Quote of the Day - October 6, 2008

Okay, Robin, make it work.

- My professor during class

The Last Hotel Room in Houston, Texas

I'm having a wonderful day. The news is exciting, to say the least. Most of the reasons I came to Houston evaporated before I had even gotten to the airport. And, on top of a bureaucratic mess that nearly took away another reason for being here, my hotel did not have a room for me. No rooms! Apparently, my reservation shouldn't have been possible to make. I called my travel agency, and they told me the entire city of Houston was booked.

Well, after half an hour, they found one room. For tonight only. Apparently, I'm back to not having a room tomorrow night. So here it is: the last hotel room in Houston.

What's the Plan?

Things have (amazingly) slowed down at work the last couple of weeks. I'm down to doing three things at once, none of which have hard and fast deadlines. I turned off my alarm clock last week and let my body settle into it's natural rhythm, giving my mind and body a chance to resync and enter some sense of routine. Between that, a good round of Sunday basketball, and the beginning of flag football season, I've had my first "normal" week in a very long time.

With things settling down, a coworker with less experience than me but a similar dislike of sitting idle has taken to calling me every day and asking a crucial question: what's the plan? I understand her frustration. I'm a planner. I like plans. They give me a sense of security. A sense of purpose. Even if the plan it to do nothing, I'm fine. So long as that's the plan. Otherwise, I get antsy because I feel like I'm missing something.

But now that my coworker has come to me several days in a row with this question, I feel like I need some more creative responses. I've already told her that one day, she's going to find an envelope on her desk. On it will be written "The Plan". Now I just need to think of what to put in the envelope. Here's what I've come up with so far:

Blank paper
A picture of FEMA's disaster plan
A copy of the Underpants Gnomes' plan
A copy of the Mayor's to-do list
A lengthy tax-form like document that says "burn after completing" on the last page.
A floorplan

See?! See what I'm doing? I'm planning a mockery of plans. It's ironic. Or sad. I forget which.

Quote of the Day - April 19, 2008

I expected times like this - but I never thought they'd be so bad, so long, and so frequent.

- Challenges de-motivator

You Know It's Bad When...

...your friend who just spent a week in a mock P.O.W. camp for his National Guard training looks at you and says, "Are you okay? You seem tired?"

Quote of the Day - January 25, 2008

SLACKER It's 10:30 AM and you're not here. :)

- message written on my white board at work by a co-worker who was troubleshooting in the lab with me until 4:30 am that morning

They're Spying on Me!

The Avatar writers have apparently been spying on me the last couple of weeks. Never mind that this episode was written and animated months ago. The first few minutes of this clip is so where I've been (especially -7:40 to -6:55). I feel for you, Aang. Thank goodness for the end of daylight savings time. Now if only we could add an extra hour every weekend.

Help Wanted: Minions

Integration and testing is quickly approaching. I’m taking two masters classes during the week. And I’m playing football and basketball on the weekends. Eating and sleeping have already taken a back seat, and I’m not even into the thick of it yet. Pretty soon, I’ll be squeezing my games in before, after, or even during work, since I’ll apparently be working seven days a week. Homework will have to be completed while waiting for a compile to finish. I’ll need to buy more clothes to space out my laundry days further. But since I probably won't be cooking much, at least I won’t have too many dishes. And that’s assuming all goes according to plan. So I’ve decided that I need minions. Do you think Career Builder would post this?

SpakKadi, a computer engineer currently in the process of taking over a TBD world on which to build her New Society, is seeking minions to do her bidding.

Job Title: Junior Minion
Job Description: The Junior Minion will be responsible for small but inconvenient tasks such as bringing groceries up from the car, changing the sheets, doing the dishes, doing laundry, dusting and vacuuming. With time, responsibilities may expand to include cooking and cleaning the kitchen and bathroom. Benefits include a roof over your head and life lessons about pulling your own weight around here.

Job Title: Technical Minion
Job Description: The Technical Minion is responsible for performing tedious technical tasks that distract from more interesting technical design and problem solving. Tasks may include writing documentation, writing procedures, writing test programs, and supporting small, uncomplicated design components. The Technical Minion may also be used to deflect other designers who have no concept of “schedule” or “hardware limitations”. Benefits include a deeper understanding of the technical details and a trusted place at my side when I’m in charge.

Job Title: Gopher Minion
Job Description: The Gopher Minion is responsible for various tasks that require going to places outside the big four (work, school, home, sports field). Tasks include grocery shopping, going to the bank, gassing up the car, and acquiring food at meal times. With time, responsibilities may expand to include paying bills and shuffling fellow minions from place to place.

Job Title: Chief Minion
Job Description: The Chief Minion will be responsible for SpakKadi’s mental, intellectual, spiritual, and physical well-being. The Chief Minion will assist in coordinating the other minions and act as a sounding board for SpakKadi’s frustrations and ideas. The Chief Minion must be capable of engaging in lively conversations about life, government, religion, politics, society, technology, science fiction, television, movies, and world domination. The Chief Minion must also encourage physical activities for stress relief and physical fitness, and social outings for mental wellness. A sense of humor is required. Experience dealing with intelligent, ambitious women a plus. Must be willing to go extended periods without seeing SpakKadi during school months, I&T, and basketball season. Yes-men and ego-boys need not apply.

Applicants wishing to apply to one or more positions should contact SpakKadi before she becomes too overwhelmed to form coherent sentences.

Quote of the Day - June 28, 2007

Coworker 1: (when trying to get coworker 2's attention so he could ask a question) Bus access requested!

Coworker 2: Access granted.