The Last Work Day Before Christmas

I'm sure everyone at work will be in good spirits today. We get the next 4 days off, but unfortunately not paid for Monday. I'm sure that we will be moderately busy today as well, but that's mainly because it's Friday and a lot of things happen on Fridays.

Today is the day we get our Christmas "bonus" (maybe that should read "bone us"). The last couple years it was a ham. I believe we got a Black Forest ham last year and a smaller spiral one maybe the year before that. I don't remember exactly. The first year I was there it was one of those blue metal tins full of naked, Scandinavian cookies. The year after that it was some sort of chocolate-dipped cookies. Who knows what this year might bring. It has been a good year for the company, but that doesn't mean shit when it comes to such things.

I also didn't have to make my usual sandwich for lunch today. The top several guys in the shop (i.e. "upper pay scale") got together and is ordering us all pizza from Papa John's. Now get this--The only way that the co-owners of the shop will let them do that (yes, believe it or not they have to clear such things through them first) is if they tell them that everyone in the shop got together and paid for it themselves. There is no way they would agree to them just buying us lunch out of their pockets as a gift. Why? Because it would make them (the co-owners) look bad. Isn't that a kick?

Sue, our office administrator, came over on the way home from work last night, and surprisingly, stayed until after 9:30! She and I are both divorced and both the same age and have lots to talk about. She and I are different in many ways and would probably never "fit" together, but I really like her a lot and I treasure the friendship we have. Someone at work told me one time a few years ago that I was the only one she ever freely talked to. I responded by saying maybe it's because I actually talk to her? She is a very focused lady and has a lot on her mind, and people probably have a tendency to perceive her as somewhat cold, but I don't. I can "see" people. Anyway, we've developed a friendship over the years. She will occasionally ask me about some sort of software app that she just found out about, and I'll track it down for her (I'm her software pirate). That was the main reason she stopped by last night was to pick one of those up. For all I know, she may have wanted to stop by and visit other times in the past but didn't have the right reason. She is a single woman after all, and needs a certain amount of caution when it comes to such things. We had a great visit last night though. Had I known she would have stayed that long I would have fed us more than just nachos and beer though! We talked and talked enough that I didn't even remember until I was going to bed that I still had clothes in the dryer. Oh well. Note to self: Turn on the dryer when you get home and touch em up.

Today is my "dress-up day" at work. Myself and Elaine are the only ones usually. She has her blinking LED reindeer antlers that she wears (she calls it "flashing her rack"). I have my Christmas Harley shirt and my Santa hat, both of which are currently adorning my mannequin bitch in the entry. It will be kind of weird to strip my mannequin so I can get dressed for work...

Sarah will be staying overnight tomorrow night. I hope we can get some stuff done. We need shopping, wrapping, and stuff like that to get done, and we also need to co-build our annual gingerbread house. It's a kit, but we like to embellish the existing kit with other cool stuff. You know how it is--They can always use improvements.

Looks pretty durn cold out there this morning. I wouldn't mind riding the Harley today, but that wouldn't be too practical. I need to shop for some stuff on the way home. I think I'm just having riding withdrawals. I hope to get some riding in during my upcoming 4-day weekend!