Top of the 7th, we’re up 5-1. Bottom of the 7th, we gave up FIVE FREAKIN’ RUNS – looked like the Bad News Bears out there. I was very much “It’s a good thing I love watching them play for the joy of watching them play because that certainly went VERY SOUTH, VERY FAST.”
Then – top of the 9th, we’ve got 2 on and Rougned Odor HITS A HOME RUN! And then Josh Hader closes it out in 11 pitches.
My section and the one next to mine were fully packed with Padres fans and everyone went nuts.
A while back, one of my friends mentioned that when she keeps score, she goes with multicolored pens and I got some of those “6 in 1” pens for Christmas and what a colorful mess I had today!! It’s so pretty! It’s more challenging than pencil cause I can’t erase, but I like it!A
Even with all the stupid work related stuff (and my dear reader, it managed to get stupider) – it’s been a great week. I just wish I didn’t have a dentist appointment tomorrow, LOL.
But I at least still have three days off after that!
So, my US based coworker just sent me an email – QC manager over on the other side of the world did a recognition for the “QC team” – except that we were both somehow forgotten. Again.
I know they took it as a personal slight when we were hired, except it had everything to do with restrictions on client data and nothing to do with them.
But damn, the number of times they have somehow “forgotten” that we exist over the past 3 years is amazingly passive aggressive.
And this week especially – that is quite the “fuck you” and I certainly did not need that, and my petty ass won’t be forgetting it anytime soon.
Pardon me while I go expand “silent time” on Teams on my phone.
My Padres lost yesterday! But – still had a hella good time, cause, fresh air, baseball, half smokes, and people watching.
Found a ramen bar outside the ballpark and they have a) ramen and b) a bar that is open to the sidewalk! Only had time for a quick beer (Kirin Ichiban FTW!) before the gates opened yesterday – today I’m going to try to time things a bit better so I can get some pre-game eats. :-D (Well, beyond my usual pre-game eats, LOL.)
On the whole, this whole round of PTO has been such a damn bust. It’s one thing to give up a couple hours a day to make sure The Thing is done, but then to be asked if it could be done by tomorrow as though I wasn’t on PTO to do other things was just so asinine.
The long and short of it is that our department has the bank teller problem. We underestimate how long something will take to begin with and then assume 100% capacity for everyone. No slack in there if something has to go back to dev and retested, or someone is out sick, or gets pulled off on client issues. (All three have happened to me this month! Plus this spring we had someone out on medical leave for two months.) My current bit? Round 1 and 2 were slated for 28 hours each. Round 1, I spent 79 hours, Round 2 is up to 27 hours already and I still have roughly 11 hours to go.
What we need to do is realistically estimate how long things take to DO THEM RIGHT and then cut everyone’s capacity to 80% and then hire accordingly. We won’t, because my company is very short sighted when it comes to labor costs, but we should.
But, it is what it is, and I need to get better at putting my foot down and saying THIS WON’T WORK. I go in waves on that, because more often than not, I just get ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ in response.
But I will get it figured out before my July PTO, cause I ain’t taking my work laptop to the beach.
You have yourself a great day and don’t get overscheduled!
Despite my coworker texting me in the 9th inning with that asinine request, yesterday was a great day for baseball!
I found the parking garage!! Especially awesome considering that it was actually on the other side of the street where Google said it was. (And the lead tenant in that building is one of my clients. *hork*)
Got to the stadium before the gates even opened, LOL – I could have sworn it was 2 hours before game time, but it is only 90 minutes.
Got my half smoke from Ben’s Chili Bowl, got to see batting practice, AND WE WON THE GAME, WOOHOO!!!!!
Had my clear stadium bag and STILL had to empty out a handful of things that set off the metal detector – I have smartly put those items in their own ziploc bag inside the stadium bag so I can pull it all out at once today. :-D
And I’m SO glad I took my windbreaker, cause I always forget that my section is in the shade for night games, and the wind decided to pick up to boot – by the middle of the first, the windbreaker was on and the roll-up capris were rolled back down to my ankles, LMAO. Maybe today we go with long sleeves under the jersey.
All in all, an excellent day and I can’t wait to do it again. But first, time to go very, VERY grudgingly do some work, because fuuuuuuuuuuuck them right now.
You have a fantastic game and I hope your team wins! (Unless it’s the Nationals. Sorry not sorry.)
So, the thing I’m working on with the 5/31 deadline? That I’d already said I’d put time to it this week to make sure it’s done on time even though I’m on PTO? It’s incredibly annoying but not the end of the world – hey, sleep in, work a couple hours in blissful silence, go do the things I took the PTO for.
Tonight I get a text from my coworker, “Is there any chance you get that done by Friday?”
Sure, and monkeys might fly out my butt. To have it done by Friday, I’d have to cancel ALL my plans and that sure as shit isn’t happening.
Told her I’d planned the remaining work around this 5/31 deadline – a deadline that has been widely and officially communicated. “Well, OK, I can say we’re still on track to be done by 5/31 [in tomorrow’s meeting]” Which we are.
This isn’t the first time I’ve gotten “can you get this done way before the actual deadline” and it’s annoying as fuck on a good day, but FFS.
I’ll still toss a couple hours a day to it, and I’ll put every second on my timesheet so I will be taking that lost PTO later, but no, it’s not getting done by Friday.
And on that note, I’m going to bed and sleeping the fuck in.
And I am very excited and my ADHD brain is losing it’s fucking shit fighting off “wait mode” LOL.
It’s 10AM as I write this, and I don’t have to leave until around 4PM. So, six whole hours! But forgive me, I have got to write out everything out or I will not feel good all day… So – all that must be done before heading out:
Coffee – DONE!
Hit market for battery for car keyfob and pencils – DONE!
Replace battery in car keyfob and test – DONE!
Find unexpired sunscreen and get in bag – DONE! (For a few minutes there I thought I was going back to the store…)
Clean up car a bit – DONE!
Get clear stadium bag packed up – DONE! (I thought I’d gotten a too small size, but damn, it holds everything perfectly.)
Screenshot e-tickets just in case there is no internet access when I need them – DONE!
Get a bit of work done – 3 hours max.
Shower, change, maybe throw some makeup on – an hour, tops
Pack little lunch bag with ice packs and a post-game Coke, 5 minutes (ice packs already in freezer!)
Go see some baseball!!!!
So, roughly 4 hours of “stuff” and a bit less than 6 hours to tend to it in. So, brain – this is absolutely doable. And now that I’ve written it out, yes, I’m good.
I have already whittled down the house to-do list for the day so that’s not stressing me out, and my work laptop and headphones are downstairs and ready to go. And now that I have convinced myself this is all fine and well by writing it all out, I’m gonna go get some work shit done and not be stressed about it.
And I am kinda-sorta on PTO! Gotta log in and do a bit of work, but whatever – at least no one is expecting me to be there and no one will bother me. And I got to sleep in, which is really the most important thing.
Today’s other fun is ALL THE DAMN LAUNDRY! Mostly every single blanket in the house, because somehow the LilyMonster has fleas.
How? I have zero idea. She is an indoor cat. The last time she was outside, it was the porch and that was in 2020. Literally no idea whatsoever how they got in the house. Like my only wild ass guess is that there were ancient flea eggs upstairs in the carpet and the Roomba brought them up? Or they got in through the back door somehow?
I legit have no other ideas. But today we’ll wash everything and vacuum what can’t be washed and swing by the little boutique pet supply shop for some Wondercide and spray the crap out of everything. Lily doesn’t love the stuff, but it gets the job done, smells fantastic, and is safe for Lily – I’d do the “neck drops” but she just can’t tolerate them, so that’s a no go. (She honestly starts foaming at the mouth the moment she *sees* the package.)
And I’ll get some of their flea shampoo… It’s geranium based, smells LOVELY and also – does the job. Now, I know what you’re thinking – “You’re gonna give the cat a bath? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” But the last time we struggled with this, I figured it out.
First, get every towel in the house except one for drying and put them on the bathroom floor. Put cat on towels. Gently pour small amount of warm water on cat. Shampoo whatever is wet. Rinse. Repeat. It’s a bit slow going, but she actually lets me do it, so that is really what is important.
So, I hadn’t really planned for baseball week to be baseball, work, and fighting fleas, but here we are.
I’m not saying a beer festival will cure all that ails you, but a whole afternoon out in the sunshine with beer and art – well, it doesn’t hurt. Had a great time and was utterly knackered when I got home and “took a nap” – for like, 6 hours. Then had a snack and went back to bed and slept another 6 hours.
Between the farmers market and the festival, I walked over 5 miles yesterday. And it’s not that the festival was huge, but we went around in circles A LOT.
We got the “VIP” tickets, which gave us a ticket for a free full sized drink, and we didn’t even get around to using those, but made up for it with the 10% off anything from the art shops and extra tastings from the lead brewer. Totally worth the upgrade.
I even put on makeup and jewelry for the outing!! All my piercings are somehow still open! I wasn’t too surprised about my main ones, cause I’ve worn earrings a couple times over the course of the pandemic, but my extra “teenage rebellion” piercing on my left ear – I haven’t put an earring in that in forever and ever and I really thought it would be a no-go – but I got a stud in with no problem!
I’ve already marked my calendar to start looking for tickets next year.
And I KNOW it’s fresh air, sunshine and exercise that makes it so great, which I could just get by walking around the block a couple times. But somehow that is waaaaaaay harder, LOL.
Well, I’m gonna go do some work so I can take my PTO without my colleagues panicking that I’m not gonna get my shit done on time.
And I am in the process of adjusting my attitude as best I can. Kept telling myself I was only rather annoyed at the fact that I’ll be working tomorrow & Monday, but frankly, I’m fairly pissed about it. My department is really good about “take your PTO!” but inevitably the week or so leading up to it, I spend as many extra hours working as I’m about to take off…
I gotta get this figured out, so I’m not going on PTO completely fucking exhausted and/or still logging in to get shit done every time I try to take time off. Part of the issue this time around is the bit I’m working on – I’m testing 3 calculation methods, but every time I find a bug, I have to test that bug fix against all 12 calculation methods. And when you find 70% of the bugs, that slows shit down. As my brother pointed out “sure seems like you’re making extra work there for yourself” – and honestly, it’s sure as shit a disincentive to find things wrong.
I supposedly have until 5/31 to finish it given every official communication, but I also got “are you going to have all that done before your PTO?” I mean, fuck me, I guess I didn’t have those two days when I’m back? But it is what it is, and I’ll have this figured out before my PTO in July.
But I’m getting my head back on straight and it started with going and getting my weekly dopamine hit at the farmers market. I realized another reason I love it – not just the fresh air and exercise, but I love any kind of street fair or festival – and what is the farmers market if not a little street fair?
And as such, we’ve got salad greens, green onions, radishes, strudels, sammich & sweet breads, jerk pork & rice for dinner, and MOAR CHERRY TOMATOES! I always get the variety pint of cherry tomatoes, and this week there are a handful of these wee ones with little divots in them – I don’t think I’ve seen these before. Seems to be some variation on a grape tomato? I’m sure it will be tasty whatever it is.
Mystery noms!
And the train station where the market is has gardens and wooded areas around it and this morning there were these gorgeous irises – not sure if they’re Japanese or Siberian, but they’re so pretty!
And the other fun thing today is A BEER FESTIVAL THIS AFTERNOON!! It’s very close by so it’s a cheap Uber trip, and the rain that was supposed to come won’t hit until early evening and one of the food trucks is a GREAT pizza vendor I used to hit up in DC all the time. And it’s at the arts center and all the artists shops will be open! Plus, ya know, beer, wine, and booze.
And it runs from noon to 7PM so we have plenty of time and don’t have to rush to get there or get through it all. Bonus for this human who hates rushing about for any reason.
And on that note, I’m gonna go get myself cleaned up so I can go wander around in the sunshine and taste beers and wines and booze and eat some pizza.
Musings of a marginally sane feline-appreciating female. 