So. I admit it, I blog from work. A lot. I've
worked here for six loooooooooooooong years and I have blogged daily
and often for nearly all of them. I fully own up to the fact that
I steal money from my company by robbing them of time they have paid me
to work. And I don't feel bad about it. After all, I do my
work and I do it well. And when I'm done with my work, I ask my
co-workers and my boss if there are things I can help them with.
I still have plenty of time to blog. You know, because I'm
efficient and I multi-task.
We have a new IT guy at work. Personally, I think he's got a
beef with my company and is doing everything in his power to bring it
down. That much should be obvious after his big 'upgrade' a few
weeks ago, after which no one could could access their email or
anything on the network for <i>four days</i>. Not to
mention that the network is slow as molasses now and the email server
still doesn't work right.
Yesterday he announced a big crack down on the firewall. I
didn't really care because I could still access my <a
href="http://www.peskyapostrophe.com">regular blog</a> and my
control panel. Alas, this was short-lived. I came in today
and even my freaking control panel is classified as porn. There
are no nekkid ladies or even the word "fuck" on my control panel.
Maybe it's their way of telling me to quit stealing company time.
In an ideal world, they'd just fire my ass.
I know this sounds whiny, but you know what - I don't care. I'm annoyed and I need to vent.
In truth, I know the real reason why the shoe has dropped -
apparently, there are ten people in the company that have been actively
downloading porn at work. Hey man, don't look at me.
So...I have a sort of dilemma brewing.
I was contacted by a local journalist who works for a big paper to do a little article about my real blog. I very nicely declined, but this guy is really trying to talk me into it.
I've been down this road before. About three years ago I got a call from some chick who worked for the same newspaper. I agreed to be interviewed for the article, but only on the condition that she didn't use my URL.
I blog anonymously, but it wouldn't be too difficult to figure out who I really am. I take the chance, but I don't seek out publicity and I rarely attend local blogger get-togethers. I don't want fame and fortune via the blog. I'm happy to blog away in relative obscurity.
No doubt, you can see where this is going. I was outed. Well, not my whole name, but my first name and the URL. I didn't like that a bit. And, as a result, I'm a little fearful of reporters and publicity. As a precaution, I bought a new domain name and started using a pseudonym for me and everyone else in my life.
There's that whole 'fool me once' thing that I'm a big fan of. I just don't want to get burned again. And even if this guy promises me it'll be very low key, I'm not sure that I trust that.
So...I know this is weird, but my fondest childhood memory is a very vivid nightmare I had when I was five years old.
My mom is one of those people who insists on decorating the house for every holiday. And not just the livingroom, like most normal people. Oh no, she put decorations in the bathroom, in the hallway, in my room. For Halloween that year she put a big white ghost over my closet door.
How warped is that? I, like most kids, was scared of my closet in the dark anyway. To hang a ghost over the door was just asking for trouble. Or lifetime trauma. Or, in my case, my fondest childhood memory.
OK, so the night she hung this stupid ghost over my closet I had one of the most bizarre dreams ever.
I dreamt that it was Halloween night. And on Halloween night, the big tradition was not trick or treating - it was going to the cemetary to visit the dead. The dead would rise up out of their graves and stand on their gravesite, waiting for visitors to come. You couldn't talk to the dead [apparently, the dead couldn't communicate], but you could take the manilla envelope they were buried with and see what was inside - in my dream, the dead were always buried with a manilla envelope full of their treasures.
However, visitors were warned never to jingle change in the manilla envelopes. No one knew what would happen if you did...you just weren't supposed to.
My Uncle George and I went to the cemetary. Gilligan [you know, Gilligan's Island] was dead and buried in the cemetary, so there he was standing on his gravesite. Gilligan smiled at me and I took his envelope.
As I was looking around, I jingled the change!
And with that, all the nice dead people turned into zombies and chased my Uncle and I all around the town.
And that's what the dream is: running and running and running.
My mom found me running around the house in circles, screaming my head off. And I remember the dream vividly to this day.
Weird, but considering my dearth of good childhood memories...that will have to do.
Jessica Simpson may be dumber than a box of rocks, but she's smart enough to want to stay far, far away from President Bush. His plummeting approval numbers and constant and irrational rose-coloured glasses outlook are not the reasons for the snub: Simpson simply realizes that the charity she'll be representing in D.C. is nonpartisan and doesn't want to give the appearance that it's not. I'm pleasantly surprised that she was able to give that due consideration:
People close to Simpson said she declined a request to appear that same evening at the gala fund-raiser of the National Republican Congressional Committee — even after she was offered some private face time with Bush — because Operation Smile is a non-partisan group.
“It just feels wrong,” one Simpson insider told Reuters Wednesday, adding that the actress keeps her political views private. “She would love to meet the president and talk about Operation Smile ... but she can’t do it at a fund-raiser for the Republican Party.”
NRCC spokesman Carl Forti said he was surprised at Simpson’s position.
“It’s never been a problem for Bono,” he said, referring to the U2 rock star who has met regularly with political leaders of all stripes to promote various causes, including Third World debt relief. “I find it hard to believe she would pass up an opportunity to lobby the president on behalf of Operation Smile.”
Dude, are we really comparing Bono to Jessica Simpson? And is Carl Forti really unaware that Bono has been repeatedly criticized for kissing the collective asses of people who don't give a rat's ass about world hunger unless it benefits their corporate interests in some way?
Well, Jessica Simpson may not be in attendance to provide eye candy to the lecherous masses, but not to worry: XXX porn star Mary Carey will be there.
I'm a little bummed out that the Flickr interface at notcomet only allows you access to the last dozen photos posted. I'm just saying....
I also wish that the Flickr interface had a way to save your email address for look up. Eh.
Things have been entertaining around the household since the new camera showed up. If I were a pet 'round these parts, I'd feel performance anxiety - one of us is always following the cats or the pooch around with the camera, encouraging hijinx.
