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WORKLIFE PAGES
...being some chronicles relating to what I do for money in this world...

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this is the second page along this path, continued from the first worklife page... you can go there if you want to read the introduction and the previous week's installments of the rambles about work... reading the intro might help you understand better... or it might confuse you even more... anyway, seriously, thank you for caring enough to want to keep in touch with me and read my thoughts about life, especially during this period when I have little time to play with you online... I intend to update these worklife pages weekly and my main "Keep In Touch" Pages at least monthly... as usual, the daily journal has stalled due to many reasons detailed somewhere in these pages... the best laid plans and all... now more than ever, your responses and thoughts mean a lot to me... so in a further attempt to keep in touch, you can let me know you want to be in my address book by subscribing to my mailing list... hope you do :)

and just like on page one of this path, click on the "week ending" links just below to read the babble added for that week - or if you simply must read everything because you want to know everything because you are blessed and cursed with insatiable curiosity like me, just keep scrolling down the page J


week ending March 21st... 62+ hours
week ending March 28th... 66.5+ hours
week ending April 4th... 65+ hours
week ending April 11th... 69+ hours
week ending April 18th... 72+ hours
week ending April 25th... 66+ hours
week ending May 2nd... 86+ hours
week ending May 9th... 76+ hours
week ending May 16th... 70+ hours



week ending March 21st... 62+ hours

ok... the crunch is on again and the hours are being watched closely, hence the + added... cuz I'll be doing some other side work again... and cuz I gave them (the Doyle job) more than a dozen hours without pay this week cuz I wanted to finished a couple of projects and their standards are a lot lower than mine... alas, so goes life in this world for me... being a perfectionist used to be frustrating until I learned how to compromise, but I still won't leave something half finished or half-assed... even if the "boss" says so...

so the exciting news for this week is that we have a new shop storage room that the warehouse manager and I built (well, he put up the wall then lost interest... we were cutting into his smoke breaks... anyway, it was good of him to help as it's a "Special Services" storeroom and he didn't have to)... carving out a storeroom from empty space made the week more interesting for me, especially since the stuff that had to be stored was about about three times the size of the space allowed... thought and creative construction prevailed and the room works... now if it'll just be maintained...

what else is new in the worklife... more snow... and lugging around the 50 pound (that's just over 22 kg for some of you) bags of salt this winter is getting old... or is that me LAM... anyway, it's not as bad as the 80 lb (36kg) bags of water-softener salt... more salt... my muscles are getting muscles much to their chagrin... ah, but it's healthy, right?...

there's no way to make this work exciting (oh, now there's a challenge that has my eyebrows raised... "no way" is one of those phrases that inspire my mischievous smile and motivate me to find a way... kinda like "impossible"... don't believe it... very few things are actually impossible and in my mind, nothing is... but then, you have to understand my mind to really know what I mean ;) ... so I'll set off to make work (or at least my rambles about worklife) more exciting now I suppose... maybe... it's not that interesting a challenge LOL...

I'm still looking for a playmate here in the Buffalo, NY area... I don't mean Playboy magazine, though I have nothing against naked people (hmmmm... pondering the phrase... something against naked people... words can be such innocent amusements LOL)... what I do mean is... I am looking for a local friend (or friends) to do fun stuff with... somebody to talk to that isn't long distance... anybody out there?... life is a lonely place without someone to play with, ya know?... seems there are a lot fewer people online here than there were in Orlando, or at least fewer listed in ICQ lists and local community pages... I'm still hopeful... maybe everybody in Buffalo has friends and nobody's lonely... wow, that would make this an amazing place, huh? :)

week ending March 28th... 66.5+ hours

did I say exciting?... I don't know about you, but I'm losing interest in this path... something about the mundane repetitiveness of worklife that is stifling to creativity... Edith Bunker might have understood... anyway, it's something I just had to try cuz I'm here to explore new experiences, even the most ordinary ones... I mean, some might consider it crazy to spend a few moments of life jumping out of a plane, risking a lot for an adrenaline rush and some unexplanable essense of experience... and other might consider it even more crazy to spend 80% of a life going through the same turnstile about as interesting and at least as unchanging as a caged rodent's running wheel every day, every week, every month, every year for a whole lifetime... what's the bigger risk... or waste...

wait a minute, this is not the philosophical wax page, this is the worklife page... but that wax just seems to get on everything, doesn't it?... maybe I think too much... maybe you do... but then, what's too much?... and who is to decide?... you?... me?... averages?... consensus?... god?... who's?... just where do you go when you question the nature and purpose of your existence?... or have you never been there?... full of questions this week, aren't I?...

ok, who's still here?... hey, this could be worklife, ya know?... figuring out what life's about... it's a lot of work... but then, what is work?... if it's fun and amusing, is it work?... if we make it fun and amusing, is it work?... I see there's no stopping the inquiring child today, so I'll wander off to find a place for all this wax... see ya next week J

week ending April 4th... 65+ hours

and what week is this?... not much new... well, then again... I am told that I got that raise I mentioned and it'll be in the next paycheck... they're still trying to restrict my hours more than ever... I understand, I would probably do the same if it was my business... but it's not and unless they offer me more interest in it, I'm just another entreprenuer negotiating for as good a contract as I can get... the side jobs continue to fill in hours not listed each week...

know what I found?... a TV... old little black and white and so far it only gets one channel well (FOX) and two channels semi-ok (WB and Global) and if I play with wires, maybe a couple more with a lot of static... I'll consider getting an antenna of sorts one of these days... so after more than a year I actually get to see the tube again... didn't miss much, except there's a new Dax and she's absolutely adorable and I'd love to see if she's as attractive to me off camera as she is on, so if you happen to bump into her please ask her to contact me... I'd appreciate it... we could save the universe or something...

ah, visual romantic fantasy returns... love at first sight is such a fun fantasy to explore... usually it wears off rather quickly, though occasionally it lasts a few years... it's not as superficial for me as most might see it... as I see it, eyes are the windows to the soul and when the eyes fall in love, if we dare, the soul can fall in right behind... unfortunately, most people are afraid to reach past the surface of the skin... or sclera... what has this to do with work?... well, I found the TV during a salvage job... yeah, work is getting boring, huh?...

anyway, the visual stimulation just might wake up the creative writing process... and wouldn't you know the spinoff Star Trek series were the first things I saw... see, it's fate... hear that Dax?... of course the Simpsons and Animaniacs were the very next shows showing when I turned on the tube after a year... the universe knows I may just be ready to fall in love again... if you can't reach Dax, I'll welcome Dot, she's so cute after all LAM J

week ending April 11th... 69+ hours

time time time, it's telling us a story... of course we could just be making it up as we go along and blaming it on time, or some other abstract concept, existential precept, or imaginary entity...

me, I'll choose imaginary fantasy almost every time when empirical life doesn't offer the real thing... romantic fantasy is usually my favorite, though sexual fantasy is definitely fun too... combine one or the other with some serious spiritual fantasy and you might just get my undivided attention for a few minutes or more... combine all three and... well, I haven't found anyone to share where I can take that yet in this life... a few times I got close though... as usual, the more I wake up, the closer my brain functions at infantile perceptions... ok, maybe four LAM... but my spirit... each time I open my eyes, remember?... and now that I have a TV, I'm longing for film and theatre and music... back to visual stimulation again... and the new Dax?... perhaps... we shall see... it's a shame there'll only be a half dozen more episode to see more of her, alas... ain't unrequited romantic fantasy grand? LOL...

maybe it's time to step over to my journal thing again... so what else is new in the worklife?... well, I was fired, rehired, reduced in responsibility and given more responsibility all in the space of a few minutes this week... the usual... rather inexperienced managers bumped heads, lost tempers, took it out on others, and looked for scapegoats... I've been there before... they chose wrong... one manager was fired, the other disciplined, and I'm unofficially cleaning up the mess... counseling and teaching from the subordinate position isn't new to me... it did make the week more interesting...

I'd still rather fantasize LAM J

week ending April 18th... 72+ hours

phew... are we having fun yet?... I haven't actually forgetting what fun is, but I sure do miss life's variety a lot since the only fun I have is the fun I can make at work... well, and the fun of the little details of life like favorite tastes and the smells of Spring (though Spring is sure slow in arriving around here) and stuff like that... would be more fun with someone to share it with, but there's no time for socializing, alas... gotta stick to the path I'm on for now...

that's work, save, repeat... so what's new at work... did some painting this week... that was a tedious but welcome change of pace... after last week's managerial mess, things have quieted down and I've got more autonomy and responsibility... and the raise did go through in spite of my failure to kiss butt quietly and my refusal to accept being a scapegoat... alas, I deliberately failed ~ACK~ Management 101 LOL... PLEASE NOTE: some people might find the link to Management 101 offensive or gross, but then... management can be offensive and gross, I know, after all, I've been on both sides of the desk J

and so it goes... tune in next week, same ack-time, same ack-channel... ack...

week ending April 25th... 66+ hours

well, here we are at next week... well, it's this week now, but it was next week last week when I suggested you tune in again... life continues to be work work work and I am probably becoming more and more dull dull dull... boy oh boy, huh?... at least words still amuse me, even if they confuse some when they just ramble on and on and on seemingly aimlessly for no apparent reason other than to continue the stream of thought that may or may not have any point...

work, huh?... nothing much to tell about it this week... things settled down, the bruised egos are all backed off and back to asking me for help... I'm teaching basic computing to one manager... I designed an Excel form to make life easier for the manager (he really needs spellcheck)... and I installed the network printer on his computer so we can print things now... see, the IT person is in Rochester and most of the people in the Buffalo offices are not very computer proficient... actually, they're impressed by anyone who can actually turn on a computer... this is the button... yeah, I mentioned another raise...

so what else is new this week?... some more writing in the gardens, but not much else besides fantasies... and besides, that's not worklife, is it?... ok, I guess the worklife report is done for now... see ya J

week ending May 2nd... 86+ hours

here we are again... amazing, huh?... or just ordinary, depending on your perspective... what is your perspective anyway?... I'm not sure whether I'm the joker or the thief and sometimes I think we are all partly both, but there really must be some way out of here, ya know?... well, do ya? LOL...

yeah, I mean work... I actually put in more than 100 hours this week total... the world is kinda blurry... especially since I have this TV that doesn't put me to sleep as well as it used to... maybe I should go back to reading... anybody have any suggestions? (like... have you read any good books lately?... if you actually want to answer, and I'd appreciate it, just click here... I also encourage and appreciate and happily accept movie or music recommendations)...

well, worklife is once again settling back into unexcitement... new?... acid washing and scrubbing quarry tile is really labor intensive and dangerous and we didn't have the right equipment for the job (as often happens), but the job got done and the bill paid after some negotiating... the customer was right, we shouldn't have taken the job since nobody knew how to do it and the first crew they sent out messed up... alas, we do the best we can with what we've got...

so anyway, anybody local (or visiting Buffalo or Niagara Falls) wanna give me a reason to work less, just call... actually, if you know what 701 means, let me know... and there's more rambling in the gardens and the journal and even the keep in touch pages have been updated... whenever did I find the time?... no wonder I haven't been sleeping... anyway, writing is still my best therapy and solitary fun and since I'm solitary so much (hint hint hint) ~giggle~ J

week ending May 9th... 76+ hours

pant... pant... pant... come to think of it, I need to do laundry... or buy new pants... socks too... and... well, yup, just about everything... let's see... a half hour in a store... or three (more likely four or more... or forever with the load I have) in a laundromat... anybody wanna join me?... it's more fun when somebody's there to play with... time... time... time...

so I'll stop at the store... I'm tired... that's the actual reason for the panting... and I'd rather rest cuz I have a half day off finally... a nice long shower would be nice... maybe I oughta clean this room... then again, I might go see a movie... anybody wanna join me? (movie, clean room, shower?... ummmm)... maybe I'll stay awake through it LOL...

ok, what's up with work?... more... more... more... seems I'm using repetition to emphasize or something... what else?... I cut more than 10 hours off my official time this week so they wouldn't scream... I hear they yelled a lot at each other last week, but they know better than to say much to me... and then there's the side stuff... the last two weeks were actually more then 100 each week... no wonder I'm so tired... I wonder if I'll stop feeling old if I take some time off... this body aches, anybody wanna rub me down? J

work... work... work... I know there's more to life... I seem to have a vague recollection of it... anyway, there's not much to say about work this week... seems I'm in a sharing mood... anybody wanna?...

week ending May 16th... 70+ hours

I'm too tired to pant... and how are you?... feel free to respond after all, this is a letter to you... yes, if you are reading this, I am writing to you... cuz I am writing to anybody who is out there caring... or anybody who's just curious... I'm both, how about you?... J

well, just when I thought things might slow down a bit, I've got a major project at work that'll take a week or two... it'll be more than 12 hours a day for sure and I'm not sure how we're scheduling days off (if we are) as the customer wants it done as soon as possible cuz they shut down machines as we scrub and paint their floors... the first day was 18 hours and the second day was 16 hours and the third day was 18.5 hours and... well... can we spell p-a-t-t-e-r-n?... other than this, there's personnel challenges coming up more and more cuz people are trying to slack off more (maybe it's Spring) so I played the heavy a few times this week... worklife is not a place to find friends anyway... how about here J

I'm gonna try to babble in the journal and finally update the keep in touch pages (actually, I updated it in April and forgot to upload... oops)... and so I'm gonna fall asleep now cuz there's no more work news and I'm... ...

  zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...


  and some time later... from somewhere beneath the land of dreams...

worklife continues



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