The Black Hole

Monday was dismal. Cynthia and Gernard were gone. Clif had taken the week off. And another staff member was out. This left Idalia, Dean and I. We have been juggling our schedules so we can continue to help our friends in India and keep our sanity. Idalia is in her office. Behind her is the office that is Clif's alone, when he comes in. :-) It used to have Russ and Dan, too. They both left and Cynthia moved in. Now she is gone. So Idalia has a black hole behind her. She is smiling because I am being silly. We all feel these black holes

You wouldn't have believed that office with Cynthia in it. Her house must be amazing. Because her office had more decoration in a square foot than I have in my whole house. Clif will be very lonely when he returns. I sit in the office next to Idalia. This is my view when I look that way. On the other side of my office is the view that has been removed. Fred used to sit in that red chair, imparting his knowledge and friendship. Gernard sat in the chair on the left, but moved further left when Nigel left. For now, this is empty space, too It is so empty, the picture has been removed. May as well be. No reason to show a picture of a space where nobody sits.

This space on the left used to have Hao and Nigel in it. As I said, when Nigel left, Gernard took his desk on the right of this picture. We hate light in our offices. Most of the offices are left with only lights from the computers and the spot lights under the bins. We love it. It looks like we are gone and that's fine with me. But when Gernard was sitting in that chair and Hao had gone to Tech Support and the desk to the right of him was empty, this space was dead still. He was the quietest person I know. So although I miss his sweet-self, I can look over there and still imagine that he is sitting there.

For now, there are black holes to the left of us, black holes to the right. We stay focused on our goal - - retirement in 100 days. Or whatever happens in between.

A Sad Friday

They are really gone. I suppose it will be very evident on Monday. There will just be three of us in the room on that day. Idalia will be working the Service Desk, ordering people's computers and software. Dean will be chatting with (assisting) India on Instant Messager. And I will be trying to knit the lose ends of the project into whole cloth.

We invited all of IT and others to a final goodbye for Gernard and Cynthia. Shelli got two fabulous cakes. Not only did they look pretty, they tasted really good. My mom used to bake birthday cakes for the four of us. It was always the same, strawberries and cream for the girls and devil's food for the boys. We carried on that tradition.

It was a simple, sweet good-bye. Both will be taking time off to be with family and then finding that job that makes them happy. Cynthia says she wants to be a school bus driver. She is the most forthright, blunt, straight-talking person I know. That bus would be quiet. She is also the dearest woman. And very fashionable. I'd always ask her how she liked something new that I was wearing. Humm. I wonder if she was always honest. We decided that my next career would be to develop a fashion line for those without any fashion sense. Someone else suggested that the clothing line should be for men. They seem to have the least fashion sense, after me.
Cynthia is modeling the items that Laura from Chicago sent to me. The apron says "This Help Desk is Closed." The cup says "Call India." Everyone on Laura's helpdesk left Friday. That is the goal. Everybody out. We're moving a little slower - thank you Harriet and Bill. Laura is left alone to knit lose ends AND answer questions called in. Yikes.

I don't do Retail Therapy, I do Salon Therapy. I finally got my hair cut on Saturday. I will look good on Monday as I weep for the loss of my good friends. (okay, that sounds like they died. I believe both danced out the door. So maybe I'll just be weeping for me.)

Just a Day - Or Two

You never know what or who you'll run into at The Times. Yesterday I saw my friend Peggy in the cafeteria when I stopped for breakfast. I've known Peggy for an eternity and we have been Peggy/Peggy since day one. The cafeteria is great in the morning. They are building a police station across the street, so there are trucks and guys all down the block. Even if Peggy/Peggy hadn't been there, the view would have been pretty interesting. But Peggy was in the cafeteria to help out with the showing of the Stanley Cup. The Anaheim Ducks had won this trophy, the first time ever for a SoCal Hockey team. We were lucky enough to have it show up at The Times that morning. So I stuck around to see what a cup looks like. Silly me. The huge milk can looking thing was escorted by two gorgeous guys. One was the goalie, he's on the left here. The other was a not a goalie. I'm not sure what the other positions are in hockey. Probably forward and guard. Well, he was one of those. It was a good event. I understand that someone brought in a baby and got to take a picture of it resting in the cup. Bet that was a cute shot.

I had to leave before that would happen. How could it be so busy when my job is gone? There are no phones to answer. It is very difficult to answer the phone because people are looking for help outside the system. Sorry. But we are still trying to make all the applications and processes fully functional. I was kind of thinking about chilling a bit at work. Visiting friends. Having long lunches. Dream on.

We did have a nice lunch today. I forgot my camera. Too bad because we had a good-bye lunch for Gernard and Cynthia. Although it's sad to think of them leaving on Friday, it was good to have the HelpDesk and Tech Support staff together in one room. All at the same time. Since we weren't required to "man" (or staff, as I prefer) the phones, we could all eat and talk and enjoy each other. We had a good time. Moises played good-bye songs that had been compiled for another person's departure. Funny. A great way to say good-be to good people.

My Kind of Shopping

I spent more time physically shopping for "things" while I was in India than I normally spend in a year. Most of my "thing" shopping at home is done on the computer. There was a little withdrawal in India when I knew that I couldn't order something on Amazon and have it at my door in a couple of days. How long would it have taken to reach that door?


My shopping is done for food. I love to find and buy the best that is available. I buy fresh meat: line-caught fish, free-range chicken, grass-fed beef, and pork in any form. I buy hard cheese, soft cheese, sliced cheese, cheese that stinks, cheese that melts like butta'.

Okay, so much for my arteries. But I also shop at the Pasadena Farmer's market and Bristol Farms to find the best fruits and vegetables available.



Yesterday I finally got to go to the farmer's market. I arrived home on Saturday the first weekend and last weekend I was at Karen's rather than at the farmer's market.

I had a wonderful time. June is a great month for the market. Everything is available. I bought:

• Strawberries from Harry's Berrys. They are from Camarillo and are absolutely the best. Every berry is plump and sweet. We had those with yogurt last night.
• Raspberries from the same area. I also got figs to be stuffed with cheese and wrapped with proscuitto. And little red currents. I'll probably make raspberry tarts today. With little currents on them.
• Patty pan squash from the 10 different types of squashes available. I stuffed them with Italian sausage, onions, garlic, bread crumbs and freshly grated parmesan cheese. Then baked them with tomato sauce and more grated parmesan.
• Asparagus and cauliflower. I baked the asparagus and ate it for breakfast. I love that with more parmesan cheese. I'm baking the cauliflower tonight with garlic and olive oil.
• Rhubarb will be cooked and added to the left over strawberries. We'll probably have that with yogurt, too.
• Lettuce and basil and arugula. This will go into the salad that I'll be fixing to go with salmon for tonight's dinner. That and the cauliflower.

After I left the farmer's market, I dropped by Howies to pick up a couple of steaks for the 4th and got some beautiful king salmon. It was just a short hop to the Italian grocery store so I could pick up a plethora of starches (Adrian's words after seeing the foccacia, rolls - for the freezer, and breadsticks.) I also stocked up on Italian pork products for my freezer. This place is Claro's and they make the best sausages and lasagna. I also got some good olives to go with all this food.

As I drove home, I realized I hadn't had breakfast. Maybe that's why I bought out the town. So I stopped in San Gabriel, home of the area's best Asian food, and picked up some bao from a Chinese bakery. They were still hot from the oven.

I'm home. I'm shopping. Now, maybe, I can figure out how to get back in the groove at work and help make things run well for the consolidated help desk. I wish that were as easy as finding good raspberries.