So I’m sitting at work with very little to do. During the last couple weeks of tax season, accountants are more focused on actually doing taxes than on complaining about their software, so they don’t call in or open tickets unless they’re really stuck.
Figured I’d play around with a desktop blog editor (called BlogDesk) to see what kind of a job it does. There are some things that seem to be missing….I can’t set a featured photo for the top of an entry, but I can live with that if that’s the only drawback. The image that (hopefully) appears inline in this entry is just one that I had sitting on my work laptop. It’s part of one of the event logs that I was looking at a few days ago on a machine that was having one of those “really stuck” times. I don’t remember how I fixed it. Probably just reinstalled the Citrix receiver, which seems to fix about 90% of the problems that arise with cloud-based software.
Supposedly, we had nasty/dangerous storms in the Atlanta area yesterday. I did not notice them. It was breezy (as it is today), but the rain, thunder, lightning, etc., was not all that apparent to me. I’m told that it really uncorked itself overnight, but I slept very well last night. That in itself is kind of amazing, as I generally do not sleep well. Got nearly 4 hours of “good” sleep last night, according to my fancy-dancy sleep-tracking watch. Normally, I’m good for about 2 hours of deep sleep and 5-6 of light (or being awake).
Vodka. It does a body good.
The latest work-related affront to my dignity is scheduled to take place on (I think) Wednesday, April 19. Dubbed “The Annual Kickoff,” this apparently is something that this company does each year at the close of tax season and the beginning of a sales push to get new clients before the next tax season starts. It is a time of fellowship and relaxation – which, for a bunch of 20-somethings, means a picnic in the park featuring a kickball game.
Okay.
I’m 51 years old and haven’t played kickball since I was in 3rd grade. I don’t like to run. I wear five-finger shoes. Ain’t no way I’m getting involved in a kickball game with these people. I will eat a lot of hot dogs and drink whatever beer is provided. I’m told that an ice cream truck was also made available last year, so I’ll eat ice cream.
The office recently had a shuffleboard table installed in the break room. No kidding. I guess it’s for the people who are bored with ping pong, video games, and miniature billiards (I can’t make this stuff up). Someone has proposed (on our in-company Facebook-type website) that we have a shuffleboard tournament. Greg, the only person in this office anywhere near my age (he’ll be 52 in September), immediately came over to my desk and determined that he and I will enter this tournament as a team called “The Old Farts.”
That, I will do. Shuffleboard tokens, after all, are simply darts that are not affected by gravity.
I am still totally jonesing for some time in the woods. Thought I might be able to get out this weekend, but Jenny took a spontaneous trip to Greece, so I need to stay in town and take care of her cats. Next weekend is Easter (got a gig – not complaining about that), and the weekend after that is the GBB’s mini-tour through Alabama and Tennessee. Maybe I’ll be able to get out on the weekend of the 29th. I’ve decided that the worst part about losing the gig at AT&T is the fact that I’m starting over on the vacation scale. I’ve always been someone who works more for time off than for money, and I got very comfortable having 38 days a year off. Going back to 10 or 15 (and not having access to even THAT for another month) is making me a bit stir crazy.
I guess I’ve written enough now to test out how this BlogDesk things actually works when it comes to publishing entries. Here goes nothing….