Friday, January 30, 2009

Man...

.. what a slow Friday. It's too bad they restrict so much access from here, otherwise I could remote out and do some other work. Oh well, I'm just doing some intense web research and trying to keep myself occupied. I'm sure another long email thread about random things is in order. My group is fun like that. It gets even more fun when your boss chimes in and cracks a few jokes as well.

___
It's been so slow, it's now 2p, and I just got back from a 2hr lunch. We sat, had some beers, and laughed. A lot. Learned a new word even....

Behyman (be - high - man). If you're not sure what that means, well, sorry! I know I've got mine though, so that's all that matters. Like I said, a good lunch. My stomach still hurts from laughing so much. My co-workers are fun, that's for sure.

Well the weekend is a little slower, with only soccer tonight & football tomorrow. I think Sunday instead of watching the Super Bore, we'll be off snowboarding. Where has yet to be determined, but it sounds like it's between Baker & Crystal. Either way, I hope I live!

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

As the world gets smaller....

Holy crap odd. Odd enough I must blog about it. I have a knack for remembering faces, though not names. So I could remember seeing someone at the store for example, then see them again months later and think that I've seen that person somewhere before. I may or may not remember where, just depends. That's how my mind works, faces are easy, names are harder.

When PB & I put together our football team, I was looking through our opponents that were scheduled against us. Teams that had played previously had pics of those teams, and looking at the first team we played I just recognized one woman on that team. I figured it's because I play enough sports, she's probably played on some other league or something along that line.

After my great lunch today, I went over to the corporate break room to get something to drink and I swore the woman at the table with others was the coach of that first team. Nah, couldn't be. So I came back to my desk, pulled up the team page of that team, pulled up my company directory and ... holy shit! So I've been chatting with her about who else plays for her that works here. Professional networking at it's finest! Plus, she said they have a hard time finding players sometimes, thus another outlet to play when I don't want to get a team together. Sweeeeeet!

The world sure does shrink!!

The hits keep coming & coming...

almost 90,000 this week. That's job losses people. By Wednesday of this week, over 90,000 people have lost their job nationwide. As it's that time of year when the companies report to Wall Street their earnings, they are announcing job cuts to help push off the chance of a collapse.

So this week is half over and we're pushing 100,000. We already have 200,000 for the year. In JANUARY. Last year we had as a country around 2.6 million jobs lost for the year. The single most since 1945. I find that stat with mixed emotions. Because there are more people than 1945, it's probably not near as damaging, but then again, that's a lot of money that's no longer being spent in the local economy.

Sadly, there's not a whole lot that any individual employee can do to make sure that they don't lose their job. Well, other than picking an industry that is safe. But then again, what is safe? Microsoft is laying people off, Home Depot is laying people off, banks, manufacturing, construction, real estate, retail, everyone is making cuts.

Well I should be grateful that I have all that I do. People are going to continue to hit rough times, so those of us that are ok will definitely have to help out where we can. However, there's a fine line with that "help". As many who lose their job or home (or both) do get depressed, help isn't the easiest thing to accept. While down, offering help can take them even further down, offering to pay for lunch or dinner makes them feel like they can't pull their own weight. The biggest thing you can do to keep them happy with that? Do free things... Go to the park, play catch, be active. Just be a friend.

___
So on a brighter note ummmm the Super Bowl is coming up? Or even better, they are looking at expanding the liquor selection in Washington's liquor stores. I doubt we'll see Everclear anyday, but hey, more choices is still a positive.

OH and a definite plus is that the vending machine over at the corporate office has Bit-O-Honey! That is a huge plus. mmmmmmm

Ok, that's good enough for now. Nothing has really touched a nerve lately, just been busy with 'life'.

Monday, January 26, 2009

It's January....... right?

I got a huge case of spring fever on the way in. I mean it's sunny out with no clouds in the sky. What a way to start the week. Despite the cold I felt like I should have rode the bike to work today. Looking at Komo4's weather for the week however, it looks like today's the only possible day.

Looking at the rain coming, I decided to check how the weekend treated the different mountain ski resorts. It did snow in the lowlands this weekend, plus some rain, so it had to have snowed in the mountains too..... right? Or you know, they got 2" of snow in the past 48hrs. TWO INCHES. In January. COME ON. I got all this cool winter gear that just sits and waits. It's 5 degrees up there tho. Sounds like a great time, if you're a damn polar bear... Maybe this upcoming rain will bring good snow to the mountains!

___
Overall, kind of a slow blog day. The weekend went well, not losing one game all weekend. Including the nail biter final to our football game. A great defensive flag football game helps keep the adrenaline going for the entire time. It was intense and exciting.

Super Bowl is this weekend too, thinking about throwing a party since there is no softball. We'll see how the week starts to pan out and then we'll go from there. But I think it'd be a great idea. Then again, I kind of have another idea that'd be fun too. Again, we'll see how this week plays out and decide from there....