Stupid Computer

So the only reason I am able to post for you now is because I switched my busted C drive with our beat up D drive (although the former C drive is now the E drive - but whatever) and loaded XP on it and now the computer boots up...really slowly...because the new-C-drive-formerly-D is a piece of junk, which is why we got the other hard drive in the first place. Then I developed a terrible pain in my left shoulder, like when Pete was teeny tiny and refused to nurse and we lived in a big stress bubble, because our firewall and AV software are out-of-date on the NCDFD and they were being problematic about getting up-to-date and also because the old-C-drive-now-E appears to not have any data on it, like all my pictures of Lulu and Pete and vacation are just GONE. I know they're there though - they have to be. Hopefully one of our NH temps, who knows a lot about this stuff, will have some magic that will be able to get some of it back and he'll be willing to help (not sure why he wouldn't be - I'd help him). If he doesn't, Husbandguy and Poppop might try, and even though I asked DH to take this stress away and handle it for me, I know WAY more about computers than they do (put together - and that's not saying much), and I doubt I'd actually be able to let them handle it without standing behind them tsking and tapping my foot. Oh HELP!

I still have the pain in my shoulder, but it's not as bad as it was because I got some of our software up-to-date. Just FYI...

The Excitement Is...Pending

Pete went to her first sleepover this past Tuesday. She has stayed overnight with her grandparents a bunch of times and once, when we were on vacation she and her cousin had a little mini-sleepover, but Husbandguy and I were just in the next room. Anyway, when Pete was at Berry's house (that's her friend) is when I found out about Grandpa and Meme moving closer so Pete didn't know right away. I told her as soon as I picked her up on Wednesday, thinking she'd be almost as excited and happy as I am about the news because just a couple of days before we had been talking about how, if GP and MM lived closer they could come to her piano recital (whenever that will be), and she thought that sounded good. But here's the thing: when I said, "Isn't that cool?" she said no. Don't be hurt GP and MM because I don't think she meant it. Tuesday night she got a stomach ache, which she still has, and also she didn't sleep well (because you just don't at sleepovers and she had that tummy ache) so she was tired all yesterday. Since she's still not feeling well today, I can't seem to get her excited about anything, but I know it's coming. As soon as she feels better, I bet she'll be totally excited and I can't wait because I want to have someone to share my glee with. Lulu's too little (although she smiles at me when I talk to her about it) and DH? Well DH doesn't get excited about anything. At all. Seriously. It's annoying.

Feel better, Pete! So we can do a Happy Dance and plan our first road trip.

Passive Aggressive Present

I bet you don't get presents for your annual review. You might get a raise or a bonus or a hat with your company logo or something cheesy like that, but I bet you don't get presents, from your wish list, from everyone. We do. It's cool.

So, a couple of our temps went on vacation recently, before Boss 2's annual review, and before they left, they dropped off a box at the office and said something passive aggressive like "[Mommy's Nintendo] can put that together...if she wants to..."

Duh! "If she wants to..."? When have I not torn into a box that says "Some Assembly Required" on the outside? And they knew that! "If she wants to..."! Jeez! They could have just said,"This has to be put together. Would you do it?" I would have said, "Try and stop me!"

I know passive aggressive when I see it. I should! I'm the queen. Everyone here is... Boss 1, Mr. Co-Worker... Well, Boss 2 isn't, but I bet she will be eventually. Jeez, people! Just say what you mean!!

(Note to Self: investigate hats with company logo...)

Fun Time

Boss 2's annual review was a rollicking success! Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Boss 1 had a few of her people over to help celebrate, and a bunch of our temps were there. Some of them we hadn't seen in a very long time so it was nice. Boss 2 enjoyed herself a lot. She can be funny in crowds sometimes, but she wasn't yesterday. She really seemed to be in her element. It was cool. I love annual reviews (you know that already).

Annual Review

It's Party Time!

You know I love annual reviews, right? Well, Boss 2's is this weekend. We're going to have so much fun. Nobody ever gets negative reviews around here (except for that one year when it snowed, like, 2 feet the day of my review and it was cancelled) so we always invite a bunch of the temps to share it with us and have snacks and games and cake. Sometimes we even do give-aways, but I don't think we will this time. It will still be fun, though.

I wish our faraway-temps could come...

Workin' Off Site

One of the things I like best about my job is that sometimes I get to work off site with people from Boss 1's daytime office. It's just volunteer/helping-out stuff, but it is really rewarding. When I worked in Big Bank Land, I didn't have the time (or the freedom, really) to do stuff like that. I think that there was some program where you could take 1/2 hour a week for volunteer work or something, but none of the local bosses seemed to know about it and they're the ones who mattered.

This morning, Boss 2 and I went and stuffed folders, which is something I would not have enjoyed in Big Bank Land. I loved it this morning! Also, if we, as volunteers, help with a little research here and there, Boss 1's daytime office gets free stuff! I'm all for that!

Boss 1 likes to work from our office during the summer. It will be Super Nice having her around, but I'm going to miss her daytime office (I bet she will too after a while). We'll have to plan a bunch of off-site stuff with temps this summer...

Yay! A Visit! (hopefully)

PSP said they might be able to come up for a visit later in the summer. Yay! She can meet my bosses and see my office, and I can meet her new men and see how much Kiddoo has grown up.

Until Pete turned five, Kiddoo was the coolest 5-year-old ever. Except he's not five anymore...

Now I have to have Moomie show me how to make lemon meringue pie (thank you spellcheck!). Moomie is one of our temps. She's great! I hope she remembers how to make lemon meringue pie...

Off-Site Meeting (part 2)

Boss 1's daytime office had their off-site meeting last Friday. It was an educational team-building sort of thing. The whole thing was outdoors, and it was chilly (it was 90º two days before!) and misting, but it held off really raining until it was time to leave.

I was with a little group that included Boss 1 and some of her daytime co-workers. On the bus ride there, you could tell everyone was psyched to be out of the office for the day. When we got there, we started by having lunch first, which I think was a good idea because then we didn't have to worry about stopping to eat. The facility had the whole day planned out for us. When they were listing all the things we had to do, I didn't think it sounded like we had quite enough time. We were supposed to be back at the office by 2:00 because Boss 1 and her co-workers had an afternoon appointment, but they wound up missing that. Nobody seemed to really mind.

We had a good time, though. There were several agricultural exhibits that included planting and care of livestock (of all things!). And we took a tour of the facility. Then we were helping with harvesting when it started to really rain and we had to run back to the buses.

The bus ride home was less chaotic than the ride there, and it still seemed to take forever. I'm glad I wasn't driving! When we got back, Boss 1 cut out early and came back to the office with me. Boss 2 had had a temp helping her, and it looked like they'd had a quiet day so that was nice.

Off-site meetings are sure exhausting! But the change of pace was nice.

Magic Music

Sometimes Boss 2 needs a siesta, but she doesn't believe she does so she resists laying down. One of our temps put together this great CD of relaxing music, sort of lullaby-y stuff. If Boss 2 plays that, she's asleep in minutes. The CD has about 20 songs on it, I think, but Boss 2 has never heard past song 3 (which is too bad because song 17 is a great song, one of my favorites). The CD is almost magical, really!

The temp also made Boss 1 a CD; it has chicken songs on it. Boss 1 loves listening to it, but it doesn't put her to sleep. It's just silly fun.

We have a lot of Silly Fun at my job (the best job ever - remember?). Add that to the list of why this job is better than my other jobs.

Working the Weekend

We had a crazy weekend! We had a bunch of meetings scheduled, starting Friday evening. Some of it was team-building stuff that was fun so I guess it could have been worse. At least they weren't conference calls!

Friday was the first team-building meeting. The place where Boss 1 has her swimming lessons has a night once a month or so where you can just come and use the pool. Boss 1 had me sign us all up. So Boss 1, Boss 2, Mr. Co-Worker, and I all went together (we carpooled!) and spent an hour and a half just hanging out in the pool. Has your work ever done that? It was really nice and kind of relaxing. I hadn't been swimming for years! And Boss 2, who had only ever been swimming once, was a little nervous at first but wound up having a great time.

Then on Saturday, we had an exhibition downtown. That didn't turn out to be what we were expecting. It was more just a festival, but it was really fun, and again, we all went together. Int he afternoon, Boss 1 had a meeting with some folks from her daytime office. The Saturday things overlapped, but we made it to both with time for lunch in between.

Then Sunday Boss 1 and I had an appointment with one of our temps. That one was catered!

Whew! We were all super busy. Did you ever think you'd be waiting for Monday morning so you could take a break?

Duh!

So I got all excited yesterday thinking about how, if I could talk PSP into driving up for Boss 2's annual review, she could stay at one of our temps' apartment because the temp is usually somewhere else on the weekend, and it wouldn't cost PSP anything and I'd even clean it so that the tub wasn't full of mildew if she needed to use it (it's gross - seriously!). I even started writing an email, and then I remembered that our temps were probably planning on coming to the annual review (that's how we do reviews around here) and would be staying at their own apartment, and if PSP stayed there she would have to stay with them and, well, that would be weird! She would probably be more comfortable staying in my garage - seriously!