Christmas Eve recap
Dec. 25th, 2002 02:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skreidleShort form: Busy at work, Xmas Eve dinner @ Steph&Matt's featuring good stories from Art, Xmas service featuring Shauna singing and my 4th grade teacher, ferret and cat care at Misty's featuring more care than should've been necessary.
Long form:
Up at 10, to work at 12. Work was rather ridiculously busy, especially given that from 3 until close I was basically the only Specialty associate on the floor--at one point I was helping four people simultaneously--one buying two long-tailed lizards, one inquiring about the mountain horned dragon, one wanting a water test and some feeder fish, and one wanting a couple angelfish and some feeders. (Ross (Specialty Mgr) was on until 5, but he was busy doing other things.) Susan was on, but she was finishing her training paperwork, so she wasn't really available to help with closing procedures at all, and didn't really know how to do recovery on the shelves, so it was much work for me. Got out around 8, headed straight to Steph's, after discovering the snow had made the roads crappy.
Annual Christmas Eve get-together at Steph&Matt's, featuring them, Brendan, Matt's brother Anthony and sister Genevieve, Gen's guy, a couple other friends (Chris & ?) and their son, and parents Art & Diane; mom&dad&Shauna showed up after the 8pm service that Shauna sang in. Had a variety of tasty food and drink, including Sam Adams Cranberry Lambic--very tasty! Was regaled once again with many entertaining stories from Art, including dealing with Aer Lingus security (smart-talking the guy with the Uzi and bayonet--Art was military for 20 years, and recognizes other professionals; Irish Law prevailing, and a very personal frisking), dealing with a female student who wanted an A for her C-quality programming (hadn't even run the code she was turning in, which wouldn't even compile; honestly thought he wouldn't notice or run it. He's been programming for the better part of 50 years, as has his assistant; they can recognize errors on sight, and it's very easy to send a compile command. Also, she accused him of all manner of sexual whatever after being told she'd be a fine programmer after about a year of practice--which was funny because it was in front of a female instructor who he had insisted attend all one-on-one sessions between him and female students. She had done so, so the accusations had no basis whatsoever--but she made them right in front of this third party.) Another story involved a woman in Ireland, also working with LearningTree, who wanted to have dinner with him alone, which he told her brother he would only accept if her brother, father, or mother attended--too dangerous otherwise, from the standpoint of his employment for LT. Another story featured a terrible retail experience with seasonal help at B&N--pointing to a pair of $75 books and inquring about them, receiving the response "I don't know anything about them, but I can check you out"--the manager was pissed, especially when it happened again with a couple similar books--expensive books that the store would make 50% from. (Leather-bound Harry Potter 1 & 2, both out of print; 3 and 4 possibly to be produced.) Also, there was the story of the times that American Express has pulled rank on his behalf, to get him world-class service at the ritziest of hotels, restaurants, and airlines, when his pocket has been picked. (Apparently AmEx has significant pull in those industries, accounting for well over a majority of transactions when added to Diner's Club. -- Art has a neverending supply of great stories. :)
Then around 10:35, to the church for the 11pm service, also featuring Shauna as soloist. The service was nothing new, but Shauna's singing was even more fantastic than usual--I could tell she was better than a year ago. :) Also saw Joanna, whose hair is entirely past her butt now, and her brother Joel (still taller than me, he needs to fix that) and parents, and RJ Rothstein, who I think has forgotten what I look like. :P In an even cooler rendezvous, I ran into my 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Renninger, who recognized me immediately (though she has been in contact with my mom for years), and we chatted for a while about work, what I was up to, what teachers were still around my old elementary school.. =)
I then went home by way of Centreville, so I could check on the (6) ferrets and (2) cats at Misty's. Three very festively lit houses on the way into their subdivision. :) Discovered that Jesse had not cleaned the cats' or ferrets' litter boxes, done their laundry, or adequately fed or watered them before leaving. The cage with Sylvie, Bruno, and Daisy was entirely out of food and low on water; both cages had very dirty litter boxes, and the cats' was just as bad; the cats were out of food. This seems like an unlikely set of conditions for the 24-hr timespan since he left, so.. Gave appropriate food and water; searched high and low for a litter scoop, couldn't find it, so added litter to the cats' litter box and the one in S/B/D's cage, and replaced the litter in Pandora/Brutus/I_forget's cage. The ferret in that cage with a mask and black feet then proceeded to go digging in the new litter for about 10 minutes, throwing more than half of it onto the floor of the cage. :P
I also got to meet the two cats that they're taking care of for a friend.. one's a medium-sized stripey ginger cat, somewhat skittish--saw her when I picked up the keys. The other's a medium-sized shiny black cat, very skittish, didn't see her last time. After being in the house for a while and providing food and water, they were both wandering closer, particularly the ginger.. some playtime with a rattly/feathery toy got the best of the ginger cat; a little while later the black one tentatively approached, and then threw caution to the winds (mostly) and got friendly. So they got some love for a while. :)
Then home, where I still need to wrap presents. And catch up on LJ, which'll likely happen first. And, my bird snapped another one of the wood blocks on one of her toys, which is entirely acceptable. :)
Long form:
Up at 10, to work at 12. Work was rather ridiculously busy, especially given that from 3 until close I was basically the only Specialty associate on the floor--at one point I was helping four people simultaneously--one buying two long-tailed lizards, one inquiring about the mountain horned dragon, one wanting a water test and some feeder fish, and one wanting a couple angelfish and some feeders. (Ross (Specialty Mgr) was on until 5, but he was busy doing other things.) Susan was on, but she was finishing her training paperwork, so she wasn't really available to help with closing procedures at all, and didn't really know how to do recovery on the shelves, so it was much work for me. Got out around 8, headed straight to Steph's, after discovering the snow had made the roads crappy.
Annual Christmas Eve get-together at Steph&Matt's, featuring them, Brendan, Matt's brother Anthony and sister Genevieve, Gen's guy, a couple other friends (Chris & ?) and their son, and parents Art & Diane; mom&dad&Shauna showed up after the 8pm service that Shauna sang in. Had a variety of tasty food and drink, including Sam Adams Cranberry Lambic--very tasty! Was regaled once again with many entertaining stories from Art, including dealing with Aer Lingus security (smart-talking the guy with the Uzi and bayonet--Art was military for 20 years, and recognizes other professionals; Irish Law prevailing, and a very personal frisking), dealing with a female student who wanted an A for her C-quality programming (hadn't even run the code she was turning in, which wouldn't even compile; honestly thought he wouldn't notice or run it. He's been programming for the better part of 50 years, as has his assistant; they can recognize errors on sight, and it's very easy to send a compile command. Also, she accused him of all manner of sexual whatever after being told she'd be a fine programmer after about a year of practice--which was funny because it was in front of a female instructor who he had insisted attend all one-on-one sessions between him and female students. She had done so, so the accusations had no basis whatsoever--but she made them right in front of this third party.) Another story involved a woman in Ireland, also working with LearningTree, who wanted to have dinner with him alone, which he told her brother he would only accept if her brother, father, or mother attended--too dangerous otherwise, from the standpoint of his employment for LT. Another story featured a terrible retail experience with seasonal help at B&N--pointing to a pair of $75 books and inquring about them, receiving the response "I don't know anything about them, but I can check you out"--the manager was pissed, especially when it happened again with a couple similar books--expensive books that the store would make 50% from. (Leather-bound Harry Potter 1 & 2, both out of print; 3 and 4 possibly to be produced.) Also, there was the story of the times that American Express has pulled rank on his behalf, to get him world-class service at the ritziest of hotels, restaurants, and airlines, when his pocket has been picked. (Apparently AmEx has significant pull in those industries, accounting for well over a majority of transactions when added to Diner's Club. -- Art has a neverending supply of great stories. :)
Then around 10:35, to the church for the 11pm service, also featuring Shauna as soloist. The service was nothing new, but Shauna's singing was even more fantastic than usual--I could tell she was better than a year ago. :) Also saw Joanna, whose hair is entirely past her butt now, and her brother Joel (still taller than me, he needs to fix that) and parents, and RJ Rothstein, who I think has forgotten what I look like. :P In an even cooler rendezvous, I ran into my 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Renninger, who recognized me immediately (though she has been in contact with my mom for years), and we chatted for a while about work, what I was up to, what teachers were still around my old elementary school.. =)
I then went home by way of Centreville, so I could check on the (6) ferrets and (2) cats at Misty's. Three very festively lit houses on the way into their subdivision. :) Discovered that Jesse had not cleaned the cats' or ferrets' litter boxes, done their laundry, or adequately fed or watered them before leaving. The cage with Sylvie, Bruno, and Daisy was entirely out of food and low on water; both cages had very dirty litter boxes, and the cats' was just as bad; the cats were out of food. This seems like an unlikely set of conditions for the 24-hr timespan since he left, so.. Gave appropriate food and water; searched high and low for a litter scoop, couldn't find it, so added litter to the cats' litter box and the one in S/B/D's cage, and replaced the litter in Pandora/Brutus/I_forget's cage. The ferret in that cage with a mask and black feet then proceeded to go digging in the new litter for about 10 minutes, throwing more than half of it onto the floor of the cage. :P
I also got to meet the two cats that they're taking care of for a friend.. one's a medium-sized stripey ginger cat, somewhat skittish--saw her when I picked up the keys. The other's a medium-sized shiny black cat, very skittish, didn't see her last time. After being in the house for a while and providing food and water, they were both wandering closer, particularly the ginger.. some playtime with a rattly/feathery toy got the best of the ginger cat; a little while later the black one tentatively approached, and then threw caution to the winds (mostly) and got friendly. So they got some love for a while. :)
Then home, where I still need to wrap presents. And catch up on LJ, which'll likely happen first. And, my bird snapped another one of the wood blocks on one of her toys, which is entirely acceptable. :)
