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Tomorrow...
Nov. 28th, 2012 09:48 pmThe office manager is out all week. All three attorneys are out tomorrow. It's just me and the paralegal. I promised the boss we would dispose of the keg properly (he knows I'm kidding) and that we would take care of any noise complaints from the neighbors (that one he's not so sure about.)
All Beatles, All Day
Nov. 27th, 2012 09:44 pmWTMD favored us with a Beatles marathon today. Nothing but for 12 hours. I don't usually spend most of the day with the radio on or earbuds in, but I did today! Well, at least until my ears hurt from the buds, then I took a break for a couple hours. I also sang away in the car and did some singing and air drums in the office until the junior attorney came in from court. (I had the main room to myself until he showed up. Party pooper.) And now my voice is shot.
Oh-oh-oh-oh Iiiiiii, should've known better...
Oh-oh-oh-oh Iiiiiii, should've known better...
Euroquest, Imminent
Oct. 31st, 2012 08:51 pmAfter being out of the office most of the last couple days, now I'm going to be out the next few. And after looking forward to Euroquest...I'm probably too tired and stressed out to enjoy it. My gut has been distressed the last few days, usually in the middle of the night, and the one night it didn't bug me was Monday. That night I stayed in the basement, trying unsuccessfully to sleep on a sofa-bed. It's been over a year since I slept in a bed other than mine and the body objected to the change of scenery. So, haven't slept in 4 days, plus the storm, and the usual life stresses. Should be a real interesting weekend. I probably won't be posting much if at all, since I'll be doing 15 hour days at EQ.
Went To Work Today
Oct. 30th, 2012 08:53 pmVoluntarily. The TPTB went in after the curfew against driving was lifted, found power on and no damage, but told us footsoldiers we could take the day off anyway. I told them I was coming in anyway. Yes, I'm insane. But I was out yesterday and this morning, and I took vacation back in April for Thursday and Friday, so I didn't want to come in for just one day. More importantly, Mom and I were getting on each other's nerves, mostly because Roxie flatout refuses to leave the bedroom. I was given permission to bring CJ to the office (where she promptly pooped in the middle of the floor; sheesh) and even with CJ off the property for 3 hours, apparently it took over 2 of them to get Roxie to go outside. Mom feels this is my fault.
Anyway, there wasn't much going on, just 2 days' worth of mail and few pieces to prep for outgoing. So CJ & I were there about 3 hours, got work done, CJ visited the boss (she knows who keeps treats in his desk!) and hopefully earned brownie points against being out half the week.
Now I need to get some sleep - I had to sleep in the basement thanks to Sandy, and my body/mind just didn't like being in a bed that wasn't mine. Only got a couple hours in as a result.
Anyway, there wasn't much going on, just 2 days' worth of mail and few pieces to prep for outgoing. So CJ & I were there about 3 hours, got work done, CJ visited the boss (she knows who keeps treats in his desk!) and hopefully earned brownie points against being out half the week.
Now I need to get some sleep - I had to sleep in the basement thanks to Sandy, and my body/mind just didn't like being in a bed that wasn't mine. Only got a couple hours in as a result.
Everyone Knows It's Windy
Oct. 29th, 2012 06:31 pmBlowing something awful out there now, and we've sprung a leak somewhere on the back porch. Not huge, but enough to make us worry. Keeping an eye on the stairwell storm drain and keeping it clear. I'm going to try sleeping in the basement tonight, the wind will be just too noisy to try it in my bedroom. Work is probably off for tomorrow; Baltimore City has ordered all non-emergency vehicles off the roads until noon tomorrow, which would make going to the office, uh, sort of illegal. Also, the Falls is up to parking lot level now and rising, so the roads will be closed even if Falls Road doesn't collapse. Meeps. Power has gone out 3 times, for 15 minutes or less each time, but I have no cell signal.
More amusingly - CJ went out to do her thing. She tends to poop in a tripod position, with one hind leg pointed skyward. Well, she tried to do that this evening - and was blown over mid-poop. She returned to me very wet and rather embarrassed.
More amusingly - CJ went out to do her thing. She tends to poop in a tripod position, with one hind leg pointed skyward. Well, she tried to do that this evening - and was blown over mid-poop. She returned to me very wet and rather embarrassed.
Sandy Update
Oct. 29th, 2012 12:03 pmStill have power, wind and rain are both picking up, CJ is still willing to leave the porch to do her thing but I doubt that'll last much longer, her dentist appointment is still on for tomorrow but work is very unlikely. I might wind up with the whole week off; I took Thursday and Friday off for Euroquest back in April, we closed today and will probably be closed tomorrow. Wednesday will depend on whether we have power. Running through the DVRed shows while we can.
ETA - Doggie dentist just called, tomorrow is cancelled.
ETA - Doggie dentist just called, tomorrow is cancelled.
Neither Wind Nor Snow
Oct. 28th, 2012 10:02 pmNor rain or Frankenstorms, shall stop gamers from, well, gaming. Not ony did we have Alphabet Soup today, it was fairly well attended, 16 people I think, which is a few more than usual. I guess we needed to get it out of our systems before a forced three day shutdown.
If the wind is blowing, I haven't heard it. It is raining steadily now, however. No word on work, although the unofficial word is, call the office, if you get a busy signal the power is out so stay home. I'm not sure what we're doing if the power is ON, the TPTB are so sure the power will be out.
If the wind is blowing, I haven't heard it. It is raining steadily now, however. No word on work, although the unofficial word is, call the office, if you get a busy signal the power is out so stay home. I'm not sure what we're doing if the power is ON, the TPTB are so sure the power will be out.
Ow Ow Huh? Ow
Oct. 3rd, 2012 09:22 pmThat's been my day. I'm not sure how or when, but my back was killing me this morning, especially my lower back, which isn't what usually bugs me. It got worse and worse at work, so much so that I left early, which is something I just don't do. But I could barely walk or sit up and that point, and driving hurt even worse. So naturally I left my 'Mom' folder at the office, the day we met with the lawyer.
The elder care portion of the program was fine - we all agreed on what we want to do and how to do it. Then came the fun part - deciding what happens with the house. The attorney started listing all the different options and the financial and tax implications of each, Mom had no idea what was going on, I didn't follow much and even my brother started asking 'Huh?' And naturally, he likes the options where I can live in the house, but he gets to tell me HOW I live in the house. Lovely. He's fixated on the idea of me living in a condo instead, because he's convinced I couldn't possibly be capable of living in a house. Can I afford a mortgage? No, but that's a moot point as the house will be paid off. Can I handle the other aspects of homeownership? I think so. But he doesn't believe it. Feh. Anyway, we had to stop the meeting due to time, now we're resuming in two weeks to keep talking house. (The rest of it will be done and ready for signature in two weeks.)
Then I came home and...found CJ had figured out how to get at my clothes from inside the crate. So I had to find some way to block off the sides of the crate, which wasn't what my back was up for, so I'm hurting all over again now. Enough already. I'm going to bed.
The elder care portion of the program was fine - we all agreed on what we want to do and how to do it. Then came the fun part - deciding what happens with the house. The attorney started listing all the different options and the financial and tax implications of each, Mom had no idea what was going on, I didn't follow much and even my brother started asking 'Huh?' And naturally, he likes the options where I can live in the house, but he gets to tell me HOW I live in the house. Lovely. He's fixated on the idea of me living in a condo instead, because he's convinced I couldn't possibly be capable of living in a house. Can I afford a mortgage? No, but that's a moot point as the house will be paid off. Can I handle the other aspects of homeownership? I think so. But he doesn't believe it. Feh. Anyway, we had to stop the meeting due to time, now we're resuming in two weeks to keep talking house. (The rest of it will be done and ready for signature in two weeks.)
Then I came home and...found CJ had figured out how to get at my clothes from inside the crate. So I had to find some way to block off the sides of the crate, which wasn't what my back was up for, so I'm hurting all over again now. Enough already. I'm going to bed.
It's Friday, I got through the week. My neck & back are killing me and I don't know why, but otherwise things weren't too bad. Meanwhile, managed to watch a few movies - 'Full Metal Jacket', I almost didn't recognize D'Onofrio, it was okay but the two halves were too different from each other. Tonight we watched the original 'Exorcist' - I can see where it was edgy in 1973, but now it's fairly ordinary. Time is not always kind to films.
Kindle Update
Aug. 16th, 2012 07:10 pmI think...I THINK...it's fully set up and ready to go. And Mom spent all day yesterday reading on it. Fingers crossed she'll keep using it and no difficulties with gadgets arise. Meanwhile I got a new UPS backup for the computer, but that's not going in until I finish data backups. And I more or less donated a printer/scanner/copier to the Obama campaign - the boss's daughter has been hired by the campaign as a field office director (in Roanoke, poor her) and they're shipping her off without so much as office supplies. The boss cleared out a lot of extra office supplies and I pitched in the printer my brother gave us last year, as we've never once used it. It's too big to fit anywhere around my house and I have other gadgets, so the least I could do is put it to good use. Not least of which is annoying my brother.
The Tale of a Kindle
Aug. 2nd, 2012 09:24 pmWell...
My supervisor spent much of last night and today trying to e-mail her husband's documents to herself, without success. I suggested plugging the Kindle into a computer through the USB port and transferring them that way; she said she didn't have the right cord for that. Meanwhile, she couldn't get a Wi-fi signal at the office or at the restaurant across the street. She finally gave up and told me to give it a shot (I'd been offering to do that all week). She thought it needed to be deregistered and reregistered to her, so that's what I did first. And all of her hubby's docs disappeared. Yikes! So I called Amazon help. They like me. I had both CSRs cracking up. Anyway, they suggested deregistering her and restarting the gadget. Worked like a charm; his docs were back. Then came the fun part of trying to transfer them. The CSR thought she could find them in the cloud, but they were never Amazon docs, they were proprietary to the seminar he went to. I suggested buying a cord and transferring them to my computer; they said the docs wouldn't work on the computer because they were in Kindle format, but that there was a USB cord built into the power cord. I had no idea. Nifty! So I plugged it into the computer directly and...turns out the documents were all .pdfs. Moved all of them onto a thumb drive to give to supervisor tomorrow. Meanwhile, I loaded up the newly me registered Kindle with classic authors for Mom (who will be the primary user) and sent her off to read Mark Twain. The case and light should be here next week. Phew.
We have Kindle!
My supervisor spent much of last night and today trying to e-mail her husband's documents to herself, without success. I suggested plugging the Kindle into a computer through the USB port and transferring them that way; she said she didn't have the right cord for that. Meanwhile, she couldn't get a Wi-fi signal at the office or at the restaurant across the street. She finally gave up and told me to give it a shot (I'd been offering to do that all week). She thought it needed to be deregistered and reregistered to her, so that's what I did first. And all of her hubby's docs disappeared. Yikes! So I called Amazon help. They like me. I had both CSRs cracking up. Anyway, they suggested deregistering her and restarting the gadget. Worked like a charm; his docs were back. Then came the fun part of trying to transfer them. The CSR thought she could find them in the cloud, but they were never Amazon docs, they were proprietary to the seminar he went to. I suggested buying a cord and transferring them to my computer; they said the docs wouldn't work on the computer because they were in Kindle format, but that there was a USB cord built into the power cord. I had no idea. Nifty! So I plugged it into the computer directly and...turns out the documents were all .pdfs. Moved all of them onto a thumb drive to give to supervisor tomorrow. Meanwhile, I loaded up the newly me registered Kindle with classic authors for Mom (who will be the primary user) and sent her off to read Mark Twain. The case and light should be here next week. Phew.
We have Kindle!
You Can Lead Your Office To Donuts
Jul. 9th, 2012 09:44 pmBut you can't get anybody to eat one. I brought donuts in to work, mostly because the shop no longer carries what I wanted which I didn't know until I got inside. Half the office didn't come in today and those who did ate a whopping one donut. Well, fine. See if I feed you for free again. Hmph.
Still Here
Jul. 7th, 2012 10:53 amHaven't melted yet. Check back later today on that one. Meanwhile, my car's battery DID melt. Or rather, it was several years old and winding down its life, apparently, so the extreme heat finished it off. Right before I went to work on a day my supervisor was at a funeral and therefore I was under particular obligation to be in the office. I overpaid for a new battery, but Midas took me straight in, less than 5 minutes to confirm my diagnosis, less than 10 to replace the battery and send me on my way. It was worth it to still get to work by 10am.
Downhill, Fast
Jun. 13th, 2012 06:45 pmThat's where my day has gone in the last two hours.
First, Mom calls me at work freaking out because 'the computer is broken'. It's not broken. Microsoft sent updates last night and the computer restarted, of its own accord and wanted a password before finishing the startup. A pain, but not broken. This led to 10 minutes of me, on my cell, in the office, when I'm supposed to be working, trying to explain to my mother the difference between capital letters and not capital letters because she was bound and determined to put in the password her way, not the computer's. (And now the whole office knows my personal password, so I have to change it on everything.)
On the way home, I was pulled over by a cop. That hasn't happened to me in two decades. Wondering what the hell, it seems my car's registration expired. 10 weeks ago. I never received a notice about it and with all the mishegas over my mother's car reg and the van's reg, I never noticed the Mazda was expired. I got lectured at great length about how he could tow my car, right now. He settled for me driving straight to the MVA Express...which was closed. What's the point of having an Express, with a kiosk in the lobby, if it's open even fewer hours than a real office? Anyway, now I have 24 hours to get my registration renewed. Who knows how much the late fees are, although if I have to go in I'll protest mightily since I never got a notice.
Went to the gym. Discovered my last 3 workouts never registered with the computer system. Then I couldn't get into the system to work out for the life of me. 3 machines and 2 employees later we finally got the computer to accept that I'm a member and it should record my workout. Cripes.
Come home and let CJ out - she immediately sought out Roxie's poop and started eating it. Much yelling didn't dissuade her, so I went out after her. She saw me coming and...rolled in it. That little...
Anyway, things are going to hell. See you there.
First, Mom calls me at work freaking out because 'the computer is broken'. It's not broken. Microsoft sent updates last night and the computer restarted, of its own accord and wanted a password before finishing the startup. A pain, but not broken. This led to 10 minutes of me, on my cell, in the office, when I'm supposed to be working, trying to explain to my mother the difference between capital letters and not capital letters because she was bound and determined to put in the password her way, not the computer's. (And now the whole office knows my personal password, so I have to change it on everything.)
On the way home, I was pulled over by a cop. That hasn't happened to me in two decades. Wondering what the hell, it seems my car's registration expired. 10 weeks ago. I never received a notice about it and with all the mishegas over my mother's car reg and the van's reg, I never noticed the Mazda was expired. I got lectured at great length about how he could tow my car, right now. He settled for me driving straight to the MVA Express...which was closed. What's the point of having an Express, with a kiosk in the lobby, if it's open even fewer hours than a real office? Anyway, now I have 24 hours to get my registration renewed. Who knows how much the late fees are, although if I have to go in I'll protest mightily since I never got a notice.
Went to the gym. Discovered my last 3 workouts never registered with the computer system. Then I couldn't get into the system to work out for the life of me. 3 machines and 2 employees later we finally got the computer to accept that I'm a member and it should record my workout. Cripes.
Come home and let CJ out - she immediately sought out Roxie's poop and started eating it. Much yelling didn't dissuade her, so I went out after her. She saw me coming and...rolled in it. That little...
Anyway, things are going to hell. See you there.
The Last Waltz, Coinkydink
May. 11th, 2012 07:24 pmSo last night I watched The Last Waltz for the first time. If you're familiar with the Band, you know they spent a lot of time in Woodstock, New York (the town, not the farm) and the late Levon Helm stayed there permanently, eventually starting the 'midnight ramble' concerts on Saturday nights in his barn.
Today a client called, but the boss was on the phone so I started taking a message. I'd always thought he was in Arizona, but it had been mentioned that he was in New York, so I asked. He said he was in Woodstock, NY. For the heck of it, I asked if he'd ever been to a midnight ramble. There was a silence, then 'you know what that is? I've been 3 times.' I explained I'd just seen The Last Waltz and he said the rambles were like that, except smaller in scale. But it's quite a coincidence, I must say.
Today a client called, but the boss was on the phone so I started taking a message. I'd always thought he was in Arizona, but it had been mentioned that he was in New York, so I asked. He said he was in Woodstock, NY. For the heck of it, I asked if he'd ever been to a midnight ramble. There was a silence, then 'you know what that is? I've been 3 times.' I explained I'd just seen The Last Waltz and he said the rambles were like that, except smaller in scale. But it's quite a coincidence, I must say.
A rare busy day at work, where I had a longterm and a midterm project to work on but everyone wanted something done right now. Some of those things were not cleared before they were assigned to me, so I did them and was then told I shouldn't have done it. (Fine then, tell the attorneys not to assign me things if I'm not supposed to do them. Better yet, how about they do things sooner than the day before?) Went home to a ton of laundry and a dog gate that needed assembling. And it turned out I needed to supervise Mom, who now believes that chili sauce, cocktail sauce, ketchup and spaghetti sauce are all the same thing and can be used interchangeably, whether destined for fries, pasta or fish. Also that if French fries are well done on one side, they are well done, period. Never mind if the other side of the fry is raw potato, it's cooked and done, what's the problem?
Phew. Time for a break.
Phew. Time for a break.
Who Let The Nutter Out?
Feb. 21st, 2012 02:12 pmAnd no, not talking about Rick Santorum (this time). Over the last couple of weeks, we've received some bizarre, unsolicited snail mails at the office. And I mean bizarre. It's kind of like reading paranoid schizophrenia. I checked the local court web site, this guy has amassed a pile of protective orders, citations for contempt and orders for psychiatric evaluation over the last couple years and last month he was disbarred from being a CPA. Why he isn't in jail, I'm not sure. Instead, he's randomly mailing out this stuff. (And really, dude, it's 2012. You're supposed to put this crap on Facebook.)
Fortunately, because I am lazy, someone at Something Awful also receives this wackiness and has scanned and posted them.
( Read it and marvel at the crazy. )
Fortunately, because I am lazy, someone at Something Awful also receives this wackiness and has scanned and posted them.
( Read it and marvel at the crazy. )
The boss came to work today in a 1967 Good Humor truck with no roof, a questionable transmission and stickers lauding Mayor Schaefer. We’re hoping to get the male members of the staff to stop playing with the truck and come back inside the office at some point today.
