Monday was my birthday. I'm 42, which is the Ultimate Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything. My brother called; my mom didn't. That made me sad. She's really, really busy. When she talks about "retiring" she means cutting back to 40 hours a week. She's said in the past that she'd really like it if I found a job closer to New Hampshire. I actually looked, for a while, but I realized she still wouldn't have time for me if I lived there. She's in Ireland right now with my stepfather, but it's for work. A little bit of a vacation but mostly work. My brother and I are supposed to join her for a few days in September. I haven't bought tickets yet, which is stupid.
I've been working on a synthetic oil spill at a factory that makes the mechanical parts for swivel chairs and recliners. It's not a very big spill and the oil is mostly made of hexylene glycol, which is not too dangerous, but it happened in a small town and the neighbors are very excited and will be suing them. For me, "working on" it is much less hands-on than actually having to clean it up. More to do with oversight and monitoring of the cleanup, and preparing an enforcement case. Yesterday I conducted a standard stormwater inspection at the factory and tried to explain to their safety person that often, when you call people about official things, it's a good idea to take notes, in case you DO get sued someday. And that making actual records of things you're required to do by Federal law is pretty helpful. But it was a good day to go for a walk, and the person was a nice lady, just very disorganized. Even worse than me; the whole company is sort of ... vague. So if you have a swivel chair, maybe you shouldn't spin very fast in it or anything like that.
Last night I saw Seabiscuit, and it was good. Some scenes were filmed in Kentucky. There were some early scenes that looked a lot like parts of Utah or Idaho, but I couldn't tell. Today we were given new cell phones at work, and for lunch I and another birthday person were taken to our favorite Indian restaurant. It's hot, humid and sunny today, just like Venus. I feel like going home and playing with my cat.