discord26

Crazy tired....

Welcome to the land of FUBAR!! All are welcome. You know I'm talking about the state of my employment...right? My life in comparison is well ordered and hurts less.

Yesterday....Oh, I have rants and flights of fancy.

1. The woman did not sit with me to observe me in my environment. She was late to work so it's rescheduled for today. This was the only relief of the day.

2. I have been working on my audits and here is where the first aneurysm of the day occurred. Back story: My manager sent out a new report on Monday(remember the rant on why I have more audits than I was supposed to). Anyway, this report is mine until I finish it. Everyone on the team was sent the report with their items clearly marked. I tried to wade through the murk and made notes on things I would need to do more research on, get feedback on or hone my review.

Yesterday, I was ready to post some of the items it had taken me a bit of time to write. I go to post them in the application and they were already done Tuesday by Twitchy. WTF was going on. This happened to seven of my reviews. I finally asked him... WTF? He told me he was working on the report from last week. He didn't think that his reviews had changed. When we get a report my manager resorts things because this is random. He's had this job for three or four years and every time he does the same thing. If other people do it he has a meltdown and nearly goes postal. It doesn't phase him when he screws up other people's work.

3. While I was having this meltdown Twitchy asked me about something we review. I was having a serious case of deja vu' because this is the same thing he asks me all the time. There is a job aid for the type of thing we are reviewing. He keeps asking me questions because he wants to find short cuts. I keep telling him there are no short cuts. He also keeps telling me he's not going to write something up because he wants to be easy on people. Excuse me that is not your job. You have to write these reviews based on the documentation. If you don't write something up that person will never learn and the managers will have no clue what things may need additional training. Can I scream Pleeeeeeeease!!!!!!!!

4. There is a new process which was introduced a few weeks ago and it's going to be totally confusing and open a lot of people to more errors. At this point it's making my audit psychotic to do. My manager hears me. I went to talk to him about the crazy that is going on. He ended up pulling me into my 1 on 1 with him. We talked. To calm me down and brighten my day we did some phone monitoring. Seriously, I never laughed so much from the stupid in my life. They should be happy that I'm not monitoring these calls yet because no one would be left standing.

As I was leaving our little meeting I talked to my manager about Twitchy not using the new report. I'm not telling tales. When he does this it impact people's ability to get their work done and we are already extremely behind in our work. I told my manager not to get crazy with the knowledge but it is an issue. He agreed and wandered off to a meeting.

Opinion: Twitchy and I are at the same grade level...Seniors. The next level up is supervisor. Who do you think would get that job if there was an opening?


Work calls.....

Seriously, I'm going to need a vacation if the week keeps going like this. Oh, I forgot...I just came back from vacation...the vacation which was supposed to relax me and make my stay in Hell more palatable.

Work

1 Testing: There was a meeting at 8:30 to go over what had been tested. The deadline is either today or tomorrow...God knows. I mentioned that most of what I tested was not even configured. I was asked what I was basing my testing on. I told the head of the department that it is the sample in the testing folder...from his department. He blithely said, "Oh, a lot of that was taken out and rescheduled for future months. You need a spreadsheet which reflects what was actually loaded into the application." I looked at him and running through my mind as I remembered wasting my time on this was...'Ya think?"

As I was leaving the meeting Twitchy pulled me aside and beamed in utter glee because ,"We got off easy with the testing. I had talked to L about volunteering us to do more testing if they need it." I almost kicked him in the stones. Do not speak for me...Thank you. The man totally wasted my time going off on tangents which had nothing to do with the testing. Personally, I don't understand where he gets time to do his real job when he spends all his time with his BFF. That is a rant I'll have later. Why the mood? I'm sitting with unbelievably crazy audit and very little time to do them. He wastes people's time.

I had a talk with my cube-mate. She's bored and frustrated. She wants to learn more but we are chained to the rut. She talked to our Manager about it and first he wanted her to sit with me to see how we test. I said, "Too late, testing is over." She really needs a foundation on certain things before she can do any testing. She can look at what I do but she's not going to be able to understand if she has no foundation to build on. My manager suggested she sit with Twitchy and she told me that she gave an emphatic, "No." Why? Twitchy is unable to get to the point in an eight hour period. (aside: No one really wants to talk to him because he doesn't really listen. Example: His cube-mate has a really bad case of acid reflux disease. Twitchy who is a cook spends all day telling her about recipes he's made and how she would love them. He had a twenty minute conversation about tomatoes and sauce. She spent that twenty minutes telling him how she can't eat things like that. He never listened to her).

2. My real job: I audit the quality of people's work. I was having a horrendous day yesterday. I don't understand the decisions people make. I can't believe how fucked up things can get. Things used to be kind of clear cut. My team had a database to refer to so that we could be consistent and not waste time. My manger took that away because he didn't think it was important. I told him it was and it's still not back. My team used to be able to meet deadlines but working in the dark is getting annoying and I mentioned the wasting time thing already. The team suddenly lacks consensus and it's another thing which is making me tired.

Home

My refuge from the crazy. I did absolutely nothing last night. I had my Crackberry and I was parked on the couch. I was half watching television and have surfing the 'Net reading Janto fics. I have to say that I enjoyed Torchwood because I like the chemistry of the characters. The stories were a bit thin but the chemistry was good. I didn't know how much I liked it until the events of last week. Now, I'm hooked on something which is probably gone. I'm always late to the party. I didn't really get into The Sentinel until after it was canceled. Whatever...


Today is on the road to sucking. Someone is going to sit with me for an hour to watch me work. Oh, the humanity.

It's too early to determine how my day is going to go but....I've been up since 1am so everyone should fear me.

Why was I up so early? Lightening and torrential rain. I was trying to get some sleep...despite the soupy, humid weather. I was parked in front of a teeny fan...one of the cats was parked next to me. All of a sudden lightening. I had to get up and close all the windows and try to get back to sleep....NO LUCK!!!

I'm still in kind of a mood. The one light is that I was on my Blackberry last night catching up on lj when I spied a post with the song I've been moaning about for days....John Barrowman singing Angel. I quickly ran for my computer and all is good. It was successfully uploaded to the iPod for continual listening today. Yes, I'm still mulling over Torchwood. If anyone out there could...rec me some Jack/Ianto fics. Suddenly, I'm fixated.

Oh, I forgot to mention in my previous post that my sister is fine. She was fine enough to see Ronnie Milsap yesterday in Webster. Her doctor is putting her on a diet and giving her some pills. If she scares the heck out of me again I will kill her. Ronnie Milsap???? See this is the difference between us. I barely know who Ronnie Milsap is and she has no clue who Eddie Vedder is or even who Metallica are.

I'm still trying to find out what happened to my ggrand father. I have found him in the 1920 Cambridge City directory but it gets murky after that. He was a day laborer and about 59 in 1920. I'm still plugging away. If I can only get a date of death I can go to the Cambridge Clerks office. Did I tell you that I love a puzzle and I will solve it if it kills me. My next puzzle is to find out what happened to his son, Michael. According to Uncle T, the last time I saw him, Michael was killed in an accident or murdered and his wife didn't find out for two days. There's a lot of crazy shit like that in my family tree.

The Y

I am close to joining the Y. I have the exercise clothes and God help me....the bathing suit. Actually, I looked at myself in the bathing suit and was not totally horrified. Now, I just need to recover from the vacation, get back into the swing of work and dedicate at least three or four times a week to the Y. I went to WW on Saturday and was actually down. It wasn't much...almost a pound but at least I didn't gain. It could have been scary because I ate out five of the days I was on vacation.

Work is going to be hitting me over the head in a minute. I have no clue what I'm doing today.

I'm sick of being able to roll with the punches. I was ready to go on vacation to get rest this coming week but who knows what's going to happen. No, it's not totally dire. My sister is in the hospital. Here's what happened.

I got home around quarter of five because I've been getting home late every day this week. I relaxed, ate and sat watching television for a while. P went upstairs to do something on the computer before watching the 6:30 news. Then the phone rang. It was my nephew calling to say my sister had been taken out in an ambulance after having tightness in her chest and trouble breathing. He didn't give any indication of a time frame on when this happened. P went to get dressed . He called the hospital ER a while later and they didn't know who she was. He called our nephew back and he said she had just left. Btw, my nephew is developmentally challenged...think idiot savant. P waited a bit and called the hospital. The hospital is not just around the corner so he wanted to make sure she was there. The hospital is three buses and a train ride away. We don't have a car. We could take a cab if we need to.

Anyway, he called the hospital around 7pm and they said that she had already been discharged. Okay.. We called our nephew...R... back and she was not back home...we figured a cab...by 7:30pm. We called the hospital ER again and they told us she was being evaluated. She had just been taken to x-ray and had a room. They would have her call us when she got to her room. Huh??? Twenty minutes later she called sounding a little rocky but not in any immediate danger. She said that this happened before. She has GERD and they're keeping her for observation because some of the symptoms are similar to a heart attack. P is going to visit her today.

Pardon me for being selfish for a moment. I have just come through a ten year period where every time I took time off someone would get sick. I'm tired and here is another thing to upset me. Selfishness is over now.

Pardon me while I get angry. I admit that I have a weight problem but I am getting psychotic trying to get into the zone to get back on track with my diet. I want to maintain some sense of health amid all the crap that happens to me. That said...my sister is going to be slapped silly if I get my hands on her. She is a woman in her fifties with all manner of health problems. Most of the problems are caused by her weight. She constantly complains that she has breathing problems and joint problems that are preventing her from walking around. Seriously, I feel her pain on that issue but she needs to get off her ass and move. She does all the wrong things food-wise. Her diet consists of fried foods, soda and easy, quick meals. The women in my family don't cook or they can cook on a basic level. They date, marry, cohabitate with cooks. My father cooked, P cooks, my sister's late husband worked in food service for years. Most of the men I go out with like to cook because I'm not sure how to turn on the stove.

I have spent countless hours telling my sister what to eat and what to do to get some activity into her life. This has fallen on deaf ears. Even her son is overweight. The thing that kills me is that my sister was a thin woman growing up and well into her twenties. She has had that taste of being thin. I have always had a weight problem. Most of it was caused by the hell she put me through as a child. She could get back to a reasonable weight. I'm not talking her getting back down to 115 pounds but at least down to near 200. One of her problems is she doesn't work. She sits around her house or neighbor's houses talking and eating. That is her activity. She needs to at least walk around her neighborhood a couple of times a day.

Today is going to be just annoying. I have to wrap things up before I go on vacation. I also have to go to an hour and a half staff meeting at the Hynes Convention center. Then my manager is having a mini retreat which I hope he cancels. I do not want to be trapped in a room for almost four hours with Twitchy. I'll keep in touch with P during the day to see how my sister is doing. I think she's probably going to be released today. I hope some doctor at the hospital can knock some sense into her to take better care of herself. I personally can't handle anymore drama for a while.

Work soon....I have a crap lot to do today

Let's recap....

Tuesday

I was forced to sit through a two hour meeting on testing. None of the items I was supposed to test are remotely ready. This means that Twitchy is going to get stuck testing them. My team meeting was at 2pm. This means that I got home late. The meeting was over relatively early but people kept talking and it didn’t end until almost 4:15pm...yes, forty-five minutes later than I normally leave. I was extremely tired because I had the mammogram extravaganza the day before.

Speaking of the mammography...appointment at 3:45pm...arrived at 3:30pm...sat in waiting room until 4:30p...appointment at 3:45pm...called into the inner waiting room until 4:40pm...appointment at 3:45pm...actual mammogram at 4:45pm...appointment at 3:45pm...annoyed...ya think? Oh, they had me do a computerized questionnaire. One question asked, "Have you ever had benign breast tissue removed?" I clicked, "No". The next question was, "When was that tissue removed?" and it wouldn't let me go back. Later in the survey it gave a list of relatives....mother, father, brother, sister, maternal this and whatever and you were supposed to say whether they had cancer , if it was breast or other, etc. I've have a lot of cancer in my family tree and I exceeded the allotment for the computer program. Whatever.

Wednesday

I arrived at work at the same time I always do but I stupidly decided to try the e-learning course I signed up for. I sucked at the pre-test....why? It was multiple choice and some of the questions had up to five possible answers. I would guess most of them but not check all of them. This equals partially right. You had to read some of these questions....Some of the answers sounded like:

A: The correct answer
B: The correct answer
C: Both A and B
D: Neither A nor B

For instance if it was both A and B you would have to check off A,B and C to get the answer completely correct. I got 100% on the role playing section. This is only the pre-test...now I have to take the course...Oh, JOY!!!

This left me with no time for lj.

I didn't have to go to the testing meeting...Yay? None of my items to test were ready. Twitchy sat with me for a while to see what he's going to be in for. I think he actually got more twitchier. I have this really complicated thing to test. It has six folders of components. I left Twitchy to run to a training...Tools for Transition.

I don't have time to explain this course but I will later. I was very amused by it.

Just before I was about to leave Twitchy stopped me and a few of my co-workers and blathered on about getting a group together to take coding classes. This is not going to happen because there is no money in the budget, no one has time and in order to become a certified coder you need to take a lot of other courses like anatomy and physiology. To tell you the truth I could probably take the test just on what I know. I left and can you guess....I ended up getting home late for the third time

I have four more days until my vacation. Oh, please let it come a little faster.

Yesterday

Twitchy was back but he did not talk to me...except to say "hi" all day. Thank you!! My audits are beginning to suck. AQ is about to become a grandma any minute. I gave her the baby blanket that I won in the Moonridge auction. The baby is overdue at this point and everyone in her camp is on pins and needles waiting.

I had to go to Mass General for a mammogram. Can someone tell me why every time I go over to Mass General the Red Line has some sort of derailment or disabled train. I could see once in a blue moon but this is almost a weekly thing. The T wants to raise fares 20% to cover their sinkhole of a budget. They are going to price themselves out of the ability to retain ridership. People are losing their jobs. They are not going to be able to pay two dollars for a bus and almost three for a trolley. Also, if you are going to charge me more then I expect more reliable service. It's pretty much a miracle if you actually get to your destination. There are some days when it would be faster to walk to work than get the T. I work roughly five miles from my house.

I need to step away from talking about the MBTA because it upsets me. If gasoline goes down anymore a car is beginning to appear on my horizon. Speaking of a car...my license is up for renewal in September and it's a mystery where I can get it renewed. They've begun closing RMV offices. What else is new?

Today

There is still no word from the guys who did my basement stairs about the attic. I told P to call them. I want this job done soon. It's probably a one day job. They need to get me an estimate and a timeframe otherwise I'll look for someone else. There are plenty of contractors looking for work. I'm sorry to be difficult but I'm not being got back to and it is annoying. I want to get a lot of stuff done to my house but I need to do it one room at a time. I decided to start at the top and work my way down.


Vacation is coming.....but for now....drudge.

Friday

It was a productive day. This is a plus given that almost everyone on my team...actually in the company is extremely nervous and getting ready for our little class in learning how to transition. The only thing I fear from being unemployed...initially anyway...if it happens...is having to write my resume'. If I had a nice clear cut job life would be easy. I could just list what I do. But nooo!!!, I have a crazy ass job where I'm being lent out to every department. This does have some pluses. The biggest plus is that I have gained a scary amount of experience in everything. My resume' is already two pages long without listing this job and that is after some extreme trimming.

Saturday

I went to my WW meeting. I gained but it was a modest, I can live with it gain. The rest of the day was spent doing errands. I had to get to my bank to give them my CD book so it could be rolled over to my checking account. That little book nearly caused my hair to turn white trying to look for it. Thus my next errand. Getting my hair done. BTW, if you're looking at this icon and thinking it is anywhere near the hair color or style...WRONG! The style is a form of the icon but the hair is a dark brown for the moment. Give it a couple of weeks and it will be in line with the icon.

Television

Harper's Island...I called it. Last week MG asked me if I watch the show. I told her yes. Then she gave her my theory of who did it. Mind you I was not caught up on the show so my thoughts were a first impression, a gut response. She picked someone else and she nearly spoiled me on the episodes I had missed. This initially made me rethink my first guess. I stuck to my guns because though I think that US television is not above showing being massacred I don't think it would stomach the implications of her choice.

Today, I am going to revel in the glow of , "I told you so." Btw, I usually don't like mysteries because I tend to guess who the killer is off the bat. I remember reading an Agatha Christie book years ago and after page three I picked who I thought it was. I read on and started to second guess myself until I convinced myself it was someone else. It was my original guess. I think that I changed my mind because I thought the guess was too easy and that couldn't have been right. Now I go with my first impression.

Torchwood...I have not watched it yet. I know what happens and though I'm upset I'm not going to go crazy about it. As long as there is fan fiction I will survive. I've survived season Two. Heck, I survived the season long massacre that went on with Forever Knight. Of course there were tears and a lot of WTF's!! but I moved on. LaCroix survived so I was happy. Granted I liked Nicholas but LaCroix had all the great lines and attitude.

What the heck is going to be left on BBC America? Dr Who is in transition. Torchwood is pretty much gone. Primeval is just stupid beyond all belief at this point. I watched that on Sunday and was praying that the creatures would weed out more of the cast. The characters are getting annoyingly stupid. In one scene, two para-military guards are playing cards while guarding the rift. They hear a noise and go to investigate without their guns. Yes, creature fodder and well deserved for being ridiculously stupid. Soon they're going to have a new series "Being Human" or something like that...we'll see how that one pans out.

Sunday

I went out because it was gorgeous out. Later, I watched some of the programs previously discussed.

Today

1. Twitchy is back
2. My audit sample is starting to suck
3. I have a mammogram...Oh, the girls are very unhappy about that. The girls will also be very vocal if they make me have two mammograms like last year. There was the regular one and the one for the new type of mammogram. The bottom-line....they both hurt...ick.


Work anon....

It was sunny yesterday....beams....

As you can probably surmise this week as been odd. Most weeks are odd but this was just weird. Well, yesterday there was sun and slightly warmer weather. I had coffee and I was geared up for work. My plans for the day were work...home...brief nap....installing a new router and re-establishing my home network and then fire works. I mentioned the nap...right? P got the new router and he left it unopened in the box. He said, "I'll wait until you get home because I am clueless with computers." Okay, I was ready for a little aggravation around 6:30pm.

The day was quiet and I actually was able to get a lot of work done. Twitchy is still on vacation. This means my vacation is over on Monday when he comes back. He is a great waster of everyone's time as he expounds on how great he is and how everyone else sucks. I don't like to burn bridges so I act civil to all and have the ability to hang with people. All I can say was there was a decided feeling of accomplishment this week. I was averaging 125 reviews per day. When Twitchy is bothering me it's closer to 30.

I hurried home after work because I need to have my nap before the night's festivities. I quickly downed a little salad, talked to P for a minute and fooled with my Tivo. I noticed that a request for a program I had sent from my Blackberry had been scheduled. This could only mean that my Tivo was able to update...there was an internet connection at some point of the day. WTF. I was able to reconnect to Tivo. I was also able to get into all the internet based applications on it...Netflix, YouTube, Radio, Podcasts, Amazon, Music Choice. There was a free download of Warehouse 13 which I had ordered on Tuesday before the crash. I had a CNet download. WTF? I went up to my computer and I was still not online. The connection between the router and the internet was still not in the green. I began to play with my connections. All I can say is that I AM MAGIC. I have an actual internet connection where I can read my e-mail online and visit sites and stuff. The new router is still in the box and will probably go back to Best Buy. That is still up in the air because I want to make sure the connection is stable.

I went to take my nap and P went to catch up on days without access to his accounts. An hour later I woke up. P told me that he had no problem getting into most of his websites except one called Digibits. He was getting a lot of odd issues. He went downstairs to the living room to watch the news. I started to fiddle with the computer I disable one thing and enabled another. All of a sudden I was trolling though the Digibits website with no problem...why? I AM MAGIC. I missed my calling. I have a degree in Counseling Psychology and I do Quality Assurance at an insurance company. I should have been an IT professional or MacGyver.

A little time later was off to the fireworks. OMG!!! There were sooo many people. P said to me at one point. 'You know you would think with all these people we'd see someone we know." We really didn't. One comment: If you are gathering to watch fireworks...watch the frelling fireworks. Don't roam around in packs...texting and talking on you're cell phone. Getting in people's way. Btw, the fireworks were awesome.

Work calls....

This could have been a magical post 4th of July week. There were indications it could be awesome. I had a day off last week. Twitchy is on vacation. I have almost no extraneous junk to do at work...I'm productive. What's wrong...awww, tell Momma.

Monday: No Coffee...rain...
Tuesday: Overslept...lots of coffee....no internet...rain
Wednesday: Coffee. still no internet...wrecking crew in my cellar...new staircase...aggravating e-mails from some guy in Germany complaining about my family tree...questionable course I had to sign up for...cold...rain.

All I have to say is thank God for my Blackberry otherwise I would go insane.

Let's expound on Wednesday:

The day was actually not too bad...kinda...sorta. I started the day aggravated by not being able to get on the internet at home. I didn't understand what the big fuss was. P had told me that he basically had to repair the network connection every morning before I got on the computer. He left that bit of info out for weeks. We did everything we could to fix the thing. I told him to call Comcast. As I mentioned yesterday I thought it might be the modem because we burned one out last year. I went to work.

They have been laying people off at my work. Welcome to life during the recession. Anyway, we got this e-mail discussing this course which people could take. Basically it's called Tools for Transition. Doesn't that sound ominous? I asked my manager if I should sign up for it. He said I should because it's being rolled out to the whole company. I'm worried about my job...yes. The only thing I have going for me is...I have a lot of seniority at the company....Everyone comes to me to fix things, to answer questions and be involved in projects. I am a resource. I have the course next week just before I go on vacation.

I called P around 8:30am to see how things were going. No answer on his cell or land line. I got kind of nervous. I eventually got through to him. He was on the phone with Comcast and right in the middle of that the contractor showed up to do the stairs. He was kind of busy. He said that Comcast said there was nothing wrong with the modem. They suggested we may need a new router. I concur. The last couple of dozen times I've tried to reset the router it takes forever. You're supposed to press this yellow lighted button until it turns white and flashes. It was taking a long time to get it to do that. The router is also working kind of crazy in the house. I can see all the things in my home network...i.e. my Tivo’s and at one point the Tivo updated. It just will not connect from the router to the internet. P was not able to get to Best Buy to get another router. He'll do that today.

I rushed home after work because I was hoping the contractor was still there. I wanted to find out about getting the attic room done. He told P that his brother was handling that and was working up an estimate. P told him I really wanted the job done soon. In my opinion if he takes too long I'm going to have to go with someone else. When I got to the house the stairs were finished and the contractor was gone. The stairs by the way are extremely solid. I no longer fear walking down my cellar stairs. YAY!!!!

The rain....I think that I'm going to have to come to terms with the fact that there may never be a warm, sunny day this summer. My seasonal affective disorder is flourishing. If you think that people from Massachusetts are cold and somewhat unfriendly talk to them now after months of crappy weather. We are a joy to behold...yeah, right. Today it's not supposed to rain and it's supposed to be almost 70. Tonight is the fireworks that were canceled because of rain last week...this is the Thursday ending with a big bang. Something to look forward to tonight.

Mercury must be retrograde or something because this week is too screwed up for words. Monday I was a tired, coffee-less mess. Ahhh, Tuesday...what happened?

Tuesday

The day started off just wrong. I was extremely tired when I got up. I felt like I got zip in the sleep department. I went around my house getting ready like every other week day. I usually leave my house ten minutes before the hour. I finished getting ready and decided to sit on my couch...it was a little after half past the hour. The next thing I know I hear a buzzing sound...my Blackberry. I have the thing on vibrate so the thing buzzes all day whether it's e-mail or a call. Anyway...it woke me up at five minutes of. Shit..crap...I'm going to be late was my scream as I looked for my shoes and grabbed my bag. I was fast enough getting to my bus stop that I got my bus. I was working on pure adrenalin. I know it's only five minutes or so off from my regular time but it means I don't get my coffee and my blood pressure is sky-rocketing.

I got to work and was not able to rant on my journal. Why? I ended up talking to a co-worker and it ate up time especially when I was talking to her about Matisyahu and showed her a video on YouTube. Yes, I love Hasidic Reggae. lol

I had PT. I told my physical therapist that I'm feeling very tight in all my muscles. I'm also very fatigued. She discussed the unthinkable. She said that I looked like I had put on a noticeable amount of weight in the past few weeks. She wants me to talked to my doctor because of my fatigue and also the little being fuzzy and falling down the stairs thing. We did some exercises and she sent me on my way. DEPRESSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was raining on the way home. Do you realize that it is almost the middle of July and I'm still wearing heavy clothes? I crave the sun. I don't think I'm going to see much of it this summer.

I watched a little television and did my Leslie Sansone 1 mile walking DVD. Later, there was an issue with my internet connection. I noticed it because I was trying to transfer a program from one Tivo to another. I tried updating the Tivo by connecting to the Tivo service and also later by resetting up my network connections. Nothing. First I was getting an error that a cable was unplugged. Then it said the network was not found. Finally, it said unrecoverable error. Call me Job.

Wednesday

We had internet service for about a minute and a half this morning. Personally, I think that my modem burned out. It happened before and Comcast had to give me a new one. All the other equipment seems fine. You know what is crazy...I can still watch Netflix programming on my Tivo. WTF!! How is it connected? The network is not showing up anywhere. I told P to call Comcast today.

I will probably have a rant later about the whole adoration of Michael Jackson and the Mystery of the Gold Coffin. I'll put it behind an lj cut because it's my opinion and may offend seemingly the Earth which has forgotten the last fifteen years. just saying.

I'm having a screwy morning. I'm running behind on things. Oh, I succumbed to the Coffee fairy. There will be an update at some point...I hope.

Yesterday

I was actually able to listen to three whole songs on my iPod at work. Every time I turned a song on I was interrupted. At one point I was listening to "Return to Innocence" by Enigma and I was interrupted right in the middle of the song. AQ needed my help on her documentation. I said to her..."Do you know your interrupting. "Return to Innocence"?" Her response was, "Madeline, you'll never return to innocence." lol

I was actually able to meet some form of production quota for the day. Yippee! A first in many months. It was also a day not mired down in meetings. Actually, the one meeting I had was supposed to be at 3pm with my manager. This was canceled because I had an appointment with my surgeon.

When I left work there were torrential rains. I expected Richard Burton and Lana Turner to float by...(ha, ha...Rains of Ranchipur). Of course I left my umbrella at home because I was sick of carrying it. My appointment was scheduled for 4:10pm. I got to the hospital, relaxed a minute and went to the doctor's office. First, can I ask why no one can screw up the taking of my copay? I have to check my flexible spending account to make sure they didn't take two or three copays while trying to print me a receipt. Then, why did I arrive in a timely manner because they did not call me into see the doctor until 4:45pm and they left me in the treatment room for a bit at that. My physical therapist was there too.

The result of the meeting....I have to have more physical therapy. The previous therapy was to build core muscles(hasn't happened) and do a lot of range of motion exercises(check). The bicep which was cut is now for the most part healed. The next round of exercises is to build up strength in my arm. I told everybody about the pain in the shoulder and arm. I also said I think it's related to the weather. I'm fine when it's warm and dry...even humid. I am not fine with the constant rain and cold weather. At one point I felt like starting a conversation with, "Call me Ishmael" because it looks like what a , "rainy November in my soul. " would look like. I hate the weather!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ICK!!!!!!!!

Today

My morning....wee hours here...started with thunder, lightening and torrential rain. By the time I left the house it had stopped briefly. The forecast is more of the same the rest of the day. It's July 2nd and I have a long sleeve shirt with a oversized graphic Tee over that...followed by a velour zippered jacket and a denim jacket. I'm still cold. They made today casual day at work....

I don't know if they're still having the fireworks today. The city better make a decision and let everyone know.....whatever.

Work calls........

I've actually changed my routine slightly in the past few days and I'm noticing that I feel kind of disconnected. I usually get my coffee near my work but I've been getting it near my home. I also have a new bus driver who is just making it to the station so I can run down the stairs to the platform. What has this caused? I am out of touch with the world. Why? I'm not picking up the Metro which is a free newspaper to read on the train. I am also not watching the news while waiting in line for my coffee.

This blackout period is followed by about eight hours of "Work World" where the outside world does not exist. I have the Blackberry but it is filled with news feeds about Genealogy and the like. I think I deleted all the newspaper feeds. I go home and I try to watch the news but it has become TMZ...even the national news. I'm pretty sure we're still at war and most of the world is still screwed up. The economy is tanking but I haven't seen what the market has been doing in a couple of days. If this goes on much longer I'm going to feel like a Stranger in a Strange Land.

I can't count on this holiday weekend to get me back in touch but there is hope....a little over two weeks until my vacation.

Now a mini rant ....

I really am living in Taxachussetts. There were a couple of years when the government wringing all my money out of me had subsided. The Governor has just signed legislation to raise the state tax to 6.25%. They're going to raise the rates on public transportation...I'm totally not down with that. If the service merited the increase I would be happy to pay. It doesn't. It's pretty much a miracle if you can get to your destination on time. Btw, the MBTA keeps saying that they're on time. On time means they are no more than fifteen minutes late. The gas tax will likely go up. The sin taxes are going up. Btw, soda and a few other hazy products have been added to the "sin" collection.

How do you avoid becoming destitute in Massachusetts? Stop smoking, drinking, gambling, eating out, using public transportation, driving, learn to walk or bike places. I'd love to buy a newspaper...to actually have printed material in my hands but a dollar just totally turned me off. The paper lacks the meat it had a year ago. Forget about heating your home because home heating oil is still akin to gold. Do you want to stay in a hotel in Boston during that vacation? Be prepared for a surcharge.

Why is this happening?. greed and mismanagement. When I was still a teenager they began this Big Dig project. It's not really finished. Things that were done are falling apart or still in the works. If the MBTA could ever take Nike's ad to heart and "Just Do It" I could wake up at a normal hour, walk out of my house and be at work in fifteen minutes. I have been waiting for the Greenline extension forever. I live less than two minutes from one of the potential new stations...if they ever build it. Instead, I have to take a bus, to a train and waste forty-five minutes every morning. Sometimes it would be easier to walk home from work. I just checked it on Google Maps...it's an hour and a half walk. I've had instances where it took over two hours to get home by public transportation. By car it's only fifteen minutes.

A car is looking better and better every day even with the gas prices and the potential increase in the gas tax. I have unlimited parking at my building for a certain fee. I am minutes from home. I can take back my life and not be chained to the inadequacies and inflated fees of the MBTA. Of course there is one problem that I need to quell before I get behind the wheel....My uncontrollable ROAD RAGE over the stupidity on the road. Most people have no clue what is going on beyond the confines of their car. I've seen people reading the Sunday newspaper while driving on I-93. The paper is draped over their steering wheel while they look up occasionally at the road ahead. Sometimes they're on their cell phone or really getting into that first cup of coffee of the day.

Rant over...

I went to the BPL and was not able to find out when my great grandfather died. I checked three years of obits in the Cambridge Chronicle. The thing is he was not an old man when his wife died. He was only 58 so I can't assume he died around the same time. There is also the possibility that he may have gone to live with one of his children. I also may have him in a hospital in the 1920 Census but he is nowhere to be found in the 1930 Census. This could be all cleared up when I visit my great grandmother's grave in a little over two weeks. Hopefully they are buried together.

Monday in brief did not totally suck. See...I can be positive ;)

I actually got to work on some reviews. Of course they were still ancient reviews. I was finished with the old stuff and was all set to start something new when my manager ran a report and found eighty outstanding items. They were split between Twitchy and me. At one point Twitchy was working on a specific type of review and he needed clarification from me on what I look for. I had to sit there while he formatted his fricking spreadsheet and futzed with his computer. The man likes to use keyboard shortcuts. What I have found is that keyboard shortcuts add more time to everything. I don't use them much. I like the get to the point advantage of pointing and clicking.

Anyhow, I told him what I look for and referred him to the job aid. He wanted to know what short cuts there were in the job aid...He even handed me a highlighter to point them out. I told him those are the steps and there are no short cuts. That is what I look at. I worked for that team for six weeks and I have the job aid ingrained in my memory. Twitchy was extremely disappointed. Whatever.

There was a meeting at 1pm which I have again today. Twitchy was in that meeting. Afterwards he talked to me about something. We are involved in upgrading a particular reference tool used by a lot of different departments. He started to get all technical on me but not in a clear fashion. I'm still trying to think about what he's talking about.

My manager sent out an e-mail because the entire team was not clicking the correct box in our application. We've had this application for years and the default on the thing is "complete". The default should be "No". He just explained this button a month ago and people are still having problems because it's automatic to click save and finalize it as complete. Not as "No" as in no further action is required. It dawned on me half way though the day what he was talking about. I had to explain it to Twitchy and others on the team. Whatever.

I went home...Thank God!!!

The first thing I did when I walked into the house was go up to my attic. I gathered up all the stray clothes to bring downstairs. They need to be sorted(keep, throw away, give away) and washed. I also cleared out another shelf of DVD's. Tonight, I'll do another shelf and move things further into my back room. I need to make room for 5 storage bins, a small shelf and a recliner during the weekend. (Then I'll take copious amounts of drugs and unhook my sound system).

My physical therapist is sick. The office called to cancel my appointment today. Tomorrow is the surgeon...Oh, the joy!!

Work...work...work............................yeah, and more work.

Let's recap for posterity sake....

Friday

The day was a continuation of the stupid that was going on all week. By the end of the day I think something was accomplished. I hope....

Just an aside: Have you ever discussed something and thought everyone was on the same page with the issue but...every time the issue was brought up so was a new interpretation, take, understanding, layer on the onion. I've just had one of those issues and I think it's okay but who knows??????????????????

Saturday

I went to WW and lost almost a pound. This improved my day immensely.

After the meeting I popped into Boston for the Health Expo. It was not as scary as last year but it was still a bit disorganized. What was disorganized? You didn't know if you were standing in line for a vendor/exhibit because there was kind of a line and kind of people trying to get around and at some point the two merged into some mass of humanity.

They were giving out bags...reuse shopping bags. I had this huge white bag from Mass General Hospital. Everywhere I stopped to catch a breath people stopped me to find out where I got the bag. At one point I was trying to find P who had showed up at the event. While I was standing there talking to him on my Blackberry someone grabbed my arm(the one with the phone) and asked about the bags. I felt like I needed a sign saying "Back off...does not play well with people" or "I am not the official guide to this event". I only stayed at the event for an hour or so. I got my goodies and went home.

Sunday

Manicure at the crack of dawn.

I was watching television at some point of the day. P had the Tivo controls and I was watching and not watching. I was more interested in my Crackberry. It was then that I updated my Viigo application and noticed there was an obit on my Variety rss feed. I looked and my first reaction was...WTF??? Billy Mays. I just saw him on Conan last week. It's a major bummer. I never actually watched Pitchmen but I did see at least one of his commercials for every soap I taped.

I'm almost giving up on the news because it has become the Michael Jackson tribute program. Seriously, I understand his cultural import but not an entire national newscast every night. Remember...Iran protests...war in Iraq and Afghanistan...people being killed in Pakistan. How about the scandalous mess that has become the Republican party? I personally stopped listening to Michael Jackson in the early 90's. I was more interested in alternative music. I do not own any Michael Jackson albums. I don't have any Elvis ones either....That was P and my sisters era not mine. I do have the Beatles but I was an impressionable toddler when they were big.

Odds and ends....

I think my basement stairs are being done around July 6th. They may even touch my attic at that time. I need to get on the ball and finish emptying out the room. I started last night by moving some of my DVD collection. Tonight I may move the rest of it and begin dismantling my sound system. The biggest and scariest thing to move in that room is the entertainment center.

I have appointments this week: PT on Tuesday and the surgeon on Wednesday. I will mention in both instances that pain is a thing. I have the range of motion but they need to hook me up with something to cut down on the main. It's making Maddie kind of cranky.

Thank God I am an exempt employee because the new time monitoring system looks like it's going to be hellacious. I only have to approve my time sheet once a week...Yay!!!!!!!!!! Almost everyone on my team has to keep clocking in and out for everything online. I can see the crazy going on this week around this.

I have no clue if the fireworks are going to happen on Thursday at Trum Field or not. There looks like there is going to be rain all week. There even looks like there's going to be rain for the 4th. I'm interested in how Boston is going to handle that. Are people going to wait in the rain for nine or ten hours for fireworks? They may postpone them...who knows. This has been an odd spring/beginning of summer. I still haven't broken out my summer clothes yet. Crazy!!!

Work calls.........

Thursday

The day did not suck...for the most part in my world. I can't say the same about things outside my limited sphere.

1. I had no testing but I did have a meeting.

2. Twitchy took half of my remaining audits...THANK YOU!! I have 15 more to do before I move onto a new month...which btw is almost over.

3. My manager sent out a slew of invites for a mini "retreat". Basically, Twitchy, AQ, my manager and me sit in a conference room with lunch and hash out plans. It's set for July 17th. The day is going to be totally weird. I have an all staff meeting at the Hynes Convention Center from 9am to 10:30am followed by an hour and a half of some work followed by this mini "retreat from 12 to 3:30pm. Yeah, nothing is going to get done that day. Do I care? No. Why? I'll be on vacation from the minute I leave until the minute I come back at 7am July 27th. Lets have a resounding cheer!!!

Other things

I think my next door neighbor is trying to kill me. I was talking to P last night when I smelled something burning. It was only on one side of the house. My neighbor was having a barbecue. The smell was heavy and terrible. I'm likening it to a burned out building. Let me add that it was kind of odd weather-wise. The day turned out warm and muggy after weeks of cold and raw weather. When the air is that thick with moisture you do not want to be smoking or having a barbecue because the smell lingers in the air. Get some kind of electric grill or something. Stop pouring lighter fluid on the charcoal. The food probably tasted horrible.

RIP...Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson

Okay, I realize that given her prognosis Farrah Fawcett didn't have much time left so her death was not a shock. Michael Jackson's was a total shock. I was never a big fan...actually I never understood the hype but it's sad that he's dead because he was not an old man.

I'm going to try and make it to the Health Expo at the Hynes tomorrow. Oh, what the hell...I'm going but I'm not going to stay long. It was very crazy and disorganized last year. I think if they laid out the exhibit tables in an orderly fashion and told the local reporters to cool it with hogging all the available space it would not give anyone a panic attack.

This is the third year I'm going. The first year was manageable but it sent a cloud over my financial future because I got involved in financial planning as a result. I'm still trying to recover from that. The second year was chaos but with some humor. P went last year. To restate the events...I called him while I was on the way there. He told me that he was at the Expo and to watch out because there was a group in front of the convention center protesting. He said it looked like a union protest. When I got there, there was a union protest...P's union. I told him when I got into the convention center that he crossed the picket line of his own union. His response..."Oh well, I'm retired." lol

There are fireworks at Trum Field next Thursday. This is going to be interesting on a lot of different levels. First, the weather has been super screwed up. It may rain on the 2nd. Secondly, if they close down Broadway while their having all the construction on the street that feeds into the festivities...where is all the traffic going to go? I may just go to the fireworks portion of the event. I can't stand in a crowd of hundreds milling about for a couple of hours. Last year I heard someone got stabbed not far from where I was first sitting. We'll see........

No word from the contractor when they plan to do this job or an estimate of the attic. Both jobs should not last more than a day or so.


Work..................

Wednesday

My 8:30 to 9am meeting became an 8:30am to 12:30pm meeting followed by lunch...followed by quick update meeting with team...followed by more of the earlier meeting from 2pm to 3:45pm. Am I happy....NO. The meeting was unnecessarily long because the three other testers first couldn't get their shit together and then their shit had to be fixed. Later, they began discussing my issues and I had to fight to get people to get on the same page with me. Everyone is from different departments with a different understanding of what things are and how they work. I finally got through. Some of the things I found in testing are actually bigger issues which need to be researched and tested. They are not going to be ready by tonight. They will be for the next testing period.

The contractor got back to us on half of the job. It's going to cost $950 to totally replace my cellar stairs. I'm okay with that. I was thinking it was going to be thousands. Today they're going to get back to me on the other project which could well be in the same range. This will give me plenty of money left from the CD I put away 8 months ago to get carpeting and think of another project or save.

Today

Testing...No...it isn't finished.....

I'm also sneezing up a storm and my stomach is kind of screwed up...ick.


Work.....

Tuesday...

1. I tested all day....all day!!! What have I learned from this testing? I have learned that I have a psycho attention to detail and everyone comes to me with questions. The people who are supposed to be full time testers are coming to me. On some level I'm really frightened by that. This means that they have Swiss Cheese-like holes in their knowledge. They should fear the next round of testing...Twitchy is their guide.

2. I walked out of work nearly blind by the testing. I had to quality check hundreds of codes. BLIND!!!

3. My manager was out of the office yesterday. He left Twitchy and me as go to people. I laughingly told people to go to Twitchy because I'm in testing.

4. The weather ...it sucketh. I need a warm day. I don't care if it's humid. My arm hurts and there are no good, effective pain-killers to relieve the pain. I have reactions to everything. I also feel like a creaky old woman.

5. The contractor still has not left his estimate. P called him yesterday. I understand the job is small but if they do a good job there may be future jobs as my savings build up. I'll give it a couple of day before I find another contractor. There are a million of them out there looking for work.

Today

All the testing needs to be finished by noon because everything goes into production tomorrow night. Yay!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm a member of NEHGS(New England Historic Genealogical Society) and I need some time to stroll through their archives. I've been doing most of my strolling online. It's not enough. I need to plan to go to one of their New Member orientations. I'm going to have to plan for it September 2nd. July and August are screwed up with appointments, They only do the orientation once a month and it's usually on a weekday. As part of the orientation you get to talk with an expert on directions in your research. I need guidance that is not going to cost me fifty dollars per half hour. I should have done this months ago...the building is a couple of blocks from my work. I've only been in their three times...a lecture on Nova Scotia Genealogy(extremely important for one part of my family), reviewing a book on M's family with her parents in it(extremely helpful...like waaay helpful!!!) and for the purchase of a couple of books(A guide to the Society's holdings and a guide to New England Cemeteries).

Work is calling...sort of.

In brief....

Monday was stupid. I'm testing. I have huge issues with my items...I was blown off in the testing meeting...I have a shit load to test today...everyone who could help me is in daily four hour meetings to get ready for the next round of testing(I don't think I'm involved in that...I gave up coffee for a day...


My new focus is decorating my attic sitting room. The guy has not given us an estimate of the two projects. If he doesn't get back to us today P will call. The worst that could happen is we have to call another contractor.

I'm trying to pick colors....

I'm noted for my wearing of the black and other somber colors but....I pick odd colors when I decorate. My computer room is Tibetan Blue. My upstairs bathroom is Tarragon and my downstairs bathroom is Lavender Meadow. I want something blue...I'm thinking Cornflower Blue. I'd upload a sample but you can't save the samples from the Behr.com website. I'm also liking the colors...Enchanting, Ocean Tropic and Warm Springs. All these colors go great with a trim of Frosted Juniper. I need to get to Home Depot and get some sample cards.

Then I need to choose carpeting. I have lived with years of area rugs in the attic. I want wall to wall.

Lastly, I need to get a light. I have a god awful looking thing up in the room now. The only thing I have to be careful of is how low it hangs. I can reach up and touch the ceiling(I'm tall and have unusually long arms).

Once I get this room finished....I have eight more. ;)

I'm looking out the window and wondering when Boston became Seattle???????????

Friday

I tested...I found gaping holes in what is being updated. Other things just didn't quite work the way they should. Hopefully, there is an 8:30am meeting because this needs to be fixed.

P's procedure is scheduled for August 3rd and I have the day off.

I was high as a kite on caffeine on Friday. I have to work with this woman during the testing. She has candy everywhere on her desk. I'm not talking mints. I'm talking assorted unbars. I was having an odd day and ate a lot of chocolate. By the end of the day every time I went near her desk I was humming the "Candy Man" song. Sometimes I was breaking into song and switching the word, "Man" for "Woman". That will not happen again.

Just before I was about to leave Twitchy came to me to show me something he found in his audits. My response..."Oh, I already knew about that. The team has been writing those up for weeks. It's listed in the configuration update notes as a problem that was fixed." I think he was running around letting everyone know before he talked to me. He was telling people who brought it to my attention. He's a little late on some things. If he would read the updates he wouldn't be...just saying.

I went home and crammed all the crap from my attic sitting room into the attic bedroom. There was a guy who was going to give me estimates on my cellar stairs and work on the sitting room.

Saturday

WW was not a good experience. I had a bad result at the scale. I'm in this downward spiral which I can't seem to get a grip on. MK told me to relax because I've had a lot going on and it's screwed up my focus. I need to get back on the right track. First, I cannot deal with the new Momentum program because I already know the stuff. I just need to do the program and not micro manage my hunger and my feeling. I do on some level but that does not always work for me. I know my food issues and life stressors. I just need to get into the mechanics of doing the Plan.

The guy came to look at the potential job...He's going to leave an estimate on Monday.

Sunday

Nothing major...I went out early...before the rain. I did zip the rest of the day.


I'm sick of rain...this weather is making my bones not just ache but hurt. This had better not be a glimpse at the rest of the summer. I'm wearing a turtleneck shirt today. It's cold and raw out.

I did not get coffee this morning...Day 1 without caffeine...let's see how many people I harm ;)


Work....