Not.... NOW

Yeah, I knew it would happen... It was a good 5 months but last week's marathon leading to disaster pummeled me, health-wise. It feels like the same throat infection I had, coincidentally, 5 months ago.

I'm extremely tired, tried sleeping pretty much all day yesterday (although had I counted, I'm sure my kids managed to wake me up at least 100 times). My throat is killing me and I can't anything. In fact, I can barely drink because it hurts so much when I swallow.

Yeah, I oughta be fine for the presentation on Friday :(

When Things go Wrong

Y'know.... "wrong" doesn't quite cut it. Horribly wrong is a bit better.

Friday was the big presentation day for our production. I was up with a few others, working on last minute things and, in my case, ensuring that the individuals who'd slacked off and delayed everything for weeks paid some penance. One didn't bother to show up until after 10pm and the other whined (seriously!) about having to be there after 10pm. I made him stay 'til 3 and the other slacked and watched movies more than anything and I ended up making the fixes myself... if you want it done right...

I was a little annoyed that out of the 20 people in our group, only 5 of us were working and 4 of them needed to be there. I could have been sleeping, but I knew I wouldn't sleep no knowing where our production would end up. I was up for over 24 hours and some of the others were probably awake for 36+. Except for the 2 slackers.

When presentation time hit everything fell apart. My presentation was only so-so (I was a nervous wreck and mentally, physically & emotionally exhausted) but the technical side of it completely blew and I mean that almost literally. The computer couldn't handle it and it died a horrible, horrible death.

With me standing there trying to present it.

I'm incredibly disheartened, completely disillusioned and extremely tempted to pack it in. I"m supposed to be working on my graduation portfolio and this B.S. ate into my time severely.

Can I throw away 17 months of work?

ENOUGH!!!!

Hmmm..... told some people the next time they hear about me & tihngs at school it'll probably be on the news...

As in, I've finally snapped and I'm taking people with me.

There's 2 people in this room at 7:45 in the morning. 34 computers. 1 faulty monitor. Guess where the other guy's sitting?

The monitor blinks and someone at some point decided the best way to handle the blinking was to smack your hand on the monitor.

2 people. 34 computers. WAH-BANG!

I'm about to snap.

The Axe.... It does fall...

Ever have to turn on a friend for the sake of others? I mentioned in my previous post that we have 2 idiots on our production project for graduation who have cost us countless hours of prep work for a project due in 5 days.

5 days!

After confronting them with the information on Wednesday, one didn't even bother coming in on Friday to continue working. All his stuff is missing and when we finally heard from him almost 3 hours after he was to arrive, he said it should all be there. So, again, 3 more wasted hours.

Yeah, I considered this guy a friend, but he's cost the rest of us too much time and too much stress. To me, that's just as bad a stab in the back as anything else.

So, I've asked him to be "fired" from our team.

That means he doesn't graduate with the rest of us. It's a tough decision to make, but in making it I lost one friend and gained 16 others.

Gonna be an interesting week.

Call Me Grumpy

Reading another blog (hey brat) about complaining and not being able to do anything about it and had to share a story from yesterday's production class and how I got a little too 'shouty' with some of the people... who'd probably just end up fired if this were the real world.

We've been having a problem with the overall 'layout' of our production. The file is only available to one person at a time, and technically, we only have one person working on it. A few weks ago, we encountered a major problem and we needed to delete the majority of the contents of the file and re-import each piece with an extra piece of coding. Time-consuming, for sure, and the rest of this poor guy's tasks have taken a backseat while we fix this problem.

For my graduation portfolio, I'm using the same program and I discovered I can have more than one instance of the program open at the same time and work on one aspect in one window and somethign completely different in the other. As long as I save them under different file names, I can then copy and paste from one to the other later on. So, now we know that more than person can work on the file at one time. My immediate subordinates were ecstatic because it meant that we can effectively increase productivity by 500% at the least. I also did some research and found a quick fix to the problem we encountered before which meant I could fix the problem in 30 minutes instead of the 6 weeks it's taken this one guy.

Another guy is supposed to be helping him with the file and he's been slacking as normal (see, I said they'd be fired). Well, I sit down to talk to these two about the fixes we've found and how to best implement them and what they can expect to happen over the next week (our production is almost on schedule and is set to wrap on August 25).

They both knew about the fixes months ago. They just didn't think anyone would care.

I.
Could.
Kill.

6 weeks we've been waiting on a major fix that should have taken 30 minutes and they knew.

17 weeks we've been waiting for a major compilation of the file and they knew. The knew they could have several people work on it and they failed to tell anyone. Geez!

And people wonder why I was yelling at them.

You call that an interview?

Interview
n 1: the questioning of a person (or a conversation in which information is elicited); often conducted by journalists; "my interviews with teen-agers revealed a weakening of religious bonds" 2: a conference (usually with someone important); "he had a consultation with the judge"; "he requested an audience with the king" [syn: consultation, audience] v 1: conduct an interview in television, newspaper, and radio reporting [syn: question] 2: discuss formally with (somebody) for the purpose of an evaluation; "We interviewed the job candidates" 3: go for an interview in the hope of being hired; "The job candidate interviewed everywhere"

So, I have my exit interview tomorrow as school is quickly coming to a close. Some of my classmates, knowing my lengthy work experience, asked me just what an exit interview was all about. So, I explained to them that it was basically a 'post-mortem' of someone's career: what was good, what was bad... how improvements can be made.

The career counsellors at my school apparently don't know the definition of 'interview.' Some classmates had their 'interview' today, which consisted of 15 minutes of "facts" from the counsellors (including the large percentage of grads from June who are now employed... 2 of them as grocery clerks) and then 30 minutes of signing contracts, release forms, and such.

So much for questions and answers.... idiots.

I know one guy who's asked them not to bother helping him find a job.

Breathing is Temporary

So, the "big-date-that-none-of-us-knew-about" came and went with little to actually do. Things were reviewed and accepted as they were and then we were told "you have a week" to clean things up. BS.

The second part of my Friday had a short presentation (the really big one for the project is August 25th, so don't expect any news about that one until the 25th or 26th) and we were given the thumbs up on our project. Yay. Too tired to be any more enthusiastic than that.

On Monday, the completion date of August 17th for all of our portfolio items was pushed back to September 11, which is a week before the semester ends. The people who announced it then asked if any of us were concerned about the new due date.

I raised my hand.

I want to know why they couldn't announce this earlier so that every bleary-eyed person in the room hadn't spent the entire weekend awake and stressed trying to complete their work on time. This is the same group of people requesting an exit interview with us tomorrow and think we'll promote this school to others. Fat chance.

So, able to breathe again. For now.

Thursday Marathon

I've been home from class since about 2:00 this afternoon and on the computer almost the entire time and just now taking a break for some food. Grabbed a couple of burritos from Taco Del Mar and have 30 minutes before it's time to get into childcare mode again (oog).

Once 10pm hits, it's straight back to the computers and work, work, work until 6 tomorrow morning when I pack everything up and head to school for a full (ergh) day of classes, which I don't normally have. At 5pm, I head for home, sleep, and maybe a cold beer or two!

Tomorrow's deadline #1 for my portfolio items. We were told on July 3rd that our deadline was the end of August, not the 11th of August...

I'm pissed, but mainly I just feel like dying.

Down

I've really been down on my work as I move ever closer to graduation. I just don't feel like I've progressed at all over the past month or so. We've been given deadlines and although none of those have hit yet, it still bothers me that I'm nowhere near where I think I should be in order to finish everything up.

I have my first deadline on Friday and another one next week, on the 17th. The first deadline is to have one item for our graduation portfolio complete and we were only told this last week. Those of us who are organized have been balancing out all the aspects of our portfolio in order to finish for the 9-week deadlin were originally given (another 3 weeks away). So, at the moment, everything's stalled at 75% completion and suddenly I have a new due date. I'll have something done, but maybe this will convince the instructor that I'm no longer "fine" and maybe some feedback would be helpful at this stage of the game.

Speaking of games....

Our major major graduation project is running fairly smoothly with only minor hiccups over the past couple weeks. It's a big project (in our little world) and we're seeing interest from several companies. I've had a recurring dream where a big-wig decides to hire the entire team and I jump in and say: "Sounds great, but can I make a few suggestions?" --just in order to keep the lazier ones from riding on the success of the majority who have worked their tails off to get this project done.

I can be a bastard when I need to.

Caffeine Free

So 'Sky' asked what was up with 'SC', better known as Sex Caffeine. Sky wants to hear more about SC.

But there is no more.

I wrote her a message in June and never heard back. Nothing. Until last week.

I mentioned in a previous post that my wife was going to be working just down the hall from the offices that SC & I shared. Eventually, I knew, the two would cross paths --but I had no idea what the outcome would be. I got a message from SC the day I knew the 2 had talked and she just wanted to know what I was up to. I just don't feel like replying. 2 years ago, there would've been a quick reply and a reply close to 2 pages in length. Now? Nothing. I've just had enough.

And not just of her, but of a lot of things. I'm just tired.

Past in the Present

Had a blast from the past today.

We took the kids to a local agricultural fair so they could see up close and personal all these farm animals they always see on TV. Yeah, the draft horses and 3,000-pound bull really opened their eyes. It was quite cute and eventually my son insisted he say goodbye to all the animals before we actually left.

While we were making our rounds through the amusement rides, I got a forceful tap on the shoulder and I admit it took me a few moments before I realized it was someone I used to work with a few years ago. I honestly thought she was one of the ones who'd never talk to me again after the rumours started spreading around the office. I'd seen her one day about a month after I left and she kind of jumped and headed off in a different direction. So, either she didn't see me, or she just doesn't care anymore.

Anyway, there she was talking to me and asking how everything was --quite surprising-- and we ended up chatting while our kids had a chance to go on some rides. She was pregnant when I'd left work.

It felt good to know that people still think of me and, better yet, think fondly of me. I get confused some days when it seems I've sent an email (just a quick "hey" message) and I get no response. I usually end up deleting those people from my contact list. But here, today, was the second person in a week to start asking me questions.

The other one was Sex Caffeine.

I haven't replied to her message though.