Valentine to Cotswold Cheese; Saluto tutto to jobbo

I begin this Friday with a salute to Cotswold Cheese. We finally finished our hefty brick, yesterday, after having it for two beautiful weeks.
Darling, Cotswold. You are such a tease. Yes, you rarely visit our humble cocina, but when you do - ah! what joy you bring us. You look like a flawed cheddar, but we know better. When I lift you to my mouth and catch your aroma, I know you enjoy being consumed as much as I enjoy consuming you. You like it don't you? Don't lie. If you didn't want to be taken you wouldn't bedeck yourself with those spicy chives, you lucious coquette! Our Superbowl evening was grand, but your lingering prescence in our refrigerator was too much for us to handle. You were the first to be finished. Before the roquefort, before the wensleydale, before even the applewood smoked gouda! Darling, you know you're cherished when you're gone before the smoked gouda. I know not when we'll go on another cheese splurge. Perhaps in a few months for a Memorial Day get together, or perhaps not again until Thanksgiving. Until then, my love, I'll be dreaming of you. Yearning, salivating dreams.

In other news, today is my last day of work in my current job. On Tuesday, I begin my first full time job in over 16 months. Since I joined the ranks of the laid off, in late 2004, I have done a few freelance penny-scraping gigs, but mostly have either worked part time in a firm or have tended to ill loved ones. I really like my current workplace. I was doing admin stuff, which isn't really what I want to do with my life, but they paid me well, were flexible with my school schedule and flexible if life threw me stuff and as importantly as anything else, it was a friendly office to work in. After having worked for almost 4 years in an office where morale was in continual decline until it could only be described as funereal when I left, and after having been regarded there just slightly more important than wallpaper, it was nice to be in an office where the associates and principals would routinely ask me, "Okay, what do you really do? Because you're too smart for this!" Wow! It sucks to leave them, but the suckage is abated by two factors. 1) I really am looking forward to this new job. It's definitely more up my alley - in the enteratinment business; it's ground floor, but it'll be a good learning and growing opportunity and I think will produce more work for me in the near future.

... and 2) I've decided I seriously dislike one of the associates at the soon to be departed job. I'm a very easy going person. I forgive all sorts of personality issues and hang ups. People accuse me of being too nice. They're definitely right - I don't always defend myself like I should - but I'm also just seriously not that bothered by stuff that bothers other folks. But what I don't have any tolerance for is being patronized (or watching people patronize others) and general assholery. I'm happy to be helpful to the associates in my firm, but we're a small firm and each associate, junior, senior intern, etc is responsible for his or her own administrative upkeep. The only person in my office I secretary for is the principal. And even he is competent enough to do for himself most of his own business. As of Wednesday, one of the associates has tried to treat me like his personal secretary, even making "suggestions" as how to answer the phone. After talking with a couple of other people, I've found he does this to everyone, treating those of all rank in the office as his inferior. Yesterday he wanted me to maintain a contact list for him in my MS Outlook. I told him I didn't keep other people's information in my Outlook. He looked genuinely surprised and hurt. Tough buddy. The bigger fish in this office know how to use it for themselves, and maybe he should too.
... so he makes it easier to leave! The others however, I will genuinely miss.

I'm so psyched about my new job though. I really feel like it will open doors for me. I also hope it inspires me to activate the self-promotion gene that seems to have skipped me in favor for my brother. I need to learn to just push. People who know me know that I'm highly competent, I just need need to learn to advertise it better. But I'm movin' on up! Anyone want to cue "The Jefferson's" theme?