Friday, May 16, 2008  

A Finished Object, Of Sorts

We finished the fence last weekend, complete with gate, railing, and doggy-resistant chicken-wire.







And the dog, for whom we expended so much effort and energy? She's been camped out in the backyard, under the shed, waiting patiently for her next chance to kill a possum. She's already gotten one of them, but apparently there are more, and she is determined to spend as long as it takes in the backyard. Last night, she flat-out refused to go on a puppy walk, choosing instead to spend the evening lying in wait by the shed.



We're going to hopefully give the possum family a break this weekend - we're planning on going camping for the first time this season! I'm so excited, even if I have been so tired recently that 9 hours of sleep just doesn't seem to make a dent... oh well... maybe I'll just hang out at the campsite while Abby and S go exploring.


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Friday, May 09, 2008  

A Good Weekend Ahead?

This weekend, for reasons that completely escape me, my firm is changing their logo, website address, and various other technological things. I really don't care one way or another, except to point out that many of the changes seem pretty pointless... but the big benefit is that, starting at 6:00 pm this afternoon, all of the network systems will be shut down. No email, documents, phone, bl@ckberry, internet... nothing. And, even better - although some systems will come back online over the weekend, bl@ckberries will be non-functional until Monday morning. I'm not even taking mine home.

Since it's S' birthday today, I'm hoping for a very relaxing evening and weekend. Getting together with the family tomorrow in Old Town... I need to swing by Knit Happens and pick up some gender-neutral baby gift yarn for another baby kimono, as the only yarn I have in my stash that is suitable is pink, and I don't know the gender of the recipient. Oh well... it's a good excuse to swing by tomorrow and find a skein or two!


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Tuesday, May 06, 2008  

How is it Already May?

I can't believe it's already May... it's definitely been one of those years where everything has been simultaneously moving in slow-motion and fast-forward.

Of course, it'll help when we aren't spending so much time on the weekends building our fence... but I'm loving the way it has turned out! Abby seems to approve...



Last weekend, we built the gate. All we have left to do is build the railing between the gate and the house, and put in chicken wire along the bottom of the fence to keep Abby from jumping through the bottom gap. In another few weeks we'll decide about painting - we're leaning towards white stain.



Perhaps the best thing about it being May is Maryland Sheep and Wool! S and I went on Sunday - I didn't have anything on my shopping list (no, not even Cormo!), so I skipped the crowds on Saturday and enjoyed the more relaxed day on Sunday.

There were the requisite cute sheepies and goats...



... the obligatory yummy lamb snackies...



... and there may have been some funnel cake for breakfast.



Oh, and some lamb sausages for second-breakfasts. (I'll blame it all on Erin.)



There were also two opportunities to marvel at the cuteness of the sheep dogs, and wonder whether Abby could be trained to ignore both verbal AND whistle commands.



All-in-all, a lovely weekend. I didn't even buy any yarn - just a broom, 2 pairs of slippers, and tomato and basil plants for the garden. I must say, though, that I am VERY disappointed in the Saturday shoppers... there was actually a decent amount of Cormo left in the booth on Sunday morning! I wonder if they noticed that their sales were off this year due to my realization that 3 + sweaters worth of cormo really is enough... for now... ;)


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Thursday, May 01, 2008  

Topsy-Turvey World

The last few weeks have been a little up-and-down... mostly up, thank goodness... but still unsettled. I think "unsettled" is the theme for this year. My actual workload at work has calmed way down (thank goodness!), but some other... events happened last week that threw everyone into somewhat of a tailspin. Long story short... several associates were fired for (supposedly) both economic and productivity-related reasons. Management was essentially silent as to what was going on, leading to rumors and a lot of anxiety. I am no more in danger of losing my job than I ever was because they know that first year associates are mostly useless and need a chance to develop skills before being forced to prove themselves. But still, the writing is even more on the wall.... mid-level associates who were not racking up the ridiculous numbers of hours were shown the door. As I told S, I may have job security for the next 6-12 months, but beyond that, I'm fairly certain that I would be getting the boot as I have no intention of killing myself to put in the 9-10 billable hours per day that are expected of me. Instead of waiting until they tell me to leave, I plan to leave on my own terms.

So really, I guess the whole shake-up didn't change my own plans, but it definitely heightened the overall stress levels here. In a way, it has been perversely comforting because it has shown me (once again) that this is a work environment for which I am NOT suited.

My plan is to be moving into a different phase of my life/career by December. Some parts of that plan are out of my control, but I am doing everything in my power to keep that plan moving forward. And it feels really good to have a "countdown date," even if it's somewhat tentative.

Oh yeah, and there has been minimal knitting, mostly of socks. I'll try and take pictures this weekend, but we're planning on finishing the fence, getting doggy-snuggles, and going to Sheep & Wool, so it promises to be another whirlwind weekend!


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