rolling stones and Projects from Hell

[sergebroom]

I'm back. The last few days have been busy. On Sunday, after I was done with my landscaping, I thought I could enjoy some rest at last. What fools these mortals be! On Sunday night, the Project from Hell came back to life, due to some problem, which too many people on the team blamed on how I had designed the Project. At about midnight, I was able to get off the phone and the team's experts took over. The next day, the issue turned out to have been caused not by my design but by a recent database upgrade. By the time a solution was found, this had gotten in the way of enjoying Sue's return from her vacation, during which she almost fell down some stairs. She caught herself in time but not without slamming her ribs into the ramp. The pain today was pretty bad so I drove her to the doc then back home, where I resumed my telecommuting and some urgent projects, while of course being there to do whatever taks was required by Sue, what with her reduced mobility. Like I said, busy, busy, busy...

Things have quieted down so I thought I'd post an entry. Remember this photo that I put up in my landscaping gallery on 2007-05-28? Click on it then from there to the next photos and you'll see what it all looks like now.

Comments

[kouredios.livejournal.com]

It's lovely! And that southwest flora is bringing me childhood memories. It's great.

[kouredios.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I hope Sue's feeling better!

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

She is. Thanks for asking. I worked from home this morning, until she woke up. That way, should I have heard moans of pain, I'd have stayed there. She's still feeling sore, but she can move around. Of course, I told her I'd come back and work from home if it all turned out to be a false reprieve.

[ohdawno.livejournal.com]

Serge, I clicked through your pictures and your landscaping abilities are exceptional. It looks lovely - like a park! I hope you're very proud of it and enjoy it often.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the kind words. I am proud of the results. Don't worry, I won't get a swollen ego out of that as my natural tendency is to focus on all the tiny flaws. As for enjoying the new!improved! backyard, that'll have to wait a bit, what with things being very busy at home and at the office. Besides, we have lots of annoying little gnats buzzing around the backyard these days.

[ohdawno.livejournal.com]

I see from your icon above that you found the picture you were asking about, great! Ted Cassidy made a great alien. He did the voice of the Gorn in The Arena, too. They filmed that at a location not to far from where I lived in '67. I never saw them filming but had friends that did.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

Lee on ML provided me a link to a bunch of Cassidy photos. I didn't realize he did the Gorn's voice too. I have this feeling that he was quite talented, but people didn't expect that from someone who looked like that. I think I read somewhere that, when you see Lurch play the piano on The Addams Family, Cassidy was really playing. Apparently, he was also Thing. Very expressive hands...

[miltonthales.livejournal.com]

(Shhh. Don't tell the Hawai'i Visitors Bureau!)

I miss the Southwest sometimes.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

As for myself, my heart is in San Francisco. And so will the rest of my body the week of July 15.

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

Clearly you've been very productive. That's a heck of a lot of work you've put into that garden.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

And it turned out to be an interesting biological experiment. I had pinched one of my fingers during the South wall's brick-laying and, while it didn't hurt, the fingernail was almost all black from blood seepage. On Monday, that nail started coming off. The front half of it is still anchored to the finger's flesh, but there's already a new nail pushing its way thru.

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

OUCH! For pain of that kind my nephrologist recommends grapeseed extract.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

The funny thing is that, even when the original finger-squeezing happened, there wasn't much pain. And there's none with my double-decker nail. I'm quite happy with that, not being overly fond of pain....

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

That's good, that you're not feeling much pain. Hmm. Must be the Quebecois applejack...

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

Haven't had anything Québécois since my last brief visit in 2004. The only explanation must be my natural stoicism. ("Your what?" my wife would say.)

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

That has to be the case.

[tania-c.livejournal.com]

Dang, you have been busy. It all looks great. Almost motivates me to landscape at my place, but not quite!

Since you asked, and I've been meaning to get back to you...
My project from hell had it's final audioconference yesterday. I've been proposing that we roll together two remarkably similar web pages, and getting nothing but flack from my boss's boss about the suggestion.
(Heirarchy: V.P.-->Center Director-->Site Director-->Tania)
So, the V.P. in the audioconference wants to know why we haven't combined these two web pages into one, that would save resources, be less confusing, etc.

You can guess how things fell out..."oh, what a great idea, oh yes we should do that, blah blah blah".

So, my last six months of work is going to be scrapped so someone else can do what I thought we should have been doing in the first place. At least I got paid. I don't even mind my work not being used or that I had the idea first. I'm annoyed by the ongoing "No, we can't do that it will piss people off" from the Center Director, but as soon as the V.P. suggested it, the Center Director pulled the "Gosh, I'm surprised no one else thought of it, you all should be smarter than that." Steal my ideas, sure. But don't call me stupid. Grrrrr.

Sorry. I should vent over in my own LJ. But you did ask.

Hope Sue's ribs heal up quick. That breathing thing makes cruised ribs particularly annoying.

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

Maybe your boss's boss was honestly concerned that, once the two pages are merged, the whole network would suddenly come alive and say "Prepare to be assimilated, resistance is futile." Or that all the PCs would grow a toilet plunger and that their only response would be "Exterminate!"

As for having months of your work scrapped... I have a few things to say about that, but it'll have to be a separate entry on my blog. No time for that just yet, as you may have noticed from the parcimony of my blogging these last few days. But it'll be worth the wait. And will even include puppy pictures.

Anyway, do feel free to vent. It's not like I've exactly been shy about that myself. Heheheh...

I'm working at the office today because Sue told me last night that she was definitely doing better. I did hear her go 'ouch' a few times, but no shrieks of pain.