At least things can't get any better...

Oh what a week, and it's only Tuesday. It all started on Saturday when my laptop decided to go on the fritz. It would insist that it wasn't plugged in even when it was. If you wiggled the cord a little the light would come on and all would be well, until you bumped it again. So I decided to take it in to have it looked at.

The computer place informed me that the company that makes my laptop is no longer in business and that they didn't have the part and weren't sure if they could get it. I only bought my laptop about 8 months ago so it's still technically under warranty but if the company doesn't exist well who knows.

Then today I left home with my purse but apparently no wallet. Thankfully I played good Samaritan yesterday and lent a co-worker some money which he paid back today so at least I can eat.

Bracket Update

For those of you have been living under a rock for the last week it's NCAA tourney time. Which means I have put together some bracket-y goodness. This year I decided not to do a hotness bracket. And the later decided to do one. I also did a serious bracket, for bragging rights at work. So here's your Janalee bracket update as of this moment with 2 games left to come tonight:

Hotness bracket - The only reason I still have teams in the hotness bracket is because only half of the Sweet 16 games are played tonight. Teams left: Duke, North Carolina, Gonzaga, Oklahoma, Michigan State, Kansas and Louisville.

Actual Bracket - This one looks a little better. Mostly because I didn't have any crazy upsets picked in the first couple of rounds. Teams left: Louisville, Kansas, Michigan State, U Conn, Missouri, Memphis, UNC, Syracuse, Oklahoma, Gonzaga, Pitt, Villanova, Duke.

I'm currently 3rd and 6th on 8 in our office pool.

You know you have a problem when...

Alright for those of you who haven't been following all the off-season Jay Cutler drama (or who don't really get sports) let me boil it down into normal work terms.

Imagine that you are doing a job and then you find out that your company went to other companies in the industry to find someone who does the same thing as you do and tried to hire them without telling you. You'd be a little pissed right? But eventually you'd get over it and all would be well. Or you'd try to find somewhere else to work. OR you'd covertly try to screw your company and undermine your boss while continuing to collect a pay cheque and explore other options.

That's pretty much what's going on here. Except instead of handling the situation like a mature adult Cutler has decided to go the whiny child route. And instead of being disgusted by his lack of maturity I find it somewhat endearing. What does that say about me?

Connor Atchley, you will be missed.

One of the problems with college sports this that eventually the players that's you've grown attached to graduate or leave college. Sometimes they join the pro ranks and you might see them play again. Sometimes they decide that it's time to move on with their lives.

In any case the Duke-Texas game was going to end badly for me either way as both Connor Atchley and David McClure were playing in the game. Neither of them are big names so I somehow doubt they'll end up playing pro but you never know. Both of them are seniors this year so this is the end of the line for them. Duke came out on top in that game and so today I say goodbye to Connor Atchley.

New Purse Store May Cause Brokeness

So there is a new store near my work. There are actually a lot of random indie clothing stores and stuff near where I work. Which is kind of cool. But they've opened a purse store about half a block away. Now normally I'm not exactly a girly girl kind of girl but every once in a while I like to pamper myself a bit. So today I bought myself a new purse. Frankly there are about 5 others there that I also liked.

So yeah I can see this ending badly. Although KEG has said that now we can't go back until at least April. It's 2 weeks into March so that's not so bad. Let's just hope I can stick to it.

Oh curling I've missed you

So it's Brier time again. For anyone who has missed me saying it before I used to curl. Not very well but hey I tried. But I do love watching curling. Especially men's curling. Women's is okay but they just don't make the same kind of shots that the men do. They also don't seem to make as many of the tough shots as the men do but then again maybe that's just a percentage thing.

If you're not so inclined to the strategy of the game well then there's always the men to check out. Some of my personal favorites include:

Brad Gushue - Skip - Newfoundland & Labrador

John Morris - Third - Alberta

Marc Kennedy - Second - Alberta

You'll also notice that Marc is a lefty which earns him double hot points. But spells his name with a "c" which is just wrong. Anyway at the moment Alberta is leading the standings as they have no losses, followed by Ontario, Newfoundland & Labrador and Manitoba.

When it rains, it pours

So you know how I've been freaking out about being homeless? Well we think we've found a really good place. We just can't seem to get our application there, since the office is only open from 9-5 which means we're at work. Anyway so checked out the place on Saturday and picked up some applications we just haven't submitted them.

Of course now that we've found a place all of the places that we left messages at before are starting to call us saying that they have something. It's pretty crazy. Especially now that I've calmed myself down about the whole homeless thing.

I'm sure everything will work out. I'm just nervous that if we turn down some of the other places and then we don't get the one we want we'll be back in the no place to live situation.

I'm boring

So I had set up some goals for the month of February . Let's see how far I got.

Finish reading Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon. I'm currently on page 135 of 1070. I'm probably about half way through now. I actually lost my book for a while so I couldn't read it and I also read another book in between. Haven't really been in a reading mood lately to tell you the truth.

Finish watching Season 4 of Weeds. Done and Done. I finished this, caught up on The Tudors and have started watching Big Love. Yeah I'm weird and clearly have a lot of time on my hands.

Research and determine 3 grad schools to apply for. This one amuses me since I'm almost ready to give up on grad school. Taking the monetary hit, plus the whole fear of not finding a job when I'm done. But we'll see what happens. It depends how the next couple of weeks go I guess.

Set a tentative date for the GRE. This one goes right along with the last one.

Watch some college hoops. Done. I watched the Duke-UNC game a couple of weeks ago, the Texas-Oklahoma game and one other Duke game this past weekend. Other than that I've spent a lot of time watching curling.

Finish sewing the dress I started last year. I've thought about this a couple of times but I never did pull it out to finish it.

Buy and elliptical machine or a bike. I'm now waiting until I move to do this one. No point in buying something just to move it 2 weeks later.

So that's how I did for February. I'm planning to go back to the regular goal of the week, for March. So we'll see how that goes.

Dream Diary Episode 8: Another what the hell moment

As you know from all of the previous dream diary posts I've done I have some screwed up dreams.

Last night I dreamed that I was curling, which I haven't done since I was in high school and even then not very well. This is easily explained by the fact that I've been watching 2 matches a day. It's the National Women's Championships this week for those of you who didn't know.

The second one involved a guy that I work with where we had a moment in an elevator or something and then when I asked if we needed to talk about it he said he didn't have time to talk about it. I'm not even sure what that says about me, that even in my dreams guys don't want to start relationships with me. I can't say I blame them though, I'm totally scattered.

My emotional baggage

I haven't written anything lately because I don't even know where to begin. Not to mention that I'm totally unfocused these days and can't concentrate at all. So let's do a quick run down of things in my life.

Work - I suppose it pays the bills. Actually it's going fairly well. Except for the sabotage. Seriously my paranoia is getting so bad that I actually thought that someone purposely took the papers off my desk yesterday just to get me in trouble. Turns out someone just accidentally took them off my desk but still.

Home - Home is pretty good. I'm still having trouble with the neighbours and I'm not renewing my lease for this coming year so I'm going to have to find somewhere else to live. That's not going so well. I've probably made about 30 phone calls and have gotten about 5 replies. Only one of them would work and they don't have any openings right now.

School - School is on pause for now. I'm seriously considering quitting my job and going back to do my pre-reqs for lab. It's tough to give up the money but it's probably worth it in the end. Well maybe. I'm thinking though that I would probably do part of a Master's degree by distance ed at the same time. I don't know sometimes I think I think about this stuff too much.

Friends - I don't see a whole lot of them these days. Well if you don't count work friends anyway. it was spring break last week and exams and papers are coming due this week. It's hard having a lot of friends in school when you're not.

And there I am. Oh also I've been watching a lot of curling lately mostly because it's on.

It's been a while

I haven't updated in a while. I just haven't really had a whole lot to say. I've got a terrible head cold this week so all of my thoughts are consumed with being ill. I even took Tuesday off work which seemed like a good idea on Wednesday when I felt better but not so great when I felt even worse today.

But besides the sniffling, sneezing and teary eyes there isn't a whole lot going on with me these day.

Business Ethics

I love the movie Billy Madison, my brother and I have watched it so many times that occasionally we will knock on each others doors just to quote the movie. Yes we are that dorky.
Anyone who has seen this movie knows that the other guy selects "business ethics" as his topic for the final phase of the academic decathlon.

I make this connection because I've been trying to determine if it's unethical to be sending out my resume while I'm at work. It probably is and it's not like I've seen postings that I want to apply for but then I haven't been looking real hard either.

It also reminds me of that episode of the Office where Dwight doesn't want to be a time thief. Seriously if you do not watch this show you really need to. My brother has also suggested that if I'm angry at my co-workers I might try suspending their office supplies in Jell-O (see first season). I'm very, very tempted to try this.

Numbers Never Lie

As you are already very likely aware I'm not always confident about the career path that I've chosen. I often consider further education, changing jobs or perhaps just becoming a homeless person. However my aversion to change often prevents me from considering such options but when I'm in a bit of a funk, like now, I like to see what's out there.

One of the things I like to do is take personality related career quizzes to determine if I'm where I should be. About 4 years ago I took one that had to be sent away for grading, it was very long and really scary, but it told me that I was probably taking the correct course of training for the professions best suited to me. I just did a color based career quiz and it said that the place I should be is somewhere very much like the place I'm in now.

It's just a little frustrating because I'm so unhappy being where I am now. Anyway if you'd like to check out the quiz it's here .

How to get over a bad day at work

1. Check out apartment building in different area of town to remind you that you are moving in just over 2 months.
2. Blog about how to get over crappy day.
3.Remind self that the Duke-UNC (aka evil and evil-er) game is on tonight and that you must watch to see if blood will be shed (answer: god I hope so)
4. Re-read (or read if you haven't yet) baby punching post as this is possibly the most hilarious thing you have read this year.
5. Find baby to punch.

Well okay maybe not that last one.

Think Happy Thoughts

I can just see this going wrong. I don't think anyone who reads this would be shocked that I have had more than one office crush at my current job. I've been here almost 2 years these things are bound to happen. But today I have to work with my very first office crush ever. You know that scene in Love, Actually where the boss calls the woman into the office and asks her how long she's been in love with the toque designer and it's like since the day she started? Yup that's pretty much how it is.

So you can see how this might be a little bit weird. Of course if I think it's going to be awkward then it definitely will be awkward so I just have to keep thinking happy thoughts.

Edit: you know what the easiest way to deal with above awkwardness is? Don't work with them. It's probably a long story that I shouldn't bother getting into.

Misery

I hope it's just a seriously bad case of the winter blues and that it's not a sign of something else, but I can't help but be unhappy these days. I don't really think it's just the weather. Since people who have just returned from vacation are equally miserable.

It's funny I was always told that there is always someone worse off than you and that you should be happy with the things that you have and not worry about what everyone else has. It seems like the only way to stop being miserable about what everyone else has and get the same things is to go against my better judgement and do all the things that would make me miserable.

I have a constant struggle with myself to reconcile the way that the world is with the way that the world should be. I don't think that people should get ahead in this world because they know someone who can help them get ahead. I have trouble understanding a world where 25 year olds are still living at home with their parents. I don't believe it is the place of management to determine whether you should be offered other positions in your company. I don't think that any of these beliefs are entirely out of line and yet they are all contrary to what happens in the world.

The saying goes life isn't fair, but beyond that life is morally bankrupt (in so much as an inanimate object or idea can have morals).

I guess I'm turning into a shoe girl

This has been the most ridiculous week. Actually the last couple of weeks have been pretty crazy. But anyway like a typical girl I decided that the best way to get over my problems was to go shopping. Oddly enough yesterday was also a pay day so I had just finished paying down my credit card bill.

So I went on a bit of a shopping spree. I bought some new tops and a new dress, two necklaces, a new bag and wallet and these shoes which I love because they go with everything.

The Economic Crisis and Me

I read a lot a blogs. Probably more than one person should. I particularly enjoy sports blogs but I also like reading people's personal blogs. Some people's lives are just so much more interesting than the average person. 

One common theme that I've noticed in my reading of late is people's worry about the economic situation. A lot of people are randomly losing their jobs. I always feel horrible for those people. Because no job means no money, no money means no rent, means no place to live and so on. It makes me feel kind of guilty about complaining so much about my job. At least I have one. Okay so it's not the greatest of situations but it exists. 

I just can't help but wonder why I go to work sometimes. And the answer is so that I can pay my bills so that I have a place to live. Unfortunately my thoughts turn slightly morbid after that and it really puts a damper on my whole perspective on life. 

Well at least someone agrees with me

The last couple of days I have been a bit of a Debbie Downer about my work situation. But you know at least I'm not the only one who sees it. It may not be a ringing endorsement of my persistent bitching but, knowing that I'm not alone in my outrage makes me feel just a little bit better about being outraged. 

Anyway I'm sure you're all sick of hearing me complain so instead I'll just offer this picture of Larry Fitzgerald who likely would have been the Superbowl MVP if Arizona would have won instead of just looking hot in a suit. 

It's Done, It's Done

Thank god there are 24 hours in the day. I nearly forgot to post today. Today being my last day of NaBloPoMo. It would have been a shame to put in all that work only to see it fall apart on the last day. 

Now I can go back to my regularly unscheduled blogging. Also because I haven't mentioned it tomorrow is the SuperBowl. I will watch but I could care less about the outcome.