What you did today

[Nepenthe]

I'm convinced that any job application which goes through an HR department of any kind is like playing roulette.

 

When have you EVER heard of a good HR department? The only reason they exist is to guard against the confused mess that is employment law. I hate them, I hate their reason for being, and if possible I would chase them with tigers and firecrackers and peasants with cymbals.

Amen. I've only been interviewed once by a firm with a dedicated HR department. They're like those women who make a laughably long and minutious list of criteria for potential mates, and the discard everybody who doesn't fulfil all of these criteria - no matter what else could be brought to the table. "A ha, I see you have only worked for 22 months at a major law office, instead of the 2 years we specified. The fact that you are also an LL.D. is clearly immaterial."

 

Also, some shmuck overbid me in the apartment sale. Can't say I'm not relieved, but it was something I had to at least take a stab at. Also heard from the realtor the owner wants even more for it - and it's already the 3rd most expensive property (relative to size) sold in this zip code over the past year. :D

[Walsingham]

 

Yes. I've not done online dating, but I can see what you mean, having enough female friends to recognise the symptoms. *chuckles* reminds me of something Robin Williams said. "Women want Mr Right. Men want Miss Right Now."

[Raithe]

Urf. It's always fun when the planned afternoon gets turned into a series of errand runs.

Although its a nice and sunny day.. running back and forth around the village tends to turn a little meh. Especially when part of it is picking up kitty litter and carrying the bags back home. Now I get to coax feeling to return to my fingers and enjoy some cool fruit smoothie...

[Nepenthe]

 

Yes. I've not done online dating, but I can see what you mean, having enough female friends to recognise the symptoms.

Neither have I. Online, the list is simply spelled out; offline, it's a mental checklist they go through.* I recommend the movie "Up in the Air" on this and other matters.

 

*Interestingly, it's the "average" women who are most likely to have lists like this. The "quality" of their mate is a lot more important to their ego than to some bona fide hotties. Entertainingly, I believe this is the reason why I have a lot more luck with really good-looking women than I should. :D

[Malcador]

The joys of being happily single, at least listening to the married and otherwise attached guys in the office grousing today. Finally got a copy of Old Man's War too, so those 4 books should give me something to do for the next week or so, huzzah. Other than that, truly unproductive day.

Edited September 23, 2011 by Malcador

[Enoch]

Things have been pretty ****ty around here lately. We'll find out more info tomorrow, but I'm not optimistic at the moment.

 

Given your employer I'm not surprised. Hang in there, though.

Actually, this particular run of ****tiness is not work-related. Yes, stuff is tense at work given that the agency is essentially being asked to keep doing the same quantity and quality of work (if not more), but with less money and fewer staff. And I am breaking in a new supervisor in the midst of all that. But this particular instance of personal stress is the kind of thing that puts the work stress in perspective.

 

Short story is that the wife is about 5 months pregnant, and it looks very much like it's not going to end well. Some sort of problem in the placenta is suppressing the umbilical bloodflow such that the little guy just hasn't been growing.

[HoonDing]

*Interestingly, it's the "average" women who are most likely to have lists like this. The "quality" of their mate is a lot more important to their ego than to some bona fide hotties. Entertainingly, I believe this is the reason why I have a lot more luck with really good-looking women than I should. :D

*scratches head* I'll need to take a holiday to Finlandia.

[Gfted1]

Wow, really sorry to hear that Enoch. I hope everything turns out well in the end.

[Nepenthe]

*Interestingly, it's the "average" women who are most likely to have lists like this. The "quality" of their mate is a lot more important to their ego than to some bona fide hotties. Entertainingly, I believe this is the reason why I have a lot more luck with really good-looking women than I should. :D

*scratches head* I'll need to take a holiday to Finlandia.

Of course, you need to find an attractive woman who is looking or at least not looking the other way, which, as anyone will tell you, is generally a rather abbreviated time-window.

 

A girl I used to work with at the coffee shop told me that she'd spent less than three weeks as "single" between the age of 17 and 25. :D

[Raithe]

Sorry to hear that Enoch.. I'm sure you'll have plenty of positive vibes heading your way in the hope for the best.

 

 

Hm, on this side of things.. I've just spoken with a guy I'm doing work with.. and been told that my official objective for the next couple of days is to "chill out" which is kind of interesting.

I guess that's a good thing for a friday. Now to see if I can actually stop thinking on the work....

[Fionavar]

Prayers & light to you & yours Enoch.

[Guard Dog]

And from me as well Enoch. We're all thinking of you & your wife.

[Walsingham]

Wow, Idon't know what to say, Enoch. I guess the only thing I can say is that I have a lot of respect for your brains and sense of humour. I'm sure what you can do, you will do right.

[Syraxis]

Things have been pretty ****ty around here lately. We'll find out more info tomorrow, but I'm not optimistic at the moment.

 

Given your employer I'm not surprised. Hang in there, though.

Actually, this particular run of ****tiness is not work-related. Yes, stuff is tense at work given that the agency is essentially being asked to keep doing the same quantity and quality of work (if not more), but with less money and fewer staff. And I am breaking in a new supervisor in the midst of all that. But this particular instance of personal stress is the kind of thing that puts the work stress in perspective.

 

Short story is that the wife is about 5 months pregnant, and it looks very much like it's not going to end well. Some sort of problem in the placenta is suppressing the umbilical bloodflow such that the little guy just hasn't been growing.

 

I'm sorry to hear that Enoch. I'm sure whatever happens you and the misses will make it through okay.

[Hurlshort]

I'm really sorry to hear that Enoch. You are in my prayers.

[Fionavar]

Not much of anything other than the treadmill & some geeky stuff ...

[Enoch]

Thanks, everyone. It's a rough thing to go through, but I think we're handling it as well as can be expected. It probably helps that our expectations have been adjusted somewhat gradually. From 2 weeks ago's "he's smaller than we would expect, and some of the bloodflow reading aren't ideal, so go on bed rest and see if it helps him grow" to 1 week ago's "genetic testing is all OK, but the best case scenario at this point is probably delivering 2+ months early in an ICU," to today's "no growth over the 2-week baseline, and bloodflow readings getting worse."

 

The folks at the Dr. office today seemed to be afraid that we were going to lose it any second, and I think both of us were getting annoyed that their tact was getting in the way of the medical advice. I really had to press to get the obstetrician's honest opinion of the chances of a not-terrible outcome when all she was offering was overly gentle statements like "you can get a second opinion" and "we'll respect however you want to proceed." (And this was at an OB office that specializes in high-risk pregnancies.) Our eyes were by no means dry, but we were there to get what hard information we could, rather than advice on the emotional impact of the choices before us.

 

So, we are going to get that second opinion, and if that prognosis is better, that'd be great. But the Doc we're going to see also happens to be affiliated with a hospital team who can handle what has to happen when a pregnancy goes bad this late in the game.

 

The (relatively) good news is that there's no reason to believe that this is anything genetic or specifically related to my wife's participation in the gestating process. So, based on all available information, it's not particularly likely to happen again and is also unlikely to cause any lasting physical harm to Mrs. E.

[Guard Dog]

Wow. I know you have to take what good news you can get but what a terrible thing to have to go through. I'm praying for all three of you.

[Krookie]

Good luck to your family Enoch!

[Bokishi]

Prayers from me Enoch!

[Raithe]

Hm, so for that slightly random.. my mother turned around and did the whole "between your sister's firm stand on not having kids, and you not bringing any girls home to meet the family in awhile, I've come to the sad realisation this branch of the family is going to end and I'm not going to have any grandkids"....

 

Which actually kind of spun my thoughts back to the single girl I've seriously loved and would consider raising a family with. Now that's kind of depressing. Why are there certain emotion scars that just won't freaking heal up. You can get to the point you ignore them mostly in day-to-day life, but then things crop up that just.. rub them raw again and make you oh-too-aware of them again.

 

Although I can understand my sister's position and kind of thank the deity of your choice that she will never be a parent. She's 35 but has the unfortunate habit of acting like a spoiled 17 year old, and she has this position that the majority of tact is lying to people which she doesn't believe in. So if she doesn't like someone or something, rather then be polite to them she will let them know exactly what she thinks and feels. Which is one thing in your personal life... but she applies it in her working one as well. She holds it as a badge of honor that she won't lie to people on how she feels about them and won't recognise that it comes across as rude and/or bitchy.

[Malcador]

That's pretty neat of your sister to be honest. One of the better guys at work is like that, I aspire to reach his level of bluntness. May come across as harsh I guess, but you just need to HTFU.

Having a rather decent day, going to try to get my chores done then I can read/study a bit. Apparently people have a 'plan' for their life, too. So will look into making one of those.

Edited September 24, 2011 by Malcador

[Raithe]

That's pretty neat of your sister to be honest. One of the better guys at work is like that, I aspire to reach his level of bluntness. May come across as harsh I guess, but you just need to HTFU.

Having a rather decent day, going to try to get my chores done then I can read/study a bit. Apparently people have a 'plan' for their life, too. So will look into making one of those.

 

It has the potential to be neat..but the trouble is you can set her off with the smallest thing. It's odd, she'll become bosom buddies with someone for a few months, go out of her way to help them, spend massive amounts of time, treat everyt hing they say as if it was sage advice.. And then something will happen. They say the wrong thing, they might be late to a meeting, or forget something..and suddenly boom. Persona non grata. And then she will act as if they mean nothing to her.

It's something I've always found a little weird.

 

She's lost at least one job because of her attitude. Office administration type of work, where she was also one of the first faces members of the public would see. The combination of "Everyone should know never to talk to me before I've settled in with my first cup of coffee at work or I will be mean to them" and the "if I think they're a fool and an idiot I shall let them know in no uncertain manner regardless of professionalism" doesn't always work so well...

[Nepenthe]

Wow, Idon't know what to say, Enoch. I guess the only thing I can say is that I have a lot of respect for your brains and sense of humour. I'm sure what you can do, you will do right.

Wals said it better than I can ever hope to.

 

Hm, so for that slightly random.. my mother turned around and did the whole "between your sister's firm stand on not having kids, and you not bringing any girls home to meet the family in awhile, I've come to the sad realisation this branch of the family is going to end and I'm not going to have any grandkids"....

 

Which actually kind of spun my thoughts back to the single girl I've seriously loved and would consider raising a family with. Now that's kind of depressing. Why are there certain emotion scars that just won't freaking heal up. You can get to the point you ignore them mostly in day-to-day life, but then things crop up that just.. rub them raw again and make you oh-too-aware of them again.

I've rationalised my inability to move on (I'm no longer pining for Her, just having a major dose of MGTOW) on my near-total lack of life brought about by the need to finish this dissertation. Not sure if I could actually bring myself to trust a woman even if it weren't for it, but it sure has been a convenient excuse to not even bother trying. At least I have a few female verbal sparring partners, so I'm not going completely monkish.

 

...And there's a major hottie in the local video store, I gotta go hit on her before streaming breaks through here. :PPP

[Raithe]

I've rationalised my inability to move on (I'm no longer pining for Her, just having a major dose of MGTOW) on my near-total lack of life brought about by the need to finish this dissertation. Not sure if I could actually bring myself to trust a woman even if it weren't for it, but it sure has been a convenient excuse to not even bother trying. At least I have a few female verbal sparring partners, so I'm not going completely monkish.

 

...And there's a major hottie in the local video store, I gotta go hit on her before streaming breaks through here. :PPP

 

Eh, I've found myself in the situation where I've been able to enjoy the aesthetic sight of a pretty woman, I enjoy their company, I can be charming and flirty in a friendly, meant to amuse manner - but since that breakup, I've actually only had the serious urge to hit on a girl I've met a few times. So I've been more assuming the role usually reserved for the "gay friend" of a girl rather then straight guy who they have fun with.