Back to Work

Currently Reading: After Dark by Haruki Murakami

Well, the vacation is over and it's time to get back to work. Ok, I actually went back to work LAST week, but you get the idea. It was kinda funny actually, I THOUGHT I was due back on the first of June but it turns out I was supposed to be back on the 31st. Don't worry, I didn't get into trouble or anything. It was just a misunderstanding about my schedule but it was pretty funny getting that phone call.

Speaking of the work schedule, I've pretty much settled into a comfortable one. I've got Tuesday and Wednesday off right now and if things work out with our new bather, I'll also have Thursday off. We're going to be training another guy for grooming too so me going to a 4 day work week makes things MUCH easier for everyone all around. It'll give him more time to apprentice with the boss and that makes a HUGE difference. The more you can learn from someone who actually knows what they're doing, the better you'll be fresh out of training.

I don't know how long that will last though. Mostly we find ourselves with plenty of people to do the work because it's summer. That means folks who had to have certain days off because of school are eager to work more hours so they can put away more money. But for the next two or three months things will be low-stress and if all goes well, right at about the time things get stressful for the holidays, we'll have enough people to handle the work.

I was a little surprised by all the new faces when I got back to work last week. Apparently we've been hiring a LOT. I've already seen three new clerks and one new supervisor. I'm still trying to figure out who's no longer working for us. You don't hire that many people at one time unless someone or several someones get fired first.

I'm getting better and faster at doing the dogs, which is great. The more dogs I can do in a day, the more money I can make. I'm still not nearly as fast as my boss but then she's been doing this for a LONG time. One day I'll get there but right now I'm still a bit slower. Everything comes out good though. I haven't managed to mess up a dog yet (knock on wood). And so far everyone has liked the cut I gave them, or at least no one has come back to complain about it. So it looks like I'm getting the hang of this much quicker than I thought I would :-)

Haven't really been doing much other than work since our vacation ended. If you've ready CC's blog you know we watched Pan's Labyrinth the other day. I thought it was really good and very well put together. Makes sense considering it won awards for makeup and costume and so forth. Whether or not you like the story, it was a well-crafted film.

I get a kick out of CC's reaction to it though. She's still trying to figure out just why it was so good. She sees the critics reviews and it's running at 96% over at Rotten Tomatoes which means 96% of all the critics liked it. A movie scores that high it's going to be good. She just isn't quite sure WHY it's good, or rather, why it's SO good that it has gotten almost universally good reviews. To be honest, I couldn't really go into too much detail as to why I like it either. Perhaps because it was just so different from the way movies are usually approached. I mean, how often do you see films that blend revolution with children's faerie tales?

We also saw Shrek The Third. It wasn't as good as the others I don't think but it was still really funny. If they're smart, they'll stop here and not make anymore. At this rate the whole grumpy ogre theme is getting a little tired. Worse, they keep introducing more and more new characters which means less screen time for whoever your favorites are. I would have liked to have seen more of Puss in Boots because I just LOVE him but you can only fit in so much in one movie. I did get a kick out of the princesses storming the castle. That was a hoot. I also loved Snow White making all sorts of dwarf jokes. At one point, they're giving Fiona a baby shower and Snow White, as her gift, gives her a dwarf to work as a babysitter. When Fiona says she can't accept it Snow White tells her not to worry because she's got 6 more at home.

I don't know how close Barry Bonds is to breaking Hank Aaron's home run record but I really hope he doesn't. It may sound mean but I actually find myself wishing some pitcher will nail him with a fastball that ends his career. The guy is a REAL jerk and has clearly been shooting up with something or several somethings. He's put on WAY too much muscle mass and he did it far too quickly. It becomes MUCH more apparent when you look at the old footage of Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth. Aaron is so SKINNY compared to the players these days and Ruth, clearly he never turned down a good meal. At this point though I don't think anyone from MLB is going to step up and do anything about it. There's no sign that Bonds will be banned or that his manager will bench him. So, unless there are any rogue pictures out there willing to take one for the sport, it's looking like Bonds will break the record some time this season.

Hey have you been following basketball? Well no, actually I haven't either, not until last week anyway. In previous seasons I really didn't follow the game until after the all-star break or even until the playoffs. The past few seasons I didn't even really follow it THAT much. This year though, the Spurs have reached the finals yet again and they're finally getting some long over-due respect from the writers. I guess when you beat up on Utah as much as they did during the last series it's impossible NOT to give credit where credit is due. I don't know how much longer they'll remain competitive as a team though. They're the oldest team in the league right now so they're due to lose players to retirement and injuries. Still, one more championship before they start to rebuild would be great :-)