12:58 a.m. - 2004-07-22
Clientell
I overslept by about 20 minutes this morning. That notwithstanding I somehow managed to catch the second of two busses that I normally take so I was on time for work. No fussing time I guess.
Finished up one specific area of work by lunch and turned my attention to the piles of documents brought to me by one of the scientists. he used to work for one of the most reputable research organizations in the industry, so his comments and concerns require careful consideration. There has been quite a lot of conflict between him and our liaison about how material is handled, because her responsibility is to act as a technician for the company. That's understandable but since the key focus of the company is the area of responsibility this person leads on, then he needs to be accommodated. The two disciplines are not mutually exclusive, it just requires some thought.
Went for a walk at lunch up the Center Street Bridge then up and over the escarpment that rings downtown to the north. It's a beautiful walk as well as being great for challenging all the muscle groups from the waist down. Steep grades up and down vary the demands and keep one's attention focused on the work involved in the walking. Stopped at the market to grab some tabouli (parsley and tomato salad) with hummous for lunch and realized that a new boutique had just opened beside it. Pretty skirts and summery too - on sale. Yes I succumbed and in the discussion found out the owner designed and made the beautiful jewelry that was on display and that she also did some belly dance. One of her friends will provide lessons for a lot less if this woman can get a few more people to commit to a class. I think I've found my new fall exercise regime. Good thing.
Hurried on so I wouldn't be late from my lunch break. Bumped into one of the women I worked and walked with about six contracts ago. She just got hired on at a company that is one floor above where I am working. See sometimes when you grumble about something like I did last night sychronicities start to make what you need possible. Belly dancing and a walking partner. Yes.
Got back into the office and continued working on the new material. The phone rang and it was my supervisor. Would I be ready and or willing to go to the other company by next week. No. We had a good discussion about all the issues - he's a pretty patient guy considering my refusal to go could cost the data management company a contract. The problem is I don't want to be a sacrificial lamb for some one else's economic benefit when I'm not goiung to be getting either any mental stimulation or improved finacial benefits and I'm being asked to accept the same or very close to the same conditions as before. The ones that were nearly unbearable. I trust my supervisor, so I'll try to make a go of it. In the meantime, though, I guess I update my resume and get it out into circulation, just in case. I also asked him if it was possible to split my time between the company I'm working for now and the other client. At least I'd get a break and some interesting work to take the edge off the other work. He said he'd see what he could do.
It does appear that there is quite a bit of other work to be done with the current client, given what I've come across in the material the scientist gave me. As in other companies, boxes of documents seem to materialize out of thin air when trust is built up enough by the work we do. That appears to be happening now. I sent in a final draft of the report I had written a couple of days ago to my supervisor tonight with the updates from what I had learned today. My co-worker was objecting this afternoon to the inclusion of some of the information. I had asked D to send me any major alterations to the document tonight by e-mail so that we could just do word-smithing tomorrow if necessary. He had mentioned a concern about listing the types of data found in the material submitted by staff that isn't specific to our project, but there is an issue with respect to taxonomy within their electronic database because of their strict protocols for creating folders, that has to be resolved before we can catalogue the material. I spoke with our liaison for quite some time this afternoon going through the different options that might work. After I get in from my doctor's appointment tomorrow, I also have to talk with the scientist about it, because he gave me some specific directions (that was the source of the discussion with our liaison) that require some clarification now that I've had the opportunity to assess the material he and some of the other staff have submitted for inclusion to the collection. I also thought that since it would alter the scope and change the timelines again for the project that my supervisor should be aware of the different components in the extra material. That way if it can't all be fit in then priorities can be set. Ignoring the issues will come back to bite us if we don't deal with them now. Anyway time for bed dear diary.
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