oh, hai!

Wow, I never seem to write an entry anymore. And I’m only writing one now because it’s very dull at work and although it’s only 2:00, I went to lunch hours ago. Our modem died last night (the latest in our endless parade of internet issues) so Baker B and I went to Charter’s local office early and got another one. Then went home and hooked it up. Then Baker B had to call the help line because the set-up thing was rejecting the modem serial numbers. They fixed it remotely and tada! Back online again. Till the next thing fails. We were only out for one night but it’s been acting weird for awhile. Again. 

Tonight I’m going to visit my dad, since I haven’t been down there in quite awhile. So no OD opportunities for most of the weekend. It’s odd to be so slow in our office- we were dead as polyester most of the summer, but really picked up when the fall semester started. Not sure what’s going on now. Although I’m glad, since Aggravation Receptionist is off for three weeks having her bunions fixed. This was the first week, and as I suspected, it’s just like having her here except she’s not annoying me with her !family!drama! all day long.

Well, okay, I’ll admit that there have been a few things I didn’t have a clue about, like international program paperwork that my boss apparently has to sign, which people kept bringing by without knowing what needed to be done with it and I didn’t know either and the first one made some lame joke about Major Changes since AR has a sign on her desk saying Major Changes and I was confused and (a) didn’t know who he was and (b) didn’t know what the paperwork was and (c) his joke about Major Changes (as if that was ME apparently, you know, Captain Changes, Sargent Changes, Major Changes… yeah, hahahahaha) made me think it was paperwork FOR people WANTING to change majors (never mind random advisors or whatever don’t bring a bunch of those by – the students do) (I guess) and he also said the Dean needs it so I took it to the Dean’s Assistant and said, "G needs to sign these major changes!" and she took one glance and said, "ummm, no, those are international study proposals and YOUR boss signs that!" Although she said it nicely and she didn’t laugh at me nor asked where the hell I got "major changes" from since even one glance would reveal the international studies stuff all over it… aaacckk. So yeah, now Dean’s Ass’t thinks I’m (a) an idiot (b) illiterate (c) completely airheaded (and (c) is correct!) while Captain Confusing surely thinks I have no sense of humor whatsoever. Along with  (a), I imagine. 

SO. Don’t enjoy things like that. Nor do I enjoy answering the phone since even after 4 years here I’ve never mastered the relatively simple phone system and usually cut people off when trying to transfer them or give them someone’s voicemail. So, yeah, I’ll give AR credit for doing that well. When she actually does bother to put her drama!family on hold and answer the work line. 

On the plus side, we are apparently not going to have any jobs cut out of our office — not this go-round, anyhow. So that’s a huge relief. There are a lot of cuts across campus, though.  OH, and remember that exciting fancy lots-more-money job I applied for last summer?? And I got the interview and then it was down to me and two other applicants? Duuude, the guy who got it is ALREADY LEAVING. I found this out because… someone printed out  the posted job description and then left it on the shared printer. The printout was apparently a reply to whoever printed it, letting them know they weren’t qualified for it. I think Mr. Organized must have applied, and wasn’t qualified because bizarrely he doesn’t have a four-year degree. His experience is pretty much exactly the same as mine, although I had more since I’ve had this job longer and was in a similar one before that, but he does other stuff that would totally count. It has to be him — it wasn’t Miss Artsy and it wasn’t me and that leaves AR (who firstly won’t even apply for any of the jobs in this office that open up and are above receptionist level and secondly wasn’t here yesterday anyhow) and Mr. Organized. Who apparently knows the guy they did hire instead of me, and had told Miss Artsy that he was leaving because his partner was offered a job in DC. So apparently he’s not just quitting because it was awful. Bet they are sorry they didn’t hire me now!  And no, I am not applying for it. I’ve been very glad more than once that I didn’t get it last time. More money would be great but the stress would be off the charts.  I do find it odd that they are filling the position – I thought everything was frozen. I guess it’s considered vital. It’s in the Registrar’s office. 

WELL. That’s about all I have to yammer on about. Why don’t I post some pictures from our trip weekend before last to see Cousin E’s son get married? Or, more accurately, to have the official wedding ceremony, even though they actually got married in January? It was lots of fun – great to see everyone, and I think it was the best wedding I’ve ever been to. It was a FUN wedding. An outdoor wedding, at a gorgeous gorgeous old farm in Boone’s Hill Virginia. Actually my only complaint was that we didn’t know it was going to be outside, oddly. Apparently nobody realized this until right before the wedding. So as it was in the evening and "semi-formal", I ended up feeling way overdressed. Well, not "overdressed" as much as oddly dressed- the dress I ended up buying would be a perfect interview dress. (Yikes. Just thought of the implications there. NO. Not applying for that job. Just NO.) It was kind of heavy and hot for an outdoor wedding. But it was such a fun, informal wedding ("semi-formal" sure carries a different meaning than it did back in my day) that I didn’t feel weird, just wished for lighter clothing. 

The ceremony was in a field, with beautiful mountains for a backdrop. (This could easily have been disasterous – it looked rainy all that morning, and absolutely POURED the entire next day. But not even a sprinkle between 6-11 pm.)

Cousin E’s adorable College Girl:

Cutest. Flowergirls. EVER. (Cousin MJ’s little girls)

Parents of the Groom:

The happy bride and her dad:

Debugging the flower girls. A downside of Wedding In The Field – lots of field bugs to hop all over the Flower Girls’ white dresses! Luckily there was no Flower Girl FreakOut. Apparently they are okay with bugs. 

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The wedding party and families-

The Cousin J gang: (Sunglasses were handed out as we sat down, which was a great idea)

Cousin MJ and her gang:

Mother of the groom!

My brother and his wife:

And oh, look! Baker B and I were there too! One of the cousins took THREE pictures of us. Not one picture is good of both of us, but this one is the most marginally okay of both of us. Baker B would not smile normally (in his defense, he had a cold and felt awful) and to my vast annoyance I apparently have a Man Haircut. I thought my hair looked great, I was very pleased with my haircut… and I looked at this picture and said "what in the HELL is that on my HEAD?!?" I’m hoping it had just blown around weirdly since we were outside. It’s SUPPOSED to be all freeform and textured and cutting edge. Not toupee-like. 

The reception tent:

Cutting of the cake. They actually cut it with this gargantuan saber (they are both in the military) but sadly I missed getting a picture of that. 

LOTS of dancing went on. Lots and lots of dancing. I remember having that kind of energy. Dancing all night. Yep. 

Even one of the waiters danced, with a big food-holder-thing!

Of course I had to play with the camera:

As the bride and groom left, they ran through a gauntlet of sparklers – perhaps the most fun thing I’ve EVER seen at a wedding:

Yay, sparklers!!!

Well, I was also going to post some pictures of the very nice trip Cousin J and her husband and kids and I took to Peaks of Otter during the day on Saturday, but that is going to have to wait. What a surprise!