Entry for October 21, 2006

In my work as a systems analyst we have 4 levels: Assistant Analyst(newbie), Associate Analyst (journey level) Staff (Usually a project lead, or more advanced associate work) and Senior, which are usually lead major projects, may be project managers...anyway, I have been at the Associate level for 6 years this month, so the next step would be to Staff level, except on the notice for the promotion exam, I also met the qualificatons for the Senior, so I took both. 

After months of interviews at different agencies, I got a voice mail at work to call someone I had interviewed with. I had heard from a couple of the references I had given that they had been called...so anyway I got a job as a Senior. I already know what the project is i got hired for. Anyway, I get a pretty good raise off the bat, and in a few years I might break $100k a year, which in the public sector is really good. The funny thing is, I was happy and sad at the same time, because I really like the people I work with, except maybe for my supervisor, who is real moody, sort of like I was pre "midlife change"....and now I out rank her in the scheme of things...too bad

Earlier this month my daughter got married (about time ) the day before my birthday. So all around this has been a good month so far...I hope yours is too!

Entry for May 08, 2006

Well I totally did not make the deadline of making an entry for April, but who cares? Not me.

May is my vacation month, so I started vacation today.  I am suppose to go back on the 29th, but hey, thats Memorial Day, so I go back on the 30th, just in time to get paid.

I really think my blog/journal, whatever, well it really sucks.  I say that because, a) it does and b) I write mostly about work. Not that work is the most central point of my life, but it occupies so damn much of my time. I mean besides the 40 hours of work there is the 10 hours of travel time and 5 hours of lunch, so really in a week I am at work 55 hours a week. And figuring that if I get up at 6 and go to bed at 10, thats a 16 hour timeframe of awakeness of which 11 were at work, or travelling to /from same.  So vacation is really great, because I still get up at 6 (out of habit) but then I don't even get dressed until 9ish, and spend the day doing whatever i want to do, or not do .

 

Entry for March 25, 2006

Well hello dear reader-

My claim to fame is that now in my professional title I can add 'world class bitch'. 

I work as a consultant on information security issues, lately focusing on privacy issues and how to secure data from unauthorized users. I am working in an organization that is very set in its ways, and so as I discover things that are not up to standards, I note them and periodically submit what our client calls a Management Memo which tells the senior management what is going on in their organization, and how we recommend they fix it. So now I hear that when I schedule a meeting with people, some of them have started to refer to me as WCB, because they are going to get in trouble for permitting things to get messed up.  My co-worker (and friend) says "Welcome to the club, we all get called names at some point"...she is so sweet, I can not imagine people calling her names, but I know it happens.

My supervisor says she thinks of me as very passionate about my job, and that its natural for people to equate that to being bitchy, where if a man said the same things they would say things like 'insightful' or 'pragmatic'...So thinking about this I have to mention that on my way home the other day I was following a BMW on the freeway (bumper-to-bumper at 11 mph) and noticed her license frame  on top said "Yes, I AM a Bitch..." and on the botton said " I'm just not YOURS" 

I think of that now when I hear people think I am a WCB

Entry for February 11, 2006

  In the weeks since I last posted a entry, things seem to have taken a distinct turn for the worse in the  world.  Riots around the globe, concern with how the government is going about protecting the people of the USA, and the government ability to provide aid and comfort when required, like after the hurricanes last year.

And then there are news items that peolpe don't seem to care about, like what information search engine companies turn over to the government, or that these same companies seem to have a different standard for foreign governments than they do for the US.  I think all companies that put profit ahead of anything else need to think that through.  Today's customer can very well turn into tomorrows competitor. The IBM Lenovo deal and others like it will bear this out I think. But then I am just a person, so who cares what I think.

 Happy Valentines Day .

Canice

Entry for January 12, 2006

I frequently get to work at home, since my supervisor and managers all know that concentration on database development is at time difficult.  I had mentioned Monday that a study was released that indicated there are on average 2.1 hours a day lost to interruptions, so my supervisor talked to the manager and here I am.  Only yesterday I had to go to work so we could take one of my coworkers out for lunch in celebration of his promotion. Now all of us on the staff are at the same classification level, myself and another woman being senior.  Back to my entry.

So after lunch, I decidied to go by the store and get Windows XP Pro, and upgrade my pc since it seemed to improve my laptops ability to recover from problems. What a mistake. I got hung up at the 33 minute remaong part and spent the rest of the day and early evening trying to debug the problem, which windows was saying is a hardware problem. Then today I thought,   'I have done all the diagnostics and everything checks fine, maybe I should just reinstall xp home, and see..."  Well, that went fine, and then I popped in the xp pro cd, and then went fine too.  So now I have tomorrrow to do the work I promised I would have done by next week...and the only thing good about all this is ...a bad day away from the office is usually still more pleasant than a day at the office....

Entry for January 08, 2006

 Hi!

I am having a typical January, which means putting away Christmas for another year and moving towards spring. I noticed that the stores are already dumping winter clothes, which I bought today for 60% off.

Hope your new year goes well...explore, have some adventures, and please be nice