Hacked social account

One of my social media accounts got hacked on Saturday afternoon. It has been a pain trying to recover it. The hacker decided to change my e-mail address.

I was briefly able to log on Sunday morning after going through a verification process. You would think that when you change your password that this application on all devices would log you off everything. Nope, it didn't.

This hacker's location is in Italy. He (for the sake of using a pronoun) was still logged in after my password change. He changed my account handle and e-mail address. I got hacked again.

I got notification of these changes. There was a link in the message to click if this change wasn't done by me, but it goes to an FAQ page. It doesn't revert the changes at all.

Useless.

I'm still working on getting my account back. It has been a royal pain, to say the least.

I have more to say, but I'll save it for later. Let's just say that it's frustrating.

Returning to the office with more questions

Yestterday, I got official word from my employer that the office will be reopening to employees who are fully vaccinated on April 4. I have more questions than anything.

On a good note, I have taken April 4 off as a vacation day. I am doing a working vacation the previous week. It will likely be my last one working remotely.

We will be adopting a hybrid work model. It's supposed to be a 5-50 split being in the office and working remotely. Considering that it takes me an hour to drive into work, I want to see if I can make it more like a 60-40 split in favour of working from home.

I'm not sure how it will be organized. What if everyone wants to go into the office for work on April 4? I don't think the office can handle that capacity.

There is no organization or detailed planning. Do we sit where we used to over two years ago? Will my badge to get security clearance work?

Anyway, we'll see how things are communicated over the next few weeks.

Yay, weekend!

Happy weekend! 

I have started mine off by cleaning a section of a room. I have neglected it for a while. It felt good attending to it.

Sore wrist with minor swelling

Friday is here. Yay!

I have a sore left wrist. I also have a bit of swelling. My guess is that one end of my cuff bracelet dug into it while my head rested on it as I slept.

I need to sleep differently.

It's weird. I took my cuff bracelet off and hope that the swelling subsides.

Skype and the ex-guy

I don't use Skype as much as I used to. I have it installed on my work laptop. I used to chat with my ex-guy when he was on the road.

These days, all I do is upgrade my Skype app. 

He has two Skype accounts. I used to be connected to both. When he broke my heart, I removed both accounts from my contacts list.

I still have our chat history. I went there and he had sent me a contact request.

I don't know when he had sent it. I made it clear to him that I want nothing to do with him.

He remains unconnected on Skype.

Happy International Women's Day!

Happy International Women's Day! 

Years ago, when I was working for a company that got acquired by my current employer, I had to prepare release notes for every software delivery. They were done in an Excel spreadsheet.

One word: ugh!

Excel wasn't the right format for telling people about changes and fixes within software. Crunching numbers or making calculations with formulas? Yes. Paragraphs of text? No.

The manager who dealt with customers and shared this spreadsheet decided to change it without telling me. He went into our shared repository, checked it out, and changed the tabs such that the latest release was the last tab. The first tab that you saw in Excel was a release from eons ago.

I was annoyed. As the writer, I owned this document. Not this manager.
I undid his changes. Customers wanted the first tab to be the latest. I slapped a password on my spreadsheet. 

He noticed this password protection and wanted it removed. I said no.
A couple of years later, my current manager and I reminisced about this manager who had just retired. We ended up talking about this incident, with both of us hearing each other's side of the story.

After I had shared my experience, my manager said that this guy had approached him and said, "Control her."

This remark was news to me.

My manager said that I was doing great. He concurred with me. He didn't need to intervene. I had his support.

My manager is far from being perfect. He has flaws like all of us. On the whole, he has always been supportive. It showed here with a ridiculous, archaic, boys' school remark.

Today is an important day for women. Do you. Shine when you have a strong point to make. Be yourself.

As a man, support women. Be an ally. You'll do a world of good.
Of note, I ultimately ditched the Excel spreadsheet. I moved our release notes to Word, followed by our current authoring tool. Our team no longer handles release notes directly, but I handled the transition to the current person who writes them.

As women, we have come a long way. However, there's plenty more to do. Don't stop. Be your best.

Weekend over and a new humidifier

Weekends fly by.

My humidifier that I've had for over a decade died. I loved that it was a penguin. However, it wasn't a top-loader, which was a pain.

I got a new one to replace it. I love it. It changes colour. I oddly don't find it bright when I have it on at night. I simply change it to dark blue and I'm good.

I do find it soothing to look at when I have it cycle through all the colours. I fill it with water from the top, which is life-changing.

It works well. I find that it's so dry in the winter that I'm congested, so I need humidity.

Shakshouka

Today, I made Shakshouka for the first time. It worked out well. It's essentially sauteed onions, red bell peppers, garlic, and spices, with tomatoes added in and simmered. You then add eggs and have them steamed with a lid on.

Here's my plated result:

I am thrilled that it turned out well. It's so easy to make. I'd make it again.

Weekend cooking and trip planing

The weekend is here. Yay!

I'm thinking of making shakshouka this weekend. I have never made it before, but the combination of eggs with tomatoes, onions, garlic, and spices makes me want to give it a try.

I booked my plane ticket to return to the Twin Cities. I'm taking in a couple of hockey games. It'll be a combination of work and time off.

Have a great weekend!

Early meeting and snow

I have an early morning meeting in several hours. I'm trying to wind down. 

The good news is that I'll end my day at 3:30 pm. It's supposed to snow on Wednesday, so I'll run my errands after work today.

It's snowing right now, but it's not heavy.

Okay, I should get some sleep or I'll be sleeping through my meeting!