all sorts of shit...

so it's been six weeks or so. my life just isn't that interesting.

I asked for a raise at work today. my boss seems to think I'm in line for one, especially since I'll likely take over my department soon. granted, that department is three people, one of whom is retiring for a month, then coming back part time, three days a week. but since the burden will be dropped on my shoulders, it seems only fair that I get paid more. they finally shitcanned the worthless piece of crap who was the old department head... something about sleeping at least three hours a day, on the clock, and then turning in overtime as well. I found out he made almost twice as much as me. that shit ain't right. I took over all of his accounts. both of them. it added maybe three hours worth of work to my week. I'm hoping they give me a decent sized raise. $40k at the very least, $45k would be more in line with what I'd expect. it ain't gonna happen.

I actually got yelled at last week for doing my job exactly how I should have. I waived a freight charge to a customer. the job was worth over $30k, and we made an obnoxious profit margin on it, about three times what we normally made. but the vendor dropped the ball on an expedited shipment, so they split the freight charges with me. I couldn't go back and charge my customer $500 for material that was two weeks late. so I didn't. and I got yelled at. I was told if I wanted to waive the freight charge, it should come out of my own pocket, and that I gave away the company's money. this on an order that I MADE the company over ten grand in profit on. that's just pure greed and an asshole in charge. my boss told me not to worry about it.

SIFF is coming. I actually have miyuki volunteering with me. sadly, the selection of movies we want to see has dwindled for the third straight year. in 2004, I saw about fifteen movies. 2005, it was less than a dozen. last year, it was maybe eight. this year, I'd be surprised if we see more than five. I dunno why, most of the movies just don't appeal to me.

I've started collecting news stories about stupid parents. the past week has provided ot one, not two, but THREE amazing stories to make me proud to be a human... the first was about the idiot "vegan" parents in atlanta that fed their newborn nothing but apple juice and soy milk. when he died at six weeks old, he weighed 3.5 pounds. the second, parents of a seven year old with leukemia withheld chemotherapy treatment because they were worried about the long term effects of chemo. they obviously should have been more concerned with the long term effects of cancer, since the kid died of cancer. the third, and perhaps most awesome story, was about the 19 year old would-be preacher who put his two month old baby in the microwave. for twenty seconds. because he thought the baby was the devil. the mother later said that the father had some mental disabilities. gee, y'think? the kid didn't die. it will likely be fucked up for life, had to get skin grafts and everything. and who knows what the hell a microwave does to a newborn's brain. let's just hope this kid doesn't breed and pass on those amazing genes...

oh yeah, and I seem to have done it again on the friends front. somehow I got all paranoid and have likely alienated us from several of our friends. I have yet to figure out why I do this, but I know that it happens more or less constantly with any friends I make. some of them stick around and after the awkwardness subsides, we stay friends for years. others are basically just write-offs, and I'm back to square one. we'll see which happens this time...