I feel good!

The week is ending on an up note. Well as of 8:47 am it's still is anyway. I've been on sort of an employment roller coaster. I don't want to get into too many details right now, just because I'm trying to push it all out of my mind, but I will say that after a nice long conversation with my ex-Big Cheese from the company I used to work with I feel much better.

Big Cheese is only about 3 months older than I am - so it's hard to think of him as a "fatherly" figure, but he is definitely a mentor.

I think I have had 2 people in my life (out side of family and friends and relationship) who have really helped me along in my life.

The first was a guy named Joe L. He was the lighting and stage designer at the small local community theatre I worked at as a kid. He took me under his wing, was very protective of me and took the time to help me understand what color gels go into the lights and what effect he was achieving. We spent hour and hours until the wee hours of the morning untangling and tagging wires for the light board and then checking and re-checking to make sure they were correct.

He was very meticulous in his craft and he was very good at what he did.

My Dad even trusted him to take me to NYC to hang out with his friends. And Joe always respected that trust and made sure I didn't get into any trouble at the cast parties! There was one great Welcome Back Skylab party that I bent those rules a little bit - but again he made sure I got home safely.

I often think of him and how much he taught me and how he made me love the theatre inside and out.

Next is the Big Cheese. I know I've posted about him before on my blog. Where I used to work his office was right next to mine and so he had to walk by me every day. He always would say good morning and good night and often he would stop and just sit in my office and chat about - whatever it is he wanted to chat about. Usually he would notice a new piece of tacky something or other that I added to my office. His favorite was my Lucky Waving Cat:

He could NOT believe that anyone would ever buy something like that! (I hid it in his office when I left!)

Anyway - I've been having some job issues and I had gone in to talk to him about getting my old job back. I know the routine, I know the company, there would not be any learning curve to train me and I admitted to him that I thought I made a big mistake leaving.

He asked my why I don't like my new job - and I gave him my reasons. He asked me why I left my job with his company and I gave him my reasons for that as well.

Then he looked at me and said- "you don't appear to me to be someone who makes rash decisions, but my advice to you would be to stick it out at this new place for a while because I think you can do it. I've always thought you were a "doer" so to speak and I know you can do this. It may not be what you thought or wanted it to be, but you can do it."

We then joked around a bit, he told me he found the cat and it's no longer in hiding! (I felt pretty good about that) He wished me well and told me to keep in touch. Which I definitely will.

Then I thought about it.

And I thought a little more.

Then I realized - he is probably right. I can do this. Whether or not I want to do this remains the question, but I CAN do it.

Why is it that sometimes people all around you can tell you that you can do something and you respond: "yeah, yeah I know" and you don't really believe them or you just kind of push it off, but every once in a while there is someone in your life who says those same few words and it give you that little boost you needed to get it done?

Big Cheese is definitely one of those people who I have admired and respected before, but now I think I have a new appreciation for him.

So I dedicate this little song to the Big Cheese - thanks for boosting me up!

Happy Friday all!

Peace!

Wah, wah

Raise your hands if you feel sorry for the big oil guys who are under scrutiny for gouging us at the pumps!

Anyone?

How about for Mr. J. Stephen Simon at Exxon whose total compensation last year was $12,000,000 (yes...that is 12 million dollars).

Maybe you feel bad for poor Mr. Lowe of ConocoPhillips who wasn't sure about his compensation (bullshit) or Mr. Hofmeister of Shell who only got $2.2 million. (boo hoo)

Still don't feel sorry for them?

Me either!

As prices go over $4 a gallon here in the US (it's about $10 a gallon in the UK, but then again the Pound kicking the dollars ass at the moment) we all worry about how the higher prices of gas will affect us.

I'm thinking - not too much really.

What choice do we have? If you live in the "burbs" you gotta drive to where ever it is you want to go.

Still...I don't feel sorry for these guys...let them sit in the hot seat. It's all political posturing because a big election is coming up and they need to make an example of someone.

After the elections, deals will be made, the microscope will be lifted and once again they can go back and make lots and lots of money so that they can: "pay for investments in the long term when profits will be down." (yeah...their 23rd house on 100 acres in Montana needs a new state of the art pool that does the swimming for you or something equally obscene)

Until we find reliable/clean alternative fuels and reduce or need for oil...this ain't ever gonna change.

:::sigh:::

Bare with me...

...it's been a baaaaaaaaad week so far.

It started off promising. I got up early on monday morning, determined to put some time on the treadmill...and I did.

Felt good! Invigorated! Energized...ready to go!

Unfortunately...everything else around me wasn't as energized.

Went to the computer to check my e-mail before taking a shower. No internet. damn.

Looked at the modem. There weren't any blinking lights. There were just two lights lit and they just stared at me. Little red devil eyes.

ugh.

There isn't much I can do about this at the moment, may as well shower and eat breakfast and tackle it once I've had some nourishment.

Came back down stairs to check...those two red dots were still there. Still no internet and since we use our cable company for our telephone service...no phone.

Shit, shit, shit.

I work from on mondays and it's a bit hard to work without the internet and without a phone. I have my cell phone and my blackberry, but I hate talking to clients on those.

We use a major cable company that starts with a "C" and ends with "omcast". Talking with these people is right up there on my list of favorite things to do next to: root canals and going to a shopping mall during the Holidays.

I fucking hate it!

9 times out of 10, you will get someone who is trained on the most basic capabilities on trying to restore your access. They follow a script: If customer complains of "A" recommend this: blah, blah, blah, blah.

Blah, blah always starts off with: unplug your modem and wait 30 seconds. Check the connection between computer and modem. yadda, yadda, yadda.

When that doesn't work...they attempt to re-set it remotely. The person I spoke to, tried to re-set our modem about 6 times. She wanted me to restart my computer to see if that works.

Ok...wait....what?

Can someone please tell me how re-starting my computer is going to make my wireless modem work? they aren't connected. My computer doesn't give any power to the modem. How? What the fa?

arg.

Whatever.

After about 30 minutes on the phone with my lovely cable representative, she determined that she needed to send a technician out to see if there was a problem because she couldn't fix it from there. Someone would be there between 1-3.

Fuck!

I am so busy at work...I can't afford the down time, so I called M and asked her if she could take the afternoon off to wait for the cable guy. yes...she could! (Love you!) So I quickly got dressed and drove to Philly for the day.

Monday turned out to be a fairly productive day once I got in the office and settled in, so it wasn't too bad all in all.

The weather on Tuesday threatened: snow/ice/rain. After watching The Weather Channel, checking with 3 or 4 different forecasts and coming to the conclusion that the nasty stuff wasn't going to start until later in the afternoon - I headed into the office. I could have stayed home, but my thought process on this one was: "if I work in Philly Mon, Tues and Wed...then I can work from home on Thursday and Friday!"

Seemed like a good idea at the time.

We have some visitors from our UK office this week and I was invited into a meeting on Tuesday morning to discuss some issues we've been having. Ok...not in the plans for the day, but I really wanted to hear what was said, so I accepted. It was definitely a good choice on my part, but it did put me behind a bit in my work. I got a free lunch out of it...so I'm not complaining!

Checking the forecasts occasionally...no one really predicted it to be too bad in the afternoon. They all said it will be a bit messy for the drive home and take your time, but no winter storm warnings. Just an advisory.

Advisory = no big deal.

Well...around 3:00 pm...I could here the "ting, ting, ting" of ice as it pelted my window. Ugh.

Rain...ok.

Snow - messy...but still OK.

Ice - scary shit to drive in people.

I checked the weather again. "Winter Storm Warning"

FUCK, FUCK, FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!

I read something about "significant icing before changing all to rain then heavy rain throughout the night with gusty winds".

Looking out the window...I couldn't see any thing really sticking to the ground, but it's kind of hard to see ice on the ground when you are 8 stories up!

What I should have done right at that moment was pack up my shtuff and go home.

That is what I SHOULD have done.

What I did was finish the work I was doing and didn't leave the office until 5:15 PM.

Not one of my smarter decisions.

The abridged version - it took me 4 white knuckled hours to get home.

Sidenote: People who drive big gas guzzling small dick, big truck SUV's, you are not impervious to ice on the roads. 4WD does not mean you can drive like a fucking maniac and jeapordize everyone else around you! Almost every spin out I saw on the road last night involved an SUV. Alllllllso - if you have snow on the roof of your car, truck or SUV...clean it the fuck off! When that shit breaks up and goes flying in the air...it hits the cars behind you temporarily blinding them because a big chunk of snow has just covered their entire windshield. Or...in the case of ICE...it hits the car behind you with a loud BANG and scares the shit out of the unsuspecting driver.

I got home...tired...tense...a bit cranky. M was a sweetie and had cooked some rice and beans for me. (Love you). I opted for some leftover quesadillas instead, watched the last 30 minutes of the biggest loser and went to bed.

M told me to: "stay home tomorrow, work from home."

"Great idea...I will."

Did I do that?

No.

Why?

I don't know?! Brain fart, hormonal imbalance, temporary insanity, I really don't know.

My eyes sprung open at 5:30 am as they usually do and I decided to come into the office. (I still want to work from home on Thursday and Friday. It's almost like extending my weekend in a way)

It only took me 2 hours to get to work today. It's raining and foggy and people are still nervous from last night. I know I was.

I'm cranky, I'm tired...I'm wired up on Provigil and caffiend to keep me awake and concious for a few hours.

Whatever works right?

My one saving grace for today is that I have an appointment at 7:30 to get my hair cut and colored. It will be nice to have a little pampering...someone rubbing my head. I'll probably fall asleep in the chair...but I don't care.

(For some reason my spell check is not working on the blog anymore, so if there are errors...tough shit...deal)

thankyouverymuchandhavealovelyday!

Kitchen Kapers - the final frontier

Ok...I know you are all sick and tired of me talking about my kitchen, but we are in (I hope) the final stages of this project.

Today - the electrician and the plumber are supposed to be here to connect the new appliances so hopefully we will have a functional kitchen by the end of the day.

YAY!

But - I am sitting here...in the basement...where my computer is and I keep hearing a dripping noise.

Not a good sound in the basement...trust me.

We've already had one incident when they ripped the toilet out where they almost flooded our pool table, but this drip was coming from somewhere else!

I listen carefully!

I follow the sound.

Drip!!!

I look up!

I found it.

I see a section of pipe running along the ceiling and it has...packing tape wrapped around it!

Packing tape...like the kind you use when you ship a box!!!!

And it's dripping!

ugh

This does not bode well that things will move along smoothly today me thinks.

I hope the plumber gets here soon!!!

Conferences

Love them or hate them, in some industries conferences are extremely necessary.

I like them. I don't mind booth duty, I enjoy talking to people and I enjoy learning new things about the industry I am in.

The one thing I do NOT like about them is the food. It's nearly impossible to eat healthy when you are at these functions.

Breakfast was OK. I got away with a spoonful of slightly runny scrambled eggs and some semi-fresh fruit.

Lunch was tough for me because they served lunch meat which is extremely high in sodium...which makes me turn red as a beet because I have high blood pressure. I had a few slices of turkey and a few slices of cheese and within 5 minutes of digesting I could feel the warmth of the flush creeping up from my neck to my face. (I have learned to wear turtlenecks a lot for this reason)

During the afternoon break they brought out this totally decadent chocolate overload of cookies, cakes, pies, tortes, mousse, Bon-Bons...

DEAR GOD IN HEAVEN!!!!

I would love to say I had the will power to say NO to such decadence....but alas...I am weak of spirit and broad in girth.

Tonight, in my room I'm having a hamburger - sans the bun, and a mixed green salad.

They must have "seasoned" the burger because the royal flush is creeping as I type and the GERD phlegm monster is also wreaking havoc with my esophagus.

ugh

I took a nice brisk walk this afternoon to try and "work off" some of this unhealthy eating I've been doing.

It's 6:32 Kansas City time...I'm ready to take an ambien and pass out for the evening.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Presentation agro

I am working on a 2 minute presentation that I need to give at a conference next week.

The marketing team sent me some PowerPoint slides to work from. They give a little generic info about some of the journals we will be highlighting at the conference. I just have to add my history of the company stuff and it will be done.

Usually, I like the whole process of putting together the presentation and playing with the animation, trying to get the "flow" right etc., but I'm a bit frazzled this time around.

The reason: MS Office 2007.

They moved all the buttons!

It took me a week or two to get used to Excel, it took longer to find all the buttons on Word, and now I'm just flummoxed with Power Point. I have one slide where I can't seem to figure out how to change the animation.

What the fa?

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.

The rest of the presentation is fine...it's just this one friggin' slide that just won't give in to my wishes.

I am in control.

Yes...yes, I am.

I can do this.

After I have another cup of coffee.

Technology

I am fortunate enough to work from home a few days a week. I am in sales and it really doesn't require me to be in the office as long as I can do whatever it is I need to do from any other location.

Mostly - phone calls and e-mails.

The majority of my work is saved on my local hard drive, which if you are an IT person, this makes you cringe because should anything happen to your hard drive, all of your files...are GONE! gone, gone, gone.

All of the remote users can access certain files on the company's server via a Virtual Private Network aka VPN.

I have worked remotely before and I have loved this technology in the past. It may be a tad slower than accessing information in real time, but it's not too bad.

Unfortunately, the VPN that I have to log into now is absolutely horrible. I'm not a geek, but I have a fairly good understanding of how things work...most of the time, but when they explained to me how this network was set up...I was baffled.

I am logging in at Point A, which goes to point B (my office in PA), then it is sent to point C (the main server in MA) then back down to point B and finally back to point A.

Now I can't be 100% sure, but I think there are times when it stops from B and C, goes out to lunch, has a few drinks with friends, maybe takes the back roads and finally gets back on track again.

This is THE slowest connection I have EVER used in my life! Dialing into AOL back in the early 90's when they only had 4 phone numbers is the only thing I can compare this to.

Yesterday we had a big project that was due by the end of the day. Most of the files that I needed were not on my local drive, but on the sales drive that I can only access via the VPN.
I could have my admin person send me the files, but my e-mail has a limit on how much information that it can store and it's been telling me for 2 weeks now that I'm OVER my limit and I need to delete some older e-mails or I may not be able to send or receive any new e-mail.

There have been many a time, when pulling up an e-mail from 6 months ago has saved me a lot of time and frustration. I have to be very careful which files I delete and which I save.

Anyway...that's another subject for another time.

My day basically when like this:

Click on to the "S" drive

wait a few minutes

Click on the folder you need from the "S" drive

wait a few minutes

Click on the sub-folder in the folder on the "S" drive

wait a few minutes

Click on the file that you need that is in the sub-folder that is in the folder that is on the "S" drive.

wait a few more minutes

Save this file to my local drive so I don't have to deal with this anymore. Instantaneous!!!

The only thing that actually took longer was trying to save a file back on to the "S" drive. It would render everything else on my computer useless until that function was completed.

It was a loooooooooooooooong freakin' day.

I was frustrated and angry and exhausted by the end of it.

Unfortunately, I don't think there are any plans to re-vamp this system in the near future. Having remote users is a fairly new concept to our company and it's just not high on the priority list.

It just goes to show you...if it's not one thing is another! If I am not driving 1 1/2 hours to get to my job, then I'm waiting forever to access files that I need to have.

C'est la vie!