This is the second version of this post...my computer got unplugged.
My weekend alone is almost over. I am a little sad...the independence is nice. And yet, I'm looking forward to not having to not always be downstairs all the time.
I was going to type more but now I'm too tired. Good night.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Weary but ok 5 days after the Ides of March
I know, the subject line is a little weird but I couldn't think of anything else (the Ides of March, by the way, is March 15...the date is famous as the date Julius Caesar was murdered and through a line from Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar that reads "Beware the ides of March"...also happens to be my old English teacher Mrs. Palmer's birthday, I think...which was funny cause it was in her class that we read Julius Caesar).
I have been closing a lot lately, so I have been tired a lot more than usual. I actually worked 8 days in a row (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday of one week and Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday of the following week) before getting a day off. Actually I was supposed to get all of last weekend off, but I had to go in on Saturday for 4 hours cause Gail (the bakery manager -- oh yeah I'm in bakery now I'll explain that in a minute) forgot to schedule someone to close. (I checked the schedule for this week, when I'm also supposed to have the weekend off, and she has people scheduled to close all those days so I shouldn't have to go in, which is good especially since my parents and brother are going out of town, so I won't have a ride home, since the buses don't run that late in my neighborhood).
In news since the 1st...I have changed departments at work. Erika (the store manager) thought I might do better in the bakery, plus this girl from the bakery named Samera wasn't getting along with the bakery manager and I wasn't getting along with Lily from my department, so Erika switched us. Samera really likes it in the service deli, at least from what I have heard from her. I do like the bakery, but I have finally worked with my boss, Gail, and well...she is somewhat strict and no-nonsense, which is a little intimidating for me to say the least. The weird thing is, when I was working in the service deli, I thought Gail was really nice, not strict at all. I guess things change when you actually work for a person. She reminds me of my high school French and 11th and 12th grade English teacher, Mrs. Burnworth.
Warton, Gilbert, and I are making progress on our "project." I still can't say anything cause this blog is linked on not only my websites but on the two forums I frequent as well, so I'm afraid if I say something the word will get out prematurely, which wouldn't be good.
This weekend I get to myself since Mum, Papa, and Andrew will be out of town (they actually leave tomorrow). Mum is meeting her friend from Oklahoma and they are going to Sedona (a city in Arizona) together, and Papa and Andrew are making their annual trip to Phoenix to see our local baseball team in spring training. Knowing this was coming, I made sure to ask for early shifts on the days they're gone, so I don't need a ride home. I put it on the deli calendar far in advance, but then I had to rewrite it on the bakery calendar (each department has some kind of calendar, as far as I know, for employees to write when they need to switch shifts or get days off) cause of my department switch. I wrote it on there first thing on my first day there, so Gail would have plenty of notice. She did give me early hours on Thursday (11am-3pm) and gave me Fri-Sun. off (which wasn't necessary but is nice...actually I expected to get Sunday off cause I had put on my application that I didn't want to work in the morning on Sundays cause of church, and so they couldn't give me an early shift). Tomorrow is still in limbo though. Gail apparently forgot about me needing an early shift that day and scheduled me to close. I called her yesterday morning and asked (politely -- she is big on politeness) if it was possible that I could switch shifts so I got off earlier. She said she would change it, but as of tonight, I saw no change on the schedule. Plus, she wasn't there when I came into work today (which is odd cause she was there when I came in at the same time yesterday...maybe she was off?) so I couldn't ask her about it. I'm going to have to call her early in the morning to see when I should come in. I'm guessing it's not super early, or she would've given me more notice. It might be as early as 9 though cause she said she was going to try to get me a shift where I got off at 6, and 9-6 is not an unusual shift to work (at least in the deli...don't know about bakery).
I guess I should go to bed soon so I can get up early to call her. Some brief notes on other stuff:
I have been closing a lot lately, so I have been tired a lot more than usual. I actually worked 8 days in a row (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday of one week and Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday of the following week) before getting a day off. Actually I was supposed to get all of last weekend off, but I had to go in on Saturday for 4 hours cause Gail (the bakery manager -- oh yeah I'm in bakery now I'll explain that in a minute) forgot to schedule someone to close. (I checked the schedule for this week, when I'm also supposed to have the weekend off, and she has people scheduled to close all those days so I shouldn't have to go in, which is good especially since my parents and brother are going out of town, so I won't have a ride home, since the buses don't run that late in my neighborhood).
In news since the 1st...I have changed departments at work. Erika (the store manager) thought I might do better in the bakery, plus this girl from the bakery named Samera wasn't getting along with the bakery manager and I wasn't getting along with Lily from my department, so Erika switched us. Samera really likes it in the service deli, at least from what I have heard from her. I do like the bakery, but I have finally worked with my boss, Gail, and well...she is somewhat strict and no-nonsense, which is a little intimidating for me to say the least. The weird thing is, when I was working in the service deli, I thought Gail was really nice, not strict at all. I guess things change when you actually work for a person. She reminds me of my high school French and 11th and 12th grade English teacher, Mrs. Burnworth.
Warton, Gilbert, and I are making progress on our "project." I still can't say anything cause this blog is linked on not only my websites but on the two forums I frequent as well, so I'm afraid if I say something the word will get out prematurely, which wouldn't be good.
This weekend I get to myself since Mum, Papa, and Andrew will be out of town (they actually leave tomorrow). Mum is meeting her friend from Oklahoma and they are going to Sedona (a city in Arizona) together, and Papa and Andrew are making their annual trip to Phoenix to see our local baseball team in spring training. Knowing this was coming, I made sure to ask for early shifts on the days they're gone, so I don't need a ride home. I put it on the deli calendar far in advance, but then I had to rewrite it on the bakery calendar (each department has some kind of calendar, as far as I know, for employees to write when they need to switch shifts or get days off) cause of my department switch. I wrote it on there first thing on my first day there, so Gail would have plenty of notice. She did give me early hours on Thursday (11am-3pm) and gave me Fri-Sun. off (which wasn't necessary but is nice...actually I expected to get Sunday off cause I had put on my application that I didn't want to work in the morning on Sundays cause of church, and so they couldn't give me an early shift). Tomorrow is still in limbo though. Gail apparently forgot about me needing an early shift that day and scheduled me to close. I called her yesterday morning and asked (politely -- she is big on politeness) if it was possible that I could switch shifts so I got off earlier. She said she would change it, but as of tonight, I saw no change on the schedule. Plus, she wasn't there when I came into work today (which is odd cause she was there when I came in at the same time yesterday...maybe she was off?) so I couldn't ask her about it. I'm going to have to call her early in the morning to see when I should come in. I'm guessing it's not super early, or she would've given me more notice. It might be as early as 9 though cause she said she was going to try to get me a shift where I got off at 6, and 9-6 is not an unusual shift to work (at least in the deli...don't know about bakery).
I guess I should go to bed soon so I can get up early to call her. Some brief notes on other stuff:
- Wizard rock: Still checking it out. I figured out how to download songs off of the bands' Myspace pages (yay) so I got a bunch of songs from bands I'd looked up. I like Philosopherock (their song "The Real Mad-Eye Moody" is pretty good...I think in general they must do parodies, cause one of their other songs, "Eulogy, Book IV," is clearly a parody of "Skater Boy" by Avril Lavigne, at least in the tune. The same goes for "Eulogy, Book V," which is clearly a parody music-wise of "Fallin'" by Alicia Keys). I also like Dumbledore's Army (their song "Voldemort's Return" is funny cause it parodies "I Will Survive") and a one-woman band called The Half-Blood Princess (I really like her song "Please Remus," which is unique in that it is from Tonks's point of view, a POV you don't really see in wizard rock songs). I still listen to The Hermione Crookshanks Experience (I finally got a few of that band's songs from its "supplemental" Myspace page), Harry and the Potters, and Hollow Godric (actually them not so much lately cause I've heard all the songs they have available for download on their site). I also checked out some other bands, like The Weasleys and The Wands. The band I really wanted music from was The Weird Sisters/Switchblade Kittens, but they didn't have anything to download.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
Laptop internet works once more, runny nose, work incident, wizard rock, back on YouTube!!!, and other stuff
Yeah you read that title right. The internet on my laptop works once more!! What happened was last night I got an IM from a friend of mine from Tech Links who knew I was having problems with the net and that I'd just done a full system restore on my laptop. He said, "Let's get on TeamSpeak [a voice chat program] and I'll try to help you fix it." And so I grabbed my laptop, some earphones and my mike and logged onto TeamSpeak. And we tried different stuff. Or rather I tried different stuff on my end suggested by my friend (I'll call him by his TeamSpeak nickname, Kakeru). Finally, he asked me to open up the wireless networks window and have it search for networks. I tried connecting on the first network available, and this stalled in "acquiring a network address." So he asked me if there were any networks I could get onto without needing a WEP key and such. I said yes and tried one. It connected, and I opened Internet Explorer. It worked! Then Kakeru, who thinks IE is a pretty bad browser, insisted I download Firefox. So I did that. I tried a few other sites, and found the internet worked fine. Yay!!!!!
I am worried cause I have had a constant runny nose today. I hope I'm not getting sick -- I have been sneezing some too. Well, spring is coming up, so it is probably the pollen in the air (I'm allergic to pollen). Plus the weather here has been funny as usual.
I had a stressful work incident today. To make a long story short, I ended up getting to work 1 hour and 45 minutes late because I misread my calendar and didn't realize when I needed to be in. I also ended up working like 10 minutes overtime in order to try to finish cleaning the cheese slicer, and right now they don't want us to work any overtime. It was only 10 minutes though so I don't think they'll be too mad. Since I came in close to noon (11:45), they'll probably be ok with me being clocked out by 9. The good thing is, I finished the tasks assigned to me for closing (cleaning windows, breading chicken and prepping quarter legs, and cleaning the two deep fryers). So I'm happy.
I am investigating the fascinating world of a genre of music known as wizard rock. Basically these are bands who sing about nothing but Harry Potter. I've gotten songs by 2 bands so far: Harry and the Potters, the sort of granddaddy of all wizard rock bands (I wasn't totally thrilled by their song "Platform 9 3/4," but I like their song "Save Ginny Weasley" -- it has a really catchy chorus) and a folk/Celtic wizard rock band called Hollow Godric (who I haven't listened to much yet). I went to wizrocklopedia.com and looked at the band profiles there, and then checked out a few of the bands listed in their complete band list. Not all the bands in the complete band list had profiles, unfortunately, so I mostly had to resort to listening to songs on the bands' Myspace pages. I only listened to one full song ("Song for Sue" by Sue and the Hufflepuffs) -- the rest I'm going to check out later (I'm too tired now). I did find a music video though on wizrocklopedia.com for a band called The Hermione Crookshanks Experience, which was recommended on some other wizard rock band's Myspace (I forget which one). The song was called "Float Away" and was done really well. The girl on there (who appears to be the only member of the band -- lots of wizard rock bands are like this, I found from my research) has the cutest little stuffed cat, which looks just like Crookshanks, and which even has a little Gryffindor scarf! Kawaii!!!! (You can visit The Hermione Crookshanks Experience's Myspace page, where you can hear some of the band's music, here).
Speaking of videos, one of the first things I did after getting the internet again on my laptop was to re-signup for YouTube. I had to create an account, delete it, and create a new one because I couldn't remember how to get into the Hotmail account I'd set up for YouTube. So I linked it to my new Gmail address, created for something Kakeru, Wartonchan from Tech Links, and myself are doing (we're trying to keep it hush-hush right now, so I won't elaborate, sorry). And now I'm in. You can find me at: http://www.youtube.com/AleraofRavenclaw
Well I said other stuff, but I'm too tired. I haven't been doing much. I downloaded some stuff from sailormoonfansubs.com tonight while waiting for YouTube to finish its scheduled maintenance, but so far I haven't done much else tonight except eat dinner. I just finished uploading all the videos I had ready to upload, now that YouTube's out of its maintenance period. This is aside from my videos that are on Putfile, which I am downloading one by one from there so I can upload them to YouTube. I also need to get the MovieShaker ones from our family computer. Then I'll be up to date. Plus I have some new vids planned, mainly "Code Lyoko" ones. I just have to get the CL eps again cause I lost them in the system restore.
Plans for tomorrow (or today, rather, since it's past midnight) are mainly to go to work on time (I'm working 2-7). I may go out before that and get my brother's birthday present. I'm going to get him some Xbox game. I don't know which yet. I may go to the mall so I can check to see if I can find a couple books I want. One is a book that is either out or is coming out called Brainiac. The book is about trivia and is written by Jeopardy champion Ken Jennings. I read a review of it in some magazine (Time I think). The other one is one I've been hearing about on MuggleCast a lot called Mugglenet.com's What Will Happen in Harry Potter 7: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Falls in Love, and How the Adventure Finally Ends. It's written by staff people from Mugglenet, including MuggleCast's own Ben Schoen.
Speaking of MuggleCast, Jamie the Brit is back...yay. He was out sick for several weeks, I guess. I missed him, since he's one of my 2 favorite hosts (Laura Thompson, the sole girl on the show, is the other).
On a related note, I have found a fellow Harry Potter fan among my coworkers. It's Matthew, a 40-year-old homosexual guy that works in my department. (He doesn't call himself "homosexual" though...he says he prefers the term "queer"). It's nice that we have something in common to talk about...it takes my mind off my uncomfortable feelings about his sexual orientation. (For the record, I've never worked with any homosexuals before...at least none that admitted it). I just feel uncomfortable because, from my Christian point of view, I view homosexuality as a sin. I don't want to act like I accept his behavior, and yet I don't want to insult him by saying I don't. So I just say nothing.
Ok I'm tired. G'night.
I am worried cause I have had a constant runny nose today. I hope I'm not getting sick -- I have been sneezing some too. Well, spring is coming up, so it is probably the pollen in the air (I'm allergic to pollen). Plus the weather here has been funny as usual.
I had a stressful work incident today. To make a long story short, I ended up getting to work 1 hour and 45 minutes late because I misread my calendar and didn't realize when I needed to be in. I also ended up working like 10 minutes overtime in order to try to finish cleaning the cheese slicer, and right now they don't want us to work any overtime. It was only 10 minutes though so I don't think they'll be too mad. Since I came in close to noon (11:45), they'll probably be ok with me being clocked out by 9. The good thing is, I finished the tasks assigned to me for closing (cleaning windows, breading chicken and prepping quarter legs, and cleaning the two deep fryers). So I'm happy.
I am investigating the fascinating world of a genre of music known as wizard rock. Basically these are bands who sing about nothing but Harry Potter. I've gotten songs by 2 bands so far: Harry and the Potters, the sort of granddaddy of all wizard rock bands (I wasn't totally thrilled by their song "Platform 9 3/4," but I like their song "Save Ginny Weasley" -- it has a really catchy chorus) and a folk/Celtic wizard rock band called Hollow Godric (who I haven't listened to much yet). I went to wizrocklopedia.com and looked at the band profiles there, and then checked out a few of the bands listed in their complete band list. Not all the bands in the complete band list had profiles, unfortunately, so I mostly had to resort to listening to songs on the bands' Myspace pages. I only listened to one full song ("Song for Sue" by Sue and the Hufflepuffs) -- the rest I'm going to check out later (I'm too tired now). I did find a music video though on wizrocklopedia.com for a band called The Hermione Crookshanks Experience, which was recommended on some other wizard rock band's Myspace (I forget which one). The song was called "Float Away" and was done really well. The girl on there (who appears to be the only member of the band -- lots of wizard rock bands are like this, I found from my research) has the cutest little stuffed cat, which looks just like Crookshanks, and which even has a little Gryffindor scarf! Kawaii!!!! (You can visit The Hermione Crookshanks Experience's Myspace page, where you can hear some of the band's music, here).
Speaking of videos, one of the first things I did after getting the internet again on my laptop was to re-signup for YouTube. I had to create an account, delete it, and create a new one because I couldn't remember how to get into the Hotmail account I'd set up for YouTube. So I linked it to my new Gmail address, created for something Kakeru, Wartonchan from Tech Links, and myself are doing (we're trying to keep it hush-hush right now, so I won't elaborate, sorry). And now I'm in. You can find me at: http://www.youtube.com/AleraofRavenclaw
Well I said other stuff, but I'm too tired. I haven't been doing much. I downloaded some stuff from sailormoonfansubs.com tonight while waiting for YouTube to finish its scheduled maintenance, but so far I haven't done much else tonight except eat dinner. I just finished uploading all the videos I had ready to upload, now that YouTube's out of its maintenance period. This is aside from my videos that are on Putfile, which I am downloading one by one from there so I can upload them to YouTube. I also need to get the MovieShaker ones from our family computer. Then I'll be up to date. Plus I have some new vids planned, mainly "Code Lyoko" ones. I just have to get the CL eps again cause I lost them in the system restore.
Plans for tomorrow (or today, rather, since it's past midnight) are mainly to go to work on time (I'm working 2-7). I may go out before that and get my brother's birthday present. I'm going to get him some Xbox game. I don't know which yet. I may go to the mall so I can check to see if I can find a couple books I want. One is a book that is either out or is coming out called Brainiac. The book is about trivia and is written by Jeopardy champion Ken Jennings. I read a review of it in some magazine (Time I think). The other one is one I've been hearing about on MuggleCast a lot called Mugglenet.com's What Will Happen in Harry Potter 7: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Falls in Love, and How the Adventure Finally Ends. It's written by staff people from Mugglenet, including MuggleCast's own Ben Schoen.
Speaking of MuggleCast, Jamie the Brit is back...yay. He was out sick for several weeks, I guess. I missed him, since he's one of my 2 favorite hosts (Laura Thompson, the sole girl on the show, is the other).
On a related note, I have found a fellow Harry Potter fan among my coworkers. It's Matthew, a 40-year-old homosexual guy that works in my department. (He doesn't call himself "homosexual" though...he says he prefers the term "queer"). It's nice that we have something in common to talk about...it takes my mind off my uncomfortable feelings about his sexual orientation. (For the record, I've never worked with any homosexuals before...at least none that admitted it). I just feel uncomfortable because, from my Christian point of view, I view homosexuality as a sin. I don't want to act like I accept his behavior, and yet I don't want to insult him by saying I don't. So I just say nothing.
Ok I'm tired. G'night.
