Waiting Elephant
My last 12 hours have been a rough ride, figuratively. Nat took off at 6:45 for a birthday celebration for one of her mom-friends. The expression "mom-friend" is understood by people with kids. It translates to, "A person I would have otherwise never known had it not been for these meddling kids." She guessed she would be gone for 2 hours. 3 hours later she was still out.
Normally that's fine, since Julia doesn't go to bed until 10 most days anyway. Right now we're encouraging her to slide that time later so we can get her used to Taiwan time. But she has this thing now where she starts to melt down at 9:30 and she needs a lot of attention. That's cool, right? I can do that, provide attention. I fed her, cleaned her up, gave her a bath, got her PJs on, watched her show with her, gave her medicine, played puzzles, and brushed her teeth. I'm ok, no sweat, right?
Well of course work has a meltdown, totally and utterly melted down. We have this shoddy web-based non-production grade file reporting system that STB once a week and decided that last night it was going to do it again. So when they called at 6:15, I told them to do what they always do. Recycle entire system, rinse, repeat, have a nice day, and don't forget to wash behind your ears.
I hear nothing for almost 3 hours. So I call in when Julia is destroying some sort of organization and they tell me they recycled and the user is in transit home and there's nothing to report and thanks for calling. Oh and yes we washed behind our ears, thank you very much.
Then at 9:30 Julia starts her meltdown and I give her attention. Work calls, still a problem. I'm open and honest in saying, "Look, I've got my daughter, I can't get on a conference call right now." Them: Fine. Me: Fine.
Fine.
They call again. I resist the urge to have a meltdown of my own.
Finally Nat gets home at 10. I call in. They call. I call. No fucking clue what the problem is. The user doesn't care. He gets on the phone and says we can do it tomorrow. Why are we so apeshit if the user doesn't care? Why does the world need to friggin melt down if the user doesn't care? I can't wait to move on at times like this.
I get to bed at 11:30. I wake up at 4:45. I pound out an hour of pain on the trainer and catch the last 15 minutes of the 1975 classic (read: shitty movie) Race with the Devil (note: the "good guys" all die at the end - seriously) then get showered up and ready for work. Then I have my solitary moment of peace for the day. This happens between 6:25 and 6:30. Here is how it goes. I sit down with my coffee, black, remember. This current cup is a blend of 2/3 Brazilian and 1/3 pungent Indian Monsoon coffee. Just me and the cup, pure bliss. And I have my sandwich. One slice of multi-grain bread with all the seeds and so on, toasted. On top of that 1/3 of a Florida avocado, sliced. A bit of salt, then a slice of marbled cheddar cheese. On top of that a pan-fried egg.
I love this breakfast. I have some variation of it almost every morning. It is so goddamn good words do nothing to relay the awesomeness of this one item of culinary perfection to the reader. Yesterday I proclaimed that whoever invented breakfast is a fucking genius. I enjoy this in my 5 minute window of solitude where nothing disrupts me. Me, my coffee, and my sandwich. Solitude, silence, and utter bliss.
And still "it" awaits me. The problem, the crap system, the users, the coworkers, the incessant nagging at work. The train is quiet right now, a rare treat in this day and age of Every Dick Bag Has a Cell Phone. The sun is out, the day was clean and crisp this morning. It felt good. And yet, the White Elephant is there, waiting. Always waiting.
Wish me luck.
Normally that's fine, since Julia doesn't go to bed until 10 most days anyway. Right now we're encouraging her to slide that time later so we can get her used to Taiwan time. But she has this thing now where she starts to melt down at 9:30 and she needs a lot of attention. That's cool, right? I can do that, provide attention. I fed her, cleaned her up, gave her a bath, got her PJs on, watched her show with her, gave her medicine, played puzzles, and brushed her teeth. I'm ok, no sweat, right?
Well of course work has a meltdown, totally and utterly melted down. We have this shoddy web-based non-production grade file reporting system that STB once a week and decided that last night it was going to do it again. So when they called at 6:15, I told them to do what they always do. Recycle entire system, rinse, repeat, have a nice day, and don't forget to wash behind your ears.
I hear nothing for almost 3 hours. So I call in when Julia is destroying some sort of organization and they tell me they recycled and the user is in transit home and there's nothing to report and thanks for calling. Oh and yes we washed behind our ears, thank you very much.
Then at 9:30 Julia starts her meltdown and I give her attention. Work calls, still a problem. I'm open and honest in saying, "Look, I've got my daughter, I can't get on a conference call right now." Them: Fine. Me: Fine.
Fine.
They call again. I resist the urge to have a meltdown of my own.
Finally Nat gets home at 10. I call in. They call. I call. No fucking clue what the problem is. The user doesn't care. He gets on the phone and says we can do it tomorrow. Why are we so apeshit if the user doesn't care? Why does the world need to friggin melt down if the user doesn't care? I can't wait to move on at times like this.
I get to bed at 11:30. I wake up at 4:45. I pound out an hour of pain on the trainer and catch the last 15 minutes of the 1975 classic (read: shitty movie) Race with the Devil (note: the "good guys" all die at the end - seriously) then get showered up and ready for work. Then I have my solitary moment of peace for the day. This happens between 6:25 and 6:30. Here is how it goes. I sit down with my coffee, black, remember. This current cup is a blend of 2/3 Brazilian and 1/3 pungent Indian Monsoon coffee. Just me and the cup, pure bliss. And I have my sandwich. One slice of multi-grain bread with all the seeds and so on, toasted. On top of that 1/3 of a Florida avocado, sliced. A bit of salt, then a slice of marbled cheddar cheese. On top of that a pan-fried egg.
I love this breakfast. I have some variation of it almost every morning. It is so goddamn good words do nothing to relay the awesomeness of this one item of culinary perfection to the reader. Yesterday I proclaimed that whoever invented breakfast is a fucking genius. I enjoy this in my 5 minute window of solitude where nothing disrupts me. Me, my coffee, and my sandwich. Solitude, silence, and utter bliss.
And still "it" awaits me. The problem, the crap system, the users, the coworkers, the incessant nagging at work. The train is quiet right now, a rare treat in this day and age of Every Dick Bag Has a Cell Phone. The sun is out, the day was clean and crisp this morning. It felt good. And yet, the White Elephant is there, waiting. Always waiting.
Wish me luck.
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