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1:49 a.m. - 2003-02-08
Thinking
Communication seemed to be the theme today. Last night B, the liaison at my new worksite, finally got a call from their doctor. Yes, her daughter does have mononucleosis. Priorities shift in a hurry when you feel your children are at risk. She asked me to do some data entry which she had promised to complete that day, because she was in a rush to go home and deal with her daughter. Not a problem, but clarity got lost in the rush.

Challenge 1: B directed me to copy a previous record she had entered, so it was exactly the way the scientist had requested - exhaustive detail. What she neglected to say was that I should overwrite the entry to reflect a different record. Because I hadn't seen the other documents and because she said they were the same properties, what I heard was that there needed to be a second record made for each of the two documents left to enter. She told me to call up the previous records that had the detail the scientist wanted, but when I entered those into the database no records showed. If they had I would have been able to see what she meant, but this database doesn't necessarily update immediately and they weren't available. A second feasible scenario, in my mind, was that because she was upset and in a hurry, she had clicked on the delete button instead of the add button since they are side by side. A search of the database couldn't locate the properties either, so I just created records for both documents from scratch, then did a cut and paste to "recreate" the "lost" records. We straightened out the data this morning. It's good to work with a supervisor who will take some of the responsibility for a simple miscommunication.

Challenge 2: This morning, I brought into work the information I had collected about home schooling and distance education when I needed to get my youngest enrolled in a program best suited for his needs. B had requested it last night before she left for her daughter's possible use. It's interesting to learn the perceptions that people have about the home study courses. We spent a little coffee break time clearing up some of those issues. There used to be funding for itinerant teachers or tutors to visit students too ill to attend school for an extended period of time, but the cuts to education funding have eliminated that service. What other supports might there be?

Challenge 3: A cryptic e-mail from one of the VPs at the data mangement company I work with. "If there are client concerns raised about the merger, please direct them to the appropriate head office staff for response." Sounds like the rumours are out distancing the facts - not unusual. It might explain why I didn't hear from my supervisor last night - there may have been some troubleshooting necessary, which is what he does. I forwarded the entire message to B with the comment that she was welcome to e-mail the VP directly or direct me to submit her questions if that worked better. I didn't hear from my supervisor today either. I hope that things are under control.

Challenge 4: Went back to my doctor today. The antibiotics he gave me for an ear infection haven't worked, even though I've had two courses of treatment now. I had trouble hearing my supervisor at the meeting yesterday both because of the noise level and the plugged ears, so I knew I needed to be more aggressive about getting it dealt with. I know that the doctor is afraid I'll have another allergic reaction like the one that caused so much trouble last year, but I can't continue with this infection either - that's not an acceptable solution to avoiding the allergies. The new stuff he gave me seems to be helping already. At least my ears aren't so painful anymore. Blood pressure was a little high but I've been taking an herbal for the seasonal asthma - chinook induced - turns out thats one of its side effects. The problem, of course, is that just about every asthma treatment does that because they induce or replace the naturally occurring anti-histamine response the body generates from the adrenal glands. Anyway we finally agreed that lobelia and or mullein would address the asthma without triggering an increase in the systolic pressure.

"I know you think you understand what you thought I said. But....." Just one of those days.

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