Stranger Things

I guess I'll have to pause work ranting for a while.

No, it's not because I'm no longer working at OBC, but they've surprised me quite a bit.

I've explained how, recently, they've been on my case about the time that I arrive despite the fact that the 50 miles I have to go leaves lots of room for things to go wrong. It had seemed for quite some time that, while I thought I had improved significantly, they were not taking that into account at all. It has been very frustrating, and would sure be a silly thing to be fired over. So, I did my best to improve my time. I had mentioned to Boss² that I was concerned and she said the two of us would get together and discuss it. Well, that never happened.

Yesterday, I was called to a meeting with Adolf and Boss² about this issue. I had been keeping a list of what time I arrived and why if I was late, and so brought that with me, fully prepared to shout the Q-word if they were being unreasonable. Lo and behold! They told me I had improved significantly since our last meeting nearly three months ago. They did say it could be better (I was still coming in during the 'grace period' most days) but it had improved. Well, sometimes people surprise you. I left that meeting feeling pretty good.

Later in the afternoon, one of my coworkers, who had just had a meeting with them, said they wanted to see me next. I was baffled, I saw them that morning, what could they possibly have to say now? I went, a little leery. Who wants to guess what they had to say? Don't worry, I'll tell you. They said I've been doing a great job, my work is stellar and DING! you are now level three!
Ok, that was an EverQuest reference. See, we have levels in my office to make it feel like you've been promoted. I've been level two for two years. At my last review in August, they told me I would not go any further in my current position. My attempts to change positions were thwarted by them (they weren't going to promote me until I corrected my tardiness, among other things), so I was certain I was stuck in level two until I could think of something. Level three means more work, yes, but more money too. I've been working pretty hard recently, and since I did improve my arrival time, and I guess they re-evaluated my performance, and here I am. Believe it or not, I'm feeling pretty good about work right now. 50 mile commute and all.

Stranger things have happened, I suppose, but this was pretty strange!

Powers of Persuasion

A couple weeks ago, I was having lunch with the regular crew whom I'm not supposed to have lunch with. The person who delivers our coffee supplies came in, and we started talking about the flavored creamer. We have two kinds, you see, French Vanilla and hazelnut. When we saw the delivery gent walk in, one of the girls said, "Oh good, now I can have vanilla instead of that awful hazelnut." For the most part, vanilla is the preferred flavor among most of my coworkers, and hazelnut gets used only when there is no vanilla. You can imagine that we run out of vanilla quickly, while the hazelnut lingers. Yes, there is a point here.

So, while we were talking about the lack of hazelnut-likers in the company, we started talking about the other flavors that we know are available. I mentioned that the box says Irish Cream is available, and that it would be nice if he could take the hazelnut away and give us that. Bear in mind, we are out having lunch, and the delivery person is not even in our sight, let alone earshot. When lunch was over, and we scrambled to the kitchen to have some yummy vanilla coffee, what did we find? Yep, all the unopened boxes of hazelnut were gone and in their place, pretty green Irish Cream boxes! I'm good!

That's not all. The Washington Nationals were playing in Texas last Monday. They had gone into extra innings and brought in a pinch hitter, Marlin Byrd. The announcers were talking about Byrd's record last year, how many hits/rbi's/homers/etc. They mentioned his home run record, and just as the pitcher was pitching, I cheerfully said, "He can do one of those right now if he wants to!" Lo and behold! It's going back and back and the center fielder is running for it, and it's gone! I gave them a home run!

So, I have persuasive power over coffee and baseball. Hmm... My office pool will have the winning numbers for tonight's $265 Million jackpot!

Did it work?

I Really Am Still Here!

Hello, faithful blog readers!

I'm sure you're all wondering where I've been! Well, no where special, actually. Everything is pretty much the same. I'm still getting nowhere at OBC (though I did tell them exactly what I thought of them in our anonymous employee survey). I'm still living with my parents (that's because I couldn't afford to live on my own, OBC doesn't pay enough for that).

I've been studying Reiki, and my attunement is next week. I'm very excited about this and have some pretty big ambitions about where it will take me. We'll see!

I've also done some serious inner studying. I've identified my true friends and have started working to remove the false ones who have a negative impact on me from my life. This is not an easy process, but it starts with me not lying to myself on their behalf.

The thing about friends that I've noticed, gentle readers, is that it is nearly impossible to have one 'best friend.' What puts a friend above all others? Is it their ability to keep in touch? Their willingness to listen to you, and be able to tell when help is what you want other than just a listener? Is it in their wish to keep you close by when their life takes them far away? Is it because their friends are your friends, or because it's ok if they're not? Are they best because the association is mutual, or is it ok for them to be your best friend even if you are not theirs? Because you tell them everything and they know everything about you?

Go ahead and try to answer those. There is not one person that I share everything with. Some people have strengths in one area that doesn't work for all things, you see. Perhaps that makes me a different person to each of my friends, and that's fine. There might have been one person who fit that bill, but we lost touch long ago. And even so, that was how I felt then, the years may have changed both of us to where that would not apply. That certainly has happened before.
I think the fact that my friends are generally not friends with each other is a good thing, otherwise where would you turn if there was a problem, or something you need to vent about? Just as one religion does not work for all people, one friend does not work for all things friends are needed for. Think about it. Who is your 'best friend?' Do they work for everything? Is there nothing you won't share with them? Truly? For those of you thinking, "yes, my wife/husband/fiance" remember that spouses are in a different class than average friends. (So says the one without one of those =)

Wow, I guess a lot can happen in a month! The annual National Cherry Blossom Festival was wonderful. We went on April 1st, the blooms were lovely as always, and I finally got to see the Ruby Slippers at the Smithsonian. A zoo trip occupied April 9th. Tai Shan is so terribly cute. Get ye to DC soon if you want to see him while he's still cubby. OH! And I saw the wolves finally! Yay!! Pictures will be coming to my website http://www.burninglakearts.com/ (come on, you should know that by now) soon™.

I'm going to try (again) to update this more often. It might be easier this time, though. Warmer weather gives way to the days of sail and 'yak, and will then lead us to Faire time!

Death of a Store

Ok, not exactly.

If you visit my webstore, http://www.cafepress.com/burninglakearts, you will notice some things have changed. It doesn't quite have the personal flair that was me, it's missing a few products while others have changed, and the layout is totally different. That really nifty shop you saw before had to be closed because it was costing me money. Quite a lot of money, actually, when you add it all up. After I hit the lottery, I might be able to go back to that cool format, but for now, you'll just have to deal with the free version. As always, you can still get in touch with me if there's a design on my website (www.burninglakearts.com) that you'd like to see in the store or are interested in discussing a commissioned piece, but the webstore provided by the wonderful cafepress.com will have to stay this way until it starts paying for itself. You will notice that the url for the store has not changed, I'm just good like that. (I slaved for near 3 hours making this change, go buy something and let me know it wasn't in vain!)

This is all I'm going to report today. Work has been taxing, I'm seeing great, and weekends will soon be filled with kayaking.

Every Little Bit Helps

At least, it better! My brother had surgery yesterday for a very bad shoulder injury (could be a long story, but we'll just say it was injured again and again). He's been in pain from it for a very long time. As far as we can tell, the surgery went well, so we hope and pray things continue to improve. Maybe he will even be able to come kayaking with us!

This is very exciting for me especially. If you know me, you know I have a lot of hobbies and there is always something going on. My brother used to be the most active person I knew. When he got injured, he kept up his schedule as best he could. Then it got worse, injured again, etc and everything just declined. I am so excited and hopeful that he will soon return to the always on the move guy I knew (as much as his wonderful wife will allow, that is! :-)

In totally unrealated news, if there's something you want from my shop, now's the time to get it. It will be closing soon™ since it is not making enough to support itself. Like everything, it's always fun while it lasts! ;-)

Cheers!

The Irony is Not Lost on Me

It was some time in high school. A friend turned to me at lunch and said, "What's wrong with your eye?" I whipped out my trusty mirror and found a broken capillary. This is no cause for concern, really, except I'd never had nor seen that happen to my eye before. Off to the office, a call to my mother, and before I knew it, I'm being examined by our family eye doctor. What amazed both she and my mother was that I could see at all. I left that day with a pair of brand new, headache inducing glasses.

Where is the aforementioned irony, you ask? Why, it's in the four (or more) broken capillaries in my eyes now, that mark the end of my glasses-wearing days (at least for a few years and excluding sunglasses). You see, I subjected myself to someone frying my eyes with a laser this past Monday, otherwise known as LASIK surgery.

Sickly blood-shot eyes aside (it's really not that bad, by the way) and a little more dryness than I'm used to, I feel great. In fact, Wednesday when I went back to work was horrible, because I could think of a thousand things I'd rather be looking at than my work on the computer screen (the snowflakes falling like a blizzard outside but that didn't accumulate on the roads, for one). My surgeon said I'm seeing pretty good now, and it's only going to improve as my eyes heal. I guess, so far, the best improvement is being able to recognize the person on the other end of the room waving frantically at me. It's nice to be able to see the different trees in my backyard instead of the wall of trees it once was, and to sit in front of the TV and not have to wonder about where my glasses are.

The surgery itself is... well... not for you if you're not a risk-taker. They didn't prepare me for when they put a cap over my eye and then I went blind. They didn't prepare me for the funky sounds the laser would make. And they didn't prepare me for the indescribable sensation of having the outermost part of your eye peeled back like skin of a banana (even with lots of numbing). But yeah, it wasn't so bad. And it's so nice to be able to look out over my computer screen and see the old oak that rules over our lot, not just a blur of brown.

Cheers!

Happy Martyred Christian Saint Day

To an un-coupled person like me, the holiday that is for couples is very annoying.

I suppose you might expect single people to loathe Valentine's Day, I think many of us do. This day is, after all, all about doing something romantic with your lover. Sure there are people who say the day of love applies to family and friends, but come on. That's not really what commercialism says it's about. It's about roses (which I love), chocolates (which I don't need), and corny sweet love wishes (bleh). Add a cynic like me and you get two words (if you can call them that):

BAH HUMBUG!

I hope everyone has a disgustingly pink Bah Humbug day. And for those who are coupled and love the sweetness of couple's day, good for you, please stay away from me.

¿Qué tal?

So, who wants to know what's been happening?

I know, I know, it's been quite a while! Anyone who knows me knows that I'm always doing something. And I've just been doing a lot of somethings!

The thing I wish most to tell you: Remember how on New Years Day, I saw several forest creatures along the road? Last Friday morning, 27 Jan, my father and I were driving to work down one of the regular little 2 lane unlit backroads that gets us to the Interstate. Just in the shoulder of the roadway (if you can call it a shoulder, more like a foot or so of extra pavement before the ditch) there was an owl. The squat, feathery, letter-carrying creature was standing on the road looking at us as we drove by. I've never seen an owl in the wild before, and the side of the road (maybe eating something) was the last place I would have expected to see one! However, it was dark, so I'm not sure what kind of owl it was. But it was there, sitting on the road, an owl. I've been noticing lots of owl-ish things lately, come to think of it. I wonder if they have a message for me....

Adolf has been off all week, and will continue to be off until 7 Feb. Can we say WooHOO! On the office front, however, it has been made clear to me that the department managers will say something to the group (like policy or something) but it does not apply to me. For example, they will say what kind of job performance criteria merits a promotion. Other tasks outside of regular stuff will be factored in. Guess what? I rarely do 'regular stuff' at all! The guidelines and quota numbers don't apply to me, because I don't do that work unless there are special circumstances.

They recently got on my case about coming in on time. If I time in at 0703 instead of 0700, I'm late (technically, I can't argue there). However, they told the group that they do take into account traffic and weather that may slow our path to work. However, once again, that doesn't apply to me, who lives 50 miles from the office. I wrote down the days I arrived late and why, and was told "regardless, we believe you can get here on time." If they give me a written warning for being late for traffic, I will quit on the spot. When we first moved to this location, the higher-ups had a meeting with every department and said they would work with those of us who live far away. My managers must have missed that memo.

As far as the overtime projects, I had reason to believe the Boss² never told Adolf about how behind I was, because Adolf called me that Friday and asked what could be deleted from the inbox. If Boss² had told them about the catch-up project, they would have known they could delete them all. For that, I am greatful. Yes, working overtime is very hard on me. I'm exhausted, I got sick, and more and more I want to do other things than work (you know, like updating my blog). I've turning on my home computer all of twice since we started this, I'm just too tired when I get home to do anything else. Needless to say, we are finally in compliance, so I guess I won't have to work overtime for a while.

And another thing! Last week, after a meeting with Adolf and Boss² about my inability to time in before 0705, Adolf decided that I would like to hear how happy they were that their stepson's gerbal had just died. (Happy because Adolf is on a cruse and doesn't have to worry about finding someone to watch the creature.) Have I ever given anyone the impression that I find it amusing or happy when a life dies? I am still beside myself on what could have possibly been going through Adolf's head to make them share that information with me. Also remember we're not really on a social level, so the fact that I got told anything of the sorts is still beyond me. There is something just not right about that person....

Snowboarding and brunch this weekend! Wee!

Much Ado

Well, a lot has been happening! Let's start with work.

We're on a non-mandatory mandatory overtime (that means we have to work overtime, but Boss² is not yet dictating when and for how long). As a team, my department agreed a minimum of 5 hours per week, which I don't think is going to help much. I put in eight this week, I refuse to work overtime on Fridays, and I'll do another eight next week.

For the first three days of this week, Adolf has been off. (I'll pause here for your cheers). However, Boss² (I mean Adolf's boss, by the way: boss's boss) discovered on Tuesday just how behind my work was. I had things that should have been completed in October still waiting to be done. There were more than 400 individual back e-mails sitting in my inbox, that had anywhere from one to twenty items to complete each. Before you start wondering why I haven't been keeping up with my workload, let me explain. The work that I do is an ongoing daily thing. Work comes in each day that needs to be completed in that day (they say within an hour). Yes, there are days when more work comes in than I can do in a day. If I take a day of, Adolf is the one who is supposed to do my work in my absence. The thing is that Adolf seems to think it's not that important, and so will complete only the work that is marked as urgent. Things that do not have a payment that need to be reissued get put aside for me when I get back. Remember all that mess where they have me doing entry level work? I get behind there too, because once again I am told things without payments can be put aside. More vacation days, more entry level work days, and pre-holiday halfdays (where I'm doing only the pressing ones to get other pressing things done) later, I'm looking at four hundered jobs waiting for completion. Did I ask for help before it got so bad? Yes, I did! Twice! Adolf said there was no help and, once again, put asside the things that were not currently attached to payments until I catch up. If I can only complete thirty five to eighty jobs a day, and that much or more comes in new per day, you can see that catching up is near impossible.

So, Boss² discovered this backlog on Tuesday, and had me forward everything to them. By Wednesday, we had a team of eight who was given a crash course in my job so they could help me clear out the work. Of course, I'm not looking forward to this because, once again, working on this project pulls me from keeping up with the regular stuff that comes in daily. However, Boss² did say to take whatever time necessary (over time, lunch time, regular time, whatever) to complete this project. Don't forget, my department is already working overtime for another project, but this one did take presidence. By 1630 on Thursday, we had caught up! My coworkers had no idea how good it felt for me to look at my inbox and see twelve jobs instead of four hundred.

I was really dreading Thursday, because Adolf would be back. I was worried that Boss² would yell at Adolf (Boss² did make it a point to tell my temporary team that it was not my fault we were so behind, but that I was told some misinformation) and then Adolf in turn would yell at me. Thankfully, that didn't happen. But I had a very stressful then happy Wednesday, followed by a stressful then ok Thursday.

Anyone want to know what the problem is today? I told you that I get my daily work through e-mail, right? Yup, the e-mail server is down. ARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!

It Didn't Work!

Somehow, I thought I was going to go back to daily updates come the first of the year, but that clearly didn't happen! That's ok, how about I just say something when there's something to say?

My parents and our friends spent New Years Eve at First Night Annapolis. For some reason, we tend to only see three showes, but they were good so it's ok. We then went out to eat around 0200 or so, and got to bed around 0400. Doesn't that sound like fun? On the way home, we passed a red fox and a deer, both which stopped what they were doing (eating) to watch us approach. Coming home from my grandmothers that evening, we passed another deer who also watched us pass. Lots of animals out on the first of the year!

We did a little shopping on Monday and then it was back to work. I'm not going to complain about work today, but I will mention that I have a follow-up interview for that other position I applied for at noon today. Wish me luck!