"Clowns To The Left Of Me, Jokers To The Right..."

What a WEEK this has been. Hi everyone. Hope you're all doing well out there in BlogVille(tm). It's been "one of those weeks." Luckily for me, it ended today (I'm taking a l-o-o-o-o-o-n-g holiday weekend, and not a damned day too soon, either). Hope that you've all had a good week and that you enjoy the holiday weekend ahead! Wow - 4th of July already. The year's flying by.

Sometimes, I feel like I'm forced to swim upsteam in a cesspool of idiocy. No, drown would be a better descriptor. I've had three major run-ins this week with colleagues (who are located at a different site, thank holy goodness), and in each instance, their idiocy caused me major headache. It's absolutely astounding to me that there are people walking the planet who fail to grasp the basics of human interaction and professional courtesy. I mean, how do these people survive? What are their home-lives like? Jesus, if they treat their spouses and children with the blatant disrespect they treated us, then I can certainly see years and years of misery in their collective futures! I won't go in to all of it here (frankly, because Christ only knows who's reading this blog and, well, I am sure you don't want to read the bloviated tales of my workplace woe)...but I will say this to you. STUPID PEOPLE SHOULD BE DEPRIVED OF OXYGEN.

One of the projects I've been working on for the last few weeks is related to Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO). I've been digging through regulations, talking to senior EEO management and agency attorneys, and I feel like I've got a good grasp on the topic and how to apply it to the situation I'm working on. But in doing this project, a pervasive theme continually ran through my mind (and it was just completely expanded upon in a site-wide EEO briefing our agency held today). This theme is likely going to be unpopular with some of you, and may render me, in your eyes, a bigot. Please, though, understand that that is not the case. Quite far from it. I love everyone. I would never dream of treating someone with malice...for ANY reason (well, hurt me or someone I love, and that's a different story, but you know what I mean...). But I'm very quickly becoming sickeningly exhausted by this country's continual desire to eradicate the way of life upon which we were founded because, God forbid, it makes someone else feel uncomfortable. Something that stuck with me throughout my research pertained to management and its rights (and non-rights) as it pertained to race, religion, and national origin in the workplace. According to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, employers cannot dictate to their staffs the manner in which they dress. Let me correct myself. Yes, they can provide and mandate the wearing of a uniform or other protective equipment (if applicable), but they cannot, at any time, prohibit someone from wearing certain clothing. Or using certain types of language or demonstrating signs of their faith. While I certainly want people to come and live in this country and be free, I find it really reprehensible that if I were a business owner, I'd be disallowed from setting the tone and pace of my own office. Specifically, employees speaking in other languages (as long as they aren't posing any sort of physical threat to life or limb, theirs or anyone else's), using ebonics or other slang jargon, and dressing outside the professional manner of appearance are all protected activities. And I, as a business owner, couldn't do a damned thing about it. It's frankly infuriating to see what this country is very quickly becoming. A nation of servicepeople whose blatant lack of understanding of the English language is tolerable. I do NOT feel I should have to explain myself fifty times to the clerk at the grocery store or the room service staff at a hotel. If you cannot grasp and use simple English, do not work in this country. Have the respect for the homeland that has adopted you to assimilate yourself into its culture. I'm not saying that you can't be who you are. Please, BE who you are! But for fuck's sake, have the respect for the people and the nation that have embraced you and speak their language. Wear their clothing. In any other nation, we'd be expected to do that, and many of us would merely out of respect. It's just infuriating to me. Again, I am sure this sounds horribly bigoted and bitchy, and I certainly don't mean for it to be. But it's just a huge sticking point with me.

Our little Maggy is going to be spayed tomorrow, God love her. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. I'm taking the day off so I can be there "just in case" anything should happen, although Dr. Mertz and her amazing staff promise me that she will be just fine. I'd initially planned to take Tuesday off as well (you know, just in case...), but with the hellish atmosphere that is my office, I am going to have to go in, unfortunately. Grr.

So I finished Mom's shawl! Take a look-see!



The photo doesn't do it justice. I am really quite proud of it. It came out so well. Here's a close-up of the stitches:



I also made a congratulatory card for her using my new Stampin' Up stuff:



(SU products used include Mint Melody and Almost Amethyst cardstock, Eggplant Envy ink, and the Paris In The Spring stamp set!)

I've joined the fine folks at Crochetville, and I am really having a good time sharing ideas and getting to know everyone! They have yarn swaps and crochet-a-longs for charity, and I am really looking forward to getting more involved with them. It's nice to be around others who love to crochet as much as I do! Shame that none of them are here locally. Anyway, I've just sent off my first yarn for a swap! I'd bought three skeins of a pretty, berry-colored (and now retired) Red Heart Plush yarn, and frankly, just couldn't use it. So my new friend Melissa will be receiving my RH Plush and sending me some new worsted weight (you know, that's good for the average crochet beginner!) :) I am looking forward to receiving my new yarn and will try to get a picture up as soon as I receive it.

I think I'll close here. I'd really wanted to try to blog a bit longer tonight and make up for lost days (since it's been, oh, 8 weeks since I've posted, give or take), but I am really zonked, so it's off I go to relax with the family unit. Talk to you all later!

Jen