Friday, November 30, 2012
Tomorrow, When The War Began After The Red Dawn
It's been a good Friday. I've kept it low key and am carrying that into the night. I just watched an interesting movie - well, interesting meaning "really kind of bad by strangely entertaining". The movie is called "Tomorrow, When The War Began" and is based on a set of juvenile novels by James Marsden. It is an Australian film and I would call it a Red Dawn clone - except without the acting. And yet, with all that, I would recommend it as an entertaining B movie, but like Red Dawn.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
A Day In Fragments
Sometimes, in the middle of doing something else, a pang of loss and loneliness will wash over me. Then, life sweeps on, inexorably. That is the nature of things.
Today was one long meeting. My first meeting started at 7:00 AM and my last meeting ended a little after 4:00 PM. Inside of that window I had a problem with one of my contacts, which was a low grade irritation through most of the day, until by later in the day it was seriously irritating and I took it out, through it away, and drove home with one eye.
I also had one whopper of a stress headache come on, probably aggravated by the contact (which I didn't realize until later). I left work early, because of the headache and the eye irritation and came home to finish up the last of my meetings. Once they were wrapped I ordered a pizza and settled in and watched the last episode of "Ghost Hunters".
My nephews condition remains mostly the same - drug induced fugue state, limited communication, ventilator.
Other than that, that pretty much sums up the day. I am starting a three day weekend - and I will be working over those three days, but somewhere in there I do want to take some times off and do nothing, deliberately do nothing, for at least the better part of one entire day.
As for tonight, I think I am going to take a nap and then, depending on how the nap goes, wake up a bit latter and figure out what to do for the evening.
Today was one long meeting. My first meeting started at 7:00 AM and my last meeting ended a little after 4:00 PM. Inside of that window I had a problem with one of my contacts, which was a low grade irritation through most of the day, until by later in the day it was seriously irritating and I took it out, through it away, and drove home with one eye.
I also had one whopper of a stress headache come on, probably aggravated by the contact (which I didn't realize until later). I left work early, because of the headache and the eye irritation and came home to finish up the last of my meetings. Once they were wrapped I ordered a pizza and settled in and watched the last episode of "Ghost Hunters".
My nephews condition remains mostly the same - drug induced fugue state, limited communication, ventilator.
Other than that, that pretty much sums up the day. I am starting a three day weekend - and I will be working over those three days, but somewhere in there I do want to take some times off and do nothing, deliberately do nothing, for at least the better part of one entire day.
As for tonight, I think I am going to take a nap and then, depending on how the nap goes, wake up a bit latter and figure out what to do for the evening.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
60 Email on the Transsiberian
I spent the evening watching the movie "Transsiberian" with Woody Harrelson, Emily Mortimer, and Ben Kingsley while I was working my way through my email backlog. I managed to read, delete, sort and respond to about sixty email this evening, which made for a long, but mostly productive workday.
The movie was pretty good, it's a film noir set on the Transsiberian railway in Russia. It is dark, intense, and well acted. I'd recommend it if you haven't seen it. Emily Mortimer is very powerful in the film.
Work was long today, so I won't dwell on that - another day ahead of me. The project is struggling and people are coming apart at the seams. Yet another sign of bad management - a well managed team pulls together when it comes under stress, a poorly managed team falls apart. It's amusing to me that part of our team is pulling together (the part under my direct manager), while the rest of it has started to fall apart.
My main concern is that the whole thing is going to implode and innocent people are going to catch the blame for our incompetent director, whose already casting about for ways to blame the problems on other people. Dang, it is tough being under bad management.
It's been a stressful fall, that is for sure. I wanted to go back to South Dakota for Christmas, but I am going to postpone that trip. All that is going to do is ratchet my stress level even higher - trying to travel in that most challenging season. Running full speed up to Christmas, then stressful travel, then coming back to work and hitting it at full speed. That would definitely take all of the fun out of the vacation. I think I will sit tight and aim at a more leisurely vacation after the holiday, somewhere in the early spring. It would be nice to get two weeks or more completely off the work grid.
The movie was pretty good, it's a film noir set on the Transsiberian railway in Russia. It is dark, intense, and well acted. I'd recommend it if you haven't seen it. Emily Mortimer is very powerful in the film.
Work was long today, so I won't dwell on that - another day ahead of me. The project is struggling and people are coming apart at the seams. Yet another sign of bad management - a well managed team pulls together when it comes under stress, a poorly managed team falls apart. It's amusing to me that part of our team is pulling together (the part under my direct manager), while the rest of it has started to fall apart.
My main concern is that the whole thing is going to implode and innocent people are going to catch the blame for our incompetent director, whose already casting about for ways to blame the problems on other people. Dang, it is tough being under bad management.
It's been a stressful fall, that is for sure. I wanted to go back to South Dakota for Christmas, but I am going to postpone that trip. All that is going to do is ratchet my stress level even higher - trying to travel in that most challenging season. Running full speed up to Christmas, then stressful travel, then coming back to work and hitting it at full speed. That would definitely take all of the fun out of the vacation. I think I will sit tight and aim at a more leisurely vacation after the holiday, somewhere in the early spring. It would be nice to get two weeks or more completely off the work grid.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Life is a Strange Journey
Okay, lots of work, most of it detached from reality, but a deliberately easy evening here at home. I've got to head in early in the morning to run a 7:00 AM User Acceptance Test Kick-Off Meeting for yet another part of the project. Amusingly (and with plenty of attendant stress) I caught two of three UAT projects - both on less than four days notice, both because the existing plans for it had collapsed under the weight of the project. Once again, I get to pull a complete cycle of UAT out of thin air.
With that in mind, this afternoon, when I wrapped up my last meeting and headed home I decided I was going to spend a quiet evening relaxing, then some reading time tonight. I am working my way through Orson Scott Card's "Ruins" and quite frankly, it is slow going. I keep hoping it picks up some action, but it seems to be slow developing in that direction. I may give it a few more nights and then I am going to have to abandon it.
On the home front, my nephew still remains in critical care. He was off the ventilator for one day, then landed back on it due to fluid build up in his lungs. He is once again heavily sedated and each day is the day it is. I keep him close in my thoughts and prayers during the day. Life is a strange journey.
With that in mind, this afternoon, when I wrapped up my last meeting and headed home I decided I was going to spend a quiet evening relaxing, then some reading time tonight. I am working my way through Orson Scott Card's "Ruins" and quite frankly, it is slow going. I keep hoping it picks up some action, but it seems to be slow developing in that direction. I may give it a few more nights and then I am going to have to abandon it.
On the home front, my nephew still remains in critical care. He was off the ventilator for one day, then landed back on it due to fluid build up in his lungs. He is once again heavily sedated and each day is the day it is. I keep him close in my thoughts and prayers during the day. Life is a strange journey.
Monday, November 26, 2012
Monday's Struggle
The day was mostly a struggle. I slammed into the wall of frustration when I hit the office - there are just far too many moving parts and too may parts moving in chaotic cycles, to have any level of confidence beyond maybe the eighty percent level. I sure don't like being that frustrated. I did manage to make a few small advances during the day, but all in all if feels like I ended up further and further behind. It's a very difficult environment to be working in and I know I am not the only one who feels that way, but, since the root of our problems is our director - there doesn't seem to be much we can do about it. Very, very frustrating.
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Notes from a Full Day
If nothing else, it has been a full weekend. Let me run over the day's developments along the arc of this particular part of my journey. I met Tony for breakfast at the Hickory Pit, which is always enjoyable.
Immediately after breakfast we went over to AMC 14 and watched "The Life of Pi", directed by Ang Lee. I was in a strange place going into the movie. I read and liked the book very much and that is often dangerous when it comes to movies because it sets expectations at a certain level and more often then not the movie does not live up to the movie.
However, in this case, the director was Ang Lee, whose work I admire. (I list "The Ice Storm" as one of my favorite movies quite often.) I was confident that whatever had landed on the screen was going to be a good movie - the only question was - would it be the same "Life of Pi" that resides in the pages of the book.
The short answer is - it wasn't, but it was still an excellent movie. I'd highly recommend it - but the movie is just a faithful sampling of what is in the book, so also read the book.
After the movie was over I went down the street and did a walk through at Office Max, I am considering buying a new desk for my apartment and I would like to get a slender L. Office Max happens to have one that is very close to what I am looking for - but I haven't yet made the decision to buy it. I am contemplating moving my office desk out of the spare bedroom and back into the living room, in large part due to the winter light, but I also haven't quite made that decision yet.
From there, I took a walk through at REI. I am looking for a pair of 3 gallon water containers for use in camping as part of my emergency reserves. They have them at REI, but I wanted to do a little bit of shopping, since REI isn't always price competitive, even on the same products as other places. While there, I picked up a pair of lodge moccasins (think slightly stronger that normal bedroom slippers) and took a call from my step-father.
There was a bit of good news there, my nephew is conscious, off the ventilator, and communicating - though he is still not entirely lucid. My parents are going to stay until tomorrow and then my brother should arrive there on Tuesday or Wednesday, since he is planning on driving up. My sister is also going to head back up to Rapid City in the next couple of days as well.
From there, I stopped at Lucky's and picked up groceries, then headed home. At home I had a sandwich, then laid down and took a nap. This evening my place is "The Walking Dead" and ease into the evening with a bit of reading and maybe some quiet time.
It was a very full weekend, unexpectedly full. Let's hope the week is a little more same, though I doubt it, given all the chaos at work. That is why I am going to enjoy the quiet evening, since I don't think I am going to get any in the coming days.
Immediately after breakfast we went over to AMC 14 and watched "The Life of Pi", directed by Ang Lee. I was in a strange place going into the movie. I read and liked the book very much and that is often dangerous when it comes to movies because it sets expectations at a certain level and more often then not the movie does not live up to the movie.
However, in this case, the director was Ang Lee, whose work I admire. (I list "The Ice Storm" as one of my favorite movies quite often.) I was confident that whatever had landed on the screen was going to be a good movie - the only question was - would it be the same "Life of Pi" that resides in the pages of the book.
The short answer is - it wasn't, but it was still an excellent movie. I'd highly recommend it - but the movie is just a faithful sampling of what is in the book, so also read the book.
After the movie was over I went down the street and did a walk through at Office Max, I am considering buying a new desk for my apartment and I would like to get a slender L. Office Max happens to have one that is very close to what I am looking for - but I haven't yet made the decision to buy it. I am contemplating moving my office desk out of the spare bedroom and back into the living room, in large part due to the winter light, but I also haven't quite made that decision yet.
From there, I took a walk through at REI. I am looking for a pair of 3 gallon water containers for use in camping as part of my emergency reserves. They have them at REI, but I wanted to do a little bit of shopping, since REI isn't always price competitive, even on the same products as other places. While there, I picked up a pair of lodge moccasins (think slightly stronger that normal bedroom slippers) and took a call from my step-father.
There was a bit of good news there, my nephew is conscious, off the ventilator, and communicating - though he is still not entirely lucid. My parents are going to stay until tomorrow and then my brother should arrive there on Tuesday or Wednesday, since he is planning on driving up. My sister is also going to head back up to Rapid City in the next couple of days as well.
From there, I stopped at Lucky's and picked up groceries, then headed home. At home I had a sandwich, then laid down and took a nap. This evening my place is "The Walking Dead" and ease into the evening with a bit of reading and maybe some quiet time.
It was a very full weekend, unexpectedly full. Let's hope the week is a little more same, though I doubt it, given all the chaos at work. That is why I am going to enjoy the quiet evening, since I don't think I am going to get any in the coming days.
Saturday, November 24, 2012
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