What I’ve learned while Geocaching March 8, 2005 ~ 12:37 pm
Posted by Julie in : Daily Grind , comments closed
Snow cave over creek, Woodstock, NY
Busy as hell here this morning, between insane profs and deans, and a fuck-up that I made yesterday. As soon as I realized what I had done, though, I went to my boss and explained what I had done wrong and how I thought we could fix it. That’s the best way to ensure that you don’t get fired, I’ve found. It’s only when you try to hide your mistake that you get into trouble. A lot like when I was little and cut a hole in the box springs on my mom’s bed, then tried to fix the hole with Scotch Tape. I’ve got news for the people at 3M - your tape isn’t invisible. And you’d better believe my ass got in trouble because I tried to hide it. But that’s a story for another day.
Today you get a light fluff post because that’s all I’ve got time for. You get to find out what I’ve learned in my past week of Geocaching. Aren’t you excited? I’ve learned:
- While even a blind monkey may sometimes find a coconut (ie, how I found my first cache with a map and a lot of luck), it’s better to be a sighted monkey (ie, have a GPS receiver).
- Satellite reception in Manhattan is insane. The only place where it’s really reliable is Central Park. Thank you, Frederick Law Olmsted, for this respite from the buildings.
- 9 year olds get really excited about Geocaching. Really, really excited. And it’s amazing what they want to take in trade from a cache (hi-bounce balls, rocks, English money, a $100 dollar bill eraser).
- 12 year olds, not so excited. But they really like to use the GPSr. And they like the buttons that are sometimes left in caches.
- 50 year olds, the GPSr is like crack to them. They will pretend that the Geocaching is semi-boring, and then get really excited when you find, say, a pass from the World Premiere of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.
- I am short. Caches that are hidden above my head drive me nuts when I search for 20 minutes before finding them.
- There are way too many Muggles (non-Geocachers) in Central Park. They’re everywhere. Freakin’ Muggles.
- Learn how to actually use the GPSr befor going Geocaching. Do not let the 9 year old’s excitement coax you into leaving the apartment before you have learned how to use the GPSr. Otherwise finding a cache takes a reaaaaally long time, and it’s hit and miss.
- There are 8 bazillion geocachers out looking for the same caches as you. Especially if it’s a new cache. If you can’t find the cache, someone else probably has it in their pocket and is waiting for you to leave so they can hide it again (this happened to me last night).
- There is not enough daylight this time of year to go Geocaching after you commute from Brooklyn to Manhattan.
- Corresponding to this, you can’t find a cache in Central Park at twilight. Ain’t happening.
- Bring a fucking flashlight if you decide to disregard this rule. Because your cellphone and GPSr don’t put out enough light to make it worth reaching your hand under a rock to look for a cache. Especially when “Park Elves” are rustling in the undergrowth nearby.
- Geocachers are a welcoming community. If you post on the boards, expect to be welcomed. And if there’s a meet-up planned, you’re gonna get an invite. Especially a meet-up at a bar, where you can get a GeoCoin for buying one of them a drink.
There you go. That’s what I’ve learned. To be continued.
Woohoo!!! March 7, 2005 ~ 9:48 am
Posted by Julie in : Daily Grind , comments closedGot a nice little Def Leppard email in my inbox this morning, telling me that the Leps will be on tour this summer, and…
They’re coming to Brooklyn!!!
They’re playing at KeySpan Park at Coney Island on July 9, two days before Rick’s birthday. I just called him with the news and the first words out of his mouth were “Well, we’re going!”. I love that man. We’ll spend the day at Coney and on the beach, and end it up with the Leps. This just goes to prove that sometimes that Mountain does come to Mohammed.
But someone explain to me why they’re touring with Bryan Adams? I know they’re both Mutt Lange proteges, but still…
Out of Sorts March 4, 2005 ~ 12:23 pm
Posted by Julie in : Daily Grind , comments closed
Look, I found my first Geocache last night!
(If you saw this earlier, you will be wondering where the body of this post went. I deleted it. I didn’t want the person I was writing about to see it. I love self-censorship. Then I re-wrote. Damn, I’m good.)
I don’t know how much I want to say except that I’m out of sorts. My shoulder hurts, to the point where I’m thinking about getting a sling to use this weekend so I can give my right arm a rest. And hey, maybe if I have a sling on, my work will take this seriously. Being on the phone all day with students is not helping my neck, peeps.
I’ve dealt with three crises in the last hour. I think Murphy has a law about “All shit must hit the fan when your supervisor is at an off-campus meeting for the day and has left you in charge of a bunch of petulant cubemonkeys.” I think those are Murphy’s exact words. I challenge you to prove me wrong.
I also challenge my boss to ask me on Monday why some of the shit she left for me to do isn’t done. Don’t even go there, beotch. I am sad and crippled and covered in the refuse of disgruntled cubemonkeys. But at least the students I dealt with left happy.
Building up to a rant March 3, 2005 ~ 12:45 pm
Posted by Julie in : Daily Grind , comments closed
Joe, trying to figure out why the hell he can’t see the neighbor’s dog anymore. That’s my only window, at ground level, during the last big snow we had. I live in an igloo.
My neck was feeling better this morning, it really was. I took three advil as a preventative measure, but the typing and writing of letters really aggravates it (she said, ever sarcastic, as she typed another blog entry). I think it’s definitely healing, but I’m glad tomorrow is Friday and then I’ll have a weekend to bounce back. Leenie thinks I accidentally re-injured it Tuesday night when I did laundry and bought kitty litter, both of which required me to move heavy loads around. Well, it had to be done. I needed underwear, the cats needed clean litter. But I won’t be moving anything heavy for the next few days, that’s for damn sure.
As for the rants, I’ve got a few of them. I read the detailed report about what Dubya’s new budget is doing to the country in general and New York State, specifically. Can someone explain to me why the budget for Homeland Security is being cut by so much ($420 million)? I thought Homeland Security was important to the Bush administration, especially since they always play up that we’re under threat of attack. I won’t even go into how those “threats” surface mostly when Dubya is losing ground in a poll… Or hey, if Homeland Security isn’t important, No Child Left Behind definitely is, right? I mean, that’s his signature program. Try again. It’s losing $13.1 billion in the new budget. New York State’s share of that is $1 billion, leaving behind 296,648 New York children. Oh, and those veterans he thanks and supports so much? Now a lot of them will have to pay an annual fee of $250 to use the VA healthcare system. Thanks, veterans. Sorry if the door hits you on your way out. And even with all these cuts, the budget is still $427 billion in the red. Shit, I wish I could run my life like that and get away with it. Must be nice to be the President. (Oh, check out this site if you want to see what Dubya’s doing to your state - that’s where I got my numbers from.)
Another rant. People I work with asking stupid questions. How many years have you people been doing your jobs? Shouldn’t you know the answers to these questions? And they wonder why I didn’t want other people doing the degree audits. Because if I do them by myself, I don’t have to spend the day answering stoopid questions and knowing that I’m going to have to go over all of them that other people did anyway. I do them right the first time.
Alright, it’s time for Julie’s Daily No-Kill Hour. That’s what I call my lunch hour. If I get it, no one gets hurt. If I don’t, there will be hell to pay. It’s that time of the year, people. Commencement is just around the corner. Things are gonna get ugly.
ouch March 2, 2005 ~ 12:39 pm
Posted by Julie in : Daily Grind , comments closed
My friend Jordana’s reflection on the 9 train.
Monday night I twisted funny or something, and now the right side of my neck hurts like a bitch. It hurt yesterday, too, so I didn’t come to work. I took it easy, hoping that would fix it. Yeah, not so much. And I’ll tell you what, typing, writing letters, answering the phones, and getting things out of filing cabinets isn’t helping it, either (she said ironically as she typed in her blog). My boss has been surly with me because I guess she’s pissed I wasn’t here yesterday. Know what? I don’t give a shit. If I hurt that bad, I ain’t coming in. Cos when Julie ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.
Rick thinks it’s a pinched nerve, in which case I guess there’s nothing to do but wait it out. I’ve been icing it and occasionally doing the moist heat thing that my resident massage therapist suggested (hi, Leenie!) and taking Advil, but I guess at this point I have to just get through it. Pleh. If anyone has a suggestion, let me know…
