But Friday, never hesitate

Posted on March 27, 2009 by Frog

What a long week. Even though I thought last week was going to be the longest week of March, this one has turned out to be that way. I’ve been hyper-productive at work and the work is flying out the door.

When I got to work today my desk was askew and I can only theorize that our technical person was here looking at something on my computer because the monitor and speakers were all over the place. My printer, which sits under my desk, was also out of whack. It annoys me more than it should that she didn’t put things back the way she found them. When I was technical support, you’d be hard pressed to know I was ever there. Of course, back then, I had to walk uphill both ways in the snow too.

My class presentation on Wednesday, which was a follow-up to the simulation we ran last week, went well, but I was a bit disappointed the professor gushed so much in front of us all and told us all we received an A. Even the guy who nearly derailed us more than once. He started to flame out in a HUGE way on Wednesday night. I had to turn my head away from him so I wouldn’t jump up and smack him in the back of the head. Another team member actually pointed to the slide that spelled out word for word what he was supposed to do, but he kept up with some rambling nonsense and we never did the small group activity that was supposed to end our presentation. Luckily we had so much momentum going that the skid at the end wasn’t so noticeable–ha! who am I fooling the ending sucked. So I’m torn on my feelings about that group project. Yes, it came out well in spite of a nimrod (who got an A and I’m not even sure he read the book that was the basis of our presentation), but I’m also glad I never have to do that again.

My Thursday class, which entails a huge consulting project with a local company, was less hectic as my team worked on our project, but ended in me laughing in that crazy way. The crazy laugh started when we began mapping out all the work left to do on the consulting project and the requirements to fulfill before we end the semester. Not only do we have a shitload due before the end of the semester, but I also have to finalize my portfolio, write my final essay on the program experience and I have to think about the meeting I’m supposed to schedule with my advisor to discuss my growth in the program. I’m sure that portion will be a breeze–it’s all the other stuff that had me a little unhinged.

Posted in Generic Thoughts | Tagged | Comments Off

Amazon trickery

Posted on March 25, 2009 by Frog

Am I the last person to know that if you type NN or PP on an Amazon list, the list will move forward or backward?

Posted in Reading | 1 Comment

Ada Lovelace Day

Posted on March 24, 2009 by Frog

In celebration of Ada Lovelace Day, this post is about a woman in technology. That woman is Erna Schneider Hoover. She may not be a household name, but you have reaped the benefits of her work in the technology field.

The better-half once worked on a telephony project and the device he interacted with on a frequent basis was called the Definity G-3 phone switch. He spent so much time with that phone switch that I used to joke with him about his girlfriend Definity.

Little did I know that calling the Definity a “she” was actually quite appropriate. Erna Schneider Hoover created the first computerized switching system for telephone calls. She held one of the first software patents issued and earned a supervisory position at Bell Labs (a novel concept back then–a woman in an authority position). The best part of the story is that while she was kicking back in the hospital after giving birth to one of her three kids, she sketched out the system…because what else would she be thinking about? Back in the mid-to-late 1950s hospitals (and insurance companies) thought women needed a little time in the hospital after child birth instead of shooting them out the door practically before the placenta passes as they do now. Think of the scientific innovations that might spring forth if there were still a few days of rest after women give birth.

Hoover’s solution to what was then a mechanical switching system being overwhelmed by call volume was to use a computer program to monitor incoming calls and then adjust the call acceptance rate accordingly. The system is known as a Stored Program Control (SPC) and the principles are still in use by phone companies.

Sources:
MIT thinks she’s neat
Engineers like Erna
Smart Computing appreciates Erna

Posted in Thinking | Tagged , | 1 Comment

10 down, 53 more to go

Posted on March 22, 2009 by Frog

I just decided to torture myself and count up remaining pages of coursework I need to write before the end of April/beginning of May. For some of you this is nothing, but for me it’s a big deal. I have about 53 more pages to write before I can graduate. This doesn’t include all the posts that I will make to my academic blog.

At least this weekend I didn’t spend the whole time procrastinating and bemoaning how much I didn’t want to write a paper. I just sat down yesterday to complete my research and then banged out the paper today. Either I’m getting better at this or I finally realized there’s no sense in whining about something that must be done. It’s part of my learning journey…yeah that just made me a little sick too.

Speaking of banging out the paper, I woke up at 5-something this morning because the better-half leaped out of bed and then immediately got back in bed to go right back to sleep (he dreamed he smelled smoke and he can fall asleep faster than anyone I know). Me? I was startled and couldn’t go back to sleep so I got up and started writing my paper. While working on it, I watched the sun come up. The tiny sliver of the moon was really beautiful as the sun started to come over the horizon and turn the sky a deep purple. Even more beautiful is finishing the paper with enough time to enjoy the afternoon.

Posted in Thinking | 1 Comment

If she accidentally falls down the stairs, it wasn’t me.

Posted on March 17, 2009 by Frog

This morning I got to work after taking yesterday as a pre-cautionary sick day–felt like I might get sick and decided to nip that sinus drainage crap in the bud–and had to take a knife out of my back. This was after waiting over 45 minutes at my doctor’s appointment. This is the practice that was up until this morning never, ever behind schedule. Not a great way to start the day.

I responded to an email yesterday to stinky-breath lady and apparently the princess didn’t like my response (the response she was lucky to get since I WAS AT HOME SICK), so she freaking ratted me out to the director of our organization. Instead of saying, um, not the answer I was hoping for could you give me another one please? She was bitchy in an email and called me out to the director. SO, I get an email from the director that slaps me down. My boss reads the email and says what’s up with that? And then calls the director to find out what in the world is going on. As it turns out the director meant that I should be able to talk to her about anything I want to but her email read like I should keep my concerns and complaints to myself or direct them directly to her.

So, what started out as a simple question, ended up being a freaking nightmare where the woman who eats shit sandwiches and then breathes on co-workers takes me to task (I never saw it coming) and then the director has to apologize to my boss and pass her condolences on to me. All because the shitty-breathed woman is an asshat.

Lesson 1: Shitty-breathed woman will no longer get my instant help like she normally does when she breezes into my office and she can kiss my big fat ass before I lift a finger for her.
Lesson 2: I should probably clear the air with the director tomorrow.

Posted in General Spleen Venting | 1 Comment

Stock car flamin with a loser and the cruise control

Posted on March 15, 2009 by Frog

The snot has attacked me and I’m really trying not to let it win and turn into a full-blown cold. I do not have time this week for this nonsense.

My group is presenting a simulation of a change strategy in Wednesday’s class. We have one person on our team who is clueless. English is not his first language and he’s from one of those countries that produces men who are domineering and bossy. He stood up a classmate two times last week when she agreed to meet with him to help him understand our project–the project we’ve been working on for weeks. He’s not in our program but is taking the class as an elective. He didn’t start the class until 3 weeks into the semester and the professor tried to talk him out of it. He has yet to be prepared for class and I’m really tired of him. The kicker is he’s pursuing a doctoral degree and is nowhere near the performance level of the people in my class.

I’m predicting he’ll burst into flames on Wednesday and who knows what he’ll do the following Wednesday when we present the debrief of the simulation. To give you an idea of how big this class project is these two nights of facilitation and presentation are worth 45% of our grade. Thankfully, our professor is aware of the issues surrounding this guy and will be mindful of that when she hands out our grades.

Posted in General Spleen Venting | 2 Comments

Spinning off its axis

Posted on March 13, 2009 by Frog

Did you feel the Earth tilt this morning? I’m going to Chicago for eLearning training in May…how convenient. My travel portion of the trip the better-half and I are going to take will be paid for by my organization. How super awesome is that?

Posted in Thinking | 2 Comments

Space Time Continuum

Posted on March 11, 2009 by Frog

Yes, this is going to be a post about the time change and how screwed up my body clock is. Boring? Yes.

This week I have dragged myself out of bed and to work. Dragged is the best word I can think of because that’s what it’s been feeling like. Also, it completely doesn’t help that some flora has decided to start junking up the air with it’s happy love scent because my eyes are a watery mess. Today it looks like I am ready to go on vacation based on the size of the bags under my eyes. Who knew that wearing my glasses helps cover up the bags? Too bad the glasses are just for reading or I’d wear them all day–I think the whole driving and walking down the hall thing might be risky with them on.

If I’m feeling this screwed up because the time changed, how is it that characters in movies, television and books can time travel for fun and profit and not ever feel the effects? Give me some realism people.

Posted in Generic Thoughts | 2 Comments

Bookcases

Posted on March 6, 2009 by Frog

As of today, we have bookcases in the room we’ve been calling the study since we moved in back in 2005. The room is one of the first ones you see when you walk through the front door so it will be nice to finally take all the boxes of books in that room and unpack them. What? Don’t you take 4 years to unpack after you move?

I haven’t seen the bookcases yet and had sort of forgotten what they were going to look like because we ordered them back in December. The better-half sent me pictures and I have to admit, they look pretty good. We asked a local bookcase builder to make them from scratch so they’d fit our space and needs exactly. The better-half and I figure we’re doing our civic duty by stimulating the local economy.

I’ll post before and after pictures later. I already know the change is going to be dramatic.

Updates:
The before–that hutch top (behind the chair) will be painted and placed on it’s base. We’re going to turn it into a bar/wine rack. I plan on tackling this project in May/June when I have some breathing room:

Here are the empty bookcases. Yes, they came with shelves those are laying on the floor right now:

I spent all day Sunday unpacking books, sorting books and arranging them on shelves. The better-half helped unpack and then we decided it would just be easier for one person to take care of the rest, plus he had something else that needed getting done.

Some of these books have evidently been packed for our entire marriage because there were some neither of us remembered. We also culled a huge number of books–either because of duplication or because when you think about it how many books on farting do you need?

Posted in House Proud | 2 Comments

When It Snows, Smoke

Posted on March 3, 2009 by Frog

The better-half bought an 8lb slab of Berkshire pork belly from Belmont about a week ago. We sliced it into two slabs and put on the cure. We were supposed to smoke it over the weekend but with the rain and then the snow, we had to wait until today to smoke it…don’t worry it’s been out of the cure for a few days–otherwise it would be way too salty.

Naturally, when it looks like this:

You should end up with this after a few hours:

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