August 11, 2005

Tonight was another complete waste. Work was exhausting; it seemed that everyone in my group was fighting fires that flared as soon as I stepped into the building. Nothing serious; just people who had to get this build done or other such things. Frustrating, since yes, we’re supposed to help programs with their builds, but when every build is an emergency, that’s not fair to CM, either.

Plus, I took my phone in to get it serviced, as it kept dropping incoming calls. I waited over an hour in the store only to find that the (very nice) techs were stumped, too. They suggested I upgrade the OS to the latest version.

I appreciated that the techs were polite and helpful, though. They were clearly trying to help everyone as quickly as possible while giving each person their full attention. Full marks there; the store was just stuffed with people who appeared personally affronted that they had to wait for something.

So combine a long wait with very busy work and I came home utterly unable to do anything. I’d stopped off at the grocery store on the way home—hadn’t gone for over a week, and was out of a few things—and ate a bit of a surprise: good grocery store pre-made Chinese food. Orange chicken on a bed of rice, still warm, microwaved a bit. Flavorful and filling; well worth the five dollars it cost. Yay!

So I chatted online for most of the evening. Eh. There are worse things to do.

No, I didn’t update yesterday, and for no good reason. I was home most of the day, and didn’t even accomplish much of note.

I was waiting, again, for my Otherspace merchandise. Fortunately, it arrived, and the UPS guy was the nicest guy on planet Earth. And that’s not relief speaking (okay, not much): he was cheerful, and asked when I got home. I replied that I usually get in around 5:30, to which he replied, “Okay, ’cause if you’re not home during the day, I’ll just come around later. I don’t mind.”

Wow. My estimation of UPS just got turned right around. That’s pretty darned good service.

Anyvay. It all showed up: the posters, the t-shirts, the business cards. The posters are beautiful, the t-shirts could house a circus, and the business cards are set a bit oddly. No major complaints, really, even though the t-shirts are supposedly pre-shrunk. Well, I plan to put one through the wash tonight; maybe it will shrink to baby-doll size. Or whatever.

I’m not complaining! Really. It was thrilling to receive physical products featuring characters that I thought up a few months ago.

Now, we just need to make the frickin’ animation.

Oh wait! There is something I can complain about. Heard a knock at my door yesterday evening. That’s always a pleasant surprise, since I know very few of my neighbors, and I’ve enjoy meeting them. I opened the door to a rather heavyset, older woman who peered at me from behind sunglasses.

“Excuse me,” she said, “I’m from the neighborhood association? I’m here about your yard.” She glanced back at the mulch I’d laid on either side of the walk, along with liriope at intervals. “I need you to weed out your overgrown plants, and put in a little wall so that your….ummm…..” She waved vaguely at the mulch. “…your whatever it is won’t go onto the sidewalk. Understand?”

I blinked, then smiled, and said, “Yes, I understand.”

Then she nodded and left.

Y’know, it’s sad that she’s never met me before, and the first thing she does upon meeting me is complain about my yard. I should also point out that, when I moved in, my yard was completely empty except for grass and trees. I’ve done some work to make it attractive.

So when I unexpectedly woke up early this morning, I pushed the mulch well out of the way of the sidewalk, and sprayed Round-Up on the weeds. And I feel impelled to point out that these “weeds” were things like clover that had grown up around the liriope. They weren’t ugly; they were just unexpected.

So. Whatever. I find it funny that the person whom I apparently offended with my uneven garden doedn’t know what mulch is.