Yes, I know, that's not a very original title right now. I want to write about a few minor things, but it's all so incredibly boring that I don't know if it's worthwhile. I guess I will, though, if for no other reason than to make sure I have at least one post in 2015. I mean, there may (or may not) be others, but if not at least there will be one. For what that's worth.
Anyway, between a combination of paid holidays and vacation, I worked two days Christmas week and one day New Years (this) week. And of course I'm dreading going back next week just because of having to get back into the swing of things. And I really have to concentrate on being productive and not wasting so much time on the internet.
The really big news from work is that my company is getting bought out by our rival company, which leads to a lot of uncertainty. Coupled with some economic factors, and some jobs could be in jeopardy either over the next few months or the end of the year when the hurdles have all been cleared for the buyout. Most people think our local office, with the specifics that we do, will be safe but we just don't know if either the current company or the new one will be able to afford keeping everyone on. And I'm just an office administrator who doesn't add anything directly to the bottom line.
But screw it; there's little I can do outside of just trying to be as indispensable as possible.
The wife and I went to my folks for Christmas as we always do, then later that evening went to a movie and to our favorite Asian restaurant for sushi. As both of our biggest gifts were already given earlier in the month, we didn't exchange many gifts between ourselves. In fact, other than money for the two nieces who are still under the cut-off age of 18 and restaurant gift cards for my parents, we didn't spend much money at all for Christmas. Personally I'd just as soon not exchange gifts with my parents; we give them gift cards and they give us cash (like they do for all their kids) and a small gift. For me the best part of the day is just going over there and eating too much while catching up with parts of the extended family I don't see the rest of the year. At almost 50, gifts I don't need are the last thing I want to get.
The best gift I got from the wife (outside the quickie we had Christmas morning before going to my parents) was permission to go to the Cowboys/Redskins game in Landover MD. (Yes, I'm an adult and could have gone without her permission, but I think any married man will admit that having the seal of approval from the wife to do something is infinitely better.)
Z and I wound up going (I'd originally wanted to take the wife, but she couldn't get Monday off from work) and had a pretty good time, but I'm not going to go into the details because it's just too boring. We drank a lot of beer, talked long into the night after the game, and headed back Monday morning not too badly hungover. I didn't blow Z, but I did offer to just to be polite, and we showed each other our junk. Like I said; boring stuff.
The wife and I tried going to a bar for NYE that was having a live band, but it turned out to be a heavy metal band so we left. We came back home and had some drinks while watching a football game, then went to bed around 11:45. I thought we'd make it to midnight, but apparently we both fell asleep a few minutes too early; I woke up around 1:30 a.m. with the TV still on and her snoring merrily away. We laughed about it the next morning.
Anyway, I hope you all had a good (or at least tolerable) Christmas, and that the New Year turns out better than the last.
Yep - you pretty much mirrored my NYE, except we didn't even bother to go out.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about the exchange of Christmas presents. I think one of the reasons people stress out so much during the holidays is that need to get the right gift for everyone and not leave anyone out by accident. My wife and I bought ourselves a major gift for the house and that was pretty much it. Granted, we did spend a boatload on gifts for our granddaughter, but I guess that is normal.
Best of luck with the work buyout. Hope it doesn't impact you. Being indispensable is the key.
I give and get fewer and fewer gifts each year. My youngest is almost out of the "Santa" stage and my in-laws and nephews are almost all over the 18 year cut-off and we all agreed that exchanging gifts just turned into a big accounting nightmare so we stopped. This year I gave hand-made ornaments because I got a sewing but and went nuts for a few days. But it was fun.
ReplyDeleteIf this is your only post of 2015 we would miss you, but we all do what we need to do.
Good luck with the job situation. And, if you get laid off, do something fun. We panicked and went straight into the job hunt and didn't enjoy any of my paid time off under the severence plan. So find time to relax and enjoy it no matter what.