Update!

Let's see...since my unplanned hiatus I have:

1. Finished graduate school
2. Uncoupled and lost my shepherd
3. Got a smaller dog
4. Got a new job in my field
5. Moved 500 miles away
6. Got a very small tattoo

What does any of that mean for this blog?

I don't know yet, but I feel like writing and posting pictures again.

Anyway, don't expect me to name the city I'm living in these days. I want to keep that as much on the QT as possible. See #2 above and let your imagination run wild, kids. You won't be far off.

Spring is on its way. Expect pictures. Hope for ranting, if you dare.

Thanks for all the visits during the unscheduled break in programming!

A Quick Letter

Dear nineteen-year-old church elder,

Your creepy unblinking-ness did not bother me. It takes all kinds. Your wing-man, yeah, you got me. He's creep-tastic, standing right there behind you, watching, vacantly smiling. Your matching clothes...I'm used to that.

Oh, but your haughty-ass smugness...mmmph, that's where we run into some trouble, son, sonny boy, little mister sunshine.

No, I have not in fact read the book of Moron. I only read quality science-fiction from modern-era authors. And that tone? Really? You-should-read-it, in that tone??

Child, I'm not old enough to be your mother unless she was a fourteen-year-old girl...

Oh. Snap.

You're a mormon. I bet she was actually.

But either way...respect, you little drone. Respect. I did you a solid not questioning your ID when I issued you a guest pass for the match-set of computers you and your wing-man used together, creepily side-by-side. I know...I know...that ID was probably expired.

So next time you ask, I'm remembering that head-toss that accompanied your unblinking, creep-o you-should-read-it, and I'm checking the expiration date...because, yeah, sorry, we need a valid ID here.

Hint: if you MUST proselytize, especially to people who are forced to serve you or starve, try not to be SUCH horrible twat about it, okay? It goes over better.

No love,

Indoor weather

Today, it is extremely cold outside here in Georgia. I should be able to put on a nice sweater or long-sleeve shirt and vest. I should be able to wear woolly socks and boots.

Alas...I work with women.

So while the outdoors may require one form of dress (warm...hello) the interior of the building with be so freaking hot that I'll need short sleeves, light-weight pants, and ankle socks just to do my job without being uncomfortable and potentially dehydrated.

Then, when I step out of the building to get to my car, I'll bundle up in a jacket and still freeze.

Nice. Thanks for that, ladies. Thanks a lot.

Even though I'm working tomorrow, it's still FRIDAY today

Sometimes, I think people forget that workers have homes and families too. You know?

Webinars

I need a certain number of training credits every year at work, and what with being a graduate student with a needy partner and a dog, I haven't exactly accrued a whole stack of them yet. Oh, it is already September, isn't it?

This month, because I'm not alone here, we've been provided with a healthy list of qualifying webinars from which to select a few good opportunities at 1 credit-hour a pop. I selected three of them, two of which were this afternoon. Despite having taken courses online for my degree for nearly four years now, I still don't see how people learn anything of lasting use from web-based seminars, which are basically just PowerPoint presentations.

My courses covered strategic planning for volunteer engagement and the homeless in libraries. The latter was actually pretty good. I wrote a paper on the topic during the Spring 2013 semester and enjoyed the refresher, especially since I had cited the presenter in my paper. Yay! I doubt anyone without previous engagement in the topic would have enjoyed as much, but maybe.

Last week, I took one on the health insurance marketplace, which was mind-numbing, but good exposure since I'll no doubt be helping people getting on there. Computer illiterate people, that is.

The main thing is that I'll get sufficient credits, I think, to cover what I need to meet the minimum training hours. I just wish I knew if other people learn more than I do from this type of instruction. If not, then what would make it better?

Addendum to yesterday

Yes, we do have a Human Resources department; however, contacting them usually has repercussion, and as much as the dress code thing upsets me, it is so not worth it to open that can of worms when I have a perfectly good blog to complain on right here. Whew.

That said, I hope in year or just over, I'll be in a different place. Literally. Working somewhere elsewhere in better environment and for more money. Hope-idy, hope.

Work Wear

I work in an environment with a pretty stringent dress code. I understand the necessity of appearing professional, hygienic, and well-groomed. No green/blue/purple hair. I get that. No tattoos where they show. Well, all right then. No open-toed shoes. Um...I guess it's for safety reasons? No denim. Ehhh...I guess a lot of jeans aren't professional-grade.

I just have two problems with our oodles and oodles of rules.

#1 - they are not enforced equally. Some people can wear some things. Others cannot. Some get a public reprimand. Others get a compliment. And for the record, I dress pretty stodgily, so this isn't sour grapes, although I would very much like to wear open-toed shoes or Capri pants in the summer.

#2 - we have all created our own individual, uniform way of dressing. One coworkers wears a patterned top and solid pants every day. One wears a sweater set 90% of the time. The two guys wear shirt/pants/tie. Basically, everyone has found their own way to conform to the code, differing somewhat from each other, but not their individual code.

Because of this, if anyone wears anything 'different' from their usual mode, they get mercilessly harassed from clock-in til clock-out. It's done in a light, faux-complimentary tone, but it's actually as scathing and uncomfortable-making as anything ever portrayed in a sexual harassment PSA.

I hate it.

Because I would like very much to wear other things. I wear eclectic top/neutral color pants/comfortable shoes. Every goddamn day unless we're allowed to wear our event T-shirts.

I am not at all girly, but I would like to wear office-appropriate skirts or dresses or even a layered top or accessories, but I literally almost cried and threw up after the epic pecking, prodding, and mock-catcalling I endured last time.

I know - grow a pair. Take it. They'll stop eventually. I just don't have it in me right now with everything else eroding my femme balls.

The only thing I can really do is promise myself that when I finish my degree and earn a professional position, I will not allow myself to get into this position again. I will dress as diversely as possible. I will skirt the edges of the dress code and find layers of meaning and ... you get the picture. And if the day ever comes, and I'm in charge, I will do away with dress codes entirely and simply trust my employees to act like professionals, and if they can't, I'll privately communicate to them what needs to be changed and in as positive manner as possible.

I also window shop dresses on e-Bay. You know, as therapy.