Thursday, July 26, 2007

Finally...No urgency at the office!



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For the first time in three long weeks, there were no deadlines or rushing at work. So, what did I do today? Very little. I was not a good employee. My main focus was blog trolling and e-mailing friends. Very important stuff, I think, because my brain is shot.


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I arrived at work at 7:10. This is what was waiting for me.



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10:15 a.m. Nothing changed. It became increasingly apparent to me that I was going to intentionally waste the day.



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11:00 a.m. I went outside in search of birds. No birds, but I saw a colorful moth.



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Dear Laurie at “Don’t Make Me Get My Flying Monkeys” posted a mystery photo. I spent most of the morning trying to figure out what it was because I wanted to win the prize – a bottle of Boone’s Farm Strawberry Wine or a trip to Montana. It’s a plastic bag of poop and my guess put me in the lead but I couldn’t determine the answer of the next question, “How did it arrive to be?” The mystery is still unsolved as I write this. I giggled all morning about it! Laurie is a hoot.



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Dear Laura at “Somewhere in NJ” is grieving over the loss of her old man dog, Buddy. I wept for her.


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After hearing about Buddy, I left the office again with my camera. I saw a colorful bug.


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I didn’t see any birds outdoors but “Julie Zickefoose” caught a fantastic action shot of a bird argument between a Titmouse and a Scarlet Tanager. Wow.



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Dear NatureGirl at “Nature Trail” lost her beloved cat, Freddie. I wept again.


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1:30 p.m. I shuffled some things around on my desk to show some moving and shaking going on…then I played some Free Cell.


Outdoors called me once again and I was in search of a hawk or SOMETHING! Nothing. Instead, I found THIS!


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This is what I should have done today. I wanted to ask, “May I borrow that rock?”

Did I feel guilty? Yes, terribly guilty, all day long. If I were smart, I would have packed up at 9:00 a.m. and called it a day. I felt like deadwood or an employee with a pink slip in her future. However, I did a damned good job lately during some high-pressure times.



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After work, I looked up to see Claude and Maude staring at me from my bedroom roof. Terrible photo. I guess I deserved it.

I'll force myself to be in be in bed early tonight. Tomorrow, I’ll work my butt off until 2:00 p.m. and call it a day. HA!


Does this sound familiar to anyone who has an office job?

36 comments:

dmmgmfm said...

You are so funny, Mary. I'm glad I made you laugh today.

So sorry to hear about Buddy and Freddie though, I'll have to go to their blogs and pay my condolences.

By the way, I posted the answer to the poo question on my blog...


Have a wonderful weekend, Mary. I'm going on an adventure, but I'll be back on Sunday night.

Hugs,
Laurie

Carol Michel said...

Too funny! We all have days like that where "pile shifting" is about all that gets done. Unfortunately, I was in an all day meeting and I had to pay attention. Ugh. Not near enough time outdoors today!

Larry said...

That was very entertaining!-I liked your post idea-it was a nice change of pace.

LauraHinNJ said...

It sounds familiar, Mary! Usually that kind of thing is reserved for Fridays.

Thanks for the link about Buddy.

Susie said...

I sometimes have days like that, and I am not employed outside the home. This was a very clever post.
Must visit NG next!!
xo

Cathy said...

Mary, I'd say you had a very productive day. Those bug pictures are awesome and I love the survey you did of blogs. I'm grateful that you blogged about Laura and Pam losing their beloved pets. I've been so busy I'd missed this.

RuthieJ said...

Sounds like a good day at the office, Mary. I try to do that every once in a while myself--especially when my office mate is gone on Fridays!

KGMom said...

Oh yes, there are times when showing up at the office just isn't worth it.
Fortunately for me, those days are behind me--5 years have gone by since I last had to go to the office. Now I head off to teach and the office is where I meet students.

LostRoses said...

Mary, I thought you were going to say that was your boss snoozing on the rock! Wouldn't that have been cool? Then you could have frittered away the day without feeling guilty. I have to say when I get a day when I'm not swamped, it feels good to zone out and just shuffle paperwork - doesn't happen often.

Q said...

Dear Mary,
You have worked so hard for so long a break is mental health.
Thank you for letting us know about Buddy and Freddie. Like Laurie I will pop over and let them know I will send blessings.
Wonderful moth!
I like moths.
Sleep well.
Sherry

Susan Gets Native said...

You slacker.
I love it.
I wish I were doing some really fascinating things so I could entertain you during work hours.

JeanMac said...

Are Claude and Maude the amorous "couple"?

Chrissie said...

Swings and Roundabouts, I am quite sure you far more days when you are rushed off your feet :-) Is that moth for real? It is so colourful, the ones I see are usually grey or brown. Hope you had a good night's sleep :-)

Jayne said...

LOL Mary... sounds like a productive day to me! :c) Hey, every now and then, we need days like this. Enjoy tomorrow and TGIF!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Mary, that was a hoot. Judging by the fellow on the rocks, you weren't alone in your thinking. Thanks for a very refreshing post.

Elaine Cougler Author said...

I guess you won't see this till later today as you're 'working your butt off'--if only, eh?-- but I wanted to tell you it's ok to take time to smell the .. uh, dog poop? Try roses.
Loved your column about nothing. Reminds me of Seinfeld's show about nothing.
Well done, Mary.

Dorothy said...

I LOVE this post Mary! You are too funny, Lady! I thought that guy on the rock was your boss too!
Have a great TGIF and restful weekend, if you can.

Naturegirl said...

Mary you are becoming a kindred spirit to me!I am blessed in getting to know you!
I am deeply touched that you would include my sad post here and feel my pain. I appreciated your commforting words that you posted at my blog.I will now go offer my sentiments to Laura.hugging you NG
P.S. your bugs are beautiful I have never seen pink on a moth!!

Lynne at Hasty Brook said...

May- You are an absolute hoot! Between this post and Laurie's mystery bag of poop I've been giggling all evening!

At first glance I thought the moth was a piece of gum on the brick wall...

Jess Riley said...

I loved this post! I have days like that, too.

That moth looks like a flower petal. Beautiful.

And thank you for pointing me in the direction of some good reads. Today looks like it's shaping up to be a pile-shifter.

Annie in Austin said...

Since you would have been prepared to spring into action instantly if it were necessary, you weren't doing nuthin', you were a 'specialist on call'.

What a hilarious post, Mary - it's fun to see the world through your eyes. [And you do manage to find the most colorful insects!]

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

dguzman said...

Oh man, that's a typical day at the office! My new job is better than my old one, though. However, it's really slow today, so I'm having trouble staying awake--which is why I am now commenting on your blog....

Mary C said...

Hi Mary - I'm so behind in reading everyone's blogs - I haven't had a chance for several days to sneak read a few at work. But you had me laughing. You naughty employee! ;-)

I can see from others' comments that you and I are not in a minority. I really thought it was a hoot that you even played some Free Cell. When I'm a little bored or even feeling overwhelmed with the amount of work I have to get done, I will play some Free Cell, too. It's also my way of taking a mental break.

Have a great weekend!

Susan Gets Native said...

Found out what kind of moth that is, Mary.
Dryocampa rubicunda, also known as a rosy maple moth.
I found a pretty one today, too! God, I love moths.

Alyssa said...

Mary - I think that once in a while the company we work for "owes" us "screw off time". I really feel it makes us more productive and who will really care in the long run. Everything seems to just keep rolling along no matter if you work hard or not. At least in most cases it does (guess not if you were a doctor or something with tons of responsibility).

The moth was quite beautiful. He was worth the whole, non- productive day.

Alyssa

sonia a. mascaro said...

Dear Mary, I just dropping by to say hello and wish to you all a nice weekend! See you soon!

Q said...

Dear Mary,
"It's Friday night and I sip wine".......LOL LOL out loud....
Where ever you go you bring laughter and love.
Sherry

thailandchani said...

I liked this, of course. No office job. I used to work on the Help Desk, technical support, and a lot of my job was supporting Unix-based applications for an internal user community.

(Shaking that use of language off, like a wet dog.)

There would be hours when I had nothing to do but surf the internet and write to my Yahoo mailing lists. (This was pre-blogging). When it was late in the evening, I'd listen to alternative radio shows (euphemism for conspiracy theory talk shows) on the Internet.

I wouldn't have been able to stand an office job. Someone would have died... and it likely would have been me.


Peace,

~Chani

Gretchen said...

Yes, that's exactly why I can't ever go back into an office job again. :)

I quit all that clock punching about 4 or 5 years ago and now just freelance write and photograph. Much more satisfying, unless you count my bank account. Guess money isn't everything though. :)

Susan said...

Mary,
great post & that's a really cool moth!

Anonymous said...

Mary - regarding your last question if this sounds like other's office?? Am I allowed to plead the 5th?

Anonymous said...

Hi Mary,
Pretty moth and bug. You are clever to have caught them on camera like that. I loved your day at work. Like you, we usually work until we drop. Now and again we have a slack day and wonder, 'did we forget to do something'.
Cheers,
Jenny

kate said...

Sounds like a blissful sort of day - doing exactly what you felt like when you felt like it.

I had a good laugh - you have a wonderful sense of humour.

Thank you for sharing your day ...

cat59 said...

Hi Mary,

You have been quite the active blogger. I have been taking a break from blog land for a few days and you left me with a lot of reading and photo viewing to catch up with. Enjoyed it all. I am able to catch up today because I took the day off from work! I knew at the end of last week that I didn't want to do any work on Monday. You do have a beautiful pond and creative ideas for posts. Hope you are having a good day!

Anonymous said...

I love your photo-day-in-the-life-of-an-office worker post, Mary! Some days are like that, but I think more often are days where you're just trying to keep the plates spinning.

Anonymous said...

Mary, what a neat desk you have! No one can ever say you can't find something to do. I liked both the bug and the moth, and I too thought that was your boss on the rock.