2002-12-02 - 11:55 a.m.
And there was a bite in the air�
Waking up this morning was harder for me than usual.
I was still a bit tired/sore for the long weekend, and I knew that all I really had to look forward to today was work. Ya know that place where I get to play a manager on TV as well as do my �real� job. Why in the world would a person want to go back to that after such a fantastic weekend? Yeah beats me too.
*And thus it begins. I just had my first employee call in sick�as if. So with the Branch manager gone, and my children�s specialist (the only other full timer) now out sick, I am left with 2 part timers to finish the day. Only one of whom knows how to work the desk. And that is of course based on the presumption that she does not call in sick as well (She has been having health problems lately and usually is out once or twice a week�lets hope that today is not one of those days). Guess I am not getting any of my work done today. Sigh�Welcome back Mr. Bear. Just a note for my loyal readers�I just got a call from employee #2, the one with the health problems�yup, she�s not coming in today either�sigh. Guess it is the Mr. Bear Show today�cue the music�.*
So what can I say�This weekend at Corby and Thjora�s was a well-needed break. It had everything a Bear could want. Good food, beer, wine (and lots of it!), great friends, beautiful women (I swear they were everywhere!), fighting, talking, fixing things, creating things, hitting things, sore muscles, blisters, good music, comfy bed, trip to the art museum, long walks in the brisk (though Evja would disagree and call it fuckin COLD!) clear mornings, cooking, dog TV (Max and Sianne antics)�and the list goes on and on. And to think I was only there for four and a half days. But those four and a half days have left me refreshed, relaxed, energized, and exhausted. A big THANK YOU to our gracious hosts. You have given me a Thanksgiving to remember.
It is a shame that this weekend had to end. I now have a house in desperate need of a good cleaning, tons of clothes to be washed, junk to sort, bills to pay, books to balance, budgets to analyze, and Christmas to prepare for. Good thing I am refreshed or something. I would hate to face this pile of tasks all worn down by the monotony work/life.
So this leaves me with a big question on my mind. Do I figure out a way to put up a tree this year? Can I afford a tree this year? Where do put all the shit in my living room to make room for the tree? Ugh�nothing quite like holiday decisions. And these are the easy ones. I haven�t even thought about Christmas gifts yet.
Looks like I am also going to have a few fun projects coming my way here as well. It looks like I am going to be making a loom (one of those small ones you use for making trim and stuff), a head knife (leather workers tool), and a mess of chasing/repousse tools. I can�t wait�it will be so good to get back to the forge again. And this time I will be making things that are documentable.
Blacksmithing has been quite the frustration for me of late. Not cause I lack the time, desire, or the muse�but because I lack the light. I guess I got spoiled by the long summer days. There was a point that I could come home from work at 6:00, change, perhaps get a bite to eat, and have light enough to work until 9:00 at night. Of course now that it is winter the world is dark before I even leave work. So this leaves me with being able to forge on the weekends only, and I haven�t spent very many weekends at home lately. Bah�Perhaps I will talk to Mr. Powell and see if he has a Spotlight or two that I can borrow for a bit. Perhaps that will sortta solve my problem. Cause I tell ya, I HAVE to get back out there and start swinging that hammer again, I mean I don�t want my hammer arm going all puny and weak on me now do I?
So that is about all the interesting stuff that has been happening lately. So I reckon that if you really don�t want to read a more detailed account of this past weekend, you had ought to skip on past this section�but I had such a good time that I figured I should write it down while the events are still fresh in my mind�
Wednesday evening Evja pulled up to the house round 7pm, and by 7:15 we were on our way to Richmond. It was looking like this was going to be one hell of a good time. With the X-Terra stuffed with clothes (note I only had one bag�) armor, food, cooking things, and a dog, we made the mad dash for the mainland.
Now I never look forward to crossing the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel. It is always backed up, especially when I am trying to leave town. But miracles of miracles this evening was not. And here I thought that today, the day before Thanksgiving, was going to be a dreadful day to drive. Heh�imagine my surprise and happiness when we flew through the tunnel at 65 mph along with the rest of the holiday traffic. And so went the rest of the trip up to Richmond. It was nothing but smooth sailing the entire way. Even our little detour in to Williamsburg to get some food was surprisingly pain free. Was this an omen for the days to come? Could be�
Round about 9pm we roll into Corby and Thjora�s, unload the X-Terra, and relax for a little bit. Then I was off to the store to pick up some supplies. I had yet another apple pie to make that night. Yeah I know the thing takes an hour and a half to cook. Yeah I know I didn�t even get started making the thing till 10pm. But I had to get it done. And all would have gone smoothly too, if I had not been so tired, but I had forgotten to put a cookie sheet under the rack with the pie on it. This of course meant that regardless of how perfect my crust was, my pie was bound to over flow. And gush it did, all over the bottom of the oven. Sigh�what an icky mess. But it was already 1am�the pie still had a half hour to go, and there was no way I was going to be awake enough to clean the thing after it cooled down. It would have to wait till the morning.
7am Thanksgiving morning. I get up and head to the kitchen. Thjora is already awake and is starting to attack the disaster that is her oven. Oh geez�did I feel bad. But she didn�t seem to mind. So we chatted away while she finished the oven. After that Evja roused herself from bed, soon followed by Corby and the day was about to kick off. The game plan was to have dinner ready and on the table by 5:30. We were feeding 13 people from two different tables. And it was going to be a feast that my grandma would have been proud of. There was 2 turkeys, a pork tender loin, PURPLE mashed potatoes (yup�purple. It looked a lot like a grape slurpy) stuffing, bread, assorted veggies, casseroles�and the list goes on. I think we could have easily fed another 10 people had there been space.
The plan was to start cooking around 10:30 or so, which left Evja and I plenty of time to for our morning walk. So I bundled my self up as much as usual, sweats, T-shirt, and since it was a bit chilly out, I even put on a sweatshirt, and then I waited. 10 minutes later Evja comes wandering out of her room with something close to 500 layers on and we are ready to go. Now I have to say, it was a bit brisk out side. Temperature was probably around the mid to high 40�s. I could see my breath after all. But there was no wind and I did have a sweatshirt on so I was fairly comfortable, granted by the time I topped the hill next to the house, my hands were getting cold. So we were off. And here is where I learned that there is a major difference between Evja and my ability to cope with the cold. Evja�s hands had turned to ice by the time we made it to the stop sign, while mine were all nice and toasty. My hands had started off cold, but then it was as if my internal thermostat opened up, and in the span of about 5 steps I felt my hands go from fairly cold�to pleasantly warm. It was a very odd sensation, and one that earned me a quite the frown from my walking companion. But that�s ok, she got her revenge on me. When we finally got back to the house, Evja almost frozen solid, and me sweating away merrily it was off to the basement for more Mr. Bear torture. See in Evja�s mind, the walk was only one small part of the workout, and now it was time for a variety of sit-ups and pushups. Hokay I can do this�no problem. So the gauntlet was dropped. 4 sets of 20 crunches, reverse crunches, and right and left side crunches, and after that it was on to 4 sets of 25 pushups. And this is what happened. Mr. Bear began his sit-ups�set 1 of the sit-up group�all 20 completed. Set 2 I dropped to 15, Set 3 I groaned out 12, and set 4�I managed a pitiful 8. Meanwhile Evja is pounding these things out effortlessly. Bah�Then it was on to the pushups. Ok I thought to myself I can do this�I have strong arms. So I get down to business�and manage a pathetic 10 for my first set. From there I dropped to 6, and then to 3�Now my slave driver buddy was hammering these things out 20 at a time�and by the time I got to 20 she had pushed about 80. Ugh�boy was I feeling embarrassed. But she challenged me to get 35 of these things done (total)�regardless of how long it took me, and if I did, she would hammer out another 20 for herself. So I did�two and three at a time, pushing till I couldn�t move. But I did it�Problem was my arms felt about useless for the rest of the day. I couldn�t barely raise em above my head�Man I tell ya, that girl SO kicked my ass. Woof�.
Then it was time to cook�and cook we did. Corby and I were whirling dervishes of culinary might in the kitchen, and in a matter of hours we had knocked out almost everything there was to be done. So we took ourselves a well-deserved rest, which was ok by me, cause my arms, chest and stomach had begun stiffening up from the morning�s workout.
By 5:30 all the guests had arrived, dinner was laid out and the feast began. It was spectacular. Everything looked perfect, and tasted great. So good in fact that it didn�t take long before I was stuffed to the gills. Now all I wanted to do was curl up and go to sleep. But I couldn�t do that. Dessert was still to come, there was still wine to drink, and folks to talk with. I even got suckered into playing a game of Simpson�s chess with Corby�s nephew. Now Keep in mind, I am not a chess player�(that is unless I have my baronial coronet on which give�s me the power to cheat and deceive my ass off for the good of the populace, sorry Puckeater�I really didn�t want to do it, but I had to�for the good of the Barony�or something), never have been, and never will. But I am also not one to turn down playing games with kids, especially nice ones who ask so politely. Now the first game went real well. I won�hehehe. But then my friends decided that they needed to assist the underdog. So it suddenly became 3 against 1. Ugh�but I played tough, and through sheer luck I managed to pull off a tie. We were both down to a king apiece and I was able to leave the game table�pride intact. And of course Corby�s nephew was thrilled to death the he managed to hold me to a stalemate! Quite an accomplishment in his mind. So it was win win for the both of us, and I couldn�t have asked for anything more.
Shortly after the game folks began to head for home or for bed which was ok by me really, cause by this time in the evening I was in danger of falling asleep where I was. So it was off to bed for me.
*coming tomorrow: Friday�s recap.*
So today I learned that our Branch Manager has left JANAF for good now. We supposedly have a new B.M., but oddly enough, he forgot to show up to work today or something. We�re not sure, cause he hasn�t let us know what the fuck his deal is. Not a good start Mr. Manager. This is certainly not the way to earn my respect. See I couldn�t give two tugs of a dead dogs cock if you were an officer in the Navy for 20 years. This ain�t the Navy, and therefore that doesn�t mean shit to me�and you are going to have to learn that�and fast. Cause right now I am running your branch�I have put my job on hold to cover your non-communicative ass. Not a good start�not a good start at all. I sure hope you step up to the plate and get your shit together quickly�cause I am not going to tolerate an incompetent supervisor. And especially not one who has a reputation of running his branch as if this were the military. You gotta earn my respect�cause titles mean about jack shit to me these days especially in this library system.
And you�what have you learned today?
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