Everything Eileen (almost...)

Potpourri

nobody@vox.com(Eileen) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 11:07:20 -0400

Nothing will wake you from your post-sugar-rush slump like a fire alarm, its shrill piercing tones still ringing in my head. No one made much of an effort to move until the Loss Prevention guy came down the corridor on his way out of the building. That's when everyone started scurrying to the lobby. It was a false alarm, though. Everything's fine, everyone's safe, and all the guitars on the walls downstairs are dry and secure.

I've just spoken with my friend Bekki and am very excited. I received a confirmation e-mail that I'm on the list to get into tomorrow night's Smashing Pumpkins show, and Bekki agreed to go with me! Hurray! And Chris is okay staying at home with The Boy and putting the little one down for the night. Double hurray!

Of course, this means Mommy won't sleep tomorrow night, though. Oh well. I'll try to catch a couple of solid naps this weekend. My basil plant is doing just fine in its tiny container on my window sill; one more week shouldn't hurt it too much, right?

I've decided I like the analysis portion of planning better than the forecasting part of it. Forecasting sucks because you can wind up being oh so wrong and get blamed for it, whereas analysis is all about interpreting the past. Also, forecasting an entire year out when this year isn't finished yet is a lot harder when you actually sit down to do it.

Today's weather is worse than it was yesterday and the day before. The rain hasn't let up at all. And when it's overcast outside, it's freezing in the building, so I'm wearing a jacket and have my space heater on high.

One of the guys from IT just stopped by and said the system I use for all my reporting will be offline in about an hour for about 30 minutes. [sigh] As if I need any more reasons to be completely unproductive today.

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On the right track

nobody@vox.com(Eileen) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:14:58 -0400

I love getting projects at work. No, I really do. There's nothing like tackling a project in a systematic fashion, kind of like piecing together a jigsaw puzzle.

Anyway, I was handed a project a couple of weeks ago and warned that (a) the project has a number of overlapping layers and components that need to be analyzed both individually and in relation to each other, (b) the results will help determine the direction the Product Development team will take in creating new pieces, and (c) the way in which I compile data for and present results on this project will be the standard by which all further product testing will be handled.

No pressure, or anything.

So, this has consumed a good part of my days at work. I take little breaks (as I'm doing now) to figure out the next step, but I've just verified with my boss that I'm on the right track in the way I'm analyzing all the pieces. So, I feel good about that.

Now I just need a way to take all of this data and make it understandable to the lay person. And that's the really tricky part of my job.

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Mommy's little boy (or, Momma hates Toddler Tummy)

nobody@vox.com(Eileen) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 20:53:53 -0400

My son loves his mommy. This cannot be refuted.

So, once his chronic diaper rash cleared and The Boy's bottom was nice and normal in color again, this wonderful thing known as Toddler Tummy graced my household. Have you heard of this? Apparently, it's not that uncommon. It's basically loose stools several times a day but no underlying disorder, no specific cause for the diarrhea, and no problems with his ability to thrive. I told his doctor that I think it's sheer volume of food consumption that keeps this kid alive. And even though he doesn't have juice (precisely because I wanted to prevent Toddler Tummy), his doctor said that this could also have very easily been brought on by the eight teeth currently growing in his mouth.

[sigh] Yeah, apparently, with molars, the pain doesn't end until the teeth are all the way in. Nice, huh?

Anyway, I spent the day at home with The Boy. Well, to be fair, we weren't home the entire time. I scored an early doctor's appointment for him, and we visited Chris at work for a little while, making it home for a nap just in time to head off a major meltdown. I took the opportunity to get some work done - and did fairly well until he awoke and decided he didn't want to do anything but sit in Mommy's lap and continuously poke my nose. [sigh] After a nice lunch of pasta with tomatoes and spinach (he didn't want the spinach until he saw me eating it), he agreed to play on his own for a few minutes until I was ~~asked~~ ordered to read several books to him. Or, rather, I was to hold the books and say the words until he turned the pages. And even though he didn't get to spend any part of his afternoon alone with Daddy (as they do every weekday), he still didn't want Daddy to put him to bed. To the very end, he just wanted Mommy.

So, I managed to get my work done today (though I didn't send out my last e-mail until after 8 PM). I've also managed to successfully collect three stool samples to bring to the lab on my way to work tomorrow morning. (Only one sample left to go - I'll probably collect that one tomorrow morning, as I'm keeping my fingers crossed he won't wake later tonight.) I told Chris that I think I'd be able to work from home even with him here if he was feeling better. As it was, though, whenever his tummy hurt (right before he would poop), he wanted me to hold him - and not just hold him, but hold him and rub his back and sway with him. It's kind of hard to do anything on the computer when you're swaying with a baby while rubbing his back. And then after the poop, I had to do a quick diaper change, which he didn't like at all, which meant that I needed to hold him for a while after the diaper change, too.

Oh! I was able to cook dinner tonight. Well, as much cooking as a tofu stir-fry can be. The important part, though, is that The Boy ate quite a bit of tofu (hurray!) and carrots (extra hurray!). I have leftovers for tomorrow night, too, so I'll see if he'll be up for another vegetarian dinner.

But first, I'll need to see if his little body is processing said tofu and carrots correctly. Toddler Tummy sucks.

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Grrrrrrr...

nobody@vox.com(Eileen) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:57:13 -0400

So, you know that really cute pink laptop I got less than three weeks ago? The one with the really fast processor and 4MB of RAM?

Yeah...

The operating system crashed on it and all is lost. And as it's month-end/quarter-end/mid-year-end at work, it couldn't possibly have happened at a worse time.

I'll be bringing it back to work tomorrow to ask one of my buddies in IT to work some magic and reinstall all the good stuff I need.

In the meantime, I'm hitting the hay early because tomorrow is going to be a loooooong day...

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It's here!

nobody@vox.com(Eileen) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:18:16 -0400

I wasn't expecting it to arrive for another whole week, but my bright, shiny, new pink laptop arrived this morning! Hooray!

Of course, as soon as I took it out of the box, I cornered my buddy in IT and asked him to install the VPN on it right away - so it's still downstairs in the IT Lair. But no worries. When he pulled it out of its case (oh, yes - it came in its own little pouch), he said, "Um, it's pink." I nodded gleefully, and he asked, "So you know? Did you do that on purpose?"

"That way, you know it's mine!" I explained. "No one else is going to have a pink laptop!"

"I can't work on this downstairs!" he protested. "All the guys will laugh at me!"

After a little cajoling and much reassurance that, no, his masculinity would not be affected by handling my pink laptop, he headed downstairs with it.

I've never been so excited to know that I can do work from home. This truly shows now that I do, indeed, lead a sick, sad life.

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Storming...

nobody@vox.com(Eileen) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:30:24 -0400

I just need to vent for a second.

A major pet peeve of mine is when people wait until the very last second to do something. There are very few things in life that cannot be planned. (Death, ironically, happens to be one of them.) In business, there are even fewer things that cannot be planned. (This is why there are analysts and planners.) Moreover, when specific holidays are involved, there are even fewer surprises.

Take, for example, the Fourth of July. This happens each year on - you guessed it - July 4. The date never changes. And it's been a national holiday for almost two centuries. More importantly, it's marked on just about everyone's calendar (here, anyway) as a work holiday. (I think I've established that this is a static date.)

So why, then, does it come as a shock to some people (who will go unnamed) that this holiday is coming? And if you know you need to have something before July 4, and the lead time is usually about 4-6 weeks, wouldn't you want to order it well in advance? After all, April 4 is always 3 months before July 4, just as May 4 is always 2 months before July 4, just as June 4 is one month before July 4. (June 9, for those playing along with their calendars at home, is 25 days before July 4.)

It's not hard. You know something's happening July 4. You know you need it before July 4. And you know what? Last year, you needed the same thing July 4. In fact, you need it every year.

Is it too much to ask for some people to think ahead from time to time?

[sigh]

My head really hurts now.

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It's like that feeling at the end of a page...

nobody@vox.com(Eileen) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 17:35:13 -0400

That totally describes my day.

I hit my desk at full force again this morning, knowing I've got so much to do and I really don't want to be here until the wee morning hours doing it. Then, I got an e-mail from my boss. Apparently, one of the data warehouses was still not loading correctly, so all the reports I'm scheduled to run at the end of the day will be wrong. Alas, the world stops for no one - so we came up with a solution to limp through this month end process. That's the plus side. The down side is that it will take three times as long because it requires building and running multiple reports, opposed to just the one that automatically feeds into my spreadsheet for minor manipulation.

And, of course, this is all stuff that people want in their hands today. Crikey!

I'm once again thanking the Microsoft programmers for vlookups. I don't know how I would get any of this done without them!

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Been running so hard - what I need is to unwind...

nobody@vox.com(Eileen) — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 17:35:30 -0400

Today started out a great day. The Boy didn't sleep well last night (he boycotted dinner and probably kept waking with a grumbly tummy), but he still woke me at 6, just after Chris left for work. It wasn't too terrible; I managed to pull it together and get him fed (almost 7 ounces of peaches, 3 ounces of yogurt, and about 3 ounces of milk), dressed, and both of us out the door just after 7:30. (That's a record, by the way.) This week I'm reviewing the month of May, you see, and I knew I needed a head-start at work.

And that's when the great day evaporated. I logged onto my e-mail to find urgent messages from our CMO and VP of Finance looking to resurrect a project I thought we had already killed. So I scrambled to update the data and form new conclusions, then painstakingly reviewed them with our department head before I could meet with the cafe analyst to review my assumptions and conclusions with him.

(I still haven't met with him, BTW. It's month end for all of us, and Mondays are always pretty manic around here.)

So, while he's at lunch and I'm waiting for him to materialize at my desk (or give me a call - I'm not very picky), I start my other end of month reporting. Only something's screwy with one of the data warehouses and the dollar values are way off. Never mind that we've notified IT about this almost three months ago. It's completely screwed up, and that means one of my selling reports (thank goodness it's only one of three) is totally wrong. At least it's a semi-easy fix - it will just require a bunch of matching to get it right. Thank God for VLookups.

I feel like beating my head against a wall.

Today I sent The Boy to school with a banana and a small container of peaches for snack. (They were having animal crackers this morning, and I prefer bringing his snacks instead of letting him eat animal crackers because I'm not sure of their ingredients.) Last week, I got into a bit of trouble with his teachers because I only provided a banana, and he got very angry when he finished it and there was no more to eat. So I've learned my lesson and realize now that I need to provide extra food for him - just in case.

Tomorrow I have my first Parent-Teacher conference. It's really just an opportunity to sit down with his head teacher and go over his development and progression. I can't imagine it would be much more involved than that; it's not like she's going to tell me The Boy is doing poorly in Science or needs to stay focused while studying History.

And next week marks the start of "Water Days". I'm not totally sure what it entails, but I know that I have to send The Boy to school on Fridays with swimming trunks, swimming diapers, water shoes, and a towel. At yesterday's Target excursion, I contemplated getting him his own beach towel until I remembered that a bath towel is plenty big for his little body. Silly Mommy.

I've had enough of the day. I think I'm going to head home. After all, I can review weeks of supply tomorrow. It's not like it's going to change overnight.

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Telecommuting possibilities...

nobody@vox.com(Eileen) — Fri, 30 May 2008 15:04:37 -0400

There's a chance I may be able to telecommute one or two days a week. This would be fantastic, as I'm shelling out upwards of $55 in gas each week to commute in from the outburbs. I would still need to bring The Boy to school on those days (if I telecommute, I really would have to do uninterrupted work), but the plus side is that I'd be able to stay home with him on those days he's sick without needing to take a day off from work.

There's no guarantee I'd be able to start working from home immediately. Right now, it's being tested in other departments, but given my limited physical contact with the outside world, there's really no reason I shouldn't be able to telecommute.

The caveat? I would need a new laptop.

The laptop I have is new to me (a hand me down from my sister), but it's several years old and not compatible with the company's system. [sigh] Also, the hard drive clicks and it makes my husband very nervous. But for my current purposes, it's just great. I can surf the 'net, work on spreadsheets and Word documents, and play Webkinz games from the comfort of our family room couch while The Boy is asleep and my husband is racing the world via Mario Kart.

Alas, for work purposes, I would need a laptop with a faster processor and much more memory. And, being my father's daughter, if I'm going to get a new computer, I know it would be best to get a near-top of line processor and the most memory available.

Let the quest begin - and wish me luck!

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You're out of touch; I'm out of time...

nobody@vox.com(Eileen) — Fri, 16 May 2008 20:33:12 -0400

(Yes, I did just throw out Hall & Oates there.)

Can't write much right now. I just got an e-mail from one of my devoted readers (okay, probably my only devoted reader!) who was wondering where I've been as my blog has been silent all week. If you must know (and why else would you be reading my blog if you didn't care?), I was at a conference for work all week. It was awesome, it totally rocked, I'm so hyper-energized now to start work again on Monday, and, yes, I'm totally zonked. Add to this the fact that The Boy has decided 3AM is the appropriate time to have his first (yes, first) breakfast, and you have an idea of what my body's been up against.

So, I'm about to jump in the shower and hit the sack, but I'm hoping to get some online time this weekend and catch up on my neighborhood (major priority) and gush a little about some of the amazing people I met at my conference this week.

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