renegadeRICEcracker

the end of the rainbow.

it has been stormy in sunny LA the last couple of days (here is a pic from my camera phone),

but has lightened into intermittent showers today. outside my window is a full rainbow -- big and bright enough to see all the colors -- red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and TWO shades of purple. pretty fuckin' cool. a second, fainter one has sprung up behind it, and now they are flattening out and retreating, leaving only a few faint remnants.

when the rainbow first came, the full arch was outside my window, and i was able to look directly down to where it ended, just west of the 110N, around wilshire. there was, unfortunately, no pot of gold.

i couldn't fit the whole thing into my camera-phone's screen, but this is what i got:

yay rainbow!

fedex/kinko's boycott

ugh. i just got this from someone at work. do what you want with it.

All,

With apologies in advance for any email list abuse, FedEx has decided not to provide medical benefits to the spouses of their MARRIED gay and lesbian employees in Massachusetts:

Firms Block Gays' Benefits, Cite US Law

Even though the cost to cover the spouses would be negligible, FedEx thinks it can get save a few bucks because no one will care if they recognize same-sex marriages or not. As we approach a new year, and as some good news is expected on the domestic partnership front in California next month, still there is a lot of arbitrary prejudice left to stand up against by voting with your feet.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

1) BOYCOTT FedEx/Kinko's (FedEx owns Kinko's). Show its executives that we DO care. A major company's recognition of state-sanctioned marriages, though not federally binding, DOES means
something to consumers. We've got to be willing to put our money where our mouth is.

2) E-MAIL FedEx by clicking here and filling out your information. Under "Question or Comments" copy and paste the following (or write your own):

I am boycotting FedEx because of its decision to not provide equal medical benefits to the spouses of its married gay and lesbian employees in Massachusetts. Until such time FedEx respects the marriages of its gay and lesbian employees, I pledge not to use any of FedEx's services.

3) PLEASE FORWARD this e-mail to as many allies as you know.

Best Regards.

aiya.

i got unexpected christmas gifts from two secretaries i don't work with. they are both totally awesome and it was very sweet of them, but aiya -- if you are going to do something unexpected for the holidays you should do it EARLY so that if you are giving something to a slackass like me, said slackass will have time to get something for you in return (and i was all proud of myself for getting christmas cards early and mailing them out a whole 6 days before christmas, but nonetheless, cards started rolling in before i could get them out anyway. *sigh* i suck.).

the thoughtful surprises resulted in my phoning my sister, who very fortunately was at the mall and very nicely picked up some stuff for me. i wrapped it all last night, and was able to give presents to my secretary and the other two today, sliding just under the bar on the very last day everyone will be here. oops. my sister does rock, though.

HEY DID I TELL YOU ALL THAT MY SISTER IS PREGNANT? HEY!!! MY SISTER IS PREGNANT!!!!!

i am tired. there is all this work to do and i'm not going to be able to take time off but it's always hard to work when the office is empty. plus i've been leaving kinda early to hang out with my PREGNANT SISTER who is in town.

alright. back to work. happy holidays!

if only i could SMACK someone.

it is a difficult situation when want to tell someone they should get off their ass and do their job, but they are so defensive and prone to immediately blaming everyone else and/or continuously e-mailing/calling with excuses that you have to be very, very, very nice about it, but then when you are not mean enough they then just don't take you seriously and continue not to do their job. and when you know that you will be working with them indefinitely, and probably forever. UGH.

thoughts i had while driving home from the airport.

1. i HATE traffic at the airport during the holidays.

2. why is there a sign for the college of west los angeles around the airport? shouldn't it be in, i don't know, west los angeles?

3. thai bamboo (or blue thai, or whatever it was) must get a lot of good business being situated right next to a strip club.

hmm.

i just caught myself meowing out loud in my office, with the door open. i need to get some sleep.

sleeeeepy.

so much for having a productive day. the few hours i would have been working were spent delivering staff gifts. this was kinda fun. the associates and special counsel all chipped in to get holiday gifts for the entire staff (secretaries, cases assistants, paralegals, and managers) to thank them for their hard work. this year we got coldstone gift certificates, put them in ice cream cones with chocolates, and wrapped them in tissue. we delivered them wearing santa hats. i'm thinking that this is a good look for me and i should do it all the time.

anyway, now i'm sitting back at my desk, all sleepy again. when can i go home and watch more alias?

though i have to say. i'm 1/3 through the third season, and am pissed off. grr.

*sigh*

and then sometimes the person is very friendly the next day and you go out to lunch together and you can't help liking them no matter how stressed and upset you were before. this is all a lot to get used to.

bah.

sometimes i really like my job. sometimes i really, really hate it. sometimes people you may be working for don't deal well with stress, and this makes it scary to talk to them, even though normally you are friends with them.

props to amazon.com

i ordered some stuff yesterday. i paid the $18.47 to have it arrive today. it didn't. i briefly considered whether it was worth it or not to request that my shipping and handling charge be reduced from the 1-day rate to the 2-day rate (supposed to arrive tomorrow). i logged onto my account. shipping and handling already refunded in its entirety.

that was a nice surprise.

identity crisis

on my way home tonight, i saw a fire truck. next to it i saw a couple firemen, in their yellow fire-resistant fireman suits. one of them only had the yellow pants on, with a dark blue t-shirt. it said FDNY. isn't that kinda weird?

completely obsessed

a few weeks ago, i became completely obsessed with alias. i am now more than halfway through season 2 and will power through season 3 to be ready to watch the new season in january. it will be a sad thing when i start watching it and have to readjust to not being able to skip all commercials and watch 5 episodes in a row. it will probably be good, though, because i think this alias addiction is starting to affect my work performance (not that that is more important than alias).

it's sad, though, i can see why a huge audience hasn't caught on -- it's a very complicated plot and if you miss one, you are lost, much less if you come in in the middle. my new mission is to foist my new possessions on everyone around me so they will all be completely up to speed. this is not turning out to be that difficult because, as ayumi notes, "it's like crack."

sidenote: fucking blog spammers.