Monday 11 June 2001

Pic of the day: Isn't this little pine cute? I love trees. Besides, they lend themselves to pineful puns. "I pine for you" etc.

No time but some money

Hey, would you believe it ... it's half past ten in the night and I haven't even turned on my games PC all day. Now that is a rare event. Not that it is too late, still, but it ought to be.

Of course it helps that I fell asleep earlier this evening and slept for more than two hours. I even dreamt that I was sneaking up behind a young woman and very carefully touching her backside. Now they say that your first dreams in the evening are based on the memories of the day, but that is an overstatement at best in this case. Certainly there were backsides aplenty in the country's fifth largest city where I work, but I do have other hobbies. Why not convince you by actually telling you some of the highlights of the day?

***

I wrote on Friday about the e-mail that was lying about in our office inbox until it was too late, then printed out and put in my letterbox. Today I told the reserve guru, and then we both went on to conspire with Staffman. He seemed unsurprised. Either he has grown overly cynical, or he is still reading my journal. But he's a good one to involve, because he can write mind-numbingly detailed work descriptions. Think of it as programming humans. The idea of people doing normal tasks by following a list of operations rather than by understanding ... it makes a part of me recoil in horror, but at times like this I can see why he does it.

We were there, debating what to do, when there was a rap on the door. The boss came in. Now as I may have told you, this is not an ordinary boss like we've had before. Where most guys who get a title and extra money start to think that they must necessarily be smarter and more important than ever before, she seems to think that she must be more responsible than ever before. She had also found a printout of the infamous e-mail in the morning, and immediately noticed that it was too late. Unlike the rest of us, she did not know that I had already taken care of the task, so she thought 'help, we are too late'. Which we might indeed have been, though I bet there is a leeway, a margin of safety for these things. We in Kristiansand certainly are not the only morons in this huge establishment.

So the lady boss is taking care of the matter. If anyone can make people listen and change their practice without the smell of adrenaline in the air, she is the one. They all know that she gives more of herself in this job than anyone else. There is a saying that for a woman to be respected, she must be twice as good as a man. Fortunately, the saying goes, this is not too hard. Our boss is certainly respected. She was practically begged to take the job as boss here, by us workers. That says a lot. Anyway, she is the best to take care of this matter. I could also handle this without even a trace of anger. On the other hand, I would come across as insufferably self-righteous. In fact, I suspect I come across that way right here, right now.

***

That's more than enough about my boring work, right? Onward to happier things. Money! Money money! Yes, I checked my account, and the pay has already arrived, even though payday is officially tomorrow. There were more than 20000 kroner, that is, more than $2000. Now that may seem like very little to most of you, but to me that is an enormous amount of money. I am still kind of surprised that this last month I bought a new computer and could still pay my rent. (I borrowed $200, but it seems I had not really needed to.)

My first impulse was, of course: 'I can buy a new computer!' But I already did, only I still use the old one because the new one can't get on the Net. (The old one came with a bad parallel port, but I did not return it. The one before that came with a bad floppy drive, but I did not return it. The one before that hung up when I played CD's, but I did not return it. I tentatively conclude that they normally give you a defective computer first. If you don't return it, they are rid of it. If you do, they lose nothing, and can try again with the next customer.)

My second bright idea was 'I can buy new stuff for SuperWoman!' But when next I see her, I expect her to earn more than I do. OK, perhaps not, but about the same. After her finals, she's going to work in Sweden for a year. Lucky Sweden! How happy are the people there, who get to see her every day, in rain or shine. She walks in beauty, and stuff, you know. The clothes and stuff I've bought her probably doesn't hurt either. But evidently I still love her. Like a little sister, of course. ('Yeah, right' say the Texans that may have survived the latest weather emergency.)

So I guess I'll just have to pay my bills. Not very fancy or exciting, but there you have it. Whatever is left, I am sure I will find a way to fritter away. Cutie, are you reading this? This is your chance! Shopping spree! Dinners! Movies! If not, I'm sure there will be more bills eventually. It is a law of nature - well, of human nature - that as the income rises, so do the expenses. (But if the income falls, the expenses remain.)

Actually, I guess this means I could afford to take a trip to the west coast again, to test the hospitality of my brother and his heartwarming little wife once more, and presumably meet my father again while we're still both alive. But that would require time. I have a little money, but I don't have any time. The vacation starts soon for my coworkers, and I'll be holding the fort all summer. No summer vacation for me, as there has never been as far as I can remember. But I suppose I can take some days off in fall. In theory we have something like 4 weeks of vacation, but I am certain I have not had that for many years. I tend to spend vacation days on sick leave, strikes and such.

I'll write more about time another time ... if I get the time.