cleverly disguised as a responsible adult

Medical ‘Conscience Rule’ Is Issued

I can't be the only one who thinks this is a REALLY FREAKING BAD IDEA. I feel the need to break out the Caps Lock of Rage, here. It seems appropriate.

If you want to force your morality and ethics on other people, join the clergy or be a parent. If you want to help people, you need to help them all, EVEN IF the things your morals dictate are "proper behavior" and "right choice" aren't happening in those you're helping.

I cannot fathom how this is a good thing. I am scared, worried, and angry. I will go make some tea and calm down enough to pick something to be happy about today, but...this is wrong. Really, profoundly wrong.

So, apparently, LoudTwitter is trying to make me crazy today. I don't know why it was posting over and over and over today when it's been set up to post for the last four days.

So now it thinks my LJ password is something else entirely while it sits in the corner and thinks about what it's done.

Again, I'll be looking at the bright side of life in a bit, but before I do that, I have another Idiotic Political Moment brought to us by our Fearless Leader in the War on Terrists and Nukleer Weapons.

The American leader, who has been condemned throughout his presidency for failing to tackle climate change, ended a private meeting with the words: "Goodbye from the world's biggest polluter."

He then punched the air while grinning widely, as the rest of those present including Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy looked on in shock.
Sauce

First seen at cuddlycthulhu.

I'm in desperate need of a drink. And then dance class in 2.5 hours. Yus.

My laptop died last night. It was a low-key, low-drama death - it simply shut itself off in the middle of a sentence. I hit the power button, then I held down the power button, but neither one made the lights come back on and the happy disk-spinny sounds wouldn't come back.

After I grabbed Downwood and begged for help, we tried taking out the battery, switching power supplies, and just letting it sit in the corner for a little while to think about what it had done. The last step is also known as "let the machine cool down because though it has always put out a lot of heat, this is a Lot Of Heat".

So I made dinner, we watched some History Channel, and he went back to work. I was in the kitchen when I heard a startled "Oh, now it's just messing with me!" from the dining room. When I went to investigate, I saw my laptop up on its side so that the V-shape was on the table and the keyboard was perpendicular to the table. And it was running.

It shut itself off again after a minute or two, so Downwood went back into the case to see if he could figure out which connection was loose.

When we went to bed, Downwood's diagnosis was that the motherboard is borked and he's going to try to deal with Alienware to get a replacement or a better diagnosis. Me? I'm just glad I had someone around who knew what to try beyond holding down the button and praying to the Almighty Darwin for an intercession.

If you emailed, called, stopped by, or otherwise tried to talk to me in the last week or so, I apologize for the delay. My brain is deciding to not work lately. I will reply, honest, it may be just a little longer.

So I'm driving to work this morning and trying to remember what all I have to get done today. I was supposed to stop at the bank for cash, but my windows were frozen shut so I couldn't get to the ATM. It wasn't until I was getting my coffee that I remembered I was supposed to stop at Walgreen's for Half Price Chocolate Day! Dang it! I was looking forward to having peanut butter cups and other tasties today.

Ah well, here's hoping that there's still something left when I stop on my way home from work.

I got to work this morning and immediately began working on the Big Important Issue That's Eating My Brain. I took a break from it in the mid-morning to attend a meeting regarding the trip I'm scheduled for to Dallas next week. *waves to Dallas LJ folks* When I got back to my office, I started looking at the program I wrote to help search out bad data and destroy it when I noticed something...odd.

That sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach? Yeah, go with that.

You see, at the beginning of the week, we divvied up who was going to be writing which utilities. Each division got assigned the ones that they are the experts in. Simple, no? Yesterday afternoon I flipped out and demanded that another team send me their finished product because, hello, the deadline was yesterday noon.

I took a look at what they sent me. I tested it. Then I started cursing. The search that they had found worked. It'd been tested and released and is available to all who use our software. But, it searches exactly the opposite of what I needed. I need to find bad data - the search they gave me will take bad data and tell you where all it is in the system.

This? Not so much useful.

So I started writing my own code. I took what I'd already done, what I knew of that application, and a couple of handy tools and I wrote the capability into my search to pull off the one that the other team utterly dropped the ball on. As I was recovering that fumble and heading to the endzone, my phone rings. I glance to the caller ID. The COO (Chief Operations Officer, 2nd in command of the company) is calling me.

$#^!#$*@#$(

We talked for 15-20 minutes about the Big Important Issue That's Affecting More Than Just My Customer and what I and the other people working on it were doing to fix it. He wanted some background as to why it happened in the first place, how we identified the extent of the problem, who was working on it, who all would be affected by it, and what plans we have in place to help out the other customer teams who will need to deal with it.

After he hung up, I called the rest of my team who were all like "WTF, mate?" I also called my team lead and said, "I need some help here. These other guys won't answer the phone or return my calls and I need this done in 90 minutes. I'm also on the verge of a nervous breakdown, so any help would be appreciated."

I also had Downwood call to remind me that I have a life outside of work, and it's a pretty darn good life.

The code got done. I got to sit in a meeting with Big Important People and say, "Yes, I think that we've done what we can. If something else goes wrong, so be it, but we've covered all the places we foresee problems happening. I'm willing to do the work, but I need help validating it and making sure it's all good."

Because of this mess, I'm not going to Texas next week after all. They said that they don't want me to hand this off to someone else to finish and that making sure that this goes well is more important than the other trip. I think that they're right in that no one else at the Evil Empire knows as much about all the parts of this Issue as me, though I was looking forward to escaping the drama and pressure for a few days.

Leaving work was a trial in itself: I found myself locked out of the house and the coffeeshop where I was going to wait for Downwood was closed. Luckily, my ride didn't just abandon me, so I got a glass of wine and Dune until he showed up. Then, I got a burger, a really good beer, some yummy fries, and the final book in a Series of Unfortunate Events. I'm going to go pass out now in preparation for a makeover and Day Out With The Girls tomorrow.

So today's had a lot of work stress thrown at me. 'Scool, I'm coping mostly okay and moving through my day. I'm at my desk, typing away, and thinking that a snack would be awfully appropriate. So I grab a chocolatey rice cake...and feel a *crunch* in my back teeth.

And then spit out some shards of metal.

I can't get in to see the dentist until Friday morning, which is also when I've got the chiropractor appointment that my back is telling me is about four days overdue. Luckily, nothing hurts yet.

The only thing that has saved the world from me going off the deep end are the CDs of the Nadas Live from the 2006 Iowa State Fair. These thin discs of plastic separate the world from Emo Sabine, because it's very hard to be Dark, Depressed, and Gawthy when rocking out to Templeton Rye.

Now, for more meetings and some reading before Downwood comes to pick me up later tonight. Rock on.

EDIT. After these last meetings, I recommend that, should you live in Virginia or have loved ones there, get out now. In 48 hours, I'm going to level the entire state down to bedrock, then nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.

Customer: Hm, we'd kind of like to be able to look at this. Implementor, could you maybe find a way to answer this incredibly vague request?
Implementor: Hey, Sabine, the customer wants...something. Can you help?
Me: Give me a minute...Here, this seems to be what they want.
Implementor: Holy crap, you rock! I didn't expect this until Friday! Thank you!!!
Customer: GAWRAWRWAW!@#%!$#!@#$ THAT'S NOT WHAT WE WANTED!!! YOU ALL SUCK FUZZY DONKEY BALLS1!!11!ONE!
Me to Implementor: W.T.F?!
Implementor to customer: We're terribly sorry, we suck, you're the gods we should be worshipping, etc. Um, could you maybe, possibly be a teeeensy bit more specific with your request so we don't have to bother you with this again? Please?
Customer: *melodramatic sigh* I GUESS. GAWD, this is SUCH a PAIN...
Me to Implementor: No shit.
Customer: Here's a small detail. Figure it out.
Implementor, Me: *headdesk*
Implementor: Well, Sabine, what do you know?
Me: I am a tech goddess, of course. I have miraculously pulled some data from the system (not my ass, I swear). Here, go be a hero to the Customer.
Implementor to customer: Our resident tech goddess rocks. Here, be happy.
Customer: Life is sunshine and kittens and bunnies ejaculating rainbows! You people at the Evil Empire are wonderful and we love you!!!!!
Implementor, Me: *headdesk*

I spent today at a seminar entitled Managing Multiple Projects, Objectives, and Deadlines. It was supposed to teach us how to minimize stress, maximize productivity, and get more done in each day while juggling several tasks at once.

Total. Waste. Of. Time.

This SkillPath seminar? Not worth it. So very not worth it.

The good part of today was that there was no dealing with customers, I got to visit a small farmers' market, hang out with Downwood for a good chunk of the day, actually had time to read a Book To Make Me More Smart, worked out, and am now waiting for the coals to be ready for dinner.

There might be a post later with more brain to it than this one. Or not. Who knows.