Monday, Monday

I'll just get the negative stuff out of the way first:

It is Monday, I am exhausted, and the heat is not working in my office so I am very cold. (Our management company is so far unresponsive to the issue.) I am also only getting paid for about 30 hours this week because I have not accumulated enough time off to fully cover Thanksgiving and the day after.

In really sad news, I found out the other day that my 5th-grade teacher died. She was only 44, really full of life and still taught 5th grade at Green Hedges School in Vienna (awesome school, if you have kids, send them there!) where I spent 8 years and also worked as a receptionist my senior year of high school. It made me really upset because I always plan on visiting the school and I never got around to it while I was working part-time, and now I can't go during the hours that school is in session. But apparently I need to go visit before my teachers all die!! :(

However...

I have a 4 day weekend and will probably also get to leave early on Wednesday. I LOVE long weekends!!! And I get to have yummy food on Thursday and go with Megan and her mom on our annual crazy Black Friday early-morning shopping run. Yay! Also, I get paid that morning, so I will actually have money to buy stuff this year! (Last year I allowed myself to purchase a $3 DVD and a photo album; this year I've bought pretty much no holiday presents, so I am hoping to get some.)

It is another of those days when people at work complimented me on being cute. I love when that happens! I am wearing a skirt (last time I wore one I was asked if I had a date that night; this time people teased me about having a job interview) but I actually got complimented on my awesome outerwear when I came back from Starbucks (I got hot chocolate to warm me up- my 2nd trip to Starbucks today, I really need to stop!!). My peacoat and new, really soft hat are almost the exact same cream color, and I was also wearing the scarf I made for my mom a few years ago, which is soft and fluffy and light blue, one of the colors in my skirt. OK, sorry for bragging but I have to say I do look pretty adorable in the coat, hat and scarf. Perhaps I will post a picture later for your enjoyment.

I am still not sick (knocking on wood here!). My boss and some other people I know are sick, and I am really hoping to get through this holiday healthy so I can fully enjoy it. Only 3 more days...

Mr. Palin* just said "I have a pong. Oh, I'm sorry, did I say bong?" during a conversation about video games.

*Mr. Palin: Remember that guy I talked about in my last post who tends to say weird things on the phone? He also says them in person. He is really into Sarah Palin and talks about how the country is screwed now that Obama is entering office (he also did not come in to work the day after election day). He is also one of those people that causes coworkers to whisper stuff like "Be careful if you talk to Mr. Palin, he looks like he is in a pretty bad mood today!!" and gets grouchy. And while I have always felt that there is some distance between us, we bonded on Friday afternoon! He and his wife are going to Egypt in a few weeks and are really excited about it, and I told him some of my Tunisia experiences and we talked about travel for a while. He also has a Soviet propaganda poster in his office, which I tried to read, unfortunately probably convincing him of my stupidity, since I only understood about 1/3 of it (and mixed up the words "better" and "worse").