A productive day... I mean night

After 2 days (nights) at the new job, I'm on my second day off before heading back again tomorrow... uhm, later today. That's the most confusing part of working nights, I'm finding. My shift start at 11:30 pm and, as far as the computers and all those forms we have to fill out, if that 11:30 pm is a Monday, it's still Monday until the shift ends, even though it's really been Tuesday for all but 1/2 hour of my shift. So while I'm working tonight, it's really "tomorrow" since I've still got a day's sleep ahead of me. Since I'm also trying to co-ordinate when to be on the computer so I can talk to my husband or daughter through MSN, or figuring out when and how to get the kids to and from my brother's on my next "weekend" off, I finally put new blocks on my calendar that overlap the date blocks so that I can "see" my shifts where they're supposed to be, rather than looking at the calendar and thinking, "oh, no! I've got to go to work tomorrow and I'm still up at 4 am." Well of course I'm still up at 4 am. I don't go to bed until 1 pm!

I did manage to have a rather productive night. I got a piece of furniture moved out a the girls' old bedroom downstairs so, other than their old bunk bed that's going to be passed on to someone before we move, that room will have nothing but packed boxes stored in it. I even brought out a step ladder so I could dig around the shelf above the closet - because it's so high up, we never used it. We've been here a total of almost 4 years, with an almost 2 years spread in the middle where it was unoccupied for all but 3 months. I *don't* want to know how long that dessicated orange was up there! Or the pop cans, in brands we've never bought. *shudder*

Meanwhile, I got some more stuff sorted, moved and packed. I'm not pushing it too much yet. We've still got about 4 months, and I'll have a moving sale in 3 months, so it's more sorting than packing, still. Now that the girls will be staying at my brother's for most of the summer, it actually makes the job easier, in that I can pack stuff that I would normally keep out for them to use - like books, games, and so on.

One nice thing about being up all night is that I can stay online for as long as I want and not have to worry about tying up the phone line. One of my regular things is to read the Canadian online newspapers - particularily the columnists and letters to the editors (at least those papers that don't require paid subscriptions to view these areas). I like to read people's opinions about things. I like to know what they think and feel about issues. With that in mind, I sometimes check out one of the news forums at my main national news website. Every now and then, I'm tempted to post on one because I'd like to discuss some issue that's in the news and would like to hear other people's thoughts.

Then I read some of the posts already on the forum and promptly decided it's not worth it! I've noticed a tendancy for a small number of people, usually with just 2 or 3 main instigators of opposing opinions, that do nothing but post insults at each other. Isn't the point of a forum to intelligently disuss ideas, including opposing ones, so as to learn more about the subject at hand? Why post if all you're going to do is insult other people for disagreeing with you? Of course, the ones that are the worst offenders are inevitably the ones that seem the least knowledgable on the subject, and the most closed minded. It makes me wonder why they're even there. Does it somehow make them feel better to burst a bloodvessel "shouting" insults to another poster on a subjec that obviously makes their blood boil? I don't get it.

Ah, well. It's not like I've got a whole lot of time for stuff like that, anyways.

Another cup of tea, then it's back to sorting and packing.