Left Brain, Right Brain

You may remember this post from two weeks ago, in which I griped about how the wastebasket in my office almost NEVER gets emptied.

Well last Friday I decided to do something about it. I called the Helpdesk for the Facilities department and filed a complaint. They opened a "work request" to have someone make sure that the night cleaners were not skipping my office. Good. So I came in this morning, and yes, my overflowing garbage had FINALLY been emptied, and NO, they did NOT LOCK MY DOOR again! ACK!!!

Remember, this is a problem because my office is a domain of highly sensitive materials that must be secure at all times, and MUST be locked up when I am not in the office with them. So what good does it do to have my door locked if the cleaners are going to UNLOCK it and just leave it wide open like that all weekend? None! I could just about shriek. I think I kind of made a grumbling sigh noise when I entered my UNLOCKED office this morning.

At least I don't have week-old Taco Bell bags stinking under my desk anymore... for now...

Yesterday I was feeling so stressed at work, it was starting to make me feel physically ill. By the time I got home, I was in a terrible mood, and I snapped at Jon a little bit for something so minor I can't even remember what it was. It was all so fast I don't know if he even noticed it, becasue then I stormed out again and went to the store to buy some thread. When I came back, Jon was out in the garage doing something to his car so I parked in the driveway. When I got out of my car, he got a good look at me and said, "You look absolutely miserable!" and I said, "I am." He asked why, and I said I'd had a terrible day at work, and he hugged me and asked what happened and I told him I didn't even feel like talking about it, and then I went inside and crashed on the couch to cry the stress out a little bit.

Jon followed me in and sat right by me, rubbing my back and neck and letting me cry it out. He didn't ask questions, he didn't try to make me talk, and he didn't try to make things "better." He did everything exactly right.

As much as he likes to tease me, he still does the right things at the right times. (And actually, I kind of like it when he teases me! I guess that's why he does it - hah!)

Ever have one of those days when things seem to be going ok, almost a little too well, and then you get hit with something so awful that it raises your blood pressure to the point of giving you tunnel vision and a ringing in the ears? I should have expected it. This thing that I can't talk about is built in such a way that things like this should almost be expected, but it still sucks.

Yeah.

And on top of that, I'll be working on it this weekend. OK, just an hour or less on Saturday, and I can probably do it from home, but it is making me reallllly hate this one particular thing that I can't talk about. At least it will be all gone and done very soon.

Also, there was another thing this week that I can't talk about. It's not of much consequence now that it's over, but it was a bit of a source of annoyance on Monday afternoon, Tuesday and Wednesday, and early this morning.

And I can't talk about any of it. Stupid rules about things.

OK, two things.

1. I think I am in love with FlyLady, or at least mildly obsessed with her awesome household cleaning and organizing tips! Such great stuff! And it's FREE! There's something good for everyone on there.


2. I was just notified by my boss that there have been "market adjustments" in my department, and my position is one of those affected. My first thought? "Oh, crap." But then he told me that it's good! And BAM, just like that, I got a raise! And it's a nice one, too... just over 8.5%! It actually went into effect last week, on the 16th of February, so I should see it on my March 15th paycheck. (We get paid every month on the 15th and the last day of the month.)

HOORAY for FlyLady! HOORAY for Corporate America!

Lest anyone think I am being a whiner, I'm going to wax on a bit more about the stupid password situation.

I just counted. I have AT LEAST 23 seperate accounts (this is just for work, only) that are required to each have a DIFFERENT password. Think about this. I am expected to keep track of 23 different "Strong Passwords" without writing them down.

As I mentioned last time, most of these passwords require at least 8 digits, captial and lower case letters, numbers, special characters, no characters that are next to each other on the keyboard (like asdf) OR consecutive (like abc or 123), no repeating characters, no 1337 (leet speak) abbreviations, no actual WORDS or parts of words, and the passwords must begin and end with a letter.

HOWEVER!

Some of these passwords can ONLY be alpha-numeric, and do not allow "special characters", but still need to be "strong." And others yet can ONLY be numeric! And some can only be 4-6 characters, although most still have to be a minimum of 8 characters.

Let me repeat - I have AT LEAST 23 accounts to keep track of with all this. Possibly more that I've forgotten about. Tell me this is realistic. Just try. You're wrong.

I have spent the last month or so just feeling cranky and out of place in my job, like I should be somewhere else, doing something completely different. I had been looking forward to my monthly 1-1 meeting with my boss so I could talk to him about this.

Then, here comes the meeting (today) and all I can do is gurgle and squee about how excited I am about the new office, how much I love html, and how happy I am in my position! ACK!! What the heck turned me into Pollyanna for chrissake?!? Gah. But now I actually do feel better. It's so weird. I think putting on a good attitude can actually make you FEEL better. Well, I know that's true. There have been brain scan studies done that prove just smiling can trigger the "happy" centers in your brain. It's like feeling happiness creating a smile on your face, only in reverse! And it works! I guess the same goes for speaking and acting in an optimistic and happy manner. Really. Since my surly dark days as a surly dark teenager, I have learned to act more happy and optimistic, and I really do FEEL more happy and optimistic! It's so great! Like, free magic happiness and satisfaction with life! Even forcing myself to see the bright side of things, say stuff like, "At least it wasn't XYZ - could be worse!" - has really helped me develop a more positive general attitude towards life.

Anyway, I did tell my boss that I hate hate HATE Windows SharePoint Services. At least I got that off my chest. He knows I hate it. Everyone hates it. But it feels good to say it out loud to the boss. ^_^

Our HR Manager has asked me to fill out an application to be commissioned as a Notary Public. The company is reimbursing me for the application fee ($40), and once I am commissioned they will pay for the registration fee ($100) and the cost of getting a Notary Stamp and Log Book.

COOL!!

The Notary Commission lasts for 5 years, so even if I left the company before that, I'd still be able to legally notarize documents and stuff. Kind of generally useless, but I still find it somewhat interesting and neat.

What a quandary. The café here at work is serving Reubens w/ those awesome potato wedges that I love, AND Chicken Kiev with Wild Rice. Both are favorites of mind. Gah.

WOW - I can't believe what a loser I am! Do I have NOTHING better to think/talk/write about right now? Thinking.... thinking.... ( Read more... )

I just ate some meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and a fresh bun from the Cafe here at work. It was good. Then I got thirsty, so I went to the coffee station down the hall from my office to get some water. I decided I also wanted some tea, so here's what I did: I got 2 styrofoam cups, and I filled one with hot water and a tea bag, and the other with cold water.

On the short walk back to my office, it occurred to me that in my two hands I embodied right and left, dark and light, hot and cold, flavor and... not? And somehow my brain decided that the tea is female and the cold water is male. It seems to make so much sense right now... I suppose I will read this in a few hours or days and think I was really nuts.

Someone on my floor made popcorn yesterday and today. It smells all buttery and crap. I'm not pleased about this.

Some of you may remember that I worked for 3 years in a movie theater. Buttered popcorn is like GARBAGE that you SWIM through. You can't get the smell off of you. It is not "food" and it stops smelling very good after that amount of time.