a really good joke follows

i'm full time starting next week but that really doesn't
mean much since i won't qualify for benefits for six months, or
vacation days for a YEAR since my starting date.  basically my pay will
go up a little bit, and that's about all.  oh, and i have to work a minimum number of hours a week, so they can't call me and tell me not to come in like twice in a row like they did a couple of weeks ago.

also, it's amazing how an every-other-weekend schedule can have a person working the same number of days in a week, but still make you tiiiiiiired.  it's the way they fall: the last two weeks went three days off, six days on, one day off, four days on.  and now i have another three-day weekend.  i think i like the idea of my days off being slightly more spread out in that i have been dead on my feet the last couple of days, making designing kitchens (which we have been doing a lot of) a far more interesting and frustrating experience.  (this along with the people who insist that we do carry x product when i know we don't, and refuse to believe me.  and then follow it up with "well, y store carries it" and me thinking ...and this pertains to me, how?)

i didn't really miss the work force much, i've got to say.

BUT this last monday was good!  i went to ames and met up with my friend toni (this being the best photo of her ever and very expressive of what it's like to work in an alaskan salmon cannery).  she is originally from des moines, but has escaped to the bellingham area, and came back for her mom's surprise party.  it was so fantastic to see her, and to reminisce about naknek and all the jokers we knew up there.  and, since her boyfriend still works for ags i got to hear all the newer news too.  i found it interesting how, even though we've been friends for a couple of years now, i never realized how much we actually had in common. i supppose 16-hour work days and intense sleep deprivation aren't really conducive to conversations that extend past donuts and fish.

i've also finished knitting my three hats, minus the earflaps and pom poms.  i'll work on that this weekend along with continuing the search for my shoes.