March 16, 2006

Shyea, right!

SNOW WARNING!


/O.CON.KLOT.WS.W.0001.000000T0000Z- 060317T0600Z/ WINNEBAGO-BOONE-MCHENRY- LAKE ILLINOIS-OGLE-LEE-DE KALB-KANE- DUPAGE-COOK- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF... ROCKFORD...WOODSTOCK...WAUKEGAN... OREGON...DIXON...DEKALB...AURORA... CHICAGO 408 AM CST THU MAR 16 2006
...WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL MIDNIGHT CST TONIGHT...
A WINTER STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL MIDNIGHT CST TONIGHT.
SNOW WILL DEVELOP OVER NORTH CENTRAL ILLINOIS AROUND SUNRISE SPREADING EAST INTO PORTIONS OF THE CHICAGO METRO AREA AFTER 9 AM. SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 88 AND THE EISENHOWER EXPRESSWAY... PRECIPITATION WILL BEGIN AS A MIX OF RAIN AND SNOW TRANSITIONING TO ALL SNOW EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. SNOW WILL BE HEAVY AT TIMES THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING...TAPERING TO FLURRIES AROUND MIDNIGHT.
SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF 4 TO 8 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE WARNING AREA...WITH THE HIGHEST AMOUNTS EXPECTED NEAR THE WISCONSIN BORDER. SLIGHTLY LESSER ACCUMULATIONS OF 3 TO 5 INCHES ARE EXPECTED SOUTH OF DOWNTOWN CHICAGO.
A WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW ARE EXPECTED...RESULTING IN HAZARDOUS TRAVEL CONDITIONS.

For the third time this year they are calling for a snow storm. Depending on which station/weather report you get depends on how much snow they are predicting. One station has even gone so far as to predict a foot of snow. Based on the accuracy of past predictions of the National Weather Service, NOAA, and the local media IÂ’m going to go out on a limb and say not more then 3 inches and probably closer to one. I think that over the last four years they are 0 for 28 when it comes to predicting severe weather. When we do get hit by bad weather itÂ’s when they predict either a light snow or rain.

BAH!

Posted by: Contagion at 06:06 AM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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March 15, 2006

Good times.

Finally got home from work today. Not too bad, only about an 11 hour day. I was able to spend most of the day learning the aspects of my new position and about my new reports. For the first time in years IÂ’m excited about work. IÂ’m really looking forward to being able to work with these people and hopefully make their jobs easier.

I know there are a lot of rumors at work about me flying around. They are worried that IÂ’m going to come over and make all kinds of changes. After today I decided IÂ’m going to stick with my original game plan. If itÂ’s not broke, donÂ’t fix it. IÂ’m going to take the time to get to know my reports first and see what they need. If they have something that they feel would make their jobs easier, IÂ’ll see what I can do. Until then, I think IÂ’m going to leave things the way they are.

I just want them to be comfortable with me. From my own personal experience, I know there is nothing more stressful at work than getting a new supervisor and having them make a lot of changes.

Posted by: Contagion at 06:27 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 202 words, total size 1 kb.

The wolf's view.

Yet another case of someone spreading lies and making false statements about his fellow bloggers. The only comments I can blatently call bullshite on are the ones regarding me liking to hug. The rest appear to be true. The Laughing Wolf finally posted his take on Wolf Fest, about a month late.

Why can't other bloggers be more like me, I never make up tales about other bloggers. Everything I post is the absolute truth!

Posted by: Contagion at 05:31 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 81 words, total size 1 kb.

Good(?) Morning

It's 5:30 AM, I'm leaving for work shortly. There is a chance that I will not be home until well after 7:00 PM. Tomorrow I get to repeat the process again.

I love busy weeks.

Posted by: Contagion at 05:28 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 39 words, total size 1 kb.

March 14, 2006

Busy, busy man.

One of the company offices in a different city was hit by a tornado Sunday night. Being the nice guy that I am, I volunteered to step up and do my job for both my office and their office this week. Meanwhile IÂ’m learning the systems and tasks for my supervisor position that starts on Monday. IÂ’m looking at 12 hour shifts for the rest of the week.

To say I’m busy is an understatement. Normally I wouldn’t do all of this, but if it was my office that was hit I would want someone to step up and help me. Yet, this whole time all I can think is, “My last week”. And a smile spreads across my face.

Posted by: Contagion at 05:26 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 126 words, total size 1 kb.

March 13, 2006

Now that is awkward

Friday night I went out with some people from work. One of my friends is leaving the company and moving to Arizona. HeÂ’s been with the company for three years and started off in the other office, about 6 months ago he transferred to our office. HeÂ’s a bit of a social butterfly, unlike shy olÂ’ me, so there where a lot of people there to wish him well.

Many of these people were not from my current unit, so I didnÂ’t know who they where. After a while, I forced myself to stop being such a wall flower and try to talk to some of the people I didnÂ’t know. When I saw a table that had a group that I didnÂ’t know sitting at it, I walked up. Taking a seat, I waited until they finished their conversation to introduce myself. IÂ’m thinking I should have been a little more aggressive to save the following situation from happening.

Worker A: IÂ’m not sure who he is, do you?

Worker B: IÂ’ve never met him; IÂ’m not sure who he is either. Do you know anything about him?

Worker C: Not at all, heÂ’s from the other office.

(At this point IÂ’m getting ready to interrupt, introduce myself and inquire who they where talking about.)

Worker A: All I know is that he got the promotion. I heard he is an asshole.

(Only two people received a promotion at work in the last couple of weeks, and only one of them was male, me.)

Contagion: I donÂ’t know, I always thought I was a pretty nice guy. Hi, IÂ’m (Contagion).

The looks on their faces was classic. I sat and talked with them for a little bit and even bought them a drink. We laughed about the whole thing. There is a chance that one of them may end up reporting to me next week. To me it would be better that they feel comfortable with me, then to be worried about some kind of imagined repercussion for an incident of gossiping outside of the work place. ThatÂ’s just not something I do, nor do I want them thinking that way of me. As far as IÂ’m concerned, what happens outside of work can not be punished at work. In fact that is the corporate policy.

Personally, IÂ’d never risk it. You never know what is going to happen and who is going to try to get you in trouble for an imagined slight after hours at the local bar.

Posted by: Contagion at 04:37 PM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
Post contains 429 words, total size 2 kb.

I guess I am good.

It’s funny how someone goes from zero to hero when they are no longer going to be around. For the last 3 months I’ve been told that I suck at my job, which was one of the major motivators to put in for the position change. When it was announced that I had received the position, the manager I reported to suddenly became concerned “whether or not they could find someone capable of replacing me.” Her words, not mine. When they told her last Thursday that this Friday, the 17th was going to be my last day she flew into a panic.

An emergency meeting was called between her and my peers to go overÂ… can you guess? Reports of all things! ThatÂ’s right, the same crap weÂ’ve been going over for the last 3 months we have an emergency meeting to discuss. Why? Because IÂ’m leaving and they want them universal for when they find my replacement. We were all supposed to bring in a print out of each report we do and discuss how we use them. Then she was going to decide which reports she wanted us to use.

I went first, showed my examples, explained how they where used and where the data came from. Only one report that I use, the other office uses and they got it from me. When it was the turn of my counterpart from the other office to go over hers, she made the comment, “After looking at (Contagion’s) reports, I’m switching to those. They are quicker, they are easier to read and they have better data.” She then went on to explain that while mine take about 15-20 minutes to run, hers takes 1 to 2 hours. My one report system does the work that equates 4 of her reports.

Then we started going over one of her reports to track productivity. I was listening carefully, even though IÂ’m leaving, because this has always been something that is annoying to track. While my counterpart was going over her report, I couldnÂ’t help but ask questions and get clarification, make suggestions and in general improve the way it works. The manager was impressed because this was a problem they have had for 6 months and couldnÂ’t resolve. 30 minutes of my looking at it, I had pinpointed their problem areas, corrected it and solved a majority of their problems, including making sure they have the correct information.

This meeting that was supposed to last an hour, ended up going on for two hours. Now this week they want to pick my brain some more before I leave. It feels good to finally be appreciated for the roll that I had in the company, even if it is too late to change anything. They want to schedule more meetings this week to go over some other things, but I donÂ’t have a lot of time. ItÂ’s too bad they didnÂ’t take me up on my offer of helping them with these back in December, or ever couple of weeks since.

Posted by: Contagion at 04:05 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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March 11, 2006

They're taking the Hobbits to Isengard

What happens when you get a Sci-Fi/Fantasy fan with too much free time and a terminal case of boredom? You get TheyÂ’re Taking the Hobbits to Isengard. ItÂ’s a somewhat amusing video based on the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. I know my wife will probably enjoy it because she has a thing for Orlando Bloom.

Taking thehobbitstoisengard.JPG

If you donÂ’t want to wait for it to load, you can download it here if you want it with a better resolution.

Posted by: Contagion at 12:57 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Legomania

As a kid, I loved Legos. Heck, as an adult I like playing Legos with the boys. Over the years IÂ’ve made some pretty strange items. Once I even made a working lamp. It last a whole 4 days before I knocked it over and it shattered on the floor. Yet there are people out there that have made some pretty amazing things. Check out the Top 10 Strangest Lego Creations.

Posted by: Contagion at 12:36 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Kitty Vs Cat!

Someone told me there was an on going battle between cats going on last night. When they described it, I thought they where talking about cat fighting. This morning (after relieving a hangover) I went to check out KittenWar. Needless to say I was dismayed that you are just voting on the cutest kitten.

I think kitty death matches would have been more entertaining.

Posted by: Contagion at 12:30 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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March 10, 2006

Now I'm important.

It was a long day at work today. Between meetings (regarding my new position), my normal work and people who are interesting in my current position sitting with me to see if they want my job I barely finished anything. The next couple of weeks are going to be really hectic for me. I didnÂ’t realize how much blog fodder I was going to get from this whole escapade.

I’d post more tonight, but I’m getting ready to go out. One of my friends from work is relocating to Arizona and we’re having a going away party for him tonight. I will leave you with this tidbit; now that I have this new position the “Contagion sucks at his job” opinion went down the drain and has been replaced with “CRAP! Contagion is only has a week left before he transfers!”

Posted by: Contagion at 12:23 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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March 09, 2006

An addition to the School.

It appears that Phin's fry finally arrived. Congratulations! Say goodbye to sleep!

Posted by: Contagion at 05:44 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Why I don't use UPS

If UPS leaves a package on you front porch, and it doesn’t belong to you, can you keep it? I’m just wondering because that’s what happened tonight. We got home to find a package sitting on our front porch. Now some of you may not remember the saga I had with UPS where they kept leaving packages on my front porch (that were meant for me) after I had a “signature required” placed on all packages delivered to this address. When I saw that box on the front porch, I about blew my top. Fortunately Ktreva noticed that the package was addressed for another house on the block, before I started making phone calls.

DonÂ’t get me wrong; I called UPS anyway to advise them of their problem. The supervisor who called me back just didnÂ’t seem to care that they delivered it to the wrong house. She didnÂ’t seem to care one bit. In fact she was making excuses as that the reason the guy left it was because there was a different address on the box. If it had my address on it, he wouldnÂ’t have left it there. The whole time she was explaining this to me, I could feel an aneurysm starting. Where in the hell was she coming from with this? How is the fact that they delivered a package to the wrong address better then them leaving a package for me on my porch without a signature?!?!?!

She told me she was going to send a driver out tomorrow to come pick up the package and deliver it. What?! First off they should have sent someone out tonight, they made the mistake, they should correct it that day. I told her that I would deliver the package to the neighbor, as it was just stupid for them to send a driver out to deliver the package for someone that lives on the same block. Then I told her that they, UPS, are lucky that they delivered it to the house of someone as honest as me. There are many people in this world that would have kept the package and not told anyone. She didnÂ’t seem to see what the big deal was.

When I delivered the package to my neighbor, she was pissed. She said that she had been waiting for it all day and had called twice because the tracking number had said it was delivered on the website. ThatÂ’s right folks, it showed delivered and she didnÂ’t have it. Needless to say I told her the story and she became rather heated. IÂ’m suspecting that UPS is getting another call about this.

I just donÂ’t get it people, but this is why I donÂ’t use UPS for shipping. UPS Sucks!

Posted by: Contagion at 05:22 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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How to introduce yourself to your new employees.

When being introduced to someone of the opposite sex it is a good idea to not great them by saying, “I’m looking forward to having you under me.”

It could be taken the wrong way.

Fortunately for all that heard, there was much laughter.

Posted by: Contagion at 04:01 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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March 08, 2006

Contagion the Supervisor

I GOT IT! Well it looks like my charm paid out. I over came the stigma of it being a lateral transfer for the supervisor position. That means no more minions. Since IÂ’ll have direct reports IÂ’m going to have to be more polite in my nicknames for them. This of course means no more minion stories; IÂ’ll actually have to be nice to my reports. But maybe when I need to pull a stunt IÂ’ll go over to my old stomping grounds. The timing couldnÂ’t have been better either. My new manager (From the other office) is up to old tricks again. Now I donÂ’t have to care as that in a week IÂ’ll no longer be reporting to her.

And before anyone starts in on the EEOC BS about me getting the position; the candidate I beat out would have also filled more EEOC requirements than I did.

Now if youÂ’ll excuse me, IÂ’m going to go do a little celebrating.

Posted by: Contagion at 04:10 PM | Comments (27) | Add Comment
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March 07, 2006

Morally reprehensible

I have seen some wild schemes before, but Dr. Phat Tony bought a goat, named her Jill, and if he doesn’t earn $16,000.00 off of her before March 15, 2007 he’s going to kill and eat her. He has even come up with a “Save Jill” t-shirt you can buy. $2.00 of each purchase goes toward saving Jill’s life. At first I thought he was just joking, but I’m starting to take him serious.

Hey, IÂ’m all for trying to raise money any way you want. But I find this absolutely appalling. What heÂ’s doing is a travesty and should be stopped. He has to think about how this is going to affect his family. Thus I refuse to donate any money to the preservation of Jill.

I mean cÂ’mon if your going to kill and eat a goat, donÂ’t wait a year. It gets too stringy. Personally I think he should let it age about two more months and then eat it. It should still be really tender and have a great taste. Hell, if he wants IÂ’m sure I can get Wes to give him the recipe for his Scottish Goat Chili! Everything is better with goat!

Let's face it folks, that delicious walking roast is not going to raise that kind of money in a year, why let the meat go bad?

Update: It seems that JimmyB, the Conservative UAW Guy, has even gotten into trying to ruin to meat!

Posted by: Contagion at 05:32 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Of Ice and Language.

This morning I left the house to go to work. Ktreva had to drive down state, so it was just the boys and I. Not having driven my truck in the last 3 days there was quite a bit of snow on my windshield. At least I thought it was snow. When I went to brush it off it didnÂ’t move. There was no snow there, just a three inch thick chunk of ice that covered my entire windshield.

The truck was running, so the defrost could help me clear the windshield. Both boys where secured in their seats watching in fascination as Dad started an educational journey of new vocabulary and dress shoes on ice. For twenty minutes I battled the ice. It would not give way to the scraper. The height of my truck didnÂ’t help either. IÂ’m not a tall man. With great difficulty could I effectively reach the center of my windshield to scrape off the ice.

Meanwhile my boys are sitting inside of the now warm cab laughing and snickering at me. Clone learned a new word (I guess my voice carries over the sound of the engine and through closed doors). Since I am in polite company I will not repeat such vulgarities. Unfortunately, I forgot that courtesy when the children were present. Needless to say on the way to the sitters I was regaled with a chorus of chanted vulgarities that is only mildly amusing when coming from the mouth of a soon to be three year old. No matter how many times I told me not to say, “Those naughty words” he would just keep chanting them.

Of course Boopie was of no help. He was too busy laughing at me. Where Clone missed what happened to bring on such colorful language, Boopie was able to see the performance. Ladies and Gentlemen, let me just say now that I have lived in Northern Illinois for the vast majority of my life. I know how to handle the snow and icy conditions. Unfortunately, in my anger frustration, I forgot that leather soled dress shoes do not provide for the best of winter weather traction. While throwing my entire body into cleaning the windshield, my feet slipped on the ice. What must have appeared to be something out of a movie, I flew into the air landing on my back in the ice encrusted snow along the driveway. From there it must have looked like a business man in an overcoat was trying to make snow angels.

No worries, IÂ’m not injured. Other then a slight bruising of my pride, all is well. ItÂ’s just not how I wanted to start a day.

Posted by: Contagion at 04:02 PM | Comments (13) | Add Comment
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March 06, 2006

Yet another looker.

Guys, have you ever thought about getting into re-enacting? Have you not been able to find that motivation to start? Let me help you out. Our latest Mortar Maiden, Ms. March 2006 Maisie MacRae, is ready for your perusing. ThatÂ’s right, if you re-enact you meet beautiful ladies like her and the other maidens.

Posted by: Contagion at 06:18 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
Post contains 60 words, total size 1 kb.

Let there be snow.

It has been snowing off and on yesterday and today. I believe this is only the third time weÂ’ve had snow with ANY accumulation. It looks like we are up to a whopping 2 inches at this time. Yet all I heard today was people complaining that it is snowing. As I listen to these people complain, I just want to scream at them. My screams would remind them that weÂ’ve in a drought for the last year and a half. We have hardly had any snow this winter, and that is vital to preparing the soil for planting. The much needed moisture the snow provides will be necessary for crops.

Yet these people donÂ’t understand that. All they see is that they are minorly inconvenienced by having to drive on slick roads. Since they arenÂ’t farmers and their jobs arenÂ’t dependant directly upon a crop, they just donÂ’t care. Many of them complained last year when it did rain. All they think about is how it affects their little world. Heaven forbid the farmers need the rain; itÂ’s interfering with Dick and JaneÂ’s weekend on the lake! IÂ’ll admit I get irritated when it rains on one of my re-enactments. Yet I always seem to make the statement, If we didnÂ’t need the rain, IÂ’d be pissed. I admit we need the rain and accept it. Not these people, nope. They just complain that itÂ’s interfering with their lives.

Personally, I would like to see a good 2 feet of snow fall on us. We havenÂ’t had much in the line of snow fall all year. I miss the old winters when I could get lost in the snow banks digging forts.

Posted by: Contagion at 04:09 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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March 05, 2006

Guilt

Welll, I fell bad. I have, er had, 6 Murphy's Pint size IRish Stouts, and 8 Guinness Draught cans today that realy needed to be drank. I'm helping Ogre celecbrate teh month of sain't Patricks. Unfortunately my normale drinking buddies where preoccupied, thus I had to drink them myself. That is where the guilt comes in. Is it selfish of me to drink alll this good beer myself if theyh don't bother checking to see if I need help, or is it selfish of me not to inform them that I have the free beer and drink it all myself?!?

Either way its gone, and I'm feeling.. er, uh, mellow. My wife, Ktreva, is already yellng at me about not taking care fo the boys. I tried to tell her to shut her sas mouth, but that only recieved a whack across the back of my head with a frying pan. Thank god, for all those times lil'Joe used to hit me with a baseball bat. Due to that, I was able to shurg it off.

Posted by: Contagion at 06:00 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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