ouch

effing heartburn.


Cat not helping by kneading

sports injuries of the week

The lil sis got the Wayne Rooney injury this week. Not by doing any real exercise but by falling up some stairs at home after breakfast. In a cast for six weeks.

And last night I was shown another sports injury which is a little nodule on the back of the wrist. Comes from playing computer games for too long.

I do not know anyone who plays real sports. No need regular life is strewn with dangers.
t es

I saw Mountain Man last night. Three young ladies in harmony with the occasional guitar accompaniment. They were very charming. Nothing new or inventive but a pleasant change from the more challenging gadget filled music I hear.

Treme

fantastic. Insurance moment in Treme. No paying out on hurricane insurance because it hasn't been proved the floods were caused by the hurricane. It sounds so very very familiar.

Do anything to get out of paying. Do anything anything to pay less and always have a loophole.

Really getting in to the episodes.

Cerulean

new word for the day.

Another Scan

Last week - before the great yawn I had a scan. All is well and we know the sex of the baby. Now all I need to do is get bigger and get the house ready.

Yawn

I work on the 9th floor of a glass building. There is no air-con and the windows open about 10degrees. There are not too many of these opening windows. So you can imagine when it gets hot or even warm in Summer everyone breaks out their little desk fans which helps bit. It gets very hot and close around our pod. Also I am five months pregnant so I tend to get over heated and tired easily.

Anyway the other day I got shouted at for yawning. From the middle of our open plan office. Quite a bit away from my desk. By a manager 2 steps ahead of me on the ladder of corporate hell. I pretty much ignored what was said because it was rude to shout at me and a pretty childish thing to do.

The whole team got into trouble after I had left for the day for talking. They were brought into the office and dressed down. Then a week later it was brought up again in the team meeting. Now my direct manger (back from her hols) keeps talking about yawning and how it shows nobody cares about the job. She keeps checking if the windows are open. This is over week after the great yawn took place.

This has to be one of the most ridiculous things that has happened to me where I work. It has stressed me out which I think is connected to being pregnant because usually I wouldn't care about these little things. Just over two months to go thankfully.

Taking the money and running

Redundancy is scary. Volunteering for redundancy does give me a slight sense of control but still makes me wobble at the knees a bit.

Funny how I was offered one leave date at first and now it has been altered to just before I would apply for maternity leave. Our dear leaders have finally figured out they don't have to pay my maternity and can push me to go before hand. They have done this to everyone who is pregnant for around the same time. Moral...never let anyone know you are pregnant until you have to. Anyway I freaked at first as the leave is worth thousands. Then again it is not worth as much as the PFO payment.
And I hate the job, the work, the industry. I made a suggestion to my boss the other day which could potentially save money and make for more accurate reporting. The boss immediately started to talk across me and tell me how we do things now and that way is best. The boss had no interest in my suggestion and never will have any interest in my suggestions. I realised that I needed to leave there and then. Several thousand will not make me happier or more productive.

My particular place of work is so despised by staff that they were over subscribed for voluntary redundancy at a time of serious unemployment.

I am going to leave. Take a chance for once. I cannot wait.

Coco Rosie

Last night in the Button Factory.

Another wonderful gig.

I was concerned that the venue would lose the music but I was wrong.

Sexy, inspiring and surprising as usual.

The band was fantastic and I loved the human beat box guy.

They were as wonderful as I remember them being in Whelans and I was so happy they covered "turn me on" again.

The support were great fun too. Light Asylum bringing back the 80s. Shannon their main singer has an incredible voice.

Everyone should see Coco Rosie.

the other day...

at work I assigned a private investigator to someone. The PI has to follow a person to check out what she is doing about her work cause we have a feeling she is attempting to exaggerate her loss of earnings. I would like to point out that our policy holder rammed her stopped car at traffic lights and caused 8k worth of damage to it because he was pissed and not paying attention to the cars stopped in front of him. She was actually hurt.

Anyway the PI will follow her, record her about her day, take pictures of her and send in a report on her movements. I will use this report to discredit everything she claims.

I have moved one step further into the dark side. I may not be able to see light anymore

Scan Today

Today I got to confirm that there is indeed a tiny little one inside me. No I wasn't imagining it at all. We could see the heartbeat so very clearly and it was terribly exciting. Shame the pictures aren't clear but I think that is fairly common.

The day was marred slightly by the nurse telling me to watch my weight and that begin pregnant didn't mean I had a licence to eat what I wanted. FFS I know I have been slightly over weight for a few years now but I could have done without being made to feel crappy about how I look right now. Now I am feeling completely paranoid and freaking out about what I should and should not eat.

Gil Scott Heron

Was wonderful. Everyone should check him out.

I was in awe and very happy leaving the gig.

Almost there

Friday is the big day. We get to hear all about the redundancy plans.

tick tock tick tock.

Of course it has to be a Friday before a long weekend.

It is hard to do any work at the moment as you can imagine.

Casualties of snow.

5 regular Geraniums - lovely white and red ones.

2 edible Geraniums - lemon and nutmeg flavoured.

1 baby Fuschia.

1 plant out the back that I forget the name of but it may be recovering.

1 small bush/tree with delightful orange berries.

1 french lavender.

Lucky Escape

I was walking down Millennium walkway yesterday with a friend at around 8pm. A group of late teen boys were walking behind us. All looking well in their expensive labelled clothes and runners. Luckily my friend spotted one of them opening my back pack and trying to take my wallet out. It would not have been an easy task because it was buried underneath the other rubbish I was carrying. Still though he may have succeeded.

I have never had anyone take or attempt to take anything from me before. Bizarre experience. It was brazen as you would expect and so shocking I didn't say anything. They all just walked off.

Finally

I am starting to feel like a person again. Not just a vomiting slug. There are still some weird things going on but the endless sickness and darkness appear to be lifting.

I am looking forward to cleaning the house. It has become a dust covered den in the last two months. Cleaning just doesn't feature when all one can think of is sickness. And although himself "tries" to clean, things get missed with only one person on the job. Besides I was given an article to read one day from New Scientist that proved men just don't see dust. Ha! Spurious was the word that came to mind. Perhaps he had falsified the entire issue. Actually there was very little proof and more conjecture as far as I was concerned. Apparently it would seem to be a good excuse for the dust bunnies under the couch.
Either way the house is a mess and I have written a five page list that outlines everything that requires a scrubbing. This includes crazy pregnant stuff such as washing the brush and pan.

Rubber gloves and scrubbing brushes are calling for the weekend.

Next Door People

Argh. FFS etc.

I cannot go outside either back or front without getting some comment from my neighbours. They are a retired couple and extremely house proud. Also very nosey. They have ever twitching curtains. I have been out sick recently and over the last few days of my absence from work J(the husband) comes outside when I am out the back and makes remarks at me.

"Oh I see you are still out, I suppose it is lovely weather" and "well as long as you have a sick note you should be fine".

WTF. I am not his 20 year old child. I am 32 and it is none is his business. They are always making remarks about how we plant things in our garden. What we like and what they think we should have. They are always telling me what I should do with my house. It makes me insane that I cannot go outside without someone popping their head over the wall and making pointed remarks. Grr.

Dilbert Envy

I was having trouble sleeping the other night. So I listened to Dilbert read by Scott Adams on the ipod.

I am now jealous of Dilbert and people. They all get cubicles. I have to work in an eight of a pie. Oh yes I sit at a round desk that is divided into 8. I can stretch elbow to elbow at the near end and it gradually tapers upwards into a point. I would love a cubicle.

Now I know for sure I am becoming a complete basket case. Cannot believe I am jealous of a cubicle.

The Good Room

A friend's email sparked a few memories for me. Did anyone have a good room in their house or remember their mates parents having one? I didn't grow up with one myself but I do recall the freakiness of them in my friend's houses. They were always freezing and eerily quiet. Being a child of the '80s the ones I remember had giant floral couches, some crystal bowls and thick carpets. If we were caught sneaking in to jump on the couches we got a good telling off and thrown into the playroom. Another room we didn't have in my house yet somehow we did manage to play.

I do recall my Granny having a good room when we visited her and before we bought her house. It was in the back and she referred to it as the drawing room. It was dark and cold. The decor from my young memory (under four) was navy and mahogany. It was filled with her creepy and extensive doll collection. She had a particular love of flamenco dolls although I doubt she had traveled to Spain at that stage. I can only imagine what the parish priest thought on his visits drinking his tea surrounded by frilly frocked staring dollies. Although our PP had spent some time in the Popes gaff in the Vatican so maybe not.

televisual fun

Currently enjoying a '70s classic. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. A wonderful cast of British actors including Alec Guinnesss. Some delightfully posh accents and plenty of intrigue. Funnily enough I note that the glasses they all wore back then are back in fashion.

At the start of the episode there is a 12 year old school boy driving a car around a field under instruction from his teacher. Later the same boy is sworn to secrecy after he spots a gun in the teacher's possession. Ya'd never see the likes of that now.


Watchin it old skool.

Eggs

I had the pleasure of minding a pair of urban hens the other week. A friend had ferried off to England with the family. I was tasked with giving the hens some free range goodtimes. Twas a delight. I would imagine they are used to roaming about the garden most of the day so they were terribly excited to see me of an evening. I was after all the freedom giver. We had some fun together. Well they had some fun checking out the flower beds and hopping about the place. I watched em and collected their eggs. They lay two everyday.

Normally I am not a big egg fan. I only eat them as omlettes or maybe pancakes. These eggs are incredible, amazing, delicious. Everyone should eat some free range fresh eggs sometime. YUM.

I am considering getting some hens.

Eventually.

Cycling Stuff

Spent some time today with a couple of lovely bike nerds. Not only have they cycled about 600km between them (in races) since January but they have watched about 600 hours of the men in lycra riding as fast as they can. As you can guess they were watching a race which was set in Belgium and nerding it up trying to guess which team and participant would win.

The ads during the race were kinda odd. Especially the one with the Italian bike champ stripped down to his tattoos, nicely greased up and only hiding his gears with a pair of runners. Most disturbing I tells ya. I had no idea how homo-erotic cycling is until today. Although I should have guessed really with all the lycra involved.

Smells - the moan.

Everything has a strong smell at the moment. Which could be great in a kind of smelling the roses way. But oh no. Everything smells BAD.
I have to wear a mask opening the fridge.
The other half has to eat his dinner in the other room...if it comprises of veggie sausages.
The new tyres on DOC's bike stink up the room.
Coffee which has been a constant love of mine since my teens now smells YUCK. I am devastated about this.
Cooking sends a wave of repulsion down to my stomach.
I have to pass the canteen in work on the way to the lift. The smell of whatever grease is cooking today sends nausea inducing shots down my nostrils.
The car smells funny although in fairness it does need a good clean.
Even the cleaned stuff smells icky. I actually had to change the brand of dish washing liquid because the smell made me gag.
WTF .....feck of smells. I cannot wait to return to normal and once more become oblivious to our stinky stinky world.

work

WTF? Interesting times in work. The company has gone into full time administration. The company accepted the administrators.
A funny thing considering that rallies were organised to go against the regulator for today. Then yesterday they turn around and decide to accept it.

Although I have to say I am not surprised it has come to pass. SQ made a mess of the Anglo deal and put his insurance company into danger. I suppose the next worry is will we be sold? If we are sold will our jobs be safe? I doubt it. I suppose the only thing is to keep on saving and hope for the best. Shame I didn't get a Christmas pressi like the Quinn Kids, that money would see me through the recession too.

I am in the funny position where I cannot look for new work as I am going on maternity leave before the end of the year. I hate my job ( as usual) so I don't care about that, however I do care about my mortgage and I do care about my bills. I am lucky in that I am not the only wage earner in the household but I cannot afford to just take time off. All very scary.

medical story

Some of the injuries are interesting. Obviously all of them have a negative impact on the life of the sufferer. But funny if you read them from an objective point of view.

One of the stories that circulates is of this woman involved in an accident who had a bizaare reaction to her injuries. I am not sure what her condition is called but it is real ....

This lady was on her way to work waiting at a bus stop on Wednesday morning some time after her accident. Suddenly she started to feel flushed and seriously hot and bothered. As she found out later she had an orgasm at the bus stop. She had not had sex for a few days. She was experiencing a delayed reaction to stimulus by her dear husband. This was caused by her injuries........ as a result of a rear ending.

working day.

I work on a pod with 3 other podmates although there is room for 8. We work in the grim and grit filled world of motor insurance. I read all sorts of stories about people everyday. I get to see the part when people have injured themselves badly enough to get a solicitor on board. We (all the pod people) have to decide what these injuries are worth and them try to give less money than they are worth for a good result (for the company). My job is to decide on liability, value all injuries and damage and try to close the file as quickly as possible keeping costs down.

The pressure to close off files is immense and we are heavily bonused on our peformance. For example a few years ago when I joined the company the average person was earning a 37% of basic salary in bonus. I have even approved a 90% bonus back when there were people managers. Now in the recession (yeah apparently insurance industry was hit hard too!) the average is supposed to be 28% of basic salary. Still high for a non sales job I reckon. I haven't seen anywhere near 28% recently myself but there is a rumour it is out there.

The amount of information I get to read about lives is incredible. Medical history, earnings, family history, how much people are worth, criminal records, trustworthiness ....all stuff that helps put a price on the tragedy whatever the size that they have suffered.

Anyway I will write some about the work for the next while.