From my favorite twins
Grr! I can't get Moveable Type to embed anything worth crap. So to see the fantastic video of my niece and nephew you'll just have to go here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STrgr1GTjYY
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December 27, 2007
Happy Birthday to Me!
Today is my birthday. I'm 31. As I'm writing this, the only good thing about my birthday has been chocolate cake that my co-workers gave me, along with the birthday card with a picture of a sleeping puppy. And also, I got the exact same e-card from my aunt, my parents and my brother.
I had to work on my birthday. I hate that. If I ran a company, one of the annual holidays that my employees would get would be their own birthdays. No "you can have your birthday off if you have the vacation time and if no one else is off that day". You'd just automatically have your birthday off, like a national holiday.
But working on my birthday isn't the only problem with being at work today. I got my paycheck last week, and they still haven't corrected my pay. It's now month 7 that I've been underpaid, and no matter how much I nag no one will do anything about it. I've given them until next month to pay what they owe me or I'll be contacting the union.
The longer I work there the more I feel like they're singling me out to treat me especially like crap. Now, it's the government, so they treat everyone like crap as standard procedure. But it has been getting worse for me while everyone else seems about the same. I've been working there for a year and a half. The promise when I was hired was that I'd start out on maternity and then get cross-trained on everything else. I've been here a year and a half and I'm still on maternity. People who started months after me have been put into the regular work rota and are being treated like regular staff. I'm heading towards two years at this job, and if I do anything outside maternity I have to have my work checked by the boss like a stupid noob. I hate being made the permanent trainee. They treat me like I'm too stupid to do anything other than maternity. Forget the fact that my IQ is in the top 5% of the population. I'm fat and I'm American, so I must be stupid. I need to get out of here. Working here makes me hate people in general. I miss the internet industry. I miss working with people who are genuinely smarter than me rather than people who just think that they're smarter than me.
Anyway, on to more uplifting topics.
Christmas was pretty good. For dinner we had beef. A lot of beef. Probably too much beef. I got some good presents like a crochet book and a new Zen Stone mp3 player. I also got some good toys like beanie toys of a groundhog and a Highland cow and some video games.
I'm itchy. I think it's because I was playing with Fudge last night. He was sitting on me (I was wearing my anti-piggy fur apron) and he was very fidgety and kept jumping over onto Neil, who was trying to play Star Wars Lego on his Nintendo DS, but it was difficult because a fat little guinea pig kept launching itself onto his chest.
Now that I'm home I'm looking forward to a real birthday celebration tonight. Husband is picking up home kebabs and we have chocolate birthday cake. And I can open my birthday presents. Apparently some are so large that they are hiding in the attic. I hope it's a walrus.
Alana
December 24, 2007
Peace on Earth and Constant Battles in Penicuik
I had to work today, on Christmas Eve. Grr. I hate working in general and it's even worse on Christmas Eve.
I didn't work for a few days last week because I had bronchitis and mild pneumonia. I'm mostly okay now.
We brought Homer back to the vet to get him checked and he has gained nearly 100 grams in weight. Hooray! We think Homer might just be picky and stubborn, so if he dosen't like the food he's given he just refuses to eat.
Ever since Homer's first vet appointment, the little piggies, Elvis and Fudge have been acting weird. They've been fighting constantly for about a week. I'll be sitting watching tv and suddenly hear "squeak thump thump squeak thump WHEEK!" as the two little retards chase each other around the cage and attack each other. Elvis has a Fudge-inflicted scratch on his little pink nose. We haven't found any wounds on Fudge yet.
We don't know why they're behaving like this, and it seems to get a lot worse whenever we take one of them out of the cage, then put him back. Fudge gets angry if I pet Elvis. We think that the whole battle is somehow connected to them wanting more attention and battling for dominance at the same time.
Meanwhile, Homer and Spike have been getting along just fine. Homer has been happily sitting on top of their little wooden house nibbling on the roof and eating hay. Spike has been sweet and adorable.
At least we have two loveable guinea pigs. And two that I'd like to stick in a sound-proof closet.
Alana
December 14, 2007
Hooray! I'm wrong!
Yay! I was wrong! Neil brought Homer to the vet today and found out that he is not diabetic. He is, however, sick. We don't know if it's a viral or bacterial thing, but that's probably why he's lost weight. There's a chance that it is something more serious, like a liver or kidney problem. But it's not diabetes, so it may not be anything that shortens his life.
In the meantime, we have some antibiotics from the vet and we know it's okay to give him the cranberry treat sticks he loves. In fact, the fat and sugar in the treats could be a good thing to put some weight back on him.
In case any of you have guinea pigs, you should know that I have no regrets about spending money to bring Homer to the vet when he seemed sick. It didn't cost nearly as much as I feared it might, and now hopefully Homer will get better, and I don't feel nearly so worried. But I don't think Homer enjoyed it much. Someone stuck him in a box then took him someplace bumpy and noisy and cold (the bus) and then he got sniffed by a bunch of dogs and then some complete stranger squeezed him until he peed and did horrible unspeakable things to his butt. It is trips to the vet that are responsible for nearly all alien abduction stories among guinea pigs.
Alana
December 13, 2007
My letter to Santa
From: Alana
To: Santa
CC: God
Dear Santa:
I know that my wish list is a little late this year, but I wasn't sure what I wanted until now. Since you are supposed to be watching me all the time, I figured I'd just post my list on my blog, and you'll see it.
1. I'd like a cure for cancer. You see, my friend Don is fighting stage 4 cancer, originating in his colon, and the chemo is making him very ill. So if you could give me something that will cure him without causing him so much pain, that would be great.
2. I'd like a cure for diabetes. Three of my four grandparents had diabetes, and they were all okay because they had medication to treat it and followed diets and everything. The concern I have is for my guinea pig, Homer. We don't have blood tests, but we're 95% sure that Homer is diabetic. He drinks water constantly and he has lost about 20% of his body weight in the last 6 months or so. We might or might not be able to afford treatment for him, even if we manage to find a vet who will treat a diabetic piggy. Homer is my favorite guinea pig. He's only two years old. I really really don't want to lose him yet. He's my homeboy.
3. I'd like a new job. I had a fairly encouraging interview this week. It is for a job I'd really like, in a neighborhood that reminds me of home more than most places in Edinburgh. They may or may not hire me, and if they do it'll be some time from now. They're looking for a team leader to hire before they'd hire me. So maybe you could just throw a search analyst team leader down their chimney, and then I could get a new job and stop reading about other people's bleeding genitals all day long.
4. I'd like the DVD's of the first bunch of seasons of Sesame Street. I like Grover and Cookie Monster.
I hope you don't mind that I've cc'd God on this list. I believe some of my requests are more in God's area of expertise. But I know I can count on Santa for the Sesame Street DVD's.
Alana
To: Santa
CC: God
Dear Santa:
I know that my wish list is a little late this year, but I wasn't sure what I wanted until now. Since you are supposed to be watching me all the time, I figured I'd just post my list on my blog, and you'll see it.
1. I'd like a cure for cancer. You see, my friend Don is fighting stage 4 cancer, originating in his colon, and the chemo is making him very ill. So if you could give me something that will cure him without causing him so much pain, that would be great.
2. I'd like a cure for diabetes. Three of my four grandparents had diabetes, and they were all okay because they had medication to treat it and followed diets and everything. The concern I have is for my guinea pig, Homer. We don't have blood tests, but we're 95% sure that Homer is diabetic. He drinks water constantly and he has lost about 20% of his body weight in the last 6 months or so. We might or might not be able to afford treatment for him, even if we manage to find a vet who will treat a diabetic piggy. Homer is my favorite guinea pig. He's only two years old. I really really don't want to lose him yet. He's my homeboy.
3. I'd like a new job. I had a fairly encouraging interview this week. It is for a job I'd really like, in a neighborhood that reminds me of home more than most places in Edinburgh. They may or may not hire me, and if they do it'll be some time from now. They're looking for a team leader to hire before they'd hire me. So maybe you could just throw a search analyst team leader down their chimney, and then I could get a new job and stop reading about other people's bleeding genitals all day long.
4. I'd like the DVD's of the first bunch of seasons of Sesame Street. I like Grover and Cookie Monster.
I hope you don't mind that I've cc'd God on this list. I believe some of my requests are more in God's area of expertise. But I know I can count on Santa for the Sesame Street DVD's.
Alana