Wednesday, September 29, 2010

My Idiot Cat

... got stuck in the sleeve of my jacket today. It's been raining for four days here and so I've been wearing a nylon windbreaker back and forth to try to keep from looking like a total drowned rat. Because the coat was wet when I got home this evening, I draped it over a stool in the entry to dry before I hung it up in the closet.

Twenty minutes later, there arose quite a clatter - a prolonged, suspicious rustling noise coming from the entry. Upon investigation, I found this:


At first, I thought she was just playing with a zipper or something. Yeah. No. So I scooped her up and hauled her (and the dripping wet jacket) off to the couch to investigate. She got herself jammed but good into that sleeve. While she squawked and bit at me (because clearly this was my fault), I tried to jam her furry little body back into the sleeve. No dice. I finally managed to pull enough of the end of the sleeve loose enough to get to the snap that holds the end shut around my wrist (or the Peanut's middle). Once I had the end loosened, I held up the sleeve and shook it gently and the Peanut slithered free.

It's been a while since she pulled something this boneheaded, but this is the cat that, as a kitten, spent some quality time at the vet's because she ate my couch. And rocks. Several ink pens. Assorted leaves, twigs, bugs and other outside detris. Any flower she could get her teeth into. Several toilet paper rolls of toilet paper. Paper towels. A paper clip.

She falls down the stairs on a fairly regular basis 'cause she gets to the landing, turns the corner, catches sight of her tail, freaks out over that thing following her down the stairs and attacks it, then rolls down the rest of the staircase.

And so on. She's very affectionate, but she's never going to be one of the great thinkers of the cat world.

A Very Cool Little Dot

Just really neat.



And the making of:

Sunday, September 26, 2010

My Little World...

is still a bit up in the air.

Things kind of crashed in July. I wasn't all the way home from my former workplace that day and the production manager at my [former] just in time supplier called me and offered me a job. And I said no, 'cause I want to go home. Later, the quality manager at the same company called and offered me a job and I said no, I want to go home.

A couple of days later, the quality manager called back and asked if I'd come work for them as a contractor until I was ready to move. Um. Okay. So, I started there at the end of August as a quality engineer, helping them put together FPAs (first part approvals) for their new biggest customer.

My first day there was the most surreal day of my young life. I'd been the customer for nearly four years. It was strange, but everyone was super friendly and really honestly happy to have me there. They're really good for my ego - they offer me a job nearly every day.

I interviewed for a place a couple hours out of Chicago, that I really wanted... and didn't get it. But, it was a FANTASTIC weekend with friends so that was cool.

Now I'm torn. I have an offer here for supplier quality engineer, which is what I've done for the past 7.5 years. They'll give me receiving inspection, so I'll have minions. I'll also be backup for the Quality Manager, and I really think I can make a difference. But, it's still in this area, and it's about 32 miles each way. They've got about a month to get shit done or their shiny new customer may drop them like a hot rock.

I'm still in the running for a job with another former supplier back where I want to be near Chicago. It's a customer quality job, in the headquarters, getting responses in order to make sure the customer is happy. Not my ideal job, but I LOVE the location and the company has another division in renewable energy that I'm very interested in.

I'm still applying to things in Ohio, but the job market there is not booming so I'm not very optimistic there.

So I'm back to working 60+ hours a week, and not really being sure where I'll be next month. But, all's okay here.

Thursday, September 02, 2010