Barb’s Burblings

I had scoffed at people’s ideas about working for the government. I’ve worked for the government for almost 4 months, but haven’t really run into many of the stereotypes. There are a couple of people entrenched in their positions who could use the heave-ho, but most people aren’t like that. It’s a lot larger than anywhere else I’ve worked, but doesn’t seem terribly different.
And then came this afternoon. I needed to FedEx something. Not far; just to another government agency. It seriously took multiple hours. Oh, how I miss just walking next door and grabbing a mailroom guy. This FedEx involved two different forms and chasing down someone for a signature. I seriously had to go 2 or 3 levels above me to get this approved. It was nuts.
Ah, bureaucracy in action.

I don’t know why, but Colin spent about 10 minutes this afternoon sitting on the floor, staring up at my air conditioner. I actually went over, picked him up (maybe he wanted a closer look?). He jumped back down, and went straight back to his previous position. It’s all very mysterious.

This is incredibly frustrating and incredibly addictive.

Courtesy of The Onion: 13 Unpopular TV Characters
I don’t know about some of these entries. I was never one of those Buffy fans who hated Dawn; I wound up hating the writers, but that was more about what they did to Buffy herself. And I kind of liked James Hurley and Wesley Crusher; but then, I was, like, 12, so I liked many random, somewhat attractive (…to me. at the time.) boys. I can’t really explain it now.

It’s 10 on a Thursday night. Am I watching Windfall? Nope, I’m recording that. Am I cleaning Colin’s litter box? Nope. Am I organizing my linen closet? Nope. Am I rearranging my furniture? Nope. Am I putting away the Chinese food I ordered for dinner? Nope. Am I doing something about the boxes that are left to unpack? Nope. Am I watching the O’s blow their third straight game? Nope.
So what AM I doing? Going through the ringtones on my new cell phone, of course. Because that’s obviously the most vital thing to be doing at the moment.

I don’t know when they started, but the Orioles have started including a “Notes” section on the scorecard. It comes in handy–like yesterday, when Jeter came out of the game after getting drilled, the Yankees totally had to switch around who was playing where, so I had space to write down what happened. So helpful in that way.
Except that now I have a place to vent my frustration. Saturday’s scorecard has notes like “Matos sucks” and “It’s like they’re saying ‘We can win, but we won’t.’” I also noted that today’s “Guess the Year” had a clue that said something about Paul McCarney announcing the breakup of the Beatles. I seem to remember a Paul McCartney in the Beatles, but no Paul McCarney. Oh, foolish scoreboard worker.
Sunday was Photo Day at Camden Yards, and once again Brian totally avoided me. Even Reserve Oriole Boyfriend Adam Loewen (who did a decent job yesterday) trotted back to the bullpen before making it over to me. Oh well.
I still had a blast, mostly thanks to the people I was standing near, both in line and in the park.
Negative? I now have two sunburnt strips on my arms. And I think my lips might be a bit sunburnt, too. I’ll just be grateful that my face lotion is SPF 15.
In other news, if you take the Brian bobblehead and the Melvin Mora bobblehead and put them together, you get this:

Isn’t that the cutest thing EVER? Oh my. They’re doing The Move! I love it! I’m still upset I can’t make it to the Brian bobblehead day, as that’s Mary’s wedding. I wonder if the Brian bobbles at Bowie and Frederick match this. I may have to call and ask.