jonnagl’s Neighborhood

My last paycheck had something totally awesome included... Under the regular hours there was a column that said 'other' and then a dollar amount that corresponded. 'Other' as it turns out is synonymous with 'summer bonus' in this instance. I have never ever worked a job in which you get a summer bonus! I like this working for a small company that is doing well thing. It's nice.

It almost makes up for the god-awful demanding parents who either a. forgot their kid/s need a monthly or yearly checkup and then get mad at me when i tell them that we are booked through most of july, yes... all three doctors (one doctor is booked through ALL of July so you can suck it-dickwad), and no, we do not have a stash of prime appointments for bad parents set aside. b. get mad at me when I tell them that their precious Hudson/Zoe/Marlena/Chloe/Timothy/Chasen/isnert-name-here can not have a camp form filled out unless they've had a physical in the past 12 months and I don't care that they haven't had one in 2 years, and again, we're booked through till precious is meant to LEAVE for camp and no there's nothing I can do about it. Oh, they can't go to the art farm this year? Whatever will they do? c. slowly explain to me about their going to their 'country houses' soon and that they need an appointment for whatever reason before they go ALL THE WAY out to Long Island because it's SO far away. and d. the stupid travel appointment-makers who have just realized that they are going to the jungles of Africa in 2 days and need to get a series of shots including the Yellow Fever vaccine. We can not help you for 3 reasons - one- the yellow fever vaccine needs to be in your system for 10 days before you go to a yellow-fever-infested place in order to be effective. two- the one doctor in the practice that does travel medicine is not in the office for the next two days and three- you're stupid.

Luckily I do not have to care about most of these people. If you are nice I will call you if we have a cancellation, if you are a cunt and demand I put your child at the top of the list  for cancellations I will do as you ask and put his name on the list with three stars (seriously this woman asked me to put 3 stars next to his name). In this case the stars mean, never call this woman for anything she is an awful human being and that she can go fuck herself. She also called late in the season for his flu shot appt, and bitched me out on the phone when i was still new to the job for not being able to find him a suitable appt. Whatever, lady.

I'm allowed to tell my bosses (the doctors) that so-and-so's mom is CRAZY! and MEAN! and they may well agree with me. It's awesome.

I'll write more about the wackiness of downtown NYC parents soon, their AMEX black cards, and thousand dollar strollers, and the caretakers or nannies of the trilingual toddlers. It's an insane world, and these are some insane parents. And they have no idea I know who they are.

As it turns out, time flies when you're not miserable and bored and trolling the internet regularly for your entertainment.  Weird, right? I know. I thought the same thing. But it must be true. I can't just make brash statements up and say they're true. Well, I guess I could, but whatever. For me time has flown these past 6 months.

I'm still content in my new job. It's way easy, the money's good, and hey, I get free medical advice whenever I need it.  Yesterday I think I got the easiest and possibly largest raise I'd ever gotten in my history of employment. In passing I said to the doctor in charge of payroll, "Hey, do I really get a raise after 6 months?", which is apparently standard practice. He asked when that 6 month mark is. I told him when (April 5th) and he nodded and told me that beginning this pay period (the first after my anniversary) I'd be making an extra dollar an hour. I looked at him as if partly confused.

"What? I don't have to write an essay?" I asked. Now he was the confused one. I told him that at the Container Store you have to write short essays and fill out a five page booklet for your yearly review (if you're complacent enough to stay at a part time retail job that long) after which you discuss your inevitably too-poor performance and all of the areas you need to 'grow and challenge yourself' and the 'opportunities" you have. If you suck up and have no other life you may merit a 7-8% payraise. However you have to be TRULY exceptional to rate that. Most people fall within the 3-4% raise bracket, and I assure you 3-4% (and even 7-8%) of $10 an hour isn't enough to make the physical pain and emotional anguish of never being 'ON' enough for a part time job worth it. (Did I just disclose my starting salary at TCS. FOR SHAME! Doing such a thing was the one verboten thing in their culture [along with gum chewing, and saying or even thinking 'that is not my job'. Believe me, they know when you're thinking it. And you're wrong. It IS your job. Now get off the register and clean up the bathroom before tying that perfectly able-bodied woman's shoe in the gift packaging section])

Why did I stay at a job like that for years? See the previous brief mention about complacency and keep in mind that I have no real drive to do anything. So I was a perfect workhorse. Plus I have the protestant work ethic. I had to do something, I needed some money and I always think myself lucky to have any job. Also, reading over my 2006 performance review- damn, I could rephrase and reuse the accepted and desired terminology/vocabulary! It was money. It was a job. And somehow it was less soul-deadening than denying people health insurance (a previous gig for many years).

So anyway, the doctor looked at me and laughed. He said that no there was no essay portion of this conversation. There was no 'you should do x or y, or maybe x and y, and maybe we'll appreciate you more'. He looked at me, laughed about the idea of detailed essays regarding selling plastic boxes, and then said, "We're happy to have you.".  Fer reals. 

Politics or Leadership?  That's what it boils down to, this race.  The race for the nomination and the one to come for the presidency.

I've lived my entire voting life with only the choice of politicians to vote for, because I didn't vote for Reagan.  I voted for the politician instead and while I would do it again today (given the same choice) I'm praying that I won't have to.

That is what the Democratic Party machine isn't fully grasping here.  For the first time since Robert Kennedy's campaign they have a candidate that leads and speaks to peoples' hearts and not a career politician that has accrued power and favours.  LBJ was a politician of the highest order and yes, he could work that machine like a mutha and signed off on some serious shit but you know, he also signed off on some serious shit.  Vietnam War, everyone.  I know he didn't get us into it but you know he kept our country in it, against our will and behind our backs.  That's politics, people.  I think he was a smart man that became an incredibly smart politician and we can only surmise what would have happened if he hadn't been the Vice President to a Leader.

I want some leadership.  The politics of the last twenty years has made so many of us a cynical and fearful bunch of voters who only care about keeping ours safe from the have nots and hating the haves, even if all they have is something different than us.  That's some kind of sad, right there.  We keep getting pitted against one another and another Republican is just going to be about more of the same.

The voters know it and the frustration has led to things like term limits because we know that the system needs to change.  The thing is, it's not going to change by changing the rules that politicians play by.  It changes by changing the politicians themselves. 

Hillary is an excellent politician and she deserves more than just credit for learning and playing the rules to her advantage.  She would make an excellent career politician if she were given the room and a chance to work at keeping the Republicans in check.  She's just not a leader, is all.

*I wandered across this today and think it's one of the most interesting things I've read on just how Obama's campaign has changed politics, forever really.  http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/2/14/182615/431#readmore  It's titled "Process vs Policy:  Organising"

time's completely flying. i keep forgetting to update this, though i spend so little time these days on the internet that it's truly of little consequence. the job is still going well, and i'm amazed at exactly how fast i can spend my new and improved paycheck.  for instance today i went to dean and deluca and spent 30 dollars on candy. hello violet marshmallows and triple chocolate toffee. i'm trying to pretend that i didn't buy an orange-blossom marshmallow because it's yucky-gross (blame the fancy-pants french).

i'm getting hella into analog photography. on my unfinished uber-list is 'shoot one roll of film a week' and so far so good. i'm having a lot of fun with my diana+ and holga cameras, and then some.

home sweet home

i'm going to go primp and preen. maybe moisturize and do my nails while watching the colbert report. i hope you're all doing as well.

I really like the Dairy House in Somerset, as shown on Treehugger.  There's more at architect Charlotte Skene-Catling's website, but you'll need to enable pop-ups on it.

So I've been at my new job for almost two months now and I figure it's time to let the internets know how I'm doing. The quick answer is: MUCH BETTER. No, ferreals.

I feel like I work nowhere near as hard, and yet I am paid much better. I have more responsibility, and not that fake empowerment my previous job was so fond of bestowing upon people. They expect me to do the work of one person, and pay me well for it. They have also given me keys to the office, I am sometimes the last or first in there. I could steal computers, prescription pads, money and medical records if I wanted to. I mean, I don't... but I could.

I love working with Casey. We grew up across the street from each other in suburbia and now live about 10 blocks from each other in Brooklyn, and yet we rarely saw one another. Now we work together 4 days a week and I oddly miss her on the fifth. The doctors I work for are good, each has their own style and distinct needs. I feel I'm getting to understand the rhythm of the office and am learning to work around my hatred of phones and my bad hearing.

Things are going well. The little germ incubators (ie: the children who come to the office) have gotten me sick, but other than that, all is well. I love having my weekends again. Two days off in a row without haggling with anyone is an indulgent treat that I'm still not over. I love working in SoHo, though the office is nestled between an H&M and a Banana Republic, with Sephora, Anne Taylor and Uniqlo all within eye-shot so I don't think my credit cards will forgive me. Though the damage is nowhere near as bad as I imagine because I'm still not used to a real paycheck. It's taking me some time to adjust. I do not mean to imply that I am now rolling around in money, as I am not, I am just so unused to a full time job at a respectable wage that I am a bit in shock. I haven't been a part of the white-collar world in such a long time.

In other news, I'm half done with my Christmas shopping. I'm really just stuck on the in-laws. Speaking of which, Todd's mother will be spending Christmas with us. I'm excited and stressed at the same time. What has been good enough for my friends to sleep on suddenly seems woefully inadequate for a sweet special-ed teacher from Kentucky. I like to think I keep a tidy house, but now I'm concerned about dust and cat hair (two things I often overlook when it's just Todd and I). And her visit is so short, I worry about how we'll fit the tourist-y things in, as I'm sure her first time in NYC on the holidays she'll expect to see the tree at Rockefeller Center, even if she doesn't say as much. I mean... What else is Christmas in NYC?

Oh, before I forget or don't talk to you personally... Happy Thanksgiving, yo.

The inevitable nomination of Senator Clinton seemed to take the tiniest stumble during the debate.  She showed herself to be a master of sidestepping but that shouldn't come as any surprise, she's had years and years to hone that skill.  Always give yourself the grey area to retreat to, CYA no matter what.  I am less than thrilled that she's been getting endorsements from her fellow legislators, the whole "experience" thing.  I'm sorry, if she's going to cite her years as First Lady as part of the deal then she should also take responsibility for her missteps too.

John and I disagree about my longing for Obama to get the nomination and I acknowledge that a large part of my wish is exactly the fact that he's not as steeped in business as usual.  I recognise that it's a scary proposition for him to learn on the job but that's what most everyone else does, isn't it?  The closest job there is governor of a state but other than that, it's about being smart enough to choose advisors who can front for you and grasping that at the end of the term it's going to be your name that gets written down in the books.  I think that Obama is more than smart enough to grasp that.  Plus, most importantly to me, he's not yet reeking of the backroom deal.

I'm so fucking weary of this administration and it's determinedly arrogant stance on all things Bushie.  I'm even willing to eagerly trade in for yet another political dynasty but oh my, how I wish for a true change in attitude.  We love to hark back to JFK in our political canon and you know, I wish there was a graceful way to make that correlation between Obama and Kennedy.  Without the being shot to death though, pleasepleaseplease.

I doubt it's going to happen though, because the Clinton juggernaut is in full force and Hillary has the added punch of Bill, a huge bonus.

I'm still going to dream though, cuz someone told us that it ain't over till it's over.

I'm all itchy and antsy and wanting to get started on finishing some projects.  I know, I do so very much hate the shape my house is in, structurally, but I love my home.  I've been stymied and have surrendered as far as making my kitchen the way I want but I can at least make it better.  This house is going to be a rental property once we hit the lottery and buy one that isn't a fucking moneypit but in the meantime ....

I've been stalled mid-project due to rain and am waiting till the skies clear and the air dries out, starting Monday, according to forecasts.  In the meantime I'm mooning over some design blogs for looking at the pretty and posting the links on Twitter.  I'm going to do it here too, just as a memory jog and to share with you kids. 
http://www.desiretoinspire.blogspot.com/
http://www.anothershadeofgrey.blogspot.com/
http://www.melissamossart.com/prints.htm
http://store.dvider.com/stickers.html
http://www.decorativefilm.com/index.html

Sigh.  Okay, I'm going to go and press the new curtains and bed goodies and mope at the weather now.