My Weekend Off and My Blogoversary!

I apologize for lack of posting around these parts. I was kind of in a funk last week. Like an "I really don't want to play on the internet" kind of funk. As much as I enjoy being up here, I was really looking forward to seeing friends and seeing Harry Potter. So the week just seemed to drag. And drag. Father Time's sick joke.

Anyway, funk is over! Yay!

I drove to Redding Saturday after work. Sunday I had lunch with a good friend who lives out of state (the angelic college roomie versus the pyshco one), and bonus - my BFF was there to join us for lunch! My old roomie brought her little girl, who is absolutely adorable. Like her picture is next to the word adorable in the dictionary. Us three girls had a good lunch. For my BFF and Roomie it had been about 8 years since they'd seen each other. After lunch, BFF and I hung out for another couple hours and did a wee bit of shopping. And because it was so dang warm, heaven forbid should Penny's have their air conditioner on. I broke a sweat shopping. Later I spent an hour in Target cooling off. Then it was a nice dinner with Granny.

Monday was Harry Potter day. Well, afternoon really. I enjoyed the movie, and cried like a baby. If you've read the book or seen it already, I'm pretty sure you know where I was crying. So the last Harry Potter thing I have to look forward to is Part 2 coming to DVD. However, I'm sure in 20 years or so some genius will get the bright idea to remake them all. And my future children will be embarrassed that their mother would be camping out to get a ticket to make sure the future genius didn't ruin them. Yeah.

Anywho, it's back to work as usual. The next big thing to happen around these parts will be the fair next month.

And because of my funk, I missed blogging on my one year Blogoversary! Sunday marked my one year. I can't believe I made it this far. And y'all are still here. And I haven't had to pay any of you. Which means y'all are flipping awesome. So, to commemorate my Blogoversary, I'm adding to end of this post my very first post, which I'm going to guess many you haven't read because it's buried in the archives and you guys have jobs and blogs of your own and such.

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The Stainer Conversation


Have you ever been sitting at work, doing your job, when suddenly a conversation pierces the radio you're listening to? And that conversation makes you stop, roll your eyes, shake your head, and almost start talking to yourself? Out loud. Where your co-workers could possibly hear you. The other night, at work, this very thing happened. Although I may have mumbled a few things out loud . . . hopefully not loud enough for anyone to actually overhear said mumbles. Here's the set up:

Two ladies are hollering at each other over machines in regards to a stainer that stains blood smear slides. For anonymity's sake, I shall call them Lady 1 and Lady 2.

Lady 1: Is there something wrong with your stainer?
Lady 2: I don't know. Is there something wrong with my slides?

Lady 1: There's something wrong with your slides. I think there's something wrong with your stainer.

Lady 2: I don't know what's wrong. What's wrong with my stainer?

(At some point Lady 1 comes to Lady 2 to try to figure out what is wrong with said stainer. Turns out, the stainer was out of Methanol, which fixes the blood to the slide so it won't wash off when the slides go through the actual stain cycle and the rinse cycle. There was a long pause in this conversation because apparently neither lady knew where the Methanol was stored if it wasn't in the magical cabinets within our department. When they find some, Lady 1 has Lady 2 refill the Methanol in her stainer, and the conversation proceeds . . .)

Lady 1: You're slides are still messed up. Did you prime the stainer?

Lady 2: Is priming cleaning?

Lady 1: Yes. Cleaning is priming.

Lady 2: How do I prime?

Lady 1: Just prime the stainer.

Lady 2: So priming cleans the stainer?

Lady 1: What? No. Priming isn't cleaning.

Lady 2: So what is priming?

(Now mind you, at least three people who are hearing this conversation know the difference between "cleaning" and "priming". For starters, there's a button that says "CLEAN". And there's no direct button for priming. Also, these three people -including myself - are chuckling to ourselves because this all sounds totally ridiculous. They are literally hollering to each other over machines. And any one of us could easily have walked to the stainer and shown Lady 2 the difference and how to do it. Yet . . . we didn't. And finally Lady 1 comes back to the stainer . . .)

Lady 1: We need to prime the stainer. It's washing the blood off the slides.

Lady 2: I've been telling you I don't know how to prime. Isn't priming cleaning?

Lady 1: Oh . . .no, it's not. I have it priming, just clean it when it's done.

Lady 2: What do I do to clean it? (Oddly enough, she actually does know this, but by this time I'm not sure she could find the stainer, which sits right next to her, considering Lady 1 has her turned upside down).

Lady 1: Just clean it once it's done.

Lady 2: It won't let me clean it, I have to prime it again.

Lady 1: Why are you priming again?

Lady 2: You want me to clean it after priming?

(By this time, I'm ready to either burst out laughing or scream in frustration.)

Lady 1: (back at stainer) I'm cleaning it. Stain some slides when it's done and I'll check to see if your stain is ok.

Lady 2: So you don't need me to clean it?

Seriously. Almost sounds like a horrific version of "Who's on First" to me. Yes, granted, I could have stopped it. Two others could have stopped it. However, we were busy. And though it was annoying as hell, it was also quite entertaining. Because at some point it really hits you as to who is having this conversation.



They're your supervisors.