WTF Day, Version 2 – Getting Things Done Edition

I’m still being thrown off at work.  My two coworkers were gone again today.  We think the one has the Plague (or at least a bad case of the flu).  On top of that, I didn’t have to do my morning routines of filling up the server room humidifier (the tanks weren’t even half empty) and starting up the kiosks in one of the exhibits (it was closed for a private function all day).  Add to that running out to the zoo’s new west office to solve a calendar issue (a twenty-minute drive for a five-minute problem, something we were afraid of when this started) and running out to get a replacement laptop for one we sent in for repairs at the beginning of the year, I was discombobulated for most of the day.  I don’t know what I’m going to do with both of my long-running projects now complete.  I no longer have to call and harass people for repairs or recycling.

I found out that Pandora released a Blackberry application today.  Finally, music while I’m driving!  I haven’t been able to determine if notifications for calls and messages will still go through while it’s playing though; I’ll likely find out in the next couple of weeks.  I’ve started up a swing music station in celebration.  So far it’s playing decent music, much better than the last time I tried when I ended up with Fleetwood Mac.

Remember that internet connectivity issue I was having?  When I got to thinking about it, I remembered that I turned on WiiConnect24 at about the same time the issues started.  I turned it off about a half-hour ago and haven’t had any issues so far (usually it’s only about 10 minutes or so before I have to restart my wireless).

While checking out news sites today, I found out that about a mile away from my apartments, a suspicious package was found that had to be called in to the bomb squad.  They determined it wasn’t an explosive, but it’s still slightly disquieting.

Even more disquieting is the shooting that happened this afternoon a couple of miles east of me, and a couple of streets north from my aunt.  Someone was shooting at cars (and possibly some people they had an altercation with), prompting a five-block radius being locked down, including where my aunt lived and a school that a friend of mine works at.  No one was injured, but this is the type of issue that made me want to leave my old neighborhood.  Granted, this one is still a hell of a lot better, but I can definitely deal without this.

I’ve gotten a lot of good news from friends today, a balance to a lot of the bad news I’ve been hearing lately.  I can only hope it continues.

A WTF Kind of Day

Today was one of those weird days that I don’t entirely like.

The two coworkers I generally tag along with were both out today, one on vacation and the other with the flu.  Fortunately, I wasn’t a lost as I used to be on these days and actually got things done.

The new zoo director started yesterday and the mandatory employee meeting introducing him was today. He seems like a nice enough guy, but there are a lot of changes he wants to make ASAP.  And he wants to meet all of the employees, find out what we do at the zoo and why we’re here of all places.  I’m left wondering what I’m going to say.  “I’m here because my best friend got me a job in gift shop and I’ve since landed this IT job, and I’m too lazy to find a job anyplace else”?  He wants people who are there because they love the zoo, so I don’t think that’ll fly very far.

Another brilliant move by the construction crew the zoo contracts with: hitting a major gas main that prompted the evacuation of several areas heavily populated by guests at the zoo.  And it was at the exhibit being built next door to the building housing IT.  It was a lovely smell to deal with for an hour and a half.

I’ve found a couple of quirks with my Blogger blog being on my own domain now, like vanishing lists.  Luckily it didn’t take much to rebuild said lists.

I took advantage of a Borders coupon for 40% off any two box sets and a couple of surviving gift cards from Christmas, and picked up Heroes Season 2 and the Red Curtain trilogy of Baz Luhrmann films.  I like Moulin Rouge!, but am pretty ambivalent about Romeo + Juliet, and had never even heard of Strictly Ballroom.  I've started going through all the movies, starting with the one I hadn’t heard of.  I know most of my dancing friends (gee, like I have any other type of friend anymore –__-;; ) would probably hate this movie, but I think it’s my new favorite of the three.  I finished Romeo + Juliet tonight, and was reminded by how much it annoys me; it could have been better, if the actors said the lines more naturally (Benvolio was the worst, I think, and it’s made only more painful by the few actors and lines that make it work) and the ending to the play has always bothered me (they act like such idiots!).  Moulin Rouge! is tomorrow, I think.  We’ll see if I still like it as much as I remember.

I haven’t looked into this issue, but every 5-10 minutes, I have to restart my Mac’s wireless connection/AirPort.  I can’t think of anything that changed a couple of weeks ago or any programs I added that would screw that up.  Some day here I’ll settle down and fix it.

It's About Time

I'm not entirely sure why I waited so long to get maegmariel.com. But, I have it now, and it points to this blog. So, if you're getting redirected from athenaia.blogspot.com, don't worry! Just remember to update your bookmarks to blog.maegmariel.com.

And Life Continues On Its Way

I've been living on my own for almost two months now. I'm starting to get used to everything, get into my own groove. I still haven't thrown an actual housewarming party, just a sofa-warming party. I still haven't officially met any of my neighbors, but I've gotten used to them. Upstairs I think is just one person, but they stomp around like they're 300 lbs, and usually when I'm trying to sleep. On the third level I think (or next door to upstairs), the man of the house likes to yell. Across the hall from me is a girl about my age, and I think she thinks I'm weird. Can't blame her; she's usually dressed very professionally, while I'm half-asleep in a gray sweatshirt and khakis that have seen much better days. Next door is strangely quiet and gives off a slightly creepy vibe. And no one really pays attention to when their laundry's done, even though there are timers on the things.

One of the things I've unfortunately found is that it's damn near impossible to get into any of the complex's parking lots when it snows. It really sucks. Hopefully, we've seen the last of the snow here.

I started up classes again. Database Design and Accounting. And I really didn't like how I had one week to do two week's worth of assignments in the database class, especially since I was out with a bad case of food poisoning this weekend. (Seriously, I was sleeping for most of Saturday.) Luckily, the accounting class is a lot more lenient; the first assignments aren't due for another couple of weeks. At least everything else should be much more balanced for the rest of the quarter. But I want to know why I don't have any luck with the teachers for advanced CS concepts (Networking Essentials, C++ 2, Data Structures Using C++, and now Database Design)? (Can't miss one week of class, else I'm immediately dropped/failed! Or the teacher wants a five page report... every week! And a twenty page report every three weeks! Or, as in the C++ classes, the teacher doesn't even know how to use the compiler, let alone actually teach instead of reading the Powerpoint provided by the book!)

March is the busy month at the zoo. I didn't know if it would effect IT as much as it does Gift Shop, but it really does. We have a page and a half list of projects that have to be done by next week. Some things have been finished up or are in the final stages. Other things are no where near completion, and worst of all, it's not our fault (outside companies that we have a warranty with being stupid and not fixing a laptop that we took in over two months ago). Monday and Tuesday next week will be interesting. The zoo's getting a new director, and the old director for the last 40 years is sticking around, but in another office... that just moved off zoo grounds. That was yesterday's big project, getting the zoo's new west office up and running. Well, it's up, can't quite say it's running yet though. There's still a lot of server configuring to do.

I'm playing around with the idea of moving this blog to Wordpress. Thing is, because I've grown to be a control freak, I'd rather have it on my own server instead of a wordpress.com blog, so I can play around with the extra space easily, maybe host a wiki or something geeky like that. Wordpress seems to be a lot more customizable and easier to code for than Blogger, so maybe I'd actually get back into web design again. That'd be nice.

On a final note, I've been told by a dancing friend that this follow dances like me. Not that I dance blues like that, with the hips and tricks and everything, but I could see little things, like bending my back weird during spins, having my left arm away from my body more than usual, and taking big steps (I walked up behind him while he was watching this and thought that she danced like me before he even said anything). My friend says he noticed it mostly in the swing-outs, but he can't put his finger on what exactly it is about them. The only thing I can think of is how she swings her left arm back during those, like I do. (I started doing that because the momentum of the swing out continues being carried by that arm while I wait for the lead to bring me in. It's a nice feeling while it happens and [I think] adds power back into the dance when I bring in back in. Jury's still out on whether it makes me a better dancer or makes me look more graceful. I know that the last video in which I saw myself dancing, I wasn't too bad to watch, but still no where near professional level.) It's still weird to see something like that; it's rare to see two people who dance a lot alike, even when they're in the same scene. I've tried to base my following and styling off of a few of the other follows at JNO, but I usually don't get compared to them like I do the follow in this video.

Gratuitous Fruit Post

I had a horrible craving for ginger lemonade last week. Somehow, a simple grocery trip for lemons ended up with a bountiful harvest of fruit (10 lemons + 3 I had bought previously, 4 apples, 4 oranges, 2 limes, 1 pineapple, and 1 gigantic ginger root [okay, so ginger isn’t a fruit. I does go very well with fruit]). With the ingredients I needed at hand, I proceeded to make ginger lemonade.

There were a few things I didn’t count on. First: juicing one or two lemons without a juicer isn’t bad. Juicing ten lemons is. Second: my mild mannered eczema flares up when it’s cold and I get small cracks in my hands that I can’t see… but lemon juice can find every single one. Third: my fancy new pitcher is only about half the size of the one I had been using. Therefore, the mixture doesn’t get watered down as much as it needs to be, making it amazingly strong. I had to mix the first few glasses with water, then fill the pitcher back up. It’s at a good balance now, when I strain it. So I may buy a juicer or steal one from home. I make this stuff enough in the summer enough to make it worthwhile.

Our dear friend Jillian who went to New York had started crocheting doilies before she left. While flipping through her patterns, I spotted one named “Romantic Pineapples.” I was highly amused by the name, and she threatened to make me some for my apartment. I received a package yesterday wrapped in brown paper and duct tape from New York. After successfully destroying everything but the duct tape, I found a card, a bar of fancy chocolate, and a pair of romantic pineapples. And I knew immediately that I had to take a picture of my recently-purchased pineapple on the doily. (I really need to figure out how to eat this pineapple. Cut up raw? In a stir fry? Gratineed?) Now lilies are sitting on the doilies, looking pretty.

I’m not doing too badly with the apartment. Sometimes it feels like I’m barely here because I’m running around [especially last week when Mom and I were going out all the time, trying to figure out new cell phones. We’ve ended up with Crackberries [Curve 8330s, if anyone’s that interested]) and an unlimited data plan, so I have, unfortunately enough, started text messaging. I’ve picked up an adapter that lets me turn my TV into another screen for my MacBook. Not practical for regular web usage, but nice when I’m watching shows from Hulu or on DVD (though the TVs age and issues are showing when I see what’s on the TV compared to what’s on the laptop). I still haven’t thrown a proper housewarming party yet; I should get going on that, considering I’ve been here for over a month now. I’m hoping to hang up pictures in the next couple of weeks (although I still need frames for at least three of them). Of course, I’ve been saying something similar to this for the last few years. I’m going to try to make it happen now. I still have a mountain of boxes sitting in front of my fireplace. I haven’t set off the fire alarm in a while. So, all in all, I’m not doing too badly living on my own.