The More I Talk to Some People

the less they clearly know or understand. In my current situation, it becomes more painfully obvious that people that I was OK with before are actually dumber than dirt.



It's OK to be dumber than dirt; but if you're talking to someone who knows far better than you what's going on, and who is clearly smarter than you are, take a safe route. Say "Dan, is it under control? I'm too busy to deal with this right now - if you say we're OK, then we're OK." Leave it at that, and I won't be shaking my head in wonder that you're doing anything more advanced than stocking groceries.

Terminal Boredom

n.- the effect of attempting to complete two tasks at once that, individually, cause the employee to fall asleep at his desk. cf. mind-numbing, repetitive.

Speaking of Sniffs

I appear to have picked up a cold someplace. Considering that the cough I developed in February still hasn't gone away, it's getting me a little irritated.



I know, I know - boo-frickin'-hoo.

Had a Sniff or Two

Nothing concrete, and I continue to crank out the personal documentation on a slow but semi-steady basis, but there have been a few encouraging inquiries.



None of it matters until it matters, but as I continue to ride the emotional and mental roller coaster, each sign of interest is a brief reminder that I'm not entirely useless or unwanted. This is not a pleasant exercise to say the least, but you just have to keep plugging away.



A colleague in the identical (and I mean identical) boat to me believes in sending out hundreds of feelers; I guess I disagree with him. Anything within 100 miles, within a football field of what he's looking for gets a shot. I don't know if it's the right approach, but I'm being more selective. If it looks like something I want, I try it; if I'm grossly underqualified, or it looks stupid, I'm not even wasting the time.



In the end I guess it doesn't matter that much - you only need one, and with the Lord's help (though I admit a touch of peevishness that He's not filling me in on His plan) the right one will appear whether you try for one opportunity or 1,000.



If I keep telling myself that, I imagine I'll start to believe it.

In Honor of the Day

A classic. One I'd never seen, actually.

There's been a Sighting

Shoulda posted this earlier, but kinda slipped my mind. There's been an Actual (well, Virtual) GOYL sighting. Check out the comments to this post.



By the sounds of it we're in similar situations, which explains her disappearance. Anyway, GOYL, welcome back however briefly to the world of blogging, and even if things are down, some of us are still checking up on you now & again.

Why I don't trust Experts

Via Yahoo/AP:



Experts: Years before dollar regains value, prestige worldwide



Conspicuously missing from the story is the length of time it took the dollar to slide. Look, I don't understand anything about economics. A dollar is still a dollar, though I guess it buys less and that makes it weak. Either way, what'd it take for us to go from gangbusters to a weak dollar? Six months?



Where, precisely, is it written that it will take years to come back? Things can turn up as quickly as they turn down, and there's no guarantee that Europe's economic problems (which I assume are varied) might not cause similar problems for the Euro.



At the end of it all, like the weathermen and the global warming crowd, too much of this is guesswork for my taste. They all have pet theories they've been waiting years to see turn real, and now that a down cycle has finally hit they're crowing about how right they are. I have no idea why they love doom & gloom so much, other than it's Bush's fault. My only actual concern is if one of the Democrats gets elected, these central planning ouija-board pundits might actually be in a position to ruin the economy.



In which case they're correct - it will take years to regain prosperity.

Be Sure

Your Sin will Find you Out



Politically speaking, I could not be happier to hear this. The man is a self-aggrandizing, bullying jerk, and to have this land on his head makes me happy. As always, I feel badly for his wife and family, but this couldn't have happened to a more appropriate slimy politician.

Sigh

More of the same. Confused orders. Deadlines moved up suddenly to yesterday. No communication at all. Negative messages stated outright - while not to me directly, by extension it all applies to me as well.



You know what else? I'm bored. I imagine there are things I need to do, but I don't feel like finding out what they are. I suppose I could clean up around here, but at the best of time that's not terribly motivating.



Sorry to kvetch, but there's not much else to do.

I know

it's bloody late, but I played hockey so I'm still up. Anyway, some positive developments today regarding opportunities available. Means nothing until it means something, but there's some hope and that's a good thing.



Incidentally, on a completely unrelated note, strange things happen when you mistype things. Should you happen to type "skinnydan.blogpsot.com" (note the transposed letters) you end up at something referred to as a "mega site of Bible studies and information."



It also suggests (not that I read very carefully) that my lack of faith in Jesus is likely to doom me to eternal damnation or some such overly warm final embrace.



Strange place this internets, and odd that anyone would waste the time to squat on a variation of this useless drivel center. Still, I suppose it keeps them occupied in between doses of medication.

Needless to say

No such luck. There is a new normal, and I've just had to learn to deal with it. So I do whatever I absolutely have to, and no more. I listen to stupid comments and keep my mouth shut. I get unnecessary instructions, and I just say "OK."



It's a dumb way to live, I grant you, but it's a way to survive.



Oh, did I mention I also got sick as a dog about two weeks ago? Two days of 102 fever, followed by all sorts of nasty side effects, including gums so swollen I couldn't eat. I have no idea what the Lord might have in mind for me, but if He's trying to tell me something I have to say it would be easier to grasp some of the messages if they'd come in one at a time.



If the Frogs or Locusts show up looking for me, tell them I'm unavailable please.

Peaceful interlude

All the above (or below, whichever) was interrupted for the most part blissfully by a vacation in mid-January. The in-laws were kind enough to sponsor a trip down south, to beautiful Lake Buena Vista, Florida.



Why, yes, I believe there are a few things to visit down in that part of the world. Something about a Mouse...?



So we did the Disney thing, and everyone had a good time. We did nothing but Disney - the kids are a little young and a lot too fraidy-cat to try Universal, and there was plenty to do in Walt's kingdom anyway.



Short version: Disney Hollywood Studios (nee MGM Studios) on Monday, Magic Kingdom on Tuesday, Epcot on Wednesday, Animal Kingdom on Thursday, and back to Magic Kingdom on Friday. A Princess Breakfast, lots of characters signing autograph books, gift shop after gift shop after gift shop. We actually kept much of the spending to a minimum, and having the in-laws with us helped a lot.



It was a nice change of pace, and by the middle of the week I was actually able to forget about work a bit. I deliberately left the laptop home, and didn't check email or voicemail all week. At that point I figured there was really nothing I could or would do about work anyway. My other thought was to see if a little time and distance would help and maybe life would go back to normal.

What the Hell????

This is a part of my life where I want to be a little circumspect. It remains in the state that began six weeks ago, and changes to it may take some time. Talking too much about it (and certain people managing to find out about it) could create even more headaches, and there's enough going on right now. Should things happen as I'd like, I will explain more clearly in the future.



You may recall changes were made professionally - someone got fired who deserved it, and all was to be well.



Oh how wrong a person can be.



Things are not well; discussions of important benefits to me went from Topic A to Topic Z. Rude, thoughtless, and ignorant comments have been directed to me and others, and for no reason we can fathom. I am tainted by association, and I believe the reason for the change has nothing to do with me or my work.



Naturally this all began right in the middle of the crisis with Dad. No one's even asked how he is in weeks. The timing could have been much, MUCH better. Either way, the writing is on the wall. I don't even think they know they're sending the messages they are, but I'm reading them loud and clear anyway.



I am taking the steps I have been forced to take, and with luck I will make my own change. The sad part is, and the one thing I will not forgive, is that they made me not care. I loved where I was, and they made me not only hate it, but not give a damn, and that's something I can't forgive.

Where to begin?

How to explain the 180-degree turn in my life over the last six weeks? Things that were no longer are, and things that were not suddenly have become.



Cryptic? You betcha. Paranoid, me?



You have no idea.



Seems safest to begin at the beginning, with one of the two scheduled items for the new year. Dad had been to the doctor last Sep or Oct, and they saw something they didn't entirely like. So I recommended he go talk to one of the guys here, world-renowned for that particular part of the anatomy. The long & short was scheduled surgery for early January. So Pop goes in, figuring on a 3-5 day stay in the hospital, then 4-6 weeks recovery.



So here comes the first curveball, and it's a doozy. He's in for a few days, and if anything he seems worse as time goes on, not better. I'm there every night till 9-10PM, my brother's there all day (including, heroically, staying by himself there for Shabbos so dad would have company.) Sunday night he is in terrible pain, and Monday they tell us they're taking him in for emergency surgery in an unrelated area. I am now running all kinds of insane, paranoid fantasies in my head that he's not going to survive.



Happily, none of them came true. The second surgery went well, and Pop was quickly on the mend. He's home and recuperating now, and while he's looking older (and thinner) than he did before, he's mostly himself again. I think he's getting a little depressed, but he's been on the shelf for a long time, so I don't blame him.



So, that was stress enough, without...

Today

is the fast day known as Asara B'Tevet (Literally 10th of the month of Tevet). Naturally, as a day without food, I chose today to provide small holiday gifts of homemade fudge to co-workers and friends here.



Some days I'm just not that bright, you know?

I don't normally

do what the sports & politics geeks refer to as liveblogging, but I am sitting with the laptop and the MNF game on. All I can say from the half attention I am paying is that so far it ain't exactly a barn burner.



The Bears have fallen mightily since last year's Super Bowl appearance, and other than knowing there was an adult situation a few years back, I don't know the first thing about Minnesota. Seems so far to be a game full of dopey penalties and zero offense. Even Devin Hester can't save this game for me right now.

Saw this

the other day, and thought given the previous announcement that it was good timing:



Researchers discover why pregnant women don't topple over



I'm glad to see them putting my tax money to good use, but I'm not quite sure I see any practical application to the information. Sure, now I get how Mrs. Skinny manages to stay upright, but I still don't think it's getting me out of washing dishes or changing nappies when the time comes.



Still, it keeps the science folks out of trouble.

So...

I have dropped at least one hint, (and to one Alabama Marsupial, several) that something's up chez skinny. Terry thinks it's a medical condition, which, in effect, it is.



Say Hello to my leetle frien':







I know, I know, it's a little grainy and out of focus. I think I used the wrong F-stop or something.



So indeed, there is another small parasite headed our way come the spring. The ex-utero two have taken to calling it Little Matzah Ball, which is appropriate since we are due right around Passover.



This particular gestation has not been without its issues. I was planning to say something here a while ago, but we had a disturbing last 3-4 weeks, courtesy the medical establishment. One of the zillions of tests required in this nation before you are considered fit to reproduce came back as positive for a genetic disorder known as Trisomy-18 (you can read about it from the dedicated folks over at the Trisomy 18 foundation).



When the midwife describes said disorder as "incompatible with life", it certainly does make you pause a bit. Unlike its cousin, trisomy 21 that's involved with Down's Syndrome, children with this genetic anomaly generally don't survive the first year if they make it that far. Needless to say, we were not prepared for that particular development. What followed is standard - more tests. Amnio for the Mrs, prayer for me. Thanks to the piece of crap lab the insurance insisted we use (thanks for nothing, Quest Diagnostics! I hope some marketing jerk is reading this and tells everyone I think you people suck!), we had to wait three full weeks for results.



Which were negative. Which in this case is a good thing. So we are, happily, one of the thousands of people out there who got a false positive from one of these dopey blood tests. I'm glad of the results, but I can't say the last month has been fun. When you and your spouse begin discussing the euphemistic "options" if the worst happens, most people are not in a great place. Happily it's all moot, even if I have not enjoyed much lately.



Anyway, that's the big news around here. Work has increased, but not my paycheck. The children grow up, and I grow out. Life continues, and thankfully the Lord agreed with me on this particular question.



Look for a Little Matzah Ball this spring, coming to a Skinnydan nowhere near most of you.

Leftovers

Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, apple pie, chocolate chip cookies were consumed.



Effluvia from sick child were cleaned up, sheets, PJs, towels were washed.



Guest room was slept in so sick child could stay in my bed.

Oh Dear

This leaves a bit to live up to. All you riffraff will have to go read something more appropriate for your education level.