Wheee and Grrrr
Sep. 26th, 2009 04:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sarea
I am very proud of something that happened yesterday. I beat Guitar Hero 3 on medium! I know, I am very impressed with myself. The reason this is a big deal is because when I first started playing the game, I breezed through Easy and every level of Medium except for the last. Then I was stuck. The songs I had to beat were, to me, impossibly hard. I was like, I can't friggin believe this is MEDIUM, it's insanity! (I SO cannot get through the Muse song.) Then, a couple of days ago, for the first time in months, I picked up the guitar again and played. And pretty much sucked. But then, yesterday by some miracle, I beat the last song I needed to beat (Metallica's "One"), and faced the devil dude, who I managed to beat on the first try! Victory!! Of course, then the first song on Hard totally kicked my ass, but I worked at it and managed to pass (seriously, that fifth "chord" or whatever is so hard). Woot. Small victories, guys. They matter.
Today I made buttermilk pancakes. I had buttermilk that needed using, and in fact still have a little more left. I don't know what else to do with it as I cannot just drink it straight up.
So I started A Storm of Swords...
- OMFG Jaime POV! Eeeeee!
- How freaking STUPID is Catelyn? The woman is a total menace. Why the FUCK would you release the Kingslayer on such a not-a-sure-thing-at-all? Too high a gamble!!! I don't care that she thinks nearly all her kids are dead; she has no guarantee of Sansa and Arya's safety even after releasing someone so incredibly dangerous, and in fact, SHE DOESN'T EVEN KNOW IF THEY'RE STILL ALIVE. Sansa, maybe, but unbeknownst to her the Lannisters don't even HAVE Arya! God, what a stupid woman.
My reading on this one may be delayed a bit because I have a library book due that I haven't yet read and I can't renew it because other people have holds on it. It's called The Calligrapher's Daughter by Eugenia Kim. If I don't get into it, then I'm not going to force myself to finish.
Speaking of library books, I really want to get some of that clear plastic film covering they have for their dust jackets. Specifically for my cookbooks, but other books also (because I'm anal that way). With my cookbooks they're in the kitchen a lot and get opened/closed/splattered/moved around, and I want to protect them. I asked two librarians and neither of them could tell me what it was called/what they use. Seriously, USELESS. I consider that kind of basic information, even if they don't do any of the binding themselves. Went to an office supply store and a craft store; neither had it either. Finally I had to go online and find something that I THINK is it. I wanted to be able to see it/touch it though, because there are also those really hard/thick vinyl type covers and that's not what I want.
Here's the background on my work gripe: I've been in the same department my whole time at the company. I started in a small group; let's call it ABC. In the nearly 10 years that I've been w/ the department, most of it has been spent with the ABC group. A couple of times I've tried to "leave," and take on other challenges with other groups (though in the same department), but one thing or another always happens and I eventually get pulled back. That or half my objectives has something to do with ABC, even if I'm working on DEF. That is totally fine, because I don't hate ABC or anything, and in fact since I started there I am fond of it, I understand it, and it's "easy."
Well, the first time I tried to leave ABC, it was to start a whole new project, JKL. JKL was a big deal, lots of visibility, etc. However, it involved a lot of top executives, and as such, every single project was like pulling teeth. It went through a million reviews and no one could agree, etc. Getting a project out the door -- which we initially set a goal of 1 a month -- was so onerous that by the second year, we were down to 6 a year. Then it was 1 a quarter. Last year, only 1 project was completed. The dwindling amount also had to do with a couple of other factors: 1) the managers who were really fired up about it left the company, and the overall program was put into indifferent hands; and 2) in the new era of social media and digital communications, it was/is actually an antiquated program.
I didn't necessarily want to save JKL. I wasn't the program owner, but I was the execution specialist. I didn't decide business requirements -- I did the hard work, of making sure that the requirements were met. During my time working on JKL, I was totally miserable. My manager was the Worst Manager Ever, and I often thought about quitting and sometimes burst into tears. I was so freaking stressed out. (I think this is when Jade wrote "Our Winter" for me, because I was so miserable at work and she wanted to cheer me up.) Anyway, those managers left, and I was put back on the ABC team, which made me happy (enough to stay with the company). I was still technically responsible for JKL, but since it had dwindled down to 1 project a year, the bulk of my responsibilities had nothing to do with it.
And so it went for several years.
This year was one of big upheaval. The economy tanked, there were layoffs, we got a new VP, and there was a lot of internal reorg and shifts in focus, etc. By this time, I was working on an entirely new program, XYZ, and it got de-prioritized (I think I mentioned this a few months ago, when it happened). ABC, which was always really low-key, was suddenly Super Important and thus needed more resources, so they put me back on it. In the process I also got a new manager (who I like very much), D., and a new general manager, M. (who is OK).
A couple of weeks ago, D. and I got together and set my objectives for the current fiscal year. Most of it had to do with ABC and transitioning XYZ to someone else. I said, "That's fine, but I also want to bring your attention to the fact that I'm still technically in charge of JKL. There's no one else in our group by this point who knows anything about it, or would be able to manage a project for JKL if one came up. It would be my responsibility."
D. says, "When was the last time we did a JKL project?"
I say, "Almost a year ago. They are really intermittent and there seems to be no strategy around it. Someone on the executive level -- not me -- needs to decide if this is a program we want to scrap, save, or turn into something else."
D. says, "Okay, fair enough. I'll talk to M. about it. Let's not put it on your objectives, and if a JKL project comes up, you won't be responsible for it."
I say, "Okay..." But thinking, But who else can do it?
During one of my very first skip-level manager meetings with M., I bring up JKL again. I tell him pretty much what I tell D. He says, thanks for bringing it up, this is definitely something we need to look at and make a decision on. I say great.
Last week, guess what? That's right. We get pinged by T., who was the last guy to own the program but who is no longer with the company (but still is responsible for the program, I guess -- kind of complicated), and he says, "Hey guess what! We need to have a JKL project complete by next Tuesday."
I am in the middle of another big project for ABC, so this news basically makes me unravel. I KNEW this would happen. I meet with D. and he goes to talk to the higher ups and guess what? That's right, yes, we are still responsible for JKL, and yes, I STILL HAVE TO DO THE WORK FOR IT.
&%@%#*@!#*%@&Y!&%!!!!
Did I not specifically fucking WARN THEM about this? Did I not specifically bring it up so that a decision could be made about whether or not to kill the program? And when I did, was told that I would not be responsible for it? Seriously, it makes me so fucking mad. Like, I don't even care that I have to do the work -- because I always KNEW I'd have to. There isn't anyone else who KNOWS HOW, has the right security permissions, etc. It's more that I did my very fucking best to alert my managers to a possible fire, and they basically were like, eh, nothing to worry about.
So then I had to scramble to get it done (to his credit, D. did his best to help), and it's made me super busy at work since I was already working on a big project for the following week when this landed on me, which really, really annoys me. I hate unpredictability.
Yeah. And when it comes time to revise objectives? JKL SO GOING BACK ON IT. I should at least get credit for doing it!
P.S. State license plates up to 38!
P.P.S. OMFG Barristan Selmy can't possibly be Sean Connery can it?! GRRM, you and your mind games! Someone else suggested Derek Jacobi and that seems far more likely. Still, how awesome would that be??
P.P.P.S. Oh right, they're only casting for the pilot and it's unlikely Barristan would be in it. So the role would more likely be Ser Rodrik, which makes a Connery casting far less likely. Oh wells.
Today I made buttermilk pancakes. I had buttermilk that needed using, and in fact still have a little more left. I don't know what else to do with it as I cannot just drink it straight up.
So I started A Storm of Swords...
- OMFG Jaime POV! Eeeeee!
- How freaking STUPID is Catelyn? The woman is a total menace. Why the FUCK would you release the Kingslayer on such a not-a-sure-thing-at-all? Too high a gamble!!! I don't care that she thinks nearly all her kids are dead; she has no guarantee of Sansa and Arya's safety even after releasing someone so incredibly dangerous, and in fact, SHE DOESN'T EVEN KNOW IF THEY'RE STILL ALIVE. Sansa, maybe, but unbeknownst to her the Lannisters don't even HAVE Arya! God, what a stupid woman.
My reading on this one may be delayed a bit because I have a library book due that I haven't yet read and I can't renew it because other people have holds on it. It's called The Calligrapher's Daughter by Eugenia Kim. If I don't get into it, then I'm not going to force myself to finish.
Speaking of library books, I really want to get some of that clear plastic film covering they have for their dust jackets. Specifically for my cookbooks, but other books also (because I'm anal that way). With my cookbooks they're in the kitchen a lot and get opened/closed/splattered/moved around, and I want to protect them. I asked two librarians and neither of them could tell me what it was called/what they use. Seriously, USELESS. I consider that kind of basic information, even if they don't do any of the binding themselves. Went to an office supply store and a craft store; neither had it either. Finally I had to go online and find something that I THINK is it. I wanted to be able to see it/touch it though, because there are also those really hard/thick vinyl type covers and that's not what I want.
Here's the background on my work gripe: I've been in the same department my whole time at the company. I started in a small group; let's call it ABC. In the nearly 10 years that I've been w/ the department, most of it has been spent with the ABC group. A couple of times I've tried to "leave," and take on other challenges with other groups (though in the same department), but one thing or another always happens and I eventually get pulled back. That or half my objectives has something to do with ABC, even if I'm working on DEF. That is totally fine, because I don't hate ABC or anything, and in fact since I started there I am fond of it, I understand it, and it's "easy."
Well, the first time I tried to leave ABC, it was to start a whole new project, JKL. JKL was a big deal, lots of visibility, etc. However, it involved a lot of top executives, and as such, every single project was like pulling teeth. It went through a million reviews and no one could agree, etc. Getting a project out the door -- which we initially set a goal of 1 a month -- was so onerous that by the second year, we were down to 6 a year. Then it was 1 a quarter. Last year, only 1 project was completed. The dwindling amount also had to do with a couple of other factors: 1) the managers who were really fired up about it left the company, and the overall program was put into indifferent hands; and 2) in the new era of social media and digital communications, it was/is actually an antiquated program.
I didn't necessarily want to save JKL. I wasn't the program owner, but I was the execution specialist. I didn't decide business requirements -- I did the hard work, of making sure that the requirements were met. During my time working on JKL, I was totally miserable. My manager was the Worst Manager Ever, and I often thought about quitting and sometimes burst into tears. I was so freaking stressed out. (I think this is when Jade wrote "Our Winter" for me, because I was so miserable at work and she wanted to cheer me up.) Anyway, those managers left, and I was put back on the ABC team, which made me happy (enough to stay with the company). I was still technically responsible for JKL, but since it had dwindled down to 1 project a year, the bulk of my responsibilities had nothing to do with it.
And so it went for several years.
This year was one of big upheaval. The economy tanked, there were layoffs, we got a new VP, and there was a lot of internal reorg and shifts in focus, etc. By this time, I was working on an entirely new program, XYZ, and it got de-prioritized (I think I mentioned this a few months ago, when it happened). ABC, which was always really low-key, was suddenly Super Important and thus needed more resources, so they put me back on it. In the process I also got a new manager (who I like very much), D., and a new general manager, M. (who is OK).
A couple of weeks ago, D. and I got together and set my objectives for the current fiscal year. Most of it had to do with ABC and transitioning XYZ to someone else. I said, "That's fine, but I also want to bring your attention to the fact that I'm still technically in charge of JKL. There's no one else in our group by this point who knows anything about it, or would be able to manage a project for JKL if one came up. It would be my responsibility."
D. says, "When was the last time we did a JKL project?"
I say, "Almost a year ago. They are really intermittent and there seems to be no strategy around it. Someone on the executive level -- not me -- needs to decide if this is a program we want to scrap, save, or turn into something else."
D. says, "Okay, fair enough. I'll talk to M. about it. Let's not put it on your objectives, and if a JKL project comes up, you won't be responsible for it."
I say, "Okay..." But thinking, But who else can do it?
During one of my very first skip-level manager meetings with M., I bring up JKL again. I tell him pretty much what I tell D. He says, thanks for bringing it up, this is definitely something we need to look at and make a decision on. I say great.
Last week, guess what? That's right. We get pinged by T., who was the last guy to own the program but who is no longer with the company (but still is responsible for the program, I guess -- kind of complicated), and he says, "Hey guess what! We need to have a JKL project complete by next Tuesday."
I am in the middle of another big project for ABC, so this news basically makes me unravel. I KNEW this would happen. I meet with D. and he goes to talk to the higher ups and guess what? That's right, yes, we are still responsible for JKL, and yes, I STILL HAVE TO DO THE WORK FOR IT.
&%@%#*@!#*%@&Y!&%!!!!
Did I not specifically fucking WARN THEM about this? Did I not specifically bring it up so that a decision could be made about whether or not to kill the program? And when I did, was told that I would not be responsible for it? Seriously, it makes me so fucking mad. Like, I don't even care that I have to do the work -- because I always KNEW I'd have to. There isn't anyone else who KNOWS HOW, has the right security permissions, etc. It's more that I did my very fucking best to alert my managers to a possible fire, and they basically were like, eh, nothing to worry about.
So then I had to scramble to get it done (to his credit, D. did his best to help), and it's made me super busy at work since I was already working on a big project for the following week when this landed on me, which really, really annoys me. I hate unpredictability.
Yeah. And when it comes time to revise objectives? JKL SO GOING BACK ON IT. I should at least get credit for doing it!
P.S. State license plates up to 38!
P.P.S. OMFG Barristan Selmy can't possibly be Sean Connery can it?! GRRM, you and your mind games! Someone else suggested Derek Jacobi and that seems far more likely. Still, how awesome would that be??
P.P.P.S. Oh right, they're only casting for the pilot and it's unlikely Barristan would be in it. So the role would more likely be Ser Rodrik, which makes a Connery casting far less likely. Oh wells.
