We had our work Xmas party today and it had the usual fare: awkward conversation, bad food, endless discussions of how/why/what-sort-of/no-really-why-am-I vegetarian (on behalf of all vegetarians: sigh).
My casual Friday shirt du jour was a Neon Genesis Evangelion shirt, black and red with the NERV logo and the phrase "God's in His heaven and all's right with the world." This is my sly/cynical version of an Xmas shirt. 8)
Anyway, after a brief discussion with one of the waitresses about the NGE mangas (tee hee), I was sitting innocently at a table, when I noticed one of the (cute, young) chef type people grinning at me.
Then he pointed both fingers at me, pointed his thumbs at his chest, and gave me two big thumbs up while mugging and grinning. Reading through this, you probably know exactly what he meant, but at the time I had no idea. I actually had to stop myself from turning to see if there was anyone behind me.
Apparently, he liked my shirt.
December 16, 2005
December 14, 2005
mult-eye-task-ing
On a whim (and I have lots of those) I bought a bunch of cross-stitching projects to make for my friend Anne for this Xmas. Sadly, just because they're less than $10 to buy, does not make them quick to do. I quite like cross-stitch though, it's a lot like pixel art and making things with my hands is always rewarding.
But the problem was how to find time to devote to actually making them, because I practically live on my computer when I'm not at work, and cross-stitch takes both hands and pretty much all of my attention. The solution is to get my computer to read to me.
Macs have been able to speak arbitrary text for a very long time (since at least the late eighties when the Talking Moose was pretty damn funny), and the speech system has been getting progressively more sophisticated. I get my computer to read stories to me, which have the advantage of being real sentences and it's quite good at the subtleties of English. Emma-sensei and I were testing it the other night, and it clearly uses context to decide how to pronounce words. For instance, in sentences it was (mostly) correct when it used reject as a verb (short re) or a noun (long ree).
I have a list of words that it consistently gets wrong though, and probably banal (to rhyme with anal) is my favourite. Banal conversation was never so amusing. (Or is this just an Americanism? It certainly says "erb garden".)
I've finished a book mark (Tigger with butterflies!) and almost finished one of the pictures (Tigger again, this time with flowers and trees (*@#ing trees)).
I might try to resurrect a miracle and start beading again. Most of you probably remember the beer coolers I made years ago with beaded thingies on the front. I've been trying to remember what the penguins on "Lager Drink" looked like. I don't suppose anyone has any pictures?
But the problem was how to find time to devote to actually making them, because I practically live on my computer when I'm not at work, and cross-stitch takes both hands and pretty much all of my attention. The solution is to get my computer to read to me.
Macs have been able to speak arbitrary text for a very long time (since at least the late eighties when the Talking Moose was pretty damn funny), and the speech system has been getting progressively more sophisticated. I get my computer to read stories to me, which have the advantage of being real sentences and it's quite good at the subtleties of English. Emma-sensei and I were testing it the other night, and it clearly uses context to decide how to pronounce words. For instance, in sentences it was (mostly) correct when it used reject as a verb (short re) or a noun (long ree).
I have a list of words that it consistently gets wrong though, and probably banal (to rhyme with anal) is my favourite. Banal conversation was never so amusing. (Or is this just an Americanism? It certainly says "erb garden".)
I've finished a book mark (Tigger with butterflies!) and almost finished one of the pictures (Tigger again, this time with flowers and trees (*@#ing trees)).
I might try to resurrect a miracle and start beading again. Most of you probably remember the beer coolers I made years ago with beaded thingies on the front. I've been trying to remember what the penguins on "Lager Drink" looked like. I don't suppose anyone has any pictures?
December 02, 2005
Casual Friday
In the past few months the IT people where I work have started wearing jeans and tshirts on Fridays. It's kind of cute, because someone thought of it, and now everyone does it, but as far as I know, nobody talks about it. (The first rule of casual Friday is...)
So, anyway, I wore my Gatchaman shirt today. Some of you might remember it as G-Force, but basically the shirt has the logo, a red G on a yellow background.
One of the few women I work with wandered past and interrupted me to say, "Super girl, super girl."
Me: It's not Super Girl, it's Gatchaman, G-Force. You know, that old animated tv show...
She: [laughing meanly and shaking her head] That's just sad. Sad!
Me: [flatly] I'm sure you think so.
She: [nothing to say at all, wandered away]
Victory! She was wearing an old, tatty, give-away Microsoft shirt. As she does almost every day. My shirt is nerdy, but hers is an ad for an out-of-date version of a Microsoft server product. Hah!
This woman is known crap-head anyway; she once asked me "Why is your life so empty that you watch *Batman*?" That day I couldn't think of a good answer ("Fuck off!" would have been perfect, but is a little outside my comfort zone.) so I owe her many snide comments.
By way of contrast, one of the guys who I work with occasionally is a much nicer person. We chat about animated shows and House and all sorts of things.
He: [walking past] Hi.
Me: Hi.
He: [notices shirt, looks jealous] Where do you keep finding these shirts!? I want a Green Lantern one...
And then five minutes of chat about finding cool shirts and variations on the Green Lantern logo ensued. Rock.
In other news, I'm another year older, and much less in debt. I love my friends. My mother visited for a week, but has now gone back to the less-than-tender mercies of my sisters. Finally, I loved HP4, and though there's no sneaky thing at the end of the credits, the Jarvis Cocker power ballad is worth waiting for.
So, anyway, I wore my Gatchaman shirt today. Some of you might remember it as G-Force, but basically the shirt has the logo, a red G on a yellow background.
One of the few women I work with wandered past and interrupted me to say, "Super girl, super girl."
Me: It's not Super Girl, it's Gatchaman, G-Force. You know, that old animated tv show...
She: [laughing meanly and shaking her head] That's just sad. Sad!
Me: [flatly] I'm sure you think so.
She: [nothing to say at all, wandered away]
Victory! She was wearing an old, tatty, give-away Microsoft shirt. As she does almost every day. My shirt is nerdy, but hers is an ad for an out-of-date version of a Microsoft server product. Hah!
This woman is known crap-head anyway; she once asked me "Why is your life so empty that you watch *Batman*?" That day I couldn't think of a good answer ("Fuck off!" would have been perfect, but is a little outside my comfort zone.) so I owe her many snide comments.
By way of contrast, one of the guys who I work with occasionally is a much nicer person. We chat about animated shows and House and all sorts of things.
He: [walking past] Hi.
Me: Hi.
He: [notices shirt, looks jealous] Where do you keep finding these shirts!? I want a Green Lantern one...
And then five minutes of chat about finding cool shirts and variations on the Green Lantern logo ensued. Rock.
In other news, I'm another year older, and much less in debt. I love my friends. My mother visited for a week, but has now gone back to the less-than-tender mercies of my sisters. Finally, I loved HP4, and though there's no sneaky thing at the end of the credits, the Jarvis Cocker power ballad is worth waiting for.
November 02, 2005
Good boss, bad boss
So I went to speak to Good Boss (GB) on Monday, to discuss the fact that I'm having trouble staying at work for five days in a row, and that I may need to reduce the number of hours that I'm working.
He was very cool. He said that he thought I was very brave for seeking help, thanked me for speaking to him, re-assured me that he'll speak to my immediate supervisor (BB), and only tell him what we agreed to. I spoke to GB first because I don't trust BB. You'll see how justified I am below.
Then today, BB asked to speak to me, and it was such a sharp contrast that it was almost laughable. Not quite though, because this is still some pretty important stuff that he's screwing up.
For instance:
Me: [On Friday, ringing at 9 am] I'm not feeling well, and won't be in.
BB: [incredulous, disappointed] Still?!
Seriously, can you imagine a worse response?
BB: [Today] So, I know that it's very personal, but can you tell me what's wrong?
Me: [pause] Did [GB] speak to you?
BB: Yes, but he only said it was a health issue... and I'd just like to know...
Me: [longer pause] Well, I'm going through a lot of things at the moment, but I'm getting treatment for them.
It's not like I didn't give him a couple of chances to RESPECT MY FUCKING PRIVACY.
BB: So how long will this [the reduced hours] go on?
Me: Unfortunately, there's no real answer to that.
BB: Well, I'm coming from a position of wanting to get you back to 40 hours a week, as quickly as possible, so you just tell me what we can do to make that happen. As quickly as possible.
Me: Er... (!)
Whereas the GB said at the end of our conversation, "We really do try to support our people here, whether they're contractors or full time staff. I'm so glad you're not resigning."
My plan of attack/defense is as follows: I'm not going to be speaking to BB alone about this from now on. I'm going to speak to GB again, point out my problems with BB's response, and ask him for advice and assistance.
He was very cool. He said that he thought I was very brave for seeking help, thanked me for speaking to him, re-assured me that he'll speak to my immediate supervisor (BB), and only tell him what we agreed to. I spoke to GB first because I don't trust BB. You'll see how justified I am below.
Then today, BB asked to speak to me, and it was such a sharp contrast that it was almost laughable. Not quite though, because this is still some pretty important stuff that he's screwing up.
For instance:
Me: [On Friday, ringing at 9 am] I'm not feeling well, and won't be in.
BB: [incredulous, disappointed] Still?!
Seriously, can you imagine a worse response?
BB: [Today] So, I know that it's very personal, but can you tell me what's wrong?
Me: [pause] Did [GB] speak to you?
BB: Yes, but he only said it was a health issue... and I'd just like to know...
Me: [longer pause] Well, I'm going through a lot of things at the moment, but I'm getting treatment for them.
It's not like I didn't give him a couple of chances to RESPECT MY FUCKING PRIVACY.
BB: So how long will this [the reduced hours] go on?
Me: Unfortunately, there's no real answer to that.
BB: Well, I'm coming from a position of wanting to get you back to 40 hours a week, as quickly as possible, so you just tell me what we can do to make that happen. As quickly as possible.
Me: Er... (!)
Whereas the GB said at the end of our conversation, "We really do try to support our people here, whether they're contractors or full time staff. I'm so glad you're not resigning."
My plan of attack/defense is as follows: I'm not going to be speaking to BB alone about this from now on. I'm going to speak to GB again, point out my problems with BB's response, and ask him for advice and assistance.
November 01, 2005
You get the minion you deserve
I have a new minion at work, and when he first got here, he knew hardly anything about my speciality, and even less about Microsoft development in general. Despite this (or perhaps because of it) he's a perfect minion for me.
One of my little foibles (or "faults" if you will) is that I tend to be very good and precise at what I do, and so I expect the same of people working with me. When the person involved tends to "let the little things slide", and "gets there eventually" I can be perceived as arrogant and overly-critical. Because, I know the right way to do it, why oh why don't you just believe me and do it my way? 8)
My new minion not only has a very blank slate (so my way is the only way he knows), but he's also very self-deprecating. When he shows me his solution, and I say, "Well, you could do it like that, or you know..." and explain a better way to do it, he doesn't get mad, and he doesn't argue. He says, "OMG, you are so right. That's just... of course."
It's all good: I'm happy; he's more knowledgeable. Yay. It's not always so clear cut, and remarkably, I'm not always right, but even then, his attitude is "let's work together to solve this, OMG you're so clever".
And the other important thing here is that he's very intelligent in his own right, and smart enough to listen when I talk and takes in what I'm saying and still ends up agreeing with me.
One of my little foibles (or "faults" if you will) is that I tend to be very good and precise at what I do, and so I expect the same of people working with me. When the person involved tends to "let the little things slide", and "gets there eventually" I can be perceived as arrogant and overly-critical. Because, I know the right way to do it, why oh why don't you just believe me and do it my way? 8)
My new minion not only has a very blank slate (so my way is the only way he knows), but he's also very self-deprecating. When he shows me his solution, and I say, "Well, you could do it like that, or you know..." and explain a better way to do it, he doesn't get mad, and he doesn't argue. He says, "OMG, you are so right. That's just... of course."
It's all good: I'm happy; he's more knowledgeable. Yay. It's not always so clear cut, and remarkably, I'm not always right, but even then, his attitude is "let's work together to solve this, OMG you're so clever".
And the other important thing here is that he's very intelligent in his own right, and smart enough to listen when I talk and takes in what I'm saying and still ends up agreeing with me.
October 31, 2005
Er... sorry about the complete silence
Life's been kind of interesting lately, but in a very hermit inducing way. Basically after struggling with a bunch of stuff which was making me feel crappy and making me miss work, I've started seeing a psychologist (hereinafter "doctorc" where the c is for crazy), and been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (hereinafter not mentioned).
This is a very interesting time to be me, and man, if you thought that having a blog made you self-obsessed, you should try working through a bunch of childhood crap.
In happier, quick let's gloss over the personal revelation parts of this post, news, I've also started reading a lot of comics. Batman is the shit. Yes, indeedy. It's a shame that it's taken me so long to catch up (gloss gloss) with how cool comics are, but now I'm here and nerding the hell out of myself.
Anyway, my doctorc says that I'm good at working out what I need, and she's one hundred per cent behind my buying comics and toys habit, so hee hee, no stopping me now.
Please feel free to relate your personal revelations to Batman in your comments. Or Cable and Deadpool, if you know who they are. Or Young Avengers (featuring Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, to make an in-joke that I expect absolutely nobody reading this blog to get -- feel free to prove me wrong).
This is a very interesting time to be me, and man, if you thought that having a blog made you self-obsessed, you should try working through a bunch of childhood crap.
In happier, quick let's gloss over the personal revelation parts of this post, news, I've also started reading a lot of comics. Batman is the shit. Yes, indeedy. It's a shame that it's taken me so long to catch up (gloss gloss) with how cool comics are, but now I'm here and nerding the hell out of myself.
Anyway, my doctorc says that I'm good at working out what I need, and she's one hundred per cent behind my buying comics and toys habit, so hee hee, no stopping me now.
Please feel free to relate your personal revelations to Batman in your comments. Or Cable and Deadpool, if you know who they are. Or Young Avengers (featuring Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, to make an in-joke that I expect absolutely nobody reading this blog to get -- feel free to prove me wrong).
September 20, 2005
Tattoos
Many of you have probably heard my idea to get a tattoo on my butt that says, "Abandon all hope, all ye who enter here." I've had the best idea for a matching tattoo, low on my stomach:
"Gaze on my works ye mighty and despair."
"Gaze on my works ye mighty and despair."
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