OMG you guys. It’s my Friday. Also I’m going to be off work for a week and a half! Yay.

Sadly I’m not going anywhere. The time off was approved to late for any plane tickets or travel plans. I didn’t even know if Richard would be off with me! (He is though.) So it’s Staycation. Bah. It will be filled with chores, tasks, gym time, and stuff like that. I’m a bit disappointed. But sometimes just not going to work for a while is really refreshing. Right?

Bah. I’m cranky today.

tagged: work staycation

daniel · late morning · 1 comment · ping it

Whoa. I cannot believe another Christmas is past. Amazing. The year flew by, didn’t it? This has got to be the best holiday season since we moved to San Diego. First of all, my new Store Manager let us managers have our 2 days off per week! Usually we got only one. Of course we worked every weekend, but our days off we together when possible. So for the first 3 weeks I was off Monday and Tuesday! Soooo nice. It was like a weekend off. So for the entire month I didn’t get that overwhelming exhaustion. Sure I got tired. I am tired. It is a crazy time! But I am not *exhausted*. There’s a difference.

Christmas eve was a failure. We didn’t really plan for ourselves and the house wasn’t stocked, cleaned, or ready for us to have a “relaxing holiday”. It was chaotic and annoying. All things that could go wrong did, right down to the cat knocking my dinner onto the floor. We did watch Julie & Julia though. And that was a good movie, so I guess that’s the silver lining. Christmas itself was a total win. We slept in late, “irished up” our coffee, did some chores around the house, and then got dressed and headed out the door. Our neighbors happened to be outside about to ring our bell to drop off cookies!! Awesome having friendly-normal neighbors! After a brief chat we parted ways. We were off to C Level (my idea!) for a relaxing cocktail and amazing views. It was such a clear beautiful day, and the folks working there all in festive moods. It was nice. After that we were off to Sheila’s for a bacon feast! She had a turkey-ham thing, twice baked potatos (with bacon, bacon cream dip, bacon wrapped chick and dates, and more… Not to mention the amazing Dessert Table. After we all had eaten our fill the 8 of us there headed into the living room to play games. I am not sure what the first one was, but we also played Taboo. I love Taboo. It is always a laugh riot! We topped off the holiday with a trip out to the Gayborhood to meet up with some of our favorite local tweets on Twitter. So much fun! I even went to a bar named after a body part. Which was a big deal for me. It was a place that always made me say “ew”. Well, now I’ve been, and I didn’t die. It was a good time actually!

Anyhoo, that’s my holday. Now time to get ready to go back to work. One more week of crazy to go!

tagged: work holiday twitter neighbors christmas cat bacon

daniel · lunch time · say it · ping it

So yeah. It’s (ugh) holiday time. How’s tricks? I’m doing alright, thanks for asking. I figured I’d… yanno… blog tonight.

I know.

So here’s one! Remember how the past three years I have been forced to work 6 days a week from Thanksgiving to New Years? Well.. Heh. This year, not so much!! I am soo zen about this holiday season I can’t even tell you. It’s a nice feeling knowing I get my days off. Really nice. Although there are no weekends off. But hey, I can drink on a Monday! Woo hoo!

That said, tonight’s really our Wednesday so no going out to play for us. One of our best gal pals came over though! Now how awesome is that? Sitting home with us on a Friday night cause we have to go to bed early… We have awesome friends. Like, srsly. And OMG what is THIS. LOL. My friends rawk. I wanna know what picture that was tho, I had my “new” facial hair in that. OMG.

tagged: work holiday friends elf yourself

daniel · late at night · say it · ping it

Well, that was that. The pirate thing is all over. Phew.

So today I am off to work again. It’s not only my weekend to work, but to open. So I’ve been up since 4 already. Yup. 4. Ughz.

Oh well, tata!

tagged: work pirate over

daniel · terribly early · say it · ping it

Things have been busy here at the dp.com household. What with Father’s Day keeping me at work more and all. It doesn’t look like it’s slowing down much either, as Back to School is just ahead. *sigh* The thing aboot being home less is when you are there, there is a lot to do. But it’s fun. The yard is in bloom, my kitten is becoming a cat (that “helps” with chores), and when I do groceries I travel with the top down! My household stuff rocks!

work is good too. It’s not exactly smooth, but I am employed and the job is stable. In fact, I am being challenged by the new leadership. I kinda like that. It has renewed my motivation and junk. Just like They say it does! Who knew?

What else is going on that’s exciting? Hmm….

3GS Baby! 16 GB, Black, and hopefully in my hands by the 26th… *sigh*

tagged: work iphone update cat siamese household

daniel · at some point · say it · ping it

Look. It’s my blog! OoOoOooo…. Sometimes I forget I have it. I swear someday I am going to ditch that time-suck Twitter and come home to this here blog. I’ll do it too! Just not today.

Something about that Twitter fascinates me, tho I do hate how my particular “twitterfeed” is like 99% chat room. I remember the Old Days (yes I have been tweeting since like the first week or something so I get to say Old Days) someone would always call out the chatters and tell them to “get on AIM! This isn’t a chat-room!” I don’t really want to be that guy… Plus it is semi-interesting reading in that voyeuristic way, when I am not annoyed with it. What happened to the “What are you doing?” angle? Now it’s all “@ @ @ @” conversations and you have to scroll around all crazy to keep up. *sigh* Plus I have seen more nudie self-twitpics than I can shake a stick at! Not that that’s always a good thing. LOL. So I guess there are plusses and minuses. Still part of me wants to do away with it like I did the Plurk.

Anyhoo. So do you realize the year is nearly half over already? It is! Ask anyone you know working Retail. If that person in your life is me, let me just tell you then. Backpacks are landing people. Backpacks! That means Back to School. After that it’s all downhill till holiday. [insert cries of pain here] So get your shopping list together and plan that holiday Ham… Have I instilled panic? Heh. So where was this paragraph going? Oh yeah. Time flies when you aren’t blogging. I have been super busy with work. Plus our time off has been pleasantly filled with friends and time with my man. Last week we went to the big San Diego Zoo to check out the new Elephant Odyssey the have been building up in there. It was nice, but immature yet. Animals were still in the “acclimation” stages and weren’t as visible as normal. The big cats weren’t yet moved in. But otherwise super well done. My favorite part will always be Monkey Trails tho. Monkeys rule yo.

So yeah. Still alive and junk. Trying to figure out a balance between online life and real life and my cat. (Inside joke, the cat part. Kinda) If you get anything out of this post, it’s the part in this next sentence: If you think I am ignoring you, I am not. I am just in a weird place right now.

tagged: work blogging san diego update retail zoo

daniel · evening · say it · ping it

I hated her… SO MUCH… it was flaming, flames, FLAMES… on the side of my face… heaving breaths, heaving…

Someone tweeted that the other day. Seems fitting. I had flames on my face today at work…

tagged: work member content anger management

daniel · early afternoon · 6 comments · ping it

Dude. I have to say, I really think Cinco de Mayo is becoming one of my favorite holidays. First, there is booze. Gotta love a holiday that encourages that. (Wait, don’t ALL holidays include booze? Or is that just my family?) Secondly, the food. I love nothing more than Mexican food. Really, given the choice I always choose Mexican. Finally, my third reason. This is a new discovery for me. It is like *no problem* to get time off work! Amazing! I mean, I work retail. So it is literally ALWAYS a bad time to take time off. But the past 2 years I have scored for Cinco de Mayo. This year I was off May 4, 5, and 6. Awesomeness! And I think if I remember to request it, I could have the entire week next year! This is like a total hidden gem for me. You have no idea. I am going to discuss this with my man and get to planning next year. We could take a week, go on a cruise or something…. have a party… who knows!

Oh and speaking of Cinco de Mayo, mine was absolutely fab. The weather was amazing. We drove around all day (with the top down) hunting for a mystical item called a “Taco Proper”. We eventually found them after seeing more of Chula Vista than I ever had intended… Oy! Later, Joelle and Mike came over for some patio time. We had tacos, ceviche, salsa, and margaritas till the sun went down. Then we enjoyed Mexican pasteries. Perfect way to finish the day.

Oh, and I made the ceviche! Shocker I know… Did you know that the fish up in there isn’t cooked? Well it kinda is.. but not with heat. You soak it in lime juice overnight. That is what “cooks” it! What? Not surprised? I was amazed! It was sooo good too. Kudos me.

tagged: work party fun cinco de mayo joelle mike ceviche chula vista

daniel · evening · say it · ping it

Yesterday we had Happy Hour on the back patio with a friend. We usually do that for ourselves about once a week. We get out our little pineapple bowls and fill them with snacks, dips, and other food items. We enjoy mixed drinks. We mellow out a bit. This week we really needed to mellow. You see, it’s “walk-through” season at work and we both were visited by some higher-ups in our respective buildings. Talk about stress! We spent a week and a half of non-stop hard labor perfecting the store all for a 2 hour little visit. Lots of long days and missed days off… Oi vey.

Anyhoo, so it was nice to just chill out and spend some chisme time with a friend. Heh.

Today is my closing shift, so I slept in a bit. I did some stuff around the house. Now I am procrastinating. Nothing new there.

tagged: work stress happy hour

daniel · mid-morning · say it · ping it

I have been under more than a bit of stress lately. I am trying to deal with it, but it still is making me feel “off”.

You see, there are two new leaders at the workplace. In fact they are the 2 positions above me. So right there you can probably the issue. I feel like I am constantly on egg shells at work. I feel like I am constantly being questioned. I feel like I am under a microscope.

I am sure most of it is in my head.

I also feel annoyed and resentful of the change. Yet at the same time optimistic and excited.

I think I need a vacation

To top it off we have a major corporate visitation coming up. *cries*

tagged: work stress change

daniel · late morning · say it · ping it