Hello, Loyal Readers (Momm and the City, etc.)
I'm still here, life got a bit crazy, I'm working in Bend, Oregon this week, and I have the stomach flu! Such a wonderful combo! I have a great update for the Blog regarding my attendance at the Fremont Festival and Street Fair last weekend (think Naked Bicyclists). I'll write that up shortly, when I'm home and feeling better and not living with the Rocket Scientists that work in this hotel.
Thanks so much to all who responded to my poll. I'm not sure what to do with that information - what it told me is that it doesn't matter what I write as long as I write something. That's very humbling, and a little hard to process.
J
PS....And Beth, yes, your eulogy will begin, "She taught me how to groom a Crestie....give it Viagra"
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
Happy Birthday!
Happy 14th Birthday Carson!
My happy old man is 14 today. He's not getting around much these days, but he's otherwise healthy and content.
The update from Carson's dad today says "Well Carson's celebrating by sleeping on the deck and obsessing about the family of rabbits that have made the backyard their new home. The babies are about the size of a tennis ball. Have dug a den next to the deck in the grass. He's very excited."
I'm sorry buddy, my photos are all on the computer in storage.
My happy old man is 14 today. He's not getting around much these days, but he's otherwise healthy and content.
The update from Carson's dad today says "Well Carson's celebrating by sleeping on the deck and obsessing about the family of rabbits that have made the backyard their new home. The babies are about the size of a tennis ball. Have dug a den next to the deck in the grass. He's very excited."
I'm sorry buddy, my photos are all on the computer in storage.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Meet Jenn And The City
In response to a chain email from my friend Beth....
Welcome to the 2008 edition of getting to know your friends! Here is what you are supposed to do, and try not to be lame and spoil the fun.Change all the answers so that they apply to you. Then send this to a bunch of people you know, INCLUDING the person who sent it to you.
Have fun and be truthful!
1. What is your occupation? Business Analyst, Writer, Ringmaster
2. What color are your socks right now? -- Bare tootsies!
3. What are you listening to right now? Shrek the Third
4. What was the last thing that you ate? --- Skinny Cow Mint Ice Cream Sandwich
5. Can you drive a stick shift? You betcha!
6. Last person you spoke to on the phone? My step-dad - Happy Father's Day!
7. Do you like the person who sent this to you? This is the woman who taught me that a groomed Bichon Frise should look like a Chrysanthemum, and a groomed Chinese Crested should feel like a, well, we're striving for a PG rating here....of course I do!
8. How old are you today? A day younger than tomorrow!
9. What is your favorite sport to watch? -- All of them. Except baseball. Sorry Babe Ruth....
10. What is your favorite drink? – Talking Rain Lemon-lime sparkling water
11. Have you ever dyed your hair? Recovering blonde
12. Last time you hugged your whippet?--Today! (Okay, this really said "child" and not "whippet". I used a little poetic license...)
13. Favorite food? All of it.
14. What was the last movie you watched? See above
15. Favorite day of the year? Any with sunshine....
16. How do you vent anger? You take some PVC and some duct tape and a fan.....Home Depot can help...
17. What was your favorite toy as a child? My books. And the stories I told myself.
18. What is your favorite season? Old Bay. Oh. I don't think I read that right....
19. Ocean or pool? Oh, So Ocean!
20. Cherries or Blueberries? cherries
21. Do you want your friends to e-mail you back? Sure!
22. Who is the most likely to respond? -- ????
23. Who is least likely to respond? -- Since I'm putting this on the blog, #22 and #23 lose relevance.
24. Living arrangements? -- Three Ring Circus...
25. When was the last time you cried? -- I don't really know! Last year?
26. What is on the floor of your closet? -- Shoes, dirty laundry, bags of clothes for Goodwill
27. Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending to? See #23.
28. What did you do last night? Worked out. Watched t.v. Submitted articles to magazines.
29. Hawaii or Florida? –Florida!
30. What inspires you? -- A really well-written story.
31. What are you afraid of? -- Failure, heights, death, public speaking. I have so many fears they're boring. Not even worth going there.
32. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers: -- cheese
33. Favorite dog breed? – Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever..................NOT. Duh.
34. Favorite day of the week? -- Any one where I'm not at work!
35. How many states/provinces have you lived in? – Lived in or resided in? There is a difference here.
Welcome to the 2008 edition of getting to know your friends! Here is what you are supposed to do, and try not to be lame and spoil the fun.Change all the answers so that they apply to you. Then send this to a bunch of people you know, INCLUDING the person who sent it to you.
Have fun and be truthful!
1. What is your occupation? Business Analyst, Writer, Ringmaster
2. What color are your socks right now? -- Bare tootsies!
3. What are you listening to right now? Shrek the Third
4. What was the last thing that you ate? --- Skinny Cow Mint Ice Cream Sandwich
5. Can you drive a stick shift? You betcha!
6. Last person you spoke to on the phone? My step-dad - Happy Father's Day!
7. Do you like the person who sent this to you? This is the woman who taught me that a groomed Bichon Frise should look like a Chrysanthemum, and a groomed Chinese Crested should feel like a, well, we're striving for a PG rating here....of course I do!
8. How old are you today? A day younger than tomorrow!
9. What is your favorite sport to watch? -- All of them. Except baseball. Sorry Babe Ruth....
10. What is your favorite drink? – Talking Rain Lemon-lime sparkling water
11. Have you ever dyed your hair? Recovering blonde
12. Last time you hugged your whippet?--Today! (Okay, this really said "child" and not "whippet". I used a little poetic license...)
13. Favorite food? All of it.
14. What was the last movie you watched? See above
15. Favorite day of the year? Any with sunshine....
16. How do you vent anger? You take some PVC and some duct tape and a fan.....Home Depot can help...
17. What was your favorite toy as a child? My books. And the stories I told myself.
18. What is your favorite season? Old Bay. Oh. I don't think I read that right....
19. Ocean or pool? Oh, So Ocean!
20. Cherries or Blueberries? cherries
21. Do you want your friends to e-mail you back? Sure!
22. Who is the most likely to respond? -- ????
23. Who is least likely to respond? -- Since I'm putting this on the blog, #22 and #23 lose relevance.
24. Living arrangements? -- Three Ring Circus...
25. When was the last time you cried? -- I don't really know! Last year?
26. What is on the floor of your closet? -- Shoes, dirty laundry, bags of clothes for Goodwill
27. Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending to? See #23.
28. What did you do last night? Worked out. Watched t.v. Submitted articles to magazines.
29. Hawaii or Florida? –Florida!
30. What inspires you? -- A really well-written story.
31. What are you afraid of? -- Failure, heights, death, public speaking. I have so many fears they're boring. Not even worth going there.
32. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers: -- cheese
33. Favorite dog breed? – Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever..................NOT. Duh.
34. Favorite day of the week? -- Any one where I'm not at work!
35. How many states/provinces have you lived in? – Lived in or resided in? There is a difference here.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Laptop Rehab
My laptop needs an inpatient program.
For some time now and without warning, mid-Visio Business Process Model workflow, it flips a chip. For a moment, I see the blue screen of death flash before my eyes, followed quite cheerfully by the Dell reboot screen.
Like all good enablers, I've learned to deal with its issues. I can compensate by saving my documents regularly to my local drive. It's really not that bad, I tell myself. For the most part, it's a good laptop. In most cases, it is quite reliable, it contains all the programs I need to do my job, and it performs well for personal use. It tries very hard to stay the course and behave functionally. But every now and then, it falls off the Intel wagon and all its weaknesses and insecurities get thrown heave-ho into the spotlight where even I, the co-dependent user, have to admit that an intervention may be necessary.
I love my laptop, really I do. And I'm not wholly kidding when I refer to myself as the co-dependent user. Part of the reason Dell Latitude D630 hasn't gone for inpatient help is that I selfishly don't want to be deprived of its company. How on earth would I update the blog without him? (And don't ask why the laptop has a gender. I couldn't explain that if I wanted to. And I don't want to.)
My other excuse for not admitting D630 to the Helpdesk Hospital has to do with the care he'd receive there. Our helpdesk is, like all helpdesks in my experience, completely UNhelpful. One first sits in the waiting room being triaged by the on-call technician, who fusses over his clipboard and asks idiot questions between taking frantic phone calls on the help-line:
Dr. Unhelpful: Did you re-boot?
Me: That's what it does when it fails, it reboots itself. Why would I do it again?
Riiinnnnngggg - "Helpdesk, this is Dr. Unhelpful." "You spilled what? On your keyboard? All right, bring it up".
Dr. Unhelpful: Why didn't you bring it in sooner?
Me: Because the message I get says "the system has RECOVERED from a serious error". I figured RECOVERED means "all better". That's what recovery means, right?
Dr. Unhelpful: All right, fine. We'll take care of it sometime in the next year. But we'll have to deal with all the emergency laptop issues first. Did you enter a ticket?
Me: D630 is IMPORTANT DAMMIT! He's got serious mental issues. You mean to tell me that someone accidentally spilling coffee on their keyboard is more critical than my D630's suicide attempts? Have you ever SEEN the blue screen of death? It's traumatic, I tell you, TRAUMATIC. And my blog, er, WORK is business critical! I can't be without him.......
At which point, someone from the Project Management Office will arrive to render necessary support and also physically drag me kicking and screaming from the IT closet. "Now Jenn And The City, you're really not helping D630 here, why don't we go to the lobby and get a nice latte at Starbucks." That's their job, they calm temperamental Analysts.
And then Dr. Helpdesk will keep D630 for a week while I suffer through life with a "loaner". A loaner? That's like a tobacco patch. Or nicotine gum. A loaner my a$$. We're dealing with a serious co-dependency issue here, people!
Like I said, the laptop needs some rehab. I'm quite sure it has a problem. I, on the other hand, AM JUST FINE THANK YOU.
For some time now and without warning, mid-Visio Business Process Model workflow, it flips a chip. For a moment, I see the blue screen of death flash before my eyes, followed quite cheerfully by the Dell reboot screen.
Like all good enablers, I've learned to deal with its issues. I can compensate by saving my documents regularly to my local drive. It's really not that bad, I tell myself. For the most part, it's a good laptop. In most cases, it is quite reliable, it contains all the programs I need to do my job, and it performs well for personal use. It tries very hard to stay the course and behave functionally. But every now and then, it falls off the Intel wagon and all its weaknesses and insecurities get thrown heave-ho into the spotlight where even I, the co-dependent user, have to admit that an intervention may be necessary.
I love my laptop, really I do. And I'm not wholly kidding when I refer to myself as the co-dependent user. Part of the reason Dell Latitude D630 hasn't gone for inpatient help is that I selfishly don't want to be deprived of its company. How on earth would I update the blog without him? (And don't ask why the laptop has a gender. I couldn't explain that if I wanted to. And I don't want to.)
My other excuse for not admitting D630 to the Helpdesk Hospital has to do with the care he'd receive there. Our helpdesk is, like all helpdesks in my experience, completely UNhelpful. One first sits in the waiting room being triaged by the on-call technician, who fusses over his clipboard and asks idiot questions between taking frantic phone calls on the help-line:
Dr. Unhelpful: Did you re-boot?
Me: That's what it does when it fails, it reboots itself. Why would I do it again?
Riiinnnnngggg - "Helpdesk, this is Dr. Unhelpful."
Dr. Unhelpful: Why didn't you bring it in sooner?
Me: Because the message I get says "the system has RECOVERED from a serious error". I figured RECOVERED means "all better". That's what recovery means, right?
Dr. Unhelpful: All right, fine. We'll take care of it sometime in the next year. But we'll have to deal with all the emergency laptop issues first. Did you enter a ticket?
Me: D630 is IMPORTANT DAMMIT! He's got serious mental issues. You mean to tell me that someone accidentally spilling coffee on their keyboard is more critical than my D630's suicide attempts? Have you ever SEEN the blue screen of death? It's traumatic, I tell you, TRAUMATIC. And my blog, er, WORK is business critical! I can't be without him.......
At which point, someone from the Project Management Office will arrive to render necessary support and also physically drag me kicking and screaming from the IT closet. "Now Jenn And The City, you're really not helping D630 here, why don't we go to the lobby and get a nice latte at Starbucks." That's their job, they calm temperamental Analysts.
And then Dr. Helpdesk will keep D630 for a week while I suffer through life with a "loaner". A loaner? That's like a tobacco patch. Or nicotine gum. A loaner my a$$. We're dealing with a serious co-dependency issue here, people!
Like I said, the laptop needs some rehab. I'm quite sure it has a problem. I, on the other hand, AM JUST FINE THANK YOU.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
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Jenn and the City
An Award
Thanks Patience!
