.: This Girl's Daybreak :.

Well, here's another "Good news, bad news" post. =P

The Good

I heard back from my adviser, and she fixed whatever the issue was keeping me out of my elective classes. I picked one and got registered for it. So that's four out of five classes taken care of.

The Bad

I also heard back from the professor who oversees the internship class. He said he'd done something, and I should be able to register. But I still couldn't, when I tried. So I emailed him again, and included a screenshot of what I saw when I tried. Hopefully he'll be able to straighten it out for me, and soon.

Also! My boss is an idiot. I was supposed to take vacation next week. I scheduled this months ago. But today I get a message, saying that he'd scheduled both me and another coworker for vacation on that same week. So one of us had to switch. And honestly, this just...Ugh. I have seniority. By like, a lot. So, if either of us is going to switch, it should be him. But. I don't actually have any firm plans next week. And most importantly? I do not have the emotional spoons to fight about this. I am drained and tired and still a bit stressed over school and grades and everything. And I just do not have the energy to make a stink about this. So, I'm kind of pissed, but it doesn't feel worth it to try and fight it. So, my vacation is getting pushed back...by like, three weeks. I am not a happy camper. =/

Take a look at that timestamp. A little after 5:00AM. Guess where I am! >_>

Second verse, same as the first! It's just the same as the last two times. When I tested it toward the end of my shift, I found that the information for Saturday wasn't in the handheld. So, I start calling people. First I call E, my boss. No answer, so I leave a message. Then I try CJ. No answer, left a message. Next, CL. No answer, left a message. Same with M. I tried them all again. Nothing. I try calling J; I didn't think he could fix this, but I had to try. He actually answered on the first call, bless him. But I was right; he didn't know how to fix it.

So I keep cycling through E, CJ, CL, and M. M answers after a while, but he didn't know how to fix it, either. So I keep calling the other three. Again. And again. And again. This goes on for an hour or so. I even try calling N, who's my boss's boss. No answer. I keep trying everyone. I text N, telling him what's up, since I couldn't get his voicemail when I called.

A little while later, N calls me. He got my text is on the way in. Huzzah.

So, N comes in and we try to figure out what's going on. But neither of us can really pinpoint anything. So, he suggests that I run through my processes again. Okay, fine by me. So I rerun everything. Once it's done, we check the handhelds and thankfully, the data seems to be showing up now. Hurray.

This particular problem happens from time to time, so I'm a little used to it. But honestly, I'm getting really pissed about the fact that almost no one in my freaking department will answer their bloody phones after hours. I mean, I get it. It sucks to get a call in the middle of the night, when you're trying to sleep. It's not fun. But, fuck. You're supposed to be on-call, in the event of technical problems like this. That means it's your freaking job to keep your phone where you can hear it, and to actually get up if it rings! Ugh.

I emailed my boss, telling him what happened. And I asked him for permission to try some fixes myself, in the event that I can't reach anyone the next time this happens. (Such as rerunning my processes, like we did tonight.) Because I can't just leave it, if I can't get ahold of someone. It has to get fixed. So, if no one will answer their freaking phones, then I need to have at least one option to try and fix it myself. We'll see what he says.

...And my last thing just finished up, so I am out of here. I think I'll stop for breakfast on the way home~

Okay, take a look at this timestamp. It is nearly three in the morning, and guess where I am. Work! Yeah, we're having technical issues again. Looks like the same problem we had the last time I had to stay late on a Friday. You know...the time I didn't get out of here until after 8:00AM. >_>

And, just like that time, practically no one will answer their God damned phones. I swear, my department collectively sleeps like a brick. I have tried literally everyone in the department, many more than once. I lost track of how many times I called E, our department head. Finally, just when I was about to go over his head, he called me back. And now he's doing pretty much the same thing; calling everyone else, over and over. Even the tech support for our handheld software won't answer the damn phone. (Granted, they've always been terrible, so this is no surprise.)

We're at a bit of a loss. So now, E asked me to go back and re-run my processes. No idea if this'll help or not, but hell, it's worth a try, I guess. So, I'm doing that.


EDIT:

Okay, finally done with the processes. It's now about 5:00AM, and it looks like things might be straightened out. *Crosses fingers* I'm going to try one more route, then I'm going home.

So, things didn't go so well today at work.

I walk in at the start of my shift, and find that it's almost completely dark inside. The only lights to be found are a couple of random table lamps scattered around, and the small amount of light coming in from the few small windows. I go into my department and find most of the guys still there, clustered around J's computer. E tells me that somewhere around noon, the power went out. Apparently, some idiot with a hose was attempting to clean some pipes and managed to instead soak a major electrical box. Which then proceeded to fail in a rather spectacular fashion. So, no power. Well, almost no power. We do have enough to run the computers in IS, and the aforementioned handful of table lamps. But that's it. No other lights, no air conditioning, no other electronics of any kind. So, I'm sitting here mostly in the dark right now.

And that's not the worst part. See, we keep all of our servers in a little, locked room. For security purposes, I suppose. Normally, the temperature in this room is carefully controlled, because the servers will naturally run hot, especially with so many in such a small space. So, the air is kept on to keep the servers from overheating. Nothing to worry about, normally. But now we have no air conditioning, so we've got every door in the place standing wide open. Not just the internal doors, like to the server room. No, we've got the outside doors propped open, too. After dark, it's cooled off a little, and that helps keep the servers cool. But it means that I'm sitting, basically alone, in the dark, in an empty building, with all the doors standing open. Yeah, not exactly feeling real safe right now. Ugh.

Our Director of Admin just came by a little while ago, and he said that they were hoping to try and get things up again here in an hour or two. But that they weren't optimistic; his exact words were, 'They're afraid it's going to blow up'. Yeah. So, I have no idea if this will be fixed soon, or what. I do know that, if it's not fixed by around 1:00am or so, M is going to come back in and sit until the dayshift starts. Basically, they want to keep a body in the department at all times since some random idiot off the street could just waltz right in. Again...not feeling real safe. (Because really. If someone decided to break in, it's not like I could do anything. Hell, I'd probably hide under my damn desk.)

Oh, and Tuesday is one of my big paperwork days. Which I will now have to do without the copier, sitting in the dark. Fun. =P


EDIT: Well, I lucked out! They were able to get the lights back on. So that's nice. It's a little after 11:00 now, so I've got a little while left in my shift yet. And now I have light to do my paperwork by, and I can shut the doors. Yay.

Okay, massive pet fucking peeve here.

If you are on-call after-hours, guess what that means. That means that you are ON-FUCKING-CALL! That means that it is your responsibility to be available, and to keep your fucking phone on you. And to ANSWER your damn phone! Ugh!!

...Okay, slightly less rage-y explanation:

( Rant rant rant )

Geez...two ranty posts in one day? Not a good sign, guys. =P

So, I got a shiny new computer at work, today. Mine had been acting up, and I'd had to use a coworker's the past couple of nights. So this was a pleasant surprise. I'd hoped they'd fix me up with one, but I honestly didn't expect to get it this quickly. So, huzzah for that.

Normally, this would not warrant a post. But, see, when I saw 'new' computer, I mean 'new'. My old machine was running Windows XP. (As do my personal computers.) This new one has Windows 7. I've not really used Windows 7 before. Dad's had Windows 7 on his desktop for some time, so I've poked at it a little, but that's really all the experience I have with it.

Honestly, for being as much of a computer geek as I am, I'm kind of a curmudgeon when it comes to upgrading software and operating systems. I'm a big proponent of the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" school of thought. These days, it seems like companies love to rearrange things and 'redesign' everything, even when it doesn't need it. Basically, they love to change things, just for the sake of changing them. And I hate that. If something's a legitimate improvement, great. But most of the time, it's just messing with the aesthetic, or wrecking perfectly functional things that worked just fine the way they were.

So, with that in mind, here are my thoughts and complaints about Windows 7.

( In case this gets long... )

Final verdict? Surprisingly, hopeful. Despite all my bitching, I think that, now that I've made the necessary tweaks, I'll adjust to the new OS okay. I'm just aggravated that it took so much trouble to put things back to normal. =/

My mother worked as a 911 dispatcher for something like thirty years, before she retired. I first heard this from her, but I've found it pretty well holds true, elsewhere as well.


Rule Number One of Dispatch:

Do not say the 'Q' word. EVER.


What's the 'Q' word, you ask? Why, 'quiet', of course. Any time some idiot foolishly says something like, 'Man, it's sure quiet today!', that pretty much guarantees that all hell is about to break loose. It's one of those silly stereotypes that still somehow seem to work out in real life. Kinda like how you never want to say, "Well, it can't get any worse"...because then it will get worse. So you just don't say it. Seriously. Don't.


This post brought to you by my featherbrained coworker who said the freaking 'Q' word on his way out on Saturday. Which, of course, left ME to deal with the idiocy that followed.

Okay, so I'm stuck working on a Saturday, right? That's annoying in and of itself. So I stopped at Starbucks on the way in; I figure if I have to work on my day off, I deserve some good coffee. Even got a bigger size than usual; a trenta iced coffee, rather than my usual venti. Turns out it was a good thing I did. =/

See, as soon as I walk in the door, the folks in dispatch are like, 'omg you're here!'. I glance at my watch; I'm not late or anything. So I go in my department and sit down, and before I've even got my email client loaded, J comes in and says that he needs me to get started with some processes right away. Normally, on a Saturday, it's a little while after I get here before I have to start running things. Turns out that my coworker JN, who worked the day shift today, didn't know how to run the day processes. So nothing had been done.

Yeah. =/ Now this is aggravating, anyway. But seriously...on a weekend like this, there are only two of us working, and only one at a time. This is for one simple reason. There is very little to do. We are here for two things, basically. To run the processes, and to keep a body in the department, just in case someone calls or comes in. So, what the hell he did today, I have no idea.

Then, a little while after I get started, JN comes back in. I'd thought that he'd already left, since he wasn't here when I came in. Also, when I spoke to him yesterday, he indicated that he'd be working the day shift, and then he'd go home when I came in. JN is the coworker who's been lurking around all evening for the past three weeks, by the way. So I'm already thoroughly sick of him. (Nothing personal against him, of course, but I like my solitude.) So I thought that I'd get to at least work my shift today without him hanging around. Now I'm doubting that. He's still here...I'm just crossing my fingers that he leaves soon.

...Now I'm just waiting for our creepy janitor to show up. =/ He also shouldn't be here, but with the way this day's starting, I wonder. Oh, yeah. Did I mention? The female janitor (who I liked) that we got a while back left and so the creep came back. Argh! I am so fucking sick of that guy...I want so much for him to just go the fuck away, and never have to see him again. I'm aware that my attitude is slightly irrational, but I can't help it. He's creepy, and he annoys the living hell out of me.

...And now JN is calling some kind of tech support...on speaker-phone. =/ So now I get to hear the silly robot voice of the automated system and the cheesy hold music. I turned up my iPod, but I can't play it too loud, since I need to be able to hear the phone and whatnot. This is getting a little ridiculous, seriously.


ETA: Thankfully, he ended up leaving before 5:00, so I had most of my shift to myself. Still. Bleh. Oh! And I was chatting with him a little, and he indicated that he expected to be at this for another couple of weeks, at least. Argh!

I am officially on vacation! =D Whoo!

And what am I doing first, you ask? Well...I'm actually remotely logged into my machine at work, waiting to run some processes. ^^;;

Yeah. With the snow we had earlier this week, it threw off a lot of our people, so much that they had to have some of them work on Saturday to make up for it. So, here I am. Once all those people send their orders in, I'll run my stuff. Then I wait for Dispatch to finish their stuff, then I run a couple more things, and I am done.

It's a little annoying, but what can you do. I'm grateful that I'm able to do this from home, rather than having to go in. I really don't feel like going anywhere tonight. =P And I'll be getting paid, so extra hours translates to extra money, which is always nice.

...Is it dinner time yet? Or coffee time? I'm huuuungry~

So...today kinda sucked.

I left to go to work, like usual. I was on time, no big deal. I got on the highway....and barely got out of town before traffic came to a near stop. They were doing construction further on down the way. Which they neglected to advertise ahead of time. Traffic wasn't quite backed up to town, so I couldn't see it before I got on the highway. So, by the time I saw it, I was stuck.

Even then, I thought, okay. It'll be slow for a bit, then things will get moving. Oh, if only. I swear...I drove the entire distance between my town and the town I work in doing no more than 5 mph. And often, at a complete standstill. Thus, a drive that normally takes no more than 10-15 minutes ended up taking an hour. Yeah.

So, obviously, I figured out pretty early on that I'd be late for work. So, when we were stopped, I reached back and started rifling through my purse for my phone. I was going to text one of my coworkers and let them know. I finally found the pocket that I keep my phone in...and it was empty. Yeah. I went off and forgot my freaking phone on the charger. And of all the days for that to happen, it had to pick today. The one day that I actually needed the damn thing. =/

I ended up being 45 minutes late. I'm not sure if my coworkers were mad, or worried, or both. Yuck. Of course I felt bad about it, but still...it really wasn't my fault. I apologized like crazy, but I really couldn't have done anything about it. And since I'm paid by the hour, I had to stay an extra 45 minutes at the end of my shift to make up the time. Ugh.

Oh, and to top it all off? This is only Wednesday. And this is a long week, since Thanksgiving is next Thursday. So that means I'll be working on Saturday. And my schedule will be loopy until the end of next week. Sigh. I'm already feeling worn out, and the week's not even quite half over yet. =P

Geez, this post started out pissed and ended up whiny. That's a little odd. XD