Some Odd Developments

Hmmm where to start….

Thursday I’m sitting at work and a coworker from a different office, with whom I often have to work, comes over and says “I hear you’re leaving us?”

“First I’ve heard of it,” I reply.

Here’s what I pieced together. Earlier this week, somebody called for a reference on me from an organization where I’d applied for work. My boss gave me a good one, she says, and then told J, her boss. He went to his boss to tell him (because he felt an ‘obligation’). His boss then told this coworker’s boss, who told her.

Very professional. So I asked the coworker’s boss about it and he said that he could give me his insights into how to conduct a job search without ‘ruffling feathers.’ He gossips and passes on information he can’t possibly know to be true, and then has the gall to offer to lecture me on professionalism! What a jerk. Apparently he dislikes it that people think of the organization like a revolving door – but of course, people wouldn’t if they were happy and felt valued.

Meanwhile, back at the office, suddenly! as if by coincidence! what a surprise! I’m the flavor of the month, and there’s a definite chance that the compressed work schedule will be offered. There’s ‘a memo’ with the chief of staff to reconsider it and my boss went about asking when people would like to sign up for it. I have a strong suspicion that this is all bovine excrement.

What do you, gentle reader, think of all this?

The irony is that this other organization has never called me, not even for an interview, nor am I sure I’d take the job – there is some TDY (business travel) possibly involved, and I don’t know if I can get the upgrade to my clearance with C being a foreign national. And before I jumped I’d have to be 100% certain on it. Taking a job that “doesn’t fit” is a horrible horrible mistake.

I used to wonder if I’d made that mistake at this current place, but what keeps me going is the lovely lovely short commute (I leave home at 7:19 and get there at 7:50, comfortably before I’m due at 8:00), having Fort Meade’s amenities like the gym, and not having to travel. So any place I go would have to be sufficiently marvellous to make up for losing any of that. I used to commute straight through the heart of DC every day and I do not want to go back to that without a substantial increase in pay. Substantial. At least that’s how I feel right now, who knows what the future can bring.

So even though some days I think J is a tyrant, and that nobody cares about me, and that I wish I had the compressed work schedule, that feeling is only for half of the eight hours a day I’m at work. The other 20 hours of the day I’m glad as heck I don’t have the commute I once had.

Sweaty!

54 minutes Thursday, 55 Friday. I have to admit that sometimes what motivates me to go to the gym is the prospect of seeing fit guys. <blush> Does that make me a pervert? Okay, seeing fit guys and sort of being if not one of the fit gym guys, being one of the gym guys. It makes me happy. 🙂 It’s a new side of myself.

Neal came by today for our appointment and it was good; he seems very pleased with my squatting and shoulder strength. I found some of the stuff more of a challenge – especially the dumbbell presses – the dumbbells kept wobbling until I stabilized them.

Must remember to download The Economist to my iPod before long so I can listen on the treadmill.

Yum Yum Good

A not really terribly bad ice storm kept us from dining with friends Friday night but we wound up venturing out as we hadn’t defrosted anything. We went to the Longhorn restaurant in Laurel which is my favourite place for ribs. Big ups to me – I had the salmon. I made up for that today by having an enormous lunch at Pomogrille in Bowie – a big plate of cappellini with pesto and a chicken breast. I think in future we’ll go back but avoid the appetizer and salad. Definitely the salad. And I didn’t really need the chicken breast. I think that I might suggest it as a place for the Friday Night Club.

We went to Borders after and got two cookbooks – Nigella (Lawson)’s Express and Lyida (Bastanich)’s Italy. Bit expensive really. I hope they turn out useful. I do like Nigella’s recipes. Roast lamb tomorrow night and if the squash in the cellar (our pantry) is still good I’ll roast it with the lamb. Peas or broccoli with it.

Yum Yum Good (2)

Mmmm yummy is Yehuda Levi. Here he is in some shots from a modelling gig where the idea seems to have been to make the models look like they were on giant iPod screens…the clothes all seem to have lots of belts and wrap aroundy and things.

And yes, he is also a singer of note; here he is in a live performance with Ninet Tayeb, a Mizrachi pop diva. The two have been ‘going out’ and are Israel’s biggest pop stars at the moment, it seems. The clip has been helpfully provided with subtitles so you can sound it out.

I just found the English version of “Bo,” (it means “Come”) the theme song of Yossi & Jagger by Ivri Lider. 🙂 It’s so sweet and sad, the movie’s story. I always blub like a baby when I hear it and think of the movie. I remember a day or two after I saw it, I was sitting on Metro listing to the Hebrew version and I started tearing up in front of everyone.<blush again> I really recommend the movie to anyone. I actually have enjoyed all of Eytan Fox, the director’s, movies. Don’t watch this clip if you’re an anti-gay twit (the only kind of anti-gay person there is)…

Yum Yum Good (3)

Time for our mini-obsession with handsome Felipe Folgosi, this time we’ll take a break from his Terra photo shoot and see some that look like they’re from an interview with a Brazilian radio station – from the logo it looks like Jovem Pan “A Melhor Rádio do Brasil” apparently. I looked and looked and found close ups where he doesn’t look so annoyed (or nervous – being in your undies in a factory might make anyone nervous). The bigger one is not clickable, the smaller ones are.

And here is part three of the making-of video, for your viewing delectation.

(If he were on your radio, would you twiddle the knob to make him come in better?)