California scheming

I flew into Cali on Sunday feeling like death warmed over. I have had bronchitis for the past week. I got sick last Sunday and have not been able to shake the cough. Last time I was sick was in January 2011. Guess I shouldn't have been bragging to my colleagues about how I never get sick.

I was worried that I would have a coughing fit on the plane but it turns out half the people flying seem to have the same thing I do. I was so hopped up on dayquil that I didn't realize my colleague P was on the flight until he smacked me on the arm at the bus stop for the rental cars. He thought I was ignoring him on purpose. Embarrassing.

I went to bed at 830 last night because I had a long day today, including a meeting with my boss who hates me. I have to say that every time I interact with him he is nicer to me. But, this is an example of what is driving me insane:

DHBoss: Oh Franki, you are so tan, you are taking so much vacation!

(Note that I have been working 10 - 12 hour days, including working weekends)

Me: I'm not sure what you mean.
DHB: Your face is so red!
Me: I think it's because I have a fever. I'm trying to shake bronchitis.

(Note that anyone around me knows I'm sick because I have a horrible cough and my coloring is about as healthy as a super size me diet)

DHB: You are not sick. You have allergies. I have allergies too. 

(he coughs, perhaps to compete with my lung splitting cough which I can't control)

Me: Um, no, I have bronchitis.
DHB: You need to go home! If you work when you're sick it just drags things out forever!

Then he gave me a bunch of assignments due at the end of this week. When I pointed out I don't have time to stay home sick because I have so much to do he agreed with me.

So, why suggest I go home sick?

I talked to someone who used to work for my boss and he said "if you call in sick you better have a doctor's note."

No shit.

In other, happy news, I've gotten to see a bunch of colleagues I haven't seen in 3 months. Every time I come out here I feel like a geek star because everyone seems happy to see me.  Even my old boss wants me to share his office (I declined, my coughing drives even me crazy). Today three large (tall and fat) men accosted me in the hallway when I was walking to a meeting. Turns out they are consultants I've been talking to on the phone. They recognized me because my Cali colleagues keep talking about my pink highlights.

Today's the first day I got 10,000 steps in since I got sick. I hope I'm turning a corner with this bronchitis shit. I'm pretty much over it. And I can't keep taking double doses of dayquil and mucinex (am I even supposed to take those two things together???) just so I can get through the day.

oh brothers

I sent the following email to my older younger brother who's been coaching me on development environments:

me: 

You might be shocked, but I'm really starting to understand all that technology shit on my lotus notes and sharepoint slides. The customer seems really happy with what I've put together and we're going to test it on two applications next week. Fingers crossed. I also learned a bunch of shit about InfoPath, template deprecation (I think that's a cool phrase, I keep saying it even when it's not appropriate), and Xpages.

Bob: 

I'm glad you're getting into a groove at work.  I hope the test migrations go well.

I got your dvd on sunday.  I opened it, but haven't watched it.  

I've been tinkering with creating my drone hardware (the stuff that flies with the airplane). It's difficult to write and test embedded software - you can't easily tell what's going on.  And there isn't much memory or program space, so your code has to be super-tight.  And it's a real-time environment, as you're reading carefully timed pulses from the rc radio and generating carefully-timed pulses to control the servos.  Of course when the radio is not there (aka it's autonomous) you have to do calculations on where you are and where you want to go, while still having time to generate carefully-timed pulses to control the motors.  Here's a failed attempt:

WARNING

Sketch uses 15,736 bytes (51%) of program storage space. Maximum is 30,720 bytes.

Global variables use 2,841 bytes (138%) of dynamic memory, leaving -793 bytes for local variables. Maximum is 2,048 bytes

Um, I guess I'm not learning as much about software development in these days as I thought. I had to read this email twice just to sort of understand what he was saying.

Then I got this from my other brother:

You should enter this contest. Just remember your baby brother and his wife love their stuff.

I opened the attachment thinking it would be a writing contest. It was actually a contest to find a model for Duluth Trading Company. Maybe he thinks the model gets free stuff?

I responded:

The model has to have fetching features and be able to fix stuff...
Maybe I could submit a picture of myself standing next to my spider mite infested tomatoes :)

He responded:

Send a post about your swamp cooler and pictures of you ice climbing. Don't worry about the features. Doesn't hurt to try. Plus Mom and Dad will get a kick put of you being in the catalog. Don't forget Dad, me and Tammie all love their stuff and you would too if you were the outdoors type.

If they make you fix something just put in a Bluetooth and call me. If you can't just say "Ok Google" to your phone and ask it.

I hate talking on my phone. I can't imagine talking to my phone.

But maybe I'll enter the contest. I'm sure it would make for a funny rejection blog post.