YESSSS!!!

I can't believe I've actually had some kind of luck today. Usually, if it wasn't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all... But today, today I finally had a little thing go my way!

My best friend called me up, and we agreed to meet up at the local mall. It's not big by US standard, not even by Norwegian standard, but it's close to home, and they have most stores there. We were just gonna go 'round, browse a little maybe. None of us were planning on doing any real shopping.

The thing is, I always find stuff for her! I can hardly find anything I want to wear, but I can sure find her an entire new wardrobe without any trouble. As per usual, I extended her wardrobe again. She's not complaining, she seems to have problems finding stuff on her own. I have no idea why, I find stuff for her all the time.

She was looking for some new shoes, that was the only thing she was looking for. She's a sneaker wearing gal, it's usually the only shoes she's comfortable in. Today, she wanted to find a pair of ballerina type shoes. She did find them, and she was very pleased with them. As she was trying them on, and getting ready to pay for her purchase, I find what I have been looking for, for the last three or four months. A pair of sneakers for me! I don't have a pair of sneakers, to be honest. I have a lot of boots, but no sneakers. I had seen a pair I liked, but they never seemed have my size, whenever I was there (other stores, mind you). Today, not only did I find a pair of sneakers in my size, by that manufacturer, but they were waaaaay nicer than the sneakers I had planned on getting, if they could just get them in my size. Did they have my size? I checked the rack, nope, not there. I asked the very friendly girl that works in that particular shoe store, and she told me to sit tight, she'd check in the back for me. Yay! She found ONE pair in my size!!! And at 30% off, they're in my custody now!



Aren't they pretty?

To you, this might not be seen as much luck, but for me... It's a farkin' miracle!

VICTORY!!! ...Or maybe not...

Well, I've had a conversation with my sister. She's getting all sorts of advice lately. First one being to be as vocal as possible about her situation, then to be mostly quiet, not act out. Which means, she's now worried about making comments here. That's really a shame, I would have preferred for her to present her case, in her own words (albeit in Norwegian) to help her out as much as I can form here. I'll still comment on what goes on in her battle against Kvinnesiden and so forth, but I won't be able to get her to comment. At least not yet.

My brother moved last weekend, I did not have to go help with anything! He did most himself, though, I suspect at least one og his buddies helped him with the heavy lifting, etc.

More good news... I bought myself an external harddrive, yesterday. I now have 400 Gigs more to fill up with music and movies. And I do love my music! Just ask Kiri!

And the bestest news for last...

After coming home, yesterday, I saw that Kiri had tried to contact me on MSN IM. She wasn't there any longer, so I just shot her an email explaining where I had been and what I'd been doing... Then today... Today!!! She's back on AIM!!! I'm currently sending her one of the new tracks I wanted to share with her, all is golden!

Yes, a whole week without Kiri on the other end of my AIM have been hell, especially since it was forced upon us by an outside force, her Fearless Leader, as it were. I have no idea what she's been filling his ears with to get it back, frankly, I don't care. I care only that she's back! Welcome home, sweetie!

Slow Days Ahead

Seems like I'm looking at some slow days ahead. I have a week off from work (Yay!), it's pissing down with rain (at long last) and I have no emergencies to deal with. Bliss!

Got a text message from my sister, last night. She had nothing new to report, which means I won't be updating my blog on her case... Yet!

My friend, Icey have opened up a new blog as well. Good thing too, I'd lost the link to the old one. Her blog is called The Balancing Act, and I found it refreshing. I read it, and I will go over and leave a comment... Or five! *Waves at Icey* Missed you, babe!

Kiri's situation, on the other hand, just goes from one extreme to the next. Read her blog to see what I mean. ::Shudders:: I'm so happy I'm not working where she is!

My brother just made an appearance, it'll be the first time in a few weeks we've actually seen him. He'll start moving during the weekend, and our mother have volunteered, not only her assistance, but mine as well. No asking me about it. No checking to see if I had other plans... It's the worst part about still living your mom. You'll do whatever she decides, or it's the stonily, silent treatment for weeks after. Been there, done that! And, of course, it has to be the weekend my friend comes home from two weeks vacation in Bulgaria. There won't be any catching up, as we had planned, if my brother decides that he needs help. I've been unwillingly volunteered, so I'll have no choice but to help out, regardless. Not sure how much help I'll be. My right arm is a mess, strengthwise (i.e.: I have none!) and my left arm isn't all that good either. We'll just have to wait and see.

::Waves:: Later! I'm out of Pepsi, and will need to rectify that error...

Been doing some thinking...

Hey! Don't scoff, I do that sometimes y'know. It's confusing as heck, but I find that my brain has a will of its own.

I have decided that I will continue to follow up on my sister's situation. I will have her report progress on her case to me, and I will post it, and my take on it, right here! Why? Because I want justice! I want what's right, and someone stealing other people's creative work isn't... Well, right.

My sister read my last post, her feedback was all positive, she liked what I had communicated, and didn't want anything changed... With the small exception, that I should have mentioned Kvinnesiden far more than what I did.

Apparently, she has managed to suss out our brother, and have had him read this blog too... Hmmm, how did she manage to unearth him? He's been incommunicado, or so it seems for the last week or so. Our mom's not even been able to get hold of him on the phone. I had actually suspected him of having taken off to get some quality angling in. Yep, he loves that stuff, especially if it results in a large, fat salmon that he can hand over to our mom (he never keeps 'em to himself). I am, however, pretty sure he's not out angling, he needs to find a new home A.S.A.P. seeing as his former landlady have sold the house. New owners intend to modernize the house, and they have no room for a tenant. We're still in the dark about his process in this endeavor (sp?).

Oh, nevermind the spelling, I'll shoot it past Kiri later, I still haven't found my beloved dictionary. Wonder what I did with it, where did I put it? I'll have to do a methodical search for it, it's gotta be in this room, somewhere!

I haven't heard back from sister today, though... I suspect she might not be conscious at the moment. She's like me, a nightowl. She functions best at night and prefers to sleep through the day, if she's not in a work situation. Oh how I relate!

So, if anyone actually finds this blog, in the least bit interesting, check back for semi-regular updates. We will find a way to break The Creature, we'll just have to!

www.kvinnesiden.no

After getting an earful from my sister, I have decided to name names and places.

The place? www.kvinnesiden.no

The name? Siw Ødegaard.

This place is run by a person completely without morals or scruples. She has no creative genius of her own, so she steals the genius of others.

She holds 38 articles, written by my sister, hostage. Either through anonymizing them, or claiming them as her own.

My sister was assigned a training post at Kvinnesiden, as a trainee (unpaid) 03.01.06. This was an agreement reached between Siw Ødegaard and the unemployment office, so that my sister would get the training and job experience she needed, as well as a resume for this type of work.

As you might have gathered from my previous post, 'A Little Bit Of Ranting...', this was not to be.

As it is now, Ms Ødegaard, henceforth known as 'The Creature', is well aware that the most damage would come from a civil lawsuit. She is also well aware of the cost of such a lawsuit, and that my sister, being unemployed, does not have those kinds of resources. As of this moment, it's a Mexican stand-off. My sister couthreatenhen to go to the press, but that could hamper her chances of getting a job in this line that she is pursuing. The Creature knows this too, and takes full advantage.

She has even gone as far as to claim that the articles, written by my sister, that she has wrongfully put her name to, were created in tandem. Not true! My sister has done a lot of this work from home, researching facts and figures, on her own spare time, in order to write these articles. They are products of my sister's creativity, my sister's work ethics and my sister's genius. All without getting paid!

My sister sent me a list, asking my help in determining which articles were still unlawfully published at Kvinnesiden, 56 in total. Of those 56 I found 38, still with original titles, but having had my sister's name removed and anonymized or plainly stolen by The Creature. There could be others, where the titles have been changed, I have no idea.

I was on the phone with my sister, just now. I told her about the other post I made, and she told me it was something wrong with it... I didn't name names or places, I'm correcting that error. I did tell her I was afraid I'd get her into trouble by being too specific, my sister's reply? 'Screw it! And screw her too!!!' Okay, fine. She's screwed, I'm outing her lying, cheating stealing @$$ right now. My only concern now is... Who's got my bailmoney? And Kiri just logged off to go home... Dang!

A little bit of ranting...

Yes, I did say a little, you heard me right!

Rant Mode On
My sister have been attached to a Norwegian website forum thingie. I have no idea what to call it, but they have this website aimed at women. All sorts of stuff to do with us wimminfolk (yes, I know what I typed, this time). My sister have a lot on her resume, she has degrees in marketing, leadership, text marketing and public relations of some sort, don't ask).

My sister was sent to this place by her local unemployment office, to get some experience, and training in this type of environment. Unpayed, she would draw unemployment checks as usual.

After a couple of months there, after having worked her ass off, 'round the clock, the boss there hires an editor. Now the trouble starts. My sister have been in on every decision made up until now. Every meeting with the IT tech boys, my sister have been included. Not so, anymore. When my sister made a mention to the boss, that this was a violation of the agreement they had with the unemployment office, things soured even further.

In the beginning, when it was just my sister and the boss (female), they didn't put their names on their articles. Decided by the boss, seeing as it was only the two of them, and against all rules and regulations pertaining to creative ownership, or whatever. Editor comes in, and yes, another female, and they keep it up for a little while longer, then start to add their names to their work.

After my sister called them on their breaking the terms of her being an apprentice there, she's out in the cold. Litterally! So she goes home, thorougly depressed, and makes a call to the unemployment office to make her report. Next thing she knows, her name is removed from all her articles (and they were a-plenty!), the boss and editor had divvied them up between themselves, in effect stolen her work.

Now, my sister have hired a lawyer to get her work back. A clerk at the law office called the bosslady, and was disgusted by the behaviour of this creature. She refused to listen, kept talking over the clerk and just kept being disrespectful of everything decent. She have, however, claimed that all of my sisters articles have been removed. NOT!!!

I have spent a few hours today, going through their entire website. And lo' and behold, there are most of my sisters articles, still in place. Some, the bosslady have put her own name on, and some have been anonymized as being by the staff. I'm disgusted in general by such behaviour, but when this is done to my own blood, I see red! I have cross-checked all articles on my sisters list, with those still published at the website. Only a handful have been removed. I have noted which of them are still there, and mailed my sister copies of a bunch of her work, that she hadn't done from home, but on a lap-top belonging to the bosslady. My sister needs her articles, I'm getting them for her!

I will not mention the name of the site, it's all in Norwegian, and if I do... My sister might get into trouble from me ranting about the unfairness of her situation.

The real kicker? This place is supposed to benefit women. Raise awarness on their situations, and promote respect... WHAT??? Respect? They don't know the meaning of the word!
Rant Mode Off

Kiri, I need chocolate now... by the truckloads!

Kiri Made Me Do It!!!

She really did!

Who?

Kiri!

Slave Labour!!!

So, what to write about? ::wheels starts turning::

I could write about my work, but, nah. I'm overworked, underpayed and totally overqualified for what they have me do.

I work in Customer Support for a cellphone company. In Norway, that is. I started in Customer services, was moved over to Retailer's Support about a year after starting with the company, and now, two years later, they send me back to the customers. They're animals, I tell you, Animals!

Why is it that us poor schmucks that work at customer support (in any field) is supposed to be mindreaders? From a distance? No one seems to be able to tell me the answer to that one. If any one knows, please tell me.

I might use this blog to chronicle my desperate search for a new, better paid and more meaningful job... Yep, that might do it. I have been hard at search for a few weeks now. Jobs are not easy to come by in Norway, so the search must continue. I can't settle for temp positions, seeing as I'm in the process of getting a mortgage. I do need a place of my own, where I can get a little peace and quiet... and some privacy!

I'm educated in Travel. I have a fancy diploma titling me as a 'Travel Coordinator'. This means, in theory, that I can start my own hotel (if I get someone else to take care of the books), I can start my own travel agency, as long as I can get my hands on an accountant, said accountant must be lisenced, though, and they won't work for peanuts! But that education was a while back, a few years, even, and I no longer want to go in that direction.

I have done some translation work, that could be fun to try. Hmmm, no such work to be found, at the mo'.

Kiri gave me a trainwreck-type crash course in HTML a few years back. Yes, I have known li'l ol' Slave Labour a few years now. Met online in '99 through common interests, and have remained friendly. We do share a few obsessions, y'know. Andy Serkins... He's not one of them! LMAO @ Kiri.

We have been in the process of putting an obsessions website together... for the last two or three years. It's still not going anywhere. But, alas, I'm not qualified to the same kind of work she does.

I have taken classes in accounting [yay me ;o)]. Business economics, even. But, alas, I have done no such work, so they'll rather have someone who's actually done it for a while.

Mmmmm... Obsessions....

Eh, where was I? Oh yes, background...

I'm every bit as addicted to music as Kiri. I have a list of all time favourites as long as my... leg! Hey, I'm leggy, nothing I can do about that... And the list really is that long!

I draw, when inspiration hits, I make wallpapers for my computer, using Corel PhotoPaint, I paint on wood and I read an ungodly amount of books. Dean Koontz, is my hero, in case you were wondering, which you probably weren't. ::Shrugs::

My posts will probably never make any records for length or intelligent content. I ramble, I grumble, I bitch and I complain. It's what I do, and I'm darn good at it too! Just ask Kiri!

Later, I'm heading back to AIM to torment the dear one, as she puts in overtime... ::Snickers:: Did I mention that my work week is over? My weekend has begun? Am I gloating? Yeahsureyoubetcha! I gotta get my kicks somehow...

Due to chronic Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, I'm not allowed to work more than 40%. Doctor's orders, and the main reason I got bumped from Retailers Support to Customer Support... B@st@rds!

Ps. Disregard any typo's you might come across, as it's late in Norway, and I really don't give a hoot at the moment. ;o)