Scary Day; Luchador Photo-Op; Granddaughter Takes A Peek

With my wife's great help, I launched into this Dia De Los Muertos (Halloween) with gusto & an early start this morning. My wife was up extra early so she could put the finishing touch on my toque at 5 am, & then helped me get fully into costume at 8 for my workday starting at nine. I walked in the front door at work & the receptionist, who sits about 15 yards away from the door, gasped & reacted with fright when she saw my outfit, which is actually quite frightening, & the reaction is of course exactly what I hoped for. It went that way for the rest of the day *:-) Nobody knew who was inside the costume until I spoke, so it is a good one.

When I knocked on my bosses door for the first time this morning to check in with him, he had the Acting Executive Director in with him & my boss took a quick look at me in my stuff, grabbed his luchador mask, which was very good, & got the AED to take our picture, feigning a battle, & it looks darn good as a photo *:-)

I had a sponsored company lunch time costume potluck to go to at noon, & I snuck out just a little early, although it is pretty hard to sneak looking the way I did, so that I could try to catch some time with my grandkids while my wife was still watching them in their home here in town. I got there, but my daughter in law would not let me in & would not let the kids see me because she said I looked too scary & it would frighten them. I mentioned "Well, yeah, that's the point", but she didn't agree & so my wife came out onto the front porch & she & I talked for a little bit & then since I wasn't going to get inside, & had the potluck to get to, I began to leave, but stopped at the bottom of the front porch steps & turned & looked back, & just exactly as I did that, my granddaughter flew across the room past her "guardian" mom, threw back the front door curtains, & stood looking straight at me & got the full frontal shot of the Chef Dia De Los Muertos, & I think that is a good thing. My wife said she didn't cry or get upset or anything. She's cool *:-)

The kids got into town for a little costumed walk around while my wife was there, & then their dad (my son) traveled the long distance from his work so they could go trick or treating in their neighborhood, which they did to the delight of our granddaughter, who in turn delighted all who saw her at the houses they visited. I am very grateful that my son got to be with his kids at Halloween *:-)

Loteria; Dia De Los Muertos; Apron For The Skull Chef

Loteria, the game cards from Italy, now part of Dia De Los Muertos, will decorate the halloween apron I will be wearing tomorrow as part of my Skull Chef costume, with the apron made by my wife *:-) It is pretty cool, & we will see what the reactions are.

Grandma (my wife) gets to hang with the grandkids for a while tomorrow, which is very cool. They will be up here "visiting" their house which is still for sale, & will also do a little neighborhood trick/treat in the evening. I hope they have fun.

People Like My Photo; Surprise Link; Phone Phailure

Hey hey hey *:-) So far people like the photo I submitted as part of the local contest, which makes me feel good, & when I looked at the site for the local weekly paper that is hosting the contest, I noticed a link on the home page that shows what local houses have been selling for, & it contains an incredible amount of detail & all for free, although it is necessary to register to get access. Very informative, especially since it shows houses in the near neighborhoods that our son & his family are trying to sell their house in. My wife & I will tell our son about it so they can be realistic about their pricing & can speed up the completion of the sale so they can move on to getting another house near where my son is working now & can get their family back together.

The phone system guys were back at South Swamp all day today, & what a keystone cop routine *:-) I am not exaggerating...when they left this evening, when someone from outside calls person A, the phone on person B's desk rings *:-) Absolutely hilarious. It'll be another week before they get it straightened out.

Photo Entered; SharePoint Uploads; Wife Bitten

I took a photo today out in our yard, edited it to perfection, & submitted it to the local weekly paper photo contest. I rarely do that, although I am an excellent photographer/artist, & this time I felt motivated to do so because my wife & I live on such a beautiful natural place. I am happy with the result, & am letting go about the winning thing, although I will accept the prize if I do win. Good luck to me.

I loaded some new data elements into our South Swamp SharePoint site, & reloaded all but one of the items from last week which were dumped when the server crashed. I didn't get much South Swamp work done this weekend, & that is ok. I did not get to TeleWork last Friday, & spent the entire day at the South Swamp HQ chasing rabbits around the office covering for the 2 ET staff members who are on vacation. Damned phone system installation didn't get done either. Oh well.

My wife is suffering, but will recover. Although we got to spend a very nice weekend together, on Saturday evening, while watching a bit of DVD entertainment, she got a bite of some kind on the back of her leg behind one of her knees, & by today it had swollen up quite large & was itching ferociously. We put clay on it & before we did that I took a 3 mega-pixel close up photo & we viewed it on our Mac & we think the clay will resolve it. She lay down to rest 3 hours earlier than usual, with the lights out, not knitting or anything, which caught me by surprise, so I know it is bothering her. I hope she recovers quickly.

Patience Please; Green Beans

I almost requested a change to my work schedule so that I could appear more professional, & then realized that nobody would notice since South Swamp is a bureaucracy with everybody waiting to retire or get a different job. I caught myself in time & won't be sending any emails to my boss this weekend, whew!

My wife made green beans to go with the rest of our meal this evening & since they came from the local farmer's market, they were fabulous. I appreciate that *:-)

An Inconsequential Workplace

Ahhh, Bureaucracy. I mastered it once long ago, & I can do so again. It was a matter of me not wanting to accept that the workplace I have chosen to try to complete my worklife truly IS a bureaucracy, & ONLY a bureaucracy. Many colorful shrouds surround the core but they are window dressing on a thoroughly entrenched & powerful bureaucracy. I have a couple good mentors now, one of whom is consciously trying to help me. so I am not making the journey to acceptance alone. Thank you, Senor. The definition that I have chosen for "bureaucracy" is "a workplace where there are no consequences for any work-related behavior, neither negative behavior nor positive behavior".

"The Bureaucrat"...My New Autobiography

Yes, well...I've learned a great deal in the last couple weeks, having had the opportunity to observe, & been drawn into, the inner circle of a University of Blueberry Syrup mid-level bureaucrat with 21 years successful service, & whose wife has even more service, & holds a higher rank. This education has given me enough knowledge to make changes in my behavior, which started in a small way today, & which will expand into a full change in a couple weeks. For tomorrow, it is about clothing. For a couple weeks from now, I'm worried that I might even be playing a bit of golf at noon *:-( Repugnant as that is to me, I want very much to remain employed for another 8 years, & am willing to go with the flow. I continue to seek guidance.

Triple-Coat Golden Nugget; Ginko Leaf Grandee; Grandkids!

My boss has been fondling the piece of granite rock quite a bit that I had spray painted to look like a golden nugget, & it looked a bit worse for wear. Last night I triple-coated it with fresh gold paint & it gleamed like a new Blackberry Pearl this morning when I put it on his desk. He was pleased. About 3:30 pm, when the IT Manager returned from an equipment transfer trip to corporate headquarters earlier in the day, she had a brief meeting with our boss to cover the items needing scheduling for the week long vacation she starts tomorrow. I had not expected the response she gave when first walking in to his office to start her meeting...the first thing she noticed was the gold nugget *:-) She wanted to know where the boss had gotten the bright shiny new nugget that looked just like the old one, & she could tell because the old one was in the shape of the state we live in & so was the new one! Hilarious. Thing is, I ended up triple-coating hers tonight by the light of the porch lamp, since she wanted hers to look new too *:-) Oh well.

My boss went nuts over the 3 Ginko leaves I took in this morning & he played with them most of the day, calling me in to take digital photos of his various arrangements as he looks for the design of a new logo he is working on. He asked me to bring more tomorrow so we can work with the web designer to create the logo. I've got the leaves being flattened & dried in a heavy book with weight on top overnight, & I finished drying the painted golden nugget in front of the electric heater about 1/2 hour ago. I am not going to ask myself if this is work or not, & I guess they will stop paying me if they don't want me to spend my time doing this stuff.

We were so lucky today that the grandkids were brought, briefly, back up to their home that is being sold, long enough for my wife to spend quality time with both of them. I know that I have an ache that comes when I don't get to see them, & I am happy that some relief was given today.

Blindsided By A Washingtonian VIP; Ginko Is My Leaf Of Choice

Hey man, I was just sitting in my cube in the semi-secure ET area, headphones in place, groovin' on XM, munching occasionally on the chocolate torte I had recently microwaved for 34 seconds to reach perfect melt point, sipping my tea, & doing research on brainstorming for a tough all staff session I have coming up. A persistent person appeared in my vision, un-escorted & unannounced, which I ignored for about 1 second, but the person had the requisite perfect clothing ensemble, the very important looking leather-bound full size note pad clutched under her arm, & was projecting that sort of shifting, constantly on the move, "Hey Hey, I'm important & I need you to serve me" sort of motion. I took the headphones off, looked up, &, without actually making eye contact, said "Hi, can I help somehow?". The just-moved-here from the state of Washington VIP said she was looking for the Acting Interim Executive Director. I relaxed, assuming I was going to get off easily, & informed the VIP that the Acting Interim Executive Director was on holiday for 3 weeks & wouldn't be back for quite a while yet. She didn't miss a beat. She said, without even 1 full second's hesitation, that she wanted to meet whoever was in charge because she is the new (as of yesterday) AVP of the organization that South Swamp reports to (she didn't say "South Swamp") & was making her rounds of the off-campus groups that make up areas of her responsibility. I rose from my chair to my most professional height & bearing (less height & a little more "bearing" than when I was younger), & escorted her, using my British "My Good Man" mode, to the fellow who has been left in charge, whose office door was closed. I asked her to wait, knocked on the door, & when it opened, explained the situation. He said he was too busy right then because he was expecting a call from the Super Big Biggie any minute. I whispered that this is a new AVP & she is just a few feet away so maybe he better make a little time. He did, she went in, they chatted, and then...then...yes dammit...then when they came out he asked me to give her a full tour & to introduce her to everybody. Fuck. Anyway, I continued as the British "My Good Man" & gave her the best service I could, & I heard her mention to one of the Directors she talked to that she liked the way I handled her. Hey, gotta give the young ones a little extra so they keep coming back for more, eh?

My boss, the philosopher & sort of technophile without really being a technophile, is looking for a leaf to use for the icon for the conceptual product he is working on & has been asking me for a lot of help. I was again groovin' on XM with my headphones when my cube neighbor IM'd me that the boss has been yelling for me *:-) Oops. I told my buddy that maybe my boss should start podcasting if he wants to get hold of me *:-) Anyway, I had to go to his office & give him the names of North American Leaves (he is Hispanic and doesn't know the names in English) so he could use Google images to check 'em out. We went through quite a few & he wasn't letting me go so I finally said "Hey, the one I would use if this were mine would be the Ginko". He loves it, & let me go back to my cube *:-)

Strike!; Server Up; Lost Uploads; Missing Man

My colleague, a senior member of the ET group & who is also the IT manager, stated in the staff meeting today that she was ready to walk out if the manager had invited the "snoopers" in for the meeting again, which, thankfully, he did not. The amazing thing is that I was ready to say exactly the same thing, so we were reading from the same script without knowing. The boss man told the "snoopers" that they could, from this time forward, only come in when invited. Yeah!

The server that hosts our SharePoint site is back up as of late this afternoon, so all is well.

Unfortunately, the last backup we had was from Saturday morning, & I had uploaded quite a bit onto the temporary server on Sunday, so, sayonara uploads. I will need to do it again.

For our group luncheon today, one of our members refused to come with us & was missing at lunch, & we suspect he was sneaking out to have lunch with one of the snoopers on the side. This fellow, who did not come with us, doesn't really support the group but just stays non-committal & laid back & wants to be loved by everyone. Yuck.

Workies; Time With Wife; Bumped By Tough Guy

I worked pretty much most of the day today using our scanner, which only works with my older laptop, & the process is slow, but good. We may look into getting a scanner that works well with our Macs, but don't have the time at the moment.

Got to spend the whole day with my wife, except when she had to run out locally to get some supplies for safeguarding her carefully crafted garments, but that wasn't too long. Nice to be with her.

There is quite a bit of noisy, heavy construction going on including moving a lot of earth, and taking out trees, on the property two houses from us, the property where the back yard fell into the creek recently. I wanted to see & record what they are doing to make sure there is no run-off water being directed at us, and so I took a brief walk up the road & was taking some pictures, from the public highway, of the machinery & the land that was being moved, when a very large, gruff, angry workman came walking at me shouting "who the fuck are you? what are you doing here?" That was kind of fun & I ignored him & kept taking pictures without saying anything, since I was in the road & not on the land, but he kept getting closer & louder & was saying stuff that was supposed to provoke me, but didn't, & I kept taking pictures. He got real close & so I pointed the camera at him & took his picture & that scared him & he moved away quickly, but then came back quickly & did a "bump and run" on me using his shoulder to hit me the way a lineman does in clearing the way for a run, & again I ignored him & took another picture of him & then he took off and left me alone. What that tells me is that there is illegal & un-permitted work going on there & that is why they are scared. I will check it out, although I don't turn people in, but I do want to know if they are directing water our way.

Walkies Not Workies; We Miss The Grandkids; Studio Visitor

This weekend I did walkies, not workies on Saturday (today). We went to our favorite special woods walk & had a very nice time, & others were out too so it was a bit of a community event, although not overly so.

We decided not to travel the many miles to visit our temporarily holed-up-with-the-OTHER-grandparents grandkids, because their father (our son) has had to be away from them all week & also has the pressure of selling the house, so we are giving them as much space as we can. We hope they get through this difficult time ok, & that the kids are smart enough & feel secure enough to use it as a learning experience (yes, even the newborn).

My wife had a surprise visitor up here at her mountain studio today, & it was a famous author who lives in the area who has been a student of my wife's for quite a while, & just had to show my wife the garment that she purchased, & at the same time got to see the garments that my wife is working on right now, & the visitor loved them. That was an unusual thing, because we live pretty far out, & it was kind of cool, too.

TeleWork; Son Safe & Likes New Job; Truck Feet

I made it through today's telework day without too much hassle, for which I am grateful. The weekend is looking, at least at the moment, like it will be almost peaceful.

We got a phone call from our son this evening, the one who started a new job which is requiring big changes in his family life too, and he said he likes the new job & that things are "OK" with his family even though he doesn't get to see them during the week now. That's just the way it is, & that's the way it was for me too. We wish him well & are grateful that he likes where he is.

My wife was told by a colleague yesterday that she needed to have one of her rear truck tires fixed because it was almost flat, & she intended to get it done on her way home, but forgot....oops *:-( We checked it out this morning & there was still enough air in the tire to get her to the tire shop, so off she went. Although the bill was well over $750 for the 4 new tires she ended up needing, she & I both know that tires are very very very important, so we are both happy for the new truck feet she came home with. I went out & kicked them just for the hell of it anyway *:-)

Success; Firm Hand

The keynote that I spent so much time & energy on was a big success & I am grateful. My boss said it catapulted the organization forward by 6 months, & did several important peripheral accomplishments as well. Good on me, mate *:-)

Our missing facilities manager situation caused more distress today, & the workmen kept bothering my colleague with questions that were not hers to handle, & problems that were not hers to solve, so I put my foot down & asked them to leave her alone & to just deal with the facilities manager, & if the facilities manager isn't available, too bad. They were shocked, but it worked.

24 Hours Of Microsoft; Absent Without Leave; Trance Trances

My colleague, who is our IT Manager, IM'd me from her home at 5:59 pm on Tuesday night (I leave at 6) & asked if I was still there. I was. Her pager had just gone off letting her know that the server that keeps SharePoint going had just crashed. I had noticed that I couldn't log out but hadn't figured out what had happened yet. She asked me to go to the data center & check it out, which I did, & found serious error messages on the console. She said it was too serious for her to walk me through it so she would have to come in, & I went home. She ended up staying until 10 pm, with no progress, so she called her boss & asked him if he needed her to stay all night, & he said no, just go home & deal with it in the morning. She had already placed the order for a replacement drive from Dell, & we have 4 hour service on that server, so the part would be there at 8 am. That gave her a 14 hour day on Tuesday. She arrived at 8 am today & the part was here, & she called Microsoft. Heh. Yeah, she called Microsoft. Heh. She had the headset on all day, & had to sit in her chair waiting for the SQL people to talk to the SharePoint people, & then check with her, then talk to each other again. This went on until 5:45 pm this evening, at which point she gave up & told the Microsofties that we would pick it up in the morning, & she would rebuild the hardware overnight in preparation. That, is a long couple days.

Our newly appointed Facilities Manager, the one who came in drunk last Friday & is best friends with the Acting Interim Executive Director, decided to take the afternoon off, even though there were workmen on contract that report to her, busy in the facility. What a f)&(^&&*(^(*g disaster. I got pissed off, & would not do her work for her, & just kept telling the guys to give her a call because she is in charge & "we know nothing". Oh well.

I had to work late tonight to finish a kind of tough keynote (powerpoint) that I will give tomorrow, & the only thing that kept me going was the awesome trance that I have downloaded over the last week or so. Really fine stuff *:-)

Waterslide Down; Bumpy Ride; Empty House

During a conversation with my wife today as I caught the little bit of sunshine in the parking lot on a break, I was describing how the work environment at South Swamp has changed since I was hired. At the time I started, a little over 2 years ago, the then Executive Director immediately recognized in me the attributes of a great teacher & marketing guy, & although I was hired as a teacher/trainer, he immediately propelled me into the highest circles of the University of Blueberry Syrup that are possible to reach, including a meeting in the system President's office within 2 months of me being hired, suits & ties, the whole thing. This continued for just over a year, with me being sent on missions that had a lot of visibility. I was accustomed to all that, so it didn't affect me, but it did condition me to certain habits in my then new position. At the beginning of my second year with the University of Blueberry Syrup, the Executive Director was arrested for embezzlement & the entire structure collapsed into what I now call South Swamp. I was asked to keep the torch lit as long as possible, & I did so on my own, with great effort. The time has now come that the torch has gone out, & a new one is trying to take fire. The whole point of this is that because I was raised so high so quickly, I now must make the long but very fast journey down to where I would normally be functioning, & it has been, & is, a long, bumpy ride on a very large waterslide. This realization helped me come to grips with what I am experiencing, & I am grateful for the vision *:-)

Our son & his wife & 2 children are fully engaged in moving, & our grandchildren & daughter-in-law have already left to stay with her parents many miles away, so we won't find it easy to see the little ones until things have settled. My son is staying in the new city that he works in, so that the commute doesn't destroy him, & it is a new job anyway, which will take all that he has. Good luck to them all.

Wiped Out; Blank Stare; No Clue; Lunch? WTF?; Did My Part

I was ready for the big show & tell I prepared to give at the ET staff meeting today, & in walk 2 people not authorized to be in the meeting (untrusted & not part of management). My boss did not throw them out, so I quietly turned off the digital projector and shut down my keynote presentation, and when it came my turn to present, I just mumbled a couple safe comments & let the meeting move on. My colleague, who has been at South Swamp for 6 years, was very demoralized by the experience too, and we just kind of looked at each other & shrugged our shoulders & mumbled "WTF?". The ET meeting is the only chance during the week when we get our boss's attention, and because communication is so poor at South Swamp, we really need his guidance. Oh well...

When the subject was brought up to our boss, he just responded with a blank stare (he has been sick, but hey, come on).

The visiting staff members had no clue that they were not welcome, & that indicates the general level of sensitivity at South Swamp. I heard a rumor that the Admin. Asst. to the Acting Interim Executive Director (who is on vacation) came in drunk on Friday. I missed it because I telework on Fridays. I'm actually glad I didn't see it *:-) Yuck.

My colleague & I were then a little stunned when the boss wanted us all (4 of us) to go out to the ET Group lunch, even though the meeting had been a disaster, & had only lasted for about 20 minutes instead of 2 hours. I said "no, thanks" at first, but then my colleague asked me to go so she wouldn't feel quite so out of place, & I went. We finished eating in about 1/2 the usual time, & our boss finally noticed that something wasn't right! He still didn't have a clue what to do though, so we all dropped it. Just as we were leaving the restaurant, & since I was closest to the boss, I heard him say under his breath that if we were demoralized now, wait until the new female boss Executive Director shows up. Nobody else heard him say that, & he was just kind of muttering, but that would explain his funk, since he was a candidate for that job too, & they haven't announced the winner, & no rumors have been going around, so maybe he has an insider that give him a heads up that he didn't get it. That would explain quite a bit. Sorry mate, if that is the case.

The big grant proposal that I have been working on for a week got sent at a few minutes before the 5 pm deadline today, and I contributed a big chunk of the stuff that was sent, so I did my part! Good for me *:-)

Workies Again; MrFixIt Visits; VP Visits (Very Pregnant)

Yah, wier haben werk heute. So what else is new *:-) Lots of document creation & keynote creation for a presentation tomorrow. Everything went pretty well *:-)

Put some new photos on Flickr that showed the visitors we had this morning. My youngest son & his VP (Very Pregnant) wife came up so my son could replace the large rear tail light on my wife's Toyota pickup truck. He really knows what he is doing, & did a very fine job, in quick time. That gave our daughter-in-law a chance to chat about birthing with my wife, which was cool too. The work my son was doing on the car motivated me to mount the numeric address identifier on the new fence too, & it looks very nice with the big brass numbers.

Off to pack up my stuff for going to work tomorrow *:-)

Workies-No-Walkies; Lotta Rain; I Want To

I spent the day working on timelines for a grant that I am helping to write, & got the major draft document sent off to my boss for approval today, although that meant my wife & I did not go for a walk in the woods. I had asked him to stay logged in over the weekend so he could respond quickly, since he is the one that actually is responsible for this, but he didn't, & hasn't responded yet. Oh well.

We have had a lotta rain lately, & we are really grateful. Living where we do without water is not fun. The rain let up just enough for our daughter & son-in-law (not the one who is moving, the one who is going to give birth soon) to borrow our pickup truck to go & get a sofa they purchased, I think from a listing on Craig's list.

I guess the reason I work so hard is because I want to, & also because I have seen what happens when a person doesn't do everything they can to stay financially afloat & also doesn't have the DNA to be extremely frugal & also has a family. I had horrible nightmares about being destitute when our kids were young. I am grateful they did not happen *:-)

Taught Today; Note Taker Today; Lookin' Good Today

I got to teach a class today, only one hour, but still teaching, which I enjoy. The class went well & they responded just as I had designed, except for one humorous image that they did not laugh at *:-(

I was the official staff meeting note taker today, & I introduced new technology to the process, with the eventual end point being that voice-to-text software should be doing the note taking. I had a couple recording processes set up, & one of them worked really well so I plan to output an mp3 file tomorrow that attendees can refer to if needed.

I dressed well today, & it made a difference. I was lookin' good, & was noticed. Excellent *:-)

Viper Full Of Fear Turns, Bites Own Family Members; Discomfort

The South Swamp Acting Interim Executive Director (yes, they still have not chosen a real one yet), knows that she is coming to the end of her life of power, & she is moving to consolidate as much as possible by putting her minions in positions of influence. However, she has lost control of herself & is also alienating staff who are absolutely key to the survival of the great ship South Swamp. Kind of like a poisonous snake in pain turning & biting itself & its offspring.

I am discomfited by working in a real, unchangeable, writhing bureaucracy. I found out today that if I survive for 5 years, then I will have become inured to bureaucratic ways, & the sailing should be smoother. I have no idea if that will happen.

Because I am tired from work, & also because I don't eat after 6 pm, & therefore get hungry, my wife & I are not getting along very well at the moment, also because she seems to be under some negative influence. I have faith that I am doing the best I can however, & must not let her attitude or feelings become mine. Good luck to me *:-)

Grant Writer; Scrap Crap Delivery; Official Scribe

So...for the last two days I have been having papers thrust into my face & have been asked to write/rewrite a grant proposal that is due on the 15th. The guys who are actually on the list as writing the grant haven't thought it through yet, so there is a lot of me running back & forth to their offices as I discover stuff that doesn't work, since I do have experience writing grants. No worries though, the person who thought up the grant is doing it for the good of the organization & I fully support the project, especially since he is my boss *:-)

Also today, since I own the only pickup truck in our entire organization, I was asked if I would take all the scrap crap IT hardware to the official University of Blueberry Syrup recycle station, which I did. Made for an interesting if somewhat incongruous break from the grant writing *:-)

Also today, I was elected to be the official staff meeting scribe, starting this Thursday, for our weekly staff meetings. Hmmm, I wonder what that means?

Panther Pwn'd; Solarcoaster (SM mix) Stranger Than Expected; Peruvian Beans

Yesterday I had to say goodbye to the small 'panther' convertible I had been driving (Miata) & on my last drive I put the top down & drove the 13 miles to the drop off point via a very scenic, twisty-turny road which was perfect for the car. Also, by the time my journey ended I discovered that all my sport car driving skill had returned in full, & I owned it *:-) Today, driving my own full size Toyota pickup, I found myself reaching to shift gears, which of course I don't do in the pickup. When I was younger, I drove, & loved, many sport cars, so I am not surprised it came back so quickly. Cool *:-)

I am now not quite so sure why I downloaded the Solar Stone trance mix "Solarcoaster", since it contains a lot of vocals that I don't remember hearing when I heard it on XM. It must the be mix I chose, so I will keep looking. I am not overly fond of the mix I ended up with *:-(

After our staff meeting today our boss invited us over to his house so he could feed us his home made salsa fresca, which was perfect, and his home made refried peruvian beans, which were delicious. I had never eaten peruvian refried beans before, so I enjoyed the new taste. We also had corn tortillas & avocado, so it was just about a perfect lunch. Thanks boss *:-)

I Ride A Panther; Topless In Town

First time driving the Mazda Miata was a little difficult, because I didn't put the top down, & had to look around for the various controls & wasn't used to the synchonization of the shifting, etc. No worries though, it didn't take me long to figure out that if I wanted to get in & out easily, the top had to come down *:-) Once I figured that out, it was a very nice ride to be driving. After driving about 50 miles or so, over a couple hours, I decided that the animal most like the Miata I was driving would be a young panther, just past the cub stage. Excellent suspension, steering, & very solid on the brakes, acceleration & shifting, without being over-powered. When it came time to put fuel in, it took me 7 minutes to crawl around looking for the gas port release lever, & I finally gave up & had to open the glove box & RTFM. Got it. No worries *:-), it's in the center storage console *:-) I am used to filling up my truck & so I blithely ordered $20 worth, which was almost too much for the tank! Yikes, I had forgotten how good the gas mileage is on the sport models. How nice *:-) That would have been about 1/3 of my tank *:-)

After doing my own errands around town I went back home to pick up my wife to take her to an event, & we went topless *:-) That was very nice & made us feel like real participants in the local culture & environment, since this area is a coastal recreational area & having a convertible to drive around was very cool *:-) After her event I picked her up & we drove some more, just for the pleasure of it. Nice *:-)

My Miata; Cheeks Hurt; Cat Is Back

Heh. I still don't believe I have a nice Miata convertible sitting in my driveway that I can drive anytime I want *:-) Heh. It's not mine of course, but since my son needed a pickup to do some moving to support his taking a new position with a company about 100 miles away, he did a temporary trade. I don't know if I will actually drive it or not, but if my wife wants to take a little ride to the grocery store or something tomorrow, we probably will *:-)

The mp3 file that I created, a short blues cut that has some of my vocals on it, resulted in smiles, giggles & laughter today for the folks I sent it to (at their request). One of the listeners said her cheeks hurt from laughing so hard *:-)

The soundtrack from a cool dvd that my wife & I have been watching (a series) is done by none other than Cat Stevens. I haven't even thought of him in a very long time, & now I will probably be downloading some of his stuff from iTunes tomorrow. Nice to know that sound is still around.

Chili Colorado Blues

How cool.

Last night, after a colleague sent me a short .wav file of his voice saying "chili colorado" over & over, I used GarageBand to juice it up & layed down a track of my own voice over it to create a little funny sound clip.

I played it for my boss, who totally cracked up, & then a few hours later he came by my cube & asked me to play it for him again, & he totally cracked up for the second time *:-)

It was a heck of a lot of fun *:-)

Hot Data; Staff Meeting; Staff Lunch; New Lights

The data center is still up around 90 degrees if the door is left closed all day, so we alternate sitting in there so we can keep the door open. The WIKI (remember: Weak, Inept, Knowledgeless, Inconclusive) management team has started to sort of maybe begin to set up a potential contact with someone who might be able to contact someone who might know something about HVAC so they can sort of come out & take a look & probably tell us it is our fault for screwing around with the thermostat. Nothing like a little hot data to spur people into inaction.

We had a staff meeting today, & our boss said it was a good one.

On the way to our staff lunch, while riding in the car transporting us, I turned to & asked my boss why he said he felt today's staff meeting was better than usual. He said because in today's staff meeting, we didn't spend any time gossiping about other staff members or whinging about our problems. Yeah, sounds like management still prefers hearing that everything is ok, even if it isn't *:-)

Mexican food today for the staff lunch, & this time I stuck with my old standby, the vegetarian guacamole tostada. Excellent, easily digestible, not to heavy on the tummy, & good for me *:-)

The contractor completed installing the new full spectrum flourescent lights throughout the building today, & it is fabulous to feel the light bathing my body & eyes, & it is truly rejuvenating. Thanks.

Tummy Ache!

Wow, I haven't had a tummy ache in like forever. I have one now *:-( I believe I will live, but gee whiz, I had forgotten how much not fun a tummy ache is. I don't want any more, so I will be more careful not to drink a large beer glass full of blueberry juice so late in the evening. Arghhhhhh!

10.5 Hour Day; No Lunch; No Break

I wonder why I have a headache? *:-)

The AC brokedown in the data center, & the only way to keep it cool enough for the servers to continue to work safely was to keep the door to the data center open with a big fan blowing air from the hallway in. The rest of the building was getting cooled, just not the data center. In our data center, we have data on underage students, & can't leave the servers unattended, so I spent the day, from 11 am until 7:30 pm in the data center doing my work in there. The IT manager was out sick, & the student assistants didn't feel like doing data center duty, so I took it upon myself to get it done, without causing any trouble over it. My boss appreciated it, & came by to say so *:-)

I actually didn't mind because I had a 26 page report to write, & I got it done just at 7:30 tonight, so tomorrow will be better *:-)

Good thing I took that chocolate torte *:-)