warning label

This made me laugh. Warning label on the back of a tin of lip balm:

"WARNING: DO NOT APPLY AROUND EYES."

Duly noted.

clean house

I LOVE the feeling of a clean house! All my chores are done, and now there's nothing for me to do but sit here and enjoy it. I don't know what it is--maybe it's my control-freakiness, but when the house is clean, I feel more relaxed, more put-together, more like all is right with the world.

I'm a dork.

Brian and Sam are coming today and we get to take them mattress shopping. I love getting to play the big-sister role and help them out. Sam's getting too pregnant to have to keep sleeping on the couch. I'm hoping they'll have time to grab dinner before they leave so we can spend some more time with them. It's weird how much less you see your siblings when you're grown up and live 2+ hours away...

Well, it's almost the new year. On the surface, 2006 doesn't feel like it was as significant for me as 2005 was. But I guess a lot has happened. It was the year of the cat's broken leg, the year of Polaris Bible Study's beginnings, the year of finishing my first TWE, the year of getting my own cubicle (for 6 months, at least, until I got podded, which hasn't turned out to be so bad after all), the year of new job opportunities, the year of reconnecting with my long-lost brother, and of course, it's been one hell of a year for Buckeye football. See ya, 2006. You've been a good year. I'm looking forward to seeing what 2007 will bring.

Top 10 Work Quotes of 2006

10. “Sometimes you have to exercise the futility before it can be recognized.” – Abbie

9. “There’s a difference between being positive and being delusional.” – Tina, to Art

8. “How am I gonna show up at home with no pants on?” – Steve

7. “The data shows that nuns who had lower levels of education and smaller head circumference were more likely to suffer from dementia.” – Biology Teacher Wraparound Edition (TWE)

6. “Don’t waste the whole pickle on me!” – Justin

5. “I don’t ‘get’ nuns.” – Jen

4. “We made eggs a’la Boy Scouts.” – DeAnna B. (about making eggs over a campfire)
"Eggs out of what?” – Anne

3. “The right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing…and the left hand doesn’t know what it’s doing…” – anonymous, overheard

2. “PROPS REQUIRED: Medium size glass bowl filled with cut up fruit. Among the fruit should be apples and pears, bananas, and mango (for ethnic variety).” –Chemistry photo spec

1. “You don’t want a book that jumps out at you and says, ‘Look at me! I’m hard!’” – Chemistry focus group member

My Christmas in a nutshell: Lots of driving…lots of family…good times…felt mostly healthy…got a new (to us) car…got a new toaster, Dilbert calendar, LOTS of coffee (yum!!), saw a grandma I hadn’t seen in a long time (which was really nice). Favorite gift: Ted Ginn jersey from Craig. I wasn’t sure which number I wanted—I was torn between Ginn and Smith—but Craig said that 7 was a “sexier” number than 10, so we’ll go with that one.

Oh! I finally saw Little Miss Sunshine last night! I'd heard good things about it, and it did not disappoint. I love Steve Carell, and it was fun to see him play a more serious role. One of my favorite parts was toward the end, where the one kid says he wishes he could just fall asleep and wake up when he's 18. Steve Carell says (or, at least, his character says) something (and I think he was quoting someone else, but I forget who) about how the best years of your life are the ones in which you suffer, because they make you who you are. "The good times? Total waste. Didn't learn a thing." I love that. It sounds a bit esoteric, but I think it's true.

Well, that's about all for now. Just one more day of 2006, and then I can use my new Dilbert calendar!

"It's the most wonderful time of the year...."

I heard this song on the radio tonight on my way home from work...as I sat in bumper-to-bumper rush hour traffic, which of course was aggravated by the Christmas shopping traffic around the mall. Ha.

So, I haven't died yet, but I'm still not better. Went to Urgent Care Tuesday night because my lungs were hurting so badly I could barely breathe. Apparently the bug in my chest has been promoted to bronchitis, and I got my first Christmas present of the year--another antibiotic prescription. Happy holidays, lung infection! And a happy new year as well.

But all negativity aside, things are going well. I'm looking forward to seeing family and getting a break from the endless stream of pages at work.

Last year I posted my favorite work quote of the year, which was Shannon asking "Does it feel like Christmas, or does it feel like you want to cut your head off?" Compared to last Christmas's Biology hell (and California hell for the rest of them), this hasn't been bad. And podding actually hasn't been so bad, either.

Things that made me smile today:

• reading my Christmas card from the bosses and seeing that Hope had written "Kathleen" next to my name (I swear, sometimes it feels like they're my extra moms, rather than my bosses)
• being reminded of an unfortunate Earth Science typo, in which the term "diapirs" had been misspelled "diapers"
• leftover chocolate cake from yesterday's department party
• Maureen (she's just funny)
• getting an unexpected gift from my favorite freelancer
• having lunch with Adrienne, laughing together and marveling over God's faithfulness and timeliness

Well, time to study for my test. Here's a sampling of some of the terms I need to know for this test (be thankful you don't have to take it!! Unless you're Adrienne and you DO have to take it :)):

• Biblical perspicuity
• hermeneutics
• inductive study
• didactic
• verbal plenary inspiration
• transliteration
• canonicity
• apocrypha
• pseudepigraphal

I feel like...

...I'm going to die. My throat is on fire, my back and neck hurt, and I can't breathe. When will it feel better? Next week are all the work Christmas parties, and after that is real Christmas, which I don't want to miss. Boo, boo, boo on being sick :(

Update: the move, the sickies

Update on the move: Apparently, the moving people didn't get the memo about DeAnna S, Maureen, and I being in a pod together. We got there today to find our pod-to-be still divided in two by a cubicle wall. We did our best to get some work done, picking stuff out of our still-packed boxes (which we were told NOT to unpack) and climbing over one another. All the while, Jen kept throwing new chapters at me and making me want to cry. (Most hated question of the day: "Where is your in-box?") Apparently the only person in MGH who knows a damned thing about what's going on with our move is DeAnna B. Hats off to the best Move Coordinator ever! Anyway, I'm hoping to arrive in the morning to find things as they should be. I'm crossing my fingers, but not holding my breath.

Update on my sickies: Today, as my throat-grossness got worse and my chest-pain turned into chest-burning accompanied by hacking coughs, I decided that my sinus infection has officially taken up residence in my lungs, morphing into a URI. I'm no doctor, so I could be wrong, but I sure feel like crap. However, I'm counting my blessings, because things could always be worse. I could have a hairy, toothy cyst like Shannon. Get well soon, Shan! Your new window-cube view is going to waste without you!

The Canon, The Move

So, I had my last class tonight, and it was not boring. At all. Cool-ass stuff. Talk to me if you're curious, and I'd be glad to share.

The big work move happened today. Tomorrow I go in to my new "pod." It will be weird to get to the top of the stairs and turn the other way. I suppose I'll get used to it.

new blogger?

Um, so does anyone know how to switch over to the new "beta" blogger? I remember it giving me the option the other day (and I was like, "No thanks, not now, I'll do it later"), but now I can't find it. Oh, and now it won't let me post comments on the blogs of my friends who have the beta blogger.

I'm feeling ostracized.

Randomosity

• Why is that you can reheat a burrito in the microwave, and it can start making all these sizzling and popping sounds that make you think the cheese is so hot that it's going to explode...and you can take it out and the cheese will be boiling on the plate...and yet the chicken in the middle is still cold?

• Tomorrow's my last class of this session. We're going to be talking about Biblical Canonicity--how we got our Bible and why the books in it are considered "the canon." I've been so excited to learn about this, but I've been reading the homework beforehand and, I've got to tell you...it's boring! I mean, bore-me-to-tears boring. But seriously, if you're someone who gets hung up on that and is interested in investigating, check it out. There's lots of information out there. Lots of tedious, painfully detailed information. Wow. I've got a couple articles you can read...if you dare.

• Last week I didn't feel especially sick, and yet it turned out that I had a sinus infection. This week I'm still getting over the infection, but now I'm starting to feel actually sick. What does it mean? Is it "opposites day," meaning that now I'm not really sick? Hm.

• So far, the cats have not knocked over the Christmas tree. Knock on laminate flooring.

• Tomorrow's moving day at work, which means we get to leave at noon. And have a noon happy hour. Then do some buzzed Christmas shopping. Woo-hoo!

6 stages of a project

A friend told me about this list. Given the recent goings-on at my particular place of business, it struck me as timely and applicable, even if painfully so. (You all have three guesses as to who #6 is about. And the first two don't count.)

The 6 stages of any project:

1. Enthusiasm
2. Disillusionment
3. Panic
4. Search for the guilty
5. Punishment of the innocent
6. Reward of the non-participants

Milton

I feel like Milton from Office Space.

I understand his attachment to his Swingline stapler. The other one, of course, was always binding up.

My life has become Office Space, and the things I'm willing to fight for feel as petty as a favorite stapler. Or "the good white-out." Or the freedom "to play my radio at a reasonable volume."

Why? Who knows. Anyone who has ever worked in an office can relate, I'm sure. I think it's because office life is so monotonous, and you spend so much of your time there, that the small things become the important things. Whether or not you get to keep your pencil drawer. Whether you get one shelf or two. Whether you get to sit by the window. Whether you get to sit by your friend or by the guy who noisily clips his nails. And, of course, whether you get your own desk or whether you have to share.

I feel so petty. I got upset today. Another friend told me that she was allowing herself today to be mad, and that tomorrow she would go about the business of getting over it and having a good attitude. Me too. Tomorrow. Today, I'm pissed. But I had my day, I cried in the boss's office, and now it's time to get over it and move on. Focus on the things that are good (and there really are so many things).

For the heck of it, I thought I'd post the lyrics to that Sara Groves song. I need to keep it on repeat until I get some perspective about the situation (the reference to Job makes me realize how ridiculous my "problems" are, relatively).

What I thought I Wanted

Tuxedo in the closet, gold band in a box
Two days from the altar she went and called the whole thing off
What he thought he wanted, what he got instead
Leaves him broken yet grateful

I passed understanding a long, long time ago
And the simple home of systems and answers we all know
What I thought I wanted, what I got instead
Leaves me broken and somehow peaceful

I keep wanting you to be fair
But that’s not what you said
I want certain answers to these prayers
But that’s not what you said

When I get to heaven I’m gonna go find Job
I want to ask a few hard questions, I want to know what he knows
About what it is he wanted and what he got instead
And how to be broken yet faithful

What I thought I wanted
What I thought I wanted
What I thought I wanted
What I thought I wanted

Staring in the water like Aesop's foolish dog
I can’t help but reflect on what it was I almost lost
What I thought I wanted, what I got instead
Leaves me broken and grateful
I’m broken and grateful
I want to be broken and grateful
I want to be grateful, peaceful, thankful, faithful, grateful
I want to be grateful, peaceful, faithful
I want to be grateful, peaceful, thankful, faithful, grateful
I want to be grateful, peaceful, faithful, grateful

Annoyed

I've been annoyed all day. I got some frustrating news this morning at work, and I'm trying not to have a horrible attitude about it, but I'm having a hard time with that.

The ironic thing is that, this morning as I was driving to work, I was rocking out to a new (well, new-to-me) Sara Groves song....a song about being thankful when your expectations aren't met and God has something in mind that's different from what you had in mind. I was totally digging the sentiment...at least, for a few hours, until my own expectations were smashed a little bit.

It's crazy how, when you don't have something, you can be content not having it. Even sometimes when you see other people getting it, you can manage to be content without it. But then when you do get it yourself, and you get used to having it, it's hard then to have it taken away. You start to feel entitled. Having it taken from you, you start to resent the people who get to keep theirs. You start making mental lists of all the reasons you deserve it.

In my case, the "it" is a cubicle all to myself (which is silly in the grand scheme of things, but hey. I didn't say it was logical for me to be super annoyed, it's just how I'm feeling), but I guess the contentment vs. entitlement thing can often be true of many other things we all want--romantic relationships, a certain standard of living, certain comforts, etc.

It's making me realize how demanding I can be, and how ungrateful I am for the things I have. Recently (for the past month or so), I've actually been thinking a lot about how much I enjoy my job and how lucky I am to have it so good. So it's really kind of funny that, the moment something doesn't go my way, I throw a little temper tantrum. Oh Lord, help me to grow up and be more thankful and less demanding.