Caps and cuteness

My guy likes to wear a flat cap on his head. Naturally, I love his head because it is perfectly uniform.

When I saw him last week, I took his cap off as we kissed. I enjoy caressing his head while we kiss.

After we had made out and had a bit of quality time, I tried on his cap.

"Hey, it fits my head," I said , surprised that it fit my large head.
"You look cute with it on," he said.
"You should wear it backwards," I said, putting it on him in that way.
"A different look, huh?" he said.

The other day, he said that I should wear caps more often. He like how cute I look in them. I teased and asked if I could have his. Naturally, he said that he would buy we one instead.

I'm his girl, but a bad girl

My guy and I have fun conversations on Skype when we are apart.

"I love when you are mushy," I told my guy.
"You can make anyone extra mushy," he replied. "Your cuteness and sexiness is just too much. They can mushify any guy."
"Ugh! Mushify? Horrible!" I exclaimed, with my guy laughing.
"Mushify is good, right?"
"Um, no," I noted.
"So, it's bad, just like you," he observed.
"No, I'm a good girl," I insisted.
"No, you're not. That's why you get spanked so often," he reasoned.
"You said that I am your good girl. I haven't been spanked for a while. Thus, I'm your good geeky gadget girl," I insisted.
"No, I said that you're my girl. There was no good. But, you will be spanked in a month. Bigtime."

He knows how to get me aroused. It's also fun teasing him about his made-up words.

Mushy mode about my hands and legs

My guy is extra mushy these days. It's nice. I see a boyishness when he is in this mode, which is sweet and endearing.

While driving him to the airport, we held hands. He looked at my pearl pink nail polish and said that he loved my nails.

I was still driving and he made this remark:

"You have the best looking legs that I have ever seen," he said.
"Thanks, sweetie," I replied.

I like his mushy mode that he is in.

Black Friday sales... ugh!

For the last three years, I am turned off when it comes to Black Friday sales. I don't know why it has become a tradition in Canada when this ritual comes for our neighbours to the south. However, I feel the same way about Black Friday as I do with Boxing Day sales, with some minor differences.

Black Friday used to be shopping on that particular day for bargains. Yes, you'd be shopping on a Friday. These days, you have pre-Black Friday sales. And, there's a catch, too. You can actually have a full weekend or more of these Black Friday sales.

One word: Ugh.

Boxing Day is a Canadian holiday. In the past, stores would be closed that day. There would be Boxing Day sales on December 27, which is a day after this holiday. These days, you can have your sale start on Christmas or even earlier. And, it's not a Boxing Day sale. Oh, no. It's a Boxing week sale, which could carry on for longer than week. Stores are also open on Boxing Day.

The same word: Ugh.

I don't have much to buy for either sale. It has to be something that I truly need. I am trying to adopt a minimalistic approach to debt and shopping these days.

I have also done all my Christmas shopping. I am that prepared.

On Friday, it took forever for me to drive home. It seemed like everyone was out shopping.

My guy called me from Egypt, where he is there for less than a month. It was great hearing from him.  He is over his jetlag and is safe. Chatting with him made my commute more bearable.

"How's my cute girl?" he asked me.
"I am stuck in traffic. I am literally under highway 400," I replied.
"Are you on highway 401?" he asked me.
"Nope, I'm backroading it," I replied. "It's Black Friday."
"Ah, I see," said my fellow shopper. "You don't get too many deals."
"I agree. You probably do in the States."

It's nice that my guy and I are on the same page. For Canadians, the deals are better during the Boxing Day, week, or month sales.

Mushy and sweet

Whenever my guy and I have to part for a certain period, I tend to be the one who says that I don't want him to leave. He'll reassure me that it won't be long and that we'll keep in touch on Skype.

The other day, we had the complete role reversal. I drove him to the airport. I parked. He sat there.

"I don't want to leave you. I want to spend more time with you," he said, boyishly.
"I don't want you to leave, either. But, you have a flight to catch," I reasoned.
"I know. I just want to be with you longer," he stated.
"We can kiss, but you do have to catch your flight. You're kind of late and we can't have the police come over to tell you to go," I said, with both of us looking at the police car.

We kissed. It was good. We then got out of my car.

My guy went to get a cart. I did my usual bit by fetching his computer rolling back. He loaded the rest of his bags onto the cart.

We hugged. I knew that I was hugging him tightly. He reciprocated.

It's nice that he is good at expressing how he feels. He is mushy these days. It's so sweet.

Heavy lifting and a swat

To my friends across the border, I hope that you had a happy Thanksgiving. If you are taking Friday off to recuperate from a turkey coma or hangover, enjoy the longer weekend and recovery soon!

After my guy and I were ready to hit the airport, we had the task of moving his various pieces of luggage from his car to mine.

I decided to help out by taking the smallest item out of his car and rolling it over to mine. It was his computer bag.

He normally tells me to look cute and to not touch a thing. He is sweet in that he doesn't want me to injure my flaky back.

When he saw that I had moved his rolling computer bag, he said the following to me:

"That's one of the heavier items. Just stand there and I'll take it from here."

He walked past me and gave my right buttock a smack.

"Ow!" I said. "That didn't hurt as much as I thought."
"We can change that," he threatened while getting another piece of luggage into my car.
"It'll have to wait till you return," I replied.
"Yes. I'll make sure that your butt is a nice shade of pink when I am done," he remarked.

Naturally, I was horny all day.

A handjob and gear-shifting fun

My guy was horny after kissing and pleasuring me in the car. I looked down at his crotch. Yep, his penis was erect.

I went over to caress it. We had four minutes left before I had to take him to the airport. He freed his hard cock from his pants and briefs, and I gave my guy a handjob.

He loved seeing my hand wrapped around his erect member. I had light pink nail polish on, which drove him crazy. Moments later, he came.

Naturally, we cleaned up.

"I am always amazed at how smooth your head is," I remarked, touching his cock's head with my thumb.
"I like when you caress it that way," my guy said.

I then proceeded to pretend that his cock was a gear shifter. We both laughed.

"We are late by twenty minutes!" he remarked.
"It's all your fault," I said, smiling at him.
"It's always worth it when I am with you," he admitted.

It's nice when he is dopey and mushy.

Kisses, orgasm, kisses... a kisses sandwich!

I found my guy's car in the parking lot. I pulled up next to it. I thought that the plan was to transfer his luggage from his car to mine, and then head to the airport.

I can always tell when my guy misses me a ton. The parking lot was full. He normally prefers to show his affectionate side in private. That habit went out the door. We hugged for a long time.

"Did you want to chat in my car?" my guy asked me.
"How much time do you have?" I asked him.
"We can chat for half an hour before you take me to the airport," he replied.

My guy didn't want to deal with the luggage. He wanted us in the car. He wanted to kiss me. I'm glad that he did. I wanted it, too.

I parked my car in a free, conveniently close spot. I then joined him in his car.

We made out. It was nice, as always. I took off his hat and caressed his perfectly uniform head.

"You are the best kisser that I have ever had," he remarked.
"You, too. I love your full lips," I replied as we both came up for air.

My guy unzipped my jacket and put his hand down my purple sweater and bra. He played with my right breast.

"Your nipple is always hard," he replied.
"I'm with you. That's why," I pointed out.

He rubbed my crotch. I was so turned on. Moments later, I came. It was good.

We kissed some more. He continued kissing my neck and shoulders. He's sweet that way.

Which end?

My guy called me roughly an hour from the office. He was driving in. I was in a meeting, so I couldn't talk all that much.

When he had arrived, he called me.

"Are you in the parking lot?" I asked him.
"Yes," he replied.
"Where are you?" I asked.
"At the end," he replied.

So, I hung up the phone, left work, got into my car, and went to the end of the parking lot. I didn't see him. I decided to circle around and called him.

"I'm at the end and I don't see your car," I said.
"I'm at the end. I'm by the wall," he replied.
"Ah, you're at the other end and not your usual end," I said, relieved that I had found him.

I forgot that I was getting instructions from a directionally challenged guy. Luckily, I found him.

Dropping my guy off at the airport

My guy is on the road again. He flies off in the afternoon on Monday. Luckily, I get to drive him to the airport.

"Hope I can see you tomorrow," he said on the phone.
"Of course, you will. I love spending any time with you, including dropping you off at the airport," I indicated.
"You're sweet. Thanks," he replied.

I will miss him when he is away, but I know that it isn't for long.

USB C cables have many uses

One of the first errands that I had to run on Saturday was a stop at the gas station. I needed to fill up my car with gas to actually get on with my day!

A while back, I spotted a new technology section at this gas station chain. There were tons of USB cables. It makes sense, as many of us have phones and tablets. We need to stay connected, even on the road.

In the past, I have owned phones that either use a lightning cable (iPhone) or a micro USB cable (Blackberry). I own a Google Pixel phone. Naturally, it is special and needs a USB C cable.

Guess what? This gas station sells them for $10. Wow! That's a deal compared to how much they sell for at other electronic stores.

I took the plunge and purchased the USB C cable. There were only two colours: black and hot pink. Considering that all my USB cables tend to be boring black, I went with the hot pink.

Let me say that this cable works well. It's one of those flat cables. All the ends are protected. It charges and syncs my data nicely.

I bought a crappy USB C cable several months ago. Depending on the angle at which you insert the cable, it either charges my phone or decides to go on strike.

"What should I do with this useless cable?" I asked my guy.
"I can tie you up with it and spank you," he suggested.

I suppose that I'm keeping it.

Thug-version of Macbeth on YouTube

My guy shared a YouTube video with me the other day. It was a summary of Shakespeare's Macbeth, explained by a thug. It was hilarious.

Part of me wishes that I had the video form when I had studied this play in grade 12. Instead, I had the equivalent of Coles Notes (Canadian version of Cliffs Notes) to read through, which helped a ton.

He knew that I would like this video. I like when we share such things with each other. It's fun and thoughtful.

Meeting going at a snail's pace

Work is enjoyable again, except for one member of our team who has been there for a good four years. He talks a lot. He is a scatterbrain. He copies the world on every single e-mail. He's not the most productive colleague.

On Wednesday, he pinged me on our work instant messaging app. He told me that he was in a meeting and asked if I could join. He then sent me the meeting invitation while the meeting was in progress. Nice.

I declined. I don't go for such late invitations, unless it is urgent. This meeting wasn't. I was also working from home and didn't feel the need to be there for work that he had to do.

On Thursday, we had our team meeting. He basically spent twenty minutes of an hour-long meeting making a big deal about the tasks that he was working on and those that he hadn't touched. He also had a bit of a riff with our manager, which made him look like a jerk.

He talked so much that my team didn't get to share what we had worked on this week. I have a writer and a student on our team. We were all bored out of our minds listening to him.

The highlight? Both the writer and I looked at what the student had doodled in her notebook. She drew a snail. We all laughed. It was perfect.

Botox

I would classify myself as low maintenance. I don't wear makeup all that often. I am very much a tomboy, except that I like doing my nails, and shopping for clothes now and again.

I did something different on Wednesday. I am an elite member on Yelp and decided to take part in an event at a beauty place. It provided your choice of a facial, filler (for lips), or botox for free.

All of these selections are so foreign to me. However, it would be a good introduction to any of them. I have never done any of these services in my life.

Both my guy and I have full lips. So, the filler option wasn't for me. I decided not to do a facial. The last thing I need is for my oily skin to break out because my face has been massaged more than usual.

Yep, I did botox. There is a first for everything.

For the longest time, I have had this fairly deep crease on my forehead. It is probably due to working with folks who possess either poor judgment or lack common sense. So, I probably raise my eyebrows a lot and end up saying, "Huh?"

I wanted to see whether my deep creasy line could be faded in some way.

This event was wonderful. I was greeted promptly and given a bottle of water. I filled out forms and waited until my technician was free. She was knowledgeable. She is a registered nurse. She explained the procedure and answered all my questions.

Sure enough, my deep forehead line could be faded away. She administered botox on my forehead. The needle didn't hurt. I just felt small pricks here and there.

It has been a day and I am seeing a difference. My crease line is shorter. It's pretty neat. And, yes, and I can still crack a smile and my forehead still moves.

Botox is expensive, though. My treatment would have been $300 had I not been invited to this special event. I am grateful for being invited. It is effective and I had a good first experience.

High Sierra upgrades

Yesterday, I was planning to write a post. However, High Sierra was calling my name, so I had to attend to it.

To put things into perspective, High Sierra is the latest Apple operating system. Generally, when I upgrade, I don't experience anything crazy. I do, however, have that anomaly a few years back. My Mac mini would not boot up after the installation and I had to visit a Genius Bar to get it fixed.

My Mac mini is getting up there in years. I'd say that it is nearly seven years old. So, the upgrade took longer than I had anticipated. It was well over two hours, from download to installation.

I actually had the installation run and I hopped into bed.

I woke up the next day and my Mac mini was operational. Yay!

I also have a Macbook Air. I just finished upgrading the operating system on it. It's a newer device in comparison. It took under two hours.

All is well. It's nice to blog again. I still need to figure out all the new features that I haven't got a clue about!

My right eye is back to normal... yay!

Last Wednesday, I went to my ophthalmologist for an appointment. I used to go monthly. This appointment was the first one in two months, which is good news. It simply means that my right eye is making good progress.

To recap, I had an eye stroke back in late March. I had no idea what was going on. All I knew was that I was constantly looking through a water droplet and was getting dizzy.

I didn't think that I would make a fully recovery. Just reading up on various studies saying that it was rare wasn't the best news. My guy felt that if anyone could make a full recovery, it would be me. I didn't want to set my standards so high. He understood.

He was right. On Wednesday, I went in and did my eye test. I could read even the tiniest print during the eye test. I was shocked!

My doctor said that my right eye is 20/20, meaning that the blood splats have disappeared from my central vision. I am now seeing him every three months for my eye injections. There is still a chance that fluid will seep out.

I am thankful that my sight has been restored. It also helps that I have kept my stress and blood pressure controlled. My ophthalmologist cites bad luck as the cause. He also indicated that I am young to have this condition happen to me, so my recovery was easier. Handling a crazy workload at work back then didn't help. I am glad that things are much better these days.

Manage and spank me

I get along well with my manager. He revealed an interesting tidbit of information over lunch on Friday.

A few years ago, there was a manager who was in charge of technical support. He apparently had a conversation with my boss. He told him, "You need to manage Cutiebootie."

It's funny. He never mentioned anything to me until now. This support manager left the company around three years ago.

Several years ago, this manager told me to change a set of tabs in a spreadsheet. He wanted the most current tab at the end. I indicated that it didn't make sense. The most current tab should be at the front. He was adamant that he was right.

What did I do? I gave him an updated spreadsheet with his changes. After that, I flipped it back to having the most current tab at the beginning. I proceeded to slap on a password on this spreadsheet. It was evident that he wanted access to this file. It was also obvious that he didn't know how to use Excel, for I had to do a ton of work to restore it.

I owned this spreadsheet. This manager did not.

I pointed out this episode with my manager, who wasn't my boss back there.

"That doesn't make sense to have that current tab at the front," he agreed.
"I know. He probably wasn't thrilled that I shunned him out of the spreadsheet," I admitted.
"He was afraid of you and didn't know how to approach you. So, he talked to me," he revealed.
"Did you say anything to him?" I asked.
"Nope. He asked me to manage you. I didn't say anything. You were doing a fantastic job. I didn't need to say anything," he said.

I like who I was back then, standing up for what I believe was best for both the customer getting this spreadsheet and for me. Luckily, I haven't changed.

I told my guy this story. He found it amusing that this manager was intimidated by me.

"I wonder what would happen if you were my manager and I locked you out of this spreadsheet," I pondered.
"I think you know what would happen to that cute butt of yours," he smirked.
"I'd enjoy the consequences, I'm sure," I noted.
"I liked the offices back in the old office place. I would call you into my office, close the door, bend you over the desk, and spank you hard for being such a bad girl," he replied.

He's sweet. I miss those offices, too.

Issue with making everything plural, including a person having butts

I have noticed this oddity with my manager for a while. He tends to pluralize words that do not require an s at the end. As an example, he will say documentations instead of documentation.

We had this conversation the other day:

"I had to work my butts off to finish this work," he explained.
"Butts? You have two butts?" I asked curiously.
"A left and a right," he said, bursting out laughing.
"No, you have two butt cheeks. You have one butt," I explained.

Who knew that I would be having a grammatical discussion about butts and butt cheeks in my workplace as a professional. Fun!

Dreadful Diva is gone... yay!

Tuesday was the day. It was dreadful diva's last day with the company.

I worked from home that day. I suppose that I was lucky to not be in the office. I was in a four-hour conference call that started at 07:00.

My manager had his regular one-on-one meeting with her. It was different, though. He had one human resources (HR) person with him, and another HR person on the phone.

On Thursday, I held a regular weekly meeting with my two writers. I have one writer who has been on our team for just over a month. I also have a student who has been with us for just over two months.

Although I wasn't expecting a bit of a therapy session, it happened. We are all so comfortable talking to one another that I am glad that it happened.

They expressed how uncomfortable it was to hear dreadful diva (DD) complain and vent about various aspects of her job. Although someone had reported to my manager that negative comments were directed at a number of folks, including me, the writer on our team indicated that there wasn't anything aimed directly at me -- that it was more process and more towards our manager.

My student missed a deadline by a day, which was unusual. She admitted that she was affected by the negativity coming from DD. She felt sluggish. I get it.

It was a good conversation with them, with all of us sharing our observations and concerns. It's over, thankfully.

I had a talk with my manager after we had finished conducting an interview on Thursday. He had indicated that DD was confrontation from the start when she first entered the meeting room and saw the HR person.

DD apparently cited that my manager had indicated during her interview that she would be a team lead, taking over my job. Um, I don't recall any of that. If she did, it wouldn't happen a month after starting. She could barely use our authoring tool.

She has selective hearing. In her interview, we had mentioned our new authoring tool. During her first week in training, she constantly referred to that tool. We haven't moved over to it yet!

My writer pointed out that during her interview that she did not hear our manager mention that she would be taking over a lead role. You are given such a role when you have proven that you are competent. My new writer, who is essentially my mini-me, is perfectly competent. It's the reason why she is taking over my writing duties.

DD said that she is planning on suing the company for being misled. The suing part doesn't surprise me. Before she joined the company, she had her lawyer go through the benefits package. I knew that she would be a difficult person right from the start. My manager nodded in agreement.

He also noted that she pointed out that she had quit her previous job to take this one. Well, that's life. You decide whether you want to take the plunge and try a new job. Sometimes, it works out. In this case, it didn't.

We are all relieved that she is gone. Sadly, she caused some grief after she was led out of the office and building. She had our IM app on her phone. She apparently used it to say goodbye to folks. She also asked someone to go out for lunch.

If I were in her shoes, I wouldn't have done any of that on a corporate tool that you shouldn't be using once you are terminated. Instead, I would leave, go home, think, and then write goodbye e-mails to folks instead.

My manager had IT terminate her session at a server level. It's incredible how stressful Tuesday was for our team.

I am so glad that this nightmare is over. I'm not sure how the suing-the-company saga will unfold, but she doesn't have a case when her performance was the main cause of her termination.

Onesies for spanking and unwrapping

For the longest time, I have contemplated whether to get a onesie. I have weighed the pros and cons for quite some time.

Similar to a romper or even a pair of overalls, I find getting in and out of them to be a chore. What happens if you desperately need to run to the washroom to empty your bladder and your timing is off? It's like doing a Houdini routine to escape out of the outfit.

I found a onesie that has deep front pockets. As my guy would say, I like functional, practical items. This onesie has a long zipper in the front. It looks cozy to wear as we get closer to winter weather.

What I like more is the onesie's backflap with a zipper. Yes, that answers my concern about my bladder. More importantly, it's the perfect outfit for a spanking.

"How do you feel about spanking me when I am wearing a onesie with zippers?" I asked my guy.
"I love the easy access. I like when my mind wanders, thinking about what's waiting for me underneath it," he admitted.
"That's a yes then?" I asked.
"Definitely. I like the idea of spanking you across my knee and then carefully unzipping the backflap to spank you across your panties... or maybe you aren't wearing any," he hinted.

Not only did I buy myself my first onesie, but I got him one. I like having a present that I can unwrap, too.

Fifty Shades Freed - the movie trailer is here... both of them!

With all that drama happening at work with dreadful diva, I got good news on Monday. No, make that great news, especially for a typically boring Monday. The new Fifty Shades Freed trailer was released. Yay!

For those who have read along with me, I decided to watch Fifty Shades of Grey two months after the movie's release and loved it so much that I became a fan of the movie trilogy, I do. It's my guilty pleasure.

I found two versions of the trailer. Here's the first one:

Here's the second one:

I love both of them. In the second trailer, I like how Ana asks whether she can drive his car and he says no. It reminds me of my asking my guy to drive his beloved vehicle. In both cases, the women drive the car.

Valentine's Day can't get here any sooner!

Spanking me for not getting a perfect paper

My guy shared the following video with me. It's a video on the difference between white and Asian parents when it comes to reacting to their child's grades.

We have done a bit of role-playing where he asks for me to get a spanking implement to spank me with. However, we have never done a scene in which I am spanked for getting poor grades.

"I would love to give this scenario a try," I said to him.
"Me, too. Would you like to be over my lap or bent over when I spank you?" he asked me.
"How about both? You can bend me over and spank me over my panties. Then, I can be over your lap for a bare-bottomed spanking," I suggested.
"Sounds good to me, sweetie," he said.

It's great when we both like each other's suggestions.

New smartwatch with new syncing challenges

I recently went back into the world of smartwatches.

For over a year, I had a Pebble Time Round watch. It's a smartwatch that looks like a regular watch. I loved that it would keep track of my steps.

Sadly, Pebble went away. Fitbit bought the company. The app that used to count my steps died. So, I had to go back and use my Fitbit.

Don't get me wrong. I love my Fitbit Alta. However, I hate tapping the screen to figure out what time it is or how many steps I have taken. It's not the most sensitive screen. I would sooner have a button to cycle through the data.

It was one of those fluky moments. I was in my guy's neck of the woods. I decided to visit Fossil at one of the local malls. I have wallets, jewellery, and cell phone cases from that store. I never really looked at watches.

The young saleswoman showed me the hybrid smartwatches. They look like regular, classy watches, but they are indeed smartwatches that sync to your phone through an app. Instead of charging the watch, it runs on a battery. She gave me a thorough demo of both the watch on her wrist and the app that she had on her phone.

I loved the watch that the woman had on. I loved the concept. I even had one that I had in mind to purchase, but had to think about it.

I am such a geek. I sat in the mall and researched this watch. Was there a way to sync the steps over to my corporate health app? I need to have this feature, as you earn cash incentives for exercising with my company.

Sure enough, I figured out that I could get it to work. So, a couple of weeks ago, I bought my hybrid smartwatch in rose gold. It's nice. I love it. My guy smiled at me when I first told him about it. He loves when I get excited over technology.

The trick is that the Fossil Q app needs to sync with the Up by Jawbone app first. My company uses the Virgin Pulse app for our health program, which Up links to.

I couldn't get any of my steps to sync properly from Q to Up. I contacted Fossil support. It is slow, but they are friendly.

I am a decent troubleshooter. I decided to unlink and link Up from my Q app first. I then went into the Up app and removed the link to Virgin Pulse. Finally, I went into my Virgin Pulse app, disconnected and reconnected the link to my Up account.

The last step was verifying that my Up app had the Virgin Pulse app links again. It was.

Guess what? All of these actions got my steps to sync properly. Go, me! I still have yet to hear from the support guy.

The best part of this exercise is that I do not have to wear my watch and my Fitbit Alta on each wrist.

Canning delays and relaxing with Airpods

I am hoping that this post is the last one about the toxic diva for a bit. She is still going to be canned. My manager has already initiated the process. The downside is that there is a legal process within the company. As a result, she won't be gone on Monday, so there is a delay.

I can only hope that she is gone sometime next week. She worked from home on Friday. Her e-mails got me so annoyed that my manager hinted that I should watch my blood pressure. Although he has the occasional, odd lapse in judgment, his heart is generally in the right place. He stepped in and replied, putting her in place. I de-stressed by getting a cup of hot chocolate.

He had a conversation with my mini-me, in private. He basically hinted that he was going to give her a number of added responsibilities, which she welcomes. He asked her to keep it confidential until he works out all the details. In other words, he has not let her know about the diva being canned, which I expected.

He proceeded to tell her that we need to be respectful with others and be professional. He added that there have been a ton of negative comments and rumours taking place about others. He confided in me, saying that judging by the look of my mini-me, she nodded. He knew that she had been affected by such negativity recently.

It's interesting that I don't see my working relationship changing with both my mini-me and my student after the diva's negative comments. My stance still holds true. If you have worked with me and know me, you know the truth. I don't need a diva to poison their minds with false, negative perceptions about me.

Thank goodness it's the weekend. I am unwinding. 

I recently got a pair of AirPods. I don't think that I have paid so much for a pair of earbuds. However, the sound is incredible and I am enjoying not being chained to my device. The fact that they automatically connect and disconnect when you put them in their pod case is pretty cool. And, yes, I have them paired with a non-Apple device. They work well.

Turfing the diva... yay!

My manager and I had a confidential talk about our troublesome new writer. Before I dive into those details, this writer decided to indicate that she was taking a sick day on Thursday.

Having her away from the office felt good. None of us had to deal with her diva-like tendencies.

My manager indicated that he had spoken to his manager about this writer. They both agreed that she needs to be canned. She has her own agenda, doesn't listen, and is a loose, unproductive cannon.

Her workload won't go back to me. Rather, the other writer who has already taken over a portion of my work will take over her work. Essentially, this writer is my mini-me. She works well and she is okay with taking on my workload, minus the other lead tasks that I do.

That's good. I can continue working on processes and other details.

My boss got word from another colleague that the diva has been saying negative things about both of us. I asked him not to tell me what they were. I don't need to know.

My view is that whenever someone has something negative to say about me, not only is it untrue, but it signals insecurity. The diva gives the impression that she knows everything. She doesn't. Instead, she needs to say horrible things about folks to make her feel better.

She also seems to buy her way to being liked. We recently had a colleague from Brazil visit for three weeks. Although the diva didn't know her, she bought her a parting gift last Friday. Odd.

During her first week, she said that she would buy me a tea. The following week, she did the same thing. She never did. Perhaps she was waiting for me to make the first move. I don't fall for such a trap.

Anyway, my boss is planning to can her either on Friday or Monday. The latter looks more promising. Either way, I feel a weight being lifted.

The diva has been a bad influence on a number of writers. I have noticed this week that as soon as either my boss or I walk into the lunchroom in which she is in, she immediately looks, gets up, and leaves. Ah, such maturity!

The diva is closer to my manager's age. I am wondering whether she feels threatened by someone like me, who is equally as seasoned of a writer, but who is far more competent, be her team lead.

My manager describes her as a poison. I agree. I actually said to him that she is toxic. I avoid toxic folks at all costs.

Drama with the new diva

The new writer, who is supposed to be seasoned, is causing quite a bit of drama. She's a diva.

On Monday, her desk didn't have a chair. Instead of looking for one, she decided to sit at another desk in a different area.

In our office, we have various neighbourhoods. You belong a specific neighbourhood. She went into a completely different one. The manager there had to ask my manager who she was.

She has since sat there all week. She didn't tell anyone why until my manager asked her. He figured out that she had moved due to her chair disappearing.

He told her that he got a chair. She didn't move back. She then cited that it was dark over in our area and she needs natural light.

Then, there is the review process. I have told her that her work goes through a peer review first (me) before it goes to a technical person. She doesn't seem to get it. I have gone through this procedure numerous times.

My manager has told me that he is seriously considering canning her. I told him last week that she's not the right fit for us. The burden will hit me yet again. Instead of doing what I need to do, I will probably continue to do development work.

This new writer is actually causing more grief than needed. She disappears for a couple of hours each day and has dragged a number of folks to join her.

Tomorrow is a new day. Let's see what happens.

Happy Halloween - being naughty

It has been so busy that I completely forgot to wish everyone who enjoys Halloween a safe and scary one!

I live around the corner from an elementary school. Halloween is important on my street. I'm the type who loves shelling out candy and giving out full-sized chocolate bars. Why? You need about five of the treat-sized ones to feel like you actually ate something!

My guy and I had this chat earlier in the day:

"So, what are you going to be for Halloween?" he asked me.
"Nothing special. I'm going to wear my M&M's outfit," I replied.
"I know how much you love M&M's," he remarked.
"How about you?" I asked him.
"I'm always your Mr. Meanie," he answered.
"I must be your naughty M&M's girl then," I replied.
"You sure are. I like spanking my sweet girl," he replied.

Halloween is also a good time for a spanking. Then again, pretty much any day is a good one for me.