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12:31 AM - 18.09.04
Freaky Friday
I was just finishing up reading with my youngest last night when number four son wandered upstairs. He now has two jobs - both of which are the equivalent of a weight training workout at the gym. Why? Girls, I think - expensive proposition aren't they, sometimes. Anyway with all the extra twisting and turning, he found that his back was beginning to bother him - about a week ago. Finally decided to ask for help last night at 1 in the am. 45 minutes later a combination of massage, accupressure and a bit of chiropractic had him pain free and happy. That's what Moms are for - right?

Got up a tad late, then spent extra time helping my youngest. Ms Kitty had been looking a bit tubby, but we really didn't think much of it. Turns out she was carrying one baby - snow white with just one patch of black above the left eye and a black tail. She chose the closet in my bedroom for her nest. Uh huh. Upshot was that I ended up running for the bus. The early bus driver was late, but he waited for me anyway, then drove like a bat out of hell. There's been a change in all the local bus routes that takes us to the north entrance of the industrial park we travel through each morning - construction on the south route don't you know. Even though it's further to go it's faster, because we don't have to do the maze or deal with as much traffic. Made the station and ran for the train - just made it too.

Got a call from the payroll person just after I arrived at my work station. Apparently my timesheet had been "lost" somehow in the changeover from the old administrator to her. No one could locate it, but no one had called me either to let me know there was a problem. The only proof that I had sent it in on time was when I forwarded it to her and my supervisor. The person who could authorize the payment wasn't necessarily available to issue approvals today. Great. Call back at 10. I was working in the stacks by then and called from my cell phone. They'd either have the cheque in the bank today or Monday, depending. Guess it will be Monday, because my account is still pretty bone dry right now. Asked her to recheck the calculations from the sum function while we were talking. I had been having trouble with the spreadsheet anyway - the coding kept causing weird things to occur and I thought that the number of total hours was too high. No point having a client complaining about improper billing when they already begrudge paying one. Right? I need to find someplace else to work that doesn't.

Note on the computer when I arrived, written by the brother sometime after midnight from the information included, was that I shouldn't touch anything until I had a chance to touch base with him. Fine. Just pulled out all the material that had already been scanned and started filing. The brother called when he got in and said it was ok to proceed, but by then I was half way through the stacks and wanted to have a clear idea how long it actually took from the time documents actually hit our in baskets to when they were finally on the shelf.

Went through some of the strange things I found as I was filing with the liaison and showed her how much paper had accumulated while we were waiting for the software to be operational. She let me know that they had just hired one of the records staff from the company just taken over and were hoping to take the other one on on contract mid-October. Apparently my task is meant to shift again so that I become the trainer for the tasks rather than the doer.

The brother popped up before lunch and I asked him about what he wanted me to take on to fill in for him in the records part of his assignment. It isn't reasonable for someone to work until the wee hours of the morning then be back in the office first thing, is it dear diary. He was pale as a ghost, although as polite and professional as always. Apparently the dispute with the scanning contractor has been ironed out and they want a substantial shipment ready to go to them by Monday. Could I do that? No, I'm not strong enough. Funny - it's what I've been doing as part of my work for over a decade. Still with the guy thing I think.

He said we could discuss the transfer of duties once I returned from my daily walk at lunch. Uneventful this time. Up the Center Street bridge. It was hot so I took off my coat and tied it around my waist. It emphasized the rhumba walk I developed during puberty, just the way the hip bones are hung on my spine - it's not my fault. Across the escarpment, down the hill and across the next bridge to Prince's Island. A twinge of anxiety hit me as I arrived at the crossroads where trouble had first shown itself yesterday, but no repeat of the problem. Back at work.

The phone rang. It was the receptionist to say that the outsourced tech was wanting to come up and complete the work he had begun on the computer yesterday. Oi. The brother met us at his station and my task became to help test out the software for glitches. There were a lot, so the afternoon was spent breaking one thing after another in the program, then watching as the tech tried to repair the code to fit our requirements. Talking things through each time the testing and retesting. The tech taught me several more short cuts and showed me some more of the graphics features. Felt a bit like I was being assessed and tested again. Fine and whatever - a new assignment with the tech side being more of the work would make me very happy.

On the way upstairs we had gotten into a debate about the latest fad with respect to weight training - the "microtear the muscle in order to make them bulk up" thing, when he was struggling to walk up the stairs because of the workout he'd had the evening before. Right - scar tissue, adhesions, edema, maybe even hypergranulation along with loss of range of motion and finally the muscle fibers' ability to regenerate. Add in the possible damage to connective tissue and cartilage (think knees) which doesn't regenerate itself - or at least does so very poorly - and it's a good way to guarantee wheel chair time at middle age for some people. So, for the balance of the afternoon the discussion swung between how the code needed to be rewritten and medical myths and monsters between the three of us. The brother has some medical training and his illness has meant he has done a lot of additional research. My time with physiotherapy training, working in rehab and competing in gymnastics also becoming part of the debate. I think we ended up amusing at least some of the users filtering through - either that or bemusing them.

Some of the staff from the company taken over were also working in the library and that really seemed to upset the co-ordinator. Part of that is because they are taking over some of her work and some have been hired full time even though she is still contract. Add insult to injury - a lot of the preparations that she had made to receive all the new data was overridden by some of the scientists today and the brother stepped in too, because she had ignored some of his directions as well. Meant that a lot has to be redone by Monday to compensate for the changes. Given her past reaction to threats she perceives, I don't know how that will play out. Her focus as far as who is her enemy has shifted from me to the new staff and the people changing her plans around the data. I think I'll just keep to myself and stay away from anything but the scanning for a bit. Left later than my usual quit time because of the troubleshooting in the software, but offered to stay longer to help so that the brother and the liaison wouldn't have to spend all weekend working. Nope go home. The brother was a lot more relaxed today and had no problems looking me in the eye. The debate sort of broke down boundaries too. Maybe a little too much, but it could just be it was Friday too.

Got home and found a voicemail from my supervisor waiting. He liked the resume that I had forwarded, but did the person really want work that didn't fully use his skills and might pay less than he'd hoped. I agreed to call him to see how that played out and then follow up with a return voicemail to my supervisor. He allowed he'd be working on the weekend too, so it was ok to leave a voicemail so he could act on it right away. I was still in debate mode from the afternoon at the office and crossed his boundaries before I realized what I'd said. I just commented that he needed to take a break given how beat he sounded in our other discussion. He allowed he was golfing one day, but got a bit annoyed withme when I pressed a bit about relaxing more. Fair game - I'm not his Mom, but I don't want to lose a good boss to heart attacks or other such things. Just enlightened self interest you know. Keep one's boss in good working order and one's work conditions are better too. It was apparent that he just felt I was treading where I shouldn't. Probably right, but he's too nice a person to watch hurt himself. I know - enough of the mom thing. I got away with it with two out of the three males I work with - that should be enough.

Called the male whose resume I forwarded and ended up in a fairly long discussion about philosophy of life. He was happy with exploring the possibilities with the new assignment further too. Then got another call from one of the other people that I'd sent a letter of recommendation to. she hasn't clicked with any of her jobs applications yet. Another philosophical discussion.

Checked my e-mail and found a reponse to one of my applications to an international agency. Their website says not to expect a response before 8 weeks, but it's only been one week for me. They liked my skills and wanted to know more, could I rewrite my resume to include ....... No problem. Realized I would be spending at least one full day on work related issues too between the Elections Canada fiasco,my reports for the downtown job and the resume stuff, but that's all good. Right - dear diary?

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