It's the Year of the Dragon

I like even numbered years more than odd numbered years.  I’ve probably mentioned that before, but I’m too lazy to go back and find it.

And I like Leap Years even moreso than regular even-numbered years.

And even better yet?  It’s the Year of the Dragon!  Ok, so the Chinese New Year doesn’t start for another month or so, but still… How many other Chinese Zodiac signs have songs about them?  (Or am I thinking of “Eye of the Tiger?”)

(Interestingly, the dragon to the right is apparently a Japanese dragon.  I find it rather humorous that a Japanese dragon is used to represent the Chinese zodiac.  But I found this on Wikepedia, so it must be ok.  Right?)

And now, absolutely no segue at all…

In my next post, I’m going to present my entertainment awards.  I wanted to call them the Obies since Obie (“O.B.,” my dad’s initials) was my nickname in high school, but that awards name is taken.    So I thought, how about GO awards (my inititals)?  Nah, too short.  Gogo?  Sounds like a disco.  Then I thought, why don’t I use my first and middle initial.  That’s Gaga, if doubled.  Damn!  That name is taken, too.  So, how about Goga?  Or Gago? Which do you like better?

Speaking of holidays, I hope yours was wonderful.

P.S.  In case  you’re wondering, I changed the theme so I could take better advantage of the falling snow WordPress.org provides us with every Dec.  (Well, at least last year and this year.)

HALLELUJAH!

(Well, the title would have been A LOT bigger than that!)  But, being the grand procrastinator I am, I didn’t.  The reason for the immense jubilation?  I met with my financial adviser and she gave me the wonderful news that I can retire in January!  But when I try to figure out what my pension will be, I keep having to move the date forward.  I suppose I could just go in January, but staying just a few more weeks increases the pension a noticeable amount.  I suppose it’s a small sacrifice to make for something that will affect me the rest of my life.

I’m not looking forward to the coming winter.  I’ll still have to drive the 30 miles each way (which around here means anything from 45 minutes to 2 hours—this past week traffic was horrible!), and worse, I’ll still have to hike the 1/2 mile from my car to the building.  But I’m winding down.  I’m not putting in 12 hour days anymore.

So here I am, enjoying my Sunday afternoon “calm before the storm.”  It’s been a gray day, but not too chilly.  You know how every now and then life gives you one of those surprising moments of simple bliss?  Today mine was sitting in a club chair, playing on my new laptop, with one cat lying next to me (this is, after all, his chair) and another on the back of the chair.  Both cats stayed there for quite awhile, and of course I used it as a great excuse to continue playing.  Anything to avoid housework. 

I’m thinking about coming out to Iowa this winter.  “Winter?!?” you say?  But think, if I can stand the winter, then there’s no question about it, right??

And now, this morning, I log on to see that it’s 54 degrees at 9 a.m. here, and 61 degrees there… at 8 a.m!  I say again, Clear Lake is in NORTHERN Iowa.  How can it be consistently warmer there than here?  Especially this time of year?

I began to suspect the temperature gauges (courtesy of Windows gizmos) is broken.  This morning just confirmed it.  So I log onto AccuWeather.  And what do I find?

It’s warmer in Northern Iowa earlier in the morning than it is here in the mid-Atlantic!

That’s jacked!

In doing a Google image search for Hello Kitty, I came across some pictures of crazy Hello Kitty merchandise. I was going to post, among other things, the Hello Kitty toaster (complete with Hello Kitty toast), but someone not only beat me to it, he found even better stuff!  But wait, it gets better!  There’s even a blog dedicated to everything Hello Kitty stuff including trains, tanks, and even bulimia.  That is Whack!

Disasters

1. The East Coast earthquake.  I’m so glad I was at home.  The traffic that evening was horrendous.  One cup from an antique(ish) Japanese (almost Nippon) chocolate set broke.  And the cat’s water dish slopped over.  Honestly, this was unlike any earthquake I’d ever been through (went through a couple [one major] while stationed in Italy, but wasn’t this close to the epicenter).  Actually, as the quake progressed, I became more frightened than when the steel rod smashed through my car window.
2. Hurricane Tropical Storm Irene:  I prepared for a power outage by loading books to my iPod and Nook.  And made sure they were charged.  Last night I watched an episode of Wallander on dvd (the one with Kenneth Branaugh).  I’m not sure I’ll watch any more.  They’re pretty depressing, and that’s the last thing I need right now.  (See Disaster #3 below).  The power went out sometime in the night.  So I slept late this morning.  I was playing with the Nook when it came back on before noon today.  Pretty lucky!  But then, it wasn’t all that bad here.  The sun is out now.
3. Remember the person I fired?  Well, in an effort to call her on her shit, she has accused me of hitting her.  (No, I didn’t.  I just caught her doing something I told her not to do, and scolded her.)  Our stories are so different, but she has a history of lying.  As I was writing up previous incidents for letters of counseling (before the accusation occurred), I realized she must have some mental problems to be so angry and vindictive for so long; and she has now transferred her bile from her previous supervisor to me.  The unfortunate thing is, she has convinced others that I am an abusive person, and a young impressionable fellow with whom I’d had a good relationship has filed a complaint about something that happened last year.  And she continues to “hold court” with the other workers, vilifying me.  My boss recommended I file a formal complaint for defamation of character.  I may actually do so.  OH!  And I just realized this morning that when I’d talked with the team she’d been on, they didn’t want to have any accusations of her behavior attributed to them.  Now I know what they were afraid of.

Given all that crap, my reputation may be in the toilet.  I therefore need to make plans.  The good news is I’m now eligible to retire.  The bad news is I can’t really afford to.  So, here are some alternate plans.

1. Stay at work until next January or June, but ask to be reassigned.  My reputation with leadership has been pretty good, but I’m not sure how this incident will color their perceptions.  In other words, I don’t trust the system.
2. Brush up my resume and try to get hired by a government contractor (aka “Beltway Bandit”).  One person is already interested in me, but doesn’t have the contract yet.
3. Take tax accounting courses and do taxes for 4½ months of the year.
4. Work as a doggie day-care provider for PetSmart. (This is my favorite, but I have no idea what the pay is.)

I guess I need to just remind myself constantly that I have done nothing wrong.  Even if the worst outcome happens, I’ll know in my heart I was right.

1. Wash my face every night:  I slacked off, but this month was better than last month.  And hopefully next month will be even better.
2. Take my lunch to work at least once a week:  Pretty good.  Not every week, but at least two, maybe three.
3. Take my breakfast to work at least once a week:  Actually, I did this quite a bit.
4. Renew the car registration:  Done!
5. Take Kimmi to the vet for her exam—and make an appoint to get her teeth cleaned pulled:  Done!  It was a rough morning, for both her and me, but we got it done, and she didn’t have to get her teeth pulled.  (Because the only ones she has left are her lower canines.  One is in good shape; the other, not so much.  But the vet won’t pull them because the roots go into the jaw and the risk of breaking the jaw is quite high.  He wasn’t willing to create a bit problem while taking care of a small one.  By the way, I LOVE my vet!)
6. Get a new toilet for the guest bath:  Nope.  Good thing I have two bathrooms! 
7. Eat at least one fruit or vegetable a day:  Yeah, the embarrassing one.  I’m actually doing fairly good here.  Like goal #1, better than last month.

1. Wash my face every night.  (This is a good habit I used to have, but dropped in the last couple years.  I figure the best way to develop new good habits is to restart some of the old ones.)
2. Take my lunch to work at least once a week.
3. Take my breakfast to work at least once a week. (I leave for work at 6:30 and that’s just too much time between breakfast and lunch, even with a snack.)
4. Renew the car registration.  (It’s due this month and I don’t want to wait until the 31st!)
5. Take Kimmi to the vet for her exam—and make an appoint to get her teeth cleaned pulled.  (I know it sounds awful, but I’m pretty sure that’s what the vet will recommend.)
6. Get a new toilet for the guest bath (the tank cracked a couple weeks ago).
7. Well, this last one is really embarrassing:  Eat at least one fruit or vegetable a day.

[You may wish to read the background information below, otherwise you might get lost.]

Yesterday was a first for me.  I fired an employee.  Unfortunately, working for the federal government, actual firing is an extremely long and tedious process.  But, I pulled the person from her current job and moved her to sit next to my boss and me.  The sad thing is, many or our folks are so unprofessional, they probably won’t even look at this as a negative.

I just don’t get some people’s behavior.  How can you write you a snotty email to your supervisor, send it to the supervisor’s bosses (our division head and me) and not expect consequences?  When the boss (who’s nicknamed “Kung fu panda” because he’s so adorable!) read her email he was furious.  He called her (she works about 10 miles from where we work — yes, shitty working conditions!) and yelled at her.  He told her she had to stop her passive aggressive behavior towards her supervisor, that he was ready to fire the lot of the group, that she’d actually disobeyed him.  If you’d been redressed by your superior in that manner (especially one who is normally super easy-going), wouldn’t you think you need to shape up?  Yet, the very next day she had the audacity to tell her co-workers she had information her supervisor wanted but wasn’t going to give it to her.

That was the last straw!  I called her over to headquarters, told her she was off the team, and the reason was her unprofessional behavior and insubordination.  She didn’t see where she’d been insubordinate.  I gave her a couple of examples (including the one mentioned above), to which she told me she’d never said that.  Here’s the thing: she said this in front of about a dozen people.  How in the hell can she think she can get away with the lies?

Fortunately, we have documented counseling on her, and statements in writing about all the shit she’s pulled.  We’re pursuing a couple of avenues for dealing with her, and I think we’re doing everything the right way.  It just can’t come soon enough.

[Some background to help you understand better:  It may not make a lot of sense unless you have a military background, but here goes.  I am a deputy division chief, middle management.  My boss is an Air Force colonel.  We report to a two-star general.  So while we're not executives, we're not lost in the weeds, either.  Because the building we work in isn't big enough, most of our employees are in a facility about 10 miles away.  We try to make it over there regularly, but the boss is so busy (his calendar depresses me some days) and I've been working on projects that don't allow me to get away.    Consequently, some of our employees have been running amok.  Some of it is the result of working for an extremely poor manager--whom we have fired from that position (and are trying to do so from his current one), and some of it is personality driven.  Ok, so hopefully this is enough background.]