P.S. I made it to a year at megacorp.

P.P.S Somehow I lost five more pounds, down to 175 after my latest illness, I think. So much for looking like Charles Atlas in his prime.

I figure it can’t possibly be the stress from going to work each day and having someone else tell me I’m getting laid off. Or is it layed off? I never could get that straight, and for some reason I don’t really care. In any case, my back still hurts. It hurts more today than it did after helping my neighbor move. Dave says my hamstrings and back are really tight and I should see both a chiropractor and a massage therapist. In any case, the only thing that gets me out of the bleak mood I’m in after work and my even more pathetic non-dating is getting tired at the gym. Maybe I should get a job moving furniture or something. You know, something that puts that MIT degree to good use.

I was late to the gym because my mom and I played the Enterprise Rent-a-car shuffle. We waited for cars to arrive back to see if there was one small enough for my mom to drive. I’m not sure how they do their scheduling, but I think a lot of their rentals are for people who are getting their cars fixed and they aren’t sure when cars are coming back. They were really nice, though. Oh, and then Dave asked me to drive to the neighborhood with no parking and pick up his dinner on the way to the gym. Somehow he’d scheduled himself into a corner, putting all his clients into one day. This left him no time to eat between his trainer gig and his DJ gig. I just realized he owes me $6.50.

I worked from home today for the few hours that I wasn’t calling insurance companies or body shops or mechanics. Looks like my mom wasn’t doing anything wrong and the other insurance company thinks they’ll have to pay most of the damages. Like I said before, I’m glad nobody was hurt, but this sure is an annoyance.

Working from home does give me some options, like drinking coffee vs. taking a nap. The nap is never an option in the office, though I think it should be.

Oh, and since I keep the stuff for Portland Audubon’s swift watch, I tend to be out there every day I’m not busy. Tonight I was going to watch the football game, but my friends dragged me out again. Honestly, how many days can I spend watching the birds flock around a chimney? Looks like this year it’s approaching six straight weeks.

I guess I shouldn’t blame things on the, “Race for the Cure.” I’ve never been a big fan since the early days when they were so divisive and wanted to keep men away, even male survivors of breast cancer. I’ve been told that they’re a lot better now and there’s even a co-ed race so I’ll quit being so negative.

But still, today my mom was driving when a, “Race for the Cure,” participant decided it was, “Race for the Denny’s Parking Lot,” and changed lanes right into the front of her car. Nobody was hurt, but my mom’s car isn’t driveable. After exchanging insurance information, the other driver abandoned her car in a busy street and went to eat at Red Robin.

I also didn’t appreciate all the, “Race for the Cure,” participants who were snotty to us as the tow truck slowly hooked up my mom’s car. We were moved out of the busy street into a Denny’s parking lot, and we were blocking in several cars. I’m not sure where the, “fancy ladies,” all came from but it wasn’t Denny’s so they were parked illegally. Their time was certainly worth more than ours and wanted us to make the tow truck driver hurry up. Fortunately, I wasn’t so cranky that I let anyone know what I was really thinking.

I spent most of yesterday helping my next door neighbors move in, but I slept in to compensate. I figured that helping them move in was much more productive than starting some sort of feud and I didn’t have much else to do. Their old apartment was a moving nightmare. The front entrance was one story up from the street, they were on the second floor, and the apartment had a second story to it. I’m happy that at least one of my new neighbors isn’t a doctor. (Next door to us, he’s a corporate controller, she’s a doctor. Next door to them is a doctor and retired doctor mom. Next door to them is a epidemiologist/doctor. And finally next door to her are two emergency room doctors.)

So I mentioned that the VP is leaving. I probably forgot to mention that they moved the whole group into a Sales & Marketing organization. We were about half marketing and half engineering. I’m thinking that the engineering half is about to be history. Also, the HR person from China and the HR person from the US have been meeting continuously for the past week. Today, the upper level staff was abuzz and heading back and forth to meeting rooms. And our manager told our group that it was officially time to start being worried now that the VP was leaving.

So, starting this afternoon, my motivation has left me. I couldn’t even force myself to concentrate. I felt miserable until I got to the gym and started getting tortured by Dave the Trainer. For some reason, that always makes me feel better. And a (very) young woman at the gym actually introduced herself to me. In my pathetic social life, that’s a milestone.

Sheesh, they would have to wait until it started raining (and hailing and snowing) before they laid me off. I think the first thing I’m going to do if I’m laid off is to see the Grand Canyon. It’s not on my resolution list, but that’s life.

Our VP made some announcements on Monday and after a day it seems to have sunk in. He said, “I’m leaving the group I created (the one I’m in) to go to a new group. I’m taking a few key engineers with me. My replacement hasn’t been announced. My boss’s replacement hasn’t been announced.” What he didn’t add was, “SO LONG SUCKERS. THE ONES LEFT ARE HOSED!”

I had something to add to that, but I don’t think I have anything.

Today, I was in a room with a attractive young brunette and she watched while I took off my shirt. Funny thing was I though she should be PAYING A BIT MORE ATTENTION IF SHE’S A FRIGGING DOCTOR. I suppose she was just following around my regular doc, who told me most of the things I needed to know. She could have checked out my guns. I haven’t been going to the gym for nothing.

I went to the gym for the first time since I had my weird virus. Avoided the cardio since the weight lifting was making me want to pass out. I was doing my “doctor/not doctor” test: asking what people thought when I said “Coxsackie virus.” If they say something like, “I haven’t thought of that since my peds rotation,” you’re really sure they’re a doctor. If they snicker and say, “U-huh-huh-huh. He said COXSACKIE,” then you’re sure they’re either not a doctor or at least not a doctor you’d ever want to see on a professional basis.

It would be one thing to say I had several phone calls from a woman tonight, but really it was a crazy bird woman (as Megan would say) and she was just looking for her cell phone. I’m the keeper of the bird propaganda and somehow her phone got stuck in the box with all the fliers about birds and the promotion of green spaces. Really, I have no way of making that sound more exciting than it was, me out in the field with a flashlight and then digging through a box filled with dead bird specimens to see if I could find a cell phone. It was about as exciting as the Raiders offense today.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I had this nightmare a few days ago where I was trying to call someone to bail me out of jail. Somehow I got my new car up to 110MPH and it was a mandatory trip to the clink. My last car would do 110 with no problems but somehow I kind of doubt the Civic Hybrid was made to reach that sort of speed. In any case, I doubt I’ll accidentally go that fast.

I hardly ever remember my dreams. I wonder why I had to remember that one.

I spent most of the day watching football. What a weird feeling. I spend a lot of Sundays this way, but I haven’t done it for a while and now it feels kind of odd.

I ended up going out and helping the Audubon people again, but that’s no big deal; I stand around and tell people the little I know about birding. Really, it’s not a lot but as long as I’m not spreading misinformation to the kids, it’s all good. Plus, someone said they liked my haircut. Hah.

I had a nap go bad today. I felt really tired around 4 or so and I took a nap. I was still a little tired when I got up. I had to drive my parents across town for my brother-in-law’s birthday dinner and I realized that I had no appetite and I didn’t feel all that well. My sister passed out in the same restaurant and told me that we didn’t need two of us passing out in the same place. She sent me home and she drove my parents home later. I felt better when I got home, and I stood around outside watching the birds again. For the second week in a row, I felt kind of iffy but Keith made me stand outside with him.

Someone asked why my sister hasn’t set me up. She’s not exactly my greatest advocate. In fact, whenever her friends meet me for the first time, they say, “Hey, he’s not so bad. He seemed kind of nice.” She describes me as some sort of monster and I wouldn’t want to go out with anyone who is looking for a monster.

I did make it to the barbershop where my regular barber has moved. I got lots of attitude from the new owner of the shop, and the hair cuts have even gone down in price! I guess moving out of the high-rent district does that.

I hate to admit this, but I’m kind of lusting after a mop I saw in the hardware store today. I may have to go and buy my second mop this month. I really need a new hobby.

I actually went out to see a movie today. My buddy was online and wanted to know if I wanted to see The Covenant. I now know why I watch so much TV. The movie wasn’t much better than what I see on cable. There were a bunch of guys walking around without their shirts on, but that didn’t do much for me.

I scheduled an appointment with an “Apple Genius” because my laptop was making so much noise. Of course it stopped making noises today after two days of weird sounds like there was a leaf caught in the air intake.

I spent the day hating my job, staring at the screen not getting anything to work, programming things that I have made it a point of avoiding since my college days (X Window programming, in case anyone wonders). It took all day to draw one window that said (in true programmer fashion), “Hello, world.” I have all sorts of things I’d rather be doing, but this is what the project lead told me to do, and he has my manager snookered, so I have to do whatever he says. In any case, I feel truly American since I hate my job and wish great harm to at least one of my superiors.

I think the disasters have subsided to some extent. The only one I can think of since I got home from work is that I ran out of dental floss. My exciting life is back to normal, or will be if I can get my expensive laptop to quit making such hideous noises.