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The odd thing about having Mondays and Tuesdays off is that no one else has those days off (aside from fellow co-workers on the same shift.) This makes “weekends” very boring.
I was going to call up Jennifer and suggest that we plan our next Euro trip ASAP, since I cannot stand another day staying in this continent. But then I realized that it’s almost midnight on a Sunday and she’ll be going to bed soon…

SO and I went to get a filter for Mom’s fish tank today. The old one that I got just a couple of months ago was a small one for 1-3 gallons. I don’t think the tank is larger than 3 gallons, but whatever that’s in the water was probably to difficult for the poor pump to handle. Anyway, that filter died quickly… and that’s why we were getting a new one.
We had an argument at the pet shop. Neither one of us are filter experts and I wanted to get the cheaper one while SO wanted to get the fancy one. In the end, we got the fancy one, and I must say it works very well. Now, the tank is cleaned and the filter installed. It looks very nice with all 30 fish in there.

The engineering department is thinking about the crazy 8 schedule. Basically, it’s alternating 5-8 and 4-10 every other week.
I used to think that’s great. A three day weekend every other week, who can complain about that. But now I have some reserve. For the past week I’ve been on the 4-10 schedule, and I don’t really like it that much. I mean, yes, I get more things done, but it’s not like that’s the purpose of my life anyway.
*sigh* First REAL weekend since the outage started, and I can’t seem to calm down long enough to do anything.

This is my first time assigned to the TSOC, and I must say things are pretty boring… We’re suppose to be the fire fighting squad, helping mods and refueling to proceed smoothly and iron out the many wrinkles of outage planning. But so far, nothing. I’ve been working on my assignments steadily and there really isn’t much going on at all. I’m always assured by people that I&C work comes last, when all equipment are installed and it’s time for testing. Oh well, maybe things will change.
I’m watching Grey’s Anatomy, Season 3, on DVD, and it’s not very pleasant. Every moment I except Isaiah Washington to drop dead… fall out of the elevator or something… Maybe he doesn’t get shit canned this season.
I’m also starting to stitch Dad’s Christmas stocking. This is the first time I’ve stitched on anything other than Aida cloth, and I’m hoping it’ll turn out well.
BTW, guys… I don’t have a puppy. It’s the other me in the parallel universe who got a puppy. Sorry for the confusion (and thanks for your interests! :D)

Gosh, I stitched 3 hours straight today, knowing that if I don’t get it done today it’ll be weeks till I get another day off.
Here it is!

I woke up today and realized that I was late. I had volunteered for lead moving (out of the goodness of my heart, of course) and was told to be at the RPAC by 8AM. I got there at 10… usually this kind of tardiness is punishable by multiple procedures and they would crucify you in public, but no one really noticed today since we’re 12 hours behind schedule.
I had predicted this to Glen yesterday. I’d be here for 2 hours on Sunday (then sent home) and another 2 hours on Monday (then sent home) and finally 6 hours on Tuesday. Then I’ll get into real trouble when I exceed the working hour limitations. THAT’S why people don’t volunteer for jobs like this.

Went to get a German Shepard today. She’s really cute.
SO and I are still arguing over names. It’s funny because he’s very particular about names and the only name we can agree on is the name for our future baby. Course… that could lead to confusions…

Pre-outage life is good.
Being the last week before the outage, everyone’s all anticipation and no expectation. This means that I was finally able to get co-workers and supervisor off my back so I can focus on cranking out docs for the ICP reduction project. I’m actually doing really great. I think I’ll be the first one to complete the project in my group.
I’ve also just got an overtime approval from manager for this week for moving lead. My speech to director on the importance of SWE was also a great success and he agreed to the association fees for anyone who I can convince to join. I got in contact with Ranata, the my new Career Guidance chair and we’re planning on meeting this Friday. All my ducks are in a row.
I’m also trying out this new budgeting methodology. Hopefully I can stick to it better than I’ve stuck to my ‘going to bed early’ scheme.

I’ve been thinking about making Christmas presents this year and I found a Christmas stocking design that is really cute. Best of all, it uses DMC Light Effect threads. I’ve only seen ads of those threads and I’m really excited on actually being able to use them.
So I dropped by JoAnn to pick up some material. They told me that Zweigart is only sold in specialty shops and directed me to the nearest one in town.
The shop is owned by this little old lady, who spent half an hour teaching me the difference between 28 count over two threads versus 14 count over one thread. But when I got the bill, my eyes almost popped out. For a 9″ by 15″ piece of Zweigart 28 count Metallic Jazlyn in Opalescent/White, I was charged $17! Good God. I’m used to buying Aida twice the size for less than $2 at Walmart. Now I’m going to have to finish my Christmas plate and work on the stocking.
When I got home, I checked the fabric price listed in the magazine. Lucky for me, the magazine charges $16.99 for a piece of 18″ by 27″. So it looks like she only overcharged me by 350%…
I’m half tempted to post the stocking picture, scanned from the magazine. But then I risk having Dad visit the site and seeing his Christmas present…

So I was sitting there thinking about one of my childhood friends. One of the two whose names that I can remember, and the only one left out of the former group that hasn’t embraced Buddhism and became a nun… and I was wondering what she’s doing lately.
Internet stalking in Chinese is a lot harder since I can’t type Chinese on my computer, I always end up piecing names through Google Taiwan.
I found her. It looks like she graduated from NTU Med under nutrition and got into the Master program in NTU Med in Taiwanese year 92. Good for her. I’ll have to look her up once I get home.