2005-09-01

Acclimating is a difficult thing to do. It�s taken me a while to get comfortable with where I am and what I�m seeing. It was a forced hiatus,. Also, the hurricane aftermath is truly horrendous, and I have family in the areas affected. Who are all right, who will rebuild and move on, and I�m grateful they are all okay.

It has taken me weeks to win over my employees. And only because I finally stopped trying to be their friend or even earn their respect and instead called them my bitches and made them lick my boots. Metaphorically of course. But still.

It took a while for the fact that I was never going to get them to like me sink in, and so I�ve had an undue amount of stress that could have been avoided had I simply just broached that attitude to begin with. Live and learn.

The reason for my near management crisis is because my office hates me. It�s true. They hate my Californianess. They hate that I take TRAXX into work rather than drive. They hate that I carry a satchel with my laptop in it and am always wandering around downtown at lunch, a Smart Water in one hand and my iPod in the other. They hate that I arrive chipper and ready to work before them, dressed to kill in the latest business attire and coffee from The Coffee Garden steaming in hand when I go over the days events. (I like to have an informal meeting at 8am when everyone is supposed to be there, go over the days how I expect it to unfold let them air any grievances, etc. It works) They hate the fact that I am single, was promoted from out of town over other (less qualified) local people, and I�m effective. And so, I�m done with them. Trying to bribe them. Trying to pander at their level. And so now my office is working.

As for my personal life, well, it�s a mess. Everything is different here. I can�t run like I used to, the altitude whoops me. It took a couple weeks to be able to walk up my stairs without huffing at the top like a chainsmoker. I�ve been hiking in the hills above the capital, saw my Earthquakes play the local team, who are actually good and have a great fan base. I�m considering switching teams. (No Taylor, not like that.) I have yet to use the company box at the baseball stadium. But I�ve never been much of a fan. I�m looking forward to basketball season. When the Kings come to down I�ll get to see them play at the Delta Center.

I miss San Francisco. I miss the mixture of people and ideas, of a cultural landscape that was constantly changing, leaving one with no choice but to hold onto some belief and float with it down stream. They have the ugliest hair here, it�s bizarre. Everyone has highlights and the girls like to make it look like a giant crow has been nesting on the back of their heads, the guano creating spikes that just do not work. And they wear too much make up of dubious quality. I say this because I never really noticed the make up on the girls in San Francisco. Here though, you can just tell. I like the dry heat but miss the humidity, waking up in the mornings usually with cracked lips and bleeding gums. I�ve got some special mouthwash from the dentist and purchased a cool mist humidifier.

Otherwise, it�s okay. There is no Trader Joe�s but we have something similar called Wild Oats. Everything costs half what I think it will with the exception of alcohol with costs twice as much. And you can�t buy it at Costco either. Only the liquor stores, like Oregon only with taxes. At least I�m guessing it�s taxes. Cigarettes are cheaper though. Which you can smoke in the bars. Or rather private clubs that are bars except in name. I have not really found my local watering hole yet, mainly from lack of trying. I have a couple of candidates. School is starting up again, and while it�s not a college town, I�ve noticed younger looking people about and hope to maybe find out what�s hot and what�s not. And there is, of course, a Craigslist though it doesn�t have the fanatical support of the one in the Bay Area. I check it all the time though, for yardsales and stuff. Though it mostly has crap like Scrapbooking Info and imposter purses. Which are very popular here. My sister would die. And probably will when she and Husband come visit me this winter. We are planning a big ski weekend extravaganza with my mother and the Greatest Generation coming in as well. It will be in lieu of Christmas, though I�ll probably be desperate for somewhere warm and sunny by then. Or not, depending on how the acclimating goes.

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