Installing a bathroom fan in our guest bathroom, we discovered a delightful assortment of mold spores in the previously poorly ventilated drywall.

My awesome Pop spent a number of hours helping (read as: doing the lion's share) get the fan installed including all wiring and adding a much needed light fixture in our attic. After that was done, we ripped out the old drop ceiling (used to hide the crapped up drywall) and ripped out the old drywall.

It's not the cleanest drywall job I've ever done (I used to drywall professionally when I was ~14) but our guest bathroom is starting to approach normalcy again...

Having a fairly productive morning. Already installed some memory, fixed a problem for one of the Help Desk folks (thanks to my coworker Jeff), noted that the solution might work for another problem, fixed that problem, and now I'm off to install more memory. I needed a productive morning to follow last night's foul up. I managed to erase every picture in my phone - including a bunch that hadn't been backed up. I found it terribly upsetting, but at least I learned some things. I'm using Bitpim and I was mucking around with the file structure of my phone. Live and learn I guess. 

And from the stupid people file: 
(What follows is a rough approximation of a small part of my day - Dilbert Style) 

Their Guy: "Quick Matt! We need to fix this problem right away! The people involved are only free for another 15 minutes! We're on the bridge - join us as quick as possible." 

Now I'm a pretty bright dude so I figure out fairly quickly that the 'bridge' being referenced is a conference call, not a physical structure. As the people involved don't even work for Da-bank, I have no knowledge of their conference call technologies whatsoever. 

Me: "Forgive me for this - but I don't know how to access the bridge." 

Their Guy: "Oh - no problem - just call this 800 number, then enter this 7 digit passcode when prompted."

I call.

And get muzak.

For longer than it took me to type this all out. Good thing that they were in such a hurry. 

Update: Finally Their Guy came on the line and said "Oh hey - I'm going to give you two phone numbers to call Our Other Guy directly." 

He does. 

I try both numbers and get voice mail on both. I reply all to everyone involved giving my direct line (for the second time) and ask Their Other Guy to call me directly. 

I'm still waiting for that call. 

Think that I will write a new song while I'm waiting - it goes like this: "Stuuuupid peeeeeeeeople - they irritate my
braaaaaaain." 

Update 2.0:
I finally got a call from Their Other Guy. I walked him through the 5 minutes worth of work that needed doing. He's going to reboot, test, and call me back.

All I can think is "Did it really need to be that hard?" I'm in a pretty good mood though, so I'm snickering rather than pull out my few remaining precious hairs.
 

I just did my expense report for last month. I generaly don't have many expenses, so I often don't do an expense report. I always had the mindset: "If I don't get paid back for the $0.50 I put in the meter, I'm not going to sweat it. I expensed my phone bill every couple of months (for both months) and that was that.

One of my coworkers started at the bank recently, and he's kinda a wiz at this stuff. So he pointed out that I should be charging the company for travel either to and from my house or to and from our office to the bank - whichever is more. He also nudged me about not getting reimbursed for the parking fees I had been acruing (though I had already planned for that).

Add in two months worth of phone bill, and... well... let's just say that the Netherlands just got a whole lot more comfortable. :)

It's funny, but I kinda think that these things are like calories in a diet. It's amazing the 'little stuff' that just sorta has a way of 'slipping by'.

The (sorta) new boss just told a joke that clearly included me. This is a first. He tends to be a little on the quiet side (at least when I'm around) and so he's probably been the one on the team who has most been making me feel like an outsider.

The joke? I said something like "How is that thing still burning?" (In reference to the warehouse next door.) His response was "Well if you would stop throwing lit matches on the thing!"

Hoaky, I know, but it was nice to feel 'included'.

This is really ridiculous. I'm bored to tears here. At least if I had my access account I could check my email to keep myself entertained. As it stands now, I more or less sit here and listen to everyone else's keyboard click. I messaged Corey already, because we don't really know where he is. I checked with Rich to see if there was something he wanted me to be doing, and his response was for me to 'try to get in touch wth Corey'.

I just want to 1.be useful 2.be learning 3.BE DOING SOMETHING. This doesn't seem like a lot to ask for.

It's looking like another one of those mornings. It's almost 20 minutes past 9 and no sign of Corey or Rich. I guess I'm going to head back over to the other building and finish getting asset info.

Finally feels like they're getting me to do something like work around here.

Corey gave me a thumb drive with Ghost and an image. I have the key to access the closet with all the new pcs, and I have a couple different 'moves' to do (new pc installs). I'll be setting up the new pcs, ghosting the drives, running initial set-ups, and recording asset info.

Something vaguely like computer work after 2 days of nothing.

Also - Rich Harrington filled out the form to get me an id this morning. I don't have it yet, but soon I'll be able to walk around like I'm actually supposed to be here!

First part of my day was spent finding a printer. Which was three cubicles away from where it should be.

Found out today that the Barclay Bank gig is finally going to happen. Tom came over to the office and told me that I'll be heading over there tomorrow morning. I'm a little nervous about the idea, but Paul said that he might be joining me. I don't know if that's going to happen or not, but I actually hope not. I want some experience that none of the other guys have.

Yesterday was a good day.

I went into work begrudgingly only to be told to go home at 10am due to the bad weather. Fortunately, it's not too big a deal since I drive just about the biggest red-neckiest pickup truck you'd ever want to see. Got home to find my most excellent neighbor Justin outside doing battle with the ice that encrusts his driveway, our sidewalk, and our driveway. I pulled open my shirt to reveal the giant S benieth and got straight to work helping him out so that he would have the option to go to work if his boss required it. (Silly boy with a little 2 wheel drive vehicle.) The ice started to get the better of us, so we made a run to Home Depot in order to pick up more salt and a... I don't know what they're called - an 'ice blade'?

When we got back from the depot, J was clearly worn out. We managed to get our respective drives/walks done, and I went to help out the guy a couple doors down from J with my trusty new ice blade (which made all the difference in the world). The neighbor's neighbor was a big guy who was clearly winded by the effort involved in getting his walk cleared of the thick ice. I couldn't stand by and see him struggling with it. At first he seemed a little startled by my presence, but he was thankful for the help.

Then came the girl who lives down the street in the other direction. She had an armload of books, a backpack, and some miscellaneous other gear. Clearly a student. You could see the trepedation on her face as she started to clear the ice that had gathered on her car. She was in a hurry. A few minutes later, she was cleared off and thanking me for the helping hand.

Damn I love that feeling - helping unexpectedly. If you are expecting it, there's nothing I want to do less, but if I know that you have no idea it's coming, then I am the forunate one when all is said and done.

I returned to my own drive to finish up the last little bits and Justin just looked at me incredulously.

Quote of the day:

"You're an animal. I just don't understand how you're still shovelling!"

And my day got a little bit brighter.

Then I got to spend some time snuggling with xtingu watching movies and eating the amazin Tom Gai soup she had cooked for dinner. Side note: if any of you get the chance, I HIGHLY recommend getting her to make it for you. Tasty doesn't cover it. If you're 'lightly' veggie - pick the chicken out- it'll be more than worth your effort.

Today was also a good day. Got up and begrudgingly came to work.

I should point out here that I love my job. I really do. However, I'm working on side projects (which is really just a pretty way of saying process documentation) and that can be done from anywhere. Thus, given the option, I would muuuch rather be working from the comfort of my home office complete with better computer, dual monitors, etc etc.

Anyway, I get to the office, fiddle around a bit with the formatting of the documents, get redirected by my boss as to how he wants the documents done, and fiddle some more.

Lunch was spent getting smooched and hanging out with the every lovely xtingu, who then made me a bag lunch to eat at my desk. I didn't want to go back to the office, but she convinced me (rightfully I think) that it was the Right Thing to Do™.

And the boss turned around and said we should all go home a half hour later. Damn good thing I'm salaried.

Which means I'll be able to go where I'm comfortable to get work done. And no... I would never go home and surf the web or check (and/or post) to LJ. Why do you ask?