SmartPost sucks. I want my shoes. _

I am in awe. It takes me like ten minutes to get a piece of clay centered on a wheel. I couldn't possibly make an amazing vase in two minutes. _

This Friday will be my last day working at my current job, at least as a full time regular employee. I know the database better than anyone else, and so I might wind up doing on call stuff to help them get info out of it. They aren't quite sure what they're going to do when they can't make unusual situations work out, though, because I can make the software do things that no one else can. And then on Tuesday I'm going up to Lewisberry, to dump Sam with my parents, and on Wednesday I'll go see Elizabeth in Camp Hill, and then on Thursday I'm going to California. I've never properly been to California before, and I'm really incredibly excited. Yay! Vacation! _

How are you supposed to find words in Scramble if they aren't even actually words? I mean, come on "oorie"? I mean really. _

At my cousin Emily's graduation dinner, my sister and I had this conversation over the espresso panna cotta that was served for dessert.

J: "I like panna cotta."

me: "Me too."

J: "I had a honey one once. It was awesome."

me: "It was at that restaurant we went to with D & S in Baltimore. The one attached to the wine shop."

J: "Um..."

me: "It was brick. And pretty. And the food was tasty."

J: "Um..."

me: "And they had pear thyme martinis."

J: "Oh! Yes! You're right!"

 

Isn't it amusing what makes you remember a meal? _

While I was away, TiVo deleted all the shows I watch on Thursdays! Ah! _

And why couldn't I get that tag to close? _

On a whim (or an Amazon suggestion), I ordered Lavinia by Le Guin. And then, yesterday, while waiting for the train (not waiting on the train, while I was still in Boston, wandering around South Station), I randomly picked up The Black Ships,</i> which is another piece of Aeniad fan-fic. What is with the sudden onslaught of Aeniad fan-fic? _

I just spent half an hour on hold with Amtrak, and they are sending me a voucher for the cost of my train ticket from Boston to DC. So, at least that's something. _

There are many things I could blog about this past weekend (I didn't finish the skirt in time to wear it to Connor's graduation; the graduation was nice, the awards ceremony the day before was nicer; I could write about the incredibly disappointing meal where I actually started crying (I'm sorry. I feel very strongly that if someone is paying $75 a person, the vegetarian option shouldn't be <i>grilled bok choy</i>, there wasn't even rice), or the lovely dinner the next day), but what I need to write about is the train ride home. It was already going to be a long ride, leaving Boston at 3 and getting into DC at 11:30, but somewhere in the middle of Rhode Island, the thing bit of the train that connects to the electric wire (which makes the train, oh, go, as well as puts power into the outlets, and turns on the overhead lights, and keeps air circulating through the train) broke. So we sat there, in the middle of Rhode Island, for four hours while they tried to figure out how to fix it, or how to get us onto a different train. Eventually, a train that was going up to Boston wasn't scheduled to turn into some other train, so it turned around and got us. But, still. Four hours. Laptops and cell phones were dying, people were getting increasingly irritable. I didn't get back to Union Station until 3:30. Fortunately for me, Brianne was up way too late playing XBox with her little sister, and was very nice and came to get me. I was in a state, and had spent a rather sizeable chunk of time on hold with Amtrak trying to convince them that if I had to take a taxi home because their train broke and didn't get me back to DC until after the Metro had stopped running they should reimburse me. Or something. They were like "um, we don't do that."

Anyway. That is why I am exhausted today. _

Things I am looking for in a job:

 

Not working in Finance. I am Bad With Numbers. Also, I hate it.

Not having a boss who is crazy and throws fits and screams at the office accusing people of stealing something because she couldn't find it in her disasterous mess of an office.

Not feeling like throwing up in the morning.

 

That's it, really, but that's enough to have me quit. I have felt like throwing up every day before going into the office for months. I haven't been sleeping properly. I may not have a job lined up, but it's time to quit all the same. _

Every time it rained and I wore my chucks, my left foot would get soaked. I could never figure out why it was only my left foot. And then last night I noticed a worn out hole in the sole of my left sneaker. ((sigh)) I threw them out. They were cute. _

My brother, apparently, wants a spetzle maker. My mom has suggested I get him a potato ricer as a graduation present, as it can double as a spetzle maker, and since it is less specialized, it will probably be cheaper. (Let it be known that I am probably totally misspelling spetzle.) Now I need to find one before Thursday. _

Given that it is May, I shouldn't need my cashmere hoodie and a space heater to stay warm in my office. But I do. _

I followed Google's link to Unicef to donate money to Myanmar. _

It has been pouring for hours, since about this time last night. Rain doesn't normally bug me, but I couldn't fall asleep last night. I tried my normal "I can't fall asleep tricks" (besides pulling out Virgil) and nothing worked. I wound up coming downstairs and I half watched the absolutely idiotic cartoons on the Disney channel that Brianne was watching, because sleep was just not coming. At around 2:30, still unable to sleep, and feeling a little nauseous, I called my office and left a message on my supervisor's machine telling her that I had insomnia and a stomach bug and so wouldn't be in today. I did promise to do something today, but I will call her later and talk her through preparing the file I need to spend hours in Excel working with. _

I am making the skirt Katherine wore to Croquet, in red, to wear to my brother's graduation. I bought out a dye lot when this cotton/cashmere blend was on sale at Knit Happens, and I am currently playing the "OMG I might run out of yarn so I will knit as fast as I possibly can game". Apparently, knitting fast means that you use less yarn. Or, at any rate, it will give me more time to find more skeins of an apparently discontinued line of yarn. _

How often have you thought to yourself "gee, what I really need is a solar powered 1 gig US flash drive"? Really, woot, I am disappointed. (Also, bored at work.) _

Maybe I was just wrong. It seems to be charging just fine. _

I'd meant to charge my iPod overnight, and forgot, so I brought my USB cable to work and plugged it into this machine. It doesn't seem to want to charge. Is this a Mac/PC thing? _