Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Monday

I've worked 12.25 hours today. At the end, I'd finished the first Training Plan (63 courses and four tests) in a total of 32.5 hours. So much for 34 courses a day to meet the deadline.

Since I'm behind schedule, I have 22 training plans to go--402 courses to go in the next 8.5 days. That's 47+ courses per day.

The 2nd training plan is 61 courses, with 3 tests. And since tomorrow isn't a holiday, there'll be other work coming in.

It's after 1am, and I have Alexa set to wake me at 7:30.

Friday, May 25, 2018

Friday

So...the work project. 23 role-based training plans. I added up the number of topics: 465. Plus tests. If we work weekends and the holiday (that's 13.5 days--this is due by noon on the 6th), we'll need to do 34 topics a day to be finished on June 6. After yesterday's work (a little of this around my other work) and today's 6 hours, I've finished 12 topics in about 9 hours. One topic took 2 hours and 41 minutes; it's got several videos in it, and one video ran 49 minutes.

The likelihood that we'll be done by June 6 is very tiny, but I'll work all the hours I can stand. And I'll work lots of hours on Monday. I think that's automatically time-and-a-half for the holiday. (Or they'll pay me straight time for the hours I work and another 8 hours for the holiday itself.) Something financially useful will happen. (And if I work more than 16 hours between Saturday and Sunday, there'll be overtime this week.)

Of course, the next clue in the MKAL arrived today. But some people finished the clue in one day, so I think it won't take too long to do--even if I am doing it twice.

Greyhound meet and greet tomorrow morning with Jane and Q. 80% chance of rain, and maybe thunderstorms. (There's a tropical wannabe-storm in the Gulf. We've got flash flood warnings.) Then home, settle the dogs, pick up Zaxby's again, and go to Mother. Get her pills set for next week, pick out her clothes for church on Sunday, then home and start working. Then take her to church Sunday morning. (I can take my tablet; I think the wifi there is good enough for me to work.) Bob and Iris's plane is due in about 12:30 Sunday, so Sunday morning finishes the Mother-sitting.


Q is looking the way I feel, these days.

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Wednesday

I've been over to check on Mother every day, while Iris and Bob are on vacation. Mother remembers her pills most days, but she's a bit iffy on breakfast, so far. (Supposedly, she eats a waffle every morning, and should be leaving a plate sticky with syrup. No plate = no breakfast. But there's a fork every day, so she's eating lunch: a Michelina frozen meal--the box is in the trash.) When I don't find a breakfast plate, I give Mother a nutrition bar instead.

Work has been very slow, and someone has come up with a way we can get extra hours, but the instructions haven't been good. We have implemented a new online training session for employees, and the suggestion is that three of us who do a lot of proofing and organizing and editing of the files should take "23 role-based training plans" (including the tests) and let them know how long each plan takes. And they want it done by noon on June 6. Fine.

But what 23 role-based training plans? There's no list of 23 anything: one menu of plans shows 4, another menu shows 6, one shows 15 (but several of those are way out of our pay grade), and one shows more than 100 "courses." If I search "role-based training plans", I get 50 hits before I get tired of counting. I had a slow day today, and I'd love to have gotten some of that stuff out of the way. (I want to knit this holiday weekend--not work on a bunch of files.)

The original request came in late Monday. During the day Tuesday, I poked around in various menus and found I don't have precisely 23 of anything, so late Tuesday I wrote to the woman who sent the initial email and asked for a link or a list or something. Presumably, there's a specific set of plans, since they want to know how long it takes (so they'll know how long to expect employees to take). I haven't heard anything back from her, and today has been really dead. I've emailed her again, and I sent an email to the other two women who are supposed to be doing this to see if they know what 23 plans we're supposed to do. June 6 is 9 working days from today--14 days if you count weekends and the holiday, which I don't want to do.

Is it too much to expect adequate instructions? We'll see if I get instructions tomorrow and find out if my coworkers are as confused as I am.

Meanwhile, I signed up for a mystery knit-along, and I bought yarn to do the pattern twice. (It's a mosaic lace shawl.) The pattern called for Lucero, which is expensive ($36/skein), but is lovely and has a tiny stellina strand to make it sparkle. I ordered one skein of each color I liked--Temperance and Teal--but I wasn't sure they'd get here in time. Thus, I ordered some Knitpicks Gloss in Cranberry and Jade--much less expensive than the Lucero.  We've had the set-up instructions for a few weeks, but the first real clue is due this Friday.



ETA: A coworker responded with a spreadsheet. 23 collections of topics, some of which have 30+ files in the topic. This will be fun.

Sunday, May 20, 2018

Saturday

Long day. Up at 4, dozing and watching wedding to-do. Vertical and truly awake about 7am. Took both dogs to the M&G. Happily, no thunderstorms; Jane got in a couple of naps. We had a big crowd.

Took the dogs home, settled them, picked up food, and went to check on Mother. She took last night's pills and this morning's, but she seems to have skipped breakfast, and possibly skipped dinner last night. But she got chicken fingers, Buffalo wings, celery sticks, and fries today at lunch. Picked out her clothes for church tomorrow, and we got her pills organized for next week. Then I came home and napped. (That's one way to put it: I blacked out completely for about 5 hours. Good dogs let me sleep.)

I woke up in time to see the end of the Braves game. I've done some reading, and I'm about to go back to bed. Alexa is set to wake me at 8am; it also has a reminder for me at 8:20 to call Mother to make sure she's awake. The game plan is to be at the house about 9am, leave for the church about 9:20. Have to remember to grab a paper on the way to the house so she can have the TV listings; then snap a picture of Mother so I have something to show church security what she's wearing if she wanders off.

Friday, May 18, 2018

I'm back

I haven't posted in ages. I'm going to pretend I have and not spend a lot of time playing catch-up. But I'll do a current status: I'm 65. I'm still working. I have two black greyhounds--Q is 5, Jane is 9 (10 in a few weeks). There.

Having dental issues. Three weeks ago, I broke a cap off an upper front tooth. Fixing it will require a complete core/buildup/crown. The other front tooth has a crack and cavities; with the crack, it's not safe to drill, so that'll be a crown. I'm missing two teeth on the upper right, but creating a bridge there would require two more crowns (so the bridge would have "abutments"). And there are other cavities. But I have dental insurance that looks like it's good, so I'm hoping implants will become affordable--or, at least, not a whole lot more than 4 new crowns plus a bridge plus fillings. It depends on how much the insurance will pay. I go in on 31 May for a consultation with the implant guy and the regular dentist. Meanwhile, I cut my cheese sandwich into little bites so I don't pop the crown off its temporary cement cushion by an ill-judged bite.

Today is my elder nephew's birthday. Tomorrow would be the birthdays of Jacey (2003) and Silver (2005).

Waiting on work files from a co-worker who's having computer problems on top of her bronchitis. We had files that were supposed to go live today. It's not happening. I'm just hoping we can get them up Sunday night...before everyone shows up on Monday, yelling "Where are my files?"

I'll be up at 4 to watch the royal wedding, but I leave about 7:30 or so for the Marietta Farmer's Market Meet and Greet. There's rain in the forecast, which would keep the temperature low enough for Jane; but she's thunderphobic, and I'm not sure she should be doing an outdoor meet and greet during a storm. I'll have to check the forecast before we leave. M&G ends at noon: I'll bring the dogs home, go by Zaxby's and pick up a big combo plate, and go to my Mother's to check on her (I'm mother-sitting while my sister and her husband are on vacation) and see if she'll split the food with me. (I may leave her some for dinner.) I'm setting the VCR to record the wedding, and I can catch up later.

I'm reading Emergence--#19 in C.J. Cherryh's Foreigner series. This catches me up (#20 is due out in January), and I've read the entire series since late March. It's been fun. Next up: Jake Tapper's Hellfire Club.