An evening of lost abstractions

The Pilates class at my feistily-muraled, non-squat-rack enabled gym was pretty cool. Certainly not a strenuous workout overall, but some definite ab and lower back burn. The breathing style requires you to hold in your belly button and breathe strongly into the rib area, which gives a really nice-feeling stretch from inside when you do it right. I guess I'll go back next week.

Went home to find HLM still searching frantically for a massage gift certificate I'd given him for Xmas (almost expired now, so bad time for him to lose it). After he found it, I decided to update the little green book in which I theoretically write down what I put in my savings account... sounds innocent... until I called my bank and found out I had quite a lot less in my checking account than I'd thought, not to mention quite a lot more in my savings account (an amount, in fact, that I didn't think my recent deposit amounts added up to at all). Aieeee! After ruling out foul play in the last 30 days, I got very grouchy and worried, and dug up paper bank statements and the online bank tools, and eventually figured out kinda what happened. Not before practically giving myself a heart attack though. Conclusion 1: my savings account owes my checking account some money, and this month's Visa bill is low, so it'll all be okay eventually. Also, the condo saving is ahead of schedule. Conclusion 2: this is all the Europe trip's fault and I never want to travel anywhere again unless I deal with the monetary fallout immediately upon return. :b

Okay, it's time to go... in half an hour I have to lead a seminar on knowledge-based intelligent agents. People had better have done the reading this time. I hate it when they don't... it's not like they didn't have tons of time to do it.

Ouch...

I've just been insulted in a way that's intended to make me feel grovelingly grateful to my company. And it's working. Which in its turn invokes the opposite reaction.

( Here's the story )

So... they play this game very, very well indeed. I don't like large random extras and non-cash perks, at all--they are invariably meant as guilt trips. My company does a lot of that, and yes I have had talks with my boss about trying to become more politically with-it. But goddamn it, I've been good lately, I swear I have. Why are they purposely guilt-tripping me now? (And I do think it's meant as a guilt trip, because if it were just an accounting issue they could have simply not told me, reimbursed me $1500, and let me think I was getting my educational benefit as planned). I don't want something I'm not owed. I just want to satisfy my end of a well-defined employment agreement and have them satisfy theirs. Worse yet, is this going to be a subject in the very course I'm trying to take..... "how to buy people's loyalty and simultaneously make them feel like they barely deserve to be at your company"...?

Incidental note: just to add spice to the whole thing, today's the day we finally got the paperwork through for HLM's medical insurance to be paid by the company under their domestic partnership clause.