I met with my architect today and am really happy with the drawings she did for my new kitchen. I'm starting to feel better about how it's going to turn out. I think it's going to look really cool. And she made some enhancements on my original drawing so I feel like in the end there was value in bringing her into the project.
And my mom gave me a suggestion on where to put my wine racks and I think that's going to look really nice.
I got almost everyone in my HOA to agree on the new colors for our house. So fucking annoying. I had to hire the contractor, pick out the colors, and then test them to make sure they look nice. Thanks to everyone else in my building for doing nothing. Your welcome for making our building not look like shit.
Friday, May 18, 2012
hiring an intern may NOT save you money
I'm picturing that despair poster:
None of us are as dumb as all of us.
It certainly applies to my company.
It's not just that my new fucking laptop can't display on a projector correctly...why, you might ask...because they put two fucking vid cards in which cause compatibility issues with each other. And the software my company wrote to link to a projector (don't ask why we can't use commercial software - why buy off the shelf when you can make software) doesn't run on Windows 7. So, I have to use the company software but it doesn't work right because they STILL HAVEN'T FUCKING UPGRADED to Windows 7. IT doesn't know how to fix the problem. Great. Because I use a projector like every day and it causes me a lot of problems. I can't do dual display. And the display size that gets rendered on the projector is so huge I can't see my whole desktop. Ridiculous.
Probably the software is being built by interns. Like the fuck nut intern who was supposed to replace the expired license on the VMWare image I use for teaching classes.
You remember that disaster, right? Well, I was supposed to teach another online course next Tuesday. But, once again, they deployed an image with an expired license. I discovered that on Monday. MONDAY people. And the "support" desk said they couldn't, even when given A FUCKING WEEK, copy an unexpired license to the images. And the intern said this fix, which would take TWO FUCKING SECONDS to do, will be fixed "soon". This has been a problem since JANUARY.
So what do you think my company, who cuts corners at every turn when it comes to us consultants, decided to do? They shipped laptops to the customer site with the expired image, then asked if there was a way I could update the license remotely. Hell no. What am I supposed to do, transport myself to the customer site and back the hour before class starts?
So they decided, at 430 yesterday, that I would fly out to teach the class. Now I have to go to Temecula, CA on Monday. Much cheaper to do that than to have the fucking intern do his job (the customer is paying internet rates for an onsite class).
That also botched up my flight arrangements for my job interview on Wednesday. So I had to make these totally convoluted travel arrangements to get to my interview. I hope it goes well after all this.
Oh, and dipshit me left the little GPS holder onto the windshield thing in my rental car in New Orleans yesterday. I blame being fucking exhausted, but really I'm just a dumbass. Hope they sell them somewhere...
None of us are as dumb as all of us.
It certainly applies to my company.
It's not just that my new fucking laptop can't display on a projector correctly...why, you might ask...because they put two fucking vid cards in which cause compatibility issues with each other. And the software my company wrote to link to a projector (don't ask why we can't use commercial software - why buy off the shelf when you can make software) doesn't run on Windows 7. So, I have to use the company software but it doesn't work right because they STILL HAVEN'T FUCKING UPGRADED to Windows 7. IT doesn't know how to fix the problem. Great. Because I use a projector like every day and it causes me a lot of problems. I can't do dual display. And the display size that gets rendered on the projector is so huge I can't see my whole desktop. Ridiculous.
Probably the software is being built by interns. Like the fuck nut intern who was supposed to replace the expired license on the VMWare image I use for teaching classes.
You remember that disaster, right? Well, I was supposed to teach another online course next Tuesday. But, once again, they deployed an image with an expired license. I discovered that on Monday. MONDAY people. And the "support" desk said they couldn't, even when given A FUCKING WEEK, copy an unexpired license to the images. And the intern said this fix, which would take TWO FUCKING SECONDS to do, will be fixed "soon". This has been a problem since JANUARY.
So what do you think my company, who cuts corners at every turn when it comes to us consultants, decided to do? They shipped laptops to the customer site with the expired image, then asked if there was a way I could update the license remotely. Hell no. What am I supposed to do, transport myself to the customer site and back the hour before class starts?
So they decided, at 430 yesterday, that I would fly out to teach the class. Now I have to go to Temecula, CA on Monday. Much cheaper to do that than to have the fucking intern do his job (the customer is paying internet rates for an onsite class).
That also botched up my flight arrangements for my job interview on Wednesday. So I had to make these totally convoluted travel arrangements to get to my interview. I hope it goes well after all this.
Oh, and dipshit me left the little GPS holder onto the windshield thing in my rental car in New Orleans yesterday. I blame being fucking exhausted, but really I'm just a dumbass. Hope they sell them somewhere...
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
the big easy - it's not that easy
New Orleans, at least the part where I'm staying, is kind of el sucko. I'm in a bad neighborhood off of I-10. There are a lot of poles where street signs used to be, but the signs are gone. The roads look destroyed and they're a nest of hard to navigate twists and turns. Have they never heard of the grid pattern down here ya'll?
This consultant that I really don't like is auditing my class (I love the horrified expression on his face when I go off route and do a little experiment) and he takes a taxi to class every day because he's staying in an expensive hotel in the French Quarter that costs 5 times what my hotel costs and he didn't want to bother with a car because taking a taxi ride that lasts a half hour one way is SO MUCH CHEAPER than having a rental car.
This may explain why my company doesn't have enough money to send ME to training.
And this morning apparently the 730 class start time was too early for him. He rolled in around 9. And surprisingly (not!) has a "conference call" and won't be at class until 930 or 10. Yesterday I asked him if he could come early to help me get the class room set up (this is a NORMAL thing auditing consultants do). He said no, maybe because he would have had to meet me at the base at 630.
If he thinks I'm going to cert him to teach this class he should think again.
Luckily my lebanese buddy flies in for the class tomorrow and he's taking me to dinner tomorrow night. Though, that means I have to go to bed early tonight. I didn't sleep at all last night. Think I did my workout too late.
In other good news I have a job interview next Wednesday!!!!!! The company is flying me out to California. Unless everything looks like total shit I'm going to take the job.
And, on top of all of my other nonsense, I've been editing books for two friends, submitted a chapter of my book to a magazine, and am setting myself up for more rejections. Because I <3 rejection!
Oh, and to help my friend Kevin out I've agreed to take an online cooking lesson with a company called Dish Up Today and let him tape me during the lesson for a 5 minute promo video that will be posted on Dish Up's web site. That should be amusing since I'm the worst cook ever. I had a focus group on Saturday with the owner of Dish Up (he bought me lunch). He said he liked all of my ideas. Maybe he was just saying that so I'd be in the video.
This consultant that I really don't like is auditing my class (I love the horrified expression on his face when I go off route and do a little experiment) and he takes a taxi to class every day because he's staying in an expensive hotel in the French Quarter that costs 5 times what my hotel costs and he didn't want to bother with a car because taking a taxi ride that lasts a half hour one way is SO MUCH CHEAPER than having a rental car.
This may explain why my company doesn't have enough money to send ME to training.
And this morning apparently the 730 class start time was too early for him. He rolled in around 9. And surprisingly (not!) has a "conference call" and won't be at class until 930 or 10. Yesterday I asked him if he could come early to help me get the class room set up (this is a NORMAL thing auditing consultants do). He said no, maybe because he would have had to meet me at the base at 630.
If he thinks I'm going to cert him to teach this class he should think again.
Luckily my lebanese buddy flies in for the class tomorrow and he's taking me to dinner tomorrow night. Though, that means I have to go to bed early tonight. I didn't sleep at all last night. Think I did my workout too late.
In other good news I have a job interview next Wednesday!!!!!! The company is flying me out to California. Unless everything looks like total shit I'm going to take the job.
And, on top of all of my other nonsense, I've been editing books for two friends, submitted a chapter of my book to a magazine, and am setting myself up for more rejections. Because I <3 rejection!
Oh, and to help my friend Kevin out I've agreed to take an online cooking lesson with a company called Dish Up Today and let him tape me during the lesson for a 5 minute promo video that will be posted on Dish Up's web site. That should be amusing since I'm the worst cook ever. I had a focus group on Saturday with the owner of Dish Up (he bought me lunch). He said he liked all of my ideas. Maybe he was just saying that so I'd be in the video.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
smoking and stressed stewardesses
I was sitting at the Calgary airport on Friday reading Barry's first chapter. The book is amazing. I can't wait to read more.
But I was interrupted by this very rude old woman sitting at a table 10 feet away from me. "Can you smoke in here?" she asked me.
"You have to go outside" I said, wondering why she was talking to me.
"Well you need to stop smoking this instance!" she yelled. Everyone else in the lounge turned around to look at me.
"I'm not smoking." I said. I realized she had confused my fake cigarette with a real one but I guess I just felt like being an asshole.
"What's that then?" she asked, pointing at my fake cigarette.
"It's an atomizer." I said. "Real cigarettes smoke. You would be able to smell the smoke. That's how you can tell someone is smoking."
The waitress came over at that point to refill my water glass. The old woman waved her over and asked to to make me either leave or quit smoking. The waitress said I was allowed to fake smoke and that she could reseat her if it bothered her to watch me smoke (fake cigarettes don't really smoke, and there's a faint odor, but the lounge smelled like fried food, so I doubt anyone would notice it).
The old woman went on to comment to her friend and the people at the tables around her "I can't BELIEVE she is doing that in here!" like I was running around on the tops of the tables with my clothes off or something. ANNOYING.
Then the stewardess on my flight home lost her shit when she thought one of the passengers hadn't turned off his kindle during the landing. He tried to show her it was off and she started screaming at him that she could see text (which you can because the kindle has a splash screen when it's off). She kept saying "DON'T YOU DIS-RESPECT ME!!!!!" Then she went to the front of the plane and gave a 5 minute speech about how he had endangered all our lives. Everyone on the plane was laughing.
Ech. Can't believe I have to fly again tomorrow...
But I was interrupted by this very rude old woman sitting at a table 10 feet away from me. "Can you smoke in here?" she asked me.
"You have to go outside" I said, wondering why she was talking to me.
"Well you need to stop smoking this instance!" she yelled. Everyone else in the lounge turned around to look at me.
"I'm not smoking." I said. I realized she had confused my fake cigarette with a real one but I guess I just felt like being an asshole.
"What's that then?" she asked, pointing at my fake cigarette.
"It's an atomizer." I said. "Real cigarettes smoke. You would be able to smell the smoke. That's how you can tell someone is smoking."
The waitress came over at that point to refill my water glass. The old woman waved her over and asked to to make me either leave or quit smoking. The waitress said I was allowed to fake smoke and that she could reseat her if it bothered her to watch me smoke (fake cigarettes don't really smoke, and there's a faint odor, but the lounge smelled like fried food, so I doubt anyone would notice it).
The old woman went on to comment to her friend and the people at the tables around her "I can't BELIEVE she is doing that in here!" like I was running around on the tops of the tables with my clothes off or something. ANNOYING.
Then the stewardess on my flight home lost her shit when she thought one of the passengers hadn't turned off his kindle during the landing. He tried to show her it was off and she started screaming at him that she could see text (which you can because the kindle has a splash screen when it's off). She kept saying "DON'T YOU DIS-RESPECT ME!!!!!" Then she went to the front of the plane and gave a 5 minute speech about how he had endangered all our lives. Everyone on the plane was laughing.
Ech. Can't believe I have to fly again tomorrow...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
