My lunch cost exactly $6.66.

Maybe I shouldn't have gotten the jalapeno cornbread.

This time of year, holiday songs are ubiquitous. It's like they stalk you: there is no escape! Except, apparently, at the deli in my office building. I was making a salad when suddenly I realized the song on the PA was not the expected classic carol slaughtered by the poptart of the moment. It was, in fact, Ironman. And not some bland Muzak version, but Black Sabbath in all it's hard rocking glory. I heart my deli.

Thanks to the Obama rally in Grant Park (two blocks from my office) and the surrounding security forces & media circus, I get to leave the office 1.5 hours early. Thanks 'Bama!

And since I took advantage of early voting this year, I get enjoy extra playtime instead of standing in long poll lines. Yays!

Time for you to get off your lazy arses and start bringing in some $$$. Here's some inspiration from Japan.

First of May! First of May!
Outdoor loving starts today!

Celebrate Spring! (NSFW without headphones.)

Also, please send healing vibes, say a prayer, etc. for our old guy Roo who is at the vet's undergoing tests. He has renal disease--for which we have been treating him--and yesterday EEK noticed blood in Roo's urine. UPDATED TO ADD: Roo has a UTI, but we caught it very early. He'll be heading home soon with a bottle of antibiotics. Merci mes amis.

(Yes, I am home from San Francisco, but am buried under preparations for three impending bankruptcy filings. In fact, I am at work on one of my days off. My group figured out yesterday that since January 1, there has been only one weekend that none of us was working. How depressing is that? I needs me some outdoor loving, I tell you what!)

...is perfect for playing lunch hour bocce ball with coworkers. The only thing better would have been sipping wine while we played, mais hélas, we do not live in Europe. My team won 17-13: rock!

The woman tossing the ball is my friend Anne R. We met in grad school. Before working together at the Legal Behemoth, we were coworkers at the Accounting Behemoth. We met our husbands and got engaged & married within months of each other. We've known each other a looooooong time.

After being turned down twice I have finally been promoted to coordinator of my work group effective April 1. Apparently it took my supervisor writing a book-length* memo enumerating all the reasons why I deserve promotion for his recommendation to finally make it to the operations committee.

*I kid you not. The memo is at least 200 pages long.

I just received gifts for my fifth anniversary with the Legal Behemoth: a silver-plated picture frame and a bonus check that has been prorated due to my part-time status. I guess that's partly nice. At least they didn't prorate the frame. Off to a meeting...

The annual review process starts today. I have until next Friday to complete a self review. I hate those things. As if work isn't unpleasant enough as it is.

But my friend Ann sent me this 'tube: blak kitteh iz harbinger of doom. I danced last night. Tonight I get to snuggle with EEK. I dance again tomorrow. So things aren't all bad.

Oh, and it's Mardi Gras. That means the Legal Behemoth will be providing paczki for breakfast and I will indulge my chocolate tooth repeatedly. Laissez les bon temps rouler!

Believe it or not, I am still alive. I've just been buried under a growing mountain of due diligence work. What can I say? A bad economy is good for bankruptcy attorneys.

In other news, the Legal Behemoth gave me a bonus equivalent to 4 1/2 days of pay. This is in addition to the holiday bonus last month. Well, it was impressive before taxes and deductions anyway.

Also, according to the National Weather Service the sky is falling in Chicagoland. Watch yer heads peeps!

Wow, it's been more than weeks since I've LJ'd. Damn insolvent companies! My work group is handling seven active bankruptcies, four of which are to be filed between now and the first week of February. That's pretty much all I've been doing, going in on my off days, working from home on the weekends. The only reason I'm not working now is that EEK & I are flying to FL today for a much delayed holiday celebration with the relatives. Won't be back in Chgo until Monday afternoon. The Legal Behemoth will just have to do without me.

Y'all have a great weekend!

I drew the last number, giving me the opportunity to assess all but one of the already opened gifts. The only item left on the table looked to be a gift card. I weighed my options & decided to steal these fermented grape squeezins. I put the bottle back in its gift bag and casually stood in front of it during the game ending melee, successfully defending my prize by taking it out of view. The gift card turned out to be worth $15. chats_noirs FTW! w00T!!

Just gotta make it through this week and next, then I'll have 2 1/2 weeks off. I'm going to sleep and read and watch movies and generally do nothing of consequence. It'll be awesome. I can't wait.

We're doing Enneagram training at work. I don't like putting myself or anyone into boxes. The description for my type is pretty accurate though. Let's say I'm intrigued, but still skeptical.

( 0bserve and Reflect )

Meme-age found via ownselfbetrue. It looks like the quiz was written by the authors of the book my boss is using. At least the results are directly lifted from it.

It's a sad state of affairs when the outside air in downtown Chicago is cleaner than office air. I don't know what's going on at Legal Behemoth WHQ Ops, but for the past two weeks I develop a mild headache, stuffed up ears & a bad sinus, um, condition within two hours of arriving at the building. It clears up by the following morning. I'm perfectly fine on days I'm not in the office.

Time to start rocking a particle mask?

( biatching within )

UPDATE: It seems I am not the only monthly pass holder here to suddenly have $300 appear in a transit account or have a pass unexpectedly deactivated. CTA needs to get its damn act together. Still have to wait until August to reactivate. F*ck!

Whooooo-hooooooo! The Legal Behemoth is closing the Chicago office early due to the blizzard (a blizzard that has been howling away since the wee hours of the morning, but whatevs, I'm leaving early). I wonder how long it'll take to get home? Thanks goodness I always have a book at hand.

My Chgo Trib horoscope for today:

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) - The trouble with your schedule for work is that it is interfering again with your schedule for play.

No sh*t. My group has three back-to-back deadlines coming up this month. I came in on both my off days this week and will probably do the same next week. Plus my freaking waste of time self review is due by the 19th. I'm exhausted. Funny how quickly I adapted to my part-time schedule. Ah well, I'll be back to a life of semi-leisure soon. TGIF y'all.

Edited to add: F*ck! Mercury is in retrograde until March 8. Up yours Mercury!

CNN sends out a news alert about the death of Anna Nicole Smith and the Legal Behemoth network slows to a crawl. Interesting.

Poor Anna. I hope your daughter has a chance at a better life.

Dear co-workers,

Please stop blathering about the frakking Super Bowl and get back to work. Our employer has thoughtfully scheduled a rally for Friday afternoon. For Pete's sake, shaddap about it until then.

And, no, if it was the Packers going to the big game I would NOT be chattering nonstop about it. Nor would I be trying to lord it over you. As a rule I try to avoid bugging the everloving sh*t out of everyone around me. Please do the same.

Beseechingly,
C_N

GAH! I am so glad I won't be in the office on Friday.