Month: October 2011

With the main site down at work pretty much all week, I decided to do something nice to try and balance things out.  So, I invited my room-mate and my FRM’s mother and grandmother out to lunch for today.  We were going to meet at their place around 11:30 and then go to the Olive Garden to get a bite to eat.   I figured my room-mate would appreciate getting out of house and the ladies are always fun.

This morning, I got a voice mail and a call from FRM’s mom – she wasn’t feeling well and had to cancel.    About that same time, my room-mate had a melt down.

He was throwing up, having bowel issues, nosebleeds, stomach cramps, chills, and the shakes.     He was in no condition to go anywhere – so, I stayed and looked after him all day.

His siblings, incidentally, were all at a football game.

I also worked on my Halloween costume and pretty much finished it up.   Which is way early for me, but it was a good way to pass the day.  I’m hoping to get a pumpkin or two tomorrow and carve those.  Maybe a little cider too.

As productive as I was, I still feel like I wasted the day.  That’s what I get for planning, I guess.

It was getting late last night and I decided to get in a little Minecraft time before going to bed.  I was exploring a new area, found some cool stuff, then dug a little deeper into a cave.  It was dark and I hadn’t put a torch up yet.   I went around a corner and heard:

“THWAMP!”

The sound of an arrow being shot at me from the dark.  A skeleton was in the cave with me.

I literally jumped in my chair and my heart skipped a beat.  I scrambled out of the cave, drew my sword, then ventured to the cave entrance and reach around the corner to flail at the skeleton until it was dead.  Or dead again, however that works.  Then I sensibly turned down the speaker volume my computer and headed back to a region of relative safety.  Then I saved my game, logged off, and went to bed.

It’s just a game, Anthony, just a game.  But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t considering leaving on a nightlight in my room.  Just in case.   And the sword?  Right next to the bed.  Again, just in case.

I was fixing myself some dinner tonight and once again, under estimated wasabi.   I had some noodles and tuna in a bowl, added some soy sauce, and then a bit of wasabi to give it some kick.

Except that I had added perhaps a bit too much wasabi.  And the noodles were still hot enough to produce steam.  So, as I mixed the noodles and tuna together with the wasabi, I stirred up some wasabi laden steam.  Which wafted right up into my eyes. There was a moment of “oh, this is weird” – which then directly turned into “uh-oh” – which then became “holy shit!”

I moved away from the steam, tore my glasses off, and rubbed my eyes until they stopped burning.

I had, essentially, maced myself with wasabi-steam.

Lesson learned.

On any given day, if asked how much I make, I couldn’t tell you.  I could give a rough estimate, but the exact hourly wage doesn’t really garner much attention from me.  I know it’s enough to pay my bills and put away some money in my savings – beyond that, it’s just a number.  And although the salary of my fellow state employee colleagues is a matter of public record, I never felt the need to look that up.

I figured it would just piss me off.   And I was right.

There has been some discussion of a union on campus and to help stir people up, the supporters of this project have posted a link to this document in some easy to access areas.

So, I looked myself up – and my immediate co-workers.

Mistake.

I’m fine with someone that works harder or does a more complicated job making more than I do – or someone that has been here much longer than I have.  Unfortunately, I’m the lowest paid person on the team.  I’ve been here longer than most and I work much harder than the highest paid of my co-workers.

Am I going to protest or make a big deal of this?  Am I going to storm into my boss’s office and demand a raise – or just storm out in a huff?   No, of course not.

Am I going to work my ass off for the rest of the day?   I think not.

Knowing me, I’ll most likely be over this tomorrow – provided I delete the note I made to myself with the hourly rates.

Just keep reminding myself that I like my job and that there are so many people out there that aren’t employed at all.

Still… grumble.

The main website where I work has been up and down – mostly down – for the past three days.  Things here in the webteam office have gotten pretty grim and our software vendors are essentially at a loss.  We can’t update the site at the moment – one of my main jobs – and even the live version is unstable at best.

We’re all quieter than usual, very subdued as we try and work out what’s wrong.  Or more likely the combination of things that are wrong.   I’ve still got other projects I can work on, but a couple of the guys here are essentially on stand-by.   Not a good week for the webteam.

On a brighter note, I had a meeting with a colleague in another department yesterday.  I’m not normally a fan of meetings in general, but this colleague is super smart and very pleasant to work with.    We got everything covered and assigned homework and were out the door in no time.   As I was walking her out through the maze of our building, I told her that our group  – collectively – was very glad she was part of UA.  She does marketing for one of the colleges and through her efforts their website has improved dramatically.

She was pleasantly surprised at my comment and thanked me – saying that she sometimes wondered if she was making a difference and I assured her that she was.  So, I think I made her day.