RedJen's Rearview Mirror

The interviews are over. In the end, there were two candidates I REALLY liked. Both could do the job, in fact everyone I interviewed could do the job. The two that stood out each had something I would love to add to the team. One I could learn a lot from and the other had a zeal that I can't describe. I didn't pick the one I could learn from, after chatting with my team about generalities, it was clear to me that the right choice in this case was the other. If I had a second position, I'd offer it to the other in a heartbeat. I hope I can convey that to the ones I didn't select.

Actually there was a third candidate that I liked as well, but I didn't think it would be fair to have two people who think like me on the team. In most cases, one of me is enough for anyone.

JAMSTER has been added to my official list of things that suck. According to Dana, even looking to see their pricing will cause you to be charged.

JAMSTER/SPAMSTER/JAMSUCK!

Things that SUCK!

In an interesting twist, the candidate that I chose based on who I thought would add the most to the team as a whole has become ineligible. I don’t know why and I don’t intend to dig into what has changed in the last 24 hours. This means that I made my decision based on what was best of the team, but I’m going to get the candidate that I feel that I will be able to learn the most from. Nothing like doing the right things and getting your way after all.

Sleepy time for me... Gotta get up in time to make my hair appointment in the morning...

I admitted to myself yesterday that I’ve been completely stressed out about getting my taxes done this year. After being very much short two years ago, I’ve been a bit gun-shy when it came to doing my taxes. Last year things were better with the house and all, but with pay property taxes on the house and all, I was terrified of ending up with a bill I couldn’t afford to pay. Thanks to the gods of TurboTax, I now know that isn’t going to happen.

We now return you to our standard stress level.

I'm not sure where Shae found this, but I'll be a lemming...

1. What time did you get up this morning? 8:30
2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds
3. What was the last film you saw at the Cinema? Hide and Seek
4. What is your favorite TV show? CSI, but Battlestar Galactica is gaining
5. What did you have for breakfast? Trail Mix
6. What is your middle name? Ann
7. What is your favorite cuisine? Italian and really good beef
8. What foods do you dislike? Raw tomatoes, uncooked mayonnaise and mustard
9. What kind of car do you drive? Red convertible
10. Favorite Sandwich? Bratwurst Festival Brats with onions and sauerkraut
11. What characteristic do you despise? Lack of personal accountability
12. Favorite item of clothing? Fun shoes
13. If you could go anywhere in the world for a holiday where would you go? Australia, Greece, a remote beach
14. What color is your bathroom? Off white, with blue rugs
15. Favorite brand of clothing? On Sale
16. Where would you like to retire? Near friends and close enough to visit family
17. Favorite time of the day? Sunset
18. What was your most memorable birthday? 2002
19. Where were you born? Bucyrus, OH
20. Favorite sport to watch? Football
21. What are you wearing right now? Yoga pants, tank top
22. What star sign are you? Gemini
23. What fabric detergent do you use? Gain
24. Pepsi or Coke? Coke
25. Are you a morning person or a night owl? Night owl posing as a morning person
26. What is your shoe size? 8.5
27. Do you have any pets? 3 cats
28. Any new exciting news you'd like to share with your family and friends? My taxes are done!
29. What did you want to be when you were little? Nun, teacher, astronaut, cowboy, author, poet
30. What are you meant to be doing today? My taxes, cleaning up the downstairs, watching the Super Bowl and relaxing

I'm thinking these may be a bit too much when it comes USB attachments...

Today I spent the first part of the morning taking a conference call on my office phone, while answering questions on my cell phone. In creeps annoyance to press the buttons of my already stressed team. Why annoyance? Well, the problem has duplicated itself fairly regularly and could be avoided if a single person was either a bit more attentive to what she was looking at OR if she used one more of the search criteria at her disposal. Vague enough? So finish up the conference call while contacting my tool developer to try and get him to add one more function to the next update, which would prevent the annoyance from occurring. No dice yet, we can’t get a hold of the culprit to get them to admit that it is okay to make the change.

Lots of mind numbing data entry, followed by a really good brainstorming session and the discovery that there is a configuration and options guide that no one bothered to tell me why it was important. That’s a nice bit of news that I’ll be using to its full advantage.

Dinner with Shae and Roar, followed by quality time with my fur covered friends.

The kittens are going nuts this morning.

Ruffles are okay, but what I just saw is too much. Moderation people, moderation!

*looks at the current world's population* You must have a lot of frustration then.

What pisses you off?

Created by ptocheia

I heard about this on the radio and had a good laugh...

Virginians who wear their pants so low their underwear shows may want to think about investing in a stronger belt.

The state's House of Delegates passed a bill Tuesday authorizing a $50 fine for anyone who displays his or her underpants in a "lewd or indecent manner."

I'm surprised people don't recognize what an immediate and toxic problem that random butt-crack has become in the state of Virginia. I was also not aware that butt-crack was a racial issue, but according to some Virginia Democrats being anti-butt-crack is the equivalent of racial profiling of Americans with high levels of skin pigmentation.

Too bad we live in NC, where such butt exposure is considered a part of our Freedom of Speech. So the next time someone cuts you off in traffic drop you drawers and press your rear against the window. I wouldn't recommend any frontal nudity, I think that's still listed under lewd acts and generally frowned upon.

This is of course a triumph for those who fight a constant battle to keep their pants up. Should the bill actually pass in Virginia, people should expect all plumbing costs to increase by at least $50 per hour, as plumbers will most likely find themselves being fined for this infraction.

RedJen

My cats say the same thing...

Observation: mid/lower back tattoos are the equivalent to continuous abdominal work.

A young wife sat on a sofa on a hot humid day, drinking iced tea and visiting with her Mother. As they talked about life, about marriage, about the responsibilities of life and the obligations of adulthood, the mother clinked the ice cubes in her glass thoughtfully and turned a clear, sober glance upon her daughter.

"Don't forget your girlfriends," she advised, swirling the tea leaves to the bottom of her glass. "They'll be more important as you get older. No matter how much you love your husband, no matter how much you love the children you'll have, you are still going to need girlfriends. Remember to go places with them now and then; do things with them. And remember that "girlfriends" are not only your friends, but your sisters, your daughters, and other relatives too. You'll need other women. Women always do."

'What a funny piece of advice,' the young woman thought. 'Haven't I just gotten married? Haven't I just joined the couple-world? I'm now a married woman, for goodness sake! - a grownup, Surely my husband and the family we'll start will be all I need to make my life worthwhile!'

But she listened to her Mother; she kept contact with her girlfriends and made more each year. As the years tumbled by, one after another, she gradually came to understand that her Mom really knew what she was talking about. As time and nature work their changes and their mysteries upon a woman, girlfriends are the mainstays of her life. After more than 50 years of living in this world, here is what I've learned:

Times passes.
Life happens.
Distance separates.
Children grow up.
Love waxes and wanes.
Hearts break.
Careers end.
Jobs come and go.
Parents die.
Colleagues forget favors.
Men don't call when they say they will

BUT girlfriends are there, no matter how much time and how many miles are between you. A girlfriend is never farther away than needing her can reach.

When you have to walk that lonesome valley, and you have to walk it for yourself, your girlfriends will be on the valley's rim, cheering you on, praying for you, pulling for you, intervening on your behalf, and waiting with open arms at the valley's end. Sometimes, they will even break the rules and walk beside you. Or come in and carry you out. My mother, sister, sister-in-law, "sisters", extended family, and friends bless my life! The world wouldn't be the same without them, and neither would I.

Turns out my former asshole boss (FAHB) isn’t done with his tricks. He’s continuing his slash and burn campaign through my old department. I’m sure it burns him to no end that I got away. To make matter worse, I’m having fun and doing a pretty good job where I’m at now.

Once upon a time, I had a boss (K) who wanted to micro-manage engineers who were used to working to deadlines and under their own without complete hands on attention after given general direction. At the time, she was the worse boss I’d had and until about 15 months ago, she was the one I measured bosses against to see how low on the scale they rated. At this point, my FAHB has dug a huge hole under where K used to represent and continues to dig. I had hoped that once I’d left he’d settle down and relax, but it appears that he may have stepped up his efforts to get rid of anyone in my former department who thinks independently. From what I’d heard, the people who are getting ahead are doing so by catering to his whims.

K wasn’t a bad person, in fact, I really enjoyed her. She was very interesting and in general I felt she was a worthwhile person. My FAHB tells uninteresting stories, laughs at people he fires, is a general user when it comes to the people who report to him and in my opinion isn’t worth the air he uses.

Trust me on this one, there’s no love lost…

So here I am sitting at the office on Friday evening. I work first shift, so this means I’m at work late for a Friday. I hadn’t even thought about updating my journal, but then I saw that Dragonfly had left a note on Dominion’s journal, which triggered a memory that she’ll worry about me if I’m absent for more than a couple of days at a time. Since I haven’t been signing online much in the evenings, I figured I’d take this bit of time to say “Hello”. I’m waiting for a test to finish running on the hard drive of what should be my new laptop for work, assuming it works. I’m not real fond of hard drive errors, so I’ll see how well the test runs before I make any final decisions.

My week:

It’s been a long week and I’m tired, but for the most part it’s been a decent week. There was a lot of new stuff in the office on Monday. One new team member finally got settled in his new location with the team. Another new team member started working with us. I have a third new person starting with the team on Monday, so there is that to prepare for.

Tuesday found me out of the office all afternoon. It was a nice change, although the nap I had envisioned didn’t happen. I did however get to spend some time with Shae and Dragonfly, although I had to stalk them at their office in order to do it.

Wednesday my department was supposed to go ice-skating and my team was supposed to go as well. We weren’t very good and my entire team ended up staying in the office and working instead. I guess this means I’m going to have to set up an outing for us that we actually go through with to get them out of the office.

Thursday starting out as a sprint and didn’t let up for the entire day. I started the day in a meeting where I had to explain why what my immediate organization does is vital to the company. I think I was successful, but whether or not this person actually takes that information and conveys it accurately is another thing all together. Bottom line is that the business we are in relies on repeat customers and high volumes of sales in order to make a profit, which is not the same model that the person we spoke with is familiar with. By the time I got home, I was tired of looking at a computer screen, but I had promised my brother that I’d send him information on how to network two computers together using a single internet connection for both of them. Translation: sign on to computer at home, quickly find and send information, sign off and go to sleep. In fact, I’ve gone to sleep early more nights than not this week.

Normally I don’t get to bed until after 11, but this week has been different. You’d think that since I’d been getting to bed early that I’d have no trouble getting to the gym, but you’d be wrong. Most of my exercise this week has been from running between meetings among different building at work. Don’t get me wrong, that’s still exercise. Lucky me actually made my 10,000 step goal in heels yesterday.

Well, my new laptop has decided that it requires more attention than I’m willing to give it tonight, so it is time to pack it up and take it home. Does setting up a laptop for work count as working on the weekend if you enjoy playing with techie stuff? In this case I’m going to have to say yes, since I’m not inclined to do much in the way of work right now. Time to head for home…

Dear Jennifer, Here is your horoscope for Saturday, February 19:

Take a look around your place when you get up this morning. If there's anything about it you're not especially delighted with, why not take steps to correct it? Wouldn't redecorating be fun?

(Um, okay I get the hint...)

Thanks to Shae coming over and keeping me distracted, my closet has been put in order. Picture (proof) to follow.

Last year Special Clif gave me City of Heroes for my birthday. I didn't get to play because my computers didn't have powerful enough graphics cards. I now have a new laptop and started to play on Monday.

I'm having fun. Now I have to go to sleep so that I can go to work in the morning.

Watch your dog!

The State Highway Patrol in conjunction with the FBI has issued a warning advising all dog owners to keep their dogs indoors until further notice. Dogs are being picked off one at a time on an almost continual basis through-out the city. They are falling in great numbers. Police in the city advise all dog owners not to walk their dogs - KEEP THEM INDOORS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE!

Jim Davis must have been trapped in a North Carolina blizzard.

Nothing really to say, so I won't, I wanted to note the anniversary.