22:33 - 17.08.05
Shifts
Hump day - Wednesday. Sometimes that descriptor is more appropriate than others. Getting over the one last big effort so that the rest of the week is downhill in terms of effort. All week I've felt as though my primary task of getting the coding completed was being impaired by just about every reason under the sun from social, to political, to techical, to administrative, to just plain silly. This morning I updated a spreadsheet I had been asked to create in June. Terminology or abbreviations that require clarification, before I can code some records. This industry has several subcultures that support the primary efforts focussed on bringing in the money that pays the company's bills and keeps it running. Each has their own very specialized technical language and I swear they each compete to see how arcane and inaccessible they can make it as a defence against intruders. Business security is good, but not when it becomes a barrier to the company's own staff. In addition to bizarre definitions for commonly used words, there are all the abbreviations and acronyms that change almost yearly by fiat. "In the know" catch phrases. I work across about 20 different disciplines or business/administrative units. That's a lot of "languages" to learn, especially when they all use the same words but with different definitions. Over a five month period and those 20 disciplines there are now about 200 word or phrases on that spreadsheet that require some translation/clarification. Or about 10 words per discipline divided by 5 months equals 2 new words per month per each. Don't you just love math? In my last weekly report I noted that the lack of definitions for those words was one of the reasons so many boxes - hundreds - were being recalled. I can't code what I don't know.
The second in command had obviously been told to get those definitions for me. Now as a defense, I have six discipline specific dictionaries sitting on my desk and I have bookmarked and linked several websites and pdf documents to my desktop for quick and, theoretically, easy reference so I can find out those definitions for myself. Hundreds of definitions have already come from those sources. The spreadsheet contains those "words" that simply have never been encoded - not even by the regulatory bodies to whom this company must report. I also have friends and aquaintances in the company who I've called for assistance based on their areas of expertise with limited success. Those "words" have also been noted in the weekly reports with requests for clarification as they became issues. No responses. Anyway I sent the spreadsheet off about the time the second in command was geting her first coffee of the morning. She was in meetings all morning, in all fairness, but I still had no acknowledgement of of rceipt or direction for follow up by the end of the day. The response? Too many to put in the taxonomy so it can't really be dealt with. That wasn't what I had asked nor was it the reason for the need to clarify the terms. I guess those few hundred/thousand boxes are going to have to be recalled and sorted through after all. Sigh.
At lunch I met up with my walking buddy just to grab a quick bite to eat. It was cold and still pouring down rain so she wanted to stay inside the plus 15 system of walkways. So, it seemed, did a good portion of the 50,000 other office workers located in the 10 square blocks that constitute the downtown core. She was feeling really stressed because her supervisor has gone on three weeks holiday, leaving her to cover both jobs. Means stretching beyond her comfort zone both technically and personally. She doesn't like the meetings she now has to provice reports or resource services to. There are several during each week. Plus all the regular duties still to be performed. She had reached one of those overwhelmed points and needed someone just to listen. I ate she talked. After she worked through that stress she switched to a description of a vivid detailed dream she had the night before. Monstrous manta rays that could break the surface of the ocean and fly as well. Iron coloured sand and therefore, sea water. Coppery tones instead of the aqua that we a re used to seeing seaside. Human communicating telepathically instead of verbally. Very strong feeling of deja vu - for both of us. I've had similar visions too. Speculating on why this dream now. What was the subconscious trying to convey. Or was the mind just playing with the vast and rich store of it's own imagery. The part of the brain we so rarely visit during waking hours. The well that we use to bring creative solutions or ideas into our waking lives. Interesting.
She said one thing that provided a solution to something that had been evading me. I need more cardio and calisthenic work in my day to day routine, but I'm ussually to tired or too busy with my other jobs at night to fit anything in. As Einstein once said, I think, the simplest answer is quite often the best.The solution for me is maybe to climb the stairs from ground level to the floor I work on at least once a day. Implemented that at the end of the day. Walked down the stairs to street level - through twists and unexpected turns and tunnels - out a door where I found myself comletely disoriented. The exit is one I've walked past for over a decade without even being aware it existed. I couldn't even tell which street I had arrived at for the first few seconds. Strange. Tomorrow I'll try that door from the outside. It is unlocked from the inside, don't know if it will be from the outside. Hmmm. There is another way to gain access to the stairwell from the inside of the building that will take more time and effort but at least I have a couple of options now for my early morning, "get the blood flowing", workout. Good way to counter the effects of the office politics still playing out too. The "thermostat wars" , Fred the ghost recoding my cell phone clock, the snipes and guerilla attacks that appear to be aimed at the one nearby supervisor. The one who is quite ill and going for surgery in another couple of weeks. Just what she needs, two people she supervises undermining her whenever they have the opportunity left loose to their own devices for a while. The supervisor seems confident that the head of the business unit realizes that her illness is the issue. I'm not certain that I'm as comfortable with that belief as she is, then again I'm pretty new to th company and I'm not used to fairness being a cornerstone of management. I hhope the supervisor's take on things is the correct one. I guess we'll see the truth when Pluto goes direct.
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