Heart of Dixie

I've been a bad blogger

It seems like lately I've had nothing but bad stuff to say.

Work has been hellacious. We didn't make the deadline for getting the on-line registration process completed. Like I said before, it's not my fault but I'm still responsible. On top of that, one particular co-worker has been treating me like (a) I don't have walking about sense and (b) not wanting to leave me alone in the office like I was going to steal or sabatoge something. I did talk to her about it but the explanation was rather lame. "I have responsibilities." Yeah, we all do. Whatever.

The two pieces of good news is that I'm off from work until September 6 - hooray - and that after January I'm going to be working only a very limited basis - double hooray.

Anyway.....I AM going to be in a better frame of mind. I AM--I AM--I AM.

Ask and ye shall receive

Sugarfused Deb said I should post some current pix of Avery. Well, you know I really hated doing it ;-) but here goes

One Cool Kid!

Avery as Jerry Lee Lewis

Encore!

Meth freaks

I guess over the years I've just become immune to hearing about drug addicts that have lost their health, looks, and family because of their addiction. However, I just read info and saw some pics about meth labs and users over at Sugarfused that really jolted me into reality.

My calf muscles ache! I spent two full days cleaning out the garage and outside in the yard and other stuff getting ready for a party we had last night. One of the hubs' closest friends is retiring from work, so we had a bar-be-que for him. We had 34 for dinner. Friday night, the hubs and the son re-arranged the den furniture and then they, DIL, and I set up tables and chairs, spread out tableclothes, and all that good stuff. The party went well - great food and drinks, good food, and boy did we all eat!

After everyone left, son and DIL pitched in and we got everything taken down, furniture back in place, and all the dishes cleaned.

oh, did I mention that SuperBaby was the star of the show? He's so adorable! one time he was standing at the piano; he was "playing" and singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, all the way through in that cute 22-month-old voice. Saturday morning, he went with DILs to her mother's house for a little while. DIL said he kept saying, "I want to go back to Grammy's." After about the 10th time, her mother say, "Well, don't you love me?" I felt bad for her, but I have to admit I beamed!

I guess I take my responsibilities too seriously

I've got a very important project for which I'm ultimately responsible (on-line registration and fee payment for our licensees) but have no control over the contract group that's developing the application. Everything has to be finished by August 18 and there are still major components that don't work. I meet, I phone, I email, I talk, I'm humble, I express concern, but at the end of the day, I'm at their mercy. The contract was issued for all state agencies and the contract company is making their money from the convenience fees, so I can't even threaten them with non-payment or revocation of the contract.

I was looking through some notes yesterday and saw where I had made a notation that the head of the contract company said in June that everything was on target for meeting the mid-July completion date so that I could thoroughly test it and they could make enhancements before the August 18 release date. Um, yeah, right. I've been told on several occasions by a project manager that the application was complete, that he had tested it and everything was okay. Then I would test it and it wasn't anywhere close to being ready.

I can't sleep at night and what little I do sleep isn't restful. The hubs tells me not to worry about it, that it's not my fault. Well, it's not my fault but it is my responsibility. Who will get the ultimate blame for project failure? This is my last hurrah before I leave this position. I want to be remembered for all the many things good I've done for this office, not the one flop. He also tells me that won't be the case, but I've it happen too often.

I'm a total wreck.

I saw the end of a rainbow

Driving home from the movies on Sunday evening, the hubs and I kept seeing rainbow after rainbow, sometimes a double rainbow. The cool thing about the first two was that I could see almost the complete arc, with the exception of where it actually ended on the ground. As we turned on to another road, we spotted another rainbow. As we approached a line of trees several hundred yards from the road, we could see the end of the rainbow as it reflected off the trees and onto the ground!! Sadly, either the pot of gold had already been taken or it was at the OTHER end. Just my luck!

I see where Christopher Reeve's wife has lung cancer...

Their 13-year-old son must be wondering "why me?" He must really be having a tough time.

However, there was something else in the article that was surprising. All I heard about Dana Reeve was that she was always with Christopher after his injury and was a constant and wonderful caregiver. This article said, "She was performing in the Broadway-bound play Brooklyn Boy in California when she had to streak home to reach her husband's bedside before he died." That kinda' kicks to the curb her portrayal as the constant companion and caregiver.

I wanna be a bear

While I was in the bath, I noticed that the hair on my legs was almost long enough to braid, maybe even put some foiled highlights on them. I thought it was time to (1) shave and (2) repost the following.

In my next life I wanna be a female bear.

If you're a bear, you get to hibernate. You do nothing but sleep for six months. I could deal with that.

Before you hibernate you're supposed to eat yourself stupid. I could do that.

If you're a bear, you birth your children (who are the size of walnuts) while you're sleeping and wake to partially grown, cut cuddly cubs. I could definitely deal with that.

If you're a mama bear, everyone knows you mean business. You swat anyone who bothers your cubs. If your cubs get out of line, you swat them, too. I could deal with that.

If you're a bear, your mate expects you to wake up growling. He "expects" that you will have hairy legs and excess body fat.

Yup, I wanna be a bear.

How do I despise Northwest Airlines...

I don't think they've invented high enough numbers. I swear, even if they gave me airfares, I don't think I'd take it. My most recent fight with them was tonight. They changed, without telling me, my flight itinerary to Las Vegas. It had previously been Atlanta - Detroit - Indianapolis-Las Vegas. Imagine my surprise when I logged in to double check my itinerary and saw Atlanta - Detroit - MEMPHIS - Las Vegas. WTF???

I talked to two different people and both had the audacity to say that both itineraries were SIMILAR. Yeah, right. Let's fly from the Deep South to the Far North BACK to the Deep South and then West. They were acting like I was being a witch for fussing about it. I asked one where she was. She said Seattle. So, I said, if you were flying to New York, you wouldn't have a problem in flying from Seattle to Los Angeles to Portland, Oregon, and then to New York? She didn't answer me.

They gave me every excuse in the world but I finally got a new itinerary - Atlanta to Detroit to Minneapolis to Las Vegas. Since I had two changes to begin with, they wouldn't book me on an itinerary that only had one. *RME*

GAH.

What can go wrong...

has gone wrong. I should be used to Murphy's Law biting me in the rear by now. What else can I expect when my mother's family name was Murphy. This week it seems that everything that can go wrong has certainly done so in grand fashion.

After trying to become a horse yesterday (see previous post), I left work to put gas in my car and pick up my laundry. Because of one fiasco after another, I didn't leave work until 5:30. I stopped at a particular Chevon station to get gas because it had a car wash and was very close to the cleaners. First, my receipt with my car wash code didn't print, so I had to go inside to get it. I specifically said to the clerk that I needed it for my car wash code number. I get it and proceed to drive to the car wash entrance ... only to find that the car wash isn't working. I drive back to the main store, go back in and ask about it. "Oh, it isn't working? Well, I'll call someone." Sigh. I drive to the cleaners. It is 6:03 when I pull up. Guess what, they close at 6:00.

Now I'm dealing with trying to install a printer and print server whose directions that aren't what you'd call clear.

Page 1 says to hold the page status button for 20 seconds and then do blah blah blah. On the second page, with the illustration, it says to hold it down for MORE than 20 seconds. Okay, I followed the instructions that said 20 seconds and continued on. Was it not done right? Now I'm at the step that says "after a while, the lights will turn to red and orange." So what's after a while...30 seconds, 2 mintues, 2 hours? Holy moley.

Now add to the mix that I've got other huge projects going on, co-workers whose PCs are acting wonky, and other general stuff and I'm totally ready for a liquid lunch.

They Shoot Horses, don't they?

If so, then NEIGH! WHINNEY! I'm a horse.

The last two days at work have been pure hell. Nothing has gone right. Major projects are a pile of garbage. I attempted to install a network printer yesterday while I was waiting on an answer to some other things and screwed it up totally. This morning I got hit with the fact that a co-worker's PC wouldn't connect to the network. I know it was stressful for her but gleeps, weeps, and creeps - don't act like it was a personal affront and whine and bitch about it so much.

Oh man, I have a Texas-sized headache. I have a meeting with my project manager and his bosses this afternoon and I'm not sure how I'll handle it.

I'm in serious need of Calgon, a white knight, or some other similar thing that will take me away.

If anyone reading this is seriously thinking about going into computer management as a career, please reconsider unless you have the patience of Job and you make a cucumber look hot.