Random Access

It’s been an… interesting… couple of days.

Monday:

I had to get up at 6am to pick up Mom and take her to the airport. She was flying standby (one of my stepsisters works for an airline), so we had to get her there early so that she could check in and get on the standby list.
• When we checked her luggage, we had to wait while it was taken to another area for a “random x-ray.” *sigh*
• When that was done, we headed for the security check and had to wait while they waved their magic wand over her for about 3 minutes. *sigh* On to the gate…
• Mom checked in… and we waited.
• The flight that she was “supposed” to get on came, reloaded, and left without her… so, we waited for the next flight (four hours later).
• The fact that I had only gotten two hours of sleep before going to get Mom were beginning to wear on me… and the waiting wasn’t helping.
• We’d called my uncle after Mom missed the first flight. He checked out of the hotel and took a shuttle and met us at the airport a little before Mom’s second abortive attempt to get home. When he got there, he waited with us for the second plane.
• It came, reloaded, and left, too.
• I called another airline and asked about flights heading to Raleigh, about an hour from Mom’s. They had one that would get her there by 10pm EDT. As far as I was concerned, that was perfect. I led Mom and Uncle Ronnie down to the ticket counter and said my goodbyes there – I had Jess’ car and had to get back so she could make it to an appointment… and I WAS TIRED!!!
• I took a rather refreshing two-hour nap when I got home, got up when Jess came in, and got ready for work. I went to my car and turned the key… and nothing happened. *GRRR* So… I took Jess’ car to work.

Work was actually pretty good… for work. Jess had been taken off of the supervisor’s schedule at the last minute to be replaced by Ryan. This is okay – I get to have her here at night. This is good. Ryan has to give training classes this week – some of those classes are during the time when he is supposed to be on Operations.

BRAINCRAMP

This meant that the Ops schedule that I did last week was about to be thrown into a chaotic cesspool whose depths would prove almost unfathomable. We had to adjust everyone around Ryan. I did not consider this “good,” but it was necessary. And it worked, more or less. Around midnight, Bruce – one of our Ops Managers – came out and informed us that Ryan would need to come in early on Tuesday and Wednesday to give the training class to our early-starting workgroups… and asked Desiree and me if we wanted to switch schedules on one or both days with him to accommodate this.

BRAINCRAMP

Des and I decided to split the days: She would close on Tuesday and I’d close Wednesday. I called Jess to let her know about the change – she said that she was amazed that they had caught the snafu so quickly. *sigh* The rest of the worknight was pretty uneventful.

I left, came home, watched DS9, went to bed. I slept VERRA well.

Tuesday:

• Woke up and called Sandi and asked her to jumpstart my car – Jess left for work while I was still in bed.
• Dragged myself into the bathroom, performed the daily rituals, and waited for Sandi to get here. She arrived, we started my car and life was good again.
• I took the car to an auto parts store so that I could get the battery checked. It was bad. *sigh* On a positive note: The alternator checked out fine. So, I bought a new battery. The store didn’t do installations, so I put the battery in the passenger compartment and came home – I figured that I’d get a change of clothes, go to the inlaws’, use their tools and install the battery before work. No problem. I had plenty of time.
• I came home, got the clothes, packed my lunch, and headed south.
• I got to Riverton and changed clothes, got a carpet scrap to put on the ground (my battery compartment is inside one of the wheel wells) and went out to the car. I took out the battery, and got ready to make like Kool Moe Dee and “Go to Work.”
• It started raining just before I got ready to start, so I decided to move the car back a little and get some cover from the garage. I did NOT, however, remember to move the battery before moving the car… and ran over it. When I realized what I had done, I moved the car back to its original spot and then worked the battery free. Something punctured the battery and it started to leak. GREAT. Now, I’m out TWO batteries (old and new), time and money, and I have to get ANOTHER battery.
• Frustrated, I put the battery – on the carpet remnant – on an unused part of the driveway, and went inside to change.

I left and went to work.

There was almost NO mail. Whoopee. We moved people around as best we could and swallow a lot of idle time waiting for the plants to send mail. Then the issue of MORE supervisors’ schedule changes came up. With Ryan doing the classes, he would be unavailable for parts of his shift. We all accepted that. Now, we had to figure out how to compensate for filling in gaps because SOMEONE hadn’t considered what changing my off-days AND taking Jess off the schedule would mean in the long term.

BRAINCRAMP

Long story, short version: Des had been essentially promised Wednesday off by one of our Ops managers… who completely spaced off that conversation and informed Land that he WOULD take Wednesday off, that she would get his shift covered, and that Des would take Friday off. Problem: Des made plans for having Wednesday off.

We’ve gone straight from BRAINCRAMP to CLUSTERFUCK.

When we finally got Des, Land, Lisa (supervisor who’s covering Land and Des’ shifts), Barbara (OUR supervisor/scheduler) together, we FINALLY got all of the scheduling kinks worked out. They were not necessarily “ironed out smoothly,” but we had something workable. Then, I had to revise the Ops schedule to reflect these recent changes. *sigh* Providence smiled upon me: Making the changes was fairly easy.

The rest of my shift was pretty easy to deal with – no problems, a steady supply of mail, and plenty of keyers.

After work, I came home, talked with Jess, had a bowl of cereal, watched DS9, talked to Jess some more, and just chilled.

And that’s how I spent most of the past two days.

And now, it’s time to rant.

Today’s rant is about “change.”

Change can be a good thing. It can bring fresh ideas and new ways of thinking. It can be a great boon in the way that we do things. When properly focused, it can help us to grow, both individually and collectively.

I don’t understand what is SO DIFFICULT to understand about when change is good and when it is unnecessary. There is a very fine line between those two points. I, personally, look at change as a “good” thing. But, I like to think that I can tell when the climate for change or even the reason for wanting the change isn’t kosher.

It seems to me that the concept of “leave well enough alone” is as elusive as quicksilver to far too many people. The case-in-point that comes blazing to mind is our supervisors’ schedule for this week.

If Person A is working Schedule B during Week C and all is going according to plan, DON’T FUCK WITH IT.

That seems simple to me. Elementary, even. But maybe I’m oversimplifying things; I don’t think that I am, though.

If Person A is working Schedule B during Week C AND Person D needs to do Task E, then factor D’s hours into the schedule and budget. This comes under the “Well, no shit” heading to me.

Our hours of operation are from 10:00am until 4:00 am (approximately, this can and often does vary) Mountain Time. This means that in order to process the mail, we must have crews scheduled to work within this timeframe. Simple. Our crew shifts vary in length from 4 to 8 hours, depending on the crew. Again, simple. While the keyers are there, there have to be supervisors there to oversee operations. Fundamental. Going back to the first “equation:” The job gets done… IF you let people do their jobs ACCORDING TO A SCHEDULE THAT WORKS. The schedule, as it was posted last week, worked. Period. Here’s where what I consider “logical, rational thought” goes right out the window:

“Let’s take Person A completely off the schedule and put Person D in that spot. Now, let’s have Person D give training classes during the times when Person A would have been other things to do according to the Operations Schedule. Hey! Let’s even move People F, G, and H around to do this.”

How in the Nine Hells do you expect to run an efficient – and EFFECTIVE – business if you hobble your staff like this?!? As my father would say: “That doesn’t even make good crazy peoples’ sense.” I would love to know what the thought processes were that led to the formation of the thought “Hey, this is a good idea” let alone the pursuant processes that obviously did NOT follow… the ones that would have set off the bells and whistles that would say “Hmmm, if I move these people around like this, I’m not utilizing manpower and resources as effectively as I could.” To me, it’s the SAME kind of lack-of-foresight vision that makes a person say “We have a perfectly good telephone/intercom system AND a fully-operational P.A. system, but what the Hell: Let’s go spend lots of money on brand new radios!!!”

Things like that make me want to go up to people and say: “This is a tree. This is a tree, too. So is that. And that. And that. And all of those. Together, they make up a forest.” Don’t get so wrapped up in ONE TREE that you forget about the ENTIRE FOREST!

Point: Sometimes, people get so wrapped up in the pros – or what they perceive as pros – that they don’t think about the cons.

WORSE point: They may so believe in the pros that they either ignore the cons… or even worse – they ignore the fact that there could even BE cons.

Don’t get me wrong: I know that people are going to make mistakes. I make mistakes… but I try to learn from them. Most of the time, I *do* learn from them. I hate to sound cliché, but the adage “Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.” And too often, it seems that we are stuck in a loop.

In conclusion, let me say that I think that change IS necessary for healthy growth, both in people and in business. But I also think that common sense is just as important. The next best thing isn’t always THE best. It may be bright and shiny, but in the long run is it good for you and is it worth doing/pursuing? Even more simply stated: Do we really need to change A, B, and C to get D and E done… or can we leave them alone and add D afterwards and get as good, if not BETTER, results?

Maybe it’s just me.

I slept in until almost noon today; after yesterday, I needed the sleep and rest.

Went through the daily ritual and now I’m waiting for Sandi to get here – it seems that my car battery has drained. *yay* Since it’s five years old, I think I’ll just replace it.

She’s here, I’d better scoot.

More later.

Peace.

Today has been bizarre.

I would love to go into the details now… but I have to head to work. *gah* I’ll update and elaborate tonight.

Off to the mines…

Peace.

Had a good day today:

• Met Mom and Uncle Ronnie at their hotel and went to The Oyster Bar and Grille for brunch. Quite tasty.
• Down to Crossroads Mall so Mom could get some comfy shoes; Jess and I got DVDs.
• Went across the street to Temple Square and showed the folks:
  • The Tabernacle (Mom’s a chorus teacher),
  • the statue of Christ – which a missionary told us is a replica of one in Denmark, and
  • the Assembly House.

  We then took the folks up Capitol Hill and showed them the view of the valley from just above and behind the Capitol.

• Brought them to the apartment so they could see it.. but not the cats: Mom + cats = Not Good.
• Waited for Angie to get here and we all went to Jim and Sandi’s for dinner.
• Led the folks back to their hotel; stayed and talked for a bit.
• Went to Adrian’s and watched “Six Feet Under” and “Arli$$.”
• Came home.

I’m also starting to feel similar to the way that I feel whenever I go home on vacation and am getting ready to come back here – kind of *blah*. It’s not *quite* the same in this case – I think that’s because it’s not ME who’s leaving… but it’s along those lines. This is one of the things that I’ve come to accept in the 2-1/2 years that I’ve been here. It’s just a little odd to feel it from this side of the equation. And for the record: I’ve had a great time with my mom and uncle for the past two days. That’s just in case it wasn’t abundantly clear from the past two days’ posts.

I should really be in bed. I should have been in bed two hours ago. Go figure. I have to be back at the hotel around 6:25 to get Mom and take her to SLIA. This is going to be a long day – Mom and Uncle Ronnie to the airport at different times and then *yay* work.

I have no idea if I’ll be supervising all this week or not – The schedule only shows me on Ops for four days. *sigh* I may just have to snap someone off a little something just to keep things straight. Of course, if I am not supervising Friday, I may take some leave and take the day off. That also makes me wonder if I’ll be supervising next week or not. If I am supervising and do not have (or take) Friday off, then I could be working 10 straight days. Yippee.

Oh well, that’s a thought for later. Now, it’s time to get some sleep.

Peace.

Woke up when the alarm went off… but I just laid in bed… and dozed off again.

Woke up about :20 later, got up, did the hygiene ritual and set about the business of being semi-lazy… I could only be semi-lazy because I’m trying to figure out what we’re going to do today.

Mom wants to see the Mormon Tabernacle, so I guess that a trip to Temple Square is in the offing. That’s cool. Then we’ll head to Crossroads or the Mall-Formerly-Known-As-ZCMI Center so she can get something to take back to my kid sister. After that, we’re heading back to the inlaws’ for dinner… possibly a cookout. Who knows? Even though we didn’t get to do a lot yesterday, it’s nice having Mom and Uncle Ronnie here… even if they’ll only be here through tomorrow.

Mom just called…. off to lunch!

Peace

:::happy dance::: My mom’s in town!!! :::happy dance:::

Jess and I headed to SLIA (Salt Lake Int’l Airport) to get Mom and we got there with time to spare. We waited at the gate, watched the plane land, waited while it taxied in…. and watched as it went to a different gate. *sigh* But that was fine: My mom was here!!! Not sure if I mentioned it or not: This is the first time that she’s been to visit since I moved out here.

We drove down to Jess’ parents’ to wait to go back to SLIA and pick up my uncle. On the way there, we decided to drive past one of the temples so Mom could see it – there are 3 here in the Salt Lake Valley. The road that it’s on is being worked on – they’ve done the DEstruction… hopefully, they’ll start on the CONstruction soon. We then stopped at the local B&B for a cup of coffee for Mom, a bottle of water for Jess and some frozen mocha goodness for me. :::bliss::: There were people lining 106th South from Redwood Road (where the B&B is) back to God-only-knows-where. Apparently, they were lining up for the “South Jordan Days” parade. *shrug* As we left the B&B lot, we saw that they were lining Redwood, too… all the way down to 114th South. And it was hot… after Thursday’s bike ride to 132nd South (from 94th), I don’t envy them.

We got to the inlaws’ and sat and talked for a while. This was also Mom’s first time meeting Jess’ parents. It went well. Thank God.

An hour and a few odd minutes later, Jess, Mom and I (in one car) and Sandi and Jim (in another) went back to SLIA to get my Uncle. We were walking down to the gate when my phone rang… It was my uncle…. at the baggage claim. :::backtrack mode::: We went down to the baggage claim, met my uncle, and then we were off to the hotel where my folks were staying and then on to dinner!

Jess and I decided to take everyone to Rodizio Grill, a Brazilian steakhouse, for dinner. I ordered “The Full Rodizio” for everyone: unlimited trips to the salad bar and they bring 11 kinds of meats to your tables on skewers. I felt a *little* piggish when I was the only one still ordering meats after everyone else was stuffed. Oh well. Then came desert: Death By Chocolate. *OINK*

We said goodbye to the inlaws, took my folks to their hotel, and came home. Thanks to the WONDERFUL planning of UDOT, most of I-15 is closed. Again. After they said that all of the reconstruction was finished. *shakes fist* We made it home, I read yesterday’s swag from the comic shop (I can hardly believe that I was only recently getting around to them), and now… it seems that we’re off for a late-night snack at V.I. with Scott and Ang.

Peace.

Not too much to report, so far…

• My uncle called to say that his flight was delayed and he’ll be here two hours later than planned…
• The power went out…
• Got out of bed and did the daily hygiene ritual…
• The power went out AGAIN!!!
• Shaved in the dark…
• The power came back on…
• I cleaned the bathroom – Yes: I’m a guy and I do dishes, windows and toilets…
• Getting ready to do the last minute vacuuming and minor straightening…
• And then, off to the airport to pick up Mom!!!
  I [heart] my Mom!

I’d better bounce… only an hour to go before we head out.

More later.

Peace.

Just is just a quick hit about today; I may update/expand and repost later.

• Skipped Mallday…
• Sat out on the balcony and read Hush Money for about an hour-and-a-half; of course, I would have read more, but I kept having in-depth Inner-Eyelid Studies…
• Went to pick up some housewares and groceries – a few minor touches before Mom gets here tomorning…
• Dropped the things off at home and headed to the comic shop and then to Scott’s – we’re supposed to be BBQ’ing, but that is going to depend on the weather…
• Later, we’re off to see “Kiss of the Dragon”…

That’s it for now.

I may post more about some of the things that went through my mind (besides the stray gust of wind) while I was out on the balcony earlier today.

Peace.

Today was good. I slept in and was lazy for a couple of hours. I decided to head down to the inlaws’ for a while; so, I got the bike and rode down there… in the 90°+ weather. Can you say “Hot and sweaty,” boys and girls? It took about :30 for me to get there. And I completely spaced off the fact that they are doing construction on Redwood Road. *yay*

I finally got Jim and Sandi’s digicam properly interfaced with their computer. That was a plus. Adrian came down with a project that he was working on for Jim… and brought my laptop with him (BIGGER PLUS); I’d let him borrow it for a conference that he was attending last week. Sandi fixed a verra tasty dinner of chicken, rice and salad. Adrian left shortly after dinner. Jim and I watched “WHOSE LINE;” I had seen the first ep before. Jim, Sandi, and I sat around and talked for a couple of hours… and then I loaded my bike into Jim’s truck and he brought me home. Have I mentioned that my girlfriend has the 2nd coolest parents in the world? She does. Of course, my mother is coming to SLC this weekend, so it seems that a meeting of the parental units is in the offing. This, I consider a good thing.

Now, I’m sitting here watching “Galaxy Express 999” on Sci-Fi and chatting on IRC… trying to figure out what’s up for Mallday/Movienight.

I’ll probably post something new after DS9. Who knows.

Peace.

Today, work was not pleasant. Yeah, yeah… I know that I was expecting a breeze of a day. What I got was more like a hurricane.

• One city decided to send over 110,000 pieces of Return To Sender mail. We don’t even get that from them on a “normal” day; we usually get about 40-60,000 daily. This was just a *wee* bit out of the ordinary.
• Two cities for whom we were not even supposed to process decided to share their bounty with us.
• The plants whose mail we were supposed to work kept calling to ask “Can we get more people for our mail,” or “How soon will you have it back to us,” and other questions like that. *sigh*

On the plus side: No managers and – even though it seemed like we might – we did not have to call any O.T. for our relatively small crew.

Once again, I have to give credit to our DCOs for the incredible job they did in bringing all of the sites down AND doing it ahead of schedule!!!

After today’s crisis had passed, I decided to tackle making next week’s Operations Schedule. I know that it’s not part of my job to do it, but to be honest: As someone who’s on the workroom floor and knows what we do (and go through) on a day-to-day or hour-to-hour basis, I think that I have a slightly better feel for it than our Ops Manager. Of course, it may be just the sense of oneupmanship. I don’t know. Either way, I did the schedule. And I think it’s pretty damn good. And this week’s schedule was relatively braincramp-free! ::: happy dance:::

Jess’ folks were at the Independence Day celebration held at the University of Utah. I called them around 10:00pm to ask when the fireworks were going to start; they were scheduled to start around 10:20. Perfect.

For those of you who don’t know: Salt Lake City (which is really SLC and a BUNCH of smaller cities/towns that make up the SLC Metro area) is set in a valley between the Wasatch Mountains on the east and the Oquirrh (pronounced “OH-ker”) Mountains on the west. The university, or “The U” as it’s called, is nestled on “The Benches” of the Wasatch. SLC also uses a grid-like addressing system centered on Temple Square. Yeah, I know, who would have guessed THAT?!? The REC (the facility where Jess, Agrobat and I work) is roughly at 200 North and 2200 West. The U is across town about 400 South and 2100 East. (Here, they would say “2nd North, 22nd West” and “4th South, 21st East”)

Since The U is on the mountainside, it’s elevation was high enough to see the fireworks display from work. We let the DCOs log off for a few minutes to enjoy the spectacle. *sigh* Last year, Jess and I were off on the Fourth, so we actually got to GO to the event with her folks – Chicago and They Might Be Giants were there last year; this year, it was Huey Lewis and the News and SheDaisy.

I didn’t finish the schedule until WELL after my shift had ended, but there was NO WAY that I was going to leave half a schedule and come back to find that the second half had been “mysteriously” created in my absence. I decided to wait for Jess to finish up her shift and then follow her home. I went into the room where our mainframes are housed and shot the breeze with Dan, one of our techs. Dan is a veteran and long-time postal employee… but more than that: I think that he’s just a great person to know and he’s fun to talk to. All of our techs are. It was only :15 from the time that I left Jess at Ops until she was done and tracked us down, but we wound up staying about :45 past that just talking to Dan. We talked about things ranging from the economy to the Internet and being in the military. Okay, he and Jess talked about being in the military; I just listened. It was fun. I know that a lot of people may not think of sitting around talking as being “fun,” but it’s not just a matter of words.

• It’s seeing a glimmer of recognition…
• or the twinkle in someone’s eyes as they recall a fond memory…
• or hearing the rise and fall of their voice as they get into and behind their point…
• or just learning something new…

THAT is what I find “fun” about “just talking.”

And, though he probably won’t see this: Thanks to Dan for taking the time to talk with us.

We finished up our conversation, Jess and I got into our cars, and we were off! I’m glad that it was dark and that no one could see my singing (or at least making an attempt to sing) “Synchronicity II,” but I don’t think that it would have stopped if someone did.

Now, I’m off to meet Lord Morpheus and roam around The Dreaming.

Peace.

Happy Fourth of July!

I may not say it that often, but I think that it’s a wonderful privilege to live in a country where we are free to be different from each other and where that difference is recognized and appreciated. I’m not an idealist – I know that there are a number of closed-minded people in America (and the world), but I respect their right to be entitled to their own opinions – whether I agree with them or not. One of the things that I think that makes us great (ok, a little idealism here) is: We are all the same and yet we are different enough that we can all bring different ideas to the table and agree, disagree, or even agree to disagree about an issue… and at the end of the day, we can sit around the same table and at ourselves with our friends, neighbors and compatriots.

So once again, Happy Fourth of July and Happy Birthday, America. “God shed His Grace on thee.”

And now, back to our regularly scheduled LiveJournal…

Today at work was pretty smooth until the last few hours. We had more mail than we were expecting, so we had to call O.T. on everyone whose shift ended after 11:30pm. Although there was the requisite bitching and moaning, they were pretty good about it. AND, they keyed a helluva lot of mail… quickly and efficiently! We were able to cancel O.T. at 1am. And there was much rejoicing.

I came home and watched DS9. I know: it’s SO out of character for me to do that. It was one of my all-time favorite episodes “Trials and Tribble-ations.” In it, the DS9 crew goes old school and meets Kirk and the original crew – It’s a blast! Lots of in-jokes and other silliness. As usual, I watched it and chatted on IRC with a friend of mine; he hadn’t seen this episode before. I think that this made it even more fun because he’s a Kirk fan and I’m a Sisko fan (actually, I’m an Avery Brooks fan… but I won’t split hairs here). I think that they should package both episodes (“The Trouble with Tribbles” from the original series and “Trials and Tribble-ations” from DS9) together.

I guess that this is the point where I openly admit: I’m a Star Trek geek. It’s not like you couldn’t have pieced that together from my previous posts. I’m an overgrown Toys ‘R’ Us kid, too. Go figure.

Special Note To the Goddess of Victory: Everything will be fine. Just take your time and don’t try to rush things – enjoy the process even though it is difficult and may not always go just the way you want. You can bend my ear anytime you need someone to listen or to give non-critical feedback. As Sting said: “If I ever lose my faith in you…”

Well, it’s early and I have to get up later… I know what you’re probably thinking: “Isn’t the Post Office closed on the Fourth?”

• The short answer: No.
• The long answer: Customer service operations (your local station or branch and carrier service) do not operate on holidays and Sundays, but the USPS works 24/7/365… or 366 on a Leap Year. Just because your mail isn’t delivered on a given day doesn’t mean that mail isn’t processed on that day – that’s how we can make sure that it’s delivered the next day. And, as one of the people “behind the scenes,” I get to go to work tomorrow… um…. today.

I guess that means that I should at least make an effort to get some sleep.

More later.

Peace.

I got to bed about 4:15 this morning and read some of Hush Money, a Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker. Jess called around 4:30 to say that she’d be late (click HERE to read why). I read a little more, then went to sleep. I must have been COMPLETELY out of it, because I don’t remember her coming in. I vaguely remember rolling over at some point after the sun was up and asking her when she got in. I didn’t set the alarm – intentionally – and slept in. That’s the ONE benefit of working 5:30 – 2am today: Oversleeping was not too big a concern. I woke up somewhere around 12:30 or 12:40… and then just laid there. Staring at the ceiling. Watching the clock. Contemplating the mysteries of navel lint. Whatever. Around 1:10, Sandi called to ask me to look up some flight information for our Disneyland trip – their DSL connection was being temperamental. This was as good a reason as any to get up, so I did.

After looking up the flight details, I took care of the daily hygiene ritual and contemplated the mysteries of navel lint again. No, that’s not right… Oh, yeah, I contemplated what I wanted to eat for “breakfast.” Half an hour later, I still haven’t eaten. Oh, well.

Sixteen more work hours and it’s the weekend. I have no idea what fun our Ops Manager who does the supervisor schedule has planned for me next week… and I probably won’t know until Thursday. Hopefully, she will remember that I had asked for this weekend off – since my parents are coming out for a visit. This leaves the potential for one of three things:

• I won’t get the weekend off and have to snap my foot off in someone’s ass.
• I’ll get the weekend off and won’t have to snap my foot off in someone’s ass.
• I won’t supervise next week – and will be keying – so, it won’t matter… but still snap off a little something, for good measure.

I’d better get something to eat and finish getting the work duds together. OH YEAH! That reminds me…

I wanted to take a minute to rant about a pet peeve: PERSONAL SPACE. I am a FIRM believer that everyone is entitled to their own space. I like to think of it as a personal bubble that is not to be invaded unless you give someone permission to enter it. Friends and family are generally okay to get within contact range without asking. People that you are only passingly familiar with? No. Back off. If I want you inside my space, you’ll be invited. Yesterday, I decided to wear a pair of braces (suspenders) with my pants instead of a belt. NOTE: It is just WRONG to wear a belt AND braces together. Period. I had at least two people who complemented me on them… and then came up and felt them. *GRRR* Rather than read them up one side and down the other, I rode out the wave of irritation with all the grace and aplomb I could muster. I even thanked them for the complements. *sigh* Sorry… had to get that off my chest. What I really wanted to say was: Please, don’t assume that just because you THINK that you know someone that you are automatically granted access to their space. Everyone deserves the right to have whatever sized boundaries that they choose – or even need – between them and the next person. For some, it’s a few feet; for others, a few inches. Mine seems to be about a foot… and then you’re crossing the DEW (Distant Early Warning) Line. After all, does it really take THAT much extra effort to ask?

::: end of rant :::

For more information on where the term “DEW Line” comes from, click HERE

That’s it for now.

Peace.

Work.

*sigh*

Long story, short version:

LOTS of mail.
We called overtime.
DCOs grumbled.
DCOs processed mail.
Lots of mail went away.
We canceled overtime.
Overtime DCOs went home.
More mail went away.
We sent DCOs home.
The end.

It turns out that I was slightly mistaken about senior managers being there today: Our Industrial Engineer (#4 in the chain-of-command) was there until 6:30pm and the two Ops Managers stuck their heads in the door on their way home from the training class that they attended. So… effectively: No senior managers. One more day of this, one day of NO managers, and then it’s my weekend!

I just want to say that I have the coolest girlfriend in the world and she has the 2nd coolest parents in the world. I finally made it down there this afternoon and Sandi sent me to work with some home cookin’ for dinner – pork chops, steamed veggies, and rice. Jess even stopped at the store on her way to work and bought me a Gatorade Frost. Someone at work saw my lunch and said that I was spoiled. My response: “Yup! Rotten!!!”

Anyway, today was pretty painless, so I am going to get my dinner (fish fillets and fries), have a Corona, and watch The Sisko Show….um, I mean “Deep Space Nine.”

More later.

Peace.

Not much to report so far….

Woke up…
Went through the morning hygiene rituals…
Ironed clothes…
Decided that Pizza Hut will most likely prepare my lunch today…

Heading down to the inlaws’ for a few before work.

On the plus side: It’s my “Wednesday,” and that can’t be a bad thing.

More later.

Peace.

My day:
I left a little early, stopped and Beans & Brews, and had a nice leisurely drive to work. Got to work and there was mail, the keyers were there, everyone was happy. Look: it’s my delusion, so shut up!!! Anyway, all was happy and a typically slow Sunday… and then all Hell decided to break loose. So to speak. ::: genuflect :::

We had lots – did I mention “PLENTY” – of DCOs on duty.
Mail ran out – which is normally a “good” thing.
The sites said that they didn’t have anything to send us.
*Yay*
So…. we asked people if they wanted to go home early. That helped. A little.
We SENT people home early. That helped even less.
We moaned and wailed and cast auguries. This may not have helped, per se, but we were desperate.

Finally, the mail picked up a bit and we were able to balance the keyer-to-mail ratio. And all was good again. And there was much rejoicing… mostly from me. THEN, I started working on the Operations schedule.

SIDEBAR: We have three senior managers: the facility manager and two operations managers. We report to the Ops Managers who, in turn, report to the facility manager. One of the Ops Managers is responsible for scheduling supervisors and for creating our Operations Schedule.

Most of the senior managers and some of the supervisors are going to a training class on Monday and Tuesday. No problem. We had enough coverage from the remaining supervisors. I made a phone call to one of the supervisors, Mike, to remind him that he was opening tomorrow morning. He called back a few minutes later… to tell me that he was still on vacation until Tuesday.

BRAINCRAMP

So… I called our facility manager and gave her all the good news, which she took far better than I expected. Good!!! She also authorized me to change supervisors’ schedules… since our Ops Manager apparently forgot a few details. *sigh* So I called Mike back and told him that his vacation was still intact. Then I called two of the supervisors whose schedules I had to adjust: One was fine with the changes, the other told me that he couldn’t… and why. His reasons were VERY valid – he’s in charge of our probationary people and he has a plethoric buttload of reviews that he has to complete in the next two days. So… back to the drawing board.

BRAINCRAMP

I finally mananged to get the schedules for Monday and Tuesday done. Then, Wednesday’s schedule, which was pretty easy… since only three of us are working at Ops on Wednesday; there’s another supervisor who will be there, but she has to devote her time to preparing the keyers’ schedule. Three down, two to go. Fortunately, they went very quickly. All that remained was to print up a few copies, email copies to the staff and managers and call it a night. Which I did as quickly as I could.

Jess, Angie, Scott and a couple of others went to go see “Tomb Raider” for Movienight II. Sounds like they had fun. Have I mentioned: “I [heart] my job” lately? I do. Tons. More than words can express, sometimes. But life goes on… and so shall I.

More later.

Peace.