Domestic Geek

Between work and being sick, my NaBloPoMo effort for November 2010 is over. Oh, well, maybe next year.

I got an unexpected 5 day break from work. My friend hosted a Christmas knitting party at her house on Saturday, so I switched with a guy at work (I worked Wednesday, he covered my Saturday) so I could attend. We're also abnormally slow at work for November, so late Saturday night I got the call that I didn't have to work on Sunday. Add in my normal days off of Monday-Wednesday and that's 5 days off. I really hope this extended break helps me kick the crud in my lungs. There are so many different germs floating around at work that I'm positive that I've had more than one sickness over the last month. I did sleep a good portion of yesterday. I was up for a few hours, then I was freezing, so I slipped into bed to warm up and woke up several hours later. I thought for sure I wouldn't be able to sleep at a decent hour after that, but I went to sleep fairly early. I'm feeling almost normal today. Still hacking stuff up from the lungs, but much better than I've been. So, we'll see...

The knitting party was a blast. The hostess served potato leek soup, cornbread and sangria. I brought a cheesecake (made with all organic ingredients except the topping) and another guest brought key lime pie (I had never had any). We all worked on Christmas gifts we're knitting, ate and drank. So much fun and just what I needed since I haven't been able to attend any knitting groups lately. Wish I could host one, but I just don't have the seating to have that many people over.

I managed to stab my left hand last night while making guacamole. I was trying to get the pit out and the knife slipped. No more using the knife to get the pit out - I'll have to stick to the spoon. Had to wrap my hand in plastic so I could take a shower. I'm such a klutz.

I was looking for something in my purse at work today and I noticed my camera lens cover stuck open. I haven't used my camera since I got back from New Mexico. Sadly, it's been in my purse since then because I'm too lazy to get my pics off the camera. I'm also bummed that I never managed to snap a pic of my friend, Angie. I guess I was just so happy to see her that I never thought to take one. Oh, well...next time.

Anyway, I tried turning the camera on and got a "lens error, restart camera" message. It had obviously gotten dinged. Must have happened when I was cut off and had to slam on my brakes, causing my purse and all of its contents to fly off my passenger seat. One of my co-workers shook it and said something was rattling. Great. I don't have the funds for either a repair or a new camera.

Once I got home, I was going to try to take it apart. After losing the very first tiny screw I took out, I decided to Google the problem instead. I came across this site about repairing digital cameras and started trying some of the suggestions. I put in fresh batteries, laid it on it's back and used a butter knife to get the lens come out as it was trying to power on. Voila, whatever was keeping it from closing or opening (whether some debris or just a little bit bent) was no longer a problem

Yay!

I got stuck at work an extra hour and a half tonight because of a stupid 12 page PDF high school newspaper file generated with Microsoft Publisher that would not go through our RIP.

It kept crashing Acrobat when I tried splitting pages out individually.

It was supposed to be black only, but everything color RGB (not CMYK).

It was poorly designed to begin with.

I was ready to scream.

Fortunately, one of my co-workers had a workaround.

It was one in a long line of jobs today that had me pulling my hair out.

I worked on a college publication that sounded like it had been written by high school students.

I literally banged my head on the desk while reading that one.

I always wondered before I got into the industry why prepress people and graphic designers* hated each other.

Now I know. Boy, do I know.

*I'm using the term designer loosely. Most of the crap we see every day is done by some yahoo who thinks just because he/she can work a computer, he/she is a designer. It's why I can't find work as a designer that pays anything.

Today was the first official snow for the area of 2010. Not the first snow I've seen, since I got the pleasure of driving in snow over Wolf Creek Pass last month when I drove down to Farmington, NM to visit my old college pal, Angie. Not thrilled as it didn't snow that much, so the roads will most likely be icy on the way into work tomorrow morning. Normally, I'm off on Wednesdays, but since I had to take a sick day last month and thus have no remaining vacation hours left, I had to trade with someone to get this Saturday off. I'm going to spend part of the day at a friend's house doing a pre-holiday knitathon. Friends, food, beverage and holiday knitting — a much better way to spend a Saturday than doing prepress work. Hopefully, I'll have some progress to show off since I really haven't been getting a whole lot of crafting done lately.

Since I wrote about it earlier in the week, I guess I should mention how well mentholated chest rub (I'm using Walgreen's generic brand) works on the soles of one's feet. Surprisingly well! It doesn't give a whole night of relief, but it does help a whole lot right after it is applied. In fact, I have it on my feet as I type. Last Saturday I was even rubbing it on my feet at work to get through the shift. Anybody out there know why it works? Is it pressure points, gets into the bloodstream, or is it something else? I'd like to know.

OK, I'm going to go knit a bit and watch the Mythbusters episode from last week (I fell asleep in the middle while Marcus and I were watching it) while I wind down to sleep. I have a feeling it is going to take a while to get to work in the morning.

One thing I realized while watched Hoarders over the last couple of days is I probably have some form of an anxiety disorder. It hasn't manifested as hoarding (yet), but I can definitely relate to a lot of what those people go through. It would certainly explain a lot of the irrational responses to stress triggers I've had over the years.

One thing I have noticed is that switching to a more natural diet has had a great affect on my mental state. Too much refined sugar definitely affects me negatively. Not eating enough causes me to have breakdowns.

Then there is that pesky perfectionism and claustrophobia. Is it any wonder that sometimes I've been such a mess?

The good news is now that I'm more aware of what my problems are, I'm becoming better equipped to deal with them. Admitting you have a problem is always the first step, right?