Bumpity Bump
Feb. 6th, 2010 12:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tarotgalThis past week was a nightmare. On Monday everything that came near me seemed to break- our mail distribution system at work, my computer at home, etc. We also had a consultant in who interviewed all members of the staff--not to evaluate us personally but to evaluate the organization and see if it can't run more in keeping with how we all want it to run. But it's rather depressing to answer questions like what services are dispensable. And it's impossible to numerically evaluate services I don't know much about. I came home from volunteering and pretty much cried for hours (after breaking my desktop computer and breaking my mother's reality about the author of Nancy Drew mysteries). I managed to make it home before I started crying, though (driving while crying is dangerous), thanks to the Ianto song that popped into my head. It's impossible to feel sad while singing the Ianto song. LOL Why is your name so strange? *giggle*
On Tuesday, things didn't get much better. I kept trying to fix the things that were broken, without much success. And I had to get caught up on everything I was supposed to do Monday but couldn't because of everything going on. That afternoon it started snowing a little after 4. During my lunch break I managed to work on the Harry Potter Alliance stuff a little more and get that up and running. We were supposed to have our first event Saturday (a raffle to help Haiti).
So on Wednesday I woke up and found the university to be delayed in opening for an hour. Bah. Then I checked my work e-mail and my boss had canceled work completely! We work at the end of a street and the only way in/out is a long, steep hill from the main road with big ditches on either side of the road (no shoulder-- if you get off the road, the nose of your car is planted and you're stuck). Also, we're off campus so we get plowed LAST. Sometimes days after the rest of the area. Once it took them almost 4 days to get to us (that was the time I brought a shovel to work and shoveled my way INTO work). But given that my week was going so bloody awful, I was glad for a snow day. So I took a couple pictures of the snow and went back to sleep. I really should have written snow drabbles, but I just didn't have the energy to be creative. I spent the day working on important projects and feeling rather productive by the end of it. Definitely relaxed and, I thought, ready to fix the big stuff when I got to work next.
On Thursday, I came into work and found that something else that is INCREDIBLY huge had broken and our board/committee members just now found out about it. Because the change in mail servers had happened at the beginning of January, and it's the beginning of February now, all the data had been lost and couldn't be retrieved because the many many backups had all been overridden by now with other backups. This was seriously the worst news to get first thing in the morning, that one entire part of our conference was completely broken and no hope of recovery. The good news is, my boss called our server farm host (who set the new mail system up) and had a serious talk with him. After that, they came up with a solution for the mail distribution system that broke on Monday and is sort of key to our ENTIRE operation. After a lot of work, we got it up and running and I flailed like Kermit the Frog. That evening was a BookCrossing convention meeting. I discovered 10 minutes before I left work that I left all the agendas I had printed out for it at home on my printer. So I had to re-create & print the whole bloody thing. And traffic was CRAZY bad. Other than that, we had a good meeting and accomplished quite a bit.
On Friday, it started snowing later than I had hoped, so I had to go into work. It was good, though, because I could back stuff up and shut down the in-house servers before the... Snowpocolypse! That's right! Weather forceasters said my area was expected to get about 12-24 inches of snow. In some parts of the country, that's not much. But here, where we have only one big snow every decade and where people don't have the right tires or cars to handle that amount of snow, it pretty much sends everyone into craziness. We just aren't equipped for this much snow because we simply don't get it often like other parts of the country/world. So we went home early from work and then I went out again to the store yesterday (I drove my mom and sister in Love, who had four wheel drive). And then... the snow fell. And it's been going on for more than 24 hours now. It's gorgeous out. I'm thinking of going out tomorrow in it and building a snow dalek. heehee Thanks to all the snow, I managed to watch 13 episodes of Heroes and now I'm all caught up. Today I want to finish Dollhouse and maybe finally work on putting together the biggest LEGO set I've ever tackled. Oh, the huge, major Wizard Rock concert was canceled for today (which is a good thing; I doubt all 19 bands could have even made it here) and the library closed. So I have NO responsibilities or commitments all weekend (apart from the Daisy Chain of Awesome fic I need to write).
So, yeah. I'm snowed in. I LOVE being snowed in. I know some people get cabin fever or whatever. Not me. I'm the definition of a homebody. I think curling up with a book and hot chocolate while snow is falling outside is possibly the best thing in the whole world. Maxwell is getting a little restless, though. So I'm going to go make sure he has food upstairs. he woke me up by chewing on a plastic bag.
On Tuesday, things didn't get much better. I kept trying to fix the things that were broken, without much success. And I had to get caught up on everything I was supposed to do Monday but couldn't because of everything going on. That afternoon it started snowing a little after 4. During my lunch break I managed to work on the Harry Potter Alliance stuff a little more and get that up and running. We were supposed to have our first event Saturday (a raffle to help Haiti).
So on Wednesday I woke up and found the university to be delayed in opening for an hour. Bah. Then I checked my work e-mail and my boss had canceled work completely! We work at the end of a street and the only way in/out is a long, steep hill from the main road with big ditches on either side of the road (no shoulder-- if you get off the road, the nose of your car is planted and you're stuck). Also, we're off campus so we get plowed LAST. Sometimes days after the rest of the area. Once it took them almost 4 days to get to us (that was the time I brought a shovel to work and shoveled my way INTO work). But given that my week was going so bloody awful, I was glad for a snow day. So I took a couple pictures of the snow and went back to sleep. I really should have written snow drabbles, but I just didn't have the energy to be creative. I spent the day working on important projects and feeling rather productive by the end of it. Definitely relaxed and, I thought, ready to fix the big stuff when I got to work next.
On Thursday, I came into work and found that something else that is INCREDIBLY huge had broken and our board/committee members just now found out about it. Because the change in mail servers had happened at the beginning of January, and it's the beginning of February now, all the data had been lost and couldn't be retrieved because the many many backups had all been overridden by now with other backups. This was seriously the worst news to get first thing in the morning, that one entire part of our conference was completely broken and no hope of recovery. The good news is, my boss called our server farm host (who set the new mail system up) and had a serious talk with him. After that, they came up with a solution for the mail distribution system that broke on Monday and is sort of key to our ENTIRE operation. After a lot of work, we got it up and running and I flailed like Kermit the Frog. That evening was a BookCrossing convention meeting. I discovered 10 minutes before I left work that I left all the agendas I had printed out for it at home on my printer. So I had to re-create & print the whole bloody thing. And traffic was CRAZY bad. Other than that, we had a good meeting and accomplished quite a bit.
On Friday, it started snowing later than I had hoped, so I had to go into work. It was good, though, because I could back stuff up and shut down the in-house servers before the... Snowpocolypse! That's right! Weather forceasters said my area was expected to get about 12-24 inches of snow. In some parts of the country, that's not much. But here, where we have only one big snow every decade and where people don't have the right tires or cars to handle that amount of snow, it pretty much sends everyone into craziness. We just aren't equipped for this much snow because we simply don't get it often like other parts of the country/world. So we went home early from work and then I went out again to the store yesterday (I drove my mom and sister in Love, who had four wheel drive). And then... the snow fell. And it's been going on for more than 24 hours now. It's gorgeous out. I'm thinking of going out tomorrow in it and building a snow dalek. heehee Thanks to all the snow, I managed to watch 13 episodes of Heroes and now I'm all caught up. Today I want to finish Dollhouse and maybe finally work on putting together the biggest LEGO set I've ever tackled. Oh, the huge, major Wizard Rock concert was canceled for today (which is a good thing; I doubt all 19 bands could have even made it here) and the library closed. So I have NO responsibilities or commitments all weekend (apart from the Daisy Chain of Awesome fic I need to write).
So, yeah. I'm snowed in. I LOVE being snowed in. I know some people get cabin fever or whatever. Not me. I'm the definition of a homebody. I think curling up with a book and hot chocolate while snow is falling outside is possibly the best thing in the whole world. Maxwell is getting a little restless, though. So I'm going to go make sure he has food upstairs. he woke me up by chewing on a plastic bag.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-06 06:31 pm (UTC)Crying while driving is dangerous. Found that out in July. Thanks a lot, RTD and Children of Earth. There's a Ianto song? *is intrigued* I bet I could have managed to listen to it and cry back then.
The snow sounds lovely, but I am SO grateful we only got 3-5 inches here, though it was complicated by much blowing and drifting. But if I'd have had as much snow as you had, I'd still be at work night now, because I wouldn't have been allowed to leave until they can replace me with fresh help. And because I only live about 15 minutes away, if I was home when it snowed, they'd probably come pick me up to work nights if I couldn't get out myself. Some days, I really wish I worked at a job where we had the luxury of just being able to shut down. But I guess the job security is a plus. ;-)
My sympathies about your computer. I have a new laptop on order right now, because my current screen is 2/3 dead and deteriorating fast now, and my 4 year service plan ran out last fall. The new one on order is red, and I'm debating naming it Ianto, because, you know, red is his colour. *G* (It's a Dell, but my second choice was a Toshiba, which would, naturally, have been named 'Tosh'.) *G*
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Date: 2010-02-07 09:59 pm (UTC)That is why I think I mentioned in the Christmas card that you might like the last song on the CD I gave you *G* It's terribly silly but, hey, it's a song about Ianto. I'm not complaining; it makes me laugh.
There's also a song on the other CD from Jack post-COE coping with the loss. It was Mary Beth's way of coping with losing Ianto.
I managed to fix my computer, thankfully. But... yeah. Monday was bad. It got to the point where it was just easier to lie in bed and cry for hours because nothing was being fixed but at least I wasn't breaking any NEW things just by being around them at that point.
All righty. Back into the snow to finish building a snow dalek! Just had to pop in for photo references... and a plunger.
no subject
Date: 2010-02-07 12:57 am (UTC)We haven't really had much snow here, which is weird for Michigan. It's almost all melted right now. My husband hates it b/c he is a teacher and was hoping for some snowdays.
Hopefully you can have a nice relaxing weekend!