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00:40 - 26.10.05
data errors
It was back to the warehouse today, dear diary. I got up early enough, but just couldn't seem to move fast enough to leave the house on time. Resigned myself to the fact that I wasn't going to be able to get to the regular bus stop on time, so I walked over one community to the west to catch the feeder bus that would take me there thinking I would maybe be in time to catch the second bus. Turned out that I was actually early enough to catch the first one. This is good news, since it means that when the weather turns cold and miserable I can walk half the distance, but still make the connection. Sometimes making mistakes is for one's own good, you see.

I dozed off and on during the commute, but when I did open my eyes to check our progress it was so dark that I couldn't even be certain we were still in the right city, let alone which streets we were travelling. I've only been back downtown for about one and a half weeks, but I'd lost my bearings completely. The only way I was certain my stop was coming up was when the big truck stop/service center loomed into view. Other than in a white out (blizzard) it would be impossible to miss. The gentleman from the warehouse, who catches my bus later in the commute, got off with me and asked why I had been away so long. I just explained that my supervisor had been out of the country and it had seemed that it had been decided I needed to be kept downtown until she returned. I still don't understand that - my duties didn't expand to fill any of the gaps in service left - but she signs the timesheets so I do as she asks. He seemed ok with that. I know that there has been some negotiation going on, and I think maybe I'm being used as a pawn, but I don't know how or why so I can't even respond in any concrete way.

Started working on the indexing until the second in command arrived. She seemed really eager to sort the boxes we had already entered into the database, so I stopped and began pulling accession sheets and the hand written material by unit, so we could determine which stream of processes each one would need to be put into. I had printed all the accession sheets off the day before so that they would be as current as possible. Trouble began almost right away. The first box up the printed accession sheet did not match with the notes I had written down - literally pages of them. Checked the database and sure enough the record I had entered wasn't what had printed out. It was the old description that had been in error. I showed it to the second in command and her comment was "well why do you think someone is tampering with your work, why is it that you think you are being singled out among everyone else working on these records." Well firstly I hadn't said anything about being singled out or even thinking it was a problem that was aimed specifically at me. Secondly, no one else is working on these records to my knowledge. Quite honestly, I thought I was showing her that there was a corruption or wobble in the database. Having worked with this software before, I know it starts to lose its integrity after the volume of data reaches a certain point. The last place where that happened the data had to be migrated into a newer version and operating platform in order to stop the corruption. "You just didn't save your record when you entered it and it was lost obviously on that date just after you printed off the accession sheet". Well no actually not, since the real record still showed up in the database when I called up the record this morning. Besides that, I could show her that I had printed off all the accession sheets at the same time yesterday, because I had written each box number down before I had started that job so that I wouldn't miss anything. Remember we can't print from that database in the warehouse. Out of about 30 boxes, there were at least one quarter of the records that had been altered in some way. By the time the fourth problem arose, the second in command wasn't trying to blame me for the problems and it appeared she was thinking hard about what I was showing her. If it means I'm finally getting through to her then that is to the good. I documented each issue separatley and will write it up in my weekly report when I get back to the office. For some of the records involved, I know I had taken screenshots for other reporting issues so I do have dated evidence that pre-dates the problems encountered this morning. Phew.

Came home and found some interesting stories or links in my email. Number two son sent me this test of skill. The instructions were: You pretty much have to figure it out on your own. . . I will give you one hint: Click on everything and use the items to get out of the room. If you finish you have a genius level IQ. There are 13 items hidden around the room. Find them and use them to get out. If you found: 0-6 items - VERY LOW IQ:6-8 items - LOW IQ: 9-10 items - average IQ;11-12 items - HIGH IQ - above average intelligence;if you find all 13 items and you get out of the room - there are less than 4000 people in the world who can do it. I'm not certain if there really is any true measure of genius other than the fruits of someone's efforts, but I did find 12 objects within half an hour and I know what the last object is. Didn't spend any more time on it because I really needed to sleep. Felt like I was going to be sick on the bus this morning and I don't want to have to deal with that tomorrow. Went for a nap instead. This was the story written by spaceweather: "On Oct. 30th, Mars makes its closest approach to Earth for the next 13 years. The view of Mars through backyard telescopes is already spectacular and getting better. Amateur astronomers are monitoring a big dust storm that is "rewriting the map of Mars" from night to night. You can see Mars with the unaided eye, too. It looks like a brilliant orange star rising in the east after sunset. Visit for pictures and sky maps." This story about famous people and their relationships with their pets was interesting. Funny that animals could influence human behaviour and choices as strongly as we influence them. Finally you would think living so close to the mountains I would have known about this film festival in Banff coming up this weekend. If I didn't have so much election work to doI think I would be begging for a ride up there. Right now I guess I'd better go indulge in my usual forms of recreation - housework, laundry,litter box duty and reading to the family. Good night dear diary.

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