CafeChatNoir

I just got off the phone with two women who have had WAY too much caffeine this morning.

Apparently, you can’t send AC entries to RT entry people and there is a firewall, and you know, it’s just like they were different companies (on different planets I suspect), and you just CAN’T be sending them those items. (I think there may have even been something about wearing white after Labor Day in there somewhere, too.)

I lost track of how many times I told them I hadn’t sent them the items they were referring to, but I would gladly inform the gal that DID send them of this (apparently egregious) error.

I then spent the next 5 minutes assuring them that we did NOT have to conference her in on the call, as it really would be faster for me to just walk down the hall and TALK to her.

Why on earth they couldn’t forward the entries (only two of them, and sent via email) to the “right” person and just sent back an email saying, “Hey, this needs to go to person X because it’s on the AC books, we went ahead and forwarded it, but wanted to let you know for next month.” is completely beyond me.

Still annoyed, but the PTO issue will wait until AFTER we’ve closed.

Apparently, this is the first time in forever that we’ve gotten costs closed this early. (I said come hell or high water costs would be closed on Friday, and they were.)

There are two extremely confused Canadian geese out in the courtyard this morning wondering where their warm weather went to.

I still have to figure out how to get the “miscellaneous” entry jammed into the corporate system. About 90% of the way there.

We’re *so* close to being closed, but SO many things can still go wrong.

Eff everyone in the corporate world. Right in the middle of trying to close the books, I really, REALLY need some edict to come down about how we need to start accruing PTO by freaking person.

I *so* don’t give a rat’s ass if we ever get that to work.

Went out for what was only supposed to be a quick errand, but ended up being dinner, too.

Left the cats in the guest room (that is their preferred spot when Eve is roaming about) and placed Eve in the basement.

Came home to discover Eve standing at the front door waiting for me. Quick check shows that the cats have opened the door to the guest room as well, but Eve didn’t go in, as it would have been opened more than just the few inches it was.

So it would seem that she left the cats alone while we were gone.

Oh, did I mention that the basement door was blocked by A TWENTY FIVE POUND BARBELL???????

Resume is outta here.

Keeping my fingers crossed, but expectations low. Last time I had *THE* job in hand, the day after the verbal offer, the company lost it’s largest contract and immediately laid of 1/3 of it’s staff.

Seeing as how I can’t work on my tan today, laundry marathon is in full swing.

It’s March 30 and snowing. A perfect surreal addition to the completely whacked out dreams I had this morning…

My week was long and tiring. Totally got in the zone and kicked ass yesterday, but still tiring

Tim’s was, too - work a 36 hour day and you’d kinda be tired, too.

So, you wouldn’t think that going out would be at the top of the list of things to do by the time quittin’ time came around on Friday night. Me neither. :)

So, I get an IM that he has to go over to Tysons II after work, how about meeting up for dinner and maybe catching a movie? Hey, I’m game, and I tell my boss that at some point my phone will be ringing and that it will be my date for the night and I wil HAVE TO GO. Boss says it sounds like an excellent idea to him.

Never did make the movies, but had a nice time anyway. Wandered around the mall waiting while for a table at Maggianos. FAO Schwarz was having a sale, so I am started on my Toys for Tots shopping for Christmas!!

I am also getting my red mixing bowls!! They are like these, but fire engine red:

They came out around V-day, but sold out immediately. I OH SO WANTED THEM. But, no luck. Tim stopped over by W-S while in the mall, picked up a catalog and saw they had them in the other colors. Got someone to call and find out if they had any in red. YES - sort of. Backordered, but ON ORDER!

When I got there, he showed me the catalog w/ the blue ones… “Well, yeah, those are nice.” Then the orange ones… “Very cute, but I just REALLY liked those red ones.” At which point he handed me the order confirmation number. WOOT!

Nice dinner, nice shopping, good unwinding time. Sets the tone for a good chill out weekend.

I am going to be in so far over my head it isn’t even funny.

We’re getting there on the closing. Slowly, but we’re getting there. We really need to have our stuff done by tomorrow, so the gals that have to do revenue have enough time to do it. I’ve been on their side of the table, and there’s nothing worse than having a hard deadline and watching the time slip away while you’re waiting for G/L to finish screwing around with things.

I certainly think we can do it. I’ve gotten all my items in the system and posted. I need to get some clarification on some other items that are awaiting posting before cementing those in. Once that is done, I have to run one reversal, and then we will try and post the service centers/pools - and the now dreaded computer pool. Keeping my fingers crossed on that one.

It’s SO draining. It shouldn’t be. A normal closing isn’t necessarily a walk in the park, but it shouldn’t be like this. Most of it is coming from the atmosphere, and not the work itself, which is unfortunate. I have reached a level of full on paranoia/panic over the two sets of books not tying or something popping up that we have no support for and having to listen to the tirades of some insane lunatic up in NJ over it.

Had “the talk” with my boss today - more of a good shoot the shit session than anything, but I got some info, most of which I had suspected already. It is highly unlikely that my boss will be replaced. He thinks I’ll be reporting to one of two people, and that neither will be able to be of much help to me in any way, shape or form.

I’m still trying to get my resume cut down. Boss & I brainstormed it for a few seconds and came up with an idea. Bulk up the summary section and then cut down on the ‘per job’ bullets. It should work - I just need to be a little more clearheaded to do it.

I am so tired. It’s not the “good tired” either. I hate that phrase, but it fits. I guess it is “tired and wrung out” vs. “tired but accomplished.” Or something like that.

My boss told me today: “You are so much like me, I feel sorry for you.” LOL, I told him I was going to take that as a compliment. *I* think he’s a pretty good guy. Shame he’s leaving.

Pizza for dinner. Spinach Alfredo. Sounds odd, but it is OH SO GOOD.

It could be worse. Night before last, Tim worked until 3:30 in the morning. Last night, the same, but he got to go home, take a shower, turn around and go straight back into work. They told him and one of his coworkers around lunchtime to “go nap for an hour and get refreshed”.

I need to spend some time this weekend deciding what I am going to do with these freshwater pearls that I have. There is something pretty just waiting to happen there.

It will not be a late night for this chick. Once the pizza is done, it’s off to bed with a book. Either PJ ORourke, or “Final Accounting - Ambition, Greed, and the fall of Arthur Andersen”. Tough choice - work screams for Final Accounting, world events call for PJ. May have to just flip a coin.

At least the weather is finally warming up, and that means one thing - AG FAIR SEASON IS COMING!!!

Looks like I’ll finally find out what is going to happen when Mark leaves. He said we’re gonna talk about “the future” after he gets back from lunch. Sounds like not all his problems will become my problems, but some will get shifted off to another manager.

Thing is, if I wanted his job, I would have said so when he said he was quitting. But, the fact of the matter is that I *don’t* want his job.

I’m working on my resume and it will be hitting the street shortly. I’ll do whatever I can as long as I am still here, but I work too hard for too little money to justify the constant abuse from senior management on a near daily basis. And to be honest, I don’t think there is any amount of money that can justify taking what goes on around here.

So, I will sit and take notes and

Our budget manager left, his replacement probably will be leaving, my boss is leaving, I’ll hopefully not be too far behind him. All for the same reason - no one should have to take this kind of crap. Do you think anyone will take notice?

No, I don’t think so either.

We have a critical contractor on one of our jobs here. Part of the deal is that we pay his hotel directly when he is here. (He stays at one of those extended stay places.) Well…. Mega Corp has stopped paying the bill. One month ago, the contractor sent an email to all parties involved neatly spelling out the problem and that it had to be fixed or he would have to walk.

One of the responses was that “it seemed like he had an attitude problem”.

Great vendor relations, huh?

As of today, the hotel hasn’t been paid, and the contractor is packing his things.

Not only does Jesus save, but he makes nightly off-site backups.

We’ve got two days left this week. Ideally by Friday, the general ledger should be 90% closed. A couple small items left on Monday morning. Then revenue can start.

We have to be completely done by noon on Wednesday. We have to have our results in by COB Wednesday, and getting those into the corporate ledger is a big enough goatrope as it is, so I finally just told the gals that actually do the revenue that the deadline is NOON, since no one else would say it.

I’ve got to get the intercompany crap straightened out (I’m about halfway there), get the prepaids put in the system (I should have done that today - what pre-empted that?), get the stuff that I *have* put in the system posted, and try and get some of the corporate ledger entries put together. Those are a bitch and a half to do. Cash has to be slammed in there somewhere, but we probably won’t be able to do that until sometime on Monday.

The there is the computer center allocation. We’ve had to change things around the the system, tomorrow we have to try a test run on it. God help us if it doesn’t work.

It’s a bad situation on the subs, and I probably won’t go medieval on anyone, much as I would like to. We’ve been told that if the intercompany balances aren’t equal, they’ll be written off. Not good, and frankly, not terribly practical. Problem is, we’re supposed to be closed next Wednesday. They were (in theory, certainly not in practice) supposed to be closed today, so we’d have their interco balance to work against. Well, seeing as how I don’t have jack-shit for March for either one, I’d say they aren’t closed. I will be bringing this up this little snag with Blondie and see what she has to say about it, because she’s the one that has been the thorn in my side on this issue - and she’s the one that said the subs had been told they had to close a week early. The subs have simply stopped answering their phones. I can’t say that I blame them.

The comms situation in our department is getting out of hand, too. Our A/P department is out in Herndon now, we’re still in Vienna, we’ve got someone that isn’t even from our group doing our labor postings (and not even bothering to notify us when it’s done, even when she says she will.) - oh, and payroll is now being transferred to Florida. We TRY to keep everyone informed of what needs to be done when, and who (everyone) needs to be notified and all that - but it just isn’t working. Sad, cause when I got there, things were pretty well oiled. The corporate mandated changes over the past couple of months have taken their toll.

Then there is the review of results. I am NOT looking forward to this. I am not directly involved, in that I don’t have to be on the phone call, but I have to be there for moral support and data explanations if necessary. Last month was a bloodbath. Seriously - five hours, and the guy we report upstream to HUNG UP on us halfway through it. I really, REALLY don’t want to go through that again. But I somehow doubt that this guy is going to come to his senses and realize that beating the crap out of a division that is nothing more than a rounding error isn’t going to make his stock options worth anything more.

I am not kidding on the rounding error - they PUBLICLY reported their 2002 results before our division was closed.

We have to be closed by the second working day of the month. We will bust our asses to do it. We will invariably do something wrong, because of the insane timeline. They will scream. It will be ugly.

I hope I don’t have too many of these left - they take a lot out of a gal.

Yahoo comes through with some cool pics for today…

K-Dog a Bottle Nose Dolphin belonging to Commander Task Unit (CTU-55.4.3) leaps out of the water in front of Sergeant Andrew Garrett while training near the USS Gunston Hall (LSD 44) operating in the Arabian Gulf, March 18, 2003. This is a multinational team consisting of Naval Special Clearance Team-One, Fleet Diving Unit Three from the United Kingdom, Clearance Dive Team from Australia, and Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Units Six and Eight. These units are conducting deep/shallow water mine counter measure operations to clear shipping lanes for humanitarian relief. REUTERS/U.S. Navy (news - web sites)/Brien Aho
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/030324/170/3m4ly.html

Indian tigers at play at Bannerghatta National Park in Bangalore. An environmental group is calling for an end to illegal mining in wildlife reserves that threaten tigers.(AFP/File)
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/030325/241/3m9ku.html

4-year-old Jake Pedraza looks up to Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Josh Phelps during the national anthem before the Blue Jays game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, March 24, 2003, at Dunedin Stadium in Florida. Pedraza participated in a ‘baseball buddies’ program that allows little leaguers to stand on the field with the big leaguers during the national anthem. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/030324/221/3m4iz.html

A three month old baby polar bear plays in the sand after his first steps outside with mother Vera to search for food after hibernation at the Ouwehands Zoo in Rhenens, the Netherlands, March 21, 2003. REUTERS/ Michael Kooren.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/030321/222/3kyy9.html

I’m trying to figure out just what I’ve been doing at my current employer for the past 9 months. It would seem that I am a glorified data entry clerk.

There must be more to it than that.

At the moment, my resume is three pages long. Thinking that may be just a *bit* long.

And I still haven’t elaborated on what I’ve been doing in my current engagement, so that will add a few more lines. (Have one and two word bullets in so far just to make sure I’m hitting on what I’m doing.)

I’m pretty sure I hit everything they’re looking for with my experience, just need to get that across in writing.

Company X is in search of seasoned Accounting professionals to provide implementation & general consulting services to our Software clients. Instead of performing those routine accounting functions, use your accounting expertise to lead and assist with Software system implementations.

Qualified candidates will:
be problem solvers with a corporate financial background Got it.
and posses strong business acumen, Um, sure.
excellent people skills and I can fake that
exp with project oriented accounting systems. No less than three of them
Nationwide travel is a requirement - up to 100%. Why not? (Though I know a *very* large part of their user base is local.)
Must have exp with Software Product 1 and/or Software Product 2, BOTH!
as well as a degree in Business, Accounting, or Finance. Yep
CPA/MBA a plus. PLUS!

So, the resume will be heading out the door here very soon. If nothing else, this gets me kicked into gear.

Target of the first outgoing resume has been identified.

I think I’ve got almost everything they’re looking for. (”Almost” due to the fact that they don’t specify exactly what they mean by “seasoned accounting professional”)

Resume writing and polishing this evening.

HQ: Fill out this form.
Us: There aren’t any instructions.
HQ: You should already know how, you did it last month.
Us: This is completely different from anything you’ve ever sent us.
HQ: No it isn’t.
Us: Really, it is. Can you give us some guidance here?
HQ: No.

I am so not kidding

spend their lunch break updating their resume?

In next job, START with only doing enough to not get fired. Otherwise, you just quickly end up with way more work than any one person can handle. This way, you might end up with a reasonable workload.

I’ve been trying to get a project done for work. Had to set it aside on Friday because it just wasn’t working.

Picked it up again this evening. More swearing over the fact that no one has bothered to set up a mapping system to strip out the data we need to get into the corporate system. I could do it, but really - I don’t get paid enough for this. I can do the accounting or I can SA the system - not both.

So, in coming up with a stripped down mapping system, I realized the other half of the problem.

The corporate “books” they gave me are out of freaking balance.

I don’t even know how we’re gonna fix that one. It will of course, be our fault.

I’ll be dropping this on my boss’ desk in the morning with, “Well, what NOW Kemosabe??”

Crap.

So, I posted those picture of houses out in the boondocks a while back.

It got me thinking. (Bad idea.)

Looking at what things are selling for here, ($225K) and what they’re selling for out there ($150K and lower), if I were to dump this place and move farther out, I’d have…

Pro - A house with a yard
Pro - A chunk of cash in the bank.
Pro - A mortgage payment that was the same or lower
Con - Higher gasoline costs and longer commute
Pro - Positive change in cashflow - enough to make a difference

If interest rates start going back up, I’m afraid the bottom is going to fall out of this real estate market up here.

I think this is going to deserve additional serious consideration.

the birds are singing and all is right with the world. Or something like that…

Got a gooooooooooood sleep last night - still trying to shake off the mental fogginess.

Haven’t heard anything since I went to bed re: war. What I am looking forward to is getting to the point where we’re really helping and doing things like:

a) explaining that you can say you don’t like us, your government, whatever - and you won’t get shot for it. (Well, unless you shoot first, but that is a different situation)

b) Getting some REAL aid in there while rebuilding is going on. The folks surrendering are asking for food. If the military isn’t getting enough to eat, somehow I doubt the civilian population has been faring much better.

c) introduce them to a system where elections have more than one person running, and you really CAN choose who you want to lead you

d) you don’t have to live in fear of someone from your governing party showing up in the middle of the night to haul you off to who knows where.

Sure, our system isn’t perfect, but I hope they see it as better as living in fear.

The market is UP again today. Of course, because I finally got off my ass and did some asset allocation…

…that my head may explode here soon.

It’s been a long, rough week. I can’t decide whether or not I’ve just got an effed up view on the world, or if it’s the rest of the world that is having issues…

My boss will be leaving soon, and there is going to be a rather large void of knowledge and information when he leaves. It would appear that many of his problems will become my problems. I am SO not prepared to deal with that. Have I been able to make this clear to anyone? Of course not - it would seem the course of action for management is to put their heads in the sand and pretend he’s just not really leaving.

One of my coworkers is going out starting on Monday on disability because her blood pressure has gone way too high, most likely work-stress related. Will anyone take note of this???

When I signed on here, I was aware that they were going through some general transistion issues, which is totally normal. However, what we’ve been going through over the past several months is more akin to shock collar training. Corporate is more than happy to tell us we’re doing everything wrong, (and in the most hostile manner possible) - but they prefer not to give us any real guidance as to how to do it “right”.

I am attempting to work on what should be a fairly straighforward project, but I just can’t make it work. At all. I’ve just about given up on it. I’ll be taking it home this weekend and trying to make it work there. I can’t tell if it’s that my brain has turned to complete mush, or if it’s that this is really more convoluted that it seems. The worst part is this is one of my boss’ problems that is going to become my problem. If I can’t figure this out, I am screwed.

I am tired and frustrated. Yes, this should all be my cue to get out of here - I just have to figure out where is next.