Tuesday, November 3, 2009

A difficult day at work

Today's Horoscope: "A difficult experience at work will open your eyes to the fact that your mood swings are more harmful to you than anything else. That being said, a period of great professional achievements is getting started."

Good gawd, I hope so. I'm having a nice little cocktail (or four) instead of supper---a hefty shot of vodka over lots of ice with a modest amount (maybe 1/4 teaspoon) of pure Quebec maple syrup stirred in. What would you call that? I'm sure there's already a name for it. Maybe a Boozmopolitan.

I was about ready to quit my job today. I can't quite recall the reason, now---something about few resources, limited contacts, ancient software, and a scatter-brained co-worker who praises me with faint damns. Not really---she responds to my ideas and suggestions with a long-drawn-out "great" or "excellent" à la Office Space. I get the idea that she's not quite with it. But she does have a lot on her plate...and I do have 17 more years of experience at this kind of work.


So since I can't recall the exact reason for wanting to leave a modest-paying job with absolutely no benefits in this lean market, I attribute it to a mood swing. After a soothing cigarette in the early afternoon, I went back to my desk and spent a whole three hours re-reading a policy document and an associated procedure to determine that, yes, they are both quite coherent but only one needs some adjustment before they're both approved.
 
This, by the way, is a view of a sunset of the Bromont ski hill around Christmas from the picture window of my parents' former home. Using good binoculars, you could faintly see skiers going down the slopes under the night-skiing lights---over eight miles away.
 
And the maple syrup was produced by my brother's former landlords.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Changing Clocks AND Calendars

So Daylight Saving (not Savings, please) Time has come to an end. Time to put the clocks back. And get another hour's sleep. But I don't think I've ever had to change the calendars and clocks on the same date. This is my funky electric kitchen clock from Value Village.


Falling back has fewer consequences than springing ahead, apparently. I've heard that car accident rates climb on the couple of days after DST begins in the spring, because people have "lost" an hour's sleep and are even more stupid on the road in the morning than usual. My parents sometimes forgot to change the clocks and as a result we were sent to Sunday school an hour early. A woman I worked with was so oblivious she couldn't figure out why her daughter's daycare worker was giving her dirty looks until Wednesday, when I asked her if she'd changed her clocks. She was dropping her daughter off an hour late every day.

My problem is that I can't figure out whether it stays dark later or gets light earlier in the days ahead. Oh, I just figured it out! It's 6:48 am ET, and it's getting light! I wonder if I do figure it out every year or whether I just forget.