Some times, I wish there were 6 workdays in the week.

Crap. yesterday was a craptastic mess of the proportions you will only find in large, pompous educational institutions where everyone is so concerned with who they are that nobody actually worries about doing anything. It's bizarre, and little wonder to me that said institutions financial rating is in the toilet.

I spent the first 2 hours of my morning in a meeting where my counterpart at nameless institution very thoughtfully dropped the little bomb on me that in the 2 weeks since our last preparation meeting he has done nothing on his list of action items and oh yeah, he decided last night to change his mind about some major work I was expecting to have completed early next week. It sucks, but in the end the change works for me so I wasn't too put out. Then I asked if he had just changed his mind last night, what was his excuse for not doing anything the past 2 weeks he did nothing? Shockingly, he had no answer. Ah well, it's documented and known to be his fault and the timeline is going to slip, and in the end I get someone more competent to work with on this part. But still, damn man. Seriously, who pays so much money for something and then blatantly fucks off instead of getting it installed? Nameless institution, that's who!
I was completely unable to cap my profanity by the end of the meeting. I think I may have spoiled the nice girl impression they had of me. fuck em, I'm not that nice anyway.

My day continued in this "would be so funny if it were happening to someone else" vein. Truly, I kept waiting for Candid Camera to pop out, but apparently the joke is still on me.

And today I'm sick and don't want to go in but can't go in tomorrow because seriously this time the plumbers are going to fix my still leaky shower, and Friday I was hoping to be on the road for a quick visit home. I'm seriously considering skipping today to do administrative work and catch up on mails and planning and just canceling the shower for tomorrow until Monday. It's only 1 additional day really, if you count that I would be gone for 3. Have to see what my boss thinks of this idea, though I suspect he might go for it. Apparently, one of the perks of being the only girl at the company is that these guys are all worried I'm going to cry. It's hysterical really, whenever there is something shitty (like yesterday) they come out of the woodwork to tell me it's ok, it's not my fault, etc. Fools- I know this! I wasn't taking the blame, I wasn't taking it too hard and once I got everyone off my damn back and got some quiet, the day progressed quite nicely. Still, it's good to know I have the "sad girl" ace in the hole if I need it.

Star has to get checked out by her (other) surgeon, who's probably going to tell me something bad. This makes me tempted to completley ignore the visit, because if I don't go they can't tell me she hurt her knee again, and everyone knows nothing is real until someone else says it out loud. Since Star fell down the stairs last week and smashed her knee and limped for 2 days and then she got that weird boil on her leg that I have been attending to daily, I'm pretty sure they're going to classify me as a bad dog mother. I also haven't been walking her enough but we both hate the cold and it's been *really* cold lately. When we walk, she just pulls to get back to the house, and we both hate it. We try to play inside, but I know she needs more exercise. We are so not compatible with Winter.

Anyhow, since cleaning her boil was the funnest part of my day yesterday, here are some pictures:

This first one is Star, after I informed her that she has to have "surgery" which is my generic term for anything involving a wound of any sort. I like to see what I can fix with household supplies, sort of like M*A*S*H you know? I'm not sure if it's a good sign or not that she knows the word surgery, but it sure is helpful since she's at least figured out resistance is futile, so she just sort of gives up once she hears the word.

here she is looking utterly defeated. She has been told the leg will require surgery, and told to stay while I get my kit together. I should post a close up of her defeated eyes. In fact, I will!

This is the face of a dog that has given up. They make excellent patients!

Here she is immediately pre-op. Check out my professional set up. I've totally been watching too much Grey's anatomy, so I draped the wound (with my purple towel), I have basins (yogurt containers) for hot soapy water and hot rinsy water, a band aid and some antibiotic ointment. Scalpel!

Now, the wound is a bit weird and I wish I had gotten a closeup of it for you.
It started out as this big boil-y looking thing on her knee, which looked to me like it was coming from the inside. It actually started to look like her scar was tearing from the inside out, which looked *so* uncomfortable! Anyhow, I lanced it and got all sorts of old blood and stuff out of it and then later in the day it split open. It is gross, it looks like a lesion or something. I swear, this might sound inappropriate, but can dogs get Herpes in their knee? It just looks like "not a regular cut" although I have no idea what it should look like when a dog tears scar away from the bone (which I had been trying to do gently over the last month but she did way more effectively in 1 second). I'm trying to see this as a positive. Trying very very hard.

Anyhow, here is the patient immediately after her treatment. See the bandaid? I got tired of looking at stupid white gauze, it's just so VA hospital looking to me, so I came up with this solution. The sticky bandaids I used for my fingers when climbing hold on to pretty much anything, even dog hair!


Blah. and with that, I'm off to get ready for my day. Boo working! boo!!!!