First Off...

This amuses the shit outta me...

Click here! 
(Sorry for the link, I couldn't get the embedded video to work.  )

I am no fan of Paris Hilton, by any stretch of the imagination... but this is some funny shit.  Seriously.  I about fell on the floor laughing at this when I was watching the news this morning... 

Secondly...

Tonight's my last night of the work week!  Yaaaaaaaay!  Very happy about that, as you might imagine.  I hope to go to the movies tomorrow afternoon... but again, it all depends upon how tired I am and stuff.  I might try to leave early... but I dunno... I don't really want to waste the time off, either.  But if I came home early, I could get my sleep on and then I could go to the movies.  Hmmmmmmmm... will have to ponder all that, I suppose. 

Oh... yeah... it depends upon which supervisor is in charge tonight and how many peeps are working, too.  So... even if I want to leave early, I may not be able to cuz of that kinda shit.  We'll see, I guess.  I'll have to have my mind made up at the beginning of the shift, though, so I can ask early.  Supervisors don't like that shit to be sprung on them last minute... and I don't blame them.

What Else?

Hmmmmmmmmm... not much, really.  It was pretty nice outside, weather wise this morning.  Though the idiot weather guy on TV said there was very little humidity.  Yeah... inside your studio, perhaps, but it was humid as fuck outside!  Dumbass.  You could see humidity hanging in the air... and it was thick, thick, thick.  It was nice and cool (mid 60s), so that was nice... but not humid?  Yeah.  Right. 

Because it was nice outside this morning, relatively speaking, the dogs got to play ball for the first time in forever... Scottie played fetch with me and Jesse just ran around the place with the ball in his mouth.  (When Scottie is out, he won't put his toys don't because he is afraid Scottie will take it... Jesse is very toy possessive... actually, that's a bit of an understatement.    He's obsessed with toys.) 

After the doggies came inside, I sat around and watched the news.  The dogs were pretty good in the house, which was nice.  I did have to take the toys away from Jesse because I was tired of listening to him growl.  He was growling at Scottie because Scottie was looking at him.  Seriously.  And that means, in Jesse's mind, that Scottie wants Jesse's toy... which is unacceptable.  (Remember the obsessed with toys part?)  So.  I took the toy and told both of them there were no more toys for this morning.  They just laid on the floor like good dogs then. (I love having smart dogs.  You tell them something and they totally get it...)

Meet The Ferrets

I haven't done this in forever... so I'm going to introduce (or reintroduce, as the case may be) the furhooligans to the masses.  I'm not going to be doing the past furhooligans at this point in time.  Mostly because there are alot of them and also because there are some whose loss still really bothers me... the last time I tried to introduce the entire gang, from the beginning, I stopped after Seamus (RIP) because the nex one was Chancey (RIP) and I just couldn't write about him.  I'm still not sure that I can... he is one little one that I miss sooooo much.  I mean, I miss them all... but Chancey died young and unexpectedly from... we don't even know what.  So that was the hardest loss, by far, of the bunch.  Maybe one day I'll be able to write about it... but... maybe not. 

Anyway... here is the current crew of six...

Scipio 05/13/08

Scipio is the oldest of the current crew.  I adopted him, along with Prosper (RIP) & Bo (RIP) from a Florida shelter back in 2004.  They were approximately 10 months old at the time they arrived at my house.  Scipio is now five years old and doing very well.  (No health issues to note.  ::knocks on wood::)

05/13/08

This is Scipio and his fugly lizzy toy.  He is lying on it so that Roran & Oliver won't steal and hide it from him.    He really like this toy.  This toy used to belong to my first ferret, Chaos.  When Chaos died, I was going to put the toy in the box with his ashes, because he was the only one that ever played with the stupid thing.  But as soon as Chaos was gone, Scipio developed a passion for the toy... so I left it out for him.  When he passes, I'll put the fugly lizzy in the box with him & Chaos...

 01/13/08

He has an adorable little face, don't you think?    As I said, he is in good health... so I'm hoping that he lives a 3 or 4 more years.  It's hard to tell... ferrets can get so many different cancers as they age.  I'm actually surprised he's made it being five years old without developing some type of an issue.  ::knocks on wood again::

He is still active and playful, though he does spend more time sleeping than the others do.  That's to be expected, as he's no spring chicken anymore.  He likes to wrestle and play in the tubes... and protect his fugly lizzy.  Often times, he can be found curled up between the entertainment center and a cabinet, sleeping atop his lizzy. 

He doesn't seem to be particularly bonded to any of the others that are around now.  He was close to Prosper, though... they were a bonded pair when they came here.  He and Prosper often slept together and when Prosper was in his last days, Scipio seemed to know that.  I didn't notice him mourning Prosper... which is good.  I think he knew that it was time for Prosper to go.

Magnus 04/13/08

Magnus, along with Eli, was purchased from the local Petco store.  I bought two babes at once at that point in time because I had been expecting to receive to new babies from a breeder.  However, due to some unscrupulous behavior on the part of the person transporting the babies and the breeder, I was never able to get the little ones that I had been promised.  It was very devastating at the time because I had just lost Dante and then, out of nowhere, had the little ones yanked away from me.  Very.  Not.  Cool. 

01/13/08

Magnus was named after Magnus Samuelsson of World's Strongest Man fame... because, as a youngster, Magnus was one of the biggest babies I had ever seen.  He was a pretty big boy for a couple of years... now he has gone back to the size (weight wise) of the average ferret.  Sometimes a little skinnier.  (He has tremendous weight loss in the spring... which is scary... but apparently normal for him as he is not sick at all.

01/18/05

Magnus is 3.5 years old now.  He still plays very hardy and sometimes is pretty wired.  (Last night was one of those nights... he ran about the place like the Devil was on his tail!)  He can be a real kissy face and he loves his treats.  He is more active in the summer when he weighs less... in the winter, he's more sluggish.  (For a ferret.)

Eli 05/13/08

As I said above... Eli & Magnus came to me at the same time, from the same place and for the same reason.  I chose Magnus because he was the largest baby I'd ever seen.  I chose Eli because the Petco employee (a young girl) was calling him the "mean one" and "a biter" and slapping at him while he was trying to clamber up to get our attention.  I could tell, of course, that he was none of those things... he was just very spirited and wanted the attention.  I had a bad feeling that if I left him behind, he would continue to get slapped at, which might end up making the other things end up being true over time.  He had to come home with me, no matter what.

06/15/08

As you can see from the above photo, Eli is very rambunctious and playful.  He is rather full of himself and when he gets going, he really gets going.  He does not, however, have a "mean" bone in his body.  He's a sweetie. 

He's kinda goofy, too.  But that's ok.  Goofy is a good personality trait in a ferret, me thinks.    He enjoys wrestling quite a bit... and playing in the tubes.  Jumping around on the playground and just running about the place acting like a ferret possessed.  (aka normal for a ferret!)

Isaac 05/18/08

Isaac... he was my baby for a looooong time.  Isaac is almost 3 yrs old now... and since Roran & Oliver have joined the gang, he's no longer the baby... but for a long time he was.  He's still my baby, honestly... he's very attached to me and loves for me to love on him.  (He was spoiled when he was little, this is why.)  I got Isaac from the Petco store on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) 2005.  That was a significant day in my family's life, as it was also the day we found out that my stepmom had leukemia.

Isaac is completely deaf due to a genetic defect called Waardenburg's symdrome.  (Any ferret with a "blaze" or stripe on it's head, face or neck has WS.)  WS is intentinally breed into ferrets in large breeding farms (the ones that supply pet stores) because the defect causes them to look "cute".  It also, like any genetic defect, causes health problems.  Most significantly, deafness.  (75% of all WS ferrets will be deaf.)  There can also be defects to the body... wider spaced eyes, larger/bulging eyes, tails with kinks in them, "flip top head" (where the ferret's head can/will flip back like a Pez dispenser.), among others things.  It can also cause mental retardation.  (My sweet Prosper ferret was mentally retarded & a WS ferret.)   

You can plainly see Isaac's blaze in this photo.  Isaac has no other health problems, other than being deaf.  He does have the "flip top head" thing going... but that is not harmful to him.  It's more like being... double-jointed.  Isaac is a silly, silly boy... he's a very sweet thing.  As I said, he's very attached to me and loves his cuddles. 

Roran 05/06/08

I got Roran (and his cousin Oliver) from a breeder in May of this year.  He is a handsome, handsome boy... as he was on his way here, he was entered in a ferret show in Pennsylvania where he got a 10th place ribbon, despite the fact that he was only 17 weeks old at the time, which is the youngest age you can enter a show.  (The above photo was taken at the show by a professional photographer.)

06/25/08

Because he is a breeder ferret and not a pet store ferret, Roran is (at this time) still "whole".  (He's got his wee little nuts yet, is what I mean.)  Because of that he is much bigger than his four older "brothers".  (Pet store ferrets are neutered/spayed at around 4 wks of age, so never experience ferrety puberty.)  Roran is probably close to five pounds... and it's alllll muscle.  He's a funny kid... very playful.  He's also a lover, though he'd not like me to think that sometimes.  He likes to lie on my lap while I pet him.  Which is rather odd behavior for a young ferret. 

07/16/08

He did not appreciate having his photo taken.    Because he wanted to play and I needed him to be still.    Roran just got here and as such... you've mostly seen him all along...

Oliver 06/25/08

As I said above, Oliver & Roran came here together in May from a breeder.  Oliver was just a wee guy when he got here, but he's grown quite a bit since then.  He, like Roran, still has his nuts.  However, he's nowhere near as large as Roran is and he's not going to be that large, either.  Not that he's a runt, mind you... Roran's just about 1.5 times larger, is all. 

05/06/08

Oliver is a little go getter... which is why I don't have very many decent pics of him.  He is in constant motion.  Used to be, I could never even catch him sleeping.  I can now... but it's still alot of work.  He's full steam ahead all the time.  He very much pesters the shit out of the other ferrets, too.  

05/13/08

Oliver and Roran are actual blood cousins.  (Their daddies are brothers)  Never had ferrets who were actually related by blood before... that's kinda cool.  He is also full brother to my friend's new babies, Kenji & Keniah.  Oliver isn't much for being held or anything... as I said, he's entirely too damned busy for all that.  

Peace... 

Statements & Questions & Answers

We'll start here today... while I think of what else to write about.  Ok?  Ok.  

I don't care about brownie points and never have.  I was born, apparently, with the "I don't give a shit what anyone else thinks" gene.  (Much to my parents' dismay, I have to tell you.  )  I'm going to do what I do... that's it.  It also helps that, in this job?  There's no reason to score brownie points as there is no advancement (that I'd be willing to do anyway) that's worth the effort of trying to get there. 

As I said... he wasn't bothering me with his silliness.  When I finished my answer, the two cops seated to his right had burst out laughing (Not little giggles, either... full fledged stuff.  ) and his little face was matching the color of his hair.  It took a moment or two for the others to regain their composure and Mr. Asshole was quiet (and red faced) for the rest of the interview.  Of course... before I ever let the words spill out of my mouth, I knew the interview was over and I wasn't going to get the job.  I knew that once I let those words go, it was a done deal... and I really wanted (needed) that job... but I couldn't help myself. 

Man sounds like all of your co workers are reall ass holes. But i may be wrong.  Is there anybody there at you job that your actually cool with? Cause it doesnt sound like it. ~  bigdogbrig

Not all of them.  But alot of them.  And yeah... I do have people I'm cool with... but there aren't many.  There used to be more, but many of them have moved on for one reason or another... or work other shifts, so I don't see them as much as I used to.  And there are others still that I have little interaction with at all and so I don't dislike them at all... I don't really know alot of them, so I can't pass any judgements.  And those people are almost never mentioned here because they're not participating in all the bullshit that goes on. 

On the shift now, I'm cool with Ellen & Kelly, two of the supervisors.  I don't trust them... but we talk and get along.  I don't trust them because Ellen isn't going to stick her neck out for nobody... she's got a "retiring position" (a job where you can sit on your ass and not do much until you're old enough to retire) and she's not going to jeopardize that for anybody... no matter what.  Kelly I don't trust because she was one of Renee's little cronies a few years back... and I've seen her back-stabbing at work.  Would she back stab me?  Doubtful... because she's afraid of me, for one thing, and because she doesn't have the network of other back-stabbers to watch her back... you know?  It's easy to throw knives when you're in a group and the target can't tell where they're coming from... a whole 'nother thing to be looking at someone one on one and do it.  (Yes... she's a coward, that's the point I'm making.  )  Malachi is down... he's one of my original homies.  I like Drake & Mitch quite a bit.  Drake's a nice kid and a hard worker.  Mitch is a nice guy, too... but maybe a little on the lazy side.  Rita & Natalie... Rita is LOUD as fuck and never shuts up... that kinda irks me.  She is also a former 1st shifter, so all she does is complain and piss and moan.  She does do her job, though, so that's something.  I don't necessarily dislike her... I just don't care to spend alot of time around her.  Natalie... I talk with her a little bit.  I like her well enough, but I don't really trust her.  I'm a little concerned about the knives coming out... though they haven't to date and she seems to like me well enough.  I'm just... well... not very trusting as I said before. 

And then there's Rick.  A while back, I really wanted to choke the shit outta him.  Not because I disliked him but because he was driving me fucking crazy.  He was the guy that, when in control, would sit on the radio all fucking night long, and make animal noises... yes... over the radio.  Something that might've amused me when I was 4... but certainly doesn't amuse me any longer.  No... it pisses me off.  But back in those days, it was Sam & Phil for the supervisors and people just did whatever the fuck they wanted. 

Rick doesn't make those noises anymore.  I've been talking to him a little more and he's loosened up around me.  (I think he thought I might actually beat his ass if he got to close to me.  )  He's a goofy guy... always carrying on and acting up.  Singing and dancing in the hallways... just... he's silly.  I like him well enough.  I always did like him, actually, he just irritated the piss outta me to the point where I wanted to kill him. 

Lastly there's Todd.  I do not like Todd.  I have never liked Todd.  I can be civil with Todd... but that's about it.  Todd is trying to be my friend now.  After these many years (he's been there as long as me... 10 yrs) of acting like a jackass to me.  Yeah... well... whatever.  I've seen the true colors there (saw them many, many years ago) and I'm not changing my opinion of you just because you're trying to be nice to me now.  The only reason for his change of heart is that he has nobody on the shift these days... except Rick.  That's it.  All his buddies are long gone.  (Well... until Sam comes back, anyway.)  He's a former 1st shifter that does the whine and complain thing and, in the past, has had a hard time actually doing his job.  (He's much better at that now.)

Of course... there are others on other shifts (mostly 1st shift) that I can't stand.  First shift is the home of the whiners and complainers.  All they do is bitch and piss and moan.  There is very little positive about that shift and it's personnel.  Of course, my dear friend Kate works 1st shift now.  Not sure how she puts up with it, honestly, but she seems to be.  And my friend Dylan from 2nd shift says he's going to bid onto 1st next bid.  (He wanted me to do it, too, so we could start making 1st shift more normal... but no way in hell I'm doing that!)  Dylan is mostly bidding onto 1st shift so he can confront Doug & Jerry (the two first shifters I really, really dislike) on a day to day basis.  Dylan dislikes them even more than I do... so that should be interesting when it happens. 

Anyway...

Work as... eh... not much going on there at the current moment.  I mean... nothing new, anyway.  Sam will be back on the shift at the end of this week.  That should be fun.    Oh yeah... don't like Sam, in case I haven't said that before.    We'll see how long it takes before he starts moving on Kelly's hours.  Not sure if he'll start that business right away... or if he'll wait a while.  Should be interesting. 

Not much going on at home.  It wasn't as hot today.  Only in the mid 80s... but it was humid as all get out this morning.  I don't know about now, I missed the weather this evening.  This morning it was terrible.  It must not be too bad outside now cuz mom took the dogs outside after chow for quite a little while and mom doesn't like the humidity at all, soooooooooooo...

I'm growing ever closer to the end of my work week!  Sooooo happy.  I might try to get off a bit early on Thursday morning... I dunno.  We'll see.  If I get off a bit early, I can come home and sleep and then go to the movies later on.  But, it all depends upon how many people we have working that night and stuff.  (And who the supervisor is, for that matter.)  I don't want to leave real early... just like... maybe a couple hours. 

I'll probably check on that sofa situation on Thursday, too... or maybe Friday.  I dunno.  Got get one of the ordered.  Still leaning toward the futon at this point in time.  I probably won't know for 100% sure until I actually get there and stuff.  I'm kinda like that sometimes... making up my mind at the last possible moment. 

I'm kinda worried about delivery.  Cuz, honestly?  I'd rather just load it up myself and be done with it.  But I have a feeling... I have a feeling that they deliver... whether you want them to or not.  I don't know.  I hope not, cuz if I'd rather buy it, have them load it up for me and drive it home... unload it and be done.  If they deliver, I'll have to wait on them.  I hate having to sit around and wait on people.  What if I want to go do something?  You know... and what if they want to deliver it next week?  Shit like that.  I sleep during the day, you know? 

The good part about delivery is that they can carry that shit down the stairs.    That's the only good part, though, so far as I'm concerned. 

I don't know what else is planned for my weekend.  Other than not being at work... which is the whole point of the extended weekend, of course.  

I do have that vet appointment at 1230 on Friday for Scipio, Magnus & Eli... so they can get their distemper vaccinations.  But other than that, I have a free & clear schedule.  Which makes me happy.  

Ok...

I'm going to post this up and get around to visit y'all. 

Peace... 

Well...

One down, three to go.  And, Sun/Mon is always the worst night... the first night.  Because I don't leave on that morning until 0630... which means I have to share oxygen with the 1st shifters who work my area, Doug & Jerry, and pretty much any time I see them I want to punch them in their collective heads... so... not seeing them makes me very, very happy. 

And this morning?  I was happy!  I don't know where those two asshats were this morning, but instead of dealing with either one of them, I got to deal with Cassie... who may have her own issues, but they don't involve things that bother and annoy the shit outta me... so, it was a pleasant enough morning.  Hurray! 

And... only 3 more work days to go this week!  Happiness!

Honestly...

No too much going on here.  It's so blinking hot outside, nobody is going out unless they absolutely have to.  It's just awful.  It didn't get as hot here, as far as air temp goes... it's was only 91 F... but with the humidity & dew point (both of which were high) factored in, the heat index was 102 F.    Yeah.  Fuck if I'm going outside!  Too damned hot for me, thanks. 

I was outside this morning after work for a while, to let the dogs run... but even they don't like the heat.  It's not terribly hot at that time in the morning (mid 70s), but it's so humid... Jesse can't run for very long (and he looooves to run!) and he's just drained of energy and hot as hell.  It's pretty bad when the dogs don't even want to be outside for any length of time! 

Work

Still interesting stuff going on.  Sounds like Sam is gunning to take Kelly's hours away from her... you know, he doesn't like the idea of working weekends.  (You may recall that he gave up his higher up position to demote back to being a supervisor just so he could come back to 3rd shift.)  Kelly's pretty upset about that.  I don't know if he'll be able to pull it off or not.  I don't think so... at least not at this moment.  I think maybe later on down the road he might be able to do it, though.  Stranger things have happened, for sure.  And Kelly will complain about it while it's happening... but to all the wrong people.  She complain to us instead of the powers that be... cuz she's chicken shit (like 98% of the people who work there) and won't stand up to admin.  Have to watch and see how all this plays out, I guess. 

Still don't know for sure what's going to happen with the open supervisor's position.  Dean is working it on a temp basis at the moment... but there are other people who want that position. (Why?  I have noooo idea.  You have to have some mental illness to want to be a supervisor there, seriously.)  My feeling on the matter is that they will open it up to the application process... to make it look fair... and then make Dean the supervisor, anyway.  That's the way things tend to work out, anyway.  I have no reason to believe this time will be different.

Saw Brett last night for the first time since he came back from the giant sandbox across the pond.  He's been gone... what... a year & a half?  Something like that.  (And a minute after walking back in the door was given a promotion, despite the fact that others wanted that job!  See how it is?!)  Anyway... I didn't really talk to him much or anything... I was just kinda surprised when I saw him... I actually had to look twice.    Dude grew some facial hair and the shit is all 100% gray.  Looks like someone's freaking grandpa!  (And he's younger than me!)  Holy hell... if my shit was that gray, I'd shave it off.  Seriously.  It ages him like... 10 yrs or so. 

Heard some stuff about him, too.  Back in the day, when Brett was the supervisor... he was like... the Field General.  You know?  When he said "jump", the minions were like "how high?" and no questions asked or anything.  But we've gotten alot of new people in since he's been gone and now when he says "jump", they're like "why?".  Apparently, this causes him some form of distress.    And he holds a higher position now, too.  I don't think he understands or noobs too much.  They don't want to do much work... once the kids are locked down and shit, they can't even be bothered to pick up after themselves cuz they're too busy playing ping pong or foosball for the last 2 hrs of the shift.  (And leave a nice mess for 3rd shift to clean up...) 

When I started there, Brett was God.  No kidding.  He had his little clique of followers... very much like jr. high school, honestly.  It was the first time I had ever come on a job and see adults behave the way his groupies did.  They aped him... whatever Brett did, they did.  If he had a certain saying or something, they all said it too.  If he had some funny laugh, they all did it, too.  It was one of the strangest things I've ever seen in the adult work place, you know?  He was like the piped piper of the facility...

Of course... that was 10 yrs ago and we were all a little younger then.  Brett isn't one of those youngsters anymore... he has joined the "over 40 club" and those young 20-somethings we have working for us now aren't interested in being in Brett's little clique.  You know what I mean?  They got their own thing going on... and honestly, the vast majority of them are pretty damned lazy.  (Brett is not.  There are many things I don't like about Brett... but he does his job and does it well.)  What a shock for Brett to come back and find out he really doesn't hold the masses in his hands like he once did. 

That should make some things interesting in the weeks to come, me thinks. 

I don't think Brett is going to take too kindly to people blowing him off, quite honestly.  Especially since nobody ever did when he was a supervisor... and now he's a position higher... people blowing him off?  Yeah... I just don't see someone with Brett's personality letting that happen without consequence.  You know?  We'll see, I guess.

It's All Good...

Cuz it doesn't effect me.    As long as I'm in my current area?  Nothing really effects me at all.  And I don't have much to do back there, either... which is why I get to spend all night playing on the PS2.   

Besides, that whole rank thing doesn't mean too much to me.  I don't care whether you're the douche bag across the street or Jesus Christ himself... it's all the same to me.  I do what I do... I don't care what anyone else thinks or says about it.  (And the doing what I do, is my job... I know the policy better than the people who wrote it.) 

I have to say that I'm not the easiest person in the world to supervise.    The best way to supervise me, honestly, is to just leave me alone and let me do my thing.  Only bother me when I've done something wrong (and you'd best be right about my wrongness, cuz if you're not?  You'll be sorry.  ) or we're going to be doing something new or different.  Otherwise?  Leave me be.  And if the something new or different is something stupid?  Expect to hear how stupid it is... why it's stupid and what would be a better way of doing it so it wasn't quite so stupid.  Because you're going to hear it whether you want to or not.    (You'd best have a thick skin or learn not to take things personally... cuz I'm going to tell you all about it.  And it's not personal.  It just is.) 

I mean... I'm the person who told Brad (my former supervisor) when he first started "I don't know what they (admin) told you... but you don't run shit here.  We run shit here."    He looked a little... scared... when I told him that.    I was just stating facts, though.  It wasn't anything personal.  The fact was that we had two buildings on opposite sides of the city at that point in time and only ONE supervisor.  He couldn't be two places at once... so we did run things.  He was little more than a glorified staff.  (Supervisors still aren't anything more than glorified staff, to be perfectly honest.)

Anyway...

Time to stop rambling on and on and get this posted up.  Go visit y'all.  See what you've been up to today.  I'll be around shortly. 

Peace.  

Today

It is currently 102 F outside.    Yeah.  No kidding.  It was still 80 F last night at 0100 when I took Jesse out for the last time.  80 and muggy as hell.  Knew today was going to be a bad one.  I haven't bothered to go outside.  Seriously.  I've been in the garage at the door to the backyard... letting Jesse in and out.  That's it.  I'm not going outside in the shit until I have no other choice, thanks.  I have a/c and a TV... I'm going to make good use of both of them.     And I did.  I've basically done absolutely nothing all day but lie in bed and watch TV.  I got up a few times to check my email... I'm such a slave to my email... it's my main way of communicating with my friends far & wide, so I have to check that several times a day, so I know what's going on. 

But other than that? 

Yeah.  Bed.  TV.  That's it.  Me and my Jesse pup.  All snuggled up on the bed.  Watching the Little People show... they must be having a marathon on TLC... what do you call it... Little People, Big World.  I like those little people.  I find it interesting how they do things... you know, stuff that is easy for me isn't so easy for them.  And all the stuff I, as an average sized person, would never even think about... you know?  So, you know, I could sit and watch the little people all day long.  I did sit and watch the little people all day long.  

Anyway...

I shoulda got my ass up either yesterday or today and got my sis to cut my hair... cuz it needs it.  (It always needs it, I swear... I think I probably need a cut about 10 minutes after I get a cut.)  It's rather long and outta control again... as usual.  (Well... sometimes it's short and outta control, but whatever...)  Oh well.  I guess I'll try to get that done next weekend some time.  I think we all have a 3 day weekend next weekend, so I should be able to pull it off then.

Yesterday, I didn't even bother to comb the 'do after toweling it off.  What's the point?  By the time it dries, it's going to look like I didn't comb it anyway... so why waste my time?  So... while I was sofa shopping yesterday, I had my crazy surfer 'do going on.  

Yup... something like that.  Only mine's much darker (and grayer!)  Actually... mines much more wild than this, but this was as close I as could come in a quick google image search.  Mine is longer on the front and sides than this, but about the same on the back...

Right at this moment, it looks like Steve Van Zandt's in the Sopranos...

The front is all standing straight up so it looks like this wonderful 'do Miami Steve is sportin'.  That's what happens when you have a mop head and you sleep with your forearm across your forehead, I'm afraid.  

I Hope...

There are enough people working on 1st shift every day this week and that there aren't 7000 sick calls on 1st shift every day.  It's been a little bit ridiculous the past couple of weeks.  I think there's been a threat of mandatory OT three days outta each week.  That's just... it's nerve wracking, is what it is.  There you are, hanging in limbo, having to worry about whether or not you get to go home when your shift ends or if you get to stay and work another 8 hrs because 1st shift can manage to bring their happy asses to work. 

I guess we'll see.  We were looking pretty good by the end of last week... so maybe we'll still be good?  I hope so.  They did hire someone full time.  He already worked for us as a part timer... Arnold.  He's kinda of a weird guy, me thinks.  I've never really talked to him or anything, though.  Honestly... I think I've only seen him twice, but I've heard the name alot.  Kelly calls him "the serial killer" cuz he's... well... creepy looking.  Maybe he's not really weird and he just looks weird?  I dunno.  I don't really care.  As long as he drags his happy ass to work when it's supposed to be there, that's all I care about.

Speaking Of Work...

For some strange reason, nobody fessed up to taking Malachi's shit outta his mailbox.  Hmmmmmmm... imagine that.  Whoever did is likely hoping like hell that Malachi doesn't somehow find out.  I'd like to be a fly on the wall for that confrontation, if he ever finds out who did it.  I bet the guilty party is quaking in their boots, hoping to hell he doesn't find out it was them. 

Not too much else going on there at work.  Just the normal stupid stuff.  I mean... there are little things, but most of that ain't worth talking about, really.  Cuz, there's always something way bigger coming down the pipe, as it were... they can't keep from having some stupid crisis or another for any particular length of time. 

Anyway...

Still haven't decided if I should get the futon or the leather sofa.  I'm still leaning heavily toward the futon... as I think it is going to be more practical in the long run.  I do like the leather, though... I just don't know about how it will be with the ferrets.  It'll certainly be easy to maintain... I dunno.  

We'll see.  As I said... I'm leaning rather heavily toward the futon at the moment.  It's a comfy futon, as far as futons go (by far the most comfy I sat on there... even more comfy than some of the couches, honestly.), I know it's going to be safe for the ferrets... that's a huge plus.  (I'm not 100% convinced that the leather is 100% ferret safe.)  It makes into a bed... the futon, I mean.  I can lay it down, toss on a bunch of pillows and lie about like a slug and watch TV or play video games.  (And my puppy can join me, lol.)  

I'll probably decide by this weekend.  The futon frame was not in stock, but they expected it to be in this week sometime... so maybe I'll go chat those folks up again on Thursday or Friday... and see what I want to do.  I need to coordinate in case this shit won't fit in my Explorer, too... coordinate with either my sis & bil or my dad... as they both have pickups.  (I think I can squash both into my truck, though, with a little creative stuffing... )  But, in the event that I can't... I'd be nice to have someone around who can get it in their vehicle... besides, I'll need someone's help (probably Zach's) to lug the damn thing down the stairs.

Well...

I think that's all for me.  I'm going to post this up and come 'round and visit all y'all.  How 'bout that?    You're excited, I can tell.    

Peace!    

Heeeeeeeeeeey...

What up my Xanga peeps?  Not too much here.  To be perfectly honest, it is soooooo damned hot outside, that there is no point in going out.  Seriously.  It was like... 100 F here... and that was straight air temp... I have no idea what the temp is with the humitidy factored in (heat index)... I don't want to know.  It's fucking hot, that's really all I need to know.  Blistering, even. 

I'll have to do some recapping for you, as I wasn't able to access my site yesterday evening... it was acting all buggy and shit.  With no help from the Xanga Gods (none... not a peep.  ), I managed to fix it myself.  Good thing, too, cuz I was starting to get pissed off.  Anyway... that's why there was no posty-post yesterday and no visiting either.  Ok?  Ok. 

So... here's the recap...

I stayed up till about 11a on Friday... but I knew by 0930-10a, that there was no way I was going to make the movies.  I was just too tired.  I wanted to go.  But... I was tired to the point that I knew that if I went to the first movie possible (X-Files at 1145a) and sat through 2 hrs worth of very loud shit (you know how loud the theatres are!)... that I'd have a pounding ass headache by the time I got outta there.  That's not good.  So.  I didn't go.  However... I have next Friday off... so me thinks I'll roll my ass out to watch X on Friday next week.  Probably not the earliest show, though, cuz I've also got weasely vaccinations to get done that day.

I slept.  Mom woke me at around 5p to go eat some chow at the bar.  I had wings & fries.  I love their wings.  Sooooo yummy.  Very much open your sinuses.  It's the sauce.  I think I could drink that stuff right outta the bottle.  I'd probably yack if I did that... but damn, that stuff's good! 

I also played keno... cuz I can't go to the bar and not play keno.  (If I wasn't playing and they called my numbers I'd be sooo pissed off!)  So.  I played.  I won.  Gotta love that.  I more than doubled my money.  So that made me a very happy War, yes it did.  (I almost always win money playing keno.  Really pisses off my sister... who never wins money playing keno.  )

Got home and I went over to my sis & bil's... mostly cuz I won money playing keno and I have to go brag about it, cuz... as I said... they never win money playing keno.  My sis was pissed.  First thing she wants to do?  Run over to the bar and play keno.  She wants me to go with her.  I was like... dude... I just got this money, I don't want to go and give it back!  Then she was pouty cuz nobody go play keno with her.  (She called me a naughty name, too!)

Then... after the keno thing... and I'm not sure why this happened, but she got it in her head that my bil should get a tattoo... NOW.    I have no idea why... but she did.  She started calling parlours and what not.  He finally agreed to go in and do it.  So... we all loaded up and went to the city... downtown and walked into this parlour.  Of course... he couldn't get it done last night, cuz they only had one artist on hand and he was already busy with someone... but he got his design (his own) drawn out and a price quoted and an appointment for next Friday.

Guess I'm the only one left to get their tat, now. 

Came home after that and tried to get on here... but no go.  I was irritated by this very much.  Spent a fair amount of time trying to fix the problem... but nothing.  Tried to get help from the Xanga Gods... but nothing.  I went to bed grumpy cuz I couldn't solve the problem and couldn't get anyone to help me solve it.  Damn it.

Didn't sleep well.  Tossed and turned alot.  And my damn bones hurt soooooo bad.  The knee & hip on the right side.  Arthritis, you know.  It was just kicking my ass all night.  So, I was awake and asleep off and on all night.  Of course, had I been using my nugget, I'd have dropped some ibuprofen into me and put the blanket over the right side of me and I'd have probably been ok.  I guess I was sleepy enough that I wasn't thinking logically and instead just got irritated by the pain, but did nothing to fix it.  Dummy.  

Mom brought Scottie down to put in Jesse's crate while she went grocery shopping... that was pretty early this morning.  I laid there for a while after she left, but I hurt soooo bad... I finally did get up and get some ibuprofen in me... when I came back down here, I put the blanket on my left lower self and hoped the added heat would help out.  It seemed to... I laid there in pain for about... 30 minutes before the ibuprofen started kicking in and the heat from being under the blanket.  I finally fell back to sleep.

And I slept all damned day, too.  I guess I needed to?  I didn't get up until after 3p.  Got showered and what not.  Mom had the dogs with her... they were all taking a nap in her room.  Jesse came out when he heard me come upstairs.  I went outside with him for a little while and just played... the two of us, which we don't get to do too much anymore, because Scottie's here, and Jesse enjoyed that.  But it was sooo damned hot outside, we didn't stay out there a great deal of time. 

Grilled some steak for chow.  Then I asked mom if she wanted to go look at couches with me.  I need/want a couch really badly.  You may (or not) recall that my current living room furniture consists of an adirondak lawn chair... and while it's somewhat comfy for the short term... it's not something you're going to cuddle up and watch a movie in... ok?  As such, I never sit in my living room to watch TV on the big TV... I always go in the bedroom and laid down to watch the little TV... because it's so much more comfortable. 

Well... I want to save most of the money my dad gave me... but I also want to use some of it to buy a couch.  So that's what I'm going to do!  I've looked at alot of them online... but I really want to sit on stuff before I buy it.  I mean... it may look nice, but be really uncomfortable.  You know? 

And... I have to go with futon or futon-ish kinda stuff because of the ferrets.  (They get inside of regular couches with is not good for the couch or the ferrets...) 

Here are two that I'm considering getting.  One is an actual futon, the other is a regular couch.  I like them both.  They're both comfy to sit on.  The futon, of course, makes into a bed... which would be cool even though I'd have no real purpose for having an extra bed... unless I just want to sleep on that for whatever reason. 

This is the futon, obviously.  It's part of the Ponderosa collection.  (Chair, tables & ottoman are available)  I like the look of this one and it is very nice and comfy to sit on.  The mattress is 8" or 9" thick (I forgot what she said now) and has the spring insides... not just stuffing.  It's long enough for me to lie down on, too...  If I get this, I will be also getting the little ottoman thing to go along with it.  (I don't have room enough for all the other stuff... though a coffee table would be nice.  I can always add that later, I suppose.)

This is the other one.  Yes... it is leather.  It's nice and comfy.  I don't think it's as long as the futon one.  It is part of the Luce collection.  If I got this one, I would also get the ottoman thingy. 

The positives to the futon are that I KNOW the ferrets can't get inside of it because there is nothing to get inside of... with the other one... well... I don't think the ferrets can get inside there... and there's not much "inside" to get into, either way.  The postive to the leather one?  It's leather... and it sooooo soft.  (The leather) I think, over all, it's nicer looking and will probably be more durable.  On the other hand, all you're going to wear out on the futon is the mattress and replacing one of those would be cheaper than replacing an entire couch. 

As far as price goes?  With the ottoman included, the futon will actually be more expensive than the leather, if you can believe that.  That's because the mattress for the futon is a $300 one... the frame is $500... so there ya go... $800 futon.  The leather sofa is $700.  Both ottomans are around $200. 

So... what do y'all think?  Both styles fit me pretty well... I like them both.  I do like the rustic look of the ponderosa futon and like the coloring on both... it's nice.  Both are comfortable to sit on.  The futon is comfy to lie on, cuz I did.  (I didn't on the leather, cuz there were so many people around.  )  I think the leather would be nice and comfy to lie on as well. 

So anyway... do you think the leather would be a better buy... or the futon for now?  I mean... understand, it's not like I have people over alot (like almost never) or that I need really fancy stuff... I'm looking for comfort and durability and shit that won't hurt the ferrets.  (Which is the most important factor, honestly.)  I'm not too sure which pick to make.  Honestly... I'm leaning toward the futon... but I like the leather, too.  Argh.  Decisions! 

And...

That has pretty much been my weekend, so far.  After tonight, I'm on the downhill slide for going back to work, which sucks.  But... I do get a 3 day weekend this coming week... so that's good!  Yay!

Finally got the ferrets appointments for their vaccinations.  Scipio, Magnus & Eli will go in this coming Friday for their shots and Isaac & Oliver will go in for their shots the following Friday.  (Roran is the only one who is up to date on his vaccinations.)  I would take them all at once, but with ferrets you just never know if they're going to have an allergic reaction to them or not.  Allergic reactions to vaccinations are anaphylactic reactions, so they are life threatening... so, you know... best not to vaccinate 5 all at once, you know?  I mean... what if 3 of 5 decided to have reactions???  You know what I mean?  Better to split the groups and do it that way. 

So far, in the 12 years or so that I've had ferrets, I've never had a reaction.  There's always that possibility, though.  And they are horrible things.  My ferrety friend had one react once.  She had been taking her ferrets to Petco to do the vaccinations because it was cheaper... well... right there in the Petco store, her little girl ferret went into anaphylactic shock... started to vomit and shit blood all over the place.  (Like projectile from both ends) She and the vet both had to load up and drive like hell to his office so he could treat her for the reaction... he didn't have any stuff to counteract with him at the store.  Fortunately, they were able to get it done in time...

Anaphylactic reactions are the reason my vets will no longer vaccinate ferrets.  Which is unfortunate as they really do need to be vaccinated against canine distemper as it was 100% fatal to ferrets.  (And a horrible, horrible way to die as well.)  And since distemper can come into your home from your shoes and stuff like that?  Well... there's no real way to keep it away from them, you know?  I mean... if it was a matter of just keeping them in the house and they'd be ok, it'd be one thing... but that's not the case at all.  

Anyway...

I think that's all for me for tonight.  I think I'm going to post this up and come around and visit all y'all since I didn't have the opportunity to do it last night.  Then... I don't know what I'm going to do.  Maybe I'll go play GTA 4... I haven't played on the PS3 since I got the computer back.  Must go do that, me thinks... at least for a while.

Peace...