Pleasantly surprised

Well, both miscreants got a talking to in the manager's office. Further action? I don't know if they were warned, suspended or whatever. Frankly, I think the filthy mouthed one should be fired and the one who was using the company Blackberry for personal use should have an unpaid vacation. But I don't get to decide. Frankly, sitting across from SBM now gives me the creeps.

Upsetting

To set the stage - in our department at TVCC (The Very Conservative Corporation), the Helpdesk has an on-call person. Currently, this duty rotates between Ms. Packratty, Our Hardware Wizard (a quiet man, packed with knowledge) and the Massive Minister (at least 500 lbs. + and a youth minister at some church). The drama also includes SBM, a co-worker who has usually been quiet and had hitherto projected a pleasant demeanor.

So anyway, Ms. Packratty had taken the oncall laptop and Blackberry from MM on Monday and assumed her weekly duties. Tuesday midday, while out at lunch, the Blackberry started chiming in her pocket. When she checked the Blackberry, she discovered that MM had apparently been using the device for personal messaging and that his IM ID was still signed in. What Ms. Packratty then read was one side of a disgusting conversation between MM and SBM in which she could see only SBM's messages.

In this conversation, SBM complained about co-workers and then launched into a vile discussion of someone in another department, speculating on her availability in the crudest sexual terms. Ms. P turned the Blackberry over to her manager upon returning for lunch Tuesday and showed her the nasty IMs, but here it is noon on Wednesday and both of the miscreants are still at work. Note, I did NOT say working.

Considering that a white male co-worker was suspended for 3 days because he was suspected of surfing naughty sites (it turned out that he had remoted a tower at a detached location and forgotten to log off and someone at that location abused his login), the fact that these two lumps, who were a> using a company Blackberry for personal use (MM) and b> while at work, carrying on a vile discussion and denigrating women (SBM) are still sitting here is a bit upsetting. Frankly, I feel queasy sitting across from SBM after reading the way he refers to women (think as "pieces of meat") and revolted that an alleged minister would participate in a conversation like that.

I'm beginning to think I should have taken it directly to HR, but since I have been dinged for going over her head, I did not, nor did I stand my ground when I asked her to call HR before I showed her the IMs. I'm beginning to think that it's all going to disappear. Big surprise.

I'm late, I'm late, I'm terribly late

Actually, Ms. Packratty is just behind. She has housekeeping to do, laundry, desperately needs a haircut, must get to the library, and Home Depot and yesterday's flurry of activity skipped the regular shopping errands, so that too, maybe.

What did Ms. Packratty do Saturday? She got up early for an appointment in connection with a way to earn some extra cash over the next 2-3 months - always a good thing. That took a couple of hours. Then she went to see Marleen with Charlie and while Charlie hung out, Ms. Packratty and Marleen went to look at some puppies fathered by Master Jack, then hit Joanne's and bought yarn (Ms. P) and sewing stuff (Mar) and then went to Sam's where Ms. P did manage to get her biweekly supply of San Pelligrino water and looked at slow cookers. The only crock pot at Sam's was immense, but there was also a combination rice cooker, steamer and slow cooker that looked interesting and was small enough to store and large enough to be useful - there's a very small overlap for those 2 factors, you know when you have a teeny tiny kitchen like Ms. P's.

It's some cruel fate that keeps handing Ms. P, who loves to cook, small kitchens and no space for things like a freezer. Ms. P truly misses the days in Greenwood and Toccoa when she had space to put up jam and preserves all summer long and have the space to store things, even though those kitchens lacked a gas stove and a microwave and dishwashers. In retrospect, it's probably a very good thing that Lucifer never appeared to offer Ms. P a dishwasher at the pinnacle of peach preserve making, when everything was covered with peach puree and jam drippings and .... She might have been tempted at that point.

But unless Ms. P does some exceptional income enhancement in the next couple of years, she will never be able to get out of this place. And while she deeply loves the location of the current Chez Packrat, she craves a workshop, a garage, a larger kitchen and just the tiniest bit of a yard for Charlie and enough to spare to have a wee garden.

Off to the races - time to start tackling that pile!

Have we lost our collective minds?

NEWARK, Del. – A Delaware first-grader who wanted to eat lunch at school with his favorite camping utensil, a combination of folding fork, knife and spoon, now faces 45 days in the district's alternative school for troublemakers.

What sort of completely cockeyed and neutered moron could mistake a camping utensil for a weapon? Ms. packratty has been informed that in the 1930s, young lads routinely brought their pocketknives to school so that they might play an old-fashioned game called Mumblety-peg. In Ms. Packratty's own youth, any young gentleman would have a penknife in his pocket - very handy for trimming paper, opening parcels and multitudinous other minor chores. No one ever imagined that such a thing would be called a weapon.

Of course, Ms. Packratty clearly remembers her beloved grandfather telling her that there is little common about common sense. However, sending a 6 year old child to reform school over a Cub Scout device strikes her as madness. Sheer and utter madness.

Fade to Black

Once again, Georgia Power is providing their usual deplorable (lack of) service.

What, you say? Well, there is a reason that Ms. Packratty has the power outage reporting number on the speed dial of her phone.

Why is the power out? Well, it's raining. Big surprise. Most places that aren't located in deserts get rain every now and again, but here in Georgia, the power company seems to be unable to provide reliable service. The power goes out at Chez Packrat at least 2-3 times a month for varying periods and all too often, it goes out roughly once a week.

This morning, there was a SINGLE crackle of thunder and the power went out. It came back up and then 15 minutes later, we descended back into darkness. According to the morons at Georgia PPower, the service was supposed to be back on by 11:30 a.m., but now they have moved that estimate back to 4:30 p.m. God only knows when the power will actually come back on. If the power is out for 8 hours, that's roughly 5% of a week. I don't think there are many people who would consider it acceptable if their water went out for 8 hours a week.

Ms. Packratty is SOOOOO not happy about trying to shower and dress in dark - thank heavens the load of clothing she had in the drier from last night had dried. Even so, the load in the washer, which she had planned to dry first thing and which contained almost all of her standard wear black trousers, is still sitting undried and will probably turn sour enough to require a rewash. Which wastes water, wastes electricity, wastes gas (for a warm water wash), wastes detergent and hence sewer treatment capacity, wastes her time, adds additional wear and tear to the washer - all because Georgia Power IS NOT AS RELIABLE AS FLORIDA POWER & LIGHT WAS IN 1969. That's 40 years ago, folks. 40 years ago and Georgia Power can't meet the standards of another company from nearly half a century ago? Because Ms. Packratty checked with her mother, who told her that the only time she recalled the power going out in Tampa was when there was a HURRICANE.

If Ms. Packratty wanted to live in a Third World country with unreliable power, etc., she would go do so. In the United States, she expects her power to stay on unless there is remarkably severe weather or other natural disaster. A moderate rain with little or no lightning is NOT an acceptable reason for a power outage and there is NO acceptable reason for the power to go out weekly.

Color Ms. Packratty annoyed. Very Annoyed. Calling the Public Service Commission Annoyed.

The da Vinci that isn't

Sunday, I went to the High Museum and was greeted by this.

This is the Sforza Horse, the monumental statue that Leonardo never completed.

In the late 1400s, da Vinci envisioned the world’s largest, most technically challenging statue, one that would depict Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, on horseback. For more than 15 years, he studied the anatomy of horses, sketched and drew the statute numerous times, developed detailed plans for the sculpture and techniques to cast the immense horse and rider in bronze. He created a huge clay model, but war with France intervened and bronze for the horse was requisitioned for cannons. Invading soldiers destroyed the great clay horse, the one da Vinci expected to be a defining work.

This horse is a 26-foot-high recreation of the Sforza horse, manufactured by the Opera Laboratori Fiorentini and loaned for the exhibit. In order to assemble it in the courtyard ouside the main entry, it was lifted - in pieces - over the building and reassembled.

This may be the largest ppiece of the exhibit - ironic, considering it was the work that Leonardo never finished - but it is hardly the most amazing.

The sketches and ink drawings by the dozens and the terra cotta pieces from Verrocchio's workshop and the baptistry panel with comparisons between the pieces and Leonardo's sketches and the scholarly conjecture about what parts Leonardo did as a student. Plus three immense bronze figures by his student, Giovan Francesco Rustici:

Freestanding and somewhat cleaned up, these figures are vastly more imposing than in the picture above in their "native" setting. Awesome. Seeing examples of Leonardo's mirror writing was fascinating - equally to see how incredibly legible his handwriting remains. There were bits and pieces of notes written left to right where I could clearly read the Italian or Latin words.

I hope to go back again. I do find the herds of people with their audio tours standing about slackmouthed who appear to be listening more than *looking* to be annoying. I watched one man stand in front of a display case, blocking others from viewing, who was staring intent at the audio tour device for 9/10ths of the time that he was hogging access to the display. Read and look, people. Then stand back and play the little speech. Or vice versa.

My other gripe is that Americans clearly have no idea how to queue. They crowd in from left, right and center and don't follow any sort of traffic pattern. Of course, places like the High and the Aquarium could do things to encourage a traffic pattern and they don't. A few ropes and arrows would go a long way to make up for the fact that people are too stupid and rude to queue out of courtesy.

The rest of the weekend was trying to help out a little at the K9 Daze at Wills Park - I fear I was not much help - errands and a bit of reading, knitting and movie watching. It started raining right around 8 p.m. Sunday - not a pounding sort of rain, but hard enough to soak you in a minute or two and that rain was still streaming down at 2 a.m. and only tapered off to spots and spits around dawn. The front that brought it, though, was apparently moving much more quickly than our earlier deluge and while the creeks were higher than normal this morning, nothing seemed to be over its banks. We certainly don't need any more flooding while people clean up from last month's mess.

AND, a certain driveway got concrete Friday and Saturday so life for my dear friends should become much nicer today or tomorrow when they can finally drive on it!

Because sometimes you just need something silly

http://www.lutralutra.co.uk/squirrelizer/

ICK!

So Ms. Packratty arrived at The Very Conservative Corporation Friday morning to discover that the city water main up the road had broken again and the entire building was without water.

And not only does the plumbing not work, but because TVCC has a cooling system from the 1950s that relies on the water system for chilling power, the air conditioning is only working at about 1/4 strength.

Now, to Ms. P, the humane thing would be to send everybody possible home - especially since the main building houses a couple of hundred people and there are no working toilets. But TVCC did not ask Ms. P. Their solution? Four portapotties on the back loading deck, shared by men and women.

Ms. Packratty held it. She was unhappily reminded of the post-to-post treks in the station wagons of her youth, but the ... er ... fortitude acquired then stood her in good stead.

And, of course, by 8 p.m. it was uncomfortably warm and this was annoying too, since Ms. Packratty feels that some church somewhere should canonize Willis Carrier.

She is increasingly less impressed with TVCC's cheeseparing, uncaring ways. Ironically, it came the day after the annual United Way extortion session. She would have a higher opinion of TVCC if they skipped their United Way match and the endless hullabaloo and had an insurance plan that wasn't embarassingly bad. TVCC's biggest step into the second half of the 20th century was to start allowing women to wear open-toed shoes in the summer. With hosiery only.

Drying Out

The rain has stopped, and although the NWS warned us that we might have rain through this week, that has not come to pass. It's really terrible hearing about people who have lost loved ones or homes, but I suppose it is also a good warning that if you live ANYWHERE near a stream or at the bottom of a hill, you should have flood insurance. Of course, even The House At the Top of the Hill had water come in during the worst of it Monday, when the lower patio flooded into the kennel floor and the gutters on the east side of the house could not keep up with the sheer awful volume of rain. So really, anyone can get flood damage.
Fortunately, Chez Packratty mostly on the second, third floor and fourth floor of the building did not suffer any water problems except that pesky place in the upstairs bath where water comes in along the roof vent and drips near the exhaust fan. That happens about once a decade, so Ms. P really doesn't view it as an issue.

We are also waiting to hear about Miss Jill, who should be presenting Mar with a litter in the next few days - it will be nice to have little white polar bear pups around again.

Over the banks

By the time Ms. P left work on Monday, Peachtree Creek was over the banks and flooding the parking lot.

There is normally about a 20 foot drop from the edge of the parking lot to the creek. NWS said the creek crested at about 1 foot below its all time record, which is more than a century old. Wow.

Fortunately, the spigot seems to be turned off or turned way down. There has been no more rain today.

However, all this rain has led to some interesting new fauna on the grounds of Chez Packratty. While walking Charlie around the condo complex this morning, we observed:












Ms. P rather suspects that the variety and quantity of fungi sprouting will increase over the next week or so unless the weather predictions of off and on rain are completely wrong.

I suppose this is global warming too?

It's been raining - ranging from light to torrential - for almost a week. The remains of the old Civil War embankments behind my condo are full up for the first time in years and Peachtree Creek near my office (which flooded one of our buildings in 2004) is well over its banks - ironically as a construction crew has been trying to stabilize the banks and prevent future flooding. Here's the parking lot after my miserable 1:15 hour drive in:











Two hours later:



The building that flooded in 2004 is the one behind those picnic tables. Cars are usually parked down there where the water is covering them.







And why is this happening? Here's a precipitation map for the last 36-48 hours:
Atlanta is solidly covered by the 6-8 inch area, while the 12-16 inch area is just to the southwest. This is some major rain. To put this in perspective - when Hurricane Opal dumped significant rain on the area in 1995 (Ms. Packratty was visiting England at the time), N Georgia and the metro area got between 5 and 8.66 inches of rain. We have gotten close to double that in the last week in many areas. Ms. P suspects that many drought-weakened trees will come crashing down if there is the least little bit of rain in the next few weeks, because the ground is beyond sodden.

I'm pretty sure the drought is over

ATLANTA (AP) - A record rainfall has showered parts of the Atlanta metro area with more than five inches of water.

A new measuring station in East Point recorded 5.04 inches between midnight and 1 p.m. Saturday.

The National Weather Service said between daybreak and 1 p.m. nearly three and a half inches had fallen at Atlanta's airport. Meteorologist Kent McMullen said that crushes the previous record of 1.62 inches, set in 1953.

I kid you not, I think we had at least 3 inches here in Sandy Springs, based on how many times I emptied the plant saucers. And three times during the night, I woke up to really loud thunder within a 2 miles range. None of it right overhead, but there was enough rain to produce an audible drumming on the roof. All is soaked.

Ms. Packratty is on call this weekend and can't stray too far from home and it is gloomy and humid and icky, so she is sorting through books and some knitting and bookbinding supplies and working on peeling away the rest of the blue tape. If the sun would come out just a little, she would go try to find the new dog park AND hang the new blind in the lower hall window, but it is too darned damp to paint, even with the a/c on as she is reluctant to put up the new blind until she has painted the window woodwork. Silly, considering it takes 30 seconds to remove the blind once it is properly installed ...

This says it all

Tired, tired, tired

Ugly weather moved in Tuesday night and brought a migraine and a two-day allergy attack. Ms. P is not a happy camper and cannot wait to get home tonight. Mar is marooned at the top of the House on the River of Mud - what a nightmare. Of course, the workers would still have encountered the Immense Boulder if they had started when promised, but then they would have had time to deal with it before the rains set in.

I like the rain, but since it was overcast most of last week and only finally commenced raining, it is starting to feel as though this has gone on forever. Time to go pick up my camera and go home to Charlie Rufus.

There's no place like home

As comfy as the guest accommodations at The House on the Hill were, it was nice to be home. The house was still stinky from paint, so I opened it up and turned off the air. Even if it is clammy tonight, it will be nice to have it thoroughly aired.

I left Charlie behind for one more night - there was a lot to carry and I was really, really tired. poor little guy - I bet he'll be glad to be home. And I'll bet Miss Snootypuss will be outraged that not only have I returned, but that I've brought that DOG back. Miss Packratty believes that Delilah thinks the house is hers and that Charlie and I are interlopers.

The next step is to finish the bottom 3 stairs and then clear the landings and foyer. Then we start painting stringers and risers and get back on that ladder and finish up the areas on the banisters that only got one coat. And hang the last 2 new blinds. And the new curtains. And get someone to haul the old green sofa out - not replacing it while Delilah can shred fabric. Lots of projects and lots of time. Just got to do it one bite at a time - we won't even start thinking about the remaining ugly wallpaper in the bathrooms and kitchen.

Monday, Monday

So after making a list of things that she needed to do to wind up her "artist in residence" at Maison au Sommet de la Colline (The House at the Top of the Hill), Ms. Packratty went to bed Sunday night. First light found her up and about, taking care of dogs and trying to leave the place reasonably neat and clean.

So, of course, right at about 8:15 a.m., the doorbell rang and sure enough, it was the driveway crew, finally arrived to begin their mayhem - just as Mar and Joe were leaving Boston to return home. So Ms. P drove down the hill and trudged back up (amazing how fast that driveway conditions the legs). She looked about to see if she could spot Mar's keys, but couldn't find them OR her phone (sitting in the car's console at the bottom of the hill) to call and ask where they were.

So Mar and Joe will have a wonderful treat awaiting them - her car stranded at the top of the hill and Joe's at the bottom.

Off to the right and out of frame is a dump truck, which was already half full of concrete chunks. The fellow running the little backhoe thing on the upper left was a real artist - he said he wasn't going to need to move any of Mar's plants and I honestly think he might have been telling the truth. The part of the driveway shown here is actually the part with the gentle slope.

This is a view from the top that shows where the steep part suddenly drops off. That's the hump part that is supposed to be regraded to something less taxing.

I doubt, however, that Mar and Joe are going to enjoy getting 4 suitcases and Jack up to the top with the driveway down to dirt and gravel. I'll get a look tonight, because I need to go back and fetch the rest of my stuff and Charlie. Poor Charlie - he is going to hate going home to being an only dog again.

It's going to be nice to be back in my own bed again though - although I wish I could kidnap Miss Joy to be my foot of the bed dog. Charlie is way too wiggly.

Finito - well almost

There are still 3 stairs to be done, but that's for another weekend. The other stairs? All three flights? Polyurethaned x 3 and they look gorgeous, I can really spot the two areas of the woodwork that only have their first coat of poly - somehow after that day I fell off the ladder, I never managed to get back up there to finish the job. That was scary.

I got some movement on once again editing out the stacks of books - I have a big box in my car and most of the keepers have been conveyed to the proper place. I do have a book problem. I read a lot and even if I only buy one book out of every 20 I read, that's a lot in the course of a year. I've been relying on the library and the online hold system - but there are always problems with books they don't have that I really, really want to read. I used to budget for bookstore spending. Now I don't.

I am so grateful that Marleen and Joe let me caretake this week which gave me the chance to tackle a REALLY BIG project and complete it. It's difficult to keep momentum going when you don't have real time to devote to something. Having this opportunity come when I had leave I could use and when I was relatively painfree was just a perfect intersection - without all three things coming together, it wouldn;t have been possible - and, in fact, when I hurt my hands last weekend, I was afraid I was going to stall out. I know I can do the risers and stringers in little bits that won't kill me and in latex paint which is easier to deal with all the way around. I'll be pumping up 3M's revenues some more though buying more blue tape.

Charlie has really had a great week too - he loves being here with Marleen's crew even though the girls pick on him. I'll feel guilty taking him home tomorrow night.

A testament to the role of sound sleep in resolving pain - I was sore as a boil last night and decided that if ever there was a night for a sleeping pill, it was then. I slept almost 6 hours straight and then 2 hours after an initial waking and when i got uup I was stiff, but not sore. Amazing.

Big day tomorrow. Got to buff this place up before I leave and then my first full day of work in 11 days.

Things I am thankful for

Kneepads. My brother-in-law Chris told me what kind to buy and I am deeply thankful. I think the stair project would have been a non-starter without them.

Blue tape. The stuff is amazing and worth every penny.

Polyurethane instead of varnish. Hardens so much faster and it's so much easier to get a good finish.

Good paintbrushes. Many thanks to my grandfather, Ralph M. Willard, for teaching me that painting with cheap brushes is a waste of time. Also for teaching me that prep time and effort is never wasted.

My little Mouse sander. Does a great job, doesn't hurt my hands or behave badly. Maybe not the tool for huge jobs, but definitely the ticket for almost everything I have tackled to date.

Aleve and hot showers. Just saying, you know?

Holy Carp, I'm sore

The second coat of varnish went on flight 2 Friday and flight 3 was prepped for taping. That and a third cost for flight 2 and the taping and first coats for flight 3 are the plan for Saturday. If Ms. P gets the first coat on flight 3 before 1 p.m., she plans to go back 8 hours later and do the second coat - with the third coat on Sunday, following the detaping of the other flights. Note, this plan leave fudge factor on Sunday if things do not go as planned.

The three steps at the entry? Next weekend, doing alternate stairs so that entry and exit remain possible.

And then Ms. P plans no further projects for at least a month. Please. She hurts in places she did not know she had places. There is still the matter of unrolling, mothproofing and rerolling the oriental carpets which Joe says they can store for me until the floors are done. But that's an afternoon's labor each, not the death march of this past week.

It's been an utter and complete blessing to stay at Marleen & Joe's - not only as a respite from CONSTRUCTION ZONE, but also because knowing that I need to go tend dogs has kept me from staying on too long and doing too much. About the time that I've really had it, the watch tells me it's time to go exercise dogs or such.

Time for a cuppa tea and an Aleve.

Never forget, never forgive until Islam is *gone*