Nothing Exciting

I've been at work for less than an hour, and I already don't feel like doing much of anything work-related.  Good thing I have Preacher.

New Boy (NB) brought over a scan of Preacher for me, and as I suspected, it is not much fun to read on my netbook.  Then, an idea occurred to me: Why not load a volume on a flash drive and bring it to work?  Try not to be blinded by the light bulb shining over my melon.

I finished up the first volume, Gone to Texas, yesterday and I'm quite enjoying it so far.  There is the preacher, Jesse; and his tough-yet-vulnerable ex-gf, Tulip.  Cassidy (a friend with a quirk) was probably my favorite, if only for the glee he takes in mayhem.  Oh, and who can forget about Arseface?  I don't think anyone in TX would use the word arse, but Garth Ennis isn't American.  There are a few things that slip through, but nothing that has taken me out of the story. 

Really, my major problem with Preacher is that everyone smokes.  OK, not everyone, but many of them.  This wouldn't be a big deal if I were reading at home, or on my parents' back porch, but reading while I'm at work I don't have the ability to smoke and read.  Boo.  Stupid addiction, I won't let you rule me!

Anyway, I started volume 2 (see link above) this morning and was just introduced to Gran'ma.  Gran'ma looks like a right awful harpy.  Jesse and Tulip are tied up and feeling confessional.  What will we learn?  How will they escape Gran'ma?

PS - I have a really annoying kid sitting across the wall from me and I think I'm gonna have to kick him a bit.  He fucking whistles on the call floor.  That's not proper call center etiquette, now is it?

Ed- I realized that the person saying "arse" is Irish, so ignore my comment above.

Not The Best Friday Ever

After weeks, nay months, of speculation, my program was moved over to the newer section of the building.  You're probably thinking that this isn't such a big deal, but moving sucks.  Not only did I have to get 3 years worth of accumulated junk into my new, smaller, drawers, I also had to move my coworker's junk.  And she had a LOT of junk.  Plus the moving was sweaty work and I have a date tonight.  Now instead of going home and relaxing for a minute, I have to jump in the shower and wash off the sweat and dust coating my body.

My new desk makes me feel very short.  The desktop is higher than my old one, and if I have the chair at a height that is comfortable for keyboard and mouse manipulation, my feet barely touch the floor.  I do have a much newer and more efficient computer now, so I am happy about that.  However, I don't have Outlook anymore and that means I don't have access to many many email addresses or saved emails.  The IT guy says he can fix that for me.

And it's not like the day started off great either.  As I mentioned above, my coworker was not in today, and my back-up back-up person was taking calls for a different program.  This meant that I had a pile of papers on the fax/copier that needed attention.  Then came the DE, then came the VM retrievals, then came the move.

I'm still damn glad it's Friday, because I would seriously consider calling out if I had to work tomorrow.  I want a beer (maybe two) and a back rub.

I Feel Pretty

Today has been great for my ego.

On Saturday, I cut off a huge length of hair for Locks of Love.  It's a ten inch minimum, so I was anticipating some seriously short hair.  Apparently, I am a terrible judge of that sort of thing, because my hair is no where near as short as I thought it would be.  I can still pull it back - which is a big deal for me.  There's only so long I can deal with it hanging in my face, or blowing around.  I do have a stubby little pony, much like a Dobie that has been docked.

So at work today, I've been getting TONS of compliments.  One coworker said she wanted to bite my cheeks.  Another one got frisky with me in the hallway.  There has been petting.  I feel like a puppy, or a baby.  But I guess it is OK because both those things are cute (usually) and I know people are being complimentary.

I know it will be old news by the end of the day, but I'm soaking it up while I can. 

Movie Review - The Losers

Went to see The Losers last night with the new boy.  I had read several reviews of the movie that said it was your basic blow-shit-up flick, which we all know is my favorite kind.  Oh, spoiler warning, just in case.

In the interest of full disclosure, I don't know the source material at all, so I can't comment on how faithful the movie was.

There is no clear reason why these fellas are "The Losers".  The head dude, Clay, refers to them as "Losers" once during the movie.  And there is one conversation about why Clay doesn't want to be called Colonel anymore: "...because if he doesn't have the Army, then he's just a loser like the rest of us."  There's more to that conversation, but it's not especially important.  And I know I used quotes, but it's really paraphrased.

The movie opens in Bolivia, where the crew is marking a drug lord's estate for bombing.  You are introduced to the "The Losers" in comic book panel style; with their handle (Jensen, Cougar, Roque, Pooch, Clay) and their speciality.  No explanation is offered as to the origins of said handles.  It's probably goes without saying, but the attack on the drug lord's compound doesn't go as planned.  The Losers decide to abort the mission.  Turns out, a shadowy figure named Max had reasons for destroying the drug lord and intercepted the Losers' abort order.  Losers are framed for a massive loss of life and are stranded in Bolivia, while everyone in the States thinks they are dead.

Clay is obsessed with finding out more about Max, while the rest of the Losers just want to clear their names and go home.  Enter Zoe Saldana (Aisha); beautiful (duh) and mysteriously rich, and willing to bankroll the Losers in order to get her hands on Max.

I should probably mention that Max is in the process of buying a weapon called a "snook".  It's sort of a bomb, and sort of a tornado generator, and mostly a huge pile of crap.  Shiny, though.  Max has a side-kick named Wade who doesn't seem to know much about anything and is mostly used to toss people off buildings (accidentally) and guard "packages".

The Losers concoct a plan to abduct Max.  Doesn't go so well.  There is some internal strife, especially between Clay and Roque.  Then (oh no!) it seems like Aisha set them up.  Roque wants to kill her, but Clay, who has a weakness for volatile women, says no.

Have I mentioned the explosions?  There were explosions.  Thankfully, the movie never tries to be more than it is, and they avoid shoveling plot into the mix.  There is one bit with Max and his mangled hand that has no earthly reason for existing, but they mostly avoid such things.

And yes, it was left open for a sequel, but I honestly don't see that happening.  Aisha and Clay have unfinished business (I know I didn't talk about that), Max is still loose, and the Losers still haven't cleared their names.  I figure that people who saw the movie without knowing the source don't particularly care about resolution (you so don't get that kind of invested in the characters); and the people who saw the movie because of the comic already know how it plays out.

Oh No!

This is not good news.  And while I don't work for JnJ, I do deal with calls for a leading generics manufacturer.  You would think that one has nothing to do with the other, but you would be oh-so-wrong.

See, people can't seem to distinguish between a name brand product that has been recalled and a generic product that has not.  This means that oodles of panicky individuals will be bombarding the customer service line for the generics manufacturer and I will have to QC all those inquiries.  It's times like this I wish I had a much larger readership so I could put a message out there, or know that lots of people would follow the link to the FDA and have the proper info.  Alas, my core readership consists of reasonable individuals who will either do their research before succumbing to panic, or they don't use the products in question.