Hello San Juan!!!
Friday, December 30, 2005Ok, so I'm sorry about the lack of posts, but the last few days blew by.
I got back from Madison and visiting the family and used part of the money I got to buy a new computer. I promptly set that up and proceeded to play World of Warcraft for 11 hours with Big Mike. The fact that we can both play at the same time now is going to be a bad thing hehe.
Anyway, I then had to pack up and head here. If you forget where here is, let me remind you:
Puerto Rico
It was 28 degrees when I left the Tiwn Cities, and it was a lovely 78 degrees when I landed here in San Juan. Immediately after picking me up, we headed straight out to the bars. Our first stop was to Old San Juan. Obviously that's the really old historic part of the city. There's an old fort and beautifully painted old buildings. Very neat and very pretty.
We downed a bunch of $1 beers at this little bar/convenience store and then headed to one other bar for a while that had writing on all of the walls. If you had a permanent marker, you could add your own as well :O) After everything stated to close up, we headed over to a pizza shop at 3am and then called it a night.
Definitely a good start. And since Puerto Rico Pauly has internet here I can leave posts to give you updates on the whole vacation :O)
Pictures unfortunately will have to wait until I get home since it's only dial up here.
And don't worry, there will be at least one live Slacker Audio Broadcast from the beaches of San Juan one of these days!
Today's plan: Watch the Gophers beat Virgina in the Music City Bowl, then grab some food and later we'll be going to club where we'll be getting a VIP section and our own bartender to celebrate Paul's birthday. Happy B-day kid! Should be a great time!
Ok, back to the vacation, talk to you all tomorrow! :O)
posted by Chief Slacker @ 12:38 PM,
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I Can See the Future...
Monday, December 26, 2005And it has two Visual Edition posts in it! I'll have pictures from xmas and also a set of pictures from the Packers game on Christmas day!
Right now though I have to get ready to go out and party it up on State Street here in Madison. If you're not familiar, well, you should be!
Anyway, hope all of you are having a good holiday season!
Keep slackin!
Check back tomorrow for the visual posts :O)
posted by Chief Slacker @ 6:50 PM,
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Holiday Wishes and an Update
Saturday, December 24, 2005First off...
Happy Holidays!!
My best wishes go out to all of you for whatever holidays you may be celebrating this season. I hope all of you and your families have a great time! Toss a couple back for The Chief and make some good memories peoples!
An Update:
So I have unfortunately not been able to blog much lately with all of the stuff going on with work. As you can see from the last post, I have found a way to be able to post during the week without using the internet or doing anything that will get me canned at work. After all, you can't be a Slacker, if you don't have a job to slack off from. That's just being a bum.
I have been looking for a new job, I have two interviews this next week and then also have several set up for after the holidays and my vacation (details on that later). So far none of them sound super great, but a couple of them definitely have my interest so we'll see how they go. A couple of them offer a substantial enough raise ($10-$15k) that they offset my worries about getting as good of a benefit package. They all still seem to be tilted toward working in the medical device industry. I knew Minnesota was a hotbed for Medical device companies, but didn't realize how big it really was till now. Wow!
Anyway, at the current job, I have settled into the idea of the whole improvement plan. Just gotta deal with it an move on. I did however go an meet with our HR rep. The Plan said that I couldn't be late, couldn't miss meetings, couldn't use the net for anything non-work related (They focused on Fantasy Football) and then also had to show "improved attitude." That last one being completely subjective I had a big issue with. In talking with the HR rep she did assure me that if they did attempt to bring up and issue and call it an attitude problem, it would be thoroughly reviewed and it couldn't just be them deciding they didn't like me and fire me for nothing important. She also took notes on all of my complaints with Idiot Boss and asked what I thought could be done. She actually listened to me when I said others had these problems and is going to try and make a group outing for all of us so she has a chance to talk with other people. One other co-worker finally said he would speak up to and the HR person is going to talk to him. SO the ball is finally rolling. She also encouraged me to talk with The Director, so that will be happening after The Vacation as well. I may have made some poor choices, but it seems to be going the way I had envisioned it before. Just took a while. Guess we'll just all have to wait and see how it goes!
Idiot Boss is getting prepared to shoot himself in the foot as well. He's planning on instituting a new system for how we give out work in our department. He's sure that it's going to speed things up, but it will take month to get up to the point of efficiency we're at now, and months more to get faster. The concept is sound, each person has one project to work on at a time, but the method he's going to use, giving everyone any kind of project instead of what they're good at, is going to cause some major issues. This will be interesting. Bad part is I get to come back from vacation an have to jump right into it. Joy joy.
Anyway...
The Vacation!
So I decided the best thing I could do for myself mentally was something I hadn't done in years: Take a REAL vacation. I had taken time off work, taken long weekends and all that, but hadn't actually taken time off. I hadn't really gone somewhere fun for more than a long weekend in probably 5 years. So, from December 29th until January 6th, The Chief is going to be slacking on the gorgeous beaches of:
PUERTO RICO!
My old roommate Puerto Rico Pauly is from there so I get to stay for free with him and his family. I went down there for a long weekend a few years ago and have been dying to go back. His friends and family even keep asking when I'm going to come back. So, it's official, I'm finally going back, and staying for a while this time.
The first part of the trip is well planned, the 29th is his b-day, so we'll hang out and enjoy that. The 30th is his big B-Day bash. Since his brother was something like a VP of Sales for Budweiser for the area he has hookups for VIPs to al the clubs. We'll have our own VIP area and also a private bartender. Definitely a good warm up for new years.
The 31st is obviously New Year's Eve. If you don't think San Juan, Puerto Rico is an AWESOME place to be for new years, you are sadly mistaken my friends. There will be friend's parties during the day and early evening, then later it's off to the clubs to P-A-R-T-A-Y. Pr Pauly has warned me to rest up before I come. heh. I think I better make sure the tolerance is stepped up a bit as well ;O)
The rest of the week will be more mild, but we'll definitely go out, and spend lots of time recovering on the beach. I plan on calling in and giving you some audio updates while I'm there, so make sure you stay tuned!
Again, have a great holiday season and I'll see you all around!
posted by Chief Slacker @ 1:22 PM,
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Testing, testing! Beeeeeeeeeep!
Thursday, December 22, 2005
This is only a test. In the case of a real post, some sort of content would have followed the warning tone.
This was a test of the new Slacker Broadcasting System. If you heard this test, the system is working and Chief Slacker has a new way of posting that does not violate any Company or Improvement Plan policies. Expect regular transmissions to resume shortly.
This test is now complete, we return you to your regularly scheduled blogging.
posted by Chief Slacker @ 11:38 AM,
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Get Nekkid
Thursday, December 15, 2005I did promise last week to do a Half Nekkid Thursday, That promise shall not be denied. You know you all have by dying to oogle at my nekkidness :O)
I was going to post this one, since I am quite unclothed, and I'm damn cute I might add, but I had already posted this one on the Visual Edition a while back.
So Instead, you get this one, taken a while back:
I almost pull off "bad-ass."
Almost
Later all!
posted by Chief Slacker @ 6:25 PM,
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Apologies...
Wednesday, December 14, 2005OK, I'm sorry I've gotten behind in my slacking on here, but to be able to slack one must have a job to slack off from. I finally got to see the "Improvement Plan." Basically they took complete advantage of it to make sure they tried to make the chances of me having any fun while at work minimal.
The job search is in full swing so I've been entirely to busy zig zagging across the cities hoping one of these positions will be a good fit as for something I really like and want to do.
I have a meeting monday to discuss the issues. I had no choice but to do so after one of the items I was forced to agree to was to not be "negative" in any way. Considering that's a completely subjective item, and even with Idiot Boss' assurance that it would not be used as an easy way to fire me, I beleive that needs to be recorded with HR, jsut in case.
I'm also going to broach the topic of a lateral move within the company due to the obviously stressful work environment this is goin to dreate.
So yeah, sorry for the delays in the posts, I will start posting more from home in the next couple of days when i get used to all of the running around. Tonight though, I have my Condo Association meeting. Fun Fun.
posted by Chief Slacker @ 5:25 PM,
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Chief Slacker: 0, Team Idiot: 1
Monday, December 12, 2005Sorry, but work issues are going to delay Slacker's Odyssey even more. It's 7:30 and I'm just finishing here so I'm going to head home. I promise it will be up tomorrow. Make sure to check out the Spotlight below though!
So I sat down today with Idiot Boss' Boss. Yeah, didn't go so well.
Basically it came down to her telling me, that whether I like it or not, he's my boss so I have to do what he says. Also, anything I have to say about him carries zero weight whatsoever since I am now on an improvement plan. Thank you for reassuring me that lateness is a worse offense than ineptitude in this company.
So nevermind that I had brought up every single one of these issues MONTHS ago with her and she called me a whiner. Yes, she used that word. I have been trying to talk with her about the issues for month since then. Unfortunately doing the right thing of being a mom first and a worker second she was gone for several months. Once I finally got to talk to her the whole tardiness situation had arisen.
I am going to try tomorrow to sit down with her and see if she is willing to listen and work with me at all, otherwise it's time to sit down with The Director and probably start some dialog with HR.
I have four impending interviews, but none of them are for as good a company as I currently work for. I also have a one on one with Idiot Boss tomorrow. The best is yet to come methinks.
posted by Chief Slacker @ 7:13 PM,
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Belated Slacker's Saturday Spotlight
So, I was looking at my massive list of linked blogs (now powered by blog rolling) and though, I need to make a good effort to read more of them, and also, I'd like to let all of you know about some of the good ones I've been reading.
First off, check out all of the members of the Bureau of Slacking on the right. I have already deemed those as highly readable. Read 'em already would ya! ;O)
Here are three blogs for this Saturday Spotlight that I have been enjoying lately. Stop by and check them out!
Red Sox Bat Girl:
This is Amy's Blog. She was one of my earliest readers and has stuck around the whole time. Yay her! She's also the originator of the Wednesday Wist. Since that's not regular content over on the Daily Slacker: Audio Edition a Spotlight is the least I can do!
Jill Writes:
Part journal blog and part creative writing outlet but all enjoyable to read. a Fun Fiesty female from NYC that's usually blogging as a break from doing real writing! ;O) Definitely worth the read!
Angel with an Attitude:
Here's to hoping she doesn't move the addy again before I post this... jk ;O) We're both struggling through this whole dating things, so it's fun to see things from the other side of the fence! Also, he recent 10 blogger commandments Was a fun post! Read on peoples!
So there are you, the first and definitely not last Saturday Spotlight. Next time it will even be on Saturday!
posted by Chief Slacker @ 6:55 PM,
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I.O.U.
So the internet was down at Slacker HQ this weekend, and since the laptop is officially dead, I had no access to my blog. That being the case, I owe two posts by the end of today:
- Belated Slacker's Saturday Spotlight
- Slacker's Odyssey: Book 1
Highlighting a couple new or fun blogs each week!
The High School years of the dating Odyssey of Chief Slacker.
Stay tuned, it's going to be a busy day! ;O)
posted by Chief Slacker @ 9:37 AM,
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Calling Your Boss Incompetent... Professionally!
Friday, December 09, 2005So yeah, sorry about the delay in "Slacker's Odyssey - Book 1: The High School Years" but I've been a little busy today positioning myself it give my boss a great big F.U.
As is well documented in this blog, I pretty much hate my boss. He's so incredibly bad at being a supervisor he makes our whole department look bad.
I had started to get hopeful earlier in the year when the possibility (which Idiot Boss supported at the time) of splitting our group and promoting me to supervisor of part of the group. Unfortunately that idea got shot out of the water this morning.
Since I can't get the same job as him, that leave one recourse. All out war on him. I like where I work, and I like pretty much everyone except him. He might be a pretty decent guy, but has zero talent as a supervisor.
It was actually a plus for him when he called me into his office Tuesday, and put me at the stage prior to work probation for tardiness. Being two days in a row last week put me at 60 days for the whole year. SIXTY! A good 20 of those might be only about 10 minutes or less late, but still. SIXTY! How can you respect that!? It's so hard to care when you work for an idiot.
Now it should be known, that while I am indeed a huge slacker (Hey, I AM the Chief of the IBS and SIXTY!!!) I am also no afraid of rocking the boat if it's heading the wrong direction. Considering none of his employees respect him, and he's causing our whole group to lose respect, wrong direction indeed.
That being said, this email when out to him, his boss, and our department head this morning:
Boss' Boss -
"I believe continuing this discussion would be beneficial for our group. Whether restructuring is off the table or not, the topic of the group's current leadership should be opened. I as well as many members of the XXXXXXX group have concerns about the state of things at present. I look forward to being able to discuss this with you and hope we can work together toward the betterment of the XXXXXXX group."
-Chief Slacker
So yeah, no more sitting by and letting Idiot boss undermine and disrespect us.
The tardiness may hurt me in this fight, but thank god for Anti-Retaliation laws.
Game on Idiot. Game on.
Upcoming: Slacker's Saturday Spotlight, Slacker's Odyssey - Book 1: The High School Days, Wednesday Wist, Half Nekkid Thursday (Sounds like a fun bandwagon to join)
posted by Chief Slacker @ 4:10 PM,
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Slacker's Odyssey: Preface
Thursday, December 08, 2005I shall tell you of a boy, slacker, not very much unlike many other children in his lovely Wisconsin city. It was the year of the weddings. Each school day, in lovely little ceremonies of daisies and dandelions young girls would be wed to young boys in the prairie of the local elementary school. The blissful marriages lasting until the school bells rang. Tomorrow would be another ceremony for another happy couple, but never the same couple twice. This boy was married twice that year to girls whose names would be forgotten. Little did he know those names, put out of his head so long ago were the beginning of a great journey that would soon unfold.
So I write to you of the slacker, of twists and turns driven time and again off course, once he had plundered the hallowed heights of Madison. Many cities of men he saw and learned their minds, many pains he suffered, heartsick on the open road, fighting to save his life and bring his sanity home. But he could not save himself from disaster, hard as he strove - the recklessness of his own ways destroyed him all, the blind fool, he dated the daughters of the Sun and the Sungod blotted out the day of his return. I launch out on his story, and start from where I will - I write for our time too.*
The journey has continued to this day with many wonderous and terrible encounters along the way. The gods have place many an obstacle in his path. Be they sirens, sisters of Calypso or Circe or those yet unknown, he continues on persisting in hopes of finding his own Penelope. With that let his story begin.
* - Shamelessly plundered from The Odyssey
posted by Chief Slacker @ 1:28 PM,
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Wisty Inbloggeration!
Wednesday, December 07, 2005Yep. It's Wednesday, so it's time for a Wist. But this one is extra special. It's on the BRAND NEW Daily Slacker: Audio Edition!!
Yeah, that's right, Audio AND Visual Editions. We're high-tech here at the International Bureau of Slacking!
Head on over and check out the Wisty Audio Inbloggeration!
Stop back later to hear ME as well :O)
posted by Chief Slacker @ 2:55 PM,
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Dealing With The Cold
Tuesday, December 06, 2005As you probably know, the International Bureau of Slacking is based out of Saint Paul, Minnesota. Being a pretty northern area and also being basically land-locked (yeah, we have the Mississippi, but it doesn't affect weather) we have to deal with this nasty little visitor for between five and seven months: Winter.
Yeah yeah, the technical winter "season" is three months using equinoxes and all that astrological or meteorological mumbo jumbo. Here, we use the Shorts-Sanity winter rating. Well we should anyway. Winter starts when the last mostly (We're talking 51%, so barely counts) sane person puts away the shorts and ends when the bring them back out again. Obviously this leaves room for personally variability since sanity is completely subjective.
This morning I woke up to see a double digit temperature, which is nice for winter here. Then I noticed the minus sign in front of that. So, seeing that the season is often way to friggin' long, we find ourselves thinking of the pros and cons of the winter season. As is frequently the case, like the yin and yang, these come as opposite sides to the same story. Most of you in wintery climates can relate, the rest of ya pansises, well here are a few of the many:
Pro: Frost on the ground is beautiful!
Con: Frost on the ground is cold and freakin' slippery!
Pro: Cold weather means it's Hockey Season.
Con: Hey, this is Minnesota, dissing hockey may get me hurt.
Pro: Seeing your breath is kinda cool!
Con: Until you can't feel your lips.
Pro: Ice is fun to skate and/or play on.
Con: Not to drive on.
Pro: Who doesn't love a snowball fight?
Con: Part of one of those snowballs inevitably makes it down the back of your shirt.
Pro: Snow is pretty.
Con: Not the Yellow kind, and brown road slush, not so much.
Pro: when it's cold enough, you can take a cup of boiling water, toss the water in the air and it disappears.
Con: Shortly after the feeling in your limbs disappears as well.
Pro: Great weather for snuggling.
Con: You actually have to have someone to snuggle with.
Pro: You can use the excuse that your glasses were fogged up to avoid the boss, coworker, enemy.
Con: You might actually miss someone you want to talk to.
Pro: We get to prove we're tougher than mother nature.
Con: Altogether too many people whine WAY to much while doing so.
Pro: Holidays!
Con: Holiday Television Specials *hurl*
Pro: Polar Bear Swims!
Con: have you seen most of the people who do polar bear swims?
Pro: The cold makes you appreciate nice weather that much more.
Con: You gain that appreciation in the first week, after that it just SUCKS!
Ok, so I think that puts things in perspective pretty well, no? Any others you think should make it? Lemme know!
Upcoming Posts: Weds: Wednesday Wist, Thurs or Fri: Slacker's Dating Odyssey, chapter one. Sat: Slacker's Saturday Spotlight
posted by Chief Slacker @ 9:22 AM,
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The Date Hangover!
Friday, December 02, 2005So the date went pretty darn well.
We met up at Lyle's and had a couple drinks and then headed over to my place. Dropped off the cars and walked down to the Muddy Pig. We tried that new Reyka vodka, no bad, pretty smooth. Talked a whole bunch and then walked over to The Vintage (It's an old mansion converted to a bar/restaurant). There was some kissing here and there. They were closing so we just had one martini each and then wandered across the street to a place (The Happy Gnome) that had apparently just opened that night. It was pretty dang busy for having just opened. The same owner as the Muddy Pig so I actually knew the guy. Had one drink there and headed back to my place. I think we made it about a half hour and both passed out on the futon. Eating would have been a good plan in hindsight. She had to get up way to early to get to work but we managed a morning makeout session before she headed out at like 5:30. I went back to bed and proceeded to sleep right through my alarm and show up two and a half hours late for work with a hangover. I rule!
So yeah it went well. I'm hoping there will be another date in the future! I'm going to have to skip the Spotlight today because I was late and have a huge project due today, sorry peeps! Gotta leave early too because I'm going with Conservative Girl to her Company Xmas party. Yay for free good food!
If I don't make it on again I hope you have an excellent weekend. If any of you happen to be in the Twin Cities area, we're having a party at The Condo Saturday. Stop on by!
posted by Chief Slacker @ 12:12 PM,
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Guns a Blazin'
Thursday, December 01, 2005Hey all, heading out for the day, but thought I would let y'all know I officially have a date tonight. Gun Show Girl and I have a date planned to go to Liquor Lyle's for happy hour then head across town and check out my area since she's not familiar!
Was hanging the art show today, but I'll be back with Slacker's Spotlight and a recap of the date tomorrow!
Wish me luck!
posted by Chief Slacker @ 4:40 PM,
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