Weekly Wrap-up ( Monday July 19 - Saturday July 24 )

The weather has been alternatingly damp, grey, drizzly, clear, cool, and slightly humid. That's summer in San Bruno.

A "Sunny Express" Delivery truck was behind the Company earlier in the week (on one of the foggy days). As I walked by, I said to the driver "So, where's the Sun you're delivering?" He laughed.

I had Lean Cuisine "Beef Peppercorn" for lunch one day. It's actually quite good (although the greenbeans are a little underdone) but it's got redskin potatoes in it and it's difficult not to eat them! That makes this one 220 calories and 22 carbs. I probably won't buy this one again.

I also tried the Honey Dijon chicken. I told Rich I didn't like it. He said "Too sweet, too mustardy, or what?" I said "Yes".

The sign for the Training Room door has been falling off since te Training Room was created 6 weeks ago. It keeps getting slapped back up with the same light-weight thin tape (not even new instances of the same class of lightweight thin tape). Then it falls off again. And of course, it falls tape side down so the tape has carpet fibers in it now. It would be more comical if it wasn't so dumb.

On Wednesday, I finally broke down and brought in 4 pieces of heavy-duty double-sided foam tape (recommended 4 per pound) and gave them to the new "operations manager". She said she'd file a request with building facilities to install them. Weird.

On Thursday I arrived at the Job to discover that the sign had now been installed with (all four pieces) of the double-sided tape I brought in. Unfortunately, whoever installed it put it well above eye level. The bottom of the sign was 6 feet off the floor. As this sign has a little plate that slides back and forth to say "In use" or "Vacant", well above eye level is also well above easy reach. So...

The operations manage (who is not tall) came by and looked up at the sign and sighed, then went away to file another facilities request. The guy who installed the sign came by later to move it and guess what? He had used all 4 of the pieces of tape I brought in and, of course, didn't have any more. The good news is that two of the pieces were salvagable after the sign was removed for repositioning and it's light enough that it only needed two.

Wednesday is Donut day at The Company; I have no trouble resisting. It smells to high heaven of nothing but sugar. I don't know why, but neither the name "Krispy Kreme" nor their product tempts me in the slightest. They're a fad with some people; I can't imagine why.

The Exchange email server went kablooie on Tuesday night and was finally (?) fixed late Thursday afternoon. I got internal mail on Friday that had been sent on Wednesday. IT spent well over 30 hours and I don't know how many people "fixing" this problem. Not only was there database corruption but M$oft requires a reboot (or 2 or 6) to "troubleshoot" the problem.

I moved to another cubicle on Friday. The bad news is that the people who installed these cubicles installed low walls (16" above the desk tops). So there's better light in some ways (which in this wing is unusual) but no flipper cabinet. Dumb. I would prefer higher walls but beggars can't be choosy.

By 1:30pm I was all moved. My keyboard tray couldn't be installed until Monday (ouch) but otherwise, I was reconfigured and settled. Two of the fluorescent fixtures in this room were dark; I filed a request to have them fixed. Thankfully, none of my "room mates" said they'd mind. There are 6 people in the room and one remaining empty cubicle; there's also a funny additional room with a glass wall like a conference room.

The facilities helper left his toolbox when he went off to do something else. I borrowed a spanner and re-configured the door on my mini fridge to open the other way.

I left at 4:30 and went to the Credit Union where I deposited my paycheck and got cash. I said "I want $500 in 20's". The teller said "I can only give you $500 a day". I said "That's what I asked for...why are you telling me this?" Aparently he thought I had said "I want 5 hundred and 20".

We needed to take the Camry in for a smog check before August so we tried to drop it at Quality Tuneup (half a block from Joe's Dner) before breakfast on Saturday, but they said they had a full day of cars stacked up. So after breakfast we tried SpeeDee Oil Change a few blocks away (and on the way home) and they could do it. We'd brought the Corolla just in case so we left the Camry and went home. I noodled around a bit and then went to Orchard and bought a 2' by 4' piece of transparent (but textured) acrylic I could put between the cubicles so I can't see the person in the next one over. It will raise the partition by 7" without blocking the light.

By the time I got back home, the Camry was finished so we went and got it. It's good now for another two years.

This week, I finished reading A Moorland Hanging, by Michael Jecks. It's good but it should have been trimmed. It was too long and the extra didn't add to the story; it just got tedious.

I also read Too Many Crooks Spoil the Broth by Tamar Myers; this is a Pennsylvania Dutch mystery (with recipes :-). One of the very cute things about it is that the author put herseltf into the story. Her husbaand has a cameo part as the Chief of Police of Hernia, PA and she (the author) has an offscreen role (mentioned but never met) as the police chief's wife, Tammy (described by the main character as being "dingier than a mailbox on a gravel road").

In between and around the rest, I've had several naps, good meals, interesting conversations with Spouse and friends, and snuggles with the cats. I've "chatted" once or twice with my Dad, and kept my weblogs reasonably up to date. I also did a couple of miles on the treadmill...

Onward and Upward.

Weekly Wrap-up ( Monday July 19 - Saturday July 24 ) ( in category Gemisch/Gallimaufry ) - posted at Mon, 26 Jul, 22:47 Pacific | «e»