When bad things happen

I have been here since 6:25 and am on my second cup of extra strong black tea. In about an hour the HR manager of the company we have merged with will be here to walk us through signing up for our new benefits. Those of us that are still employed that is. Yup out of an office of 12 plus one summer intern 3 are leaving. Plus the intern but we don't' really count him. One of those not offered a position with the new company was the BF. Apparently they don't need a 7th engineer. However he's being kept on till the end of July and once they see the kind of work that he does, namely the video and satellite portion of his work, they may change their minds and ask him to stay. I for one hopes that he finds a new job in the intervening month and tells them to kiss his ass.

We will be sitting down this weekend or possibly next week, after the vacation, to draw up a budget and try to figure out how we'll survive in case he doesn't find a job soon. I know that we'll make it but is a scary prospect. I wish I made more money so that he could concentrate on getting his business running up to capacity and actually bring in some money from that instead of just making enough to pay some of the bills associated with it. Right now he's feeling kind of like a schmuck being unable to provide for the people he just invited to move in with him. While he's never stopped me from picking up the tab for a meal and the one time I bought him a tank of gas, he has the old fashioned notion that the man must be able to provide for and take care of his family financially. This is a notion I find quaint and really don't want to disabuse him of. After all I kind of like the idea of being taken care of. That being said, however, I know that I am not cut out to be a stay at home mom. I tried that once and it ended with me miserable and bitchy. I admire the women that can successfully pull it off and still have their self esteem intact, the house clean, and the kids not in need of psychological help.

One other person may be leaving our happy family here at work. An account manager received her offer from the new company and felt it to be an insult. The offer was returned to our president and he was told to "do better". Hmmmm I wonder how this will turn out. I for one would not be sad to see her go. She is a fabulous person and a pretty good account manger. However this job has worn her down and makes her physically ill. I think she would be doing herself a favor if she left it.

Things seen in Seattle yesterday and so far today:

• An older lady dressed like fairy princess picking up things from the gutter
• A young couple leaving (probably home baked) bran muffins in the door ways and other areas where the homeless in this part of town tend to reside. Wonder if they thought ahead to when all that bran starts to work in these people?
• A deck of perfectly good pokemon cards scattered across 4th ave. Some kid is probably crying right now.
• One window washer kissing another window washer about 14 stories up in the air.

Why are people passing around a 2 year old e-mail about how close Mars will be to Earth this summer? I just received it from my aunt, who is now the fourth person to send this aged missive to me. Come on people get with the program. Don't you think it's a little strange that Mars will be closer to Earth then ever before, except for a few years ago. Doesn't anyone remember that summer? Am I the only geek out there that camped out many a summer night to watch in awe as Mars rose over the horizon and was the brightest thing out there next to the moon?
I am adding a couple of links to some blogs I like to read. If anyone ever reads mine then I encourage you to check these guys out. They are far wittier then I will ever be and Tanya makes me laugh out loud when I read some of her posts. The one about Texan cheerleaders and falling on a weiner had me in tears. I had to leave my office and go to the bathroom to compose myself. I know it's childish but the phrase, "fall on a weiner" still makes me laugh even as I am typing it.