355 - And so it begins

Today was another good day. (Day 10 btw!)Tomorrow (and every day work day til the 31st) promises to be dreadful, ghastly, vile and all around suckitty suck suck.

This morning after downing half a bottle of Advil (that damn headache won't let go of me) I went off to get the gang at their hotel. I dropped them off at the Tower and went to park (I park a few blocks away, and I figure those NH people can't hack it... Plus.. they're like, old and stuff *snicker*) Then played Frogger with the bums on the walk to the office. *walk on this side of the street.. Ooh.. old bum with one shoe, cross to the other side, walk a bit, oh oh, old bum with two shoes but no pants, walk to the other side of the street, avoid the old bum that tells me Jesus loves me and would love me more if I'd give him a cig or some change, run across the street avoiding the train that seems to seriously want to run me over some day, leap into the office building across the street from my office, down the escalator into the tunnels to my office* Now make a mental picture of that and overlay the Frogger sound effects. It's amusing.

9am meeting with some of the politically retarded, adversarials who want me to crash and burn. It went well actually. I wasn't sure if I was pleased with the boss or wanted to bap him for repeatedly mentioning to "web girl" that she should probably sit with the designers on how to make a web page, rather than with the ultra smart developers who she would not understand and just find boring - until "web girl" finally got ultra-snotty and answered "I do have a degree in computer programming, you know!" I was really tempted to say "Yeah? So does my dry cleaner. Not a feat of greatness there, cupcake." But I retained my vacuous smile and professional composure. Always let people think you don't know much, makes them much more likely to slip in front of you. heh.

Our main contact/supporter at the Tower (a NH guy who typically listens half heartedly while fondling his Blackberry - and no that's not dirty) showed up for the meeting. I was a bit shocked, really. It wasn't a terribly important meeting so I didn't expect to see him there. But there he was, and there I was greatly underestimating him. By the end of the meeting the things we were worried about; "web girl" doing her damnedest to undermine us, "Web girl, Special Edition" being nasty and irritating and attempting to aid "web girl" and the ensuing blow up never happened. "web girl, special edition's" boss showed up. Now maybe it's just because he grew up in Boston, but this was a guy I could understand. Sorta say it like it is, lay the cards on the table sort. Now I only was in an hour meeting with the guy, so I could be wrong, but I felt he was fairly genuine in his wanting to work with us, not against us. "Web girl" went sour faced pretty quickly. "Web girl Special Edition" though.. that was a surprise. She actually seemed really interested in what we were proposing. I think she caught the "I could learn something new and interesting" bug. At least it shows she's got a brain. Regular old "web girl" would poop a kitten before admitting she knows nothing and doesn't want to know anything new. "AAAAAAAAAAh! Progress! Get it off me! It may stain!" ..... dumbass. I'm just sayin'.

We left the meeting and had some interesting talks about the state of the mine field which is my job. heh. Then we went to lunch. The boss guy took us to lunch and although I was feeling queasy (damn freakin' migraine!) I was looking forward to actual human interaction during lunch. We went to "Massa's Seafood Grill" in The Houston Center. I had the most amazing grilled salmon ever. SO yummy. Had fun conversation, had the prerequisite "invoices, making money, blah blah blah" conversation, and enjoyed the time out. The boss is good to us.

We went back in and I got a phone call from one of the NH guys (not my team, the supporters team who has a wee bit of pull in the Tower) to tell me that he had no clue that I wasn't getting cooperation there and that the second I feel that I'm being pushed out or not being listened to to call him. He'll make sure I get what I need there. Now, "web girl" after being chastised by... well... someone, finally made me the appointments I had been waiting for and I did let him know that. She also made sure to make some headway on the printer I needed as well. Let me say, she SO didn't want to.. which is why I know she was 'spoken' to, although I'm not sure by whom. From what the boss guy said the NH supporter people had been made aware that I wasn't being treated in a hospitable way and were out to put an end to that.

Here's what web girl did today that made no sense to me. I had sat with her talking about all new content stuff... a small contingent of exec types (and her) had gone through current content and slashed it. Took out paragraphs, pages, etc to knock it down a bit before re-write. But that content has to be looked at by the 'content owners' to verify numbers, etc. We did not want the content owners to know that lots of her content had been slashed... they never look at it, but had we said "We removed that"... they would have said "I need it in there". They don't. Honestly, But that's what would have happened. So I had devised a way to subtly do this. I had gotten web girl to agree that instead of showing the printed pages of stuff with big red X's through paragraphs we'd show them word docs that already have the paragraphs removed. If they noticed some content missing (which they wont) we could address it then... but showing it to them and calling attention to the missing stuff was just asking for trouble. So that's what we did. Redid the content in word doc form, removed everything, then I sent her copies to make sure she was good with it. To check the work done I left the edit tracking on. (to those of you who don't know that means that things that were removed/changed show up in a different color with a call out balloon showing that it's gone) The plan was for me to show her make sure she was good with it, then 'accept changes', which removes the balloons and crossed out text, and that's how the content peeps would see it. But nooooo... web girl sends out invites (which she was supposed to do Monday) for meetings with me to go over what I needed done with the damned marked up docs attached! grrrrr. So not only have we removed the stuff, but then we gave these people (who WILL bitch about this now) docs that show we removed it. Lets really make sure we call attention to what we're trying to remove. That's the very best way to make sure they see it. arg. grr.

So I said, "Update the meeting request, I'll accept all changes to the documents and resend them. Attach those to the meeting updates. We'll be golden". web girl says "well, I could do it from home tonight I guess.. *sigh, moan*" ..... wtf...... she's a boob. I'm not just sayin'... I really mean it.

So tomorrow it starts. I have 14 meetings (by way of web girl) to attend and discuss content. Great. No clue what the hell I'm doing, but I can tap dance pretty well.

Tonight was quiet... thankfully. My little one gets here in two days! Ok.. so she's not so little. Still.. I miss her and worry about her and cant wait to squish her silly. I'm so scared she won't like it here... wont' give it a chance. It's gonna be a tough transition, but she's pretty good at realizing that things may take work. We'll see.

Off to finish making dinner.

PS: New House Observation:
Sure it's great and good to have the coolest latest appliances, but wtf with my stove!? It's all digital and gas... so it's totally foreign. Now yes, those of you who know me know stoves are odd foreign entities anyway, but still... Can't I just say ON or OFF... this thing is like something they dragged out of the space shuttle! grr. Haven't eaten yet cus I couldn't figure the damn thing out and ended up NOT turning it on, apparently I just teased it a little or something. freakin' thing.

356 - They're here...

Today was pretty good all around actually. It started off a wee bit boring, and I assume once the team leaves it may be back to being that way, but having Ben and Sharon come to Houston was great. Communication from the home planet has been a bit sparse, so I had almost forgotten how much I enjoy my boss and my team mates. Since I hadn't heard much from back home not only was I feeling useless in my current position, but I simply assumed I was outta site, outta mind. I also suspected that the boss guy was irritated with me about something or other.

I watched the psycho window cleaners for a bit again this morning. Someone really should have them checked out by a trained psychologist. I again forgot my camera, which irritates me silly since I really did want to post a picture of them. I'll try and remember to bring it with me again so I can catch some of that action on film...um...digital whatever.

Once everyone was in the office I felt far more in my element. Rather than sort of skulking around and taking periodic cig breaks (alone of course) I had new direction and people to bounce stuff off of and a way to sort of point out some things that happen at the new office that makes me wonder.

I had been feeling a bit ostracized, and basically 'felt' that I was purposefully being overlooked, even led astray a bit, but without someone else there to validate it I simply internalized it and didn't pay very much attention. (that sentence had too many "..sized" words.)

We hit a few semi-productive meetings... all politically based... and I felt that the boss and Sharon really did get a good feel for life in the big glass tower. Not only that, I kind of felt vindicated when I found that after a few hours there a discussion was held big-wig to big-wig about the lack of communication and cooperation I was receiving. Typically I totally frown on being a tattle tale or having someone step in for me, but at least I felt that someone remembered I existed and didn't like what was going on. One of my main contacts here is just so irritating. Passive aggressive really. No "Hey, I don't like you but I have to work with you but I'm not going to be nice about it", it's all "Sure I'll help, Sure I'll make things easy, but as soon as you walk out of here I'm rolling my eyes and forgetting you even exist". I so hate that. I know I'll wheedle my way in there and end up in a good place (No, wheedling is not on my resume, it comes from life experience, and I'm darn good at it. A "social chameleon" one friend called me once. I figure it's apt and not necessarily a bad thing.)

After the meetings and the validation and the officey stuff was done I dragged them back to my place to show it off a little bit. The boss pays for it, I wanted to see how great it is in person. I felt he was suitably impressed and from there we hit Cyclone Anaya's, a trendy hip spot in midtown that is all the rage right now. We initially wanted a seat inside with all the beautiful people, but the place was incredibly obnoxiously loud. We moved out to their outside seating pretty quickly. Ben and Sharon are horribly fun people, and typically I can be funny, but not fun. I get a wee to freaky in major social situations, so I tend to clam up quick. But I had a raspberry margarita (a small one as opposed to the troughs that the rest of the crew ordered) and a great meal. Sitting outside was great. It was a bit thick and muggy, but I've found Houston to have a great breeze pretty much all the time. We hung out and chatted, fended off a few bums that came by (which is a daily occurrence and something I don't even mention here much) and had a really nice time.

I dropped them off at their hotel around 9:30 and came home to bed. Unfortunately having a drink will often give me a headache. That coupled with the oncoming storm sort of laid me flat. So there was much Advil, tossing and turning, and wishing I had a good dose of Oxy or something that may knock my ass out.

Tomorrow I'll grab the gang at their hotel to drive them to the Tower at 8:15am. They didn't get the super close hotel and even though not far, walking with laptop and all in tow is not fun. Plus, trying to keep up with Ben when he's walking too or from work/a meeting... pretty much anything is a challenge in itself.

Things seem good today. Busy, but I so prefer it that way. Still can't seem to get my ADD meds refilled. Some odd Texas thing apparently. I'll work on that more this week.

P.S. - Random weird Texas thing I have noticed:
Houston apparently has no mosquito problem. None. I sit out on my balcony at night, sometimes with the super high powered high beam spot light on, and never have to flee from the buggies. We occasionally get one in the house, and what's weird is they don't go for us. They simply sorta fly around. Either they re not hungry, or Texas mosquitoes are tards. Haven't figured that out yet. Anyway. It's a good observation I'm making today.

PPS. This is a retro active post, since my migraine interrupted regularly scheduled blogging, so no weather for the day.