I have a spiel worked out. Whenever clients walk into the office, I greet them, of course. Then I ask them which attorney they are seeing. When they answer, I get the client’s name. Then I beep the attorney, and tell said attorney that his client(s) is/are here. Then I say, and I quote:

“Have a seat, the attorney will be right out with you.”

I say it every time. You know, it’s the whole hospitality thing, being the front desk receptionist and all.

Most clients will sit. When we remodeled the office all those years ago, Boss Pinkie invested in these black leather(ish) sofas and chairs. They are super cool, and comfortable. A lot of clients have commented on them; unfortunately, I can’t tell them where we got them from when they ask. Because I honestly don’t know, tell you the truth.

Anyway. The point is, most clients will sit. I’m cool with that.

However, some clients do not sit.

For whatever reason, they insist upon standing.

And that drives me absolutely insane. Absolutely. Friggin’. Insane.

I honestly couldn’t tell you why.

This afternoon, Boss Junior had a client come in to the office to sign some paperwork. I gave my spiel, beeped Boss Junior to inform him his client was here, and finished off with “Have a seat, he’ll be right with you.”

She didn’t sit. She stood.

Drove me insane. Absolutely. Friggin’. Insane.

I’ve always had a pet peeve of people standing over my shoulder, or reading over my shoulder. Absolutely hate it. Maybe it’s the whole I’m-a-writer thing. I dunno. I know I have a hugely exaggerated personal space bubble to begin with, but it’s really not a personal space issue, at least at the office. Who’s to say I’m not working on something privileged for another attorney? You know? I am responsible for certain paperwork in the office that deals with very privileged information, and I don’t just want anybody standing there. Anybody could see what I’m working on, you know? And my computer screen does not have a privacy filter on it whatsoever; Amy and I have looked, but our monitors are too big for most privacy filters to fit.

Unfortunately, the way my workspace in the office is set up, my right shoulder faces the front door and the reception area. In essence, clients do stand over my shoulder when they are standing at the front desk.

It just makes me cringe. Badly. Makes me want to scream at the client to get away from me and just sit DOWN! Or, you know, a little more colorful version, namely ‘sit the f*** DOWN!’ but, you know, I’d never say it that way. I’m hospitable, even when I don’t want to be. I grit my teeth and bear it, even when I really don’t want to.

There. I said it. I feel better.

(Vocal point of reference, with that last line: If you’ve ever seen the Animaniacs cartoon called “Meatballs or Consequences,” you’ll recognize that line. Took me a while to remember; thank you for your help, Nathan.)

On another note, the post office has really been bothering me the past couple….oh, I dunno, weeks. Namely, a client mailed a package to our office back before Christmas, and it just got to our office today. Yes, you heard that right. TODAY! To be fair, there had been a news story a while back about how packages would take longer to process since the postal system was scaling back on costs and jobs and all. But, c’mon, a friggin’ month?!? That’s ridiculous! To coin a British phrase, Bosses Pinkie and Junior were gobsmacked. In a bad way, mind.

I can hardly wait ’til tomorrow….

This photo is courtesy of my sister. She took it and posted it to her Facebook page last night. It’s the best picture of Jasper.

What a cutie he is! He’s a beagle/coonhound mix, and come November of this year, he will be eight years old.

I’ll be sure to keep you posted, as to what develops.

Okay, first of all, Client, if you tell me you’re going to “try back,” as in ‘try to telephone call back,’ at a certain time for a Boss, please do telephone call back at that certain time. Don’t friggin’ physically stop by at that certain time without a freakin’ appointment. Certain Bosses get really busy sometimes, and in those instances they really hate it when clients just drop in unannounced. Believe me, I know – I have to hear about it later. Sheesh!

Okay. That said.

Sorry. I’m a little wound up today. Can’t you tell?!?

Weather-wise, the new problem is ice. Not like an ice storm, no. Just roadways melting during the day and then refreezing overnight. Fun. C.R. is notoriously bad for not treating side roads in any sort of timely fashion. Wouldn’t you know, side roads are what we take to get to work, mostly. Joy.

Note to my dad: the change in your radio schedule sorta confused me, but I will hopefully be able to catch the show on Friday night on Tenacity Radio. I take it you are no longer on Radio ACN? Plus, my computer at home has been acting up; it was Nathan’s old computer, and still has the same problems it had before Matthew ‘fixed’ it. Hopefully, I’ll be listening on Friday. I don’t have anything planned for Friday, except that. So. Now, addressing the readers at large: my dad’s show is still on Friday nights on Tenacity Radio, now from 8:00 pm – 10:30 pm EST (which is 7:00 – 9:30 CST).

Yeah, Nathan got himself a laptop some months ago, so I was given his old computer. Matthew tried to fix it up, but quickly determined I needed Windows 7 installed (something about how Windows XP was no longer supported or something), so I got Windows 7 for it, but it still has the same problems. Namely, it locks up every now and then, and then it throws itself into a mechanical tizzy trying to get back to normal. When I try to power it back on after it locks up, it sounds like a car engine trying to turn over and failing. Happens at least once a week since I’ve had it. You’d think I’d have already given up on it, but I haven’t. Weird, huh?

Couple entertainment things now:

I read, courtesy of my uncle Paul on Facebook, that Steven Tyler butchered the National Anthem at a recent sporting event. Hm. Uncle Paul did make a good point – the National Anthem is a difficult song to sing well. Got me thinking – why does our national anthem even have lyrics?!? No, okay, I guess that question is wholly stupid – I know the history of the National Anthem, and Francis Scott Key, and it was originally a poem, and so on and so forth, blahblahblah. It’s just I’ve always felt that the anthem sounds much better when played by a band or orchestra in the first place. Without all the frappin’ singing. Don’t call me unpatriotic, please. If it would save us from having to listen to butchered vocal versions, then I’d rather hear it instrumental, all the time. Just my opinion. Speaking of, and on a totally related note, at the last RoughRiders game we went to, a former classmate of mine sang the National Anthem for the pre-game. And, oh my god, she was horrible! I was sitting there thinking, “You used to be in the Happiness show choir, dear, and this is the best you can sing?!?” You’d think that for all her time in Happiness, it would’ve taught her something about singing, but nooooooooo. Further proof that she was only included in Happiness for a little factor known as T&A. And, yes, I did just say that out loud. (If you don’t know what T&A is, you’re probably too young and therefore shouldn’t be on the internet without parental supervision. Myself, I blame “A Chorus Line.”)

Oscar nominations came out today. And there was not a lot of love for “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2″ from the Academy. Especially when it came to best supporting actor. SOB! Here I was, preparing to go all fan-girl. And I really was. Alan Rickman, sillies! Duh! I’d be biased, of course – the man is one of my most favorite actors EVER. Daniel Radcliffe is probably right, though – Rickman probably wouldn’t have cared if he was or wasn’t nominated. But still. If you get right down to it, Rickman’s had some fantastic performances in the past that were shamefully overlooked at awards season. “Snow Cake,” anyone? God, what a great movie that was; I will definitely be springing for that DVD in the future. He’s come due, past due in fact, for some major recognition, and his performance as Severus Snape was the best thing about the whole “Harry Potter” franchise, bar nothing; do not argue that point with me. *SIGH* In a way, I’m disappointed, but in a way, I’m not. I totally love Alan Rickman, regardless.

Told you, I was wound up. It’s been a weird day. Amy’s out sick today, I had to do some book work for a Boss which really made me nervous, the phones are relatively busy (mostly salespeople, though, and boy, do I have fun brushing them off), and I will probably soon be on my fourth can of soda for the day. I started drinking soda at 7:00 this morning. I kid you not. Wanna see me go for more? We have a 20-pack chillin’ in the office fridge. I’ve done worse, of course – guzzled 44 ounces of soda all at 1:30 in the morning. I had been really down the previous day, not that the insomnia that followed the drink took the edge off. And for the record – 20-packs are sorta ridiculous, don’t you think? I’ll stick to buying 24-packs in the future. It’s only about a buck more for 4 more cans. That, or the grocery store price-gauges. I wouldn’t be surprised.

Egad. Leaving off now, before I either start making less sense or I really embarrass myself.

Yes, I know it’s been over three months – THREE MONTHS – since I posted last. Shame on me! (For the record, no, we didn’t see a Halloween blizzard.)

True to form, nothing has really happened since I last posted. Work, sleep, home, life. Same old.

Just a couple things, though:

My family and I spent the Christmas holiday in Illinois with the family. We had a wonderful time. Unfortunately for me, I picked up a slight bug from one of the Bosses, and spent part of the weekend under the weather. Hence all the naps. Sorry about that, folks. The most fun part was the white elephant gift draw. tee hee. We should do that more often!!! The gift I drew consisted of a kitty-covered holiday sweater (which fits), a can of Silly String (SWEET, though I have yet to use it, be afraid), a bag of Starlight mints, an unused recipe book, and a beach mat (which will work wonders if we ever get lawn seats at future Kernel baseball games). My thanks to whoever supplied the gift; I forgot to ask who. I avoided stealing the gift with the beer, though it got around. I think either my cousin Brian or my uncle Bill ended up with it. We also had a family portrait session done at the school. This photo was posted on my uncle John’s Facebook page, and I’m shamelessly borrowing it:

That’s not all of us, either. My cousin Gina hadn’t arrived yet when the family photos were taken; my family and I missed her by a couple days, darn it. So just imagine one more person in that photo, and that would be all of us.

Yup. We’re all…..all. I love my family.

Some drama here at home, involving my sister’s dog Jasper. Poor Jas. Something happened to him, and he is now blind in his left eye. There is a tumor behind his left eye. Eek! Amy felt so bad. She took him to a specialist that the vet recommended, and the specialist said that, aside from the tumor, the retina was also detached. His eye can’t be saved, regardless. So this coming Friday, he is – SOB – going to have his eye removed. Poor Jas! Once the eye is removed, it will be sent for further testing. And we’re not quite sure what’s going to happen after that. Only time will tell. I’ll keep you posted.

Finally getting some SNOW! Oh my goodness. Christmas didn’t feel like Christmas, either here or in Illinois, because there was absolutely NO SNOW. To say nothing of the fact that for most of the start of the winter it was so damn mild! We got to fifty degrees for a couple of days at the start of the month! If I remember correctly, it was fifty at Christmas time, too. Of course, just this past week, we’ve gotten snow and freezing cold in droves. In fact, we closed the office early on Friday, because it got pretty bad weather-wise. Yeah, driving was not fun on Friday; well, I wasn’t driving, because I can’t drive, but you know what I mean.

Either way, cold or mild, people still complained about the weather. I don’t understand that at all.

Oh, and I turned another year older on January 5th. Yeah, I blinked and missed it, too.

And that’s about it. Not much else going on.

Hopefully, I will be posting more often than once every three months. Just gotta get back into the swing of things.

So, I’ll see you around!!!

My brothers and I were on the way to the laundromat yesterday morning, as we do every Sunday. We were idly chatting the whole of the way.

Can’t even remember what brought it up now, but Matthew mentioned that Mom had overheard from some of her co-workers that we are in for a major blizzard.

By Halloween.

Egad.

‘Tis the season to look ahead to winter, yes, but Halloween isn’t THAT far ahead. According to Matthew, folks have already been warned to stock up on supplies within the next two weeks, and both he and Amy are planning on getting their cars winterized by the end of the month. And then this morning, the dry-cleaning courier for the office mentioned the blizzard. He said he wouldn’t be surprised if it happened, and that we’re in for a rough winter, anyway.

I’ve said we’re overdue for a May blizzard, not an October one!

Craziness.

That makes for a countdown. And it’s four weeks from today.

I’ll keep you posted.

Sorry about that.

Off to visit relatives tomorrow. Can’t wait!

Here’s today’s Funny. This doesn’t necessarily mean I’m on a “Tiny Toons” kick – it just turned out that way. I actually debated whether or not to post the entire episode, which is called “Kon Ducki” (which is available on Youtube), or just this particular snippet. In the end, the snippet won out. Too funny. TOO FUNNY!

Enjoy! And Happy Friday!

It’s a “Tiny Toon Adventures” episode called “Hog-Wild Hamton.” In the episode, Hamton’s parents go out of town, leaving Hamton to hold down the fort. In the good old tradition of parents leaving and kids throwing wild parties, Plucky takes it upon himself to host a wild party at Hamton’s house, against Hamton’s wishes and the instructions of his parents. Hamton’s neighbor is Egghead, Jr., who is studying for a big exam and needs peace and quiet. The party predictably escalates in raucousness, and Egghead, Jr.’s pleas for peace and quiet become more and more violent.

And then this happens:

It is TOO FUNNY, even after all these years. I mean, “V for Vendetta” did it well, but “Tiny Toons” just did it better. But both “V for Vendetta” and “Tiny Toons” are the reasons I can never listen to the 1812 Overture the same way again; my sincerest apologies to Tchaikovsky.

Enjoy! And Happy Friday!

Here’s today’s Funny. It’s the Three Musketeers sketch from a special called “The Muppets Go To The Movies.” It’s so funny.

Enjoy! And Happy Friday!

I don’t know what else I want to say.

So, here’s this Tuesday’s Tune. We kids watched MTV a lot growing up, and this was one of our favorite videos. Not to mention it’s also a great song.

Happy listening.

Work is the same. That new mail technique I said I was going to employ didn’t really work out – Boss Pinkie wants the mail itself stamped, not just the envelope. Oops. Now I slice open the envelope, extract the mail, stamp the back of the letter/document, attach the envelope, then pass it all on to the proper attorney. So it added a step for me. Oh well.

I have an epic movie review in the pipeline, but I’m not sure how I’m going to post it. So far, it’s 7,000+ words; I did say it was epic. I’m debating whether to split it up into two or even three parts, or just post it in one lump sum, but that would make an awfully long read, and I wouldn’t want you to get bored. It would probably help if I re-watched the movie first….maybe this weekend. Hey, don’t think I haven’t been watching it – it’s on Youtube! I would, however, like someone to watch it with me, just for additional opinions.

I’m currently in a hate stage of my ongoing love-hate relationship with food (Who doesn’t have that relationship?), to the point where I’m only eating about one meal a day. Yeah, I know that’s not good for me. But I get nauseous at the very thought of food, and I get nauseous when I eat that one meal a day. So, you know, what should I do? I’m not sick or anything. I just don’t want to eat. I’m drinking water and milk and juice like normal, though.

Today’s Funny is a “Camp Lazlo” cartoon; it’s the first “Camp Lazlo” episode I ever saw, so it’s the one I remember most fondly. I love Clam. Clam cracks me up.

Enjoy! And Happy Friday!