Old bathroom cleaning ladies that companies hire to be bathroom janitors.
I mean, you need to go to the bathroom, so you head in, and notice-
Oh! Someone's cleaning the bathroom! Oh, and she's a woman! In the MEN'S ROOM!
But she's, like, 50-60+ years old. And really nice. So that's not bad at all.
So you go in the stall or use the urinal, while the nice bathroom lady does her work on the other end of the bathroom.
In the US, they just shut the bathroom down and deny entry, even when the cleaner is a nice 50+ year old lade. And let me say this is really frustrating when you really have to go.
Man, been really busy lately. Quick update.
JOBS: We're still looking for people, especially people who could work second or third shift. If you or anyone you know is really good at either Unix or Windows, with some networking background, please give me a holler (ziggurat ATMARK gmail DOT com).
Lawnchair: So, at work I realized that I was getting too cooped up during the middle of the day: On those days that I bring my own lunch, I end up sitting at my desk, "relaxing" (not at all). After a couple minutes of that, I return to surfing, studying, or just working again. Then by the end ot the day I'm totally worn out. So I went out and bought a reclining lawn chair at Lowe's, for those 3-4 days a week where I don't join my coworkers for lunch. I go into the parking lot, off onto the grass, prop up the chair, and either read a book or just sleep. It's great- within about 40 minutes I'm completely rested, and on target the rest of the work day.
Planning: So instead of attending an upcoming lecture from Frankolin-Covey on value-driven planning for $300, I instead picked up the CD set on Amazon for like $20. All I wanted was a re-primer for the Franklin Planner I've been using since College, because lately I've been using it wrong. I've been slowly getting used to it again, unfortunately the problem I have is sitting down to write those values down with which to plan my day. Not that "I don't have enough time to do it", that'd defeat the whole point. It's just that I'm afraid if I sit down and write down my real values, I fear I may realize that too many things I'm used to are not my "values", prompting me to drop them. Maybe I just need to be light and vague the first time around.
Star Wars Episode 3: My folks stopped by on Saturday, and we went out to see Unleashed, which was excellent. it was a good movie on its own, but made better by the fact that, because of the Star Wars debut, the whole theatre was empty save for us. The next day I was planning on watching Star Wars in the morning, so my folks lent me the hardcover "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith" novel. I was like, "Hmmmm... yeah, the problem is that I'm watching the movie tomorrow, and this book is 400 pages long. Plus, I don't want any spoilers".
I then realized that I didn't care too much either way on spoilers. So I went through the book, and skimmed it for "Major Dialogue Moments", like Anakin turning, Anakin being swayed by Palpatine, etc. In all, I read about 200 pages that day in about 90 minutes. I wanted to confirm if the dialogue was as bad as I'd been hearing.
It wasn't that bad, save in a couple places. Overall, I thought it was solid.
Then I watched the movie. As it turned out, the author of the novel ADDED a lot of dialogue to the novel to make the movie a lot cooler, to make a lot more sense. The dialogue in the movie felt pretty pitiful compared to the novel, actually. HOWEVER, because I read the dialogue, I just pretended that they were actually saying the stuff from the book instead of what they were actually saying, which improved the movie a great deal. Anakin's seduction by Palpatine was much fuller. Anakin being convinced to spy on Palpatine was much better played out. Anakin turning to the dark side in that fight with Palpatine/Mace Windu made a heck of a lot of sense.
Not to mention that the directing and character action in the novelization was better paced and cooler than the movie.
So, if you haven't read the novel yet, I highly recommend... well, maby not buying it, but borrowing it from someone, and reading the dialogue parts. They make the movie make more sense, and make it cooler.
Not that the novel is flawless. It's pretty pulpy on its own. There are some places where dialogue is added (like in a romance scene or two) that was obviously the Original Dialogue, because it was so cheezy it induced nausea, and after which the author told us what they were thinking so as to make those lines of dialogue not quite so lame. Also, there were a lot of parts in the novel that read like amateur fan fiction, "He had a headache the size of a gungan, no a rancor egg." Crap like that.
But yeah, the novel's dialogue and scene direction (particularly the part where Anakin tells the news to Mace Windu- I was TOTALLY disappointed with the movie's take on that scene compared to the novel) were A+.
I've been really getting back into the swing of using this thing. Man, it's as important these days to my overall stress management as a sword is important to a Cossack.
Ex: Tonight: I came home at 6:30, did some work, did some exercise, watched some CSI with Orie. At 9:00, i sat down in front of the PC for some emailin' and translatin'. 3 hours later, it's 12:00, I have nothing translated. I have been writing furiously for the past three hours, but yet Not Much on the Planner List got done.
Back to the Planner. Time to whip myself with it's faux-leather exterior, while repeating the mantra "Begin with the End in Mind... Begin with the End in Mind..."
It began last Friday, right after work, when I got violently ill with diarrhea. It continued throughout the weekend, with fever, chills, more gas and diarrhea. Torment and pain. I pilled up on Immodium on Sunday.
Monday, I was just in good enough shape to go to work, so I did.
Tuesday, same thing- I went to a new doctor to make sure that it wasn't, say, my gall bladder erupting or tapeworm. Neither, so that was nice. Nights are filled with bathroom trips which produced nothing more than something, and cold sweats.
Wednesday- Constant slight cramping. Always feeling like I SHOULD go to the bathroom, but nothing happening when I get there. In the middle of the day, when chewing on a sandwich, I get a jolt of pain in my back molar. Made an emergency dentist appointment.
Today- Still this vague cramping, luckily the sick is almost over, or on it's last legs thank God. However, turns out that I have a crack in my tooth, which needed to be fit with a crown and a gold onlay before it splits in half or cracks worse. My first such restorative dentistry (I go back in 2 weeks when the crown is complete). Total price: $1240.00. My dental insurance will cover a little less than half of that.
So yeah, on top of the stomach pain and tooth surgery, I've got all this work stress from working cases on issues I know very little about (the new job blues), and then this whammo of a dental fee. It's not been a good week. In fact, this totally sucks.
Still getting used to things, started (after 5 weeks) taking cases, it'll be another 2-3 weeks until I'm on the phones.
Anyway, the reason I post is because I came across this company email: Our Executive VP of Business Operations has stepped down (or over, cause now he's on the Board of Directors) from his job... to pursue music.
That's pretty cool.