The World According to Marney

Friday, August 29

Quicky post

I haven't had time to do anything about pictures. In fact I haven't had time to do much of anything. I did get some progress on the yarn fairy blanket. I am officially on the third repeat section.

Not much else to tell. The weekend can't get here fast enough.

Thursday, August 28

Did Ya Miss Me?

What an eventful week. As much as I love my family, I am very glad that I can get them in small doses. I had a wonderful time being tour guide for my Aunt Elaine and cousin, Amanda. This trip, for them, was really all about getting Amanda into the fray of history. She was not able to take her class trip to DC, so this was a "consolation prize." Well, I think she should be very pleased to have to settle for this visit. Here's a little list of what we did while they were in town:
  • United Nations

  • Rockefeller Center

  • Grand Central Station

  • Central Park

  • Historic Richmondtown, Staten Island

  • Broadway show, Urinetown

  • Shopping

  • Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty

  • Battery Park

  • South Street Seaport

  • Metropolitan Museum of Art

  • Road trip to Philadelphia

Not a bad list of things to see and do, I think. Not only that, but we generally had our evenings to recouperate and relax. We also had a quota of 150 pictures that had to be taken for my uncle's computer image fanaticism. I think we got to about 125 or so. I think it was an all in all good visit.

Well, I am back to the drudgery of my daily life. Unfortunately, nothing got done while I was gone. In fact I had a few fires to put out when I returned yesterday. Well, I am still doing battle with that, but I thought I would check in while there was a moment of quiet. I will try to get some pictures up soon.

Oh, I also won an e-bay auction for some red chenille yarn. I have been asked to make a blanket for Nolan. Now, what have we learned about making things for others? Well, there is no deadline for this project. Also, I am only going to be working on it while I'm at his place. I thought that would be better for the feline factor. My kitties love soft things which means they would pull stitches while kneading as well as leaving fur all over it. Let's just say that it will be much better in the end to live at his place from the very beginning.

Wednesday, August 20

This is a major hump for a Wednesday

I just found out that the job I was hoping for was filled a week ago. To beat all that, my brilliant recruiter wanted me to send an enthusiastic e-mail practically begging for the job I don't want. Why do I even bother??? So, here I am at square one, again. I think I need another agency to work with. Although they send me out, it seems like they really want me for crap that I don't care about. Do I come off as someone that should be answering other people's phones for the rest of my life. I'm so glad I spent all of that time, money and dedication to getting a college degree. I hear those envelopes don't stuff as well without higher education.

Today is also meeting day from hell. I just finished round one, I have a biggy looming over my head. All the time, I am trying to figure out when I can get out of here. Do you think anyone would notice if I just left?

Tuesday, August 19

Grumpy, Grumpy, Growl, Growl

Here I am, still at the office at 8:30PM, trying to finish up stuff that won't seem to go away. No matter how much I put into this job, they just keep asking for more. I thought I was getting into a good place with all kinds of projects only to have them smack me in the face.

I finally had the inevitable interview for the job I don't want today. Before I went in, I got quite a pep talk from my recruiter. She told me that she knew this was my job. She could just feel it. It was made for me. It just goes to show how out of touch these folks can be. So I went in and met with the man who is "not the easiest person to get along with" despite my personal alarms going off. It didn't kill me, but I am not thrilled about it. Afterwards, my recruiter was no where to be found and still has not returned my phone calls. So now she is incommunicado for 2 potential jobs and I am still working like a crazy person.

To make things more interesting, I will be taking a few days off this week and next week to be a tour guide for some family. It will be so nice to have visitors checking out the big city. I don't really have an agenda, but there are some sites picked out for seeing. It will be great. Not to mention a bit of a break from this asylum.

I'll try to check in tomorrow before I disappear for a while. Well, provided I actually get out of the office any time soon.

Monday, August 18

Blackout Update

Yes, I survived the Blackout of 2003. (I hate that the new casters call it that. It sounds like an annual event.) I was actually in my office, at my desk, when the lights went out. There is nothing like having to be self evacuated from the office AGAIN! It seems as though there is no one we can really trust to take control of an emergency situation aside from ourselves. Maybe that is why they keep giving us "training" for these problems.

My first reaction was to blame it on the ice fronts that they call air conditioning in this building. It is like a meat locker in this office. It totally made sense that we would lose power when we can safely keep Ted Williams and Walt Disney in our closets.

Anyway, once we got out of the building, it was clear that we weren't the only ones having a problem. There were no traffic lights, the other buildings were dark, people were streaming out of buildings, cops were directing traffic. All news, once again, came from cars parked on the streets with their radios on and crowds gathering around. The lines for Mr. Softy were down the block. It's amazing how people were able to adapt to the inconvenience.

By the time I got home, I knew there was a power outage in New Jersey, Connecticut and Long Island. Not bad for a mile long walk, I'd say. The hardest part of the entire experience was going upstairs in my apartment building. I live in an old walk up with nothing that might resemble emergency lighting. The windows in the stairwell face the brick wall of the building next door and the skylight only lights up the top 2 floors. Lucky for me, I'm on the 3rd floor. Not too much braille climbing and feeling around for the lock and key.

My windows facing west onto the street provided hours of light for me. Plenty of time to gather candles and make phone calls on my home phone for the time it was still working. After a couple of calls, I found out about what happened and settled in for a long night of electriciy free fun. Okay, maybe not.

I really wanted to go and take pictures of Times Square with no power. But I couldn't justify risking my neck on the stairs again. So, I found a book to read, settled in with some knitting and called it a night.

So how did Marney fill those long hours? Well, the hat and bootie sets are finished. I have a sweatshirt (not really needed in 93 degree weather without air conditioning). I worked on the yarn fairy blanket. Well, I spent a long time on it only to realize that it was too wide for as long as I could make it with the yarn I have. I can't get any more, as it is a generic acrylic yarn from MANY years back. So after all is said and done, after the lights came back on, and more importantly, my fan, after the inconvenience passed, I frogged the whole thing (about a foot and a half, maybe more) and started over. I feel a little better about it being longer than it is wide, now.

In any case, I got my power back by about noon on Friday. I didn't hear anything from the folks at work, but since I had no power or phones, I figured the office just across town had the same problem. Call it a free day.

Well, I have a TON of stuff I have to catch up on today. Maybe I'll be in better shape tomorrow.

Thursday, August 14

As promised


Aren't they just adorable???? I have one of the red spotted botties finished as well. Since I have been having so much trouble with my PC at work, I have taken to knitting while I am downloading/installing virus stuff. I've got to be productive somehow.

Wednesday, August 13

Sick Computers

Apparently we are having a problem with a virus in our server that is wreaking havok on productivity around here. And more importantly, not allowing me to post in a timely manner. It's not that my computer is sick, but our server is really fighting the good fight and losing to the virus du jour. It's reall quite amazing that I have gotten this far in my post.

I would show you the fruits of my recent bout with tension, but I am having a very hard time getting my computer to play nice today. So you will have to imagine the booties that I finished to match the hats from the previous post. I finished the ones with the dark blue spots. The ones with the red spots are on the way.

Tuesday, August 12

Another Day

Not much to report right now. So here is a little bit of an knitting update. I have not finished stitching up the sweatshirt. I have to admit, the heat and humidity is a bit of a deterrent. Nothing like 90% humidity to make you want to shelf that wool project. So that is at status quo.

In the mean time, I made these little hats for a pair of newborn twin boys. I think I made them a bit big, but once fall comes around, they should fit very well.



I am still in a holding pattern over here. I am trying not to let this job kill me, bit I don't think my efforts are working. I have started every workday for the past couple of weeks with a searing headache that only dissipates when I leave for the day. I need to get out of here soon. Oh, and shady interview was postponed today. Not that I am upset by it. I am now wondering whether any opportunity, no matter how much I don't "want" it is better than where I am now.

Monday, August 11

)*#@$EOUDNKJO(*&$#@

That is the inside of my head right now. )*EOUR#@$NBD*UKF Nothing really makes sense and nothing that goes on in the day seems to help. So I will try not to be too loopy for this post.

Let me start with the interview on Friday. It went very well. I really want this job! I still have to wait for them to make their decision (Tuesday or Wednesday). In the mean time, I am going through the very rewarding moment of resignation in my head. I guess I shouldn't do that. But to be honest, it is somethingthat gives me great satisfaction. In any case, I have another second interview tomorrow. I am getting worse and worse vibes from this set up. Last Wednesday, I confirmed everything for tomorrow morning but then they come in this morning and ask if I can come in today. It sounds a bit on the shady side if you ask me. I also see that position as being just like where I'm at right now without the move out of the City. Are you sensing my lack of enthusiasm?

So this weekend was definitely a theatrical weekend. Hairspray on Friday night, one acts by and in the pool on Saturday night and a one woman show on Sunday night. I really love the smaller shows that you can find in this city. There is something to be said for paying a couple of bucks to see a work in progress or a masterpiece of epiphany that actually has truth, honesty and creativity as well as a little bit of not-quite-on-the mark feeling and a hint of if-you-follow-me-through-this-it-might-make-sense-at-the-end-or-not. Not that that's how I felt about these shows. I just find it more rewarding to watch something that you know will never make it to mainstream because it has too many controversial thoughts or unflashy moments than to sit through another Broadway revival that rehashes everything the world has been tired of seeing for the past 50 years.

I think I am going to go back into the wilderness of my head. There has to be some place in there that isn't quite so overgrown and tangled. Maybe a walk through the highly humidified city might help clear the briars in the brain.

Friday, August 8

I'm trying to clear my mind

I know I should be focusing on my afore mentioned interview in about 2 hours, but I am going to share with you my current progress, anyway.

Although, I didn't have a whoe lot of time to work on this last night, I started sewing up my sweatshirt. And because I am rather proud of

a) My seaming skills
b) The way I matched up the colors/skeins of this naughty Noro

I am going to show you my side seam.



The stripes are not perfect but they are close. With the number of colors in this varigation, it is not easy tomake them absolutely perfect. I spent a good hour or so trying to match up the skeins by their colors before I even started. They were all numbered and paired off. Don't mind by self congratulatory mood here, I will get past it shortly.

Well, I still have the hood to finish (not much to show as it's only a couple of inches long yet) and some seaming to finish, but here is what it looks like:



Okay, now I am going to put some focus in my day and try to get ready for this interview. Hopefully I'll have good news when I post again.

Thursday, August 7

Jobs

I feel awful about having nothing to post here lately. I have been working like a madwoman with no end in sight. The only thing that keeps me from jumping out the window is knowing that there may be an end in sight soon.

I have 2 second interviews lined up in the upcoming days. Please keep your fingers crossed and good thoughts coming. Mostly, I am hoping the one tomorrow at the hotel will go well. This job has my name all over it. So, Friday at Noon, EDT, send out those good vibes for me.

Next week I am supposed to go in for a second interview for a job that I "am perfect for" (not my words). It would be doing similar things to what I am doing now but for someone, that I have been told, is not the easiest person to get along with. It would be in the corporate/finance world, again, which for anyone that knows my inclination toward my job knows is not the industry that I prefer. It is also a flat out admin job, again, not what I want. So a dilemma arises. Do I ponder taking a job that would make me just as unhappy as the job I currently have just so I can get out of the impending move to the Westchester campus/asylem? Or do I hold out for what I want even if it doesn't come along for a while? I am working with a recruiter who insists that I am much more corporate and admin focused than I can even stomach. But, she sends me out on tons of interviews.

So, let's hope that everything goes well for me tomorrow, they offer me a job and I can give up on the finance world, once and for all.

Tuesday, August 5

Yarn Fairy Strikes Again!!!

I must have a Gardian Yarn Fairy that sits on my shoulder. Because what should come to me yesterday but a BIG box of yarn and needles from Nana. She decided to keep her needlecraft focus on crocheting so I became the recipient of this:




The needles are in sizes form US 0 to US 10 1/2. The yarns are a huge selection of full skeins, odds and ends and everything in between. I think I could get some more of those adorable fruit hats and booties out of this stuff.

THANK YOU, NANA!!!!

Monday, August 4

I feel like a new person

Fridays are a fabulous day for spa treatments! Not only do you have the whole weeks worth of stress built up, but you have another 2 days to enjoy the relaxation. I think I am a bit taller and my arms are longer from it, too. As much as I loved the massage, I think the scrub and body wrap was so very indulgent and wonderful. And my skin is SOOOO soft.

So, Saturday night was poker night for me. I am proud to announce that for the first time in the 8 months that I have been playing poker regularly, I finally left the table a winner. Not just making my money back, but I had an extra $12 in my pocket (we only buy in for $20 with 25/50 stakes). It may not be much, and it certainly does not make up for the money I have lost (or as I like to think of it, contributed to the un/under employed friends. Does that make it charity?). But it felt good to walk away with money in my pocket for a change.

To top it off, I did do some work on my Noro sweatshirt.


Here is the front (a little on the fuzzy side - see previous post)


Here's the back. Notince how the colors in the stripes match up pretty well.


And here are the sleeves. I still have a bit to go with them, But it's going well.

Friday, August 1

Happy Friday

Today is a good day for a couple of reasons:

  • Yesterday, I had a really good interview for a cool position that is leading to a second interview next Friday. Keep your fingers crossed for me. This has some serious potential.

  • Tonight after work, I will be taking advantage of a wonderful birthday present. I have a body scrub and massage scheduled at Metamorphosis Day Spa. I am counting down the hours.

  • I am cruising through my Kureyon Sweatshirt. (No pictures today - I'll put some up on Monday.) The back is finished and the front is through one skein. the biggest challenge is to get the stripes to come close to lining up between the front and the back. The V neck will also be a challenge for striping. But I am up to the job!


  • I am also going to take this opportunity to regale the joys of the Russian join. I have been joining my yarn this way or the last tank and on the sweatshirt. Talk about a seamless look! If you aren't familiar, check out these sites with instructions.
    Russian Join #1
    Russian Join #2