New Zealand

An earthquake hit Christchurch, New Zealand last night (lunchtime their time). It was the worst natural disaster seen in the region is 80 years. At last count, 65 were counted dead and several are still missing.

And do you know my first thought when I heard a quake had hit New Zealand? "I hope it wasn't in the wine region." That was the first thing that popped into my head, and I am not proud of it.

I generally remain blissfully ignorant of the world, big-picture. I won't deny that. And again, I'm not proud of that. I am such an empathetic person that, if I keep up with the news, I feel consistently depressed. But how is that an excuse?

The BBC has an article on their site detailing the damage, and they paint a horrific picture. Among the missing is a group of visiting Japanese students. Among the dead are two buses full that were crushed by buildings. People describe bodies just lying around under a layer of brick and screams issuing from the rubble.

I urge you to pray for this community. They are without power and water. They are scared and can't find their friends and family. Please pray for them. Right now. Stop what you are doing and take a knee. There is no time like the present to do what you can.

Doctor Who Valentines

I can always count on Jamila (MsChicGeek) to provide the most delicious nerdery online - her blog is a treasure trove of geekiness! Today she has up a large group of Doctor Who Valentines, which you know I couldn't resist. Go check it out, but these are my favorites:

Snorg Tees

I'm sure Snorg Tees are aimed at hipsters. I mean, come on, their ads are always next to American Apparel and on sites like TextsFromLastNight and LOLCats. But hey, that doesn't mean some aren't really great. Here are my faves:

Walking the fence between hectic and boring

I'm adjusting well to my new job functions... at least, I think I am. I feel like I'm in limbo right now at work: I'm still sitting with my old group, due to a lack of offices near the new team. This leaves me kind of "without a country". If I have questions, I have to either pick up the phone or walk to the other side of the building. I know, I know, #whitegirlproblems, but I feel strangely isolated. At any given time, my team members could be running around frantically trying to complete a task, but if no one calls me, I won't know. I will be sitting over here twiddling my thumbs in between emails.

If these past few weeks are any indication, this new job will have me walking the fence between hectic and boring at all times. My first week on the job I worked 64 hours and completed a beautiful product on deadline. Whew! Since then, I've been slugging along, hoping I'm not overlooking some huge responsibility because no one showed it to me.

It does give me the opportunity to continue helping my old team on the sly, which is nice (for them). I hated to walk away from it as it reached completion, but one has to go where one is told*. At this point I am just praying for an office to become available: that way I can be in the heart of the team, instead of feeling/looking like an outsider.

Plus, I really want to put up my Doctor Who poster, and the only way I am doing that is on the back of an office door. No shame in my game, but no need to wave my nerd flag quite so high in my corporate office...

*Ah, the drone mindset...