In The Shuffling Madness

Yes, it's been busy in Michael's world these last couple of weeks. Here are some of the highlights.

I seem to have contracted a virus. Yes, I've officially got my first cold of the season. I held off until October last year, but no such luck this time around. I was completely exhausted on Tuesday and Wednesday and moderately exhausted yesterday. Today isn't so bad. The dry, scratchy throat I've endured for the last few days is mostly gone, but it's been replaced by congestion and a runny nose. This is usually a sign that my body has turned the corner, so I'm looking forward to a complete recovery very soon. Praise heaven and pass the Alka Seltzer Plus.

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Unfortunately, my computer has also contracted a virus. The PC Guard virus, to be specific. And my virus scanning software isn't able to remove it fully. So I've done a little research online and found a procedure that should get it taken care of. But between work and school, I haven't had the 30-60 minutes I'm estimating it's going to take to get it done. Sunday morning, probably.

I'd like to be upset about this, but it's my own stupid fault. Firefox was running a little slow one day, and I was impatient, so I decided to try my luck with Internet Exploder. D'oh! I clicked on a link that didn't go where I thought it was going, got a multiplicity of pop-up windows, and that was that. Carp. Memo to self: Microsoft is the Great Satan.

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I had another run-in with the Tzarina again tonight. We have a very limited amount of work for the weekend, so the decision was made that only those who are scheduled for the weekend shift could come in. I don't know whether she had actually listened to the voice mail message that makes everyone aware of such things, although I suspect that she had and didn't like what she heard. Our conversation went something like this.

Tzarina: What's the shift for tomorrow?
Me: It runs from ten to four for those who are scheduled.
Tzarina: And what if I'm not scheduled?
Me: Then you have tomorrow off.
Tzarina: Really?
Me: Yes, really.
Tzarina: Why?
Me: We've only got enough work to accommodate those who are scheduled.
Tzarina: So I can't come in?
Me: No.

At this point, I'm thinking—or maybe just hoping—that the conversation is over. I should have known better.

Tzarina: Well, if it makes any difference, this is the only day I've been able to work this week.
Me: [thinking] So you're going to get to work two times this week, and I get to be here for both of them. Imagine my joy.
Tzarina: Doesn't seniority count for anything here?
Me: [thinking] No, but we occasionally make exceptions to things like this for those who are good performers. Maybe you should give that a shot sometime.

In the end, I told her that the only way she's be able to work is if she came in tomorrow and someone who was scheduled didn't show up. So in all likelihood, I'll be dealing with her again tomorrow. Imagine my joy.

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I bought some jeans today. Yeah, that's a big deal. I apparently wear a rather odd size, and I have difficulty finding it. I can find plenty of pants that are either two inches shorter or two inches smaller around. But my particular size is almost nowhere to be found. As Curtis once pointed out, I need to lose a couple of inches—one way or the other.

So I went to a couple of stores conducive to the budget a college student working part time: K-Mart and ShopKo. No luck at either place. Then I saw a Nordstrom Rack store, so I thought I'd check it out. I went in and saw all kinds of signs promising prices anywhere from 25% to 50% off the normal price. I checked out a couple of the racks, only to find that the pants were not organized in any manner that made sense to me. And then I saw a table with jeans that looked to be pretty well organized. And they were on sale for only $67.95 a pair. WTH? Forget it. If I'm going to pay seventy bucks for a pair of jeans, they'd better have a $50 bill in the back pocket.

Finally, I saw one of those stores at which I've never shopped before: Old Navy. No, it's true. What can I say, I hate their TV commercials. But I was running out of options, so I decided to give it a shot. What a surprise: not only did they actually have jeans in my size, but they were on sale. <ted>Most excellent!<ted> So now, at the age of 37 and for the first time in my natural life, I own some Old Navy clothes. Am I stylin' or what?

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I got two new callings in Church over the past couple of weeks. I'm still the ward newsletter coordinator (or "Zion's paperboy", as I like to call it). And I've been acting as a pretty regular substitute teacher in Sunday school. Well, I'm no longer a substitute. They actually called me to be an instructor. And in the process, they also called me to be the first counselor in the Sunday school presidency. My primary responsibility in the latter calling is to coordinate with the three teachers in the adult Sunday school program—one of whom is now me. That ought to be interesting.

But not as interesting as I thought things were going to be. We have Stake Conference coming up this weekend. We also just had a reorganization in my Priesthood group leadership. We had a new group leader, first assistant, and executive secretary called. This left at least one opening. I mention all of this because when I got home from work on Tuesday evening, there was a message on my machine from the secretary to the Stake presidency. They wanted to see me the following evening. This led me to one of two conclusions: a) they wanted to give me another calling, such as the vacancy mentioned above, or b) they wanted me to speak in Stake conference five days thence. Mild panic ensued. I called back the following morning and confirmed that I'd be able to come in. Then, to my considerable relief, I had another message on my machine when I got home from work that next evening. It seems they were looking for someone else, not me. Okay, so the Church leaders aren't perfect. In this case, I didn't really mind.

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At this point, I suppose I could tell you about our trip to Montana a couple of weeks ago, or about the difficulties I had with one of my professors at the end of last semester. But I've written all I feel like writing today. Remind me to tell you about those other things sometime....