When I came in this morning, I couldn't get my computer to turn on. Something wrong with the switch, I think. I called IT for help, and the two help desk people are on vacation, so I was told the manager would be in around 8:30 and they'd send him over. When it was getting close to 9, I got impatient and started messing with it some more and actually got it to work. When I got it open, there was an e-mail message telling me that the IT manager wouldn't be in until the afternoon and they didn't have a PC to loan me, so maybe I could use someone else's. The silly thing is it didn't even occur to the girl I talked to that if I couldn't turn on my PC, how in the world could I check my e-mail?
I just thanked her for her help and let her know I'd solved the problem.
Tuesday, December 28, 2004
Thursday, December 23, 2004
Where's your Christmas spirit?
There's a gentleman in Stockton who has a HUGE Nativity scene in front of his home, and people come from miles around to drive past. It's on my way to a lot of places, so this time of year I drive by often. Last night I was in a line of cars inching past, and a car several back honked because he (notice I assume it's "he") wanted everyone to go faster. What a grinch. And an idiot! If he was in a hurry, he took the wrong street!
Got a letter Tuesday evening from Delta Blood Bank. Turns out one of their computers was stolen on December 10. Unfortunately, it had a database of some 100,000 donors which included their names, social security numbers, birthdates, and addresses. So, yesterday morning I posted a 90-day fraud alert with the various credit bureaus. That way, if anyone tries to open a credit card or applies for credit using my information, theoretically I'll be contacted first. I also got a copy of my credit report -- there was no sign of fraudulent activity. I'll have to re-post the alert and check my credit every 90 days for the next year.
The Blood Bank got their laptop back a couple of days ago, but there's no guarantee that the information was untouched. Apparently the theft occurred at a mobile blood drive in Tracy. (I did a web news search to get more details.)
Happy Birthday, Lizzie!
Got a letter Tuesday evening from Delta Blood Bank. Turns out one of their computers was stolen on December 10. Unfortunately, it had a database of some 100,000 donors which included their names, social security numbers, birthdates, and addresses. So, yesterday morning I posted a 90-day fraud alert with the various credit bureaus. That way, if anyone tries to open a credit card or applies for credit using my information, theoretically I'll be contacted first. I also got a copy of my credit report -- there was no sign of fraudulent activity. I'll have to re-post the alert and check my credit every 90 days for the next year.
The Blood Bank got their laptop back a couple of days ago, but there's no guarantee that the information was untouched. Apparently the theft occurred at a mobile blood drive in Tracy. (I did a web news search to get more details.)
Happy Birthday, Lizzie!
Monday, December 20, 2004
Happy Monday!
I had a strange dream last night. I was at my Accordion Works rehearsal, and I couldn't decide which of my accordions to play. I also was wearing a short skirt which is frankly nearly impossible to play in! The proper way to sit while playing an accordion isn't lady-like at all and is really best suited to trousers.
Another strange dream involved baby Jem. I was taking care of him, and after I'd given him back I realized that I had a bunch of used clothes to get back to his mommy, too. The strange part is they included frilly little girl socks -- you know, the kind with lacy tops. Then, I realized it must not have been Jem I was taking care of, after all. At least I wasn't dressing him like a girl!
We had our Christmas lunch and ornament exchange at work today. I ended up with what I'd brought, which is more than okay. We don't put up a full-size tree anymore, so I don't really need any more ornaments. A basket of candy is perfect. An unexpected surprise but very pleasant surprise was that our VP of HR picked up the lunch tab for everybody.
Time to go start getting gussied up for dinner.... Guess I'd better track my Cat-girl down, too!
Another strange dream involved baby Jem. I was taking care of him, and after I'd given him back I realized that I had a bunch of used clothes to get back to his mommy, too. The strange part is they included frilly little girl socks -- you know, the kind with lacy tops. Then, I realized it must not have been Jem I was taking care of, after all. At least I wasn't dressing him like a girl!
We had our Christmas lunch and ornament exchange at work today. I ended up with what I'd brought, which is more than okay. We don't put up a full-size tree anymore, so I don't really need any more ornaments. A basket of candy is perfect. An unexpected surprise but very pleasant surprise was that our VP of HR picked up the lunch tab for everybody.
Time to go start getting gussied up for dinner.... Guess I'd better track my Cat-girl down, too!
Sunday, December 19, 2004
A good day to...
...do laundry!
Did you know that the busiest shopping day of the year is also the least busy laundromat day of the year? I went yesterday evening, and there were about four other people in the entire place including the lady who works there. The only bad part is that once I finished reading my Cosmo, the only thing to do was to try not to watch a R-E-A-L-L-Y, R-E-A-L-L-Y, R-E-A-L-L-Y bad Chevy Chase Christmas movie that was blaring in the corner.
My Accordion Works rehearsal that was scheduled for today was cancelled. Again. I'm getting kind of worried that the group is falling apart. There were only seven of us at the last rehearsal, down from a high of eighteen. I'm going to put my thinking cap on and try to come up with some ideas. Know anyone (besides me) who plays accordion? We are talking about branching into polkas. Wild and crazy idea, huh?
The HR department (which I'm a part of) is having its Christmas Party tomorrow. Actually, it's a Christmas lunch. We're going to a nice local restaurant and will be having an ornament exchange. I interpreted "ornament" loosely, and bought a basketish thing with a Santa head and arms and legs that I'm going to fill with chocolate goldpieces. What are those called? Geld?
It's really cold and damp here. We've had fog for about a year this week. As Cat says, it's the Central Valley version of a white Christmas. The only time yesterday I was truly warm was about 30 minutes after I went to bed. It's just about as bad today. I keep stopping to sit on my fingers to warm them up between paragraphs!
Cat's going to have dinner with a friend tonight at the Frog. I haven't figured out what I'm going to do. Probably wrap Cat's and Liz's birthday presents for tomorrow! Maybe I'll get wild and crazy and actually get them cards, for a change. Not instead of gifts, but to go with the gifts. I know K's gotten them cards to go with his gift, which is the dinner we're having tomorrow evening.
I updated my AOL this afternoon -- took a couple of hours, but now everything is running much faster. I also FINALLY fixed the problem I've had for months and months and months that was freezing my computer up every night. That's why I've just been shutting down every evening and rebooting in the morning. It turned out to be a really dumb and obvious problem. I actually had two virus protection softwares installed and whenever the one (AVG?) would try to do it's nightly check-up thing, everything would freeze up. I uninstalled AVG (duh!), and now everything is working smoothly. I left everything running overnight last night, and it was all still fine this morning. Go figure!
Did you know that the busiest shopping day of the year is also the least busy laundromat day of the year? I went yesterday evening, and there were about four other people in the entire place including the lady who works there. The only bad part is that once I finished reading my Cosmo, the only thing to do was to try not to watch a R-E-A-L-L-Y, R-E-A-L-L-Y, R-E-A-L-L-Y bad Chevy Chase Christmas movie that was blaring in the corner.
My Accordion Works rehearsal that was scheduled for today was cancelled. Again. I'm getting kind of worried that the group is falling apart. There were only seven of us at the last rehearsal, down from a high of eighteen. I'm going to put my thinking cap on and try to come up with some ideas. Know anyone (besides me) who plays accordion? We are talking about branching into polkas. Wild and crazy idea, huh?
The HR department (which I'm a part of) is having its Christmas Party tomorrow. Actually, it's a Christmas lunch. We're going to a nice local restaurant and will be having an ornament exchange. I interpreted "ornament" loosely, and bought a basketish thing with a Santa head and arms and legs that I'm going to fill with chocolate goldpieces. What are those called? Geld?
It's really cold and damp here. We've had fog for about a year this week. As Cat says, it's the Central Valley version of a white Christmas. The only time yesterday I was truly warm was about 30 minutes after I went to bed. It's just about as bad today. I keep stopping to sit on my fingers to warm them up between paragraphs!
Cat's going to have dinner with a friend tonight at the Frog. I haven't figured out what I'm going to do. Probably wrap Cat's and Liz's birthday presents for tomorrow! Maybe I'll get wild and crazy and actually get them cards, for a change. Not instead of gifts, but to go with the gifts. I know K's gotten them cards to go with his gift, which is the dinner we're having tomorrow evening.
I updated my AOL this afternoon -- took a couple of hours, but now everything is running much faster. I also FINALLY fixed the problem I've had for months and months and months that was freezing my computer up every night. That's why I've just been shutting down every evening and rebooting in the morning. It turned out to be a really dumb and obvious problem. I actually had two virus protection softwares installed and whenever the one (AVG?) would try to do it's nightly check-up thing, everything would freeze up. I uninstalled AVG (duh!), and now everything is working smoothly. I left everything running overnight last night, and it was all still fine this morning. Go figure!
Saturday, December 18, 2004
Catching Up
Several people have mentioned they'd like me to write a little more often. What? Once a month isn't enough?
My new job is going well. One of the first exciting things I got to do was ride in a fire truck. It was a quarter mile, tops, when the local fire department was doing their annual inspection of our facility. I've also now been through First Aid/CPR training and AED (Automatic External Defibrillator) training. We've finished our update of the "Hazardous Materials Management Plan" (HMMP) for one county and will be finishing the HMMP for the other county. I'm still struggling with the alphabet soup of regulatory agencies and reports. Did you know that the RMPP is now the CalARP, and there's now a federal version know as the RMP? RMP is Risk Management Plan (or is it Program?). The others are the same general thing, but different words. We have an Emergency Response Plan (ERP) and an Emergency Response Team (ERT). This is only the tip of the iceberg. There are probably at least a dozen more.
Monday is Cat's birthday and Thursday is Liz's birthday, so on Monday K is taking us all (including Jerm) to dinner to celebrate. I know we'll have a grand time!
I've pretty much finished my Christmas (and birthday!) shopping. If I'm not seeing you by Christmas Day, I don't have your gift yet! I'll be doing a last-minute run to K-Mart on Thursday for various bits and ends. For those who know me and know how much I hate K-Mart, let me explain that it is the closest store to my office. And Thursday happens to be payday, so there's the other connection. Cat and I are driving to Jeannette's Friday morning, and I'll be driving back on Monday. I think Cat is staying the week and I'll be picking her up New Year's weekend. If anybody's going to visit us between Christmas and New Year's and wants to see Cat, you'd better speak now or forever hold your peace!
Time to go put up the tree. We're listening to Christmas music -- something about "You're a Nasty-Wasty Skunk, Mr. Grinch." Next comes Michael Jackson singing, "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus."
My new job is going well. One of the first exciting things I got to do was ride in a fire truck. It was a quarter mile, tops, when the local fire department was doing their annual inspection of our facility. I've also now been through First Aid/CPR training and AED (Automatic External Defibrillator) training. We've finished our update of the "Hazardous Materials Management Plan" (HMMP) for one county and will be finishing the HMMP for the other county. I'm still struggling with the alphabet soup of regulatory agencies and reports. Did you know that the RMPP is now the CalARP, and there's now a federal version know as the RMP? RMP is Risk Management Plan (or is it Program?). The others are the same general thing, but different words. We have an Emergency Response Plan (ERP) and an Emergency Response Team (ERT). This is only the tip of the iceberg. There are probably at least a dozen more.
Monday is Cat's birthday and Thursday is Liz's birthday, so on Monday K is taking us all (including Jerm) to dinner to celebrate. I know we'll have a grand time!
I've pretty much finished my Christmas (and birthday!) shopping. If I'm not seeing you by Christmas Day, I don't have your gift yet! I'll be doing a last-minute run to K-Mart on Thursday for various bits and ends. For those who know me and know how much I hate K-Mart, let me explain that it is the closest store to my office. And Thursday happens to be payday, so there's the other connection. Cat and I are driving to Jeannette's Friday morning, and I'll be driving back on Monday. I think Cat is staying the week and I'll be picking her up New Year's weekend. If anybody's going to visit us between Christmas and New Year's and wants to see Cat, you'd better speak now or forever hold your peace!
Time to go put up the tree. We're listening to Christmas music -- something about "You're a Nasty-Wasty Skunk, Mr. Grinch." Next comes Michael Jackson singing, "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus."
Friday, December 17, 2004
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