrei Rublev, which is a film I've wanted to see for a long time! It's 305 minutes long!!! I'm pretty sure there will be an intermission or two. And since it's a matinee, it should only be $4. Gotta love economic prices.

Okay, I'm giving up on this post, as it's really difficult to type with Igor laying across my arms. Good thing he's cute. I hope you're all well.

Happy New Year - 2012

Greetings, all (or none). I can't believe it's been a year and a half since I last posted. Where does the time go? I know that in my case it seemed to go to work. 2011 was insane, work-wise. Other than Mondays during the first half of the year, I don't remember leaving the employer's building on time. And from the first week of this year, it appears 2012 is not going to be any better. Yay...not. I'm a peon working manager-like hours without anywhere near manager-like money. I can't even keep up with the shows on my DVR - hard to do when all you do is work and sleep.

Oh yeah, I bought a house in 2011 as well...which was bizarre as I have never wanted a house. I never wanted to cut grass, garden, etc. And now I have one. It's a bit surreal to me still. It's a gorgeous 1920-built Sears Craftsman house which somehow has a maximum of gorgeous woodwork with a minimum amount that has been painted over the years. MIRACLE!!!

The living room had been painted a cobalt blue but had beige curtains, so that had to change. My furniture is olive green with burgundy/maroon flecks. It's now painted a very soft sage (with the beige curtains, it looked beige) and I have sage green gauzy curtains which my friend Joi made for me. It's the room in which I spend the most even though the bigger TV is in the second bedroom - I like looking out my front windows, especially when I have put peanuts out on the front porch ledge for the squirrels. I have a fabulous front porch which once spring comes will have a swing (it had one when I bought it but the previous owners took it ;-( ) as my sister and mother are getting me one as a housewarming gift. I was hoping to have it last Fall, but it didn't happen. Today's so nice I could actually sit outside (almost 50F) - crazy weather for January in Michigan. And I'm not complaining. In fact, it could stay in the 40s until about March and then start getting warm and I'd be a happy camper.

I could show you pictures, but I'm not sure I've taken any. I'll put it on my list of things to do. In the meantime, I think a short post is a good way to get started....let's see how long this lasts.

Morale couldn't be lower

Sorry for being so absent of late. It's been, to be blunt, shitty at work and I haven't felt like doing anything when I get home. To illustrate how bad it's been, I haven't even felt like knitting! I "watch" TV (more listen) while playing Jewel Quest. It's been bad.

Last Thursday I was at Borders (I needed the new Eoin Colfer Artemis Fowl book) when I felt my purse vibrating against the side of my body. By the time I found my phone, I had missed the call, but my heart sunk when I saw the name of a coworker. I called him right back but it went into voicemail, and as I was leaving my message "You better not be calling me for why I think you're calling me," my phone rang again and it was him again. I answered it saying, "I just left you a voicemail saying 'You better not be calling me for why I think you're calling me.'" He replied, "I think I am. I just got the call." The Call is what happens when you work for my company but aren't a direct employee, but a contract employee. The contract people get calls at home on Thursdays (this Thursday is supposed to be the last) between 6:00 and 6:30 telling them not to go to work tomorrow, but to go to the contract house's office and turn their badge and whatever else they have. I was so upset, because this guy is a good engineer and a good kid (he's 23 and just got married, in fact, supposedly, it was to have happened the week before but he was on his honeymoon). I was more upset than he was. I cried all night, and most of the morning as I packed up his desk. He'd only been with us since January, but he had two boxes of stuff. That part was pretty amusing, actually.

He drove in that day for his stuff and we all went out to lunch with him. I asked him how his wife took the news (she's in grad school) and he said that she was pretty matter-of-fact about it. "So, I was the only one who cried?" "Um, yeah, sorry about that." I felt like an idiot, but I think he was the last straw. I had seen and heard of too many good people losing their jobs while everybody here has a list of useless direct employees who still have their jobs. I know nobody ever said life was fair, but really there is a limit.


News on the Grandma Front:

Turns out that her initial willingness to go to assisted living was short-lived, although she did change her mind again. She dilly-dallied so long that somebody else took the last 2-bedroom apartment. On Saturday she was going over to look at the one-bedrooms that remained and make her decision. Grandma is presently filling out the paperwork and my aunt is going to drop it off on her way to work. Then we have to work on packing Grandma up, and convincing my Mom to sell her POS cheap-ass, nasty condo and buy Grandma's, but Mom's objecting because she doesn't want a mortgage. *eyes rolling* While yes, I do understand that, to a degree, all my mother does is work! Constantly. She has NO LIFE whatsoever. She must have a boatload of money saved up. And this way, we still can have family functions at Grandma's and it would be like nothing has changed. Of course, someone pointed out that Grandma's style isn't exactly my mom's style and I said that's because my Mom doesn't have a style!!! My Grandma is so stylish and elegant and somehow that trait skipped my mother completely. But this way the aunts would have somewhere to stay when they come home, etc. It's just best for every one. According to my aunt, EVERYBODY is on board with the idea, except my Mom. You have no idea how hard it is to get my mother's siblings to agree on something. This is HUGE! I told my aunt to get the YS working on Mom, as she is the favorite child, and she agrees with the rest of us.

Okay, back to work stuff. One of my absolutely favorite people got walked out this morning. He had stopped by my desk earlier to say he heard "they" were doing his section today. It was obvious he was very nervous. My cubemate went to his desk to get him to sign a Get Well Soon card for another co-worker who is out on medical and when she was over there, she recognised the woman across from him as somebody she went to school with. A bit later, she got an e-mail from her ex-schoolmate saying, "I think the gentleman you were talking to was walked out shortly after. We were asked to leave." Cubemate got a look of horror on her face and I asked what was wrong. She forwarded it to me and I read it in disbelief. I had a brand new person (to our department) at my desk while we discussed getting a desk for her and I started to cry. I'm sure she felt uncomfortable, as we were all expressing our thoughts on this subject and how not happy we all were. I apologised to her for crying and she said, "No problem. I just had a baby, I'm used to tears."

A few minutes later we all got an e-mail from our former co-worker saying thank you for helping and teaching him, wishing us all (including the company) well, etc. It was a very nice e-mail – he was raised properly. This one hit hard. I saw someone he worked with program-wise come over and look for him (as Good Co-worker used to sit by me – I'm in charge of moves, so I put him by me on purpose because he's such a good guy). I called Program Guy's name as he turned around asking who he was looking for (although I pretty much knew). I gave him the details as I knew them, at one point, he looked to race away to find Good Co-Worker, but I stopped him and said, "He's long gone. They walked him out a while ago." PG was furious. "What is wrong with this place? Don't they realise these are human beings? We don't even get to say Good-bye."

I had been doing relatively better, after last week's stress and tension, but I'm back to Friday-mode. I can't stop crying, I have a headache and I just want to go home, take a valium and go to bed for a week. I don't feel like eating, in fact, I had to take an alka-seltzer because my stomach is so not happy. I want to throw up.



My brother sent me the following the other day, the first half consists of interesting facts about Michigan (even if you're not from here), the second half is old-time Detroit tidbits which probably won't mean anything to you unless you lived here.


MICHIGAN HISTORY

From 1910 to 1920, Hamtramck, Michigan grew from 3,589 to 45,615 residents, leading the nation in growth for that period.

During the lumber boom era, the row of saloons that lined Water Street in Bay City was known as "Hell's Half Mile."

In 1936, Escanaba, Michigan harvested and processed 100,000 sq. ft. of bird's eye maple to be used in the English Luxury Liner, the Queen Mary.

When the territory of Michigan was created on Jan. 11, 1805, Detroit was chosen as its capital.

Bagley's Corner was the original name of Bloomfield Hills. (This is amusing because Bloomfield Hills is super ritzy, expensive…and Bagley's Corner doesn't really sound that ritzy.)

The world's only marble lighthouse is located on Belle Isle. (Livingston Lighthouse)

Hog's Hollow was the original name of Utica, Mich.

There are over 11,000 lakes in Michigan.

The home offices of Life Savers Candy, Beech-Nut Gum, and Squirt soft drinks are in Holland, Michigan.

In 1870, Detroit became the nation's first telephone customers to have phone numbers assigned to them.

Charles A Lindbergh was born in Detroit on Feb. 4, 1902.

The Stars and Stripes first flew over Michigan soil on July 11, 1796.

In Sept. 1908, William C. Durant organized several independent automobile plants into what was to become General Motors.

Michigan began charging an annual license fee of 50 cents in 1905.

Michigan 's first police woman began walking the beat in Detroit in 1893.

In 1942, the Davison Freeway in Detroit was completed and became the world's first urban freeway.

The first soft drink, (Vernor's Ginger Ale) was introduced by a Detroit Pharmacist, James A Vernor, in 1866. Note: There were several 'elixirs' on the market at that time, including what would later be called Coca Cola. These contained alcohol, whereas Vernor's didn't. Hence, the name 'soft' drink.

The intersection of Woodward Avenue and Grand Avenue in Detroit proudly displayed the world's first traffic light in 1915.

In 1688, Father Jacques Marquette founded the first permanent settlement in what would later become Michigan .

The world's first shopping mall (Northland Mall) opened in the Detroit suburb of Southfield in 1954.

The world's first painted highway center lines were featured in Trenton , MI in 1911. They were used in other towns and was how Centerline, MI got its name.

Michigan ranks Number #1 nationally in the production of dog sleds.

The nation's largest indoor/outdoor museum complex is Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village . (Right across the street from where I live.)

Opened in 1904, the nation's oldest freshwater aquarium is the Belle Isle Aquarium. (I thought this was closed a few years back.)

The onion is Michigan 's largest fresh-market vegetable crop.



AND YOU ARE AN OLD DETROITER (OR JUST OLD) if ........

You took a 'moonlight cruise' to Boblo with Captain Boblo or went to Edgewater Amusement Park . (The cruise was the only way to get to Boblo. It was half the fun as they had a dance floor on the ground level floor and as a pre-teen/teenaged girl, you'd dance your way to Boblo. My Great Grandparents lived near Edgewater and you could see the roller coaster from one of the 2nd floor bedrooms.)

You shopped at Hughes and Hatcher, B Siegel, Peck and Peck, Himelhoch's, Robert Hall, Crowley's, Shoppers Fair, EJ Korvettes or Federals. (Definitely didn't shop at Hughes & Hatcher as it was a men's store, but I got my baseball mitt from Federals.)

You rode the elevator at J. L. Hudson's, which was 'run' by an elevator operator. (Once, near the end.)

You remember a Winkleman's and Sanders store in your neighborhood. (Heck yeah! The greatest day in Detroit history is when the new owners of Sanders opened up Sanders stores in DTW again. YUM! Sanders Hot Fudge Cream Puffs!!!!)

You remember the 'Big Snow', Buffalo Bob, Howdy Doody, Clarabelle, Phineas T. Bluster, Princess Summer-Fall-Winter-Spring. (Not that old, although I didn't think they were just Detroit .)

You remember Twin Pines Dairy delivered milk and juice to the chute on the side of your house and Milky the Clown performed magic with the magic words 'Twin Pines. (I love Milky the Clown. We did have a milkman when I was growing up, but I don't think he ever used the 'milk chute." What I remember most about the milk chute was having to squeeze through it to break into the house on the rare days we'd come home from school and mom wouldn't be there. The Former Father was not thrilled with us then.)

You watched Johnny Ginger! (no clue)

You remember the Good Humor man in a white uniform, ringing the bells as he drove down your street. (Again, I don't think this was just Detroit , was it?)

You remember Olympia Stadium. (To this day, I look up at the spot where it was when I drive past on 96.)

You remember when Vernors was made on Woodward Ave. , and a bearded troll was on the bottle. (Definitely the bearded GNOME, but we never went downtown as kids, so I don't remember where it was on Woodward.)

Your Mom got groceries at Great Scott, Food Fair, Food Town , Wrigley's, Chatham or A&P. (We were a Great Scott or Wrigley's family, whereas Grandma usually shopped at Chatham or A&P.)

Your Mom saved Holden Red Stamps, S&H Green stamps, or Gold Bell Gift stamps, and you licked them into those little books. (Again, this wasn't just a Detroit thing, was it?)

Kresge's and Woolworth's were 'Dime Stores.' (Oh yeah, I had a BMW t-shirt from Kresge's before BMW was so hot in the States. In fact, my college ID picture was taken in that t-shirt.)

"You had an uncle in the furniture business (Joshua Door)". (I remember stopping in a Joshua Door's parking lot one year to watch fireworks.)

You know who Bill Kennedy is. (Of course!)

You saw the Detroit Lions play football in Tiger Stadium. (I didn't really pay much attention to the Lions back then, but I was aware of them playing at Tiger Stadium. I also remember the Pistons playing at Cobo.)

You remember Black Bart and the Faygo song. Or how about "Which way did he go? He went for Faygo, old fashioned root beer." (I think I remember this.)

You watched Rita Bell's Prize Movies in the morning. (We weren't allowed to watch TV during the day, but my best friend was always inside watching Rita Bell.)

You remember Jack LeGoff and Van Patrick. (Not a clue.)

You remember Milky the Clown, Soupy Sales, Johnny Ginger, Poopdeck Paul, Captain Jolly, Sagebrush Shorty and maybe even Sergeant Satko Salute. (Three out of seven ain't bad.)

You visited the Wonder Bread Bakery and got to take home a mini loaf of bread. (Nope, but I do know where the Wonder Bread Bakery is – even before it got turned into a casino.)

Your address had a two-digit 'zone' before there were zip codes. Detroit 19, Michigan. (This is vague, as I was pretty young when the "zip" code first came into being.)

You remember "Get on the right track at 9 mile and Mack, to get the best deal in town. Roy O'Brien...it's the best deal in town."

You remember going to Detroit Edison with your Mom to exchange burned out light bulbs for new ones. (Oh yeah, we never got to go with them to exchange light bulbs, but we always had to save them, which I did up until about a year ago, because it was ingrained in me that we save burnt out light bulbs.)

Red Wings Parade & Niece's Graduation

Greetings and salutations, all! I have had so much going on and so much to write about, but no time to write and now I have no clue what to tell you. If I include everything done over the past two weeks, this entry would be a novel. And a not very interesting one.

I think in my last post the Red Wings were on the brink of winning their fourth Stanley Cup in 11 years. LL was rooting for the Pens (bastard), while I was obviously rooting for the Wings. The Wings came through in Game 6 (whew!) and I took that Friday off from work to attend the parade in downtown Detroit. I had missed the Cup parades in '97 and '98 because I was living in SF. I remember calling my friend Debbie in '97 who had my old job at the U and asking her if she was planning on attending the parade. She wasn't sure. I told her she should go, because if I were still living there, I would be going to the parade and she wouldn't be able to – as we worked in the same office and one of us would have had to be there and since I was the boss, I would have pulled rank.

I wanted to go in 2002 but couldn't find anybody with whom to go. This year, however, it worked out perfectly. The Game 5 triple overtime loss was actually advantageous for the YS and LB, as the YS doesn't work Fridays and the LB was flying in from SJ late Thursday night (early Friday morning). I went into work on Thursday, June 5 and told my boss I was taking the next day off. "Going to the parade?" "Yup."

Friday morning, the YS and LB show up at my place and we transfer their crap into my car (it was hard getting ready for the parade because I was doing all the things I normally do to prepare for a hot day at the race track). Parade day was forecasted to be HOT and HUMID – 90F with an insane stupid humidity of 70% or something ridiculous like that. It was bloody hot. Actually, the YS and LB showed up with an extra person which meant I had to move my crap out of the back seat of my cute little Focus and into the trunk – coolers, spray bottle with battery run fan filled with ice and water, knitting bag (hey, we were heading down early and I had a tank top to finish for the niece's graduation present – no need to waste precious time), sunscreen. YS had the water, I had the soft-sided portable coolers.

I always have to drive downtown because the YS got her truck broken into once (parked on the street – I always pay to park in downtown Detroit). I told her that I'm going to get a new car just so I don't have to drive all the time. She just laughed.

We decided to go to Hart Plaza and stake out a spot for the rally which would take place there after the parade. It turned out that that was probably not the best decision, but only because the rally was not as long as the one in 2002. I swear EVERYBODY on the team got a chance to speak to the crowd in 2002 (I taped it), but this year only a few players spoke (Nicklas Lidstrom, Chris Chelios & Brian Rafalski, Kris Draper & Chris Osgood, Darren McCarty, Tomas Holmstrom and Jiri Hudler). It was a little disappointing. In hindsight, I think I would have snagged a good place on the curb along Woodward and had a chance to see everybody as they want by. We were far enough back (yeah, there are pictures, but you know how good I am at downloading them) from the rally stage, that there was no way anybody would have heard me if I had yelled.

I developed a habit at the races that during the driver parade I would yell for every single driver as he (or she – love and miss you, Katherine) would go by. I hated that drivers like Paul Tracy and Michael Andretti (back in the day when he wasn't a complete loser-traitor) would get massive cheers and hollering, while other drivers were barely acknowledged. I always hollered for the drivers, but when it became de rigueur was after Toronto 1996. I'm not normally very loud, but that's the first race where I remember the drivers actually hearing me, because after I would yell their name, they would look up into the stands, and I always sit as high up as possible (well, except Toronto, because the top 3 rows in my grandstand were blocked by one of the Exhibition Place buildings, so as high as I would go there was Row 4 – road courses are counted from the top down).

Two weeks earlier I had met Jeff Krosnoff in the paddock at the Cleveland race. I was nervous and didn't know what to say after asking for his autograph on my racing shirt, but he asked me how I was doing and if I were having fun, etc. He was so nice that I rooted for him that race (even though in the POS Toyota he didn't have a chance in hell of doing anything but finishing) and so as he went by my Toronto grandstand I yelled extra loudly for him and he turned and looked up and waved. Two hours later Jeff was dead in an absolutely hideous accident I will never ever forget. That night at dinner my friend Ottawa tried to comfort me by saying how I had probably made Jeff's day knowing he had a fan in the stands (he was new to the series as he had come up the ranks in Japan, and had therefore only run 11 races (including Toronto). Back then we had a fair number of drivers, which meant it could take some longer to make their way into our hearts (unlike the past few years), so Jeff didn't have a lot of people cheering for him in Toronto. Ever since then I made it my duty to cheer for and welcome every single driver in my own loud and annoying (to the people sitting in front of me) way. And I didn't give a damn if the people in front of me didn't like it, because I simply thought of Jeff and realised it was more important to show my support for every driver, even the 'king Hiro - who, for all his faults, was exceptional at getting out of the way – for the most part. While Hiro might not have been a great driver, he was rarely a "moving chicane" (Hi Dennis Vitolo).

Anyway, all that was to tell you that the next time the Wings win the Stanley Cup I'm going to watch the parade and yell for every single player and then force my way into Hart Plaza like all the parade-watchers did that Friday.

That Friday was exhausting and very busy. After the rally, we went and got food at Cheli's Chili Bar and then we all raced home because we had to be at the Niece's graduation commencement exercise at 6:00. And we all had to shower away the nastiness of 90F, humidity, and sunscreen. And you'dt hink that after a high school graduation of nearly 500 kids, the day would have been over, but you'd be wrong. Since the LB was in town, HRH drove down from Toronto and the plan was to meet her over in Windsor that night. It was probably close to 11:00 p.m. when we (Mom, YS, LB and I) got across the border and found our way to the Windsor Casino, which means it was around 2:30/3:00 a.m. when I got home and to bed.

I would have slept in except that HRH was coming across the river that day for the party the LB's friends were having for him, and was going to crash at my place. This means I had to clean (hide yarn in the closet, vacuum, etc.). I was also getting my hair cut (Whew, it was LONG) at 12:30, so that took time out of the day which could have been used on the apt., but in the end, it was all good.

HRH showed up, we watched F1 qualifying from Montreal, the Euro Cup game between Portugal and Turkey and then headed to the far western suburbs to meet Mom and YS for sushi. YUM! I ate WAY too much. The original plan was for HRH to spend the night and then attend the Niece's graduation party on Sunday, so that she could meet Grandma. We've been friends for 13 years and while she's met a few members of my family, she hadn't met Grandma. As has been the case for the past few trips we've taken, however, someone died (her high school best friend's father) and she hadn't to fly back (not actually, but the way she drives…) to TO then next day to get to the funeral home. This means that instead of heading straight to the party, we had to make a side trip to my Uncle's house, as that's where Grandma was (she rarely turns down dinner invitations, especially when my Uncle's cooking).

So, while HRH got to meet Grandma, various cousins, and an extra aunt, we almost missed my older brother, SIL and the Terror Children who were leaving the party as we arrived.

We take a break from the regularly scheduled program with the following public service announcement.

WOOHOO!!!! My Igor will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame!!!! WOOHOO!!!!!

Okay, I'm bored telling you about stuff that happened two weekends ago. I can't imagine how bored you are reading about it, so I'm not going to tell you all about the graduation party and how bloody hot and humid it was and how I needed a shower after helping my sister set up in my party dress. It was pretty, oh so, pretty. Nothing quite like sweat dripping off your nose.

Why can I think all of sorts of stuff to blog about until I sit at the computer and then it all disappears? I need to learn to write stuff down. I always think I'm going to remember it, but never ever do.

I want this car.

I'm *this* close to having my niece's tank top finished, but now I'm thinking that I need to rip it back to where the shaping for armholes start and make it longer. I don't know this for a fact or anything, because I haven't measured it, but that's what I think. You would, of course, think that I would have gotten it out of its bag and measured it last night, but I just didn't feel like "frogging" it last night, so I ignored its existence. (I have absolutely no idea why ripping out your knitting is called "frogging," but it is…normally, I refuse to use that term as I think it's stupid, but as I already had used "rip" I was trying not to use it again. Oh wait, I think it's called "frogging" because when you say "rip it," it supposedly sounds like "ribit." I knew there was a reason I refused to use it.)

Work is quite stressful these days as for the fourth year in a row (and sometimes multiple times in a year), we're having workforce cuts/layoffs. At some point, you have to figure your luck is running out and this time it might just be you that's cut. I'm ready to throw up thinking about it. Oy vey. Please keep your fingers crossed, pray, light candles, etc. that I make it through once again. Moving home with my mother is so not an option if I want to remain sane, and not kill her.