Odds & Ends

It's a beautiful day, and I took my "lunch hour" at 2:30 and sat outside in the sun. There is an odd smell outside, and it took me awhile to place it, but then I realized it smells like the molasses covered grain my mother feeds her sheep. I don't know if this is the same smell reported in October.

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I found a suit in my closet the other day, while searching for another one I knew I'd hidden when it got too tight to wear. I was surprised, though, to stumble across this other one, as I have no memory of having bought it or worn it. I'm thinking maybe I needed it for a random job interview, wore it once, and it was too tight before I had occasion to wear it again. Now it fits perfectly. I wore it Wednesday and felt empowered all day. At lunchtime, I even went into a few stores and tried on clothes, just for the sensation of fitting into smaller sizes. Unfortunately, I'm accustomed to buying anything that fits (because so little used to) that I'm going to go broke.

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My work laptop and home laptop have different keyboard configurations. I have a hard time deleting anything because one's delete button is the other's page up. It drives me slightly crazy.

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I once had a terrible, terrible boss. He was the worst person I've ever worked for, and that's including the CEO who used to put the speaker phone on mute during conference calls so he could make fun of his regional executives, and the guy who said publicly, during the office Holiday Party recognition ceremony, "If you're name is Bob, my name is Habib!" to the son of East Asian immigrants who'd chosen to Americanize his name.

Terrible, terrible boss was worse than those. I seriously think he was mentally ill. He couldn't sit through a conversation - you'd see his eyes glaze over once you started a second sentence and he'd just interrupt and cut you off. I could understand this if I were a blowhard and it just happened to me, but that wasn't the case. He'd get up and walk out of almost every meeting because he couldn't keep his attention on anything. All meetings - even sales pitches at client locations. He forgot to give me my bonus check for three days until I swallowed my pride and went in and asked him if I'd even gotten one. He knew absolutely nothing about what I did and had no interest in understanding or even hearing about it. I was thrilled when I heard he'd gotten laid off shortly after I did.

Today I saw him in the elevator, here, where I work now. Luckily I'd been warned by another former colleague that terrible, terrible boss was now in this complex. (Not in my company, thank god.) If I hadn't known, it would have really freaked me out. He got into the elevator and was totally oblivious to me, standing in the back. (That's how I knew it was him - totally oblivious is his signature look.) I don't know what I'd say to him if he recognized me. There might be spitting involved.

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It's almost 4 pm on a beautiful, beautiful Friday afternoon. Many people have left already and I'm itching to go as well. I plan on walking home over the bridge, and I'm sure it will be crowded.

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I moved 8 of the larger baby fish into the main part of the tank and they are thriving! Nobody is eating/bothering them. This weekend I might let the others loose, too; I'd kept them in the little plastic nurseries so they wouldn't have to compete for food. But I think it's time for survival of the fittest.

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I was curious how Ricky Gervais was doing with his podcast-for-pay, but have not been able to find it on iTunes. Mystery solved - it's not in the podcast section, because a podcast is, by definition, free. iTunes has categorized it as an "audiobook" and files it with the other paid audio. It has a 2 1/2 star rating, down from a 5 from when it was free. The resounding response is - "We shouldn't have to pay for this." Guess I was right.