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The end of a very frustrating week
Jul. 31st, 2009 01:28 pmI hate to be micromanaged. I especially hate to be micromanaged by someone who has no idea what they are talking about. Yes, that's right - Apparently input on the color and typeface on the file labels is no loner sufficient - COMB has decided that he will be the one to say where all the IT and data equipment goes.
I warned our IT contractor "Show up prepared to forcefully explain why he can't put our servers in a smal unventillated closet 'so that they are out of the way'". We managed to get hin down to "up on a long shelf in the copy room with two fans behind them - the fact that 3/4 of the people in the office (including the person who has to change the backup tape every day) are under 5'4" tall notwithstanding. At least now I know where we'll be keeping the stepladder.
After he finished telling both the IT and electrical/wiring guy how to do their jobs, he stepped out to the Men's room. Both men looked at me like deer in headlinghts and said "there's no way to get all this done in 3 weeks". I said "Don't tell me, TELL HIM!! We've already established that he's not listening to me."
Then we came back downstairs and he blithely told me "We don't need two printers - we'll streamline things!" Once I picked up my jaw off the floor, I scurried around and in consultation with everyone in the office - you know the people that actually DO the work - and pointed out that 1) both printers were often in use at the same time 2) the copier/printer/scanner is often clogged up on large jobs when you need something printed and 3) what if one breaks down. I got him to grudgingly admit that we might be right.
Half an hour later, the copier/printer/scanner broke down. Irony is tasty sometimes.
This afternoon I get to go back upstairs and get a bid for moving the phone system box up 5 feet on the wall - basically "Because I said so". He may come to his senses when he learns that it will likely double the cost for the transfer, but I doubt it.
It also somehow undermines his authority when he can't remember the difference between a printer and a fax machine. Shouting "well why do we need BOTH of those things there?!?!?" while I try (and fail) to patiently explain that they are different machines - well I suppose it's funny if you're not there.
The other good one was yelling at me when he asked for a ruler and brought him one, when what he really wanted was a tape measure.
He also told me "You should have said something!" when at his direct I sent an e-mail to Mr. Bryce ........instead of the Mr. ...... Brace like he meant to. I said "Plato, you don't listen to me when I DO know what I'm talking about. What in hell makes you think you're likely to listen to me when you know I'm only guessing?"
I'm really glad he's not here today - though he did call me 5 times before 9:45 AM. But I can actually get things accomplished for a change. Just finished a ruthless purge of the storage closet, since there's no one to say "but what if we NEED that?" about our copy of Rent Roll for DOS, or the driver disks for equipment we haven't had since 2004.
In other news, it continues to be a glorious summer in Chicago. We had one week where temps were in the 90s and maybe one or two where we topped 85, but other than than it's been high-70s-low-80s and generally nice. It was actually cold enough last night that I pulled my grandmother's afgan from the shelves around 2AM.
I replaced a couple of straps on my knockoff skychair - likely from abrading against the brick wall in the wind. Sewing would have been better but since I switched to a heavier strapping I used a good adhesive instead, so I hope it works. It really is quite nice to sit out there (when my neighbors haven't invited their 35 closest family members over to tun up and down the back steps all evening). It's well-shaded, though I can sit so I get sun on my legs in the afternoon. I'm somewhat surrounded by my container plants, most of whom are doing quite well. There is a steady breeze and the parking lot next door is usually empry outside of business hours so it's comparatively quiet for a city location. I can watch clouds or airplanes (or pigeons), or read a book. Since I have no screen door I got one of those hanging/velcro screens for it and Pepper has mastered nudging under it to come outside to visit/explore. She's never tried to go down the stairs at all, and contents herself with investigating the neighbor's toys and trash bags as well as whatever plants she can reach. The occasional nose-bonk on my butt while I'm out there is amusing - it's sort of the bunny-equivalet of "hey, whassup" and then going about her business.
Rehearsals are going OK, though I admit to lacking enthusiasm due to the thinning of gigs this year. But we got a lot done last night, and the new arrangement of 'Fields of Athenry' is shivery. We fully intend to stride into Bristol in style with a nice mix of solid old stuff and new material.
Tomorrow I have a dentist appt in the morning to get the permanent crown put in the upper right side. The temp one was uncomfy for a while and loosened at one point but I shoved it back in and I've just been chewing on the other side for the most part. Then I have household stuff in the afternoon while waiting for People Gas to come and service the remote meter-reader for the association. Hopefully they show up this time - last time they blew me off and have been sending us nasty-grams ever since. Then I want to haul some stuff down to my new-and-improved larger storage locker - I told the rest of the board that I'm taking advantage of my position (as well as the fact that I'm the one who cleaned out the abandoned ones) and switching over to the larger one across the hall. I found a bunch of tossable crap but also some decent tools, quite a bit of tile and adhesive, a large mirror and a full can of a nice deep red paint which I am considering for my kitchen. It would certainly be a change and I'm planning to buy paint to redo it anyway - if it sucks then all I'm out is the labor. But I'm going to haul my plastic shelving unit down there and hope that much of my CD inventory can go down there and I can have the rest of my costume closet back.
Sunday I think plans are in the offing to go to the Art Institute to see the Japanese Screens exhibit, and then I
I warned our IT contractor "Show up prepared to forcefully explain why he can't put our servers in a smal unventillated closet 'so that they are out of the way'". We managed to get hin down to "up on a long shelf in the copy room with two fans behind them - the fact that 3/4 of the people in the office (including the person who has to change the backup tape every day) are under 5'4" tall notwithstanding. At least now I know where we'll be keeping the stepladder.
After he finished telling both the IT and electrical/wiring guy how to do their jobs, he stepped out to the Men's room. Both men looked at me like deer in headlinghts and said "there's no way to get all this done in 3 weeks". I said "Don't tell me, TELL HIM!! We've already established that he's not listening to me."
Then we came back downstairs and he blithely told me "We don't need two printers - we'll streamline things!" Once I picked up my jaw off the floor, I scurried around and in consultation with everyone in the office - you know the people that actually DO the work - and pointed out that 1) both printers were often in use at the same time 2) the copier/printer/scanner is often clogged up on large jobs when you need something printed and 3) what if one breaks down. I got him to grudgingly admit that we might be right.
Half an hour later, the copier/printer/scanner broke down. Irony is tasty sometimes.
This afternoon I get to go back upstairs and get a bid for moving the phone system box up 5 feet on the wall - basically "Because I said so". He may come to his senses when he learns that it will likely double the cost for the transfer, but I doubt it.
It also somehow undermines his authority when he can't remember the difference between a printer and a fax machine. Shouting "well why do we need BOTH of those things there?!?!?" while I try (and fail) to patiently explain that they are different machines - well I suppose it's funny if you're not there.
The other good one was yelling at me when he asked for a ruler and brought him one, when what he really wanted was a tape measure.
He also told me "You should have said something!" when at his direct I sent an e-mail to Mr. Bryce ........instead of the Mr. ...... Brace like he meant to. I said "Plato, you don't listen to me when I DO know what I'm talking about. What in hell makes you think you're likely to listen to me when you know I'm only guessing?"
I'm really glad he's not here today - though he did call me 5 times before 9:45 AM. But I can actually get things accomplished for a change. Just finished a ruthless purge of the storage closet, since there's no one to say "but what if we NEED that?" about our copy of Rent Roll for DOS, or the driver disks for equipment we haven't had since 2004.
In other news, it continues to be a glorious summer in Chicago. We had one week where temps were in the 90s and maybe one or two where we topped 85, but other than than it's been high-70s-low-80s and generally nice. It was actually cold enough last night that I pulled my grandmother's afgan from the shelves around 2AM.
I replaced a couple of straps on my knockoff skychair - likely from abrading against the brick wall in the wind. Sewing would have been better but since I switched to a heavier strapping I used a good adhesive instead, so I hope it works. It really is quite nice to sit out there (when my neighbors haven't invited their 35 closest family members over to tun up and down the back steps all evening). It's well-shaded, though I can sit so I get sun on my legs in the afternoon. I'm somewhat surrounded by my container plants, most of whom are doing quite well. There is a steady breeze and the parking lot next door is usually empry outside of business hours so it's comparatively quiet for a city location. I can watch clouds or airplanes (or pigeons), or read a book. Since I have no screen door I got one of those hanging/velcro screens for it and Pepper has mastered nudging under it to come outside to visit/explore. She's never tried to go down the stairs at all, and contents herself with investigating the neighbor's toys and trash bags as well as whatever plants she can reach. The occasional nose-bonk on my butt while I'm out there is amusing - it's sort of the bunny-equivalet of "hey, whassup" and then going about her business.
Rehearsals are going OK, though I admit to lacking enthusiasm due to the thinning of gigs this year. But we got a lot done last night, and the new arrangement of 'Fields of Athenry' is shivery. We fully intend to stride into Bristol in style with a nice mix of solid old stuff and new material.
Tomorrow I have a dentist appt in the morning to get the permanent crown put in the upper right side. The temp one was uncomfy for a while and loosened at one point but I shoved it back in and I've just been chewing on the other side for the most part. Then I have household stuff in the afternoon while waiting for People Gas to come and service the remote meter-reader for the association. Hopefully they show up this time - last time they blew me off and have been sending us nasty-grams ever since. Then I want to haul some stuff down to my new-and-improved larger storage locker - I told the rest of the board that I'm taking advantage of my position (as well as the fact that I'm the one who cleaned out the abandoned ones) and switching over to the larger one across the hall. I found a bunch of tossable crap but also some decent tools, quite a bit of tile and adhesive, a large mirror and a full can of a nice deep red paint which I am considering for my kitchen. It would certainly be a change and I'm planning to buy paint to redo it anyway - if it sucks then all I'm out is the labor. But I'm going to haul my plastic shelving unit down there and hope that much of my CD inventory can go down there and I can have the rest of my costume closet back.
Sunday I think plans are in the offing to go to the Art Institute to see the Japanese Screens exhibit, and then I