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March 30, 2006
That blew.
1.) Keyboard was not responding for the first 8 questions.
2.) Richard was hanging over me "helping me"
3.) Rushed to complete because of #2.
There will be no trip to portland to try out for jeopardy this year.
Posted by jodikins at 8:15 PM | Comments (0)
Sometimes it's good to be the little guy
While being a part of a small company is sometimes hard -- less people means everyone has to be a lot more flexible in the scope of her work -- some days I'm really thankful for that flexibility. Being able to apply logic and best practices even if it doesn't necessarily follow your established policies and procedures is a real luxury. Case in point, the two week battle I've been waging with one of our vendors.
A potential customer came to us with a problem. The customer had been buying service from one of our vendors through a crappy reseller. The reseller went belly up, stopped paying their bills, and consequently the customer's service with the vendor was suspended. We agreed to pick up the customer because this should be a no-brainer. All of the resources are in place, we just need a simple change in the billing of the port, and to have the port turned back on again.
Well, it would be a no-brainer for us. Having worked for the vendor in my youth, I know that there's a relatively small window between when a port is admin'd down, and when it's recycled completely. I've impressed this upon the vendor, and was told, oh no problem, but we need to follow procedures. So, it took a week to float a sales inquiry internally to see if the vendor had the capacity to provide this service. You know. The service they had the capacity to provide 4 days ago.
Finally after a week, I was given the green light from the vendor to go ahead and place the order paperwork with them. I noted in the paperwork that this should be really easy, here's the info on the customer's port, please just find that and switch billing over to us. And I assumed that since this requires no effort, no coordination and no build time, that an expected ready date should be 4/1/06. A reasonable amount of time, two weeks after their port had been shut off, and a fine time to start billing on our end.
That was Friday. Today, another one of the vendor's folks messages me and says that the vendor is being a real stickler now on those ready dates, and if I don't change the ready date to 30 days after I placed the order, then they'd charge me an expedite fee. Of course the order "could" be done sooner, but the records had to reflect that 30 days. Oh Lordy, here we go. So, I reiterate that it would be a real shame and that I would throw a major fit if this doesn't get completed before the vendor recycles the original port. Vendor folk #2 says, yeah, I see what you're saying, let me send a note to Vendor folk #3 who is coordinating the order to make sure they know that.
Tick Tick Tick. It's good to be small enough to still be in touch with the fact that most of the time, what's good for the customer, is good for the business.
Posted by jodikins at 8:11 AM | Comments (0)
March 28, 2006
Guest Invasion
Richard's friend Tom finalized his plane tickets and he'll be here the weekend of the 8th. We talked a little today about things he'd like to see in the area, and I'll plan some activities from there. Still need to work on cleaning, but I think the bulk of that will have to wait til this weekend. At this point it's mainly a task of laundry and finding the best way to organize clean stuff. I'm going to work tomorrow on my end of the month work crap, and try to get a good jump on that.
After a fruitless trip to Bed Bath and Beyond last night for the three prints we want to complete the "art niche" in the hallway, I finally just bit the bullet and ordered them online. They should be here either Thursday or Friday, yay!
Posted by jodikins at 9:44 PM | Comments (0)
March 27, 2006
Weekend Update
Not a whole hell of a lot to report, but some slow steady progress made nonetheless. Saturday I made yeast raised belgian waffles, and finally knocked down half a bag of the horrid Remminger Farms frozen strawberries. For dinner, I made my own spicy bbq like I had at the Bento Box. For a first shot at the recipe, it was very good. Needs more sriachi next time. I didn't have chicken, so I sliced up some of the pork loin I'd thawed a few days ago, and stirfried frozen green beans first, dumped them out of the pan, then onion matchsticks, dumped them with the greenbeans, then did the meat, and added the greenbeans and onions back in at the end. Not much happened on the cleaning front. We took care of one bag of garbage from Richard's office, and I did a couple loads of laundry. Later we went to Target and stocked up on cleaning supplies, woo.
Sunday I made self-rising flour belgian waffles, and I hate to say it, they were much better than the yeast-raised waffles. Still no less work than the yeasted ones since you still have to separate eggs and beat egg whites, but the non-yeast ones managed to crisp up where the yeasted ones did not. We also did some sleep catch-up, which while not great for maintaining our lovely East Coast schedules, it was a necessary evil.
Our accomplishment for yesterday was finally hanging all the artwork I'd bought when we first moved in. It doesn't look quite like I'd imagined it would, but it still looks pretty damn spiffy. And I finally have my Big Sur purple flower print up, and the lotus blossom Japanese watercolor -- both in my office area. Later after Richard determined that I was right, things really do close at 7pm on Sundays, I tackled the grocery shopping.
Today after work, I think we're going to go to Bed Bath and Beyond and hope they have the paintings we decided would go well in the "art niche". While I'd really like to make Mexican Beef and Beans tonight for dinner, I think we're going to go the Jerk Pork route since I still have a slab of pork loin in the fridge :)
Posted by jodikins at 6:41 AM | Comments (0)
March 24, 2006
He's Baaaack
RIchard finally got home last night, yay! His luggage didn't quite make it with him, but Delta is supposed to courier that over today. We basked in the glow of clean house, and then were asleep by 11pm. This of course means, that it's 4am and I'm up. I tried to get back to sleep, but I kept thinking that I should check on the FedEx packages that didn't get delivered yesterday and to make sure that they are going to be delivered today. So I got up, walked the dog, and called FedEx to annoy them on the issue.
Now I'm just waiting for east coast folks to get up and get in the office. There are a couple of items I need to knock down today, and the sooner the better. Then I guess I'll be a good wife and make Richard breakfast :) This weekend, we'll work together on getting the upstairs to look as beautiful and put together as the downstairs does now.
Posted by jodikins at 4:21 AM | Comments (0)
March 23, 2006
Mmm, Bento Box
So, Leslie's migraine let up enough for us to do dinner last night, and a yummy dinner it was too! We went to The Bento Box in Overlake Plaza. I had the Spicy BBQ Chicken Bento Dinner with miso soup, this amazingly spicy/sweet grilled chicken, salad with ginger dressing and rice. It was to die for -- my lips were burning for half an hour afterwards. Yay!
Richard will be home tonight, and I'm pretty much done on the cleaning I'll be able to get done. I want to change the sheets and make the bed, but that's about it at this point. Still, it was a huge accomplishment, and it's made me feel so much better.
It's definitely been an interesting week. In a lot of ways, I felt a lot less isolated and a lot more connected this week than I have in a long time. I've been kind of drifting since November-ish at least. I mean, I always knew that I missed working (real work, not the occassional nagging here and there), but I didn't realize how much better it makes me feel.
Posted by jodikins at 6:55 AM | Comments (0)
March 22, 2006
The Final Countdown
If I were truly evil, I'd embed that in the page to play in an infinite loop... but I know just saying the title will make it loop in your head! Muahahah!
Well, I've been up since 4:15am, no nap, but I have some good news. I have only the following items remaining to do downstairs:
1.) Vacuum up a tiny pile of packing peanuts.
2.) Vacuum the bathroom floor.
3.) Wipe down the toilet and sink.
And then I'm done. There are a few things that can be worked on some more, but for the most part I'm just exceedingly happy with the accomplishment. Leslie and Adam were going to come bask in the glory, but Lellie's got a migraine so I think dinner tonight is off :(
Richard will be absolutely shocked when he gets home, yay!
Posted by jodikins at 3:39 PM | Comments (0)
March 21, 2006
Jeopardy again!
I was watching Jeopardy tonight, and apparently they are doing the preliminary screening tests online now. So! I signed up to take that again. Would someone please be so kind as to remind me to take the test at 8pm PST on Thursday, March 30th? :)
I'm nowhere NEAR the level of prepared I'd need to be to actually get on Jeopardy and do well, but far be it for me to pass up an online quiz. Hah!
Posted by jodikins at 8:51 AM | Comments (0)
4 hours
of sleep so far. East Coast/West Coast business day differences considered, I might as well stay up for a while. I've accepted the fact that I'm not going to be able to get the house 100% sparkling by the time Richard gets back -- too much network work to do during the days for that.
Posted by jodikins at 6:11 AM | Comments (0)
March 20, 2006
So this is what work feels like?
Man alive, I am tired! Going upstairs shortly to put away some laundry before bed, but I've been close to drifting off for the past few hours. I didn't get much cleaning done today, but I did take the kitchen garbage out, and moved the big box of excess kitchenware into the garage. Dishes are also done, so I'm not exactly slacking. I guess I did finish cleaning up and around and under my desk. There's still a pile of things that needs to be filed on top.
I've got three more days, more like 2.5. Managed to move Richard's flight back up, but the Delta chick was new, in training, and annoying as freaking hell. And she fucked up his return, but hopefully he'll be okay with getting home sooner and not care so much :)
Going to do dinner with Leslie and Adam on Wednesday, so that is my target for having the downstairs 100% cleaned up and looking pretty. That will be a pretty good preview to what Richard's reaction will be Thursday night :)
I miss Richard but I'm glad he's gone too. I've really been able to gain a lot of self-awareness by being alone. I'd say it's something that I miss about being single, but it's not really about being single. It's about living and working together all in the same 1200 sq ft, day in and day out. So, time away from time to time, is a good thing.
Posted by jodikins at 11:52 PM | Comments (0)
March 19, 2006
Cleaning
Well, I've been very productive. The crap pile in my office area is no more. That will be a big shocker for Richard when he gets home. So many of the boxes were labeled "personal crap" but I was able to consolidate that all down to one small box that I'll store in the closet in Richard's office upstairs.
I also have a plastic bin of craft and quilt items -- fabrics and books and patterns etc. It's nice to face my clutter without fear for a change.
Posted by jodikins at 10:01 PM | Comments (0)
Lazy Sunday
Well, not particularly lazy. I didn't get much sleep last night, so I did a fair amount of cleaning. I also did some life assessment, and came up with a plan for kicking myself in the ass more often. Richard being gone for a full week is a blessing in disguise. Usually he's only gone for four or five days, and somehow I never get to finish my projects when he's only gone for that long. As silly as it seems, I think the extra few days is what I need to make some changes here.
I was up until 6:45am, and slept until 9:30ish. I have a turkey breast and some sweet potatoes in the oven baking now. When they come out, I'll have a quick lunch and take a brief nap, I think.
Posted by jodikins at 11:50 AM | Comments (0)
March 18, 2006
Gbic!
Five years ago today, Gbic found us in Stockton at Dave Linehan's housewarming/baby shower. Since then she's been crosscountry twice, has lived in 4 different houses with us in 3 different states. She's peed on the carpet countless times, and destroyed dozens of garbage bags. I've walked over 1,000 miles with her. She's barked probably a million times, mostly at the doorbell, delivery people, and other dogs. And her adorable personality, her happy tail, and her enthusiastic love for her pack have made me smile at least once a day for the past five years.
I wouldn't have her any other way :)
Posted by jodikins at 4:17 AM | Comments (0)
March 17, 2006
sleep deprivation and retarded peers.
So, having had 2 hours of sleep, Richard and I got up at 4:30am and got him out the door for his 6:19am flight. Which he missed. So, I got him rebooked for the 10:45pm flight tonight, he came home, and we're still up waiting for this retarded peer's conference call.
I cannot begin to describe the level of incomptence and unprofessionalism exhibited by these people. But when they dragged a third party vendor into their own self-created shitstorm, I had a fun time calling the third party to commiserate about that peer :)
I'm so tired, and so just out of my mind punchy because of it. Wheeeee!
Posted by jodikins at 9:19 AM | Comments (0)
March 16, 2006
Whitman, friendship, and life
Yesterday I got a very bizarre email from the boyfriend of the LifeSuckingForce. I normally would not do this, but it's really essential to the post to have a frame of reference. Here's the text of that email, names redacted to protect the, umm, insane.
From: boyfriend of lifesuckingforce To: my work email address Subject: LIfeSucking Force Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2006 15:42:46 -0500Jodi,
If you're even reading this, which is far more credit than I would give you, there is one thing you need to be clear on before you read on: This is not about you. This is about LIfeSuckingForce.
LIfeSuckingForce asked me to write you an e-mail. She believes you are her friend. She wants to talk to you, she wants to share with you, she misses having you in her life.
I don't know why. But this isn't about me. So don't let any feelings about me get in the way. If you don't care about me or what I think that's even better. If you dislike me, let it go. This is about LIfeSuckingForce.
As I said, LifeSuckingForce believes you are her friend. So you need to ask yourself if truly are her friend. She wants you to keep being her friend (I don't know why but that is a separate issue). She sees some value in sharing with you. LifeSuckingForce asked me to write you to express this, to get your attention so you would write her back.
Now, you need to ask yourself if you want to be her friend. Not her mother, not her supervisor but her FRIEND. A friend is someone who offers advice, not shove their opinion down your throat. A friend is supportive but not judgmental. A friend is someone you talk to, someone you turn to for consultation not someone you dread.
So that's your question. Do you want to be her friend Jodi? LifeSuckingForce is waiting to hear from you.
Best,
Boyfriend
Boyfriend of LifeSuckingForce
blahblahblah@blah.com
Defeat is worse than death because you have to live with defeat.
Considering that I have not responded to numerous emails dating back to November, I'd have to say that the friendship is, and has been over for quite some time. That's the obvious answer. Boundary violations like this are exactly why it's over, but that's not really what I wanted to write about today.
What is the nature of friendship? Back before all this computer crap, I was a huge Lit geek. One of the most profoundly affecting works I've ever read is Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman. While I'm a little less hippie now than I was in my teens, I still strongly believe in the whole concept of Transcendentalism with regards to friendship. Stanza 48 in Leaves of Grass contains one of the more often quoted lines: "Long enough have you dream'd contemptible dreams;" but really the whole stanza sums up how I like to treat and think of friendship.
Whitman writes "Not I -- not anyone else, can travel that road for you,// You must travel it for yourself." We are each the sum of our actions and interactions we've had from birth until now. While I share experiences with my friends, there's no guarantee that we'll always be able to do that.
"You are also asking me questions, and I hear you;// I answer that I cannot answer -- you must find out for yourself." I guess that's what bothers me most about the way that LifeSuckingForce is acting now. While I strongly believe in what I know to be right and moral and just, I don't expect others to live by the exact same code that I do. I'll tell you if I don't agree with you, but mine is the only life I have to live.
And here is what I had hoped she'd gained from knowing me:
"Long have you timidly waded, holding a plank by the shore;
Now I will you to be a bold swimmer,
To jump off in the midst of the sea, rise again, nod to me, shout, and laughingly dash with your hair."
Life is a long journey, and you really can't know the impact you'll have on the lives of others. And yes, friendships end and fall by the wayside. The greatest tribute to friendship is to appreciate the lessons learned and the wisdom gained through knowing another person. Each life and each journey is ours alone. People can choose to walk that path with us for a day, a week, a year, or a lifetime. But in the end, that is their choice, which is dictated by their journey.
With LifeSuckingForce, it was time for our paths to diverge. And they did.
Posted by jodikins at 7:00 AM | Comments (0)
March 10, 2006
Dancing as fast as I can
The sore throat blossomed somewhat, and I've been feeling varying levels of crappy all week. We've been sticking to the good eating throughout the crappiness, so that's at least a positive point. Richard leaves next Friday for his "business" cruise. All I have to say is someone owes me a LOT of vacation after this successive bullshit. :)
Linda's mom passed away Wednesday night after a long illness; she and her family are definitely in my thoughts. Her loss reminds me of the temporal nature of life. Although my parents sometimes drive me insane, even from 3000 miles away, I still love them and hope they have a long life (with which to annoy me :)
This week I finally handed off the quasi-customers who have stalled on turning up for the past year +. Richard's bitchsmacking them into live status, and thankfully he agrees that they are idiots. At this point, he has more patience to just nod and smile because he's not answered their inane questions 20 times over already. Good luck getting them up and passing traffic, sweetie ;)
Posted by jodikins at 2:54 PM | Comments (0)
March 6, 2006
Where was I?
Thusfar, March has sucked a lot :) Way too much work, things breaking, staying up til all hours of the night have all culminated in a whole lot of blah. I spent the weekend recovering from the week, and trying to fight off a sore throat. The sore throat is still lingering, but hopefully it won't blossom. I really just don't want to be sick right now.
Richard and I finally have gotten back into being more aware of our food intake, exercise and all that jazz. We did a good job of making healthier choices over the weekend.
Posted by jodikins at 8:12 AM | Comments (0)