A Whole New World

Of pet peeves!!!

Oh, kids. I completely forgot what gives Corporate American its stank. That would be "The life of the cube." That's right, I traded the life of the mind for the life of the cube and you know what? Sometimes, we get what we deserve. Karma's a bitch, ain't she?

Let us begin with building facilities - I guess - because who else could be responsible for cranking the air conditioning so high that my fingers are shriveled and my nose drips? I wear a sweater or blazer to work every day and over that (in the office, of course. It was 93 degrees outside today - what am I? On a mission from God or something?), I have this lined fleecy/jacket thing I wear OVER everything else. At all times. If it's hot on the way to work, I'll put my hair in a ponytail. When I arrive in my cube, I take the ponytail down so my hair can cover my ears. Once the sun hits my side of the building, I'm totally screwed and I bust out the old-school phone headset and pretend I'm Ernestine. My co-workers probably think I'm running some sort of betting pool from my desk. But really? It's just to keep my ears warm. And just in case we weren't dorky enough in our house (stay tuned for fall and the return of the plaid flannel hunting cap with ear flaps!) poor Mr. J. is so cold in his office that he has actually broken the rules and has an illegal space heater. Since June. He also wears suits to work every day. The other day he received the "digital weather system" he ordered online (please don't ask!) and took it to work so he could check the temperature in his office. The verdict? A chilly 63 degrees. Now I can kind of (almost) understand why he doesn't really care that we don't have air conditioning in our house. When he walks in the door he's still thawing out.

What else? Oh, so many pet peeves. But I've just spent the evening warming up with a mug of hot spiced wine and I'm currently too gling-glongy (as we say in our family) to make much more sense. If I made sense in the first place. Who knows? Could be peaches, could be meat! (Points to anyone who can name that movie!)

Oh - and thank you for the kind wishes about my grandfather. He is doing as well as can be expected. On his second or third night in the hospital, my grandmother fell. Do you see? Do you see my genetic legacy of bad luck here?

Just kidding. My grandmother missed my grandfather more than anything and we think she may have been walking in her sleep when she fell. My mom has been staying overnight to keep an eye on my grandma and the fall must have happened in the wee hours of the morning. But can you imagine living with the same person for 67 years? Of course you're going to miss that person so much you walk in your sleep. Would be romantic if it weren't so freakin' heartbreaking.

On that happy note . . . stay warm, kiddies!!!!!!