December 11
From my brain
Contents |
2009
Me 08:52, 11 December 2009 (EST)
Otherwise, today is the last day we're gonna be "living" here. Tonight there is the "December Sleepover" for Cub Scouts. So yes, I will be up until who knows what time with the scouts, and then moving a house in the morning. Gonna be hectic, but my goal is to get all of the "big stuff" out of the house and just perhaps leave a few boxes of miscellany (i.e. food and cupboard stuff) behind to retrieve later.
Thanks in advance to Ceraun who will be coming to help out a bit this evening before we have to head off to scouts.
2008
Me 09:30, 11 December 2008 (EST)
So, yesterday I changed my default tag in IM (personal, not work) to simply.../apathy.
Today, I've changed both my work one and my personal one to the following:
- Apathy can be overcome by enthusiasm, and enthusiasm can only be aroused by two things first, an ideal, which takes the imagination by storm, and second, a definite intelligible plan for carrying that ideal into practice.
So, on Monday, I get this call from AdeccoGirl, wanting to verify my phone number and email address for a new opportunity she has with a client of hers. She gave a rough description of it, but said she wanted to email it to me so I could get a better idea, and if I were interested, we could talk further. I said sure, send it over, use my personal account, and I'll let her know.
So, the job is for the role of "Senior Analyst IT". It actually looked rather promising (albeit brief), but it sounded right up my alley too. I responded back that sure, I'd love to talk more about it, and we set up a call for Tuesday at noon.
When she called, we jumped straight into it. Yeah, it's contract. Yes it's from 3-6 months, but uncertain as to how far toward six rather than three it would be. Apparently, this guy had what he thought was "the perfect match" for the job, but that guy got a job with another staffing firm who was willing to pay for "downtime" (Adecco does not; nice to get that question off the books). He's torn at the moment of whether or not he can find another "perfect match" with one Senior Analyst or if he'll just take two separate Junior Analysts, one to handle the reporting functions, and one to handle the analysis.
Then, we went into what I'm doing now, and of course, I went into the Project From Hell (not naming it as such). I seriously amped up what they're trying to do with the project and how they're trying to utilize it to reorg the business. We worked back from there to my Hand of God project: The Route Optimizer. (Man, I miss working on that project...and told her as much.) Even from there, I worked back to the hell that was the OC Review project and doing reports solo by replacing two people (c.f. the above about him being torn about two people or one).
Like the guy from Brooksource, she was concerned about leaving from a stable, 14+ year job and moving into contract work. "I typically tell people making a leap like this to sleep on it." I told her that I'd already done it with Brooksource. The job didn't pan out, but I had to realize that there just isn't a place for me to grow into here. I'm stagnated, and am only going to get fewer job skills / satisfaction with the role that I'm being transitioned into. I need to find a new environment if I'm going to be able to fully spread my wings.
That expected 15 minute phone call stretched to 30 mins, and and the end, she said that she's excited and really thinks that I'm a good fit for this. Could just be typical recruiter enthusiasm, but I think she was genuine. (She mentioned she'd only been a recruiter for six months, so I don't think she's quite learned to fake it yet.)
She asked for a new copy of my resume (had the old house address) and some references. I proceeded to email them to her before she sent me the formal email request for them. /browniepoints :) The email I got in response to the contacts was "Thank you for all the info. I will reach out to you no later than Thursday with feedback."
So...that's today. I'll give her a call midday if I haven't heard from her. I'm trying not to get my hopes too high after having them dashed from the last couple attempts, but I have to have some confidence that things will work out.
I just can't keep up with the insanity of this place any more.
2007
Me 08:50, 11 December 2007 (EST)
So, early yesterday afternoon had me positively elated. Add to that the fact that Uncle Ducky called me from home to tell me he also got a call from RHT. Woo hoo!
Then, Wifey calls me to tell me to "check the bank balance". I panicked because I know there was $650+ in there the day before. I log in to find that there's only $15 in the account. Apparently I neglected to cancel the auto-bill pay for our mortgage installment.
So now, in order to survive until next week's paycheck, I had to yank out $500 from the cash advance. That means next week we lose $550 from the paycheck.
Such is life.
Me 10:32, 11 December 2007 (EST)
- I think I got someone in trouble / caused some office drama.
- I'm really trying not to view this as a negative response to yesterday's promising possibilities.
- Good to hear from you. {RHTChick} is my co-worker from my Worthington office. I'm not sure why she was trying to contact you, but I will find out. I am still your main point of contact and we are still looking for new opportunities for you. Like I mentioned in my last e-mail, we have seen some Data Analyst roles that I liked your background for, but they have all been short term assignments. I haven't seen anything that would warrant leaving a full time job for, but I will continue to look.
- I hope you and your family are having a great holiday season. I would love to help you find a new job for the new year! Have a good day. I'll talk to you soon.
- RHTDude
2006
Me 07:14, 11 December 2006 (EST)
Good-crappy weekend?
Saturday night a long-time friend (and coworker) of ours resurrected her annual Christmas wine party. Everyone brings a bottle or two of vino (and some lushes brought up to three) and we sample the wines all night long. Food, wine, laughing, socializing with people from work that you may or may not socialize with AT work.
It was a nice night, but at one point (while sampling one of the tables of food) I overhear Wifey talking with our friend the hostess -- who also happens to be Wifey's boss. Wifey had made a couple passing jokes through the night about how she's probably going to get fired after the first of the year. Now she's got our friend pulled assied and is discussing her concerns over some of the changes going on in the company and how it's going to affect her job.
Our friend is going over some possibilities such as maybe going to a late-second-shift and working 6pm-2am. Just think it over as an option. This is where I swoop in.
- What hours?
- "6 to 2"
- No. Not gonna happen hon. TheBoy wakes up, what, at 7:30? You'll get done with work at 2am, get home maybe by 2:30, and in bed at the earliest at 3am? No way in hell you'll survive on four hours of sleep every night.
Wifey then opens up her hand and specifically says that she's concerned about how the revamping of the process that's the crux of her job is going to change. Our friend is a good boss as much as she's a good friend, and phrases it VERY diplomatically, You should really look into your options.
So now, it's all but settled. The part-time position that Wifey has held -- in a company she's worked at for over 11 years -- is going to go *poof*. Such is the raping of employee loyalty in a publicly owned corporation. It's all but guaranteed now that come very soon, Wifey is going to be out of a job.
We knew this was a potential outcome, so we'd been brainstorming a bit. Most options (including babysitting for people so she could be at home) had been thrown out. The one that seemed a possibilty and something she was interested in was doing Tastefully Simple. She'd done a couple parties, and our family likes a good share of their products. It's not as saturated as Tupperware, it's something she can use and admit she's using (unlike Avon/Mary Kay which kills her skin), and she we might now a couple people who can get her "in".
As it was, that evening, prior to the conversation with our friend/her boss, she sat their talking to a woman at the party who was a college friend of the hostess. Turns out this lady was getting out of the business because she got a promotion at her full-time job and just couldn't hack doing both. She raved about working for the company and gave Wifey a handfull of pointers. If Wifey was really interested, she could put her in contact with her sponsor. She also said she'd give Wifey could talk the display board and whatnot supplies she had...what was she going to use them for?
At that point, I was happy for her because this was a side thing she'd be doing. She wanted to bring in a little extra money and that sounded pretty good. However, after the reality of her losing her job soon started to sink in, and the fact this "extra money" was going to be our sole income from her...I started getting a little pissed.
All that time when I wanted to do the bread business -- even on the side -- how much support did I get? Not that much. The most I really got was comments from her to people that the bread was wonderful, and that I really enjoy it, My kitchen is a continuous mess though. When I wanted to really do more with it, I got resistance because it made her feel nervous about sinking too much into it.
Now however I'm supposed to rally around the Tastefully Simple flag (which, don't get me wrong, I like their stuff) because she wants to do something there. I'm going to do it, because I want her happy, but it really has gotten to me in ways I'm barely putting down here.
To further continue this stream-of-consciousness, I'm Mr. Grabbyhands again. Apparently when I didn't think anything really had happened to my libido when my T was low, one thing did change: I didn't grope my wife as much. I realized this yesterday when I got got shoved off from grabbing her from behind. Nope, didn't grab boobies (okay, put my hands, palms down beneath them, but not ON them), but got shoved off like I had stuck my hands down the front of her pants.
Yes, this is a long-standing argument. Yes, both Lawgirl and Callistana are going to have opinions about this (neither of whom will speak to Wifey on this topic, correct?). It doesn't change the fact that I dig my wife. There are other guys who don't even touch their women, and sit around reading the paper, watching ESPN all day long (okay, I play WoW in place of this, but that's after she goes to bed usually), but I like to give her attention. She's attractive, and I want her to realize that and never forget it.
Last night was pretty cool night in the bedroom. Between all the issues above, I played WoW for a good bit more than I should have on a Sunday night. By the time I logged, I crawled into bed, mumbled a few words as she finished watching a positively horrid Christmas movie, and dozed off within a few minutes that it was over. I wasn't really even in the mood for cuddling right then. I'll get over it, but it's still bugging me.
Of course, that's why I write about all of it here.
2005
Me 12:30, 11, December 2005 (EDT)
Fr. Athanasius Homily for Sunday of the Forefathers/Icon of the Nativity
- I pray that you and the family are well! Here is a copy of the homily. I have to tell you, though, that most of it is not my own words. I cut, copied and pasted from several sources because they said things much better than I could. I also added some things on the spur of the moment on Sunday so that not everything is in there. In particular, the part about the mountains being tilted because they are bowing down and worshipping Christ (the sharp peaks are sideways instead of pointing up) was a Sunday addition. At any rate, I hope this is helpful. I'm still looking for a good icon to use for the Feast of Theophany. If I can find one, I'll do the homily on January 8 on that. If not, then I'll keep looking. Thanks! God bless!
- In Christ,
- +Fr. Athanasius
<%image(20060202-nativity.jpg|210|280|Nativity Icon)%>
- The icon is able to represent God and man, expressing the divine and human spirit, on the same icon’s plane.
- With the advance of literacy, science and artistic skills, no one and nothing came even close to match the versatility of the icon’s form. The form is able to combine movement with stillness, divine and human, heaven and earth and express the total commitment of man’s spirit to God, as can be seen in the scenes of tortured saints without a sign of pain. The art of the icon is able to move the soul of man; only an effort must be made to discover the gravity of action. It is necessary to learn not only the contents of a particular icon but the form also, which delivers the intended message, in order to understand the language of the icon.
- Keeping in mind that the icon deals with the economy of man’s salvation, it must satisfy several requirements before it may be accounted as a canonical representation. Its contents must be of spiritual value to benefit man’s spiritual journey and based upon the principle sources—Holy Scriptures, Church Tradition or both. The icon’s composition must be simple, clear and principle figures identified, so that the spirit of the praying person may relate to the image of the depicted. There should not be anything unrelated to the subject matter: people, animals or objects. The icon’s composition must be dogmatic in form and nature. To appreciate the traditional icon, one must learn its basic language. We will try to do this by looking at the Lord’s Nativity icon.
- The focus of the icon, of course, is on the birth of our Lord from His most pure virgin mother Mary. Its symbolism is that of the Creator of the Universe entering history as a newborn babe. The little helpless figure in swaddling clothes represents the complete submission of Christ in the physical conditions governing the human race. Yet He remains Lord of Creation. Our Lord is shown in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger, "for there was no room for them in the inn." (cf. Luke 2)
- The back-drop for the manger is a dark cave, which the earth has offered him and which immediately reminds us of the cave in which our Lord was buried 33 years later, wrapped in a shroud. In the cave are an ox and ass, who watch Him in silent wonder. They are not mentioned by the Gospels, but they are an invariable feature of every icon of the Nativity; the scene is included to show the fulfillment of the words of the prophet Isaiah, "the ox knows his Owner, and the ass his Master's crib, but Israel does not know Me, and the people has not regarded Me" (Isaiah 1:3).
- Above this central composition, in the very center of the icon is the wondrous star coming from heaven, which led the magi to the place where our Savior lay; It reminds us of the heavenly orb we see on icons of the Theophany, or Pentecost, wherever divine intervention is indicated and also represents the sky saluting him with this star. The holy angels are seen both glorifying God and bringing the good tidings of the Lord's birth to the shepherds, who along with the Magi, are bringing their gifts. The fact that Jewish shepherds and heathen magi were among the first to worship our Lord shows us the universality of this great event, meant for the salvation of all mankind.
- If we look at the icon as one united composition, we can only be filled with joy, not only because of the bright colors and the festive activity depicted thereon, but for the joyous news of our salvation so clearly proclaimed by it. In it, all creation is rejoicing at the birth of our Lord: the heavens (a star and angels); the earth (the mountains, plants and animals}; and especially mankind, represented most perfectly in the figure of the new Eve, the most pure Mother of God, the Virgin Mother, whom we humans offer Him. On this icon, the whole Gospel message of the incarnation of our Savior from the Virgin Mary is depicted, along with other details added from the holy Tradition.
- The most prominent figure in the icon is Mary. Orthodox Christians call her the Theotokos: God-bearer or Mother of God. Her quiet but wholehearted assent to the invitation brought to her by the Archangel Gabriel has led her to Bethlehem, making a cave at the edge of a peasant village the center of the universe. He who was distant has come near, first filling her body, now visible in the flesh.
- As is usual in iconography, the main event is moved to the foreground, free of its surroundings. So the cave is placed behind rather than around Mary and her child. Notice that Joseph is off to the side. Think of the Gospel account - Joseph is righteous and protects Mary and Jesus, but he is not involved in the miracle of the incarnation of the Son of God.
- The birth occurs in a cave that was being used as a stable. In fact the cave still exists in Bethlehem. Countless pilgrims have prayed there over the centuries. It no longer looks like a cave. In the fourth century, at the Emperor Constantine’s order, it was made into a chapel. At the same time, above the cave, a basilica was built. The rigorous black of the cave represents all human disbelief, all fear, all hopelessness. In the midst of a starless night in the cave of our despair, Christ, “the Sun of Truth,” enters history having been clothed in flesh in Mary’s body. It is just as the Evangelist John said in the beginning of his Gospel: “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it.”
- The Nativity icon is in sharp contrast to the sentimental imagery we are used to in western Christmas art. In the icon there is no charming Bethlehem bathed in the light of the nativity star but only a rugged mountain with a few plants. The austere mountain suggests a hard, unwelcoming world in which survival is a real battle — the world since our expulsion from Paradise.
- We also see in the icon that Christ’s birth is not only for us but for all creation. The donkey and the ox recall the opening verses of the Prophet Isaiah: “An ox knows its owner and a donkey its master’s manger…”, as we mentioned earlier. They also represent “all creatures great and small,” endangered, punished and exploited by human beings. They too are victims of the Fall. They are always shown near the Christ child, providing warmth from their breath. Christ’s Nativity is for them as well as for us. The tree below is the "Jesse Tree" from prophesy, which says that a shoot will sprout from the stump (tree) of Jesse (the father of King David). “A shoot shall sprout from the stump (tree) of Jesse and from his roots a bud shall blossom. The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him” Isaiah 11:1-2
- The ruler of all rules from a manger in a stable, in absolute contrast to the way kings rule. His death on the cross is implied in his birth. We see that the Christ child’s body is wrapped “in swaddling clothes.” In icons of Christ’s burial, you will see he is wearing similar bands of cloth, as does Lazarus in the icon of his raising by Christ. In the Nativity icon, the manger looks much like a coffin. In this way the icon links birth and death. The poet Rilke says we bear our death within us from the moment of birth. The icon of the Nativity says the same. Our life is one piece and its length of much less importance than its purity and truthfulness.
- Also in the icon we see angels who are worshiping God-become-man. Some angels are looking up- glorifying God. Some angels are looking down, tending to the action and ministering. Notice that one of them has his hand in the sign of blessing, which is also an icon of the Incarnation. Though we ourselves are rarely aware of the presence of angels, they are deeply enmeshed in our history and we know some of them by name. This momentous event is for them as well as us.
- The iconographer includes the three wise men who have come from far off, whose close attention to activity in the heavens made them come on pilgrimage in order to pay homage to a king who belongs, not to one people, but to all people, not to one age but to all ages. They represent the world beyond Judaism. Then there are the shepherds, the simple people summoned by angels to respond to Christ’s birth. Throughout history it has in fact been the simple people who have been most uncompromised in their response to the Gospel, who have not buried God in footnotes. Not the wise men but the shepherds were permitted to hear the choir of angels singing God’s praise.
- Notice, too, there is a ray of divine light that connects heaven with the baby. The partially revealed circle at the very top of the icon symbolizes God the Father, the small circle within the descending ray represents the Holy Spirit, while the child is the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, the Son. At every turn, from iconography to liturgical text to the physical gesture of crossing oneself, the Church has always sought to confess God in the Holy Trinity. The symbol is also connected with the star that led the magi to the cave. Orthodoxy often speaks of Christ in terms of light and this, too, is suggested by the ray connecting heaven to the manger. “Our Savior, the dayspring from on high, has visited us, and we who were in shadow and in darkness have found the truth,” the Church sings on Christmas, the Feast of Christ’s Nativity According to the Flesh.
- The iconographic portrayal of Christ’s birth is not without radical social implications. Christ’s birth occurred where it did, we are told by Matthew, “because there was no room in the inn.” He who welcomes all is himself unwelcome. From the first moment, he is something like a refugee, as indeed he soon will be in the very strict sense of the word, in Egypt with Mary and Joseph, at a safe distance from the murderous Herod. Later in life he will say to his followers, revealing the criteria of salvation, “I was homeless and you took me in.” We are saved not by our achievements but by our participation in the mercy of God — God’s hospitality. If we turn our backs on the homeless and those without the necessities of life, we will end up with nothing more than ideas and slogans and be lost in the icon’s starless cave.
- We return at the end to the two figures at the heart of the icon. Mary, fulfilling Eve’s destiny, has given birth to Jesus Christ, a child who is God incarnate, a child in whom each of us finds our true self, a child who is the measure of all things. It is not the Messiah the Jews of those days expected — or the God we Christians of the modern world were expecting either. God, whom we often refer to as all-mighty, reveals himself in poverty and vulnerability.
- Christmas is a revelation of the self-emptying love of God and the icon depicts this truth in a marvelous, succinct and symbolic manner.
- May God grant us the eyes to see the truth in this icon and in every icon and the grace to live this truth that we see, so that the Lord’s mercy, love, condescension, humility and sacrifice would not be in vain in our lives, but that we would be able to glorify Him for all eternity with the angels and saints.
- Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen!
2004
Me 03:05, 11, December 2004 (EDT)
And WHOOSH!!! An hour and a half disappears into Azeroth.
I am officially coining the term WarCrack with regards to this game.
