A "Great" Way to Kill 9 Hours

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Yeah. So THAT happened.

Notice all the cars on the left whose brake lights AREN'T on? That's because they've been abandoned. And the only reason there's free space on the road is because we just made our way past a couple jackknifed tractor trailers, and the road there is a solid sheet of ice. Anyone not in our lane eventually slid over to the left.

In case you haven't heard, Atlanta experienced extreme gridlock last night (and today) due to unexpected snow volume. As a Southern city in a Southern state, we don't have a lot of snowplows lying around gathering dust, so when the weather forecasters say most of the storm is going to hit South of the city, what equipment the state does have is deployed there. And then when the storm actually hits the metro area, in the middle of the day, and EVERYONE leaves at once so the salt trucks can't even get on the highways, and all the tractor trailers don't have snow tires and spin out, you end up with people stuck on the highways overnight.

We were "lucky" and got home by 1am. I considered telling you the whole epic story of Michael's three hour journey to get me from five miles away, our hour quest to find an open restaurant (FAIL), and six hour journey to travel the fourteen miles home. But really, do you want to read all that? No! Let's look at some pretty snow instead!

I was hoping to add a snowman to this view, but of course my office, although closed, "encouraged" us to work from home, even though everyone had not even made it home! They're going to be open tomorrow, even though the Georgia Emergency Management Agency has issued a civil emergency message requesting that everyone stay off the roads until noon. I'm extremely disappointed in my company! I'll be working from home again.

At least I have plenty of cookies to keep me company.

Walnut Crescents, courtesy of the Cookie A Sock Club. My next shipment arrives next week...squee!

JiffNotes
I'm just happy to be home. +10 Geek Points for getting the top graphic reference. =)

NaBloNoAtAlMo

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That's National Blog Not At All Month, which is what I seem to have been following for the past few months. We all know I went to London (and Oxford) for two weeks at the end of August and beginning of September (ooo, look at megalomaniacal me, thinking you all keep up with what I'm doing)--and still haven't bothered to post pictures--muttered something about work being bad--went to a Jane Nicholas class--and made more mutterings about work being bad. That has really been what's been keeping me away from the computer--work, and also this:

 

You are looking at the innards of my Kindle Touch. Its battery died sometime in...September? October? Anyway, I replaced the battery, but in doing so, I knocked a cable loose, which caused it to freeze up randomly. Of course, I didn't know that at the time, so I spent about three weeks figuring out how to "debrick" it (i.e., turn it from a paperweight back into a useful device), running the operator diagnostics on it, and finally taking the entire thing apart in a last-ditch attempt to make it useable before selling it for parts. Well, when I watched the video on taking it apart, I realized how loose the connection is on the cable that's right by the battery, so I fixed it. By this time, of course, I'd already ordered a new Paperwhite. So now Michael has a trusty Kindle of his own. =)

So: Work. Pretty much right when I got back, I was thrust into a project that required all my time and then some. For three weeks in October, the project team was sequestered in a room together and they brought in lunch for us. This culminated with a go-live where we were all up until 2am (fortunately, I was working from home that day). The go-live went off without a hitch! The upside to being holed up in a room all that time was that it protected me from the company's new "noise masking" system. Basically, there's now a constant, loud hiss coming from the ceiling (brown noise, not white noise, if you're interested). IT DRIVES ME INSANE. It was not as loud in the room we were in, but now that I'm back "in the wild," well...let's just say I may not be around there too much longer.

This kind of work stress meant that when I got any free time, I wanted to be outside, away from the computer!! We went to a somewhat cool, somewhat pretentious outdoor art night...

 

...where people danced in urban spaces...

 
tiny dancers are tiny

...became part of the show...

 

...and made artistic statements...

 

This last one was my favorite, actually. It was about people with dementia. The artist would paint with water on the black board, and then sit back down as the memory he'd written faded away. He wouldn't get up again until it was completely gone. I thought it was good art that made you think...unlike the giant milkshake fountain (water colored white) that was supposed to be a commentary on our super-size-me culture. It was just...ugly and uninteresting.

We visited the Botanical Gardens, where the Imaginary Worlds exhibit looked very different from when things were first planted. Earth spirit's hair is grown in...

 

...the bunnies hide in tall grass...

 

...and the frogs have mohawks!

 

We went on a couple hikes. We had gone to Sweetwater Creek State Park, which takes you along Sweetwater Creek...

 

...and by the ruins of a textile mill burned in the Civil War.

 

We took a little picnic lunch...

 

...climbed on the rocks...

 

...and admired the wildlife.

 

When this lovely fella took off, I laughed at all the people with their camera phones capturing blurred dots, because...

 

...zoom lens and adjustable shutter speed FTW!!

The next "hike" was really more of a walk. For some reason we thought we'd be able to drive up somewhere to see pretty leaves the day after my project went live...bwahahaha!! I slept until 11am! So we just went up to walk by the Chattahoochee River near Akers Mill. Stalker heron followed me there.

 

This was a very pretty walk; lots of great moss!

 

I did manage to stitch a little on Friday on my stumpwork piece, but the rest of the weekend I was laid up on the couch. At first I thought I was fighting off a sinus infection, but this feels different. Flu? Random cold? Who knows?! Oh, it's just nonstop excitement here, let me tell you! At least it was a great excuse to watch lots of special features off The Hobbit Blu-Ray. =) Stitching pictures soon!

JiffNotes
I came, I overworked, I got sick. So did my Kindle, but it's better now. Also: Nature!

Geeky Thing of the Day (Not Remotely Fascinating)

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WARNING: The Geek Content of this post has been rated DANGER, DANGER WILL ROBINSON...YOU MUST KNOW XML AND JAXB to continue! If these terms mean nothing to you (especially JAXB), BAIL NOW!

Your last chance to bail.

And this is why you always create a separate JAXB bindings file for your schema....

I'm all about keeping things together. Hibernate: XML file versus annotations? DUH, annotations, because then the class files are self-documenting! Inner class that's only used by its parent versus separate class? DUH, inner class, because then it's all in one place. So when I learned how to do custom bindings for JAXB, OF COURSE I put them right smack dab in the middle of the schema (XSD), because whytheheck would you have yet another file in your schema (we already have one for complex types, one for attribute groups, etc., etc.). That's just one more "piece" to get lost.

However.

Today I learned why you create a separate binding file. So here is your Cautionary Tale in Case You Are Considering Smashing Bindings into Your Schema As I Foolishly Did.

Wayyyyyy back at the end of January, we placed the finishing touches on a new web service, and it went into testing. We had a nice document that described all the elements in the XSD, what they were, whether they were required or optional, etc. However, we continually told the technical people, "When the test server goes live, you should use the XSD from the WSDL to code to, because that's what we're coding to."

They did not pay attention. And to make things worse, the pretty document (sent off accompanied by our XSD) did not get updated after the beginning of January (unbeknownst to us).

So THIS release, for some reason, they decided to actually pull down the latest XSD from the WSDL. I think you can see where this is going. Every tiny field that went from "required" to "optional" created a static wave of MAJOR FREAK-OUT from their project manager. Nevermind that: Who cares if you're sending it and we're not looking for it...there is no problem there...WHY USE LOGIC TO DETERMINE IF THERE IS A PROBLEM when you can just use DIFF!!

Most everything was explained away...except for a little issue of binding. Somehow, even though I set up "type_OurResponseToYou" to bind to OurResponse.class IN NOVEMBER, they pulled an XSD that was generating OurResponseToYou.class through JAXB.

Omigosh, recoding! RECODING!!! DING DING DING EVERYBODY PANIC!!!

Dudes. Not only did we tell you to use the XSD from test (which has ALWAYS, since the BEGINNING OF TIME, i.e., BEGINNING OF TEST, bound to OurResponse.class), we had no idea you were going to go and run our stuff through JAXB on your end! This was not a fixed interface!!

So. It turns out that we build using Ant, and you can specify an external binding file on the xjc task. You don't have to refer to it in your schema, you don't have to refer to it in the WSDL, you can keep it secret, keep it safe.

The moral of this story is, share your XSD, but keep your binding file close to the vest. Let them define their own. That way, if your IT organization implements a new naming standard, or you get a name conflict you can't resolve with packages (really?), or you JUST DECIDE ON A WHIM TO MAKE MORE WORK FOR YOURSELF BY RENAMING EVERYTHING, you can do it without freaking out your client.

JiffNotes
Pictures of pretty yarn soon! =)

Fascinating Geeky Thing of the Day

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WARNING: The Geek Content of this post has been rated EXTREMELY HIGH...please avoid this post unless you're into programming and databases.

In the "who knew? probably a lot of people except me" category....

Being a programmer with some basic database knowledge, but not database-proficient by any stretch, I am often surprised by the inner workings of databases. Today was one of those days. I knew that in addition to having database tables, you can have "views", which are logical views over data. I think in my mind, a database view was storing pointers to data. Well, it turns out that it's pretty much just a stored query or a "macros" that's executed afresh whenever you query the view.

Now here comes the really surprising thing. I was querying a particularly slow view...it has a lot of business logic built into it. It's also against a huge table. So my query:

SELECT * FROM MY_VIEW WHERE MY_FOREIGN_KEY = 42

was taking about 5 minutes. I decided to try and speed up the query by limiting the number of rows that were being returned, just in case it was the data transfer or creation of the row set that was taking so long:

SELECT * FROM MY_VIEW WHERE MY_FOREIGN_KEY = 42 and rownum <= 100

This did speed things up, but not very much: It took about 3 minutes. So, I decided to try an inner query: Just chop off the first 100 rows of the view and then query against them thusly:

SELECT * FROM (SELECT * FROM MY_VIEW WHERE rownum <= 100) WHERE MY_FOREIGN_KEY = 42

I expected this query to execute more quickly. Instead, it took FOREVER. (I stopped counting at an hour.)

This leads me to believe that in the first and second cases, my WHERE clause criteria was just getting added on to the where clause of the view's query, but in the third case, the entire view was being created in some temp space, then the first 100 rows were taken.

Definitely not what I expected.

I'm going to try to get this view converted to a Materialized View, which is physically stored and then updated as the "underlying" tables change.

JiffNotes
Blah blah blah database blah blah blah.

Hard

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This week's been hard. I'm really just talking about work, but lack of sleep and stress has made it seem a little like there's been little else this week. There's one project, just about to go "live", that's really OH MY GOSH SO IMPORTANT WE CANNOT MESS THIS UP, DUDES! Then there's another project that's being rushed out the door as a replacement for something else they wanted to do. Then there's interviewing for a new position.

The GOOD news is that tomorrow morning I leave for vacation! Michael and I are driving down to Port Canaveral, where, on Sunday (my birthday) we'll board the new Disney Dream for a four-day cruise, followed by a couple days staying at Fort Wilderness Lodge and going to the parks. I can't believe it's been two years since we were at Disney! This may be the longest Disney-free stretch since we got married. I'm incredibly excited. Except for the whole getting older thing. I just got a card from my mom with the number written down, and that was the first time I'd seen it in print, and it was...shocking. Let's just say Disney World and I are the same age.

The OH MY GOSH project is actually in the best shape; I'm really confident of my part in it, even though I feel as Darth Vader must have felt as he watched the Death Star explode...

I find your lack of testing...disturbing.

The bad news is that I have to be on a call at 11pm tonight--YES, the night before I'm leaving for vacation. I am...NOT pleased. My teammate has everything covered, and my manager usually doesn't ask me to do this type of thing (I don't work Fridays), so I can only imagine he's getting some pressure from "higher up" to have me on call.

The other project...well. I'm a team lead now, and let's just say I didn't get to pick my team. One's great; the other is...um.... Trying. This person doesn't seem to have the abilities to accept verbal instructions, remember how past problems were solved, or take my advice on how to solve problems. This person seems oblivious to what anyone else on the bigger team is working on and always seems astonished that others have different deadlines or bigger workloads. The best I can say each week is, "Well, I didn't kill Repeat this week!"

Why "Repeat"? Here's a background story: I asked Repeat once where a document was, and Repeat told me the Lotus Notes database where it was. "OK," I said, "I can find it in there." "Oh, I can send it to you," Repeat replied. "That'd be great," I said, "but actually it's William who wants the document. Can you just send it to him?" "OK," Repeat replied.

A few minutes later, I got an email with the document attached. William was not copied. I muttered, "Seriously??" and forwarded it to him.

Yesterday provided another gem where when I suggested Repeat get Loyalist (name also withheld, but this time to protect the innocent rather than the guilty) to help with debugging a problem, Repeat informed me of thinking of getting our manager to help. I laughed and said Repeat would be much more likely to get L's time than our manager and lead architect (who is INCREDIBLY busy), and Repeat said our manager would probably just say to go with Repeat's currently approach (wrong, unstable) if it was working (which in Repeat's world means not producing an error). I told Repeat I was pretty sure our manager would say he hadn't looked at that stuff in years and to keep going but get me to check it when I got back (which is what's happened before).

Sorry. I'll stop ranting. And I promise at least some eye candy before I leave!!

JiffNotes
Work stinks, but I'm away for the week on a Disney cruise!!

Crazy Raleigh Rally Round-up

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Do not worry, there are needlework pictures coming. And also some geeky content. And food. Keep scrolling.

So. In Atlanta, sports bars look like this.

In Raleigh, they look like this:

This picture shows roughly 1/3 of the TV screens and approximately 1/5 of the neon I could see without turning my head. This is what happens when you get in late from a flight and are desperate for food. Which was...strange. Usually, I trust my server, but I don't think I'll ever order "regular sweet" barbecue sauce in a state that specializes in vinegar barbecue sauce again. It had...crushed red pepper in it? Who does that??

Anyway. The hotel was nice...

You can't see the love seat and huge bathroom. Or how CLEAN it was. That's the top kudo I can give to a hotel: IT WAS CLEAN.

We did have one excellent meal there (WARNING: REALLY CRAPPY PICTURE AHEAD!)

This is The Irregardless Cafe, which has the BEST vegan menu I've ever seen. It was so good, *I* ordered from it. That is amazing when you understand that I am an incredible carnivore. I wish I'd ordered one of the other dishes, as the Shepherd's Pie I got...

...was very yummy, but a bit "homogeneous" in flavor. I like a little more variety. However, the squash was perfectly cooked and this meal did come with the Best Salad Ever:

Candied walnuts, craisins and herb-crusted, warm toasted goat cheese. NOM. The boss man got the Brazilian Steak. DOUBLE NOM.

The class? It was...OK. I did learn some things, but the instructor was a strange mix of knowing everything about some things and nothing about others. Also, he did not seem to know all the answers to the "end of unit" test questions or how to fix some of the problems we had in the labs. (For the geeks that are interested, this was Red Hat class JB325 Advanced JBoss Enterprise Development.)

Did I do any stitching? Well...one night I stitched for about 10 minutes. On the plane, I knit two rounds of two socks. I did manage to swim one night in the indoor pool, but it was so small about four elementary backstrokes took me across, and there was so much chlorine in the pool that I determined I didn't have enough eye drops to swim again! I played a lot of Halo: Reach, though. =P

I did get to start my last Crazy Challenge piece the Saturday before I left. I probably spent more time sorting the colors in the kit than stitching, though! You know, it was one of those "fabulous" kits where all the colors are in one hank and you have to try to distinguish twelve shades of brown with names like Lightest Brown, Very Light Honey Brown and Somewhat Light Golden Brown.

I do feel validated that the colors in this vaguely reindeer-shaped blob are the same as those I picked for Dasher (scroll down) when I thought his original colors were too yellow.

Right before I left, I also put in a little time on Bumblebee Stumpwork, thus completing my goal of "touching" all eleven Crazy Challenge pieces in January.

Those are turkey knots, which leave loops on the surface of the fabric. Once they're all stitched, you cut them and then trim the fringe to make a nice, fuzzy bee.

I also made minuscule progress on the Squirrel Fob.

Get it? Minuscule! Because it is so small...and also I made little progress? See what I did there?

Yeah. I think I need a nap.

JiffNotes
Business trip where your boss brings an Xbox 360 --> not conducive to stitching. Also, please don't forget that I'm having a giveaway...stitchy/knitty/geeky! Go comment on that post to enter by tomorrow at 11:59pm EST!

Exotic Training Locales

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My goal this month was to "touch" every project on my Crazy Challenge list...that is, stitch at least some on the six WIPs while starting five others. It's down to the wire; I'm flying out for training on Sunday (oh, the excitement!), so I'm going to take this weekend's start with me. That means I only have today to touch the final project (Stumpwork Bumblebee)...I'm going to get right on that! I did spend a little time on Shakespeare's Garden (after I dug deep into my mental capacity and unearthed the location of the beads I finally located for sale--the reason I'd stopped stitching the project in the first place):

The fabric I'm working on was a Silkweaver Limited Edition, and boy, do I wish I could get more of it. It's so soft, and the color is so perfectly beigey-taupey with little swirls....

Anyway! I gotta get something done on the Bumblebee before I have to leave for...yeah. We've been trying to take this training class for MONTHS, and they had us signed up in all kinds of fun places...Toronto...! Dallas (I've never been to TX)! New York City (at Christmas time! THE ROCKETTES!!!) Washington, D.C...! But we...we are going to...wait for it...

Raleigh, NC. Now I'm sure Raleigh is a very lovely place (last time I was there, like 15 years ago, I only saw office parks), but C'MON!! New York??!? I only feel OK about this because it's sodangcold up there right now.

JiffNotes
"Guaranteed to Run" don't mean a thing when attached to a Red Hat class.

Crazy Challenge, Weekend 2

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These pictures still won't be the greatest, because even though I took them AT HIGH NOON, there's still not a lot of light around here (totally overcast, although you'd think the snow would be reflecting all light...).

This weekend I decided to start Emie Bishop's Eight-Pointed Star, from the Just Cross Stitch 1997 Ornament Issue. I "cheated" and started it Friday night (that's in quotes because I MAKE THE RULES AROUND HERE and if I decide Friday night's part of the weekend, then BY GOLLY IT IS.) I kitted this eons ago; that light blue thread is a cool Vicki Clayton thread that she doesn't even make anymore. It is overdyed with a metallic fabric paint! Kind of uneven in texture ("stiff" in places) but it creates a really neat effect.

I had almost no time to work on it Saturday due to "destroying Christmas" (as the hubby said. The first time I mentioned taking down the tree he asked, "Why do you hate Christmas now?") and then dinner for DF Jean's birthday and late-night grocery shopping before SNOWPOCALYPSE. Sunday after church we had lunch with a friend who teaches in India and is in town for a few weeks, followed by Settlers of Catan with the in-laws. I technically won the first game, but the hubby forgot to tell us all the rules, so MIL ended up winning. That's OK, it's her birthday. =D FIL skunked us all on the second game by SHAMELESSLY HIDING HIS CARDS. Then we dashed home before the snow started.

Saturday in between boxes of ornaments, I got a couple courtesy rows done on the Squirrel Fob (it needs daylight, remember). Here's where the little fella stands:

Awwwwww.

In preparation for a snow day Monday, I decided to haul out Mystery 2 (Convents Herbal Garden). However, no snow day for me yesterday, or today...even though the building is now officially closed, we're all "strongly encouraged" to work from home. =( I did put in a few stitches last night while being mesmerized by the bright yellow socks of the Ducks.

This picture is very BLUE. I "need" to finish that upper-left garden this month to stay on track, I think.

Before the game, I pulled out some knitting while watching "The Cape" (verdict: We'll probably try a couple more episodes). I think Monday Night Knitting might be a good thing...generally there's a lot of good TV to take my attention, and knitting is usually a bit more mindless. Plus, it'll let me still touch knitting while being challenged. Here's a crappy picture of Jared Flood's Hemlock Ring Blanket:

Finally, Advantage #2398 of working from home: Attractively styled snacks courtesy of the hubby..

JiffNotes
Snow != extra stitching time when you can work from home.

Let the vacation gauntlet begin!

We are leaving in about an hour for Panama City for the weekend to celebrate Michael's birthday with his parents. I am really looking forward to the beach. I'm hoping for sun, but I'm just happy it will be WARM! We'll be in town the next weekend, then the weekend after that I'm going to the mountains with my sisters, and Michael's having a "guy weekend" with some friends. I'm back for a weekend, then I travel to Hilton Head Island for a stitching weekend (planned since last year).... Then, the big trip: The VERY NEXT WEEKEND, we're flying to Istanbul to embark on a cruise that will take us to Croatia, Greece, Italy and finally to Barcelona, Spain!! I'm very excited about the cruise, but I have no idea how I'll manage work, laundry and packing for all this.

As far as work goes, I've finished my big project, and the software releases on Tuesday. However, the user community has been very whiny and I'm sure I'll have more work to do.

I have finished a stitching project and a sweater (tank, just in time for Fall :p), cast on two socks, and worked on various and sundry. I promise pictures...at some point!

My lack of blogging is not likely to improve...but hang with me. The Winter's got to be better, right??!?

Theoretically, the "A" is for "Analyst"

Wednesday morning at work, my BA (business analyst) was to give a training class for the application on which I've spent the last 10 months of my life (to the user acceptance test team).

I have it on good authority that his first words upon launching the application were, "This is the first time I'm looking at this."

And his second statement was, "So, what do you guys want to see?"

Awesome.

I'm it!

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It's been a long time since I posted, because I have a bad case of Can't Be Bothered. The five-day work week is going better; I've been pacing myself better, and a few work fires burned out, so that helped greatly as well. Stitching and knitting have been scarce due to lack of energy. Hopefully I'll feel inspired to post more soon. But for now, I've been tagged by Jill. Here goes...

"The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions about themself. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 0r 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves a comment letting them know they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you've posted your answer."

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
In May 1998, our loft was on the Atlanta Downtown Tour of Lofts for the first time. We actually had a visit from a Metropolitan Home rep, but our place didn't make the cut for the magazine. I was preparing to celebrate my first wedding anniversary (we went to Callaway Gardens). I was about to leave my first "real" job (as a consultant at a small place) to start a new one. That "new" job, at MAPICS, turned into "the best of times, the worst of times". I met my current manager (who I convinced to come work here) at that job, and that is a Very Good Thing! This was also the year I went to my first-ever needlework event, Spirit of Cross Stitch, where I met DFs Jill and Teresa for the first time. That was a life-changing event for sure! =) We've spent many great times together over the years, and their friendships have enriched my life greatly! You know, it's a darned good thing we wrote a Christmas letter for that year and posted it. Otherwise, I'd never have remembered all that!! (Like, when did I change jobs, anyway?? Duh.....)

2. What are five things on my to do list for today?

• make sure hubby is packed for business trip (no, I don't pack for him like my mom does for my dad, but I gotta check him for missing buttons and such!)


• get haircut


• do application build for release nope, can't do that...gotta wait for tomorrow for coworker to check in his code...


• buy more contact solution, saline and Scrubbing Bubbles


• if time, pick up ??? to finish the ??? I'm making for ???


• unload dishwasher

3. Snacks I enjoy...

• Publix Trinity ice cream (OMGosh!)


• like everyone else, Dark Chocolate Peanut M&M's


• dark chocolate covered crystallized ginger


• Teddy Graham Bears & Bees


• Twizzlers


• Harry & David's pepper jam mixed with cream cheese with tortilla chips


• hummus & pita chips


• blueberries with milk & a dash of sugar (or better yet, Jean's blueberry trifle...does that count as a snack or a meal??)


• Andy's guacamole with tortilla chips (snarf!)

4.Things I would do if I were a billionaire...

• hire someone to manage the bucks and make sure I never "have" to work again


• spend at least a month (or two...) traveling around the world. Literally. Around it. All the way.


• re-film Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and HPatCoS with Michael Gambon


• build a time machine and re-film Episode I with Hayley Joel Osment


• make all manner of charitable contributions...the Aquarium, Atlanta Union Mission, Samaritan's Purse, Prison Fellowship Ministries, etc., etc. I think I'd have to set up a foundation.


• learn to do all the stuff I wish I had time to learn to do (play various instruments, various dance styles)


• see how many TV cameo appearances I could buy my way into =)


• take care of family members: Mom and Dad get cleaning/organizing staff and personal trainers. Oldest sister gets her own tea shop. Middle sister...hmmm...I might employ her to run my charitable foundation! Youngest sister gets a travel allowance, since her stingy husband won't pay for any trips for her. Nieces and nephews get help with school or housing or something.

5. Places I have lived...

• Michigan ('til I was 3)


• Dunwoody, GA


• Oxford, MS (on a lake...sigh....)


• Downtown Atlanta

6. What jobs have I had...

I'm only going to do paying jobs...

• accompanist (on piano)


• teaching assistant at Georgia Tech for an artificial intelligence class


• research assistant at GT


• actress (yup, I've gotten paid...more than once, too!)


• consultant (of the software variety)


• software developer

Nope, I've never worked in retail or food service. I would have been horrible at either!

Unpaid jobs...

• choreographer (for a cheerleading team...and if you don't think that's work...!!!)


• reading tutor


• Sunday school teacher (yeah, it's work for sure!!)


• worship team singer/percussionist


• technology specialist (and ball roller) at the Paralympics (We were at the Standing Volleyball venue and they were short-handed on floor staff one day)

7. Peeps I want to know more about...
I'll tag

• Susan


• casablanca


• Erin


• Julia


• Jenni


• Shanta

Whew! I actually cut that list down to six to comply with the rules (you know me ;). I'm counting on you guys to tag the peeps I missed. =)

JiffNotes
Sing with me now..."Getting to knooooow you, getting to know alllll aboooout youuuu...."

Dream to Daze

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Today, I feel almost human.

Last week was my first full week of work. Well, at least, my first full week in a long time. From some comments I've gotten (here and IRL), I thought I'd clarify a few things.

I've been working part-time for about 5 years, I think. Once upon a time I worked very, very far away. (26 miles--about an hour--one way...I know, I know, others have it worse, but they made that choice. My company moved.) I couldn't take the commute, so I quit. Meanwhile, a solutions provider offered me a job. Problem: They were in the same building. Solution: They said I could work from home and only come in for meetings. Problem: After a couple years, they reneged on this offer. Solution: I went part-time. Eventually, I quit that job, and I actually took a year off (that's how bad the job was, and that's another subject entirely dealing with a boss who had issues with women). Now, before all that drama, I was working full time and had been since I got my Master's. At one point, I was even contracting in Orlando during the week. I've done 12-hour days (and more) many a time. I still do, in fact. But only when it's necessary.

After a year off, I went back to work as a contractor (still part-time). I actually didn't think they'd want me part-time, but I had more domain knowledge than anyone else they would have gotten, so it was worth it for them. The contract was only supposed to be three months, but they wanted to keep me. Even though there was a hiring freeze, and the company was bought and they let all contractors go, I was still there. I'm not sure what they did; I think they transitioned me to a permanent employee behind someone's back! Anyway, the problem again became the commute. I thought, I can do anything for three months, but I wasn't prepared to take up residence at a job that far away again. So, I found my current job.

I came into my current job as a replacement for a full-time programmer. Once he left, there were just two of us...another full-timer and me. This was great for about six months...then, he left as well. So there I was, all alone, doing the work of two full-time guys in my part-time schedule. This was due in part to my brilliant (former) manager, who kept non-essential tasks off my horizon until we hired another resource. And somehow I gracefully avoided making jokes about one woman being able to do the work of two men (at least out loud). =)

When I went full-time, indystitch, I did say "at least until the end of the year." I'm really hoping I can go back part-time then. Three days a week is great; it gives me two days to do all the household chores and rest up a bit. It's the equivalent of my sister the middle school media specialist (librarian); my vacation is just spread throughout the year. She's tried to get me to swtich to being a media specialist, but it'd take me a while to get to my current level of income in that position!

Normally, on Thursday, I sleep an extra 2-3 hours to make up for the amount I've worked during Monday-Wednesday. This past Thursday, I could tell my body was in shock. I felt tired, but more like my body was saying, "Hey, what's going on here? Oh, this must be one of the weeks when we're working a little extra. OK." Friday, it revolted. I was so brain-dead by about 3:00 that I couldn't even do simple coding tasks like removing carriage returns from Strings. I seem to have been getting through my weeks on stress; Saturday morning I woke up at 5am (after 6 hours sleep...and I'm one of those people that need 8 hours a night) and couldn't go back to sleep, I was so stressed. Not about anything in particular, except trying to get everything I'd normally do Thursday-Saturday done in one day. I did nap for about two hours. Sunday, I could express that Saturday I felt like I had jet lag, the worst headache ever, the worst lower backache ever and the worst upper backache ever, all at the same time. I couldn't have told you that Saturday; I was too much in a daze.

My (current) manager even told me on Friday, "I know how you are; you really need to pace yourself from now on." How often does your manager tell you to slow down?? I think that when I was part-time, I'd been trying to do five days' worth of work in three. Last week, I did that, then worked two extra days. That's not going to cut it. I'm trying to go easy this week. And last night I went to bed at 9:30 (unheard of at the Lott Loft), because I was already feeling dead tired yesterday (I wasn't totally recovered by Monday).

As for buying more stash with the extra cash, my stash diet for the year was not due to lack of funds...it was due to lack of time to do everything I have. And now there's even less time. I am ogling a few expensive electronic gadgets, though. ;)

Susan, I have one thing to say: GO FOR IT!! After all, we work to live and not the converse! Time is precious! And you'll definitely make more as a contractor, that's for sure.

Michael has been helping me with dinner, which has actually been kind of fun. It certainly seems like less of a chore. I just have to curtail my perfectionist tendencies and let him do stuff his way...it still gets done and still tastes good. =) When I was part-time, I'd cook two or three nights out of Thursday-Sunday, and we'd eat leftovers Monday-Wednesday. Yesterday, we left work a little earlier (6:00 rather than 6:30 or 7) so we could cook.

Lene...totally. The dream is for Michael and I BOTH to work part-time!! Someday we'll make it happen!! People get way too wrapped up in their jobs and miss so much beauty around them!

I did get some more interesting reactions when people found out I was going full time. Quite a few "now you're just like the rest of us" (erm, sorry, still not like the rest of you people ;), spoken with varying levels of bitterness. I get it...really I do. You can't help the jealousy. But I have to thank you lovely commenters for being some of my few sympathizers! I know lots of people have it worse. I really had a rotten week (with some family kerfuffle thrown in the mix), though, and all I wanted was a little pat on the back and a "there, there". Sometimes you don't want your suffering judged on the curve.

Enough rambling on...I need to talk about the end of Amazon April and the start of May Memories. And, you know, show pictures instead of making your eyes glaze over with words, words, words!

Next time, I promise.

JiffNotes
Working part-time is awesome, working full-time is terrible, and switching from part-time to full-time makes you feel like you're starring in Night of the Living Dead.

The end of the dream

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I don't think I've actually mentioned this on the blog before, but I work as a software developer part-time. Not as a contractor, but as a salaried, part-time employee, Monday through Wednesday.

Why? Because I can.

I always get interesting reactions when I tell people this. They generally range from "you're my hero" to some sort of disbelief. One woman at my company, upon learning I wasn't full-time, immediately asked me if I had kids. When I told her "no," she looked at me as though I'd just offered her a plate of rotten strawberries for a snack. Apparently in her world, having kids was the only acceptable "excuse" for working part-time. =)

How I got this gig is kind of a long story, but the short answer is that I prayed for it. The circumstances were totally beyond anything I could have cooked up; I didn't ask to go part-time...it just happened. That was at a previous job, but it gave me the confidence to say, when I interviewed for my current position, "I'll only accept a part-time position." Oh, they wanted me full-time, but I told them only three days a week were for sale. =)

So what about that gloomy post title? Well, about a month and a half ago, Michael told me his company was shutting down on April 15th. Maybe. Or maybe someone would buy it. Or something. As April inched closer, I realized we needed to do something (gotta have that healthcare, and the savings are kind of tapped out right now because we haven't sold the old place yet). So, I went to my manager and asked him if I could go full time (he kind of knew it was coming).

His response? "Sure!! Want to start this week??"

I have to say, it is nice to be wanted. =) So, come this Thursday, I will be full-time. *sigh* I tried to view this as a good thing. Michael promised me his "job" would be getting the old place fixed up and on the market. And, that dinner would be waiting for me when I got home (which is more than he got sometimes!!). These would be very good things! =)

But then, his stupid CEO bought the company.

Now we both have full-time jobs.

Dang it.

JiffNotes
I'll be working full-time starting May 1st. Chocolate and sympathy cards accepted....

What jury duty is good for

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Aparently, finishing about half a foot of a sock.

I didn't get selected for a jury, by the way. I didn't even get put on a panel of potential jurors, and my county has a "One Day, One Trial" policy, so I didn't have to go back the next day. The only kind of sad thing was that I missed the first day in my company's brand-new offices (jury duty was Dec. 10...why, yes, I am behind! And, yes, I did just graft the toe.). Oh, well. Everyone was just as confused the second day in the office!!

JiffNotes
Civic duty = sock

I'm sotally tober, why do you ashk, osifer?

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This is a picture taken outside our office building. Sadly, I did not see it in person.

Yes, that is a pedestrian bridge. Yes, that is a car. Yes, the driver was intoxicated, why do you ask?? I'm wondering how she managed to not go in the drink (so to speak), and why it did not occur to her she might be driving somewhere she shouldn't when 1) she drove down some stairs (click to make the picture bigger and look through the tree branches), 2) she was driving across a wooden bridge in a Metro Atlanta office park or 3) the "siderails" on the bridge were mere inches from the sides of her car. Aparently she got the clue when she realized she'd need to drive up some stairs to continue. And by "got the clue," I mean, "passed out in her car to be found by a security guard the next morning."

JiffNotes
Turn down the stupid. Please.

A Carol for Boxing Day

Please don't try to sing along...the words totally don't go with the meter...

In the days before Christmas, the season gave to me...

12 days Sudafed taking
11 dozen cookies baking
10 boxes ornaments hanging
9 phone wires dangling
8 hours jury serving
7 components for beading

there were earrings, too...

6 Christmas parties
5 more days of Sudafed!!
4 choir rehearsals
3 scarves for knitting

2 crates for office moving
...and a gross of ornaments on the tree.

Maybe I'll make more time to post next year...

I love Halloween because...

When it's over, you can get this...

...for under 8 bucks.

And it should last on my desk at my office at least a month.

Death by Whiffle Ball

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Once upon a time, corporate teambuilding meant one thing: Laser Tag. This was all well and good, but it got to be a little stale after a while. Then came Paintball. In a word: ouch. I am happy to report that I avoided both of these sports (sic); the only work reward I can recall that involved any game playing was when I got an XBox as a bonus. And, of course, there were no unfortunate physical side-effects of that, except for lack of sleep induced by a deep, lingering addiction to all things Halo.

Fortunately for all we chicks who don't wish to be pegged with paint traveling at a pain-inducing velocity, there's a new teambuilding exercise in town...Whirlyball. This may sound like it involves toilets, or pinwheels of some kind, but it actually involves bumper cars, dunking-booth-esque goals, a whiffle ball, and a jai alai-like scoop:


Here's our referee explaining the rules of the game. (Check out the aw3some graphic of the wife-beater-wearing Whirlyball player on the wall.)

I think the rules can be summed up thusly:

• No slashing (whacking other people or their scoops with your own)


• No touching the whiffle ball with your hands (unless it's been so badly mangled that you need to turn it back into a sphere).


• If you manage to hit the target with the ball, but it doesn't trigger the buzzer, tough noogies.


• You should not ram people from behind.


• Keeping one hand on the steering mechanism, which is a giant metal rod bent into a 90 degree angle located at about navel level, may help you avoid unfortunate bruising when someone rams you from behind.


• Flirting with/bribing the referee will cause judgment calls to go your way.


• You are more likely to win on penalties the other team commits than on goals your team makes.

I am hampered by the fact that I forgot my camera, or I'd be able to show you exciting things like said giant metal rod, or the inspiring stained glass sculpture of a Whirlyball game in the "foyer". Alas, I only have blurred action to show you:

I was thinking, "Geez, we're just going to be riding around in bumper cars (or "Whirlybugs", as they are called) for a couple hours. No big deal." Here's a catalog of my injuries from the afternoon:

• Bruise on left thigh close to hip (cause: seatbelt)


• Bruise about three inches below right clavicle (cause: also seatbelt)


• Bruise on back of right arm (cause: ?? whiffle ball at high velocity? seat while being rammed from behind?)


• Bruise on inside of right knee (cause: giant metal rod)


• Sore left hand (cause: steering with giant metal rod)


• Sore thighs (cause: reaching up to try and block all those over-six-foot behemoths on the other team)


• Sore back (cause: being me. Seriously, it's usually a little sore, and being rammed from behind doesn't help.)


• Sore...umm...let's just call it "saddle sore" (cause: being rammed from behind at such high speed it caused me to lift out of my seat several inches, despite seat belt, and re-initiate contact with the seat quite suddenly)

JiffNotes
Whirlyball is the new Paintball. The pain is just different.