Raven's Journal

I left my leftovers from lunch yesterday in the fridge.  If you'd like them for lunch, they're yours.

I'm the first person in the office again.  It's so quiet.  :)

Our new project manager / lead designer started today.   Another free lunch. 

My morning meeting got pushed back so I can go to the new employee lunch.

My boss left for his vacation.  Of course, he left all of us with a long to do list but it's quiet at least.  :)

Nah, it's not that bad.  I have had several worse bosses so I can't complain.

Meeting went as well as could be expected minus one of the participants has a kidney stone.  He felt the need to mention this after he picked up that the rest of us felt he was detached and had his mind somewhere else.

Note to self: no more meetings with people who have kidney stones.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/08/01/bar.id.ap/index.html

Brilliant.  There's nothing more to say.

I still haven't gotten a call from "Amber" yet.  I suspect I may have to call the management company tomorrow.  In the mean time I decided I may have to write a letter to the complex and the management company.

Work's been ok.  Sort of moving slowly today.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/07/31

Yep, that pretty much sums it up.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TGN1412

Ok this "drug test" brings up two issues.

First, regardless if the company thought the drug was safe, they're still responsible for what the drug did to the participants' health.  These people do and will continue to have serious health problems.  The company at the very minimum should pay for their medical expenses.

Second, if the previous animal tests did not show any problems, doesn't this mean animal testing cannot always accurately predict how humans will react?  I mean other primates were given this drug and did have their immune system destroyed yet this occurred for the first time in humans.  I think this gives some credit to people who feel animal testing is not the way to test human drugs.  Perhaps there should be some serious work in computer simulations of biological systems.  I mean if a drug destroys a computer simulation's immune system, it wouldn't be so bad and no one dies over it.  Of course I know the complexity of such a system would mean it could take decades to get it right - but why don't people start working on it now?

I'm the only person in the office right now.  It's very, very quiet.

Sounds like I might have to buy my lunch today.  Greg may be out of office (again) to go onsite.  So therefore no possibility for a tech session.  That sucks.  My boss is at meeting most of the morning - again no possiblity for a free lunch. 

I gotta think about this lunch issue.

The morning has seemed to fly by and at the same time it hasn't.  I've been rather busy but not *uber* busy by any means. 

I have to send an email after lunch.  I really dislike sending and writing business emails.

The number one reason I *hate* answering the phone at work is sales calls.

Take this one.

Me: Good afternoon.  <company I work for>
Asshat on line one: "I need to speak with the owner of the company."
Me: May I ask who's calling?
Asshat: <generic web site company> regarding your company's website.
Me: Is he expecting your call?  If so I can transfer you to his voice mail.  He is out of the office right now.
Asshat: I need to speak with the owner of the company.
Me: He is out of the office.  If you'd like I could transfer you to his voice mail.
Asshat: No, I NEED to speak with the owner of the company, not his voice mail, MA'AM.
Me: Well I am sorry but he is out of the office right now. 
Asshat: Fine I will just call later.

Apparently it's chaos day at work.  So far nothing if effecting my projects directly - but you never know.  It's been one of those days so far.

Work hasn't been bad today.  It's been rather ok.

Tomorrow one of the programmer's last day, so we're all going out to lunch.  It's going to be a nice Indian restaurant downtown.  I'm looking forward to it.

I just had lunch, and am finishing up my little lunch break.  Man I'm so tired. 

I am really fighting the urge to pick up dinner after work.  I have zero desire to cook dinner tonight.

I still have quite a bit of stuff to at work.  This morning has been much calmer than yesterday evening.

I worked 12 hours yesterday.  It really sucked.  I had no guilt about coming in a hour later than I normally do.  I mean - no guilt at all.  Worst part I still have a ton of work on the project left.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13592908/

I want to avoid my email entirely but I can't. 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13348456/

Apparently the new apartment complex proactively put a work order in to paint the front door.  The manager called this morning to schedule an appointment.  I told him that I would contact him after the movers come and Luke is in Ann Arbor full time. The front door would need to be open so one of us would have to be home and put the cats in the bathroom.  Also I explained I would rather have the door painted after the movers came.

I got paid today.  That's always good.  :)

The work day is flying by today.  I had a client meeting this morning (1 hour and 40 minutes) so it was 10:40 before I could actual start coding.  Maybe that's why the day is flying by.  Plus the boss is out of the office the rest of the day so we're usually productive (no interruptions).

Personally I have enough coding to keep me busy.  I'm on my lunch right now.

Oh my boss realized I don't have business cards yet.  So I am expecting he will order those soon.  It will answer the not-so-old age question - what is my title exactly?

I slept fairly well last night.  I slept 6.5 hours straight.  Yep, in a row - no waking up at 3 am.  Of course I was exhausted.  I reminded the cats that Luke is coming home tomorrow.  I will probably have to remind them later today as well. 

Last night Luke worked on the server remotely.

Umm... I should ask Luke to bring a few travel coffee mugs with him soon.