Let me introduce the gang:
My department, the electrical safety group, is technically 6 people.
My boss is great, very personable, brilliant in all things electrical, and a great boss. We’ll call him the Cat in the Hat. He's been in the field for years, used to work for our biggest competitor and has only been at Neverland for 2 or 3 years. He's a solid family man (I met and love his wife), has two beautiful daughters, and clearly strives for balance at home and at work. I can't say enough great things about him- God sure has blessed me with a good boss.
Thing 1 and Thing 2 are the certification project managers (CPMs), the ones I’ll do most of my work with. Thing 2 started just two weeks before me, so he and I are learning a lot together. The first couple weeks we had numerous days where we spent most of the day in the Cat in the Hat’s office learning the ropes. Thing 1 has been there a year and a half and is a walking brain. He definitely knows the ropes and is a genius at all this electric stuff (or at least he has me convinced). For the first year, I’ll be working the most with Thing 1 and writing his documentation and helping him on projects, while Thing 2 learns how to do everything on his own before I start helping him. Guess he’s gotta learn it himself so he will really appreciate having someone else (me) doing his documentation in the future.
Then there is the lab side of the ES group, which includes two guys I can’t come up with nicknames for yet. Then again, I have less stories about them since they spend most of their time in the lab and I don’t see them too much yet.
And then there’s me, the brand new technical writer, who is just learning about all things electrical, and the lone woman in our group.
Other characters who aren’t in the ES group but work directly across the hall include Foo Foo the Snoo who is Thing 2’s older sister and works in sales with Red.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Stories from Neverland, Part 1
I don’t know exactly how to tell stories on my blog about real life people who could, potentially, however unlikely, stumble upon them later. That’s the weird thing about a blog that anyone can read… you’re never sure who is out there. So I’m instituting code names for work and for my coworkers.
Work will be from here forth referred to as “Neverland” … I’m not sure why, but it seems appropriate somehow.
I’ve been wanting to introduce the gang and share some work stories, but coming up with good code names is harder than I thought. With some help from a brilliantly witty friend, I’m going to use Dr Seuss names and see how it goes.
Work will be from here forth referred to as “Neverland” … I’m not sure why, but it seems appropriate somehow.
I’ve been wanting to introduce the gang and share some work stories, but coming up with good code names is harder than I thought. With some help from a brilliantly witty friend, I’m going to use Dr Seuss names and see how it goes.
Saturday, April 04, 2009
When you give a Reenie a Saturday...
I'm sure that other people sometimes have days like this... and frankly, I find them rather amusing, though not nearly as productive as I'd like. At this moment I can honestly say I was busy and working most of the day, and didn't accomplish a single thing I set out to accomplish. Awesome.
My plan: clean the first floor of house (kitchen, dining room, living room, bathroom), do some house laundry (dog blankets, rags, etc), and do my spring yard clean up day (raking and scooping the back yard and cleaning out the dead foliage from the backyard garden areas). Seems simple enough doesn't it?? Sigh.
What happened: I started work on the dining room, pulled the dog blankets off the cushions to find Mag had thrown up on hers, so I cleaned up vomit from the floor and had to move the crate to get the rest of it. Moving the crate, I realized it had been awhile since I really cleaned under and around the crate. So I unloaded all the plants from the top of the crate, wiped down the board, moved the crate and found another dog's worth of dog hair under there, washed the walls surrounding the crate, and threw the dog blankets in the wash.
When I went to put the plants back, a few of them really needed repotting, it's been bothering me for weeks... so I pulled out some pots and the soil and repotted a few of them... which led me to repotting some of the other plants around the house, and potting some of the cuttings I've had in the wine bottles along the kitchen window... which led me to taking all the bottles down and washing them all before returning a few of the cuttings to their bottles... then I repotted another plant or two... and realized there was dirt all over the counter... so I started wiping that up, and got distracted by the dirty dishes next to the sink... so I unloaded the dishwasher and reloaded it, noting there's some water remaining in the bottom these days and I should take it apart someday soon... but not today, I'm much too busy. I went back to the dining room, realizing that under the crate is immaculately clean, but nothing else is. So I sorted papers and magazines, recycling a lot of old publications and putting papers to file in a pile.
I took a lunch break, wasted a half hour eating and checking facebook, returned a couple phone calls, opened the mail, and eventually went outside for yard clean up. Suze and I played ball for 20 minutes and then I got out the necessary supplies. I started scooping. Then raking. Then back to scooping. Then trimming Maggie's bush. Then getting rid of some more dead foliage. Then loathing the pine trees and their pine cone spread. Then taking a pic of the pine trees that I loathe. Then I got distracted by spring bursting forth in the yard and took some pics of bulbs coming up, buds on the bushes, Suzie and her ball feddish, and other random things. Then I went in to get water... and got distracted by the dining room. So I dusted the dining room. Then realized I was still wearing my coat and garden gloves and really should head back outside. Returning to the yard, Suze wanted more ball. Maggie wanted to play chase. So we played for awhile, soaking in the sunshine... then cleared out dead foliage from the strawberry bed... then back to raking and loathing the pine cones...
I think you get the idea. It's 9 pm. I need to run to the grocery store for cantalope. The first floor is far from clean. The yard isn't quite done. And my saturday is spent...
Like I said, when you give a Reenie a Saturday...
My plan: clean the first floor of house (kitchen, dining room, living room, bathroom), do some house laundry (dog blankets, rags, etc), and do my spring yard clean up day (raking and scooping the back yard and cleaning out the dead foliage from the backyard garden areas). Seems simple enough doesn't it?? Sigh.
What happened: I started work on the dining room, pulled the dog blankets off the cushions to find Mag had thrown up on hers, so I cleaned up vomit from the floor and had to move the crate to get the rest of it. Moving the crate, I realized it had been awhile since I really cleaned under and around the crate. So I unloaded all the plants from the top of the crate, wiped down the board, moved the crate and found another dog's worth of dog hair under there, washed the walls surrounding the crate, and threw the dog blankets in the wash.
When I went to put the plants back, a few of them really needed repotting, it's been bothering me for weeks... so I pulled out some pots and the soil and repotted a few of them... which led me to repotting some of the other plants around the house, and potting some of the cuttings I've had in the wine bottles along the kitchen window... which led me to taking all the bottles down and washing them all before returning a few of the cuttings to their bottles... then I repotted another plant or two... and realized there was dirt all over the counter... so I started wiping that up, and got distracted by the dirty dishes next to the sink... so I unloaded the dishwasher and reloaded it, noting there's some water remaining in the bottom these days and I should take it apart someday soon... but not today, I'm much too busy. I went back to the dining room, realizing that under the crate is immaculately clean, but nothing else is. So I sorted papers and magazines, recycling a lot of old publications and putting papers to file in a pile.
I took a lunch break, wasted a half hour eating and checking facebook, returned a couple phone calls, opened the mail, and eventually went outside for yard clean up. Suze and I played ball for 20 minutes and then I got out the necessary supplies. I started scooping. Then raking. Then back to scooping. Then trimming Maggie's bush. Then getting rid of some more dead foliage. Then loathing the pine trees and their pine cone spread. Then taking a pic of the pine trees that I loathe. Then I got distracted by spring bursting forth in the yard and took some pics of bulbs coming up, buds on the bushes, Suzie and her ball feddish, and other random things. Then I went in to get water... and got distracted by the dining room. So I dusted the dining room. Then realized I was still wearing my coat and garden gloves and really should head back outside. Returning to the yard, Suze wanted more ball. Maggie wanted to play chase. So we played for awhile, soaking in the sunshine... then cleared out dead foliage from the strawberry bed... then back to raking and loathing the pine cones...
I think you get the idea. It's 9 pm. I need to run to the grocery store for cantalope. The first floor is far from clean. The yard isn't quite done. And my saturday is spent...
Like I said, when you give a Reenie a Saturday...
Friday, April 03, 2009
The Curtains
As I mentioned a week or two ago, I made new curtains for my dining room. I love them! I love the color, the material, the curtain rod, that I accomplished one thing in the month of March... yes, I love them. And though this probably isn't that interesting to most of you, here's a quick pictoral how to (for a certain friend out there who is also making curtains). I'm sure there's a more professional way of doing this... but this is how I did it... and it only took a couple hours. (Note that I did not line mine, so if you line yours, they will be slightly different. But the tabs part will be the same.)
1. Cut fabric for window sizes
2. Cut tabs (I made mine 10 x 4 inches)
3. Fold tab in half, longways and inside out, to form a tube. Sew right sides together.
4. Turn rightside out
5. Iron flat
6. Fold the end over slightly and iron flat
7. Hem all sides of main curtain panels, measure an even distance between tabs, pin in place, sew tabs to curtain panels.
8. Install curtain rods (hopefully your drill batteries don't decide to die like mine did).
9. Hang curtain on rods by tabs... (iron them first if you want to get the creases out... oops)
10. Voila!! New curtains!!
(and yes, they do close all the way, I just wasn't very careful before taking the picture.) And as a friend told me today "They look like a garden" which is good because with all those plants on the windowsill, I definitely think the room was lacking "garden"... haha.
One of those days...
You know it's going to be one of those days when:
1. You trip on your shoe on the way to the alarm clock... twice...
2. You hit "snooze" four times before dragging your sorry behind into the shower
3. There's hair in the shower drain and the outfit you were planning to wear needs to be ironed... so you change your plans...
4. Lake Suzie is gracing the kitchen floor when you make it downtairs and the good rags (as in the large absorbent ones) are down in the wash
5. You're running later than you should be (see #2 and 3 and 4) so you don't having time to dry your hair, resigning yourself to frizz and crazy hair for the duration of the day
6. You pour coffee into your travel mug and run out the door for work, battling prime rush hour traffic
7. As you sit at the light just a block from work (at exactly 8:01 am), you look down to see that you have coffee all over your chest... and your shirt is light pink... so there's no hiding it...
8. You thank God for those little Shout wipes you bought yesterday for just such an occasion, while cursing the stupid travel mug and it's leaking ways
9. You wipe furiously, hoping no one in front of you or behind you can see what's happening (and dreading that at least one of them works with you)
10. Your stains are still quite prominent, you button the jacket and head into work, carrying the accursed coffee mug and it's remaining contents
11. You turn on the computer and get things rolling for the day before heading for the bathroom to try again on the coffee stains
12. While you're in there, you figure you'll wash out your big water mug... and thanks to the automatic faucets and soap dispensers, rather than a nice rinse, you get handsoap all over the mug, which requires more washing... and causes more soap to dispense... you eventually give up in disgust.
13. Next you attack the coffee stains front and center on the chest of your light pink shirt, which you manage to get a bit better, still noticable, but hopefully with the jean jacket, no one notices...
14. Before leaving the bathroom, you just happen to notice your hair, half of which has flipped out, and the other half in... all of it with a nice overall frizz. Great.
15. At lunch, you manage to drop lettuce covered with dressing on your lap. More furious scrubbing with the Shout wipes.
16. You wonder what is next... or what you've already done and haven't noticed yet, but other people have...
17. And you realize it's only noon, with half the day still in front of you...
1. You trip on your shoe on the way to the alarm clock... twice...
2. You hit "snooze" four times before dragging your sorry behind into the shower
3. There's hair in the shower drain and the outfit you were planning to wear needs to be ironed... so you change your plans...
4. Lake Suzie is gracing the kitchen floor when you make it downtairs and the good rags (as in the large absorbent ones) are down in the wash
5. You're running later than you should be (see #2 and 3 and 4) so you don't having time to dry your hair, resigning yourself to frizz and crazy hair for the duration of the day
6. You pour coffee into your travel mug and run out the door for work, battling prime rush hour traffic
7. As you sit at the light just a block from work (at exactly 8:01 am), you look down to see that you have coffee all over your chest... and your shirt is light pink... so there's no hiding it...
8. You thank God for those little Shout wipes you bought yesterday for just such an occasion, while cursing the stupid travel mug and it's leaking ways
9. You wipe furiously, hoping no one in front of you or behind you can see what's happening (and dreading that at least one of them works with you)
10. Your stains are still quite prominent, you button the jacket and head into work, carrying the accursed coffee mug and it's remaining contents
11. You turn on the computer and get things rolling for the day before heading for the bathroom to try again on the coffee stains
12. While you're in there, you figure you'll wash out your big water mug... and thanks to the automatic faucets and soap dispensers, rather than a nice rinse, you get handsoap all over the mug, which requires more washing... and causes more soap to dispense... you eventually give up in disgust.
13. Next you attack the coffee stains front and center on the chest of your light pink shirt, which you manage to get a bit better, still noticable, but hopefully with the jean jacket, no one notices...
14. Before leaving the bathroom, you just happen to notice your hair, half of which has flipped out, and the other half in... all of it with a nice overall frizz. Great.
15. At lunch, you manage to drop lettuce covered with dressing on your lap. More furious scrubbing with the Shout wipes.
16. You wonder what is next... or what you've already done and haven't noticed yet, but other people have...
17. And you realize it's only noon, with half the day still in front of you...
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Equilibrium
I realized this week that I am just simply exhausted. Not tired, sleepy as much as just bone weary. I guess in liking my new job and being soooo relieved to have the new job, I sort of forgot how exhausting change is. It's hitting me pretty hard this week. It doesn't help that it's a busy time of the year and that I still haven't learned to say "no."
All in all, life is good. I am very blessed and happy and yet totally exhausted. I just feel like my equilibrium is off... which exhausts me further. I've had stuff going every night this week, really the last 2 weeks... much of which has been great, but still busy. Tonight is my night at home with just the dogs... it's good. Introverts like me should remember to schedule in more time like this. Especially since I'm not only home hanging with my bitches, but I'm also cleaning out and reorganizing the pantry- so at least one part of my life can be under control.
Stay tuned on those work stories... I've got a couple written, but I'm still trying to come up with good code names for my coworkers (lest my world get smaller and they somehow stumble across my blog).
All in all, life is good. I am very blessed and happy and yet totally exhausted. I just feel like my equilibrium is off... which exhausts me further. I've had stuff going every night this week, really the last 2 weeks... much of which has been great, but still busy. Tonight is my night at home with just the dogs... it's good. Introverts like me should remember to schedule in more time like this. Especially since I'm not only home hanging with my bitches, but I'm also cleaning out and reorganizing the pantry- so at least one part of my life can be under control.
Stay tuned on those work stories... I've got a couple written, but I'm still trying to come up with good code names for my coworkers (lest my world get smaller and they somehow stumble across my blog).
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