Baseball

I love baseball. Today is a holiday for me, so I am sitting at home, studying for my test on muscles and listening to the opening game. Giants vs. Dodgers. (Okay, so I am kind of studying for the test and kind of writing. I have a lot of catching up... I've been so busy the past couple of months and this is the first time I've had to write)

Baseball is a wonderful game. I like football and soccer too, but I always seem to get into baseball more then the rest. I don't know why. Maybe it's the strategic side of the game. There's the guy on second trying to steal the signs, the pitcher that likes to throw high and inside, the shortstop that can start an unbelievable double play. Yea, football is strategic, but too much so. The coaches decides the plays, they talk to the QB with a radio in the helmet, and there's time between each play to talk and discuss.  I like baseball, they just play. The coaches even wear uniforms. Soccer doesn't seem so strategic. Maybe it is, but they just seem to run around. I love it and always try to watch the world cup. This year I plan to go to a couple of games, but it will never replace my love of baseball.

I've always been a defense girl.  Shortstop, catchers, pitchers, and closers tend to be my favorite. I had a crush on practically every good closer the Giants have ever had. Beck was my favorite, to bad he had to go do drugs and die.

I know I shouldn't like sports so much.  They are a distraction from the realities of the world. They help us to ignore the problems of our society. Seriously, that's why the Romans had the Gladiators, to make the people focus on frivolities and not on realities.  Do you really think that people deserve to make millions of dollars to play a game? I don't. And yet, every year I go to a Giants game. I am willing to buy the tickets and pay for the expensive food and drinks when I am there. Sad, isn't it. But it makes me happy.

Here's the interesting thing. I don't like watching baseball on TV.  I only like listening on the radio, I find it boring on TV.  I love going to the park. Someone the atmosphere is wonderful. The green criss-cross cut grass, the yelling, the screaming, the hotdogs, the ocean (Pac-bell is my favorite park). Going to a game is fun. 

Well, the Giants are down by 3 in the first inning of the opening game. I think this is going to be a long year, but I'll listen to as many games as possible.

GO GIANTS!!

Things not to say at work

Here's the situation. A 60+ year old woman at work who no one likes working with. The longest she's kept an administrative assistant has been about a year, they tend to leave after a few months. She screams, yells, and can't do anything for herself. One time, she told my project assistant to help her. My project assistant was in the middle of copying something and said she would be there in just a minute. The woman yelled at her (I could her about 5 cubicles away) "Didn't you hear me say now?!" I almost got up and told her to stop yelling at my project assistant, but this was when I was still trying to make a good impression. I'd do it know.

And, just to make sure things are clear, the woman works for the state, my PA works for UCSF. They work together on the same floor, but the woman has no call to ask my PA to do any work for her. She doesn't pay any part of her salary. But since she can't keep anyone long enough to help her, she runs around our floor finding anyone she can to do her work for her.

Anyway, one afternoon she came to my neighbor and I and asked us to help her find the ID number on her cell phone. We took out the battery, found the number, and then put back the battery. Actually, she re-inserted the battery herself, backwards. We tried to tell her, but she wouldn't let us help her at this point. She wanted to do it her self. Well, okay, but there is a reason why her phone didn't work. She promptly got mad at us and ran around to try to find someone else to help her out.

But during the process of removing and inserting her battery, she mentioned this was the first time she had done that. She then said "Well, we were all virgins once."

Oh, I so didn't want to hear those words from her mouth. I so don't want to think about her having sex. I am really not that big on thinking about most people having sex,  but it's easier to deal with friends talking about it, than a horrible 60+ year old woman who's really good at screaming.   I didn't want that image. I really didn't.

New Job

Most of you know I have a new job. Yep, I move an entire floor up. When I started work, my cubicle was on the third floor. Then, when the department of health services split into the department of health care services and department of public health, I was moved to the forth floor. Now I am going to the fifth. I guess you can say I am moving up in the world. 

My new job is in the Tobacco Control Program and my new title is program consultant. From what I gather, groups in California apply for money for anti-tobacco projects. We fund some of them.  I will be in charge of some of the groups we fund. I will have to check whether they are doing what they say they will, whether they spend our money well, etc. I am looking forward to a change, but I'm scared to death at the same time. Everyone keeps warning me that I am going to be busy, overwhelmed, and busy. Very busy, totally busy. Like, I will always be behind busy. They also say that I am not going to be comfortable with the system for about a year and I might be good at it in two. Considering I figured out my previous job in a couple of months, I am looking forward to the challenge as well as not looking at the clock every five minutes.

Still, as I have said before, there is a part of me that is scared to death. What if I can't do the job? What if I can't keep up? My old job was very comfortable. I could do things, I had friends (who threw one of the best good-bye parties ever, thank you very much), I knew what was expected. I was bored.

This is a good move for me, but it's the first job I have had that's going to be a stretch and I hope I am up to that stretch.  I also get an increase in pay. I move from a Analyst II to an Analyst IV (I'm still UCSF) and the pay jump is nice. I might even be able to save money! 

The only problem with this job is I've already got a couple people a little wary about me.  I talked to this one guy while swing dancing. He smoked, I could smell it.  He asked me what I did, I told him. He looked a little upset that I would be against tobacco. Oh well, to bad. There's no question tobacco is bad for you and I do believe we should stop smoking it. I don't think we should make it illegal and I don't think we should ask smokers to pay for our health care system or other such stupid initiatives, but we should keep kids from starting to smoke and help others quit.

So that's me and my new job. Let's hope it turns out for the best.