TVJunkie

I'm just sayin'

There are 12 men on this floor. There are 6 women.

The Arrowhead water has been empty for 3-days. Someone took the time to take the bottle out of the dispenser and turn it upright so as to make it obvious that it was empty.

There are 6 full bottles next to the machine.

No one has replaced it.

Now. I don't mean to be sexist. But it seems to me that with 12 men on this floor .. one of them could .. I dunno .. PUT A NEW GODDAMN BOTTLE OF WATER ON?

I hate everyone.

Previously .. on TVJ hates her co-workers ..

A few months ago we moved offices. The upside to the move is that I have an office to myself again, with a window, a window that opens! On the downside, no TV (yet) and right outside my door is the clerical person who was brought in last year to help take some of the more mundane administrative tasks off of the desks of the Managers.

Girlfriend is annoying as hell.

First of all, she talks non-stop. Sometimes to herself. When she's not talking to every random person that walks through the office, she's yakking with other co-irkers, chatting on the phone or shouting questions to me from her seat.

We ended up getting her a dual monitor setup for her computer because she runs two database-type programs which requires her to do a lot of data entry. It seemed easier to get the dual monitors set up so she could have each program open and up on a monitor, rather than switching back and forth all the time. The thing is, I rarely see her with both monitors running their programs. Usually she'll have one program up, and the other monitor will have up video streaming from CNN or some other media outlet. I can always tell when she's watching stuff because she has her headphones on, laughs to herself, talks to the "tv" and completely stops working. Unlike some people (hello?) who are able to work with the TV on without having to totally stop what they are doing .. she can't do that. All movement ceases and she sits with her hands poised above her keyboard, slack-jawed and staring at whatever is on the screen.

Thankfully, I have a door, and I keep it closed with only a small crack open most of the time. It doesn't drown out the never-ending conversation coming from outside, but it's enough. Sometimes I put a DVD on to give me a sort of 'white noise' feeling. Lately I've been docking my iPod in my iHome clock/radio and kind of cranking it. It's just loud enough to be heard right outside my door, and I don't care.

I can only imagine what goes through her head when she hears my music go from Tom Jones to Dixie Chicks to Queen to Eminem to Trick Daddy to Green Day and on and on.

I can imagine .. but I don't care.

Dog Days ...

Somehow I managed to get through my recent 2-weeks on the road without getting sick. That is .. until I got home. Barely 48-hours back on home turf and I was knocked back with one of the worst head colds EVAH. I'm still sick, but there's nothing to be done. It's really a shame that Zicam is of the DEVIL, because I have no doubt a few squirts in the nose might help me out. But, hey, I just got my sense of smell back up to 70% or so, so there is NO WAY in hell I'm risking ever using that shit again. Next time I might not recover anything.

So, how did dogs get such a bad rap, anyway? You're 'sick as a dog' or 'ugly as a dog' or when you give someone a hard time you're 'dogging' them. There's a million expressions like that. What the hell did dogs ever do to the people that made those expressions up?

Hilton's Downhill Slide

And, no. I'm not talking about Paris.

It seems as though every Hilton Hotel I've stayed at over the last year has been absolute shit. If I thought the Hilton Paddington was shit when I was there earlier this year, the Hilton Heathrow has surpassed the lowest of the low expectations I had.

Yes. I know it's at the fucking airport. But it's also 10 minutes from my work sites for this trip as opposed to 45 minutes or more had I stayed in Central London. But, fucking hell. Just because it's at the airport and most people don't stay more than a night or two doesn't mean this shithole shouldn't have something going for it other than being at the fucking airport.

First of all, I knew I'd be arriving at 9:30 am which would be too early to check in, so instead of calling to beg for a room to be ready in the morning, I booked a day early and asked for guaranteed late arrival. Then I called the day of arrival and verified that they showed me as guaranteed for late arrival. After a sleepless 8-hour flight, I roll up to the desk to find out that they had charged me for a "no show" for date of arrival, and they only showed me staying for one night. WTF?

While the lovely woman at the counter debated with me regarding the validity of my reservation, another guy behind the counter basically told her to just fix it. She kindly informed me that I had been "upgraded" to have access to the Executive Lounge, at which point I asked her if I was on the Executive floor (which automatically has access to the lounge), because THAT WAS WHAT I RESERVED. (Upgrade my ass.)

Executive Lounge. What a joke. Despite the fact that the brochure in the room boasts wireless access in the Lounge, there is no such thing. No wireless. No cabled access. One computer shoved in the corner that you have to limit yourself to 15 minutes on. Sure, there's free beer and soda and bar snacks. There's also some tired looking fruit. But unlike the P.O.S. Hilton Paddington, which was MILES superior to this dump, there are no appetizers to speak of. There was a big tureen of unknown soup (no sign saying what it was) and later there were some sort of sweet tarts brought out when the ancient soup was taken away.

What I can't get past is an Executive Lounge without internet access of any sort. It boggles the mind. You can get wireless in the lobby/bar area, but then you don't have the quiet and the security that you'd have at the lounge. The ability to work and not worry if you have to use the bathroom, your laptop isn't going to get stolen. Grrrr.

The straw that broke the camel's back is when I opened up the mini bar fridge to see if there was anything I could snack on and pretend it was dinner. There was tons of stuff missing. I had taken a Diet Coke on Sunday, but I hadn't taken anything since. I opened the fridge during the week, and it was stocked up. A couple of bottles fell over when I opened the door, so I knew I would have to check the bill to be sure I wasn't charged, since it's one of those automatic types. But to open it and see several items missing?

I called the front desk, and sure enough, I had been charged for all the missing items. I told them I had only taken the one Diet Coke on my first night here. They said they'd remove the items from my bill, which is great. But when I tried to ask WHY everything was MISSING from the mini fridge, I was told, "Don't worry, these charges will be taken off your bill." ... THAT'S NOT THE POINT.

WHO TOOK THE GODDAMN STUFF OUT OF THE FRIDGE?

What a shock. When I got the bill for my stay there were not only still mini bar charges on the bill, but the hotel rate went up over 100GBP on the second night and onward. WTF? When i went to check out, I pointed this out and after several minutes of consultation with a Supervisor, the clerk told me they would fix the bill. There were excuses about the screw up on my arrival and how I had been guaranteed one rate but when I DIDN'T SHOW UP, the rate went up to the standard rate. I asked them to pull the slip of paper I signed when I checked in that showed my nightly rate, and that's when the Supervisor was consulted.

In the end, the mini bar charges were removed, the appropriate rate was charged and I was so fucking happy to get out of there.

On The Side

I'm at the V.A. clubhouse at JFK. Not nearly as nice as Heathrow, but worlds better than the shared lounge with Air New Zealand at LAX. While there is WiFi here, it's apparently not free. WTF is that about? If it is free, no one here would admit to knowing how to get online for gratis. No biggie. The company can afford the $7.95 for access. I am working .. for the most part.

The people next to me who are on an earlier flight are among the most high-maintenance folks I've run into in a long while. I'll give you an example...their food order included endless questions before requesting (among other things):

2 turkey burgers with no cheese, no bun, no tomato.
2 Caesar salads, no croutons, no cheese.
1 Caesar salad, no croutons, no cheese, NO DRESSING, with chicken, balsamic on the side.
1 sandwich with "tomato, bacon and lettuce" on lightly toasted white bread. (think about that for a second)

For the last 40 minutes, they've been talking about how annoying and rude someone in the terminal was, what with this person apparently talking so loudly and such.

Did I mention they are really, really LOUD?

People.

Blog Neglect

I've been a bit swamped lately and have obviously been ignoring the blog. I'd love to tell you what's been keeping me busy, but I don't do specifics, do I?

Anywhoo. I'm in the Big Apple, been running around like crazy and finally had a day off yesterday so I slept the sleep of the dead and didn't even leave the hotel until around 2pm.

Did you guys know the Pope is in NYC? Huh? Didja? Uh .. yeah. All Papal, all the time.

I made the error of mixing my alcohol yesterday, and I have a wee headache this morning. Great. Just in time to pack up and head to London. It's gonna be a long frikkin' day.

The Clooney Factor

I blame George for his item on the Olive Garden menu.

Limoncello Lemonade. Frozen lemonade, Smirboff Citrus Vodka and Caravella Limoncello.

I'm sure it's quite tasty. Me? I went with the Strawberry and Limoncello martini. Delicious.

RIP, Chuck

Charlton Heston passed away last night at the age of 84. While his ultra-conservative politics in his later years weren't something I agreed with, I admired him as an actor and an activist.

Most notably, for me, was the Heston of Planet of the Apes and Ben Hur. POTA was one of two films (the other being The Godfather) that made me want to work in film from the time I was very young. I spent many, many weekends at the Fox Ranch playing on the POTA sets, and even skipped school one day to spend the entire day on the set of the POTA tv series.

My father tells a story of a job he did for Heston which really warmed my heart to the man, as Heston was without ego and helped Papasan as they readied a home for Heston's son .. I think it was a surprise for the son .. and Heston was out there with the movers, picking up couches and putting his back into it along with the crew.

To this day, Ben Hur remains my all-time favorite holiday film. I know. Weird. But I love that movie. And, again, it's a film that I look at and admire for how spectacular it is.

Heston was larger than life, and in this era of move-star wannabes, I can look at Heston and know that he was the real deal.

Move Star

Legend

RIP, big guy.

Friends Will Be Friends

A new week, a new outlook. The last couple of weeks have been torture, what with the decisions that I needed to make, changing my mind, questioning my decision, etc. Last week after A.D.D. Boy called me, I think I spun into a semi-panic mode that maybe I had made the wrong decision about staying with Global. ADDB made a compelling argument. I was so wound up about it that I was sick for two days. Like, violently sick. (You don't wanna know any more than that.) I stayed home for 2 days and tried to rest between bolts to the bathroom.

By Thursday, I had to go back to work. I got an email from Grace just letting me know something that was going on at that company, but it started my whole 'shit, did I make the right decision' thinking again. I had actually reached out to a couple of people on her behalf to ease my guilt over my decision to not take the job. But that voice was pounding in my head .. 'did you make the right decision, and is it too late to change it?"

Finally, a frikkin' light bulb went off in my brain and I called someone that I knew could fully understand the whole picture, all the players, possible consequences .. and who didn't have a vested interest in whatever I decided to do. PB.

I left a message for PB on Thursday, got no sleep Thursday night and even went so far as to make arrangements to see Grace over the weekend (thinking I'd test the waters to see if I had lost my chance). PB called on Friday morning and we had a very good talk. It was as if a YOOOOGE weight was lifted off me, and I finally felt at peace with my decision.  All the doubts and concerns floated away and I could almost feel my shoulders rest into a relaxed position. I wish I could explain it better than that.

Friday was a better day on the job because of it. Friday night I slept the sleep of the dead, and Saturday I even napped off and on for most of the day .. just letting my body 'heal'. I kept my 'date' with Grace for Sunday, and we barely spoke about it at all. When we did, we didn't speak about ME or my decision, we talked about her options for other candidates.

No, things aren't going to be perfect at Global. Drama will still bug me, Jerry is still an idiot, Cat is still too indecisive and Bossman too forgetful. But all things considered, it's a better place for me.

I'm thankful for good friends like PB and Cops who let me call them and whine .. who let me be indecisive and confused .. who let me be me.

Thanks, guys.

Wound and Wound

First of all, Rainbow Six Vegas 2 is pretty cool. I love that when you fire it up you can select whether your character will be male or female. Many times when you have custom character selection, it's only for your online character .. but for this one I selected a female and selected some face characteristics and COOOOOOL BEANS! That's the character in the single player story mode. I love bossing my other A.I. dudes around and having it be a female voice barking the orders: "Get over here", "Open and clear", "Back on me".. SAH-WEEEET.

As with the other RSV, I got killed .. a lot. Visually, it's nowhere near as good as the Call of Duty series, but it's a fun shoot-em-up game. I haven't played the online version .. yet. I'm sure I'll dabble at some point.

In other news ... my former employer did not give up so easily. There was talk of the top dude calling me to discuss my decision to decline their offer to return, but ADD boy ran interference and called me instead. We had a pleasant conversation, so pleasant that I found I couldn't say 'no' to him. So I asked him for a day to consider his persuasive argument, and that I'd let Grace know. (Which I did a couple of hours later, but he doesn't need to know it was a non-starter.)

Then another former co-worker called me to try to get me to change my mind. He kept me on the phone for about half and hour, and he also made some impressive arguments. But I can't do it. I may be kicking myself in the ass a year from now, but Bossman is "THE" most highly regarded person in this field, and being his "chosen one" (as a colleague refers to me) can only do me good.

I'm trying to help Grace find a good candidate, but not so good that I'll look like a rube by comparison. ;)