The new guy stops by my desk as much as two dozen times a day, and I am not exaggerating. One day I really need to count.

People keep thanking me for my patience. It's good that they can't hear my internal monologue of "OMG WHY DO YOU KEEP ASKING ME QUESTIONS IT'S NOT THAT DIFFICULT."

The tech support's mantra. I feel bad when I'm jotting notes about their stupidity on a piece of paper--because I'm not risking any of that stuff getting saved in electronic casing--and they thank me for my patience.

Man. Is today massively aggro, or what?

A dozen emails sent, no replies except one where the guy took a suggestion I made to HIM and broadcast it to a list of people I don't know or want to work with. Erg.

I've got this huge thing to do this weekend and my motivation is on hiatus.

Also, and probably more to the pointy, hormonal. Not miserable, but taking everything way too personally.

so I think the boss is not even going to be around when I leave today. That would be in 30 minutes, btw. I need to leave my key, but also lock up. I also am taking my mom's old laptop which we have been using as a secondary internet access. She has not mentioned jack about me leaving aside from asking me earlier in the week if I was coming in the full week. so terribly odd.

That boss is a hot mess. You are well rid of her!

Luckily, I was inside for the huge dust storm, but they are not uncommon for this time of year...we got some rain too.

Holy Crap, erika.

Whoa, those are some crazy pictures!

Have fun, ita!

We have been massively lucky with our financial institutions. My dad had a thing about all your eggs and one basket. When he died, we had to traipse all over town to different banks each with a single CD or a couple of below-$1,000 accounts. H had managed to find and consolidate into interest-paying annuities for Mom most of Dad's money, but there were still about eight little accounts and CDs at five or six different banks in town--and it's not that big a town! We cancelled everything and moved all the cash Mom would need to maintain herself and the house into two accounts at the Savings and Loan nearest the house. They knew her there, and always made a fuss when I took her in, and were patient with her. The accounts paid extremely low interest, but their fees and charges were low, too, and this wasn't high finance.

However, they pulled the "we're going to hold this for ten days" when we got a cashier's check from her annuity account and I wanted to deposit it and write a check to cover her rent in assisted living. I boggled, and then I refused to complete the deposit, took the check back and drove to my CU, deposited it as her POA in my account, wrote the check, covered her rent, and immediately started easing her money out of the S&L and into a small account at our CU.

BoA jerked us around decades ago, and H and I both qualified for the State Employees CU, so they've had our business ever since. He's gotten consolidation loans there on no more collateral than the loan officer knowing his credit history. We still maintain accounts there because we still own property in the state, and it's easy to call up the personnel we know and okay a funds transfer.

Here, we joined the local educators' CU. We'll never use a bank again if we can find and join a CU.

Also, re: large metal animals.

It's not as cool as a giant chicken, but driving cross-country we were in Idaho, or maybe Montana ranching country. There was a metal artist's shop with a roadside display of his work. He had mustangs, metal manes and tails streaming in the "wind", created from pieces of car bodies and oil drums as his gateposts. If we'd had a place to pull the van and trailer over safely, we'd have stopped to at least look.

A couple miles further on, up a little rise and around a curve in the road, poised as though caught by surprise, her tail curved behind her like a lady's train, was a dragon, obviously made by the same artist. Again, no place to pull over or I'd have pictures.

Beverly, I'm a member of SECU. That's the one I was talking about. Wish I didn't have to find a new bank.