Just plain cranky

Ah, the magical power of my work karma continues: they canned our CEO yesterday, and our new CEO has made ominous comments today along the Bushian lines of "all options are on the table" and "we will be taking a hard look all parts of the business" etc. I translate this to mean: (1) prepare for layoffs, and (2) prepare for divestitures. Argh.

I'm really tired of looking for new jobs every four years.

Yes, I've realized that part of the reason I'm just plain cranky and in a funk is that I'm dreading the thought of being laid off AGAIN.

While I *can* find another job, that doesn't mean I look forward to doing it.

And I was also out of sorts last night since I had a really unpleasant encounter on the way back from CT yesterday, when I got off at the 125th Street Metro-North stop. Normally, it's fine (it was even still daylight) but yesterday there was someone who was harrassing everyone at the bus stop and he seemed to make it his mission to target me, probably because Asians are usually considered so polite and non-confrontational, that little chickensh*t a****le.

It freaked me out enough that I got on the next bus that showed up, even though it wasn't going to my home. Anyway, since thinking about it at all still upsets me tonight, it was probably (definitely) throwing me off last night, resulting in a "no! I don't want to meet anyone new!" freak out spasm.

So tonight, once the little 25W bulb went on above my head, I sent an e-mail to Ken (known henceforth as "the Lehman guy") since he had dropped me a note this morning (promising, no?) with his work e-mail address and he had also left it up to me if/when we meet. So I asked him out for Friday. :-)

On to much less complicated males, like my new great-nephew, Nicholas Charles. Yes, I can admire the name, even if it does remind me of a jerk I dated a few years ago. Hey, it's not the baby's fault. ;)

I am always fascinated and amazed that we were all THIS tiny at one point.

To give more a sense of scale, here is a photo of him being held by my (still fabulous@58) sister, and with his older brother, Thomas, who is two.

The photos of Thomas staring with interest / puzzlement at the baby are pretty hilarious, but I will spare you all. And yes, he is just a teensy bit jealous, so now his DAD is his favorite person, not Mom, since Mom seems to be always monopolized by the intruder these days. ;)

I do have to admit though (and I have probably said this before) that no matter how much I may grow to love those cute little critters when they get older and blossom into Gerber babies (now I know I may be biased, but you have to admit that THOMAS is a total Gerber baby. ;)) newborns (a) are just not that attractive -- sorry, but hey! -- (b) don't have very much personality, since (c) they are not very interactive: they eat, burp, poop, sleep. Rinse, lather, repeat.

Since he is only 2 weeks old though, he does still have that indescribably lovely baby smell.

And once again, my older niece has all the luck: Nick does indeed have "a chill disposition" as she memorably put it. I think my mom was a bit disappointed -- she was hoping for some schadenfreude with a colicky baby. (heh) My niece is cautious though -- she says he may indeed turn INTO a colicky baby (!)

Me, I'm just going to go back to knitting my future great-niece's kimono.

Oh yeah, and yesterday afternoon's family parlor game was Name The Baby. HA! My nephew and his wife, of course, cannot seem to agree on one they both like, so we all spent a chunk of the afternoon going through the baby name book and brainstorming/vetoing names. My suggestions, when polled, were: (in no particular order) Amelia, Charlotte, or Emily. What can I say? I'm old school and dread the trendy names.

Her middle name will be Kathleen though, after the baby's maternal grandma. Two down, one to go!