14:37 - 10/14/2009
Workout
It was just after midnight when I was outside trying to capture photos of the Aurora Borealis pulsing in the southeast corner of the sky this morning. Originally it had just been an excursion by my youngest and myself to get the garbage and recycling out for the pickup scheduled for a few hours later. When my youngest caught sight of the display, he commented that he thought it was too far south to really be the Northern Lights. I ran back inside and grabbed A+'s camera hoping that I could do justice to that celestial display. A+ had even given me the manual to read when I departed for home, so I thought it was a reasonable project to attempt. Although I managed to take a lot of shots with interesting effects, none really caught the reality of the phenomenon. There are numerous settings available on that camera, including ones for night and for low light, but even tried in multiple combinations none of them did the job I needed them to do. Sigh. Guess I'll have to surf some of my regular science newsletters to try and find tips that will work - next time.
A+ had loaned me his camera so I could take photos of my grandbabies' visit this weekend. Long weekend for our Canadian Thanksgiving. Both my youngest and oldest had to work through it, so Nana became the person who had the privilege of entertaining the two young ones for a couple of days. I had planned our annual ritual of decorating the front yard for Hallowe'en as part of the entertainment, but Mother Nature has been playing fast and loose with our weather the past couple of weeks. Within the span of about ten days the temperature has varied by about 40+ degrees C/93 degrees F. Oh yeah. Add in wind storms that clocked out at about 90+km/60 m per hour into the mix and one never knew how to dress on any given day. Sadly the stenciled pumpkin and ghost bags are slumped up against the rake that would have gathered up the leaves, now covered in ankle-deep snow, to plump them out in the entry way. My grandbabies and I had to content ourselves with playing with the cats and watching Disney movies instead - occasional bouts of play with their father and uncle added in for variety. My grand-daughter covering my fridge with her art. Both grandbabies are experiencing growth spurts, so I also found myself cooking during most of the duration of their visit. Eating about double what the adults were ingesting, they were, but both skinny as rails at this point. The cats got into posing for photos too as though they actually understood what I was doing. Ms Snowy could double as a fashion model if it wasn't for the tail and extra legs, that is.
The work gig at the one firm was interesting. The woman I was to report to was about three quarters of an hour late the first morning. She rushed to show me the way the phone system worked - my primary responsibility, it turned out - but had her back to me blocking the view of the phone as she was rushing through the codes to carry out various functions. "Could I have the manual?" "No, we don't have one." Alright then. After a couple of gaffes I figured out the essential operations. The other secretary gave me data to enter between calls and asked me to handle the mail in and out, as well. Easy tasks all.
Midafternoon, the first secretary arrived at the desk and grabbed a key. In doing so, her hand hit some of the programming buttons. I was standing at the other end of the desk doing some basic clerical work, while chatting with a couple of clients who were waiting for an appointment. The secretary didn't seem concerned about the change to the phone programming as she hurried off to her next destination. The junior consultant's telephone started looping back to the main line causing a general disruption to all incoming calls, as well as those outgoing. Yikes. When she returned, I asked her to fix the problem she created - since there was no manual for me to work with - but she refused, stating that she hadn't done anything to cause the problem. At that point the junior consultant and the senior partner arrived, manual in hand, to try and resolve the problem. The two clients looked on sympathetically as we struggled to figure out what had been done. After 15 minutes of frustration, I finally suggested that, since it was a computerised system, unplugging it would probably reset it to default settings that would return normal function. Worked, thank goodness. Not exactly the impression I had wanted to make on the boss the first day. Oh well. Next day was more of the same tasks - without the phone drama - but added in was a steady stream of clients arriving for appointments. Making and serving refreshments, ensuring the boardrooms were set up and ensuring each partner had the correct information filled up the day so that it passed quickly.
The third day was spent working for the second secretary closing files and updating the database. It was also the day of wardrobe malfunctions. I managed to catch them all before they became obvious, thanks to a long skirt and top that hid most of the damage. Just long disuse of office gear making me forget to check every seam and fastening you see. During the noon hour a visit to the one placement agency that had set up the interview for the part-time job for some pre-interview coaching. A quick visit to the agency that had sent me to this temp assignment to discuss some inter-office politics that were affecting my ability to do my work. The first secretary actively sabotaging the second secretary in a way that made the senior partner think that the second secretary was not competent. That first secretary also discarding written messages I had recorded for some of the partners, before they had an opportunity to see them, leaving me to deal with the calls of very frustrated clients as well. Not a very happy person that first secretary, but no reason for her behaviour under any circumstances. Decided to walk home from the train station to process the day. One of the wardrobe malfunctions - wearing pantyhose on an afternoon where, at 6 in the pm, the temperature on the one local store's neon sign was noted to be 33.7 C/92.66 F y'all. Phew!
Fourth morning I used my lunch hour to cover off the time away at the interview. Small company needing some records management - seemed as though they might have been looking for a friendly take-over of their assets. Hmmm. The hours wouldn't have been enough to keep me afloat with respect to my bills and I was guessing that the job wouldn't last long either. Still tried my best to be positive though. I wore a red dress for the interview that had males on the train cosying up to me. My Mom had noted that my Dad loved red on other women, but would never allow her to wear it even though she looked fabulous in that colour. I guess my Dad knows something about male perceptions that my Mom and I didn't. Odd lesson in anthropology out of that interview anyway. Hmmm. Passed one building being evacuated as fire trucks roared up on my way back to the office. Puddles of displaced office workers eddying about on the street corners made returning to work promptly a challenge. That afternoon the senior partner asked me to do a bit of research for him on a personal matter. He passed on the information to his wife for action. Just a very diverting day altogether. Arrived home and sent a detailed account of the interview to the agent I had met with the day before and who had asked me for it ASAP. Went to bed after midnight thinking things over.
The Friday was a sad denouement to the week. Busy day spent looking after clients and surfing the data bases for work related research. The second secretary and I had found that we had a lot in common as we worked together over the week. We walked to the train station together each night as well. I realized that I was going to miss most of the people in the office as we headed out that last day. Remembered what it was I loved about working downtown as well as what I didn't. Except for that one secretary I would happily return to that office any time. On the way home from the train station met up with my tech from the elections. He was quite troubled about finances so we spent a fair amount of time over the next week talking/emailing back and forth about it. My youngest, who worked with him during that last election, was concerned for his mental health after reading some of the missives and so am I, but I really don't know how to help him. Sigh. To take our minds off his troubles we watched Aliens vs Monsters. Guess it's all a matter of perspective.
Next week was spent in a blur of quality assurance assignments. The weather became cold and blustery. Out walking in that really strong wind made my lungs ache for days after. Two of the three agencies I work for calling me to ask if I could take on extra emergent assignments. Bonus. Headed out for the airport, as well, for adventures in security procedures as part of that activity. Entertaining in a very weird way. The biggest issue this time was at US customs. Not anything bad, just a very thorough examination of my credentials and instructions from my employer. They didn't have instructions that meshed exactly with mine so it took a bit of time to work something out that met their security requirements. Fine with me, they were all very polite and professional throughout the discussions we had. A lot of emailing back and forth between the two companies wanting extra reports from me took up a lot of time as well. Not much different from the days I spent in data management - just a different perspective. In addition, a meeting with an long-ago work colleague. He asked if I would do some work for him with respect to enhancing his use of social media for his business. Sounds quite intriguing and, since it is something I do for play, I think it would be an interesting project even without pay. Further discussions with my Dad about his inventory project as well. More numbers to load into the spread sheet coming up. Still found time to work with my youngest to winterise the exterior of the house before the snow flew. Repatched the stucco where the bad neighbours had vandalized it a couple of years ago finally just before the first big wind storm blew in.
In between, time spent with A+. Walking as always, this time looking for birthday gifts for two grandbabies as well as electronic devices for A+. Watching good movies as well. Talking a lot about current events in the news. Debate arising from that too. A couple of letters to the editors on my part after perusing some of the e-newsletter editorials. His neighbour's home broken into two nights in a row caused some excitement when the police came to visit. There had been an odd incident the week before when it seemed that someone was checking to see if A+'s home's occupants were in residence. He described that to the police, but there hasn't been any information since then. The windstorms blew down his front fence that week, so more clean up was necessary. A death in one of his best friend's families along with some minor surgery for one of his family meant a bit of a stressful time, as he juggled that with a very busy couple of weeks in his own business. It has been a long time since mutual support has been part of my life. I forgot how comforting it can be. Hmmm. Anyway, time to get supper started and to get those cat photos uploaded for the grandbabies entertainment too.
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