I’m still sick, but I went to the doctor yesterday and got some antibiotics, so that should hopefully kick this sinus infection out of my system quickly. Normally I would try to ride it out because I know it’s not good to take antibiotics every time you get sick, but this has been going on for over two weeks, and I’m about to start a new job, so I need it to hurry up and go away already.

Speaking of which, I had orientation for my new job yesterday. It’s another contract at the Giant Software Company, so it’s nothing that I’m not used to – the orientation was all pretty routine stuff (fill out tax forms, watch a video on sexual harassment in the workplace, try not to snicker at said video, etc.). I’m not sure exactly what my start date is, because they’re still waiting for the results of a background check on me. You’d think they’d already have one from the last contract I did, but apparently not. So I guess I may not have the job after they find out about that one time that I was a crack whore. (Ha!) Seriously, I’m trying to imagine what they could possibly find out about me, other than the fact that I was irresponsible with credit cards in college, and that I’ve had a few speeding tickets. I’m afraid that other than that, I’ve led a terribly boring life. Or maybe I’m just good at not getting caught. You’ll never know, will you?

Oh, one thing during orientation that I wasn’t expecting: at some point, the HR lady was speaking about confidentiality and proper use of the company’s network systems, etc., and she specifically said, “So if you have a blog, you need to do that on your own time and not mention anything about work.” I could actually feel myself blushing, and I could’ve sworn that everyone in the room was staring at me. (They weren’t.) So um, yeah. I’ve been warned, and I will proceed with caution. At the very least, I’ll try to remember to change the timestamps on my posts so they don’t appear to have been written during work hours. Heh heh.

Other stuff: Since we got home from our NYC trip, we’ve tried sleeping with our bedroom door open at nights. In the past, we’ve always kept it closed so Teenie can have our bedroom all to herself, and we don’t have to worry about hearing her fight with the other cats at 3 a.m. (I don’t know if you’ve ever woken up to a cat fight, but trust me, it’s not a pleasant way to start your day.) They were all in the house together with no closed doors while we were gone, and I think they’ve started to negotiate their territory pretty well. Beaumont is the only one who’s come to sleep with us for the past few nights. It’s been pretty uneventful. At some point during the night, he’ll accidentally make eye contact with Teenie and she’ll growl and hiss for a couple of minutes, but then they settle down and go back to sleep. Yay for progress!

As for Cleo and Greta, they’ve kind of turned into clique-y high school girls, and they sleep on the couch together because they can’t possibly deign to get in our bed with the other cats. They’ve both turned on Beaumont, too, which is sad. He’ll roll over on his back with his paws in the air (totally submissive pose), and they still swat and hiss at him. I think it’s mostly Cleo (who, oddly, is Beaumont’s litter-mate); she hisses at him whenever he comes anywhere near her. Greta doesn’t seem to mind him too much when Cleo isn’t around, but apparently Greta has turned into Gretchen Wieners to Cleo’s Regina George. Or perhaps Greta is Heather McNamara and Cleo is Heather Chandler, take your pick. And since Teenie hates all of the cats equally, that basically means that Beaumont has no feline friends in our house at all. Dave and I have been giving him lots of extra love to make up for all of the rejection he’s suffered lately. It must be tough being the only neutered boy kitty in a house full of girl kitties. Poor little guy.