Tag, You're IT!

I got tagged by new uncle Procrasto to partake in a funn little Google experiment: type "your name needs" into the browser and Google tells you what it thinks you need. I came up with the same answers as J, so I used Ginner:

G needs a monitor
G needs producer perspective on short fiber measurment (well, doesn't everybody??)
G needs to tailor variety choices to market needs (will this fit in my Christmas stocking?)
G needs Findlaw for legal professionals (yes, yes I do!)
G needs to cotton farm (why not!)
G needs motors, controls and much more
G needs member benefits
G needs sage advise (now that I COULD use!!)

Google actually linked to my old blog as well, which is cool because that means I'm out ther on the WWW... Our little girl is all grown up now *sniff*.

The sad part is that I waited too long to do this and now I have no one else to tag, so if you are just happening by:

TAG, YOU'RE IT!!!

Hello, Helloooooo..... Hola!

It was an event I had looked forward to since I first got P the surprise birthday present back in April. I have never kept a surprise under wraps this long before (I'm the one who waits until Christmas Eve to shop so that I don't give the presents to their intended owners as soon as I get them), but I digress...

So there we were, sitting in the very last row at the very top of the Bell Centre, waiting for the main event to begin. At first I was a little disappointed we were sat so high - the sound started off a bit distorted - but then it happened: Bono ran out onto the stage and started to belt out "Vertigo" and everything else melted away, leaving nothing but a slightly awestruck, prefectly wonderful feeling of happiness.

Not that I would have refused front row seats, mind you... But there was something slightly magical about having the bird's eye vue perspective: looking down on the 20,000 people below you swaying in perfect time to the music, singing their hearts out to all the same lyrics and clapping their hands in unison to a thunderous conclusion. There wasn't an empty seat to be had and it showed.

When the boys launched into "Where the Streets Have No name" I got goosebumps. When they played "With Or Without You" I was transported back to memories from long ago and far away. When they played "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" I went as wild as the rest of the crowd. When Bono started "Sometimes You Can't Make it On Your Own" and took his sunglasses off our of respect for his Dad, I was moved.

Montreal responded well to U2. Spirits were high, the mood was euphoric and I must say that even in the crow's nest of Section 434, Row D, seat 12, I felt like I was part of something BIG. I wish I could make everyone feel what is was like to be there, it's something I will never forget.

Happy Birthday, Baby!!!

To Pee, or Not to Pee....

I was just in the Ladies' and noticed for the umpteenth time that the stall I chose to use had been sullied by a previous occupant... There was pee all over the seat!

I can understand men's toilets being gross and grungy and splashed upon because of having to aim and everything, but how does a girl manage it??? I checked the mechanism and there is no big pressure release at the time of flushing that would explain the seat splashing....

Could this be chalked up to a person or people with the pee jetstream of champions? I mean who can pee with such pressure that the urine hits the water then catapults back up onto the seat?

I'm just sayin'......

And it's bad enough that this has happened before, but Jayzus Mary 'n Joseph girls, at least clean up after yourselves!!!

I wish I could avoid going in to the Ladies Room at all when I'm in the office.... I have seen some creepy things and have come to the startling realization that more than a few people I work with are against hand washing (say it with me folks, "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew!!!"). But alas, with a bladder the size of a chickpea and the 2 liters of water I drink per day at the office, I fear my plight is far from being over.

Great, I have to pee again.

High School Redux

You know how when you're a teenager and you think to yourself, "Self: when you are an adult all this superficial, teenage angst-ridden, clique-based social crap will end, so just hang on..."? You look so forward to becoming an adult and joining the corporate world because you think as a grown up, you are meant to rise above being petty, vindictive, snide, cruel for no good reason, etc. etc. etc. ad nauseum...

Then comes the fateful day when the reality of the world comes crashing down on you like a gazillion ton weight, pressing down on your chest and leaving you gasping for breath.... One day, like an Epiphany to overshadow all Epiphanies, you get it: not only is the corporate world like the dreaded high school social mill, but it is in fact WORSE.

Never in the entire time I was in high school did I ever encounter the caliber of backstabbing, butt-kissing, gossiping, bullshitting and general weaselness as I have since I have embarked on my corporate journey to Hell. Nowhere other than here have I seen the lengths that people will go in order to get ahead, move around or even just stay afloat.

You learn that the "little guy" hardly ever gets ahead based on hard work alone. He keeps his head down, nose to the grindstone and never makes waves, but is overlooked for promotions 99% of the time because he either isn't liked by the "right people" or hasn't kissed the right ass.

You learn that most of what they call Management consists of those people that have clawed their way to the top either on the backs of "the little guy", because of who they know as opposed to what they know, who they have dirt on... Ooooh, or Nepotism, we can't forget Nepotism!!!

You learn that just because you are a Manager does not mean by any stretch or scope of the imagination that you are actually qualified to lead or be responsible for any other human beings.

You learn that 99% of the decisions are made by the 1% of people in power positions without ever really looking at the bigger picture. Unilateral decisions about restructuring and work processes are handed down from upon high (picture if you will, the Wizard behind his big green curtain, pulling levers and blowing lots of smoke) without the input, opinion or knowledge of the people who actually do the work on a day to day basis in the first place.

Most of the employees you talk to are discontented, disconcerted, disheartened and depressed about their state of affairs, though most would deny it if directly questioned by their superior. No one is happy, yet no one is willing to speak up because like in high school, if you stick your head out and call attention to yourself as being different than the status quo, no good can possibly come to you.

Office politics, like high school "cliques" create these invisible yet almost palpable lines drawn in the sand and employees are made to feel like troops at war having to pick which side of the battle to be on. Am I with the cool kids? Do I even want to be one of the cool kids? Should I play the game? Can I survive and be happy if I don't?

There HAS to be another way to get by other than this maniacal 9 to 5 existence and ensuing quest for the almighty dollar that makes me want to rip all my hair out and run screaming from the building, never looking back.

Maybe I'll move to B.C. and start an Alpaca farm.......

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

This is what MgGill College looks like at the moment. I'm not sure if you are ready to see it, but there is snow.... SNOW! This is our first frozen precipitation of the 2005-2006 Winter (yeah, I said it) season and compared to last year, it may even be considered smalltime.

No matter though! Snow is snow and it is the first we have seen in 7 months.

What, didn't you miss it? The wacko loser drivers who think they can still tailgate and then break at the last minute without sliding on black ice and slamming into you? The cold wet slush that infiltrates your boots despite the layers of protective crap they sell you at the shoe store and say is waterproof? The whipping wind instantly freezing the sidewalk before you so that your once simple trek to the store becomes the stuff that Ice Capades are made of?

Yeah, I missed it too.

Yay, Winter is here!!!!*

*note: please read tomorrow's post on global warming... I just saw that it is supposed to climb to 16 degrees Celsius Wednesday (approx. 60 degrees Fahrenheit).

Arch, tah Hell!!

Bonjour!

So this is my first blog here.
Before, you could read my consistently inconsitent entries here.

For all of you who are new to me don't worry, you'll get to know me quickly. I am at once passionate and dispassionate; loving and hateful; enthusiastic and lazy; a go-getter and a procrastinator; an optimist and a pessimist; a dreamer and a realist.

I have an open mind and an open heart. I used to have thick walls of protection around my heart to shield me from the possibility of pain and the trauma of rejection. Then I met a man with the soul of a poet and a heart the size of the world that taught me walls are for sissies and true happiness is only possible if you open yourself up. Yes, there is some pain... But there is also Peace and a joy I have never known before.

I am unwaveringly loyal to those I love and a right bitch to those I don't.
I can take the weight of the world on my shoulders when the occasion calls for it and even sometimes when it doesn't.
I would like to be a starving artist, but I'm too fond of my creature comforts to make the sacrifice. Besides that, I'm not so much artistic...

Basically though, I am just me.

Who are you?

Welcome to the World of The Ginner!