Work has not been good recently. I am still happy with the job, in fact I like the job much better than the last, and I enjoy my new coworkers. My new company is great. But this week has been just rotten. We were informed that customer audit from two weeks ago, which we were led to believe went decently, was actually poor. And then I was informed by HR that one of my staff was going to be let go, today. In order to meet the new quality system the whole plant needs to do a crapload of work in just the next four months. So it brought a little sunshine to my day when I came across this petunia growing amongst the weeds in the hood, as I walked to my car after twelve hours at work.
With the latest season of Doctor Who. If you haven’t seen the twelfth episode of the current season and don’t want to be spoiled, please don’t continue.
For my birthday this year my friend Frances purchased me an EcoSphere. If you have never seen one just picture a ball of glass with seawater, algae and shrimp sealed inside. The idea is that it is a closed ecosystem that survives as long as the temperature remains within norms and it gets indirect lighting. From the start everything went well. The sphere arrived with four shrimp in it. After a day or so I started to wonder if I was doing something wrong, since I only saw three shrimp. Then I looked a little closer, and there was the fourth shrimp, hiding under the ball of algae. Another day would pass, and I would only see three shrimp, and upon closer inspection would find the fourth sitting motionless upside down under this sort of branch thingie in the sphere. I decided to call this shrimp “Number Four,” and while I realize it may have been a different shrimp each time, I wouldn’t bet on it.
It has been a few weeks since I really looked at the sphere, and I came to realize the other day that I can only find three shrimp in it, and perhaps a slim carcass that is all that remains of #4. The materials that come with the shrimp mention that if some die the others will scavenge the remains, so I guess that is what happened.
NOTE: It took me a few days to finish the draft of this post, and in that time I lost another shrimp as well. I think I will call the last remaining shrimp Hermes and Aphrodite. I don’t think they are expected to breed, so I hope they can keep up eating the algae that is growing in the sphere.
So this evening Brain and I met up with our friends Gabby and Joong to see the movie “The Fall.” Here is the trailer:
Brian thought the film was too long, and Gabby thought it moved too slowly. We did agree that it was visually spectacular. I thought the movie did a great job translating the peculiarities of a child’s imagination. It shows a child’s vision of a story she is being told, complete with updates along the way as the details of the story changes. And did I mention it features my American TV boyfriend?!? After the show we all went out for dinner to Chino Latino. I thought the food was decent, but we had a bad server tonight. But the company was good, and we all went out to Drink for, well, some drinks. So a good start to the weekend, time with friends, an interesting movie and good conversation.
I took time off from work this last week, and since I spent the last few weekends flying I thought it would be nice if Brain and I spent time together exploring the local area. We decided to call it our staycation. Memorial weekend was deck opener down at Mel and Dave’s place. We spent Saturday, Sunday and Monday in a state of extreme relaxation and friendly camaraderie.
Highlights
Tuesday Brian and I went to Muffuletta for lunch, tooled around the Milton square area and then went over to Como Park for the Zoo and Conservatory. After the zoo we went to see the new Narnia movie. It was just so-so. Here are some pics from the zoo:
Thursday we went to eat at Cafe Twenty Eight in Linden Hills and then went to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Guthrie. The show was entertaining, the costumes and set were great, but I guess in the future I would like to see plays that I have never been exposed to before. The new Guthrie theater is an interesting space to explore, I would recommend going at least once to the new site. Both Brain and I highly recommend Cafe Twenty Eight, we love both it and the whole Linden Hills neighborhood.
Friday we went to the Minnesota Zoo in Apple Valley. Word to the wise, if you go during the week, go after 13:00 and you will miss the school kids [who are very loud]. Here are some pictures:
After the zoo we went to the Chatterbox Pub and then we went over to the Witch’s Hat Tower in Prospect Park. Last Friday was the one time a year the public is allowed to climb to the top of the tower.
It was interesting, but the interior of the tower [originally a water tower] is smelly and the narrow staircase was not conducive to hundreds of people going up and down.
Saturday we went to Figlio in Uptown for lunch, wandered a bit, waited out the hail storm in Calhoun Square and then saw the show at Dudley Riggs Brave New Workshop. I’ve said it before, if you want to have a good laugh, the Brave New Workshop is a great place to go. Also if you are in Uptown, and like the stationary as much as I do, check out Letterbox Creative, a neat little shop.
Last Wednesday I got a call at work from my father. He was calling to let me know my Grandfather had died. Now this did and did not come as a shock, my Grandpa Butch was not in the best health, and suffered a heart attack. Now I love my family, but you can love someone and just not like them very much at times. So remember that while reading the rest of this post. My Grandmother is not a pleasant woman. In fact she is one of the most self centered people I have ever met, and i wonder if my Grandfather didn’t just die to escape. I am quite sure he is in a better place. My Grandmother will live for a very long time I am sure, only the good die young and all that.
Well now for the drama and comedy. It went down like this. My folks did the arrangements for the flight to Indiana. We flew out of Minneapolis at 07:00, so that meant the folks picked Brain and I up at 05:30. Neither Dad nor Mom had much [or any ] sleep, and Dad missed the exit for the airport. After Brain dropped us off we went to check in our bags, and then went to the longest security line I had seen in quite awhile. If we were lucky we would just make our flight. Luckily the crabby woman guarding the empty first class line took pity on me and asked if I was traveling alone. As I was hungry and wanted to get some food before running for the plane I said “Yes!” leaving my parents to their fate and hopped into the empty line. She asked my folks if they were a couple, and after a false start [where my Dad said there were three of them..Hey Dad I already ditched you two...] she let them in the quick lane. I managed to get a nasty pastry to eat on the plane as I ran to the gate. Once we arrived in Indianapolis and got the rental car it was more fun and games. So my parents didn’t sign me up to be able to drive the rental, and with them both being sleepy we had a few false starts before we got onto the highway we needed to get to Mom’s hometown. We did catch a meal on the way to my Grandmother’s house, at Steak and Shake [a personal fave]. Why is this important to the story? It isn’t but eating at a good Steak and Shake ranks high in my book of good things.
So we arrived at my Grandmother’s at about 12:30 and went through some pictures of my Grandfather for the boards at the visitation with her and my aunt. If there is anything good about a funeral I think going over the pictures and reminiscing about the departed is it. Then my Mom and aunt went to get ready for the visitation, leaving my Dad and me wigth my Grandmother. Did I mention that her house had the heat on, in May, set to 78F ? And she had the radio on, to a country station? And she was still sort of bitching about my Grandfather [yeah the dead one]? That is my idea of Purgatory.
The visitation went well. Almost all of my aunts, uncles and their families showed up. I got to catch up with most everyone, and no one seemed to be pissed off at anyone else. After four hours at the funeral home, a bunch of us went out for dinner and then my folks dropped me off at my Grandfather Bob’s [Mom's actual father] where I was staying. So I got to stay in comfort, while Mom and Dad had to go back to Grandma’s to sleep in the sauna.
The actual funeral was the next afternoon. And I think I forgot to mention that my Grandmother has gone back to religion in her waning years and her church is the Baptist church. Now a few years ago when my youngest aunt passed away, the sermon at the funeral was given by a member of my Grandmother’s church and he used the whole time to proselytize, which made me very angry as my aunt was a lesbian and would not have been accepted by the church if alive, but he used her death as a means to try and get more members into the church. Well Grandma had asked this same man to do the sermon at my Grandfather’s funeral. This was my idea of hell. As he droned on for the next 35 to 40 minutes I tried to use the time to remember the good times I had spent with my Grandfather, and to think of what he meant to me. After the burial and the meal at my Grandmother’s church, the family gathered back at my Grandmother’s house and spent the time catching up with each other until late in the night.
It has been a long week. After what seemed like an eternity of travel I arrived home from Jersey late last Tuesday night, and I just haven’t been in the mood to post for the last week. Work is starting to seem like, well, work. Good thing I have a training class tomorrow, something different to think about for the day. So want a recap of my week? No? Tough.
Since I don’t do well sleeping in beds other than my own I was super tired once I got back into town. I’m talking going to bed at 6 PM tired. But luckily after a few days of that I was back on track, just in time for the weekend! Friday night Brian and I got to go out to eat and then to a movie with our friend Sue. Sue is good company and I even got to meet her cats, one of which easily beats my cuddle lump Elliot in the size department. We went to see Iron Man, which despite the good reviews I was unsure about. I don’t know about you, but movies featuring Robert Downey Jr. as the lead worry me. And I am not big on non-mutant Marvel superheroes. But this time the critics were correct, it was a decent film that held our interest throughout. Dinner was good too, except for me dripping almost every course onto my shirt. Thank goodness for Sue and her trusty Tide pen!
Saturday night I had tickets for Lily Tomlin’s appearance at St Kate’s. Rachel M agreed to be my date. We started out the evening at the Chatterbox Pub in St. Paul. The food was pretty good, I didn’t get to try any drinks, but the atmosphere was great. Check out their site, they even have games for guests to play. I was a little disappointed in the main event. I had seen Lily Tomlin in the Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe years ago, and about half of the show this night was a reprise of characters from that show. Rachel mentioned she would have liked to have seen more of the Edith Ann character. The best part of the evening in my opinion was the Q&A session after the main performance.
Sunday I felt down again, so I called over to the folks and made my excuses. Don’t feel bad my Mom was sleeping anyhow. I then spent the whole day watching episode after episode of Corner Gas as I now have the first five seasons. Great show, very Canadian, very charming, often quite funny. If you ever do see it, ponder which character you are most like. I think I am a sort of cross between Emma and Brent. I have actually been watching episodes every night since Sunday and am now ready to start on the fourth season.
It has come to my attention that I haven’t posted anything in more than two weeks. Well here are some items that have come to my attention:
For my birthday this year my friend Frances purchased me an EcoSphere. If you have never seen one just picture a ball of glass with seawater, algae and shrimp sealed inside. The idea is that it is a closed ecosystem that survives as long as the temperature remains within norms and it gets indirect lighting. From the start everything went well. The sphere arrived with four shrimp in it. After a day or so I started to wonder if I was doing something wrong, since I only saw three shrimp. Then I looked a little closer, and there was the fourth shrimp, hiding under the ball of algae. Another day would pass, and I would only see three shrimp, and upon closer inspection would find the fourth sitting motionless upside down under this sort of branch thingie in the sphere. I decided to call this shrimp “Number Four,” and while I realize it may have been a different shrimp each time, I wouldn’t bet on it.
Last Wednesday I got a call at work from my father. He was calling to let me know my Grandfather had died. Now this did and did not come as a shock, my Grandpa Butch was not in the best health, and suffered a heart attack. Now I love my family, but you can love someone and just not like them very much at times. So remember that while reading the rest of this post. My Grandmother is not a pleasant woman. In fact she is one of the most self centered people I have ever met, and i wonder if my Grandfather didn’t just die to escape. I am quite sure he is in a better place. My Grandmother will live for a very long time I am sure, only the good die young and all that.
It has been a long week. After what seemed like an eternity of travel I arrived home from Jersey late last Tuesday night, and I just haven’t been in the mood to post for the last week. Work is starting to seem like, well, work. Good thing I have a training class tomorrow, something different to think about for the day. So want a recap of my week? No? Tough.