The End Of A Rope - Update

(Reference Here)

There has been an amazing turn of events for my friend at work who's wife has been very sick for the last year. She has started to recover! She is learning to walk with a walker, so she is regaining movement and feeling in the side of her body that wasn't working. She is also getting her memory back. They found a dead spot in her brain that might have been the cause of everything, but the brain is an amazing organ and is apparently working around the dead tissue and "re-wiring" itself. She still has a way to go before things are great but she is now at home with I believe minimal supervision during the day and over all things are looking up. Chris was able to go ahead and sell the house with just enough to pay of the mortgage and Realtor, but at least it didn't destroy his credit.

IM Gaffe

Jenny said I had to post this within two days or she was going to. (Are there any other couples out there that argue over who is going to get to post something on their blog?)

So my co-worker/cubicle neighbor/friend at work told me this morning that someone had offered him a job interview down in Houston. He loves his job but kind of feels like he needs to get out of this town. So, later that morning, I heard him talking on the phone and actually setting up the hotel and car rental for this job interview - yes, while at his current job. I teased him over IM (Instant Messenger for the less computer savvy) about how tacky and inappropriate it was. That afternoon, he came over to my cubicle with his eyes wide open whispering about how he was trying to ask me over IM if he should tell our boss, or if I thought she would just fire him... I think you see where this story is going now... Haha. Of course he had accidentally typed it into her IM window!! Now he didn't know what to do. Quickly, we figured out that he should say, like he was finishing the sentence, "...about how I bawled out a customer and about that big wart on her face." Thus making it look like it was a joke done on purpose. Unfortunately, it took too long for him to come over and talk to me, so in the meantime she said, "I am assuming that wasn't meant for me." Oh man, even now that makes me laugh. I think he did what he could to cover it up, but I am pretty sure she saw right through it.

Another quick story about this same character. In a noble effort to save money on eating out, he decided to turn his cubicle into a kitchen. He now has a fairly large-sized mini-fridge in his cube, along with a toaster with one of those little egg cookers on it, some kind of newfangled meat pocket toasting device that looks like a cross between a toaster and a crock-pot, an actual crock-pot and some kind of thing that looks like an oven-toaster but is actually a microwave I guess. Today for lunch, he had Hamburger Helper cooked in his crock-pot. And yes, each of these devices is against company policy.

Help Wanted!

Do you need a job? Considering a career in computer technology? Then do I have the job for you!

Systems Analyst (aka Web Designer)

Plus you get to work with me! What more could you ask for.

Seriously though if you know webpage design then this is a great job. It is with a good solid company with great benefits. What you really need to know is Dreamweaver and html. Knowledge of ASP and javascript are important and experience with Photoshop, Illustrator, and Flash would be a good plus.

I saw the sun set over the ocean last night.

Last night I saw the sun set over the ocean from about 20,000 ft.  I was unexpectedly on my way to Torrance CA (LA area).  It all started... (begin blurry picture taking you into a flash back sequence).  Friday morning my manager asked to meet me in one of the conference rooms.  I knew something was up because normally we schedule meetings in advance and they usually involve our whole team or at least more than just me.  As I walked to the conference room I had to remind myself that there wasn't any reason to fire me I am just being paranoid.

 

In the meeting I was informed that a gentleman in Torrance had just handed in his resignation with one weeks notice.  He was in charge of a certain portion of our company website and they wanted me to take on his job.  I guess they were planning on moving this position to our department sometime down the road, but his quiting had forced their hand.  They were going to try to fly him out to train me but by lunch I was told that more people than just the guy I was replacing were needed in that task.  So the rest of the afternoon was spent negotiating how long I needed to be here for.  The "higher-ups" wanted me to come on Sunday and stay through Thursday, but in the end we compromised with me coming home Wednesday afternoon (by compromise I mean my manager and I decided to just buy a ticket for Wednesday afternoon and they would just have to deal with it).

 

The website I will be handling is here: http://prosystemfxsupport.tax.cchgroup.com/ It is the support section for all of our software and includes over 13,000 pages.  It is a great opportunity because every department in the company will send me the updates they need for their portion of the site, so it will get my name out there more.  It is also a great opportunity for elevating the stature of my department...

 

So I just found out that the meeting I was waiting around for got canceled.  Time to get something to eat.  With the time change being this last weekend on top of the 2 hour time difference I feel like everything is 3 hours behind.  So right now it is 5:35 but my stomach is telling me it is 8:35 and I should have eaten hours ago.

Viruses

This stinking little "spybot" worm put me out of commission at work for almost 3 days this week.  Ironically at the same time my computer was sick I also came down with a nasty cold.  I am beginning to wonder if maybe I caught the virus from my computer...

Garde City Telegram: Computer virus disables city, county temporarily

Reasons I Hate My New Office Setup.

1. Very low cubicle walls, no privacy... makes me feel naked
2. It is stinking hot in here all of the time. we used a thermometer to check and it was 79 degrees at my desk... it is even hotter now. *(see below)
   
3. Hardly any view to the outside world... the stupid smokers courtyard doesn't count.
4. I am surrounded by a bunch of boring white people. Before I was surrounded by a rich diverse group of Indians, Asians, Latinos, Blacks and Whites.
5. I am crowded. I went from one desk in my cubicle to 3, which you would think would be nice but I can't move them and so I am stuck this way and my monitor is right in my face!
6. I took the stairs to the fourth floor as my only means of exercise so now I have none and I will probably get overweight and out of shape now and die young... all because of this move to the second floor.

I think that is it with the complaining for now.

Proof of the temperature:

Change is bad!!

Our department is growing and today we had to move from the 4th floor to the second.  I don't like it.  It probably doesn't help that I am sick and it is about 80 degrees in here. 

There is way less sunlight and it is much more closed in.  Plus the cubicles have this low wall thing going on and there is no privacy... I feel naked.

Another day at the office

"We have been notified and are fully aware of the skunk smell on the first floor.  Animal Control and the building manager have been notified."

- A memo from the front desk sent out to the 900 people in my office.  Makes me glad to be on the 4th floor  :-)