Oh My God Becky....

This was the song on my iPod this morning on my way to work.


I can recite this song (especially the Valley Girl beginning) from memory.  I can't help this. I spent many hours in my beat up old Prelude, cruising East Wash in Madison, WI with a couple of girlfriends with this and several other kick ass songs.  I had a mix tape (yes, I said tape) with a lot of songs on it that remind me of that time and I can't find it. Not like I can use it but I would like to remember all the songs so I could go back and download them from iTunes.  The memories are strong in this one. One of the few times that I was out with friends in High School.  But then again, music speaks to me.

I was on a cruise one time with my practice husband and another couple and we went to a karaoke night and this red headed skinny white girl got up and killed this song. She got a standing O from everyone.


 
 
 

Toaster Analogy...do you get it?

I'm kind of out of things to say this week.  It's been one of those weeks where it didn't move fast enough but it also screamed by.

I think I have made a decision to start looking for a different job. I used to love my job. Everything about it. I got to make million dollar decisions, I managed people and expectations and I got a kick out of fixing things that were broken.  I especially loved the ability to create structure where there was chaos. 

But lately, it's been hard to not be bitter about the fact that I am totally unappreciated.  IT is never known for getting kudos and I'm OK with that. I understand that.  But every so often? It'd be nice to get a little acknowledgement...you know, throw me a bone....

It's hard for people to understand that the IT field is not known for getting a lot of praise. I equate a toaster to this analogy.  You use a toaster every day to toast your bagel.  Every morning, you get up and pop a bagel in the toaster, push the lever down and then walk away...knowing you'll get a toasted bagel at the end of the process.

Now, the lever pops up and your bagel is toasted.  You think nothing of it because that is what it is supposed to do.  Of course you should never expect anything different.

But one day...your toaster doesn't toast your bagel.  You push on the lever, you jiggle the plug, you might even stick a knife in it to jab at the heating elements...but still, no toasted bagel.

That is when the shit hits the fan.  Good Gosh Damn...what the hell?  Stupid toaster. Can't beleive that it would do this to me right now.  Especially when I wanted a toasted bagle.  Now I can't even have that.  This day is going to suck.  And you carry that shit around with you all day.  Snapping at co-workers...messing around with the office supplies instead of working.  Plotting your revenge on the guy that sold you the toaster.  Rallying against the fact that you couldn't have one FLIPPIN' bagle that morning.  You're whole day ruined.  All because one portion of your life, the one that you depend on every day, did not deliver.

So, you go buy a new toaster and your unceremonially dump the old one in the trash.  Never thinking about the mornings you shared over toasted bagels. Never realizing that, maybe, you should have treated the toaster a bit better.  You know, gave it a good nudge occasionally. Just to let it know that you appreciate its efforts to get you going in the morning.  Getting you in the right frame of mind to start the day. 

So, moral of the story?  Hug your IT guy/gal today and let them know you appreciate the fact that your computer, printer, server, copier etc....works 99% of the time.  Yes there are times when they don't work but can you really go forever with NOTHING breaking?

And you might want to announce your intent to hug so you don't get a punch in the nose.

One of those days...

I should have known...overslept, dogs took forever to do their "business", got to work about 30 minutes late and I had a day full of meetings.  Only to realize at 10:15, that one of my buildings is completely down with no network...at all.  Not even a few.  Like zero....

• And no, it's not a power outage because your computer is still on. 

• And no, I can't make our service provider come to your desk and type your work.

• Yes we've called them. 

• No, you don't need to call them. 

• OK, I appreciate your ability to tell me what's wrong with the network. 

• Please don't ask to get in my network room. 

• I bet you're angry about getting to stand around and talk to all your coworkers about how much of a screw up IT is.

• Yes I'm sure that we have the highest executives working on it.

• I know that your home internet is faster and doesn't go down all the time.

• I'm sure Time Warner would love our business

• Maybe you can go home but maybe you should ask your supervisor

• No, the security guard does not know what's going on

• Please don't give my phone number out to everyone on the 3rd floor so they can call me to ask what the status is

• I do understand you can't work....just as I am not able to work because I'm on the phone with all of the 3rd floor

• Well maybe you should go home

• I hope you are able to come in in the morning too

• I'll be sure and let the president of your division know that you are very upset with me and IT

• Yes I realize that it is now 3pm and you have not been able to work all day. 

• Maybe you should have listened to your supervisor when they told you to go home and work.

• Wow, look at that, the service came up.

• I know that our Service Provider should pay us for the productivity that you lost

• Please be sure and tell my supervisor that I just walked the floor and told people to be patient, he would love to hear that from you.

99.6% upage over the last year for our network and the 0.4% is when I get to hear the best advice I have ever heard. 

They never get it right

My horoscope for the day....if this said the exact opposite, I'd believe it.  Besides....I have no love life, in or out of the bedroom.

Remember to allow the organized piece of your being to spill over into every aspect of your life, Shannon. It could be that you are fine at keeping your finances, your home, and your work situation orderly and under control, but when it comes to love, all sense of rationalization goes out the window. Make sure you are as disciplined with yourself in the bedroom as you are in your office.


What the hell do they know?

Found on Road Dead

My first car was a 1985ish Honda Prelude.  The speedometer didn't work and I didn't notice it when I bought it.  So I have no idea if it worked when I bought it and then a week or so later, when I noticed it wasn't working, that it had broken.  So I did what I normally do and just shrugged it off and kept on driving.  I did get pulled over once for speeding and I talked my way out of it by telling him my speedometer didn't work.  He was nice enough to not ticket me and told me to get it fixed with the money I just saved. Or learn to keep my speed down. I did neither.

I'd like to think that I talked my way out of that because I batted my big green eyes at him and he fell under my spell.  I'm sure that was not the case.  I was a sniveling mess...

So I bought this car in 1990, just after I turned 16.  My parents gave me the money (God knows why, other then they wouldn't have to drive me everywhere. And that's a stretch because I didn't go anywhere). I went to the mechanic that my parents had used (really used, if you've read my post about my luck with cars, you'll see where this is going).  He sold me the car and I had like $200 left over. I think I bought the car for $2,000, if that much.

Within a week, it was back in the shop for the starter. There goes the $200...and then the speedometer, but I just ignored that.

Living in Wisconsin, it gets cold....very cold.  My heater/radiator would freeze up and wouldn't start.  There were a couple of times that it would just die in the middle of the highway.  I would quickly start it again, hoping that going 60 mph wouldn't kill me or anyone else in the car.  So I had problems with the car.  But again, it is what I'm used to with my family. We have horrible luck with cars.

So in 1993, I moved to Kansas and brought the Prelude with me.  She was good for about 2 years. Good meaning she didn't blow up. There were still issues, I just choose to ignore. And I know I did not have an oil change in those 3 years...I think I put oil in it every 6 months or so because the light would come on and so I knew that it required oil and so I just poured it in.  Then it started leaking oil all the time so I just kept adding it.

I admit that I am a lousy car owner at the time. It got gas and new windshield wipers but only because I had to.  I never got an oil change, I did not buy new tires and I never washed it. The air conditioner would work sometimes and the heater was not the most reliable either.  I wore a lot of sweaters in the winter time and all windows rolled down in the summer.

So about 2 years into living in Lawrence, KS I was driving along 9th street and all of a sudden I couldn't go over 40 miles an hour.  And then the power steering started going out.  I was in the left lane and I couldn't get over to the right to get off the street and so I kept driving along until I could pull off to the left.  By this time I couldn't get over 20 miles an hour and was getting a lot of one finger salutes.  I returned them because fuck them for not knowing something was wrong. Who the hell were they to get uptight about my disastrous situation.  Fuckers....

I managed to pull onto a street that ironically was in front of the old apartment that my boyfriend at the time and I lived in.  I also had 2 very large Golden Retrievers in my car that I had just taken to the vet for a couple that I was friends with and was dog sitting.  And it was about August, 3pm in the afternoon.  Harshly hot. So I got the dogs out of the car and I started making calls.  I called my boyfriend at the time...he was in Topeka (about 30 minutes away), I called my folks but both of them were not around.  So I resorted to my boyfriends Dad.  How embarrassing was that?  He drove out to pick me up, I had refrained from mentioning the dogs and forgot he had leather seats in his Caddy...I had a blanket in the car so I put that down. And we all trudged to the house I was sitting for with the dogs. 

I don't think I ever thanked boyfriend at the time's Dad.  But I also didn't think about how I was going to get around.  I just figured someone would take care of that.  I was that self centered. 

Now, I had to deal with the car. It never became an option to get it fixed. I never thought about getting it fixed. I just knew it was going to be more money then I had. Which was about $6.  So I did the next best thing.  I had my boyfriend at the time drive me over to the car. I took out all the crap.  Made sure that I grabbed the hair scrunchies off the stick shift!  And then I pulled out the title and then closed the door and walked away. 

And when I say I pulled out the title, that means I left the title on the drivers side seat, did not lock the door, and left it on that street.  I walked away from a car that probably would have been a great car if I had taken care of it.  And it could have been a simple fix....but I tend to just walk away or hid from things I don't want to deal with.  I drop it like it's hot and split.  And I do not think about it twice.

I then made my boyfriend at that time drive me everywhere for about 2 months.  He suggested early on that I get a new car so he could work better, but I ignored that.  After the 6th week, he told me that I needed to get a new car...It took me another 2 weeks to decide to start looking. And that was only because he told me he wasn't driving me anywhere any more.  Bit harsh but alright.  I found my next ticking time bomb at work. Some guy was selling his car and would take payments from me.  I DID pay that off...one of the first things I ever paid off at that time.

I told this story to my ex (husband) and he got the biggest kick out of it.  He could not believe that I just walked away from it.  I tried to explain to him that it was just the thing I did.  If I was done with it or just didn't want it anymore, I dropped it.

Since then? I have not abandoned a vehicle or a dog.  But I definitely abandon bills, books, sometimes friends (shame on me) and most definitely diets and dudes.