I know that this will sound weird but...

I am almost glad to be back to work today. After three days of laziness and lonliness, it's actually kind of nice to be back to a schedule and some good productive work. I must be nuts.

Old Busybody

There is this old woman who lives in my building who is always in everyones' business. She has lived in this building since the 40s (yes, since WWII) and thinks she knows everyone and everything. I can't stand her. Every year she shows up at our co-op meeting (because some owner or another decides not to come and has given their proxy to her to vote) and, even though she's a renter (rent-controlled, three-bedroom apartment, probably paying half what I pay to live in a two-room studio), she has to speak up throughout the entire meeting with her opinions, suggestions and complaints. Many times bringing up her own apartment issues (sorry, this is an owner's meeting, we are not here for your stupid agenda, so shut the F up). Anyway, so I was taking Lola out for a walk this afternoon and she was standing by the side of the building talking to Sam, our super. Lola always likes to stop and say "hi" to Sam, since she loves him (and he, her), so of course we stop. Well then the old witch has to start exclaiming about how fat Lola is. Loudly and animatedly. Then she has to argue with me that I must be feeding her too much and also feeding her scraps from the table. First of all, it's none of your damn business what I do with my own damn dog. Secondly, how dare you practically accuse me of something that A) I don't do, and B) it's none of your business, if I did. And lastly, I know that my dog could use to lose a few pounds, but the last time we were at the vet (a few weeks ago) she was actually the same weight that she had been a year ago, so she actually is not any heavier at all. What she probably wanted to say was that I had gotten fat. The freaking old, nosy, bitch. I should have said, "wow, it really looks like you got very old this Winter". This is one of the reasons why I prefer dogs to most people. Stupid old crone.

Working Whirlwind

Things have been crazy for me at work for the last couple of months, crazy in mostly a good way. I have basically gotten (without exaggeration) about six months worth of work done in about two months. I had a status meeting late yesterday afternoon with two users on one of my projects and they were thrilled with the progress, so that was a big relief. My other huge project that wrapped up on May 13th was a big success and those users were very happy as well. All of a sudden after my meeting yesterday, I looked in my project queue and realized that I've basically finished all of my work, there is nothing much staged to be next. Nothing very interesting anyway. It's sort of a weird feeling. I know that there will be plenty of new things to come my way shortly, but in the interim I have a little window of a breather. I actually don't really like it much, I prefer to be busy and feel like I'm making a solid contribution. This would have been a good time to schedule a vacation. Oh well.

Related to the work thing... Luminita called me the other day with information about various head hunters who have been calling people in her group looking for people who have experience in Business Intelligence using our products. Basically what I have years of experience in and what I've lately been spending probably 90% of my time on and what is, really, my forte. The one specific position she mentioned is working for a major bank/financial corporation and the salary was in the neighborhood of 40K more than I am making here. That's $40,000. More. Yikes. Maybe it really is time to brush up the resume and buy some interviewing clothes.

Yikes!

I was just in line behind someone at the Duane Reade who was buying $120 worth of cigarettes. One Hundred and Twenty Dollars. Yikes!

More on Idiots and Stupidity

I forgot the very best part from the story of the police catching the moronic rapist in my town. Apparently, they located the house where he was living and were let into the illegal basement apartment. The house was surrounded with every flavor of cop (remember, the victim had connections) and so here they all come into the room with all their riot gear, etc. The guy is in the room and hiding. On his bed. Under the sheet on top. It just cracks me up, I can picture this guy hiding under a sheet on his bed like a child thinking no one is going to see him! You'd think he would at least have crawled under the bed.


Another idiot last Saturday. I was walking my dog down the street and there is someone walking behind me that I could hear crunching voraciously away on some potato chips. He passes me and shortly afterward tosses his potato chip bag on the ground. GRRRRRRRRRR!
So, sick of issues like this affecting the quality of life around here, I call out to him, "Hey! You dropped something! Pick it up!"
And so he starts yelling, "It's just Goddamn Garbage!"
me (at this point practically screeching): "Yeah, and that's what garbage cans are for! Look there is one right there" (gesturing to one a mere few feet away)
The kid is grumbling, but picks it up and does throw it away. Of course, by now I'm ranting away -- "I mean, look at this place! " (gesturing around the trash littering the ground) "people live here, who wants to look at everyone's trash everywhere... " and on and on. I'll bet that moron will think twice before littering again. If for no other reason than for fear of invoking the rantings of another crazy person like me.

And The Good News Is...

They caught the guy who brutally attacked my neighbor in the basement of my building. Unfortunately for him, this woman's husband is a homicide detective with the NYPD and this case was given a top priority. The idiot had taken her cell phone and kept it, and so they were able to trace him through that (it was found on a table next to the guy's bed). The scary thing is, this guy lived a couple of streets away and admitted to doing 7 other similar attacks in the area. When asked why, he said, "I had had a bad day. My boss had been yelling at me all day. I saw her and wanted her." Unbelievable. He also admitted to strangling her almost to death. Buncha sickos in this World.

AWOL

I know that I've been missing in action. I've been utterly swamped at work. I haven't even had a moment to come up for air. I haven't even had time during the week to just run outside for 10 mins and breathe and see some daylight. I've had no time for personal email and forget about blogging. The urgent project I've been busting my ass to accomplish is wrapping up now however, so I should have a little more wiggle room next week. It's been crazy and stressful, but also oddly satisfying. I've accomplished quite a lot in the last two months at work, but I fear my physical, psychological and emotional life has perhaps taken a hit. Ever since the Big Shake-Up at Work, I have felt on edge and unsettled and not valued and just generally stressed out and insecure. I haven't been sleeping well at all. Adding the urgency of this project to my load has just put me in the redline for the last couple of months. As a result I've been sleeping like crap, eating like crap, and I've been uninspired and unmotivated and emotionally volatile in my personal time. So as this particular assignment starts to wrap up, I need to re-commit myself to taking care of me. That means eating better, sleeping more and working out -- if anyone has any words or stories of inspiration, please let me know, I could really use it now.

On an Unrelated Note:

(Actually, in a weird way it is related because it is just another thing that will add to my current state of mind.)

There was an attempted rape in my apartment building last night. This woman I know was coming into the building through the back door at around 8:30 last night and some punk apparently managed to get in behind her (I am unsure whether she just didn't notice him or if he pushed her in). She was screaming and he started trying to rape her. Apparently the woman's mother was up in her apartment and happened to somehow to have heard her (maybe she started screaming before the door closed). Also, luckily, this woman owns a large (and loud) dog (one of very few in our building and the only big one). The woman's mother came down to the basement with the dog and the dog chased the rapist out of the building. He had managed to already have this her pants off. This all just makes me so upset and angry, and for some reason, even more so after coming off a gut-busting couple of months at work. I just so resent that I work my heart out, that I've been working for half my life, that I pay a huge amount of taxes, mind my own business am a productive and responsible member of the community and yet I live in a 2-room apartment struggling to pay my bills (with not much left over for vacations or many "luxuries") and the place is not even safe. I know this sort of thing can happen anywhere at all, but when it happens inside your own building (not in some alley or somewhere) it just makes you feel even more vulnerable. Anyway, like I've said, I've really been kind of an emotional mess lately. Oh, and the other thing is... I also resent that our Co-op rules state that people are not allowed to own pets, particularly dogs (yes, I own an illegal dog). Well, pets can greatly increase your quality of life, especially if you live alone. And if this woman last night had not owned her dog, there is a very good chance that she would have been raped. I think I'll look into buying a Rottweiler.