Halloween hi jinks

Today was an extra-long day at work (I was there for more than 11 hours), but at 10 a.m. we had children from a local early start program come through to trick or treat for Halloween. They were so cute! If I didn't already have my Moo Moo they'd have definitely won me over to having children.

I decked out my desk with a black cloth (thanks Melissa!) and lights and like last week, most of my costume I already had here at home (including the black collars). But the $5 black wig I bought at Wal-Mart this morning was the icing on the cake. I went from punk rock chick to Cher like that *snap* Check out the video of the visit, which includes a couple still photos of me and some video footage of me and my boss in the background at the end.

Sobering realization

I recently realized that when people say, "Time will make it better," they don't mean that time will make it go away. All that platitude means is that time makes it easier to deal with. If it's come to someone saying that to you, then sadly "it" is unlikely to go away.

Candy casualty

So I had another run in with our candy vending machine today. I won't bore anyone with the details of my bad day but between the needs of our letter writers and the apparent new additions to my job, I needed candy... HAD to have it... and not the chocolate I had on my desk. I grudgingly took a dollar out my purse, upset that I was giving in to to the inflated cost of a pack of Starburst and headed back to the machine.

Of course, the machine never takes my dollar on the first try (after we're done with it, they better never install it in a strip club!), but then when I finally get it in there and hit "D7," it starts making a funky beeping noise.

Would you believe that the inflated-price goods-carrying, dollar-rejecting, loose morals piece of metal had the audacity to demand exact change? After a half dozen tries when I finally realized what was going on, I so wanted to shout, "Exact change yuh mummah!" But I refrained. After all, the associate publisher's office door is right by the machine — a fact that I'm sure makes the machine feel brazen and bold.

So I had to walk up to the cashiers to get the change I needed for the machine. God bless Ms. Rose she made me smile though. I asked for three quarters, two dimes and a nickle and after she gives it to me, she says, "Are you sure that's a dollar?" I had the deer in headlights look for about 10 seconds before I realized she was pulling my leg.

Then it was back to the machine for the Starbursts.

I tell you, next thing you know the machine is going to expect us to reach up inside it to get the damn candy ourselves.

Sad.

Bitter meltdown

OK, the financial crisis has finally hit home: Candy prices have been hit by inflation. I just got done cleaning out all the pennies in my desk drawer to make up 95 cents for a pack of Starburst. I'd always thought the original 85 cents was a rip off but when I needed candy, I needed candy. But when I went to the vending machine today (after already converting 10 pennies at the cashier), I immediately knew I was in trouble. The prices were off the Starburts, Skittles, Jolly Ranchers and M&Ms. I had to hit the D7 code to see the price - 95 cents.

So it was back to my desk to scrounge for more loose change. I finally had to ask a coworker for a penny to make up the 15 cents I needed. Yes, people, Iceland is at risk of defaulting on its sovereign debt and the U.S. and E.U. are nationalizing companies in droves, but it's finally hit home now. We're in for some hard times folks. It's time to buy an extra mattress.