CafeChatNoir

I swear to god, I am just not meant to have days off. I’ve either been spending money the cats or the car or on the phone w/ clients today.

My client from earlier today CALLED ME BACK for help on a couple of other issues. On the one hand, yes, it’s nice that she trusts me, but on the other hand - this was different stuff that she could have put the call in with the call center and someone else would have been very able to help her. Three issues, we solved two immediately, the third I am waiting on some data output and then I can pinpoint the problem - but if it doesn’t show up soon, it waits til tomorrow.

Finally got a heart rate on Target - back in the normal range. Snoopy didn’t fare as well with his home test. Flashlight in his eyes, and while the pupils contract a bit, certainly not the way they should. So, I’ve got a kitty with pending blindness on my hands. Now, I did some quick research on the internet on retinal degeneration, it had been linked to diet in the past, but w/ the various additives they put in cat food now, that isn’t much the case, and the vet had said he saw it more as a result of old age than anything these days. However, several sites mentioned that because the blindness is quite gradual, cats adapt exceptionally well to it. So, we shall see. For now, he’s healthy and seems to be able to see so I will just try and stay aware of any signs that he’s having problems with his vision.

We’ve got “high marks for their ages” from the vet. Snoopy is down to 13 pounds! :-D

Target *may* be showing signs of thyroid issues - have to get a heart rate on him when he’s not all weirded out by being at the vet. I’ve tried a couple times and he either gets all squirmy or starts purring. Weight loss + high heart rate could be indicative of thyroid issues. However, the vet said that the weight loss is most likely attributable to his diet, and the high heart rate cause he was at the vet and not particularly happy about it. So, we’re gonna try to get a normal heart rate.

Snoopy is showing early signs of retinal degeneration. :( That is another thing I need to check at home. When the vet shined a light in his eyes, his pupils didn’t contract - could be that he was freaked out at the office - the vets own cat did that to him. So, I need to find a flashlight and see if I can get his pupils to contract when he’s here at home.

Retinal degeneration is not treatable in cats and if he has it, he will eventually go blind. But for now, he seems to have no issues seeing and we play ball a lot and he doesn’t have any trouble following it. I’ve told Target he’d better be ready to be a seeing eye cat.

Spent over an hour on the phone with a client this afternoon - they *had* to get this stuff straightened out today, and it took them so long to get me what I needed and it took me so long to wade through it all, handing it off to someone else cold just wouldn’t have worked.

So, off to get the oil changed in my car if there isn’t too much of a line. If there is, I may just go get an ice cream cone instead.

yes, to bed.

I just wish I could figure out what has been hopping around my subconscious lately so I can get some resolution on it and get a good nights sleep for a change.

that was fun. Not. Trained for 2 days on a piece of software it would take me 6 months to get to the point where I could actually support it. Bleah. It’s decent software, but the setup has to be perfect and that falls in the lap of our consultants, and well….they weren’t there. Be interesting to see how this rollout goes.

I’m tired as hell yet again tonight. Can’t tell you the last time I got a decent nights sleep. The house is squared away for the cleaning service tomorrow, and as always the anticipation of the tasks was 100 times worse than the actual execution of same.

Tomorrow I haul the cats off to the vet, and need to get the oil changed and the safety inspection done on the car, too. And that pretty much shoots the whole day.

4 days back in the office and then a real three day weekend, with absolutely nothing I have to do.

I’ve been so beat and my schedule so messed up, I haven’t even seen since Wednesday, and we keep missing each other on IM, and I’m feeling bleh about that, too. *waves at *

In other news, apparently Jennifer Lopez has gotten married again. While on the one hand, I like for people to be happy, but on the other hand, that girl is a freak show on wheels.

The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for the journey and waved goodbye and slipped the surly bonds of earth to touch the face of God. — Reagan’s words after the Challenger explosion, 1986

I was in training all day today, and I didn’t know what had happened until I got in the car to go home, and when I heard, I cried.

He was president from the time I was 8 years old until I was 16. The first president that I really took note of. (Ford I just wasn’t old enough to remember, Carter I simply knew was president when inflation was a mess, but didn’t really understand what inflation was just yet.)

Because of the timing of when he appeared in my life, and the things he accomplished in office, he will always be the one by which other candidates and holders of that office will be measured. So far, none have come close.

As I mentioned in a comment earlier, my heart breaks for his family - what a confounding mix of sadness and relief they must be going through right now. I wish he could have lived out his retirement in the way he had lived the rest of his life, not just for himself, but for those around him that loved him as well.

The Gipper is gone… :(

And the beeper didn’t even go off this evening. Training tomorrow & Sunday, and then Monday off!

Going in at 11 is sweet. Of course, I managed to get stuck and not get out of the office til about 6:30, but it’s OK - I dumped a call on tech at 5:30 and stayed to relay what info I could to help out.

Came home, finished off another call and emailed the client what he needs, got that sucker closed and I’m done for the evening. I did shoot an email to another client that seems to be having a problem that isn’t there - having her go look at her stuff again and that should take care of that problem. I did tell her I’d check email on Monday, cause this really should be a slam dunk once she takes a second look at things.

In other work-ish news, I seem to have acquired another pet client. (Which sounds awful, but I don’t know how else to describe it.) I am pretty much the only one that willingly talks to him. He’s been using the software for maybe a year, and the fact of the matter is, he’s getting better with it, but it’s a slow process. I like talking to him because he’s nice, he’s *trying* and getting better, and he doesn’t argue when we ask him to do something. I’ll take that any day over someone who thinks they’re all that and argues with me when I ask them to do something. Nice wins pretty much every time. Snotty gets you on the list.

OK, it’s late and I have to get up in the morning, so, niters all.

From the ask Slashdot section:

“After 5+ years of being married, my wife and I have been blessed by her becoming pregnant. I’ve professionally been a programmer for a while now and am now concerned that commercial software development is not a good job for a dad to have. Thinking back on all the software development groups I’ve been in, it seems most of the coders were not parents, and the coders that were parents seemed to have trouble with things like dealing with unplanned death marches and not being there for their family. So my question to the programmers with kids out there: How does a programming career jive with family life? I’d especially like to hear about parents who have been coding for a while and the situations in this area they’ve faced.”

Some really fantastic comments can be found here: http://ask.slashdot.org/askslashdot/04/06/04/1711202.shtml?tid=126&tid=156

and then it’s the weekend. Granted, I’ll be in training all weekend, but it’s just sit and listen and ask questions and **not** having to actually solve anyone’s problems. For a 4 day week, it’s been a long one.

Haven’t gotten a decent nights sleep all week - lots of odd dreams. Nothing upsetting, just so very weird that my mind goes into overdrive trying to figure out what is going on, which kills any real rest. This morning’s whacked out dream was that I was pregnant. Not “OMG, I’m pregnant, what am I going to do!?!”, but 9 months along, looking at my watch and saying, “OK, people, let’s get this show on the road, I should be in labor by now!” I attribute this to knowing no less than four pregnant women at the moment, and I think the cat was sleeping on my stomach.

I discovered today that it seems I have no vision insurance.

I signed up for it when I started - no deductions out of my check for it. It’s actually a rider on the company paid life insurance, and I assumed since they were together, they were both company paid. (OK, stupid assumption on my part, I totally admit that.) I signed up again during open enrollment for 2004. Again, no changes in deductions in my checks… I went and looked in my online benefits profile today - and it shows the Vision as a “Pending Enrollment” at 0.50 per pay period. Huh? I signed up - why on earth does it still show as pending? I just shot off an email with a screen shot of it to the Benefits Admin to find out if this can be fixed or not and if I can get my Vision Insurance…I’ll gladly pay the premiums from the beginning of the year, but the fact of the matter is - since I signed up for it, I would actually like to have it.

From the WTF? files: I have a coworker who is hmmm, how shall we put it…a bit of an underperformer. And it’s noticed (and frankly, resented) by her peers. (Yes, we’re a touch competitive.) So, she’s bitching to another coworker about the job, coworker gently suggests finding another line of work. Her response? “It’s the same everywhere. No one likes the Skinny Girl.” Um, yeah, OK… This is the same person that IM’d me at 5:45 (My shift ends at 5) with, “I can’t believe you’re still here.” She really doesn’t get it.

Even though I don’t have to be in until 11 tomorrow, I should probably go hit the rack soon.

Thanks !!!

I am beat. Like run over with a truck beat. While I got a decent amount of sleep over the weekend, the quality of it was greatly lacking.

Work kicked my ass today - our timesheet software queue only has 2 people that work it, and one was out, so I was “helping” (and boy do I use that term loosely) - spent most of the afternoon on that side of things and man, their clients are a bear and a half to deal with.

I’ve now been on the job for 1 year. I still like it, and I seem to be half decent at it, so here’s hoping the next year is as good.

It occurred to me this morning since I’ve got the beeper over the weekend, I don’t have to be in until 11 on Friday. And I won’t screw that up this time and inadvertently show up at 8 again.

I have 100 hours of leave and virtually no plans for using it this summer. I am looking at having a *low* balance of 91 hours taking into account the couple days I am taking off…

Just got a phone call:
“Saturday, 1 o’clock?”
“For what?”
“Harry Potter”
“Sure! Wait, SHIT, I have training.”

Damn. Even w/out training, I’d have the beeper too.

My site is down, my web hosts’ site is down, and it annoys the crap out of me. They’re still answering their phones so they don’t seem to have gone out of business - but I also got a first line tech last night who didn’t seem to know jack about what was going on.

I’ve shot off an email to them this morning - guess we’ll find out if their corporate email servers are up or down…

So, on tap - 4 day week, 2 days of training, 1 day off, 4 days off and a 3 day weekend.