Daylight What?

Had the normal confusion at work about what time it was. I had people showing up an hour late for work wanting to know what to do. I told them to clock in. And invariably they all asked "will this count against me?" I told them yes, it would. For those that do not have an attendance problem, one hour late in the grand scheme of things will not damage them at all, for those that do have an attendance problem they probably would have been late anyway, and are not getting a pass because of the time change. The one that offended me the most was the guy who was scheduled 1900-2300 who showed up forty-five minutes late. Dude, where were you all day? The time change happened at 0300, and sixteen hours later you still hadn’t noticed? Yeah, he’s not one of my brightest…

I’ve got K tomorrow, possibly tonight, but I’m thinking that’s a dwindling possibility. Her father was supposed to watch her but he backed out at the last minute. I don’t know the details this time, but in the past he has demanded sexual favors of Critter in return for baby sitting his own daughter, suddenly being too busy to watch her when Critter says no. He’s an ass, but that’s nothing new, right?

Spent the day at the cabin getting laundry caught up, I hate not having my own machines. We get our bonus checks this week, and while a large portion of mine went to taxes, I’ll still have enough for some of the things I was planning on getting. Just because of limited availability, I’m going to grab an XBox 360 and a 40" Sony Bravia. At $299 and $699 I can’t let those wait or I’ll be paying even more later. Then I’m going to get myself moved into someplace much cheaper than where I am now. After that I have some other plans, including a new washer and dryer, but I can use my rent savings for some of that and not rely as much on the bonus money. I’ve got to pay my taxes too, dang it.

I figure once I get moved I can count on a savings of $300 – $500 a month, even after I add utilities into the mix, and that’s not bad. It’ll help me recover from the month I have to pay both rents while I’m moving. Probably not going to see any of my deposit on this place returned, he’s famous for that among his former tenants. He always finds something, and it’s not worth the hassle and expense to sue him to get it back, and he knows it.

I’m going to need a new TiVo box and A/V receiver to go along with the new TV, but they can wait a bit. I have them picked out already, but the TV has enough HD inputs I don’t have to have the receiver right away and since it also has an S-Video input my current standard definition stuff will still run through the old receiver. Besides, with the new TiVo box will come added cable expenses, and I need to hold off on that for now.The TV only refreshes at 60 Hz but I don’t watch a lot of sports or do enough gaming that it will present a problem. 120 Hz is optimal, and there are HDTV’s out there that refresh at 240 Hz, but I don’t see the point. I think I’ll get the A/V receiver first, and add the TiVo box later. It’ll work better I think.

Wow, all kinds of coming and going up here tonight, I just saw another set of headlights bob across my ceiling. Everyone must be on the prowl for some reason.

I found my parents’ census survey at the cabin. It was hanging on the doorknob. That’s a bit disturbing since they have a mailbox at the street and whoever put it there had to drive a hundred or so yards up a steep, unpaved driveway to get there. Anyway, with their permission I filled in the box that said how many people lived there, sealed it back in the envelope and sent it on its way. I have to say, though, that the questions this year were much less intrusive than the 2000 census. There were no questions about occupation and income, and it didn’t ask for SSN’s this year like it did in 2000. Like an idiot I filled in the SSN box last time because I wasn’t paying attention. I was working in HR at the time and everything we did revolved around SSN’s, so I didn’t even hesitate to give it up. This year all they wanted to know was how many people are living there, what are their names, ages, and racial makeups. That’s it. It’s still more than they are entitled to, but it’s a step in the right direction.