RAIN RAIN RAIN

I know that the majority of the country is dealing with rain, but I'm going to add my rant to the blogosphere. I am so tired of rain. I literally think it is driving me crazy. The fact that we managed to have a mostly clear day on Saturday for Pride is a minor miracle in itself. Argh!

Between snow in the winter and rain in the spring and summer, I'm about ready to throw in the towel and move to Phoenix!

Not to mention the fact that the Chicken Little of the office was damn near suicidal because the copier nearest to her ran out of toner. Really?!

Ah well, thank you goes out to Puntabulous for pointing out Green Porno. It brightened my day a little. LOL

Poop and Prejudice

Life working in a Not-For-Profit can be a wild experience, especially if you've only ever worked in for-profit endeavors.  The way I run my daily job is to pretty much pretend I have no budget, which is not too far from the truth, but that makes it pretty difficult to be Director of IT. 

As you can imagine, my job goes way beyond maintaining the network and desktop computers. I have to deal with security, too, which is very important for a domestic violence shelter.  Well, this week I've had to deal with a security situation that I will gladly not do again.  I had to look for a turd burglar.  Yes, apparently a resident of the shelter decided it would be funny and/or entertaining to smear poop along the hallway walls. I was actually never able to find the poopitrator on our security DVR (that is an entirely different story), but just the fact that I have this wonderful anecdote is the reason I blog.

Monday, November 3rd - Ahhhh....November

So, obviously, October was a busy month for me.  I neglected a lot of things from blogging, the gym, some work (which bit me in the butt last week), and just a whole host of things.  While the summer was an extremely busy and social time for me and the Mean Girls, it just seemed that October was the culmination of everything, especially with Halloween and the Grande Masquerade.

Last week, as you could tell from the stressed out or small updates, it was like everything exploded at work.  Due to a virus outbreak, we were blacklisted by four spam monitoring organizations, and the only way I could fix this was to go around to every computer in the office to figure out which one (or ones) was the problem child.  Being blacklisted meant that very little to no email was actually leaving our inboxes.  We were receiving just fine, but then nothing was going out.  It is very frustrating to diagnose a problem like that, because Microsoft literally has an error message that can actually mean 10 things.  I felt like I would probably be better off standing on one foot and point north to fix the problem.  I got it worked out, but it meant I put in a 13 hour day to get it done.  All of this on top of doing a major voicemail upgrade, working on one of the most heinous reports I have to do, AND doing last minute poster designs for The Grande Masquerade, well, I was about ready to lose my fucking mind!

I know I complain a lot about the reporting aspect of my job, but the reality is that I have done a pretty good job of juggling the IT part and the reporting for the last two years.  However, this past week was exactly what I feared most would happen -- when something IT related would interfere with the reporting.  What do I choose in this instance?  The deadline put in place by the Federal Government, or the people bitching at me in the office? Anyway, enough about that. 

The Grande Masquerade was an absolute success.  Sure, there were some kinks to work out, but for a group of people who didn't really have all that much experience on an event this size, I think we pulled it off and then some.  It was the largest attendance ever (620+), and it was one of the most profitable.  For me, it was just pretty surreal to see my designs all over the place.  From the program books at every seat at every table, to the backgrounds on the PowerPoint presentation that Blanche so wonderfully put together, and finally to the monstrous fairy girl that I put together - the mascot of the whole event - as the backdrop for the stage.  It was, simply, one of the proudest nights for me.  It was also weird that someone actually paid $50 for a framed version of one of the posters I designed for the event.  I actually called my parents to say I was officially an artiste now. LOL  It was even weirder later on in the night when I found out there was a war going on over who was going to get the blown up versions of the fairy girl.  Both Vivian of Talbott Street and Rob from Hoaglin Fine Catering wanted them, I seriously didn't know what to say about that.  I know most don't see me as an overly humble person (though, really, deep down I'm that insecure guy cowering in the corner), but I was really just humbled by it.

So, it was a rather amazing weekend.  Heck, even one of the volunteers for the Masquerade recognized me from by blog!  With all that though, the best part of the entire weekend is the fact that I'm taking the next three days off from work!  I'm going to make this a focus on me time.  Most of all, I'm going to go to the gym all three days, and I hope this will get me back into a groove.  I am ABSOLUTELY tired of my current appearance, and I have used this "being busy" excuse to keep me from the gym for far too long. It's going to be a beautiful three days, and I'll even be able to ride my bike to the gym.

Here's to getting back to the gym, back to blogging, back to a someone less busy life, AND to voting tomorrow!

Wednesday, June 4th - Leavin' Early!

I had fully intended to do a full blog post today (in fact, I already had a topic and everything). However, I opted to finish up my final report in this compressed schedule, and after working late last night and for 4 or 5 hours on Sunday morning, I am going to leave work a bit early to enjoy the rest of my day.

I have a couple Pride meetings tonight (Bartending! Woo hoo), and then I plan to just pass out on the couch.

Have a great day folks!

Tuesday, December 11, 2007 - Of Drunken Epiphanies and Holiday Parties (again)

Yesterday, I let go. I'm really not sure what caused it, but when I woke up, I felt free of the oppressive negativity about work that had been plaguing me since my disastrous review a couple of weeks before. Of course, if you read yesterday's post, you may surmise that it was because I was still drunk from Sunday night, but as I was buzzing (literally) around my apartment getting ready for work, I had this overwhelming feeling of release. No...I wasn't barfing.

All of this really came into focus, when a good friend of mine visited the shelter in her new capacity working with the homeless in Indianapolis. She had just been hired here as shelter director when I first started, and since we were both outsiders and were sharing the struggles of trying to break into a non-communicative group that had taken on the negative characteristics of their "fearless" leader, we had a pretty instant rapport. It was so awesome to see her, and since we hadn't talked in a while, I was able to process everything that had happened leading up to my current epiphany.

In a blog entry on another site in almost a different life, I used the hoary statement of making "lemonade out of lemons," and while I am not quite sure there is enough sweetener in the world to alleviate the sour taste a lot of the last two years has left in my mouth, I am resolving to not dwell on the negativity any longer. The fact of the matter is that this is my job, and until something else comes along, I have to be happy with the fact that I make the salary I do when so many others are suffering out there. Additionally, I love 95% of the people I work with, and frankly, I do not want my negativity to affect the stressful work they are already doing. I mean heck, who really wants to deal with a surly IT guy?

This is why I am (finally) relishing the organization of the holiday party. Yes, these things are like pulling teeth sometimes, but this is my opportunity to give back to the people who really matter in this organization. The ones who do the tough work with women and children on the verge.

I know this was a pretty somber (re: sober) post, but I just wanted to get that out there.

Monday, December 10, 2007 - Of No, No, No and Drag Queens

The great irony of my current situation is that I am sitting at work at 8:35 am, still mildly drunk from the night before (okay...not mildly), and I am rebuilding the substance abuse counselor's computer.

She may try to make me go to rehab, and I'll have to say no, no, no.

The reason for my present state is the fact that I drank a lot of vodka last night, and vodka and I are not friends. I wouldn't even consider us pleasant acquaintances. It is really the only alcohol out there that can really give me a hangover and leaves my recollections blurry, but I drank it because I have infused vodka leftover from my party a couple weeks ago. WAIT! I just remember I had a shot of tequila. Strike that...there are TWO alcohols that are not my friend, and I drank both of them last night. Holy shit, Martha! Maybe I do need rehab...

Anyway, backing up a bit, this was a busy weekend. We had a party to go to on Friday (why does that seem so far away) and Saturday night, and last night was the Baglady show debut of Kitty Dusharme (Blanche) and Halle Pino (Romeo). As you recall, they both did the bus tour this year in drag, but they decided to do a show, too. The show was a benefit for the Indiana Youth Group, which is an organization that helps gay youth. So, the strapping on of tits was for a good cause. They both did a great job, and I encourage you to check out their blogs because I am sure they are going to go into much greater detail.

Since the bar the benefit was at is notorious for expensive and weak drinks, I decided to have some people come over beforehand and drink a bit. Thankfully, the bar is only a few blocks from my place, so if I needed to, I could stumble there and back. By the time the second round of drag queens began, I have to say the rest of the night is pretty much a blur. I know I had a great time, and I recall playing the Chipmunk Song, Come to My Window, and Goodbye Earl on the jukebox at the diner that we ate breakfast at, and then arriving home via Mom & the Love Bus.

What a night! Oy... Rehab is for quitters!

Right now, I am just hoping to stay upright for the rest of the day. I have been dreadfully sore all weekend from my trips to the gym last week. Sore, like it was difficult to fully extend my arm, sore. The funny thing is that it feels much better this morning. Maybe vodka has a healing effect! Though it probably has more to do that I actually used my arm more last night because I didn't feel the pain...so it stretched out some of the kinks.

Okay, I am closing this stream of drunkenness entry. I hope everyone has a wonderful Monday! Back to the rehab computer...