Shortly after he left, I tended to the things I needed to tend to, then got into bed.
After a few minutes my phone rang.
I have a cordless phone for my landline that’s Bluetooth-enabled, which allows it to connect to my cell phone, so I can make and receive cell phone calls via my regular landline phone. I could see that the call was originating from my cell, and with those calls, all that gets passed along to the Caller ID display is the number. I looked to see if it was from Michigan, as my first assumption upon getting a call that late, if it isn’t a wrong number, is that it’s my sister calling to tell me that my mom is in the hospital. (Not that I’m trying to jinx things, but…well, I’ve gotten quite a few calls like that.)
When I saw that it was a Virginia area code, I thought, “Okay, either it’s a wrong number or Scott had some kind of trouble on his way home.”
It was not, unfortunately, a wrong number.
It was Stacy calling to inform me that she believes that Scott and I are cursed, as he got hit by a snow plow on the way home. (He was, at last report, a bit stiff and sore, but not injured. The same, of course, can’t be said for his car…)
****
I spent a fair amount of time at work this week consolidating four separate SharePoint lists into one SharePoint list.
It was exactly as exciting as it sounds.
In any case, the point of it all was to refine the intake process for our team, and while I was at it I thought I’d also refine our impact assessment list, our project tracking list, and our zzzzzzzzz
*Snort* Huh?
Oh.
Anyway, at the risk* of causing everyone – myself included – to doze off again, I also created a risk register to accompany the intake form and etc..
Actually, more than anything else, the risk register is what motivated me to consolidate the four lists into one, as the addition of the risk register would have added yet another separate list for us to fill out, because there was no way to incorporate it into what was already in place. So even though I added a new list, thanks to the consolidation, there was still a net decrease in the total number of lists. So, go me!
(My boss said, “You’re amazing. Next time I’ll let you pick out your own Christmas present.” Given that she gave me a gift certificate, I said, “I pretty much did this time anyway.”)
In any case, in testing out the new list, I created a sample project called “The Call of Cthullu.” The description of the project read, "In his house at R’lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming,” and added, “Ia! Ia! Cthulhu Fhtagn!”
In the associated risk register, I listed the primary risk as “Being devoured by Cthullu,” and for the risk response, I put, “There is no response – we’ll all be eaten.”
When I was showing the new list and risk register to my boss and my co-worker – who’s also my cube neighbor – my boss laughed as she read through the sample project and said, “You’re an idiot.” She then turned to my co-worker and said, “Does he just sit here giggling all day?”
****
(Standing around looking like my normal self, which apparently to others looks like..honestly, I don’t know what it looks like, but “normal” for me appears to be dour and/or suicidal or something.)
Co-Worker: Jon? Are you all right?
Me: Hm? Yeah, I’m fine.
Co-Worker: Is everything okay?
Me: Yes, why?
Co-Worker: You aren’t smiling.
Me: Well, things aren’t that okay.
****
Yesterday I woke up on my own five minutes before my alarm could go off. I turned the alarm off to keep it from sounding (or rather, playing music) while I was out of the room.
I forgot to turn it back on, so this morning I overslept. However, when you normally get up at 4 AM, “oversleeping” means still being up well before the sun, and getting to work two hours before everyone else.
But this is Northern Virginia, so it still means having to deal with a lot of traffic.
****
Co-Worker 1: It’s such a 90s way of thinking.
Co-Worker 2: You say that like the 90s were a long time ago.
Me: Uhh…it’s 2012.
****
Fred “Slacktivist” Clark comments on a piece by the public editor of The New York Times which contains this:
I’m looking for reader input on whether and when New York Times news reporters should challenge “facts” that are asserted by newsmakers they write about.As I said in the Comments section:
This...this is an example of exactly the sort of illogical statement you would make in a bad sci-fi story to cause a robot's head to explode.
****
Boss: Thanks, Jon. You saved my ass on this.
Me: I know.
Boss: “I know.” Jackass.
Me: You’re welcome.
****
And finally, my sister Kristy turned 50 today. So, first of all, happy birthday, of course (and also to her husband Ken, whose birthday is also today), but second of all…well, before that quote about whether or not reporters should investigate “facts” could do it, that realization made my head asplode.
*Get it? Risk? ‘Cause I was talking about a risk register and…shut up.
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