Respite

Botanical Building, Balboa Park

Yesterday I took a much needed break, got outside and went to the park.  The Botanical Building was closed, much to my dismay.  Open Friday through Wednesday.  I was there Thursday, of course.

Nevertheless, the weather was super fine and I strolled around snapping photos, looking at sites I've seen since early childhood.  We used to take Easter pictures at the park, Christmas photos and shots of the grandparents and kids when they came to visit from Los Angeles.  My grandmother used a couple of locations in this park for her own home-made photographic Christmas cards way back 1930's.  She, my great aunts and uncles, knew this place well.  One of my great aunts was able to snag some wooden columns from the park when the 1915 World's Fair closed, and used them for the front porch of her house.

This was the first time in days that I've been out of the house. I've been working hard, and felt mighty weary.  This outing was needed, and appreciated deeply.

Watching the Wheels

Exciting, funny, "new" blog.  She's my kinda gal -- a stand-up comic and a writer.  Woo-hoo!

The post, above,  deals with projecting self-confidence.  One of the many things that struck me was her mention of soliciting articles for the company newsletter.  I used to coordinate the quarterly newsletter at my old job.  It was but one of the many thankless tasks I performed.  This newsletter was "top priority" in the department and I was constantly being "encouraged" to solicit articles, artwork, "uplifting" newsy bits for consumption by the disenfranchised and demoralized people of our department.

Not happy, apparently, with the volume of articles (or lack thereof), my boss instructed me to form a committee to coordinate this effort.  So I did, and now we had 10 people spinning their wheels fruitlessly soliciting articles from people who could care less.  Now I could have more meetings on my schedule, and whip up some enthusiasm within this newsletter committee, and demonstrate my leadership skills by putting out a newsletter the boss could be proud of.  What a good little worker bee I was.

When I retired in June 2009, this top priority, gleaming self-congratulatory newsletter retired as well.  I occasionally go back to the website to see if anyone has picked up the ball on this most-important project.  Care to speculate?  Go here and find out.  Yeah, that's right, I'll pull a Wikileaks.  Right here. Right now.

Shit is a Weapon

Seeking escape today, I was going to some of my favorite blogs that I've neglected of late. KathyR is always a hoot, and she did not disappoint today. I was catching up on her posts and saw this line, "I wish I knew how to quit you, blogger people..."

Her blog led me eventually to Angry Pregnant Lawyer, which lead me to Arbitrary and Capricious (because I dig the name), which led me to the graphic above from the Orlando Weekly. Which loops back around to why I needed escape today. Because one of the clients on my latest project is driving me ape-shit crazy. His histrionics are driving the architect and me insane, so we're keeping him at arm's length. Which is fanning his flames, so to speak. I have tried every which way to address the man's concerns, follow up, provide information, etc. etc. He continues to want to rehash items that have been resolved. He simply does not understand the nature of construction -- that it is a dynamic process full of 'oops-es' that we try to keep to a minimum but will never be fully eliminated.

I. Want. To. Throw. Shit. At. Him.

Literally.