Office Space day and smoker's night

when I ponder smokers and heavy drinkers and pill poppers and other self-poinsoners, which includes way more people than is healthy for a species, I wonder how humanity will survive much longer... the good news for humanity is that socially accepted suicidal tendencies are less and less socially acceptible over the years, at least in recent decades, but still there are more people killing themselves slowly (and suddenly too) than there are people living life to it's fullest...

ah, the universe (circumstance, experience, whatever word we choose) continues to remind me that humanity is mostly insane by my definitions of the word and my desire to believe in sharing life and intimacy with humans slides further down into a peaceful, if reluctant, acceptance of being better off alone...

meanwhile, at work, I decided it was time to take some initiative and stop waiting for those asking me when I'd be ready to take over the PI job to do what they needed to do to allow me to do the PI job... like clean out the PI office and move to another desk and computer, fors instance... of course the maintenance department must build the cubicles in the public area (and put in a phone line) for the one-day-a-week staff who has to move out there (and her supervisor does not want to tell her and nobody else does either, so two weeks have gone by with no movement there) so the former PI person can move out of the PI office to the desk/office space made available by moving the one-day-a-week staff... but before that can happen (and after the cubicles are built), the IT girl needs to hook up a computer in the cubicle for the one-day-a-week staff so she can do her work one day a week and a printer needs to be ordered and installed in the office because the one-day-a-week girl did not have a printer... and then, when the former PI girl moves out of the PI office, I can move in (but I'll need a computer as the one in that office is ancient and can't the work I do)...

meanwhile, I've got my new assistant learning part of my job at the data desk (my old desk) so there is no desk, chair, computer, or workspace for me to start doing the PI job (or the rest of the data job) or anything else except the public area (without a computer, phone, or supplies)...

they may have gotten a clue as to the hold up in my taking the full PI responsibilities today as everyone had to notice me working most of the day setting up the hospital laptop (the only hospital laptop) on a two foot by two foot rolling table in the corner of the PI office amidst piles of files and stuff (part of the stuff I moved out of the data office already)... we didn't mention anything to the VP of Clinical Operations and Quality Assurance who sat with us to meet with me (as the PI Director) for two hours this morning with the former PI director sitting at the PI Director's desk, but she was probably astute enough to notice how crammed in we were and might have even wondered why the new PI Director was still not 'in place' on the 14th of August when the official date of change was back in July...

I can be subtle as a brick to the forehead in non-verbal communication...

the afternoon I nudged the former PI girl to transfer the PI folders from her computer to a folder I created on the public drive on the network so I could transfer them to my network drive so i could access them (and hence, start working on PI stuff) on the temporary part-time laptop computer I reserved indefinitely (it's available on a sign-out as you need it basis)...

still, the former PI girl isn't moving until the one-day-a-week girl moves and that awaits the cubicles and computers and phone and, oh yes, a chair to sit on in the cubicle... amazing how people with their heads in the sand have trouble seeing the light, aye? (oh, I am so rude for smirking, but at least they don't see me giggling at the disorganized chaos)...

so let's summarize (sorta)... if the cubicles and computer and phone and chair are not in place come Monday (the one day a week that the one-day-a-week girl works) when somebody will have to tell the one-day-a-week girl (who is actually a mature woman who's been with the hospital for almost two decades and has been moved around much more rudely than this in years gone by, which is the primary reason everyone is reluctant to see her move again) that she must move her stuff (and there are a whole lot of trinkets and office memorabilia accumulated over the years that can not be left out in the cubicle area as it's not a locked space) so the former PI girl can move out of the PI office so I can move in and actually start organizing the space and fully take over the job, then it'll wait until the following week (as it has the past two... or is it three)...

and the data to the state and medicaid and other auditors just falls further behind, along with the PI reports (which include plans of corrections for auditors that do, when they return to see our progress, have the power to shut us down)... "they are working on getting me office space and a computer" may seem like an amusing or odd justification for the late reports and data, especially as it's heading into the third week, but that's the official answer I am sending out in response to any inquiries as to tardiness... ah, the corporate world, it does make a great fodder for comedy...

meanwhile, on the home front...

the TV was actually off when I got home... that lasted about five minutes as the trio walked in from apparently taking Oddy out job hunting (apparently my words did not fall on completely deaf ears last night)... and so the TV marathon resumed (Precious put on Rent, twice) and continues (Oddy switched to the history channel after Precious went into her room)... I wonder what would happen if, naturally due to never getting any rest, the TV suddenly died... they'd just bring the TV in Precious's room out into the living room, no doubt, if it works... she never uses it anyway...

some of you may know that when you live with a smoker, there's no really getting away from the smell of tobacco... that is why I refuse to live with a smoker... after working his usual 10 hours, Rasputin took Odyseuss out to look for work, but when a person does not want to work (and presents a disheveled appearance), finding someone who wants to hire that person can be a challenge... so no luck, or in Raspy's words, nobody wants to hire him...

big surprise... I can look at his body language and see he's much more comfortable mooching off others than he is being responsible for himself... I'm wondering how he's paying for his cigarettes and Pepsi... if Raspy (who is frequently broke and trying to save for Precious's college expenses now that she's decided to give up the full scholarships to change schools and career goals) is fool enough to buy that in addition to food and driving around, we may have a stalemate as Odysseus has not reason to leave...

as Oddy's phone rang and he prepared to head out the door to talk and smoke another cigarette, I asked him to turn the TV off "if you're gonna be a while" (ain't I the polite host who pays the electric bill) and I am now listening to Cassadaga by Bright Eyes... this CD reminds me of the Beatles peaceful stuff, especially Make A Plan To Love Me, though it's much more twangy than the Beatles in most places... kind of The Waterboys meets Garth Brooks with some Bob Dylan or Arlo Guthrie tossed in... and a taste of Harry Chapin, so if you know me, then you must know I like this CD...

and I've still got my hazelnut cream candle :)

but enough peacefulness with a country twang (after all, that might make a country boy like Oddy feel right at home), it's definitely done it's job in my head and now that I am thinking clearly, on goes Sons Find Devils by Virgin Prunes... those who know might consider me cruel at this point, but hey, sometimes one must appear cruel to actually achieve a kindness (no, seriously)... besides, I'm home in my space enjoying my music... I bet nobody knows this stuff though... and this is pretty tame Virgin Prunes, actually...

Gavin Friday's former band, Virgin Prunes, might be considered a cross between The Doors and Frank Zappa, maybe some Alice Cooper, The Kinks, and David Bowie, with some Yoko Ono tossed in just for primal scream fun... with an Irish accent...

Virgin Prunes, named for the local slang for freaks or outsiders, evolved from The Lypton Village, where, back in the 1970's, you would have found Bono (later to be lead singer of U2) and The Edge's brother (who was part of the Virgin Prunes... dontcha just love your rock-history channel?... and I say the TV doesn't influence me, nyuk nyuk)... all in all, we've got a very different, artsy-rockish, avant-garde sounds (at times one might imagine being in at cheap carnival fun house or house of horrors) that just could make the average good ol' country boy's skin crawl...

blame it on the tobacco, it's an evil drug, after all...

probably keep me up late tonight too...

cashing in some karma, baby...

The Cure are up next...

wish you were here :)