Hump Day Madness

Today was... special

Despite telling myself 15 times to set the coffee pot last night, I did not. I thus had to launch myself out of bed this morning and stumble around in the dark kitchen to set the stupid thing up. My coworkers do not like it when I come to work without coffee. It was refreshingly clear and brisk when I got outside though, so that was nice. Then I remembered that I had let my training lapse. First time for everything I guess. Spent the first part of my morning learning about asbestos and hearing loss... again... for the fifth time. *sigh*

By lunch I was feeling decidedly blah. Realized that I hadn't had ANY water yet, oops. Had my favorite (store bought) soup, Tuscan Tomato Basil Bisque from Safeway. Brady bought it for me last week when I was sick. It's my favorite comfort food when paired with a grilled cheese sammich! Went and talked to Peggy, that always cheers me up. She has a goofy picture of Pepper on her desktop. It makes me giggle every time I see it.

After lunch things went decidedly down hill.

How can I explain this? A certain person told my boss's boss's boss's boss that my group is purposely sitting on tasks that Construction needs. And essentially insinuated that we were, single handedly, holding up the entire project. So the big boss told my boss that we had to drop everything and get our "backlog" of these tasks done ASAP. My boss said "Yes sir! Right away sir!"

You might say "What's wrong with that?" Well, my boss knew full well that it was total and utter BULLSHIT. Most of this kind of task that my group actually has are for facilities that are currently on hold. As in there is no construction being done to be held up. And we really only had a handful of them total, none of them as old as the certain person said. The actual large backlog of very old, and critical path impacting, tasks belong to another group entirely. But did my boss try to explain this? No! He completely sold us out, knowing full well we've been doing the best we can to prioritize and support what little construction is left.

Now to give you a little additional back story. Several months ago the budget for my project, which is government funded, was slashed. By a couple hundred million dollars... for this year. Next year it's even worse. So there have been cut backs and lay-offs. The guy who was my boss at the beginning of the year was incredibly smart and experienced. And he ALWAYS stood up for his people. He was a great mentor and he fought long and hard to do what he felt was right. What did the Powers That Be do to reward his 35 years of hard work? They shoved him in a dark corner and gave his position to someone who has less experience in the department than I do. This new guy, as far as I can tell, does JACK SHIT. He also doesn't give a shit about any of us apparently. I used to go to my old boss every week or two and give him a quick update on my tasks. He listened intently, asked questions, and generally was interested and wanted to know if he could help, and if I could take on more tasks. Generally stuff that I thought a supervisor was supposed to do for the young folks under him. This new guy, he hardly bothers to look away from his computer when I go to talk to him and the most response I get out of him is "Ok." How is this supposed to help me grow??

Anyway, in the few months that the new guy has been my boss, I've been trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. I figured that hey, he had some big shoes to fill. The PTB put him in a tough position. So I was going to reserve judgement. I have made that judgment. He isn't worth the space he takes up. My group is in a rather unique position. I call us the bastard step-child of Engineering and Construction. We are a very convenient scapegoat because neither group really claims us. We need a strong supervisor willing to go to bat for us. Not some dip shit unwilling to refute bald-faced lies.

*deep breath* I had to go outside for a while and scream obscenities. Then I went and did a handful of the tasks, despite knowing nobody needed them for years, if that soon. When 5 o'clock rolled around, I was SO ready to go.

When I got home my awesome fiance was mowing our lawn and making it look gorgeous. And Pepper, the good girl that she is, was laying *just* inside the line that defines the boundary between "outside" and "inside." It's hard to keep a bad mood when you're greeted by her adorable smiling face. I had to print a picture for my old boss's retirement gift, and I was kind of nervous about my meeting with the personal trainer, so I didn't take the pup for a walk. I had some toast with peanut butter and made a glass of Rehydrate to take to the gym.

Once at the gym I hopped on a treadmill and set it to a steady pace to warm up like Brian asked me to. Well, I didn't so much "hop" as clamber awkwardly. My stupid phone decided it didn't feel like looking at the internet, so I fiddled with the huge touch screen monstrosity on the front of the treadmill. You can plug your iPod into it, it has TV, who knows how many preset programs, and you can even plug a USB drive into it and save your workout data! So of course I set the TV to Cartoon Network and the speed to ~3mph and I walked. And walked. And walked. Did I mention I'm habitually early for appointments?

After nearly 20 minutes on the treadmill Brian came and got me, exactly on time. Go me. He took me over to one of the offices in the quite wing of the gym. He then took all sorts of fun measurements. I don't know if you've ever had someone use a fat caliper on you, but it's not that fun. He kept saying "oh that's a good chunk of fat there." I wonder if he realized how bad that sounded... Then it was time for the results. My body fat percentage is 35.2% That's 71.7 pounds of fat on my 203 pound body. Gross! What he said next really surprised me though. He said my ideal weight is 175! Wow, that almost seems attainable! Things were looking up. Next he took physical measurements. Interestingly enough my left bicep, forearm, thigh, and calf are all 1/2" larger than my right. How the hell does that work?? *shrug* Brian was quite startled when I told him I was right-handed. He said he hadn't seen measurements that far off in a long time. Go me?

Then he had me do push ups. As many as I could. Ugh. I lost count, but it was probably like 10... From my knees, i.e. "girly push ups." *sigh* Next he said to do a wall squat. As I assumed the position, he said to hold it for a minute. A minute! He obviously doesn't realize how much strain a wall squat puts on damaged knees when you're carrying 30 extra pounds of fat! I didn't last long. He had me try two more times to total a minute. I told him I hated him. While he wrote stuff down, I had a lovely dizzy spell. I decided to spend some time on the floor. He wasn't sure what to do with that. So he told me "Since you're already on the floor, let's do the plank." I have no idea how long I held it. He didn't comment. Lastly we did some sitting rows. 12 with 45 pounds, then 15 with 50 pounds. I did ok. Brian asked if I hated him. I told him I was reserving judgement. He sent me home with the promise of a "real" workout Friday morning at 8am. Great.

Came home and forced myself to choke down a meal replacement shake. My tummy was none too happy about the dizzy spell. But I know I have to eat *something* before bed. Well, tomorrow is Thursday. I can survive one more day at work. And I'll treat myself to a nice long walk with the pup. Friday is going to be bonkers. Saturday I'm cleaning the house East to West! (left to right? I don't have a top or bottom in my house...) I'm quite surprised at how much I'm liking doing this blog. I'm already looking forward to my post at the end of each day. It feels good to get everything out. Even if nobody else reads it. Well I'm going to brush my teeth and crash. G'night world.