FO: Turn a Square for Jerry

For the most part, I like my co-workers. Some of them have the uncanny ability to drive me to drink, but I can honestly step back from the situation and view it as almost entirely positive as far as a corporate job goes. I get paid well, I get a stack of gift certificates and bottles of Scotch for Xmas, and every once in a while, they let me take the group someplace nice so they can golf and get enough alcohol in their systems to stop thinking about work.

No one is a baby and calls HR on me when they get thrown in the pool, and I don't call HR on them when they end up getting hospitalized for dehydration while they are at a strip club.

It's good to have co-workers who are willing to talk about something other than work. Jerry is the source of good office gossip, the fixer of the Web-exes that I tend to screw up, installer of big heavy servers that I can't rack myself, and the bearer of cute kids that he'll bring to the office so I can feed them Sour Patch kids until there is a sticky mess of vibrating children to be rounded up for the long ride home at the end of the day.



Oh, that's a terrible picture of him. Here's a hatless one that I like better. I took that for his linked-in picture. I think he has the same problem as I do with those corporate website pictures as almost every picture I have I'm either wearing sunglasses and/or have a drink in my hand.



There. Just imagine him with a hat now.



I felt like it was overdue that he gets some knitwear. He's been begging for socks for years, but I have put on a sinister squint and asked him if he and his wife was ready for the commitment of handwash only. So he gets a hat instead.

It's my go-to guy hat, the Turn a Square. I used leftover scraps of Noro Silk Garden from a few different projects and the last bit of Shelter in "Nest". I tried doing it from memory and realized when I was done that the pattern calls for stripes every 3 and 2 rows. I just did every 2 rows but I don't think that's wrong in any way.

I told him he could wear it on his foot if he wanted to.

Orlando

Traveling for business can mean that going someplace the most people view with pure joy and happiness can fill me with pure dread and loathing.



Oh yes. Seeing the sun coming up after several sleepless all-nighters due to the massive amount of work that needed to be done was some how a relief: that is one less sunrise that I will have to endure in this place. The weather appeared to be lovely outside, but days went by and I was inside the hotel and conference room the entire day and night. My entire life, for 5 days, was composed of forced socialization with middle-aged men for hours while eating mediocre hotel catering, drinking gallons of burnt coffee and trying to remember to smile and stand in a place where my phone gets reception.





I did go for a quick walk one afternoon in what was proclaimed as a "nature trail", but it ended up being a dirt road sandwiched between the golf course and a highway. I get my dose of nature when and where I can.







There were some interesting birds- egrets, ibis, grebes, osprey and herons.







Did I mention that they had has working while the rest of the states had a 3-day weekend? Nope, no bitterness here.









The company did do a nice thing and they had a buy-out of Universal Studios. Middle-aged men got to live out their fantasies.



They did have a few rides open for us. We got to test each other's bravery, and ridicule each other when the bravery failed.







The Magic 8 ball I won playing skiball came in handy when we needed answers about quota.





I told them they looked very "Rat Pack" and they smiled:



It's good to be home. I think I'll be having a nice, relaxing weekend with absolutely no contact with co-workers.

Milking It

A cushy but soulless work environmental means that sometimes you have to make sacrifices, and sometimes you have to milk it for all you can. I have no problem with that.



When the opportunity arises to go someplace interesting or slightly exotic, I usually take a few vacation days to extend the trip if I can. That way, I can at least say that I left the resort. It's a nice way to economize a bit since the flight and hotel is already being paid for, and I like to go off the beaten path a bit while escaping the fun and drunken games the co-workers are playing.

Really now, when the resort has views like this:



and this:



you really start to think twice about going anywhere. Why move from the lounge chairs when you can watch the sun set while a cute cowboy brings you margaritas all afternoon?



Arizona always makes me slightly angry. You have this big state that selfishly took all the amazing scenery for itself. You won't see a more spectacular place on earth.



It's a waking dream.

I Am Running Away to Join the Circus.

It seems as though a series of odd, tragic, stressful and downright weird events has been plaguing the people around me lately. I feel like everyone I know has been the recipient of bad news and the past few months have been especially trying because of it. Before you draw conclusions about my toxic effect on people, I'm pretty sure I'm not the Bad Seed. Just a helpless-feeling bystander.

Also...my job. It's gotten a bit too much lately. I know I get compensated monetarily quite nicely and really have nothing to complain about, but more days than I care to count I feel like I'm ready to move on. I have the Peace Corps website open in another tab. Oooh, Fiji. Really? You send people to Fiji? Wait...but I have to speak Hindi or Fijian, or be willing to learn? I must admit, my Fijian is a bit rusty at this point. Wait...you don't serve any English-speaking countries at all? How about un peu français, non? Well then. Maybe the Peace Corps is not for me after all. Sitting in an office in Manhattan is really quite nice actually, with the running water and flush toilets. Never mind.

Happily, I am planning a nice little vacation next month. It's piggy-backed with a work trip, but it's in a location that I love and would gladly go for a nice vacation on my own. More on that soon.

I've been knitting in fits and starts, but I chose a bunch of projects that require my full attention at all times. None of this round and round we go stuff...I'm making a lace shawl with the lace pattern on both sides, which means one little mistake could end in disaster and I try to tink back to the blissful and innocent time where I didn't make mistakes. I'm also making an oversized cable sweater, where the cable pattern runs on both sides requiring me to stare at the pattern with laser-like intensity. Then I cast on for an "easy" project, which involves a laceweight and delicate silk/mohair blend to be adorned with dozens of tiny beads. So much fun! Not stressful at all! My dentist says I should try not to grind my teeth during my waking hours!

Maybe it's time to start a really simple hat, or a pair of socks.

I did get something pretty in the mail a couple weeks ago:



It's the March Essential Luxury club from A Verb for Keeping Warm. A very touchable blend of baby camel, merino and silk. I can almost feel my stress melt away as I dream about spinning it. It's gorgeous dahhling, gorgeous. It's going into a bin for a bit as I am still spinning my Shetland fleece and I'm [trying my best to be] a spinning project monogamist. I can actually fill a bobbin with the Shetland in about 45 minutes.

There's been lots of other fun stuff going on- lots of pork cookery and dumpling folding and beer making and spin-ins and jewelry creating and honey bee education and trying not to fail at it all. Being bored in New York means you probably have no pulse.

Job Shmob

Work has completely taken over my life this week...I have a pretty big event going on next week and there has been a lot to do leading up to it. My official photographer is off to the Alpine regions of Europe for work for the next month. All the work surrounding that trip has taken up my evenings and energy...finding a place to put the motorcycle for the winter, finding a garage for the car for the next month and all the other stuff that goes with not having someone around to help you out at home.

I have a feeling I will be enjoying my quiet time very much for the next couple of weeks.