Yesterday, my family got just a little bit bigger, and my Universe seemed to spring a leak. A strange juxtaposition, but a pretty logical one, I guess. See, at about this time yesterday, my older sister Storm gave birth to her second child.

I first got a voicemail from The Jones explaining that Storm was at the hospital and a few hours away from delivery (and this was kind of a funny story in itself, because the connection was bad and right at first I thought she was telling me KillerWorkout was in the hospital, and I couldn�t understand why she sounded so happy about it). Then she called again a short while later to say, "Oops, I was wrong � the baby�s here!" By all accounts, the labor wasn�t too hard, nor did it go on too long -- although Storm apparently distinguished herself on the subject through the use of more than a few colorful turns of phrase and expertly applied four-letter words -- and when the baby was delivered, both she and her mother were pronounced to be in good health. The baby was also pronounced "gorgeous", but that�s neither here nor there.

So I�m overjoyed for Storm. She and her husband have been so excited about having a baby, and of course the rest of us are thrilled to have a brand new niece (my oldest sister, Tempest, has practically made it her career), so this whole thing doesn�t seem as though it could have gone any better. Well, for them, anyway, which is what counts. I�m still a bit sad, though, because I just joined the ranks of Those Who Could Not Be There, Nor Will They See Their Brand New Relations Any Time Soon, which definitely sucks. I mean, not that I�d have been able to do anything for my sister anyway except sit in the waiting room all day, but at least that would be a simple way to show I cared.

On a purely selfish level, I�m really afraid I won�t be able to establish a relationship with my new niece. I mean, I�m going to see her, what? Two or three times a year? She won�t even start remembering me until she�s about three, at which point I�ll still just be �that guy who comes home two or three times a year�. I don�t know. Perhaps my fears are ill-founded, premature, and melodramatic (it wouldn�t be the first time)(or the second), but it still sucks. In the meantime, I�m terribly happy for Storm and her family, and wish them all the best!

Moving along, I think the Data Entry team is out to get me. Not that I blame them. I mean, if I were them, I�d probably be out to get me too, seeing as how I�m the one who�s always giving them shit to do all the time. It seems like every time I come down there, I�m always asking them to print out this report, or get me that data, and blah blah blah, what the hell is my problem, anyway?

The long and short of it is that they instituted this list, solely on my behalf, where I have been instructed to write out all of my requests for them. If I attempt to address any of them directly, they refer me to the list. Sam does not have to use the list, I should point out, just me. This would be fine, if they ever actually referred to the list. Ever. Because they don�t. There are still requests on the list backed up from mid-December in which they have yet to express any interest.

And I�m getting nasty e-mails from clients about these reports and things being so late, but what can I do about it? If I go down there all, "Hey, gang, I still really need that report from the 17th," they�ll just roll their eyes like I�m being a big pest and go on about how they�ve got a dozen other things to do. Which I�m sure is the truth, but it doesn�t get Jean-zilla off my back.

So I�m learning how to be self-sufficient in the arena of Data Entry. Not in my job description, perhaps, but it gives me an extra set of skills I can put on my r�sum� so I can get the hell out of here that much faster.

Someone Got Here By Searching For: evil karma � cold fusion And: ichthyoids I�m Watching: 24, and it just got a little bit better. She�s baaa-aaack! I�m Also Watching: Line of Fire, and it just got a little bit lamer. Too bad, because I love me some Leslie Hope.

my last adventure: Debt Man Walking
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my next adventure: Livin' La DMV-ida Loca