Another One for the Books

I'm glad this year is (almost) over. It seems like it's lasted for two. For a while there, I was actually wishing the whole Mayan calendar thing was true, because this was turning out to be one of the worst years of my life. You'll notice the date and content of my last post and easily figure out why.

That, and I was stuck in a job I didn't want with a dysfunctional business strategy guiding not only my team but the other teams with which I closely worked. On top of that, I started thinking my particular age might be the magical turning point where everything was downhill from here. Not in a good place at all.

Good news is it looks like life is on a upswing. I've been in a new job for a little over a month in a great location, with great people, tons of challenges, AND (not that it's important, but...) more money. The challenges aren't all going to be easy and maybe not even winnable, but in the end, it's going to be something I can stick in my back pocket and every now and then pull out and say, "I did that!" Now when I leave work, I don't feel like drinking my life away and I actually try to work out a little bit. My daughter starting up sports has helped too. In fact, her first basketball game ever was this week, and while the gang of fourth graders she runs with didn't score any points against the fifth and sixth grade rivals, they did something even better.

Yep, that sucker's stuck. Hilarious. And yes, the other team scored 24 and they scored zero. It was still fun (straight from the horse's mouth)!

Something else that helped put a big smile on my face was spending time with my husband in Nashville earlier this month. We honeymooned there fifteen years ago, and I've always wanted to go back, especially since my sister and a group of our friends go every year to see the Texans beat the Titans. Oh, now you see what the smile is from, you say. Well yeah, how could I help but smile when this was my view?

Yep, life is good. Now let's hope all that hype about the Mayans really isn't true.

Summer is Over (in my book)

The Summer of 2011 was hell...absolute, energy-draining, soul-sucking hell. Not only because of the things everyone knows about...record-breaking heat, drought and wildfires in the wonderful state I call home...but also because of a ton of personal burdens. Today, after I completely get the Summer of 2011 off my chest, I'm walking away from it for good.

This summer started out with The Kitten attending a new daycare...for one whole week. She hated it and cried herself to sleep every single night she knew she had to go back there in the morning. Since she was traumatized and refused to try another daycare, we catered to her spoiled rottenness the rest of the summer by driving her to whatever extended family member she wished to grace with her presence or bribing her cousins to come to us. At least one of us had a great summer! I don't know of anything stronger than your worry for your child(ren) that can drag you down to a dark, dark place. Unless you have a demanding job too...

So during all that scrambling for babysitters and driving all over the northwest side of Houston, I was also dealing with work. You might recall a while ago I started talking about this big strategic project to which my very cool boss was reassigned and I would be backfilling for her in the meantime, but then as the project moved through its phases, we discovered the entire company would be reorganized and I started tweeting about how I wasn't going to have the same job (my original Business Analyst job) at the end of the six-month project. No? Well, that's your background, and all you really need to know is all that waiting and worrying over the summer came to a head when the available jobs were posted last week. I've narrowed down my five choices (although I know they will most likely place me in the job that most closely resembles the one I hold now and don't want), and now my fate is in somebody else's hands. Of course, I won't know that fate until the end of October, but like I said, I'm walking away. Letting it go, and hoping my company doesn't let me go.

Now the summer wasn't all bad. We had an awesome trip to Disney World the beginning of June. I skated in not only one but two banked track bouts. I spent a weekend with a friend I had not seen since high school. And today...today, I finally found the motivation I need to move to a better place. I start rehearsing with the rodeo choir on September 26th, and our first performance is October 15th. I bet you didn't know that Catazon was a good enough singer to try out for a choir that performs in front of, oh, a few thousand people for three weeks out of the year and actually MAKE IT! Well, you oughta know.

Summer of 2011...you can kiss my karaoke-ing ass.

Jobhopper

For the past two years, I have complained a bit about the job I am leaving today. I knew within two months of starting the job that this proprietary university mumbo-jumbo was a bad deal, but the pay was decent, the stress was low, and the commute was manageable. So I wasn't in too big a rush to find something better, and I didn't want to be back in the situation that forced me into this job. I worked three different permanent jobs in three weeks...yes, that's a true story.

While I was complaining about my job on a weekly basis, I was also checking Houston-area, Fortune 500 company (preferably oil and gas) websites for open positions that matched my skill set and applying to anything that remotely resembled something I could do. Friends and family kept telling me to get a headhunter, but I knew my pickiness would eventually become an annoyance to anyone who didn't really understand. In the task of finding a new job, I was able to practice a high degree of patience, and I had faith that it would pay off the way it has. I announced a couple of weeks ago that I was resigning from the second-longest job I have ever had (I stayed at a community college as a cataloger for over three years...I actually loved that place and those people, but it was too far away). What I didn't say is that I'm going to work for the second-largest oil and gas company in the United States as a Business Analyst in their real estate division. I will be working downtown, but the pay raise, the benefits, the company, and just the overall "betterness" of this job surpass that one negative by miles. Most importantly, my daughter gets to go to "church school", just like I did.

I plan on setting a record for the longest I have ever stayed at a job. I think it's about time.

Woohoo!

I'm going to Philadelphia to kick some Yankee butt. But first, I'm going down the hall to turn in my resignation. Oh yeah! Oh yeah! Oh HELL YEAH!

Happy Posts?

At the end of the highly controversial Brawlers vs. Betties bout last night, Elle McFierce exclaimed over how I would write a happy post today. That was right before I fell over from exhaustion.

It's not like I did anything to become exhausted. Except for one grand slam, an almost inefficient backwards whip given to Audiomind, and a fun little blocker takeout while jamming on Becky Booty, my performance was pretty much dismal. I wasn't expecting it to be much more than that after a couple of weeks of forced inactivity.

I also wasn't expecting the Brawlers to win, but we did. I really shouldn't admit that I don't have a lot of faith in my home team, but we all remember the tough year the Brawlers went through in 2007. 2008 was starting to look almost identical, but now we've won a game somewhat early in the season. I'm positive we can take another one if we all get and stay healthy. I still heart my Brawlers, even though the rest of my body is consumed with HaRD Knocks.

So I'm feeling alright today, even though I could barely walk last night. Then I get the bad news that I won't get a job interview I was pretty sure I would nail. That just boggles my mind, because I look great on paper, and I'm even better in person when I really, really want the job (and who wouldn't really, really want a job at a prestigious private school?). Damn. So I keep reminding myself it's probably better that I don't take a new job while my personal life is so stressful, even though I do have an interview with a major player in the oil & gas industry in a couple of weeks. Sweet.

Yeah, Elle, this post was a little bit happy, but a little bit bummed, too. I seriously need to get out of this funk before the summer gets outrageously busy with bouts, bouts, and more bouts on top of my obsession with finding the perfect job as well as getting a big girl ready for kindergarten. Oh, happy posts!

Take This Phone and Shove It!

Great news from the hard-working IT guy at my dysfunctional workplace:

I hope this is cool with you.

Since our budget being very tight this year, I am regretfully to tell you that your blackberry will be collected so we can distribute it to our new Financial Aid Director. As soon as I have more access to blackberry, I will make sure to hand you one.

Thanks for understanding.

Doesn't matter that I told the grammatically-challenged boy wonder that I didn't want the damn thing in the first place. The only thing I understand is this place sucks.

Don't Have a Thesaurus? Try Your Campus Library!

Here's something cool I received in my email today:

Notice too that the morning receptionist is wishing us all a good evening.

I hope she's not becoming listless from pulling a double. Hardeharhar.

Work Rant

A coworker has pissed me off yet again. Over the past two years, I've been able to turn the other cheek, but it has been really hard these past few days. Partly because I might actually be out of here soon, and partly because I found something that might actually justify legal proceedings. Yesterday, I had to tell our HR guy (oh, excuse me, Director of Human Resources) to quit talking to me because his unethical ideas of how things should be around here and distorted notions of how things truly are around here were making me sick to my stomach. Really what I said was "this conversation is going nowhere" and thankfully he got the message without my having to kick him out of the library. And that's all I have to say about that.

So today, some loser from admissions (yes, he is a loser because he earned a degree from this joke of a university; therefore, the only place he can find employment is said joke of a university) actually accused my part-timer of drinking on the job simply because she has repeatedly helped an alcoholic student when nobody else would. When I calmly stated that she doesn't drink, he actually dropped his jaw. So I proceeded to inform him that she has been suffering from pancreatic cancer for the past year and a half, and we are lucky that she chose to continue working two jobs. Could that be the reason she seems a bit off sometimes? Hmm. I hope he feels like the dumb-ass he truly is and refrains from participating in the petty gossip that permeates this toxic workplace, at least for a few hours. Who am I kidding? I'm sure he ran off and told the first person he saw about his run-in with the librarian bitch (oh, excuse me, Director of Library Services Bitch).

Might as Well Face It...

I'm addicted to CrackBerry. Damn this job!

What Do I Do All Day?

I'm actually going to talk about being a librarian. I felt it was necessary due to my supervisor confirming the fact that I'm an afterthought around here. Yesterday, he asked me to complete the manager's portion of my performance review, because he does not know what I do. Yes, you heard me. He actually said that, and then I did my own performance review. This is really the least of my worries in the dysfunctional place that I call work, and just another reason why it's hard for me to get up and go there every morning.

It did get me to thinking about a list of library director tasks I saw a while ago, and how at the time I thought I could adapt it to my daily tasks and maybe convince someone somewhere that I do have the skills and experience to do something other than just library work. The question is can I send something like this along with my resume for the people outside the library world that just don't get it?

What's Next in This Wonderful Work Week?

Printing and web-based email capabilities restored on student computers! The world rejoices!!!

The Librarian tries to act shocked when her supervisor requests that she also complete his portion of her annual performance review, but she had a feeling something like this would happen based on past experience with the clowns in upper management around this place who tend to forget the Library exists.

Now the dipshits want to give me a Blackberry! Is this a bribe?

MPOW

So, I know I gripe about MPOW a lot. Surprisingly enough, I've been here two years...it pays relatively well, the drive is easy, and there's the little to no stress factor. Why do I gripe then?

Two weeks ago, a print server went down for good. The students' print server...meaning spoiled-ass-rotten students who are accustomed to printing whatever they want whenever they want for FREE can suddenly not print anything. It's so much fun to try explaining this to people who don't speak English very well, even if it's their first language. Seriously. The server has not been replaced yet, since it took IT a week to order it because "they" were not going to approve the purchase until the CFO over the entire company made a surprise visit to Houston.

Today, "they" finally put in place a block on employee access to web-based email that "they" have been threatening for a while. Well, of course it's the big cluster f*** that every project becomes around here, and students can't access web-based email either. So while I'm saying, "No, you still can't print", I'm also saying, "Hey, guess what, you can't check your email either! But don't feel bad because it's my punishment for being stupid enough to work here and not yours for being stupid enough to give your money to a diploma mill." Love my job!

So, what it all boils down to is I'm pretty good at responding to personal emails within a reasonable amount of time, but I'm not going to be able to do that as long as I'm sitting at my boring-ass job for ten hours a day. Thank God they quit blocking myspace and haven't figured out that they should block yahoo groups, too. Just a couple more reasons why it's so hard to stay yet so hard to say goodbye.

Weather? What Weather?

Houston Roller Derby at the MLK Parade 2008

Originally uploaded by Catazon.

Hmmm...where would I rather be? On the phone with other disgruntled library directors or on the cold, wet streets of Houston with a few of my leaguemates?

Yep, you got it! I hate my job more than I hate Winter.

Can't Keep It Inside Any Longer...

I hate rope lights.

That's what you get when a sick and tired mind is coming upon its 48th hour of "work" this week.

I'm Intellectually Challenged

As if my online life isn't cluttered enough, I go and create a Google page for myself. Does anything scream "I need a new job!" more than this? I guess if I keep playing around on the tubes, I may be forced to find a new job fast.

Get yourself one here.

Can Librarians Go Postal?

I may be the most cold-hearted beotch in the world, but sweet baby Jesus, if a person who may or may not be suffering from some form of communicable disease other than stupidity decides to spend five hours in a library that is only populated by the librarian and said person, please remind that person to pick up a freakin' bag of cough drops on the way to the library. Otherwise, the librarian may not be liable for going postal.

I Think I'm Entitled...

to bitch about working 13 hours straight on a Monday after spending Sunday abusing my body. You know that freaky bone that sticks out on the top of my foot (and if you don't know, it's not an injury, it's done that all my life)???...somehow that got scraped through my leather skate and two socks. What I wouldn't give right now with 30 minutes left of my voluntary prison in this god-forsaken library to be 24 hours in the past, putting more scrapes on my freaky bones.

I'm Swamped Over Here!

And some say that I overreact...but sometimes I just question my femininity.

Oh, Humberto, thanks for the break from reality.

Who Says You Can't Have It All?

Having the Ultimate Sunset (Margarita)

Originally uploaded by Fraggle Red.

Y'all may not know that I've been trying to use up a free plane ticket for almost a year. If that's news to you, then this will be even better news. I did it!

This will be my view on August 25th.

Life would be perfect if I had a new job waiting for me when I get back.

Working on Caturday

So what should I do instead of work? Post some fucking cats!

Except for maybe, instead of cats, I can post myself in honor of the Brawlers bout against the Sirens tomorrow. LolDerby!



Thanks, LolCat Buildr!