Friday, April 13, 2007

Happy Friday the 13th!

What a great day! it really is a great day, isn't it? The big ol' bright sun isn't glaring in my eyes, and the colder weather is keeping the aroma from that dead skunk in the road from getting too bad. And we haven't had enough snow yet this year; hearing there's more on the way is nice. I just finished doing our taxes and we owe a little bit, so no refund, but it could be worse, right? I don't know why we ended up having to pay in this year but it's a lesson learned for next year. I'll just have more deducted from my paycheck voluntarily. I sure love knowing that I'm helping my government, by letting them use my hard-earned money to fund all those necessary and important programs, don't you? Seriously, we'd never know just how damaging cow methane really is otherwise, and learning is half the battle. Oh, my husband is in the hospital, but that's okay too. He's getting his gall bladder removed. We didn't know there was anything wrong with it until this week, so it's a good thing they're taking it out! He might have had another attack later, like after he signed his official papers for his permanent state job and secured his health benefits. That was supposed to happen in 2 weeks, but he can't work for the next 4 to 6 weeks. I'm sure they'll hold the position for him. All those people waiting to get in, like he did, certainly know how hard it is to get a good state job and I know they'll be happy to wait just a little longer while he recovers. People are inherently good, you know. I'll be off work for a few days too, taking care of hubby when he comes home next week. Missing two days so far, and having to buy gas to go back and forth to the hospital, is eating into our finances but I'm not worried. Nothing matters but knowing he is going to be okay. And he will, of course, because it's Friday the 13th, and that is a lucky day! It always has been. Ask my grandfather, who said until his dying day that it was lucky. He died on a Friday the 13th. How fortunate is that, going on your lucky day! Wow. Just can't get any better around here, so I'm going to go back to bed. I hear Saturday the 14th isn't too bad either.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Excuse me, where is the lieu?

ARGH!

You know how I am about misspelled words, especially from a business standpoint. (Right now there is a sign on the main office door at work that begins "During the peek season, please use this office for office-related duties only." Um, okay, so that means... no photocopying your butt in case someone's peeking?)

That isn't what I'm going off about today, however. Today it's my otherwise-intelligent, college-educated boss's continuous misuse of the phrase "in lieu of." No less than three times a day (that I personally hear, so it could be more often) he will say a variation of the following:

"In lieu of the fact that the sun is shining, you should plan on watering all the petunias."

Not "in view of" or "considering" or "due to the fact" but instead of... which makes zero sense. Today he said "In lieu of what you have planned to water today, please keep an eye on the water level." I wanted to ask him "So... if I'm not using the water, you really think it'll go down?" Sadly, he wouldn't get it and I'd have to explain and I'd be the one looking like a nitpick for correcting him on a triviality in the first place. But it drives me crazy!

This is just one of many common words or phrases that get mangled on a daily basis. I might use a few myself, but in most cases it's deliberate and spoken with a wink. My boss, as I said, is a very smart, knowledgeable guy; it bothers me to see him inadvertently demean his intelligence in front of his superiors. It also bothers me to think that someone is peaking at me when I'm making copies...