7.15.1996

I'm stressin'. The moment of truth is close at hand. The first four instruments that I have built from the ground up are going into the test process tomorrow. I hope they will be OK. If not, I'm going to be really embarrassed and I'll probably have alot of rework ahead of me. That's not the only reason I'm stressed though. I suspect that Material Coordinator desk job I was hired in for is about to disappear. The Troll wants that job and she's planning some sort of stunt to railroad me out of the position. Today I overheard her saying something about how she recently had a talk with our supervisor about the Material Coordinator job. That can mean only one thing. She's making some sneaky deal with the boss.

The Drunk is my boss here in Spokane. Squirmy hired me back into the company, but The Drunk is who I report to. I hardly ever see her around. Most of the time she is sitting drunk at her desk doing paperwork. So the only time I see her is in meetings or staggering by in the hallways. She's a big butch lesbian that dresses like a tough auto mechanic and has her light blonde hair buzzed short and spikes it up with gel. Most days she shows up to work hammered out of her mind. Some of the Spokane employees have taken note of this and mention it to our people, but there isn't anything we can do really. What are you supposed to say to someone when they come up to you and announce, "You know your boss showed up to work drunk again today".

I haven't been paid yet so I've been using my company corporate credit card to charge up all my gas and meals. I am worried that at this rate my first paycheck will be decimated.

Last weekend was really boring so Sunday in an attempt to force myself to get outside and do something I drove 85 miles out of Spokane to see the Grand Coulee Dam. The Dam itself I wasn't too interested in, but the drive on highway 2 was very nice. There was nothing but lush green wheat fields that carpeted rolling hills on either side of the freeway as far as the eye could see. For a while as I drove I thought I might have been driving somewhere in the midwest instead of Washington. It reminded me of pictures I've seen of the great plains. I stopped along the side of the road and watched the wind blowing in waves across the wheat fields. It looked like a peaceful green ocean as each burst of wind hit and moved through the hills. There was some areas that looked completely different out there though. They looked blasted like the moon. The only things I saw was rocks and powdery light brown dust. People have told me they call it the high desert of Washington.

I also spent some more time in Coeur d' Alene. There is a nice old Masonic lodge on the main street. I got out to see when the next stated meeting was going to take place as I wanted to do some traveling, but there didn't seem to be any way inside and there wasn't anything posted on their board. I asked a man who worked in a nearby antique store if he knew anything about the lodge and he said they moved out of that building seven or eight years ago. He didn't know where they went or if any of them were even still in the area. I'm going to try to find out what happened to them. It's been a while since I attended lodge.