what a way to make a living...

i've been at my current job for nearly 3 years (i was with a temp agency for the first three months so the anniversary where i get a raise is a ways off from my anniversary of entering the building). i generally try to be generic while talking about work. i don't think anyone there reads my blog, but you can never be too cautious, eh? i do like my current job better than prevous ones, so i'd like to keep it a while longer. when i describe my job to people, it always seems to sound like dull paperpushing. but in reality, there is never dull moment. i review files for people have applied for things. you wouldn't believe the stuff people write down, even when they know strangers are going to read it. you wouldn't believe the names people give their children, knowing full well said children are going to be teased and beaten up all through middle school. you wouldn't believe the creative excuses people give for why they originally lied about something they wrote somewhere. this always drives me crazy. why do people lie about silly things and cause themselves more grief than if they just told me about it upfront? and i'm so sad that i can't provide any real illistrations, but for privacy reasons, i must laugh at the examples all by myself. generally i review all these things in my office, but if you've been playing along with the home game, you've probably noticed that i travel a lot. i get to go places for work about once a month, sometimes more. its nice to go places on the company dime and its fun to meet new people.

but my department is really kind of the step child of the company. sometimes when i'm visiting other departments, its clear that they would rather i not be there. with every trip, i am prepared for that kind of reception and take it in stride. my office also somehow has the smallest budget (though its possible every office thinks that...the grass is always greener or something). and it would be wrong of me to blame everything on the budget: i do have bad karma with office equipment. for a year or so, my phone has been on the fritz. sometimes it works great. sometimes nearly not at all. the little display thingy that should tell me who is calling and what time it is and if i have any messages, sometimes it just doesn't work. but we are supposed to be getting a new phone system so no one wants to buy me a new phone and then turn around and buy me a new phone. i get that. mostly. except its been a year. and my laptop battery is completely dead, so if it is accidentally unplugged, it turns off imediately. and since the outlet is a bit shaky and near a filing cabinet drawer, just guess how often this happens. then last week my company email decided to go haywire. even though the IT guy did some weird-over-the-internet-possession of my computer, it cannot be fixed until he sends me something in the mail. i was fine with all of this until today which put me over the edge. my printer started jamming. i called dell and its under warrenty. they are going to send me a new one, soonish. i spent most of the day working in someone else's office, she was out on vacation. after lunch, i wandered back into my own office to get something and now one of the lights isn't working. that takes skill, to get that many things to go wrong in one room. there really isn't anything else in the room that could be broken. i guess the screws could come loose in my desk and it could just fall apart to the floor. if this were a bad tv show, that is exactly what would happen tomorrow. i guess since FOX hasn't called yet, i'm safe.

late in the afternoon, someone from a different office called me to ask about something. i relayed this whole sorry tale to her and she laughed but remind me that i should be thankful to be alive. apparently her friend's aunt's caterer had been driving saturday night and took the off ramp to leave the highway and head home. another driver under the influence of lots of things took the same ramp, only driving on it the wrong way. they hit head on but everyone was mostly ok. my coworker's friend's aunt's caterer got out of the car, to check out the damage, and was instantly run over by another driver and killed. i know i know, i'm almost sure i saw an email forward about this not two weeks ago. even though i'm not about to suggest you tell ten friends to read this entry, i am going to suggest that you just be happy to be alive.