Tea and Books, etc.

• I started a new job and am loving it.
• My supervisor, boss and coworkers are kindred souls.
• I've got a predictable schedule and have been doing an 8a to 4p or 9a to 5p days (depending on how my trains run!).
• My work is challenging but not overwhelming.
• My commute is only 5 mins longer if I transfer to express trains (2 different routes).
• I have more (!!) choices for tea than ever before and there are 2 toasters, large microwaves and industrial refrigerators each;
• I've got a flat screen monitor.
• I'm near all the important sections: emergency exits, kitchen, copy room, rest rooms :-D
• I'm forced to do more walking (ergo, exercise!).
• It's a longer walk to my fave restaurants (ergo, less dining out).
• I completed edits on 5 (!) books that are releasing this month, 4 of which remain under my heavy, red pen-wielding hand.
• I did my laundry and paid my bills on time 2 months running.
• I (finally!) sent my poor niece and nevvy their (long) delayed natal day gifts.
• I (finally!) sent snail mail to my poor neglected friends (a >2-year dearth).
• I (finally!) mailed congratulatory packages to my poor friends on their (former) newborns.

Before I get into my not-so-great anecdotes, please read the following warnings:

1. Used Cellphones Hold Trove of Secrets That Can Be Hard to Erase
2. Many people have heard of Zabasearch.com by now, the free people-search engine that's astoundingly comprehensive and, worse, convenient to the Internet world at large. Please read this, which is written by a Hewlett-Packer researcher in Bristol, UK, whose surname is unfortunately the same as the search engine's name (and here are some things you can do to protect yourself.)

My anecdotes --

• In the weeks leading up to my exit at the old job, 3 similar incidents seemed to indicate that the "spirits," Powers That Be, cosmic universe -- you name it -- were trying to tell me something. Like maybe I'd made the right decision?:
  • 3 weeks prior: It was about 10:30p and I was in the office. I heard a thud behind me, but when I turned around, I couldn't see what had caused the noise and didn't think anything of it. The next morning, I walked around the side of my cube I'd heard the noise from and found my office name plate (heavy) had not only fallen, but it'd fallen and bounced over to 1 side... behind my waste basket (3 inches away!). Keep in mind that that name plate had remained in place for nearly 9 months without a problem.
  • 2 weeks prior: 1 afternoon, a night editor came around that same side of my cube to ask me a question and found my name plate had dropped again, straight down this time. 2-3 mornings later, my cube mate (different department) beside/across from me (about 10 feet separated us) and I happened to be facing each other when my name plate once again made a leap through the air... and landed in the span of carpet between us. We both gave each other an, "It must be a sign" look and hastily averted our gazes. I left the thing there and someone else later picked it up for me. I ended up anchoring the thing with push pins (hey! Thrice was enough!)
• As part of my new job's responsibilities, I follow up with physician authors for whom I have queries. There are a pair whom I've been unable to get responses via e-mail, so I phoned them in the same time period, twice for each within moments of each individual call (redial button!), with slightly differing results.
• For 1, a receptionist forwarded my call to the physician's voicemail... which wasn't active. When I called back, I was told he was on vacation the entire week...
• For the other, I called the UK and wasn't able to get through. I immediately tried again and reached what sounded like a mobile phone's voicemail... that had no identifying name but did mention the number. I left a message, but for all I know, some innocent person received that garbled mess. Hey! Don't mock my nonexistent NYC accent!
• I contacted another physician... and discovered too late that my list of queries was misnumbered, which he naturally couldn't help but notice (in a nice way). What a way to make a great impression. I did mention I edit for a living, right? Gah.
• I was able to meet up with my and Socially Inept's friend (climbergurl from our university days), who had driven in from Massachusetts.
• Through a series of traffic diversions and "normal" NYC congestion, her schedule was entirely thrown off and we ended up in rush hour traffic in Manhattan, then trying to navigate the, er, interesting streets/roads/avenues/terraces of Queens to first pick up Socially Inept from work and, second, to eat at a restaurant that our friend had a hankering for.
• During a lively dining experience (ie, raucous), we discussed job woes (them), dating (climbergurl), traveling (them), infants and kids (mutual friends'), culinary delights (ours), astrology/horoscopes/fate (general), politics (domestic and international)
• After a full meal, I underwent the embarrassment of having my pants, um, split. Yes, go on. I'll allow you a few moments of great mirth and hilarity at my expense. Don't bother holding back now. I can see your smirks; if you hold back your guffaws much longer, you'll split as wide as my pants did. Okay. Done now? Let me clarify. My pants split but not where one would expect such things, namely the seat or waist band. No. I, being the singularly unique moi (no modesty here!), found that the seam along 1 side of the zipper had parted. I comfort myself in the face of your massive amusement with the rationalization that the jeans were old and frayed... and that the seam along both sides of the zipper was sewn along a very small flap of material. All true, by the way. Not that I'm not trying to divert attention or anything. Righto. Moving on now....
• My home computer has clearly decided that it regards me as its most loathsome and weevilest enemy. The overhaul it underwent earlier in the year is not holding up well, with the following results:
• It's corrupting files left, right and center... in random fashion.
• It no longer recognizes rtf files, and opening doc files can be hit-and-miss.
• I thought my work computer was working quite well. Then my boss mentioned this neato fax/phone function combined with Outlook...
• I tried to install the program myself and was unable to. Don't laugh! I did everything right. Honest!
• I entered a job ticket (a Thursday) and got a response the following Monday from a very nice gent. He started to install the program, then discovered a whole host of issues with the thing. After spending an hour with the recalcitrant machine, including doing a bunch of uninstallations and reinstallations (good thing I'm still too new to have a bunch of files stored yet!), he determined that he'd have the rebuild the system on a new machine... which took the poor man 4 days. I felt terrible for him. On the other hand, I think everything is fine now and I can use the speakers and my headphones, lol. (Yes, now you know where my true priorities are.)

Well, I imagine you must be near blind by now, so I'm stopping here. I still won't be able to do my blog-visiting just yet but I hope to be on track by the end of the month.

Wafting gargantuan best wishes to you all!

T.