things are largely f'ed

So a lot of stuff has been going on lately - both bad and good.

Last week a lot of shit happened at work. It started on Wednesday when one of my coworkers was training another. There was an argument about the integrity of how the training was happening, the trainee left and had a discussion with our boss about it. At the time they came to a good closing point ending with productive ideas about how to fix the problems and it seemed things were resolved amicably for the most part. We all went to lunch in a shocked but thrilled mood. Then we came back from lunch and hell broke loose. Our boss had another chat with the trainee, questioning the trainee's story, integrity, and everything. Apparently it was a swear-fest, and an unpleasant experience. Trainee took the rest of the day off (understandably).

Which brings me to Thursday. The day started off fine, extremely tense, stressful, and awkward, but fine overall. And then later in the day I hear that the trainee coworker has been asked to resign. Trainee obviously refused (why should he/she??) but the rest of us were shocked. At least I was. I mean a simple dispute that seemed to have been happily resolved, in one day, turned into someone potentially losing their job. Wtf?? Stress and tension in the lab increased exponentially.

Friday, the thought of going in and dealing with trainer and trainee supposed to be training together again and not knowing how to diffuse situations gave me such a tension headache that I called in an hour late. That gave me enough time to solve the awkwardness that could have resulted from trainee/trainer. Overall the day seemed better though. I think the absence of the boss and no new drama helped to increase the stress.

Saturday I spent the morning Christmas shopping (mostly at Target - what an amazing store) and the evening at a Christmas party of one of Tom's Air Force friends. It's kind of weird because she was an '05 Rochester Mayo graduate, and one of her high school friends is the elder sister of the current girlfriend of one of my sister's ex-boyfriends. Well if you can make sense of that sentence you are a genius. Before we headed out to the party, however, I got a phone call from home with some terrible news. When I was in kindergarten through about 6th grade my best friend was Brenna and we practically lived at each other's houses over the summers. The phone call was informing me that her father had died to bone cancer.

Sunday was the big Lord of the Rings marathon at the Riverview Theater. Tom, Hannah, and I were there from 10:30 am to 10:30 pm, watching the first two extended editions, and the final regular edition of the LotR movies. We ate popcorn, candy, hotdogs, and pizza. It was an amazing, but ridiculously long day. And man I had a sore butt by the end of it! Between two of the movies I got a text from home that just showed a picture of Belle laying on her bed with a bandaged paw and a cone shaped E-collar on her head. I immediately called home and discovered that she had torn the webbing between two of her toes and had to go to the emergency vets to get stitches. Ugh!

Monday was back to work and the madness there. Strangely enough, other than trainee updating his/her resume and looking at jobs, it was pretty normal. It was like the madness of the week before had just evaporated. Unfortunately it hasn't, it just lurks under the surface waiting to strike. Spent all evening cleaning and doing laundry before my aunt and uncle came up the next day - they had an early flight on Wednesday so were going to stay at my house the night before.

Tuesday things were good as well. A bit hectic for me though. I left at 3pm to head down to the airport and caught the 3:45 shuttle to Rochester. Was picked up by dad and then headed to the wake (friends' dad remember?) with both the parents. Afterwards we ate dinner at Arby's, then drove over to Owatonna. There I was picked up by my aunt and uncle on their way up from Iowa and they drove me back home. They slept in my room and I stayed in the twin bed in the guest room.

On Wednesday I got up early and drove them to the airport and then headed to work. Got there early because of how early I took them to the airport, but got right to work. Had a busy morning doing behavior training and then dissections. The afternoon was more laid-back, some rotarod training and graph-making and candy-eating. Eventually headed home, quickly packed, and began the drive back down to Rochester. Luckily the weather didn't turn bad until a little south of Cannon Falls. Then it got pretty bad - mostly visibility issues with the thick snowfall. That and people just don't know how to drive in snow. It didn't get too slick until closer to Rochester and by then it was too late to claim me as a victim.

Now the days have started to meld together at home, spending time bonding with the family. Yesterday (Thursday, Christmas Eve) I slept in (yay) and spent the day doing who knows what. At around 5 pm we all headed out to TGI Fridays for dinner (our usual tradition of going to Timber Lodge couldn't happen since apparently they went out of business). It was okay, but not fantastic. We then came back home, fed Belle, then went to church. Came home, watched our traditional White Christmas, and then I headed to bed.

Today I woke up around 8:45 am, headed down, and watched tv with dad while waiting for Megan and Sara to get up. When they finally did, we opened stockings full of candy (yum) and then ate breakfast. Finally got around to opening our presents from Santa - and hooray! A bunch of stuff I needed and of course the things I wanted as well. Hooray for the selfish materialistic side of the religious tradition! Spent the rest of the day being completely lazy, reading my book and watching movie marathons on tv. Now the rest of the family is at a movie in theaters and I'm at home alone with Belle. I just didn't really care enough about the movie to want to spend the money on it. Even though my parents probably would have paid. But still...

So now I've finally done something of an update. I hope you all have a great holiday season!

Go Vikings!

Just so everyone knows, the reason Tom is now mentioned frequently is because we are seeing each other/dating/in a relationship. kthx

Been a pretty busy weekend - and a weird week leading up to it.

Unfortunately, I don't remember much of what happened last weekend or this past week other than some weird work drama. And even that is fading - I mean I remember that there was weird work drama but I don't really remember what it was.

On to the weekend then!

On Friday night Tom and I went to Amanda's housewarming party. It was kind of fun and kind of awkward but we got to meet a lot of Amanda's friend (including her bf). Also got the grand tour of her house (cool) and see how funny she is while intoxicated. Not to mention showing off our awesomely ugly sweaters we got at Savers.

Saturday was the first action-packed day. Mandy (friend from Culver's) drove up from Rochester and we headed down to the Mall of America. Spent a little bit of time wandering around the stores but then proceeded to go ride the rides at Nickelodeon Universe (formerly Camp Snoopy). We started at the weird Spongebob roller coaster that had a straight up ramp and then a straight down drop (we're talking 90 degrees both ways). That was intense, but short. We also rode the log chute, the ghost hunters ride, the formerly Screamin' Eagle, the old Pepsi coaster, and the crazy scary Avatar Airbender ride thing. After we finally stopped riding, we headed over to the Rainforest Cafe for some delicious dinner. We got to sit right next to a fish tank that had a huge moray eel in it. It was creepy but awesome. Then we went up to the movie theater and caught the last showing of The Princess and the Frog, which was surprisingly good! Got home, showered, and went to bed.

Woke up early on Sunday (10am), got dressed, and headed to the VA with Mandy. We parked there and caught the Light Rail up to the Metrodome. Wandered around outside for awhile, Mandy got her face painted, but eventually decided it was much too cold and headed in. Took lots of pictures and had great seats - even with one of the end zones on the Vikings side on the lower deck. It was a great game - a lot of tense moments and weird calls (and fake TD's) but we ended up beating the Bengals 30-10. Afterwards we had a packed/hectic train ride home. Mandy headed out to try to drive during the lighted hours and I've spent the rest of the evening doing absolutely nothing. Other than updating this of course.

And now I have nothing really to talk about. For how long it's been since I last posted, this post sucks. Oh well.

Snow Snow SNOW

So it snowed today. As in, snow stuck to the ground, traffic ground to a halt, slippery to walk in, put on my winter boots for the first time today snow. Granted, it's not even an inch thick, but it's definitely there. It's finally starting to feel like December.

Speaking of which, it's December! Holy cow. Not sure where this year has gone, it went so fast.

Of course, a few months ago I probably would have said it's just dragging on, but time's relative anyway right?

Like these last couple of weeks have flown by. Last week we had a short week - just Monday through Wednesday at work and then Wednesday night Tom and I drove down to Rochester. The drive was horrible - it was rain/sleeting during rush hour traffic the night before Thanksgiving leaving the Cities. So what should have taken us 1 hour and 10 minutes took nearly 2 hours. Or I'm exaggerating, but it really was pretty bad for awhile there. Got home and then went to BWW's for dinner - Sara was working, mom and dad came to chat, and Megan met us there as soon as she got home. It was nice. Later that night we all played Apples to Apples - and I'm pretty sure I lost both times. Oh well, it's still a fun game.

On Thursday (Turkey Day) I was supposed to get up and put the turkey in the oven, but no one woke me up so mom and Sara just did it. Most of the morning was spent sleeping or waiting for the dang turkey to finish cooking. Although at one point I did drag Tom and Belle out in the freezing cold to go to the dog park. It was very cold so we only lasted about 15 minutes. Afterwards we ate dinner (yum), watched football (boring), ate pie (yum) and watched TV/napped. Later Jackie came over to say hi to everyone, meet Tom, and of course play with Belle. Eventually she had to leave, and so did Tom (he had to work on Friday). I stayed up until about midnight and then headed up to go to bed. Then I get a call from my mom (who was camped out at Walmart for the Black Friday deals) asking me to join her because my sister (who was with her) was hanging out with a friend (or wanted to). So I put my clothes back on, grabbed Eclipse (yes I'd been rereading the Twilight series), and headed to Walmart. Waited in line all night, sitting uncomfortably in the aisle reading. Finally got what we were in line for, and I headed for the exit while mom continued to shop. It was a madhouse - but I got home and slept for a big part of Friday. I also managed to get a new phone activated (Tom's old LG Voyager - it's pretty sweet) and I got most of my hair chopped off (10 braided inches to Locks of Love).

Really not too sure what else I did on Saturday - I think Jackie and I hung out again and actually went to see New Moon in theatres (I'd already seen it once with Tom).

Sunday was spent packing and helping mom unload her car full of candy (she spent Friday night through Sunday morning at Lynn's making candy for Christmas). Eventually figured out who was taking me home (Megan, for a bribe from dad) and headed out. I drove to the cities and then she drove from there to Eau Clair. Thanks to her early Xmas present (a GPS) she didn't even get lost! I think... to be honest I don't think I've talked to her since but I think I've seen her online so she must have made it back safely.

This week has been filled with work. Except for last night, which also included Lord of the Rings Monopoly and vomit. Mmmm. Good times.

And now I'm off to lunch! Have a good one!