This collection of entries is from October 24, 2003.
What a lousy night... I had a sandwich from Panera last night and, um, it didn't sit right with me. Was in the bathroom every two hours overnight. I was a wreck. Tried to get on the Tollway as quick as possible but just couldn't get my ass going. I needed to get on the Tollway because as soon as the sun comes up, the traffic gets a little funky as we all squint and try to see the guy in front of us as we head directly for the rising sun (shouldn't be a problem after we change the clocks over the weekend). Stopped at the Oasis to get a Gatorade, hoping that would help the body (it did). Unfortunately, when I finished pumping gas at the Mobil, I slammed my gas cap door shut - a sheered-off a piece of the plastic door release. Now the door won't close. Crap. I am soooo pissed over a stupid little piece of plastic... All I can think of is someone walking between cars in a parking lot getting their coat caught on the open door and ripping the friggin' door off the car, and that's going to look just great... It's going to cost a fortune to replace this little piece of plastic. I looked all over for the piece, hoping I could Super Glue it or something, but I couldn't find it on the ground. Morning was a little rough, but I started feeling better by lunch - when some of the guys went out and brought back Chinese. Real food.
I got my first paycheck yesterday for last week - a whole 4 hours. I opened it up and I was shocked at how small the check was. That's when I realized what had happened. I worked for this consulting company two years ago. Back then, I was making 3 times what I'm making at this job. Because of the difference in tax rates between Carol's salary and mine, I took out additional withholding to help out at the end of the year. Well, when I started with the company again, they didn't look at the W-4's that I had filled out and just re-activated the employee ID, having additional money taken out of my check. Now, my first check wound-up being only $13.61. Ouch.
Time for another Friday Five...
...Not this week. Looks like they're taking off a week, maybe two, maybe longer (sounds like they're getting slammed by trolls, just like many blogs and meme site seem to be lately. Just too many asses out there that just won't STFU).