Break and food perk

The weekend is here. Yay!

I took a mini break from blogging. It was good. All is well.

Later on today, I'm picking up a food perk. I'm looking forward to a pulled pork sandwich, coleslaw, and cornbread. I'm salivating just thinking about it.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Upgrades

My Mac mini is currently getting its operating system upgraded. I find that it doesn't clear the memory properly afterward this sort of upgrade, which causes me to unplug my Mac mini for at least a day.

I change my mind between whether to get a new Mac mini or keep it for a longer period. I'm in that scenario with my iPad, too. Both are roughly a decade old. I find that they aren't major necessities. After all, I'm still blogging!

Weekends are far too short. This upgrade feels like it's longer than my weekend!

Short breaks from blogging, but all is well

My Mac mini is shot. Luckily, I have my MacBook Air to fall back on. It is one reason why I have been taking mini breaks between posts.

The main reason is being tired. I was exhausted yesterday that I didn't bother.

All is well, though. I'm getting ready for the long weekend ahead. I'm doing a staycation.

Web site and blog design, along with reducing apps

I have briefly mentioned a side project that I am working on with a handful of people. The person behind this project, whom is my friend, said that he had set up the Web site. I have been writing and feeding him content.

Well, I asked him to show me the Web site. It is literally one long page of sample content. I told him a while back to take my content and paste it. He hasn't. Either he doesn't know how to or is expecting me to do it.

Now that I have access to looking at these files on the FTP site, I pointed out that having a one-page Web site where each section changes after a certain period is annoying. It's also not the best if you have a ton of content and have to scroll down the single page to see what you want.

Since we talked about having a blog and my contributing to it, which I obviously have experience in, I asked if we can use WordPress or something where we can have both Web page and blog content all in one. He wanted one site for our Web site and another one for the blog. What?

He knows that I have Web site design and maintenance experience. When we worked together at the same company over a decade ago, I handled the corporate Web site.

Apparently, his version of WordPress is just for blogging. I have asked him to provide me with the login information and I'll take it from there. I need to see what version he has installed.

I tend to end up leading certain tasks, mainly because I am competent and have a vision for how Web site design and usability go. I can also recognize when things aren't going as well as they should, such as the one-page Web site without any of my content. The site is his and it probably is difficult to have someone else take over what he is supposed to do.

He also has asked me to join WeChat, WhatsApp, and Slack. We do not need so many communication channels. I uninstalled WeChat. All our development chats are on Slack, so we don't need WhatsApp. He also has my phone number and we can text. Just pick one app and stick with it!

Anyway, that's my little update on the odd things happening with this project. Here's hoping that I can get both the blog and Web site working this week.

Vacation is coming... yay!

I am on vacation in a day. I just finished packing. My flight is fairly early on Thursday morning, so I am heading over to a hotel close to work and will crash there for an evening.

I always feel like I have forgotten something. Luckily, I will be in the States, so I can pretty much find anything that I need.

The other day, I asked my guy whether he needed anything. Naturally, he said that he was good. He also said that I'm good with gifts, so he left it to me to choose something for him.

The only downside to travelling now is that our dollar isn't all that strong. Sure, it's better now than it was a year ago. However, I will be shelling out more than I want to.

I do have self-control these days when it comes to spending. I have a few items that I want to buy while I am down south, but they won't be breaking the bank.

Starting Thursday, I won't be blogging as regularly as I have been. A girl needs a break! I will check in here and there, but will be enjoying being away from a computer or laptop for a bit.

Happy Easter!

I'd like to wish everyone a happy Easter! Here's hoping that you are having a peaceful, meaningful weekend so far.

I am taking a break from the A to Z blogging challenge today. I'll be back on Monday.

Take care,
Cutiebootie

E is for erasing horrible punctuation (a.k.a. my ultimate superhero) #AtoZchallenge

I am a writer by trade. I unwind after busy workdays by blogging here. Strange? I don't think so.

I find that this blog is a nice release for me. I say whatever is on my mind. My writing style is casual. It's all good.

On Facebook, a dear friend sent me this fine video of a grammar vigilante who corrects signs displaying incorrect apostrophe usage:

I see signs all the time where apostrophes are misplaced. Ugh!

This guy is wonderful and made my day.

Frustration with a contractor - ugh!

I enjoyed blogging this past weekend. Frankly, I miss the weekend already. I was relaxed, happy, and cheerful.

All of those sentiments faded away when I got to work on Monday. I have to vent. 

It has been a while since I have felt so perturbed over a co-worker's actions that it makes me feel sick.  I felt tension in my neck and forehead. I could feel heartburn creeping in. My stomach has been queasy. I have felt this way for several hours now. Luckily, a nice, relaxing warm shower has got me in the mood to write.

At work, we recently hired two contractors. The first one is male. The second one joined a week later and is female. I don't have an issue with the latter.

The male is problematic. He constantly yawns throughout the day. He doesn't take notes. I actually had to tell him to take notes. Funny how professors never truly tell their students to take notes. It's implied that you do. 

He isn't a quick learner. He doesn't do what I have asked him to do and his work suffers. He takes constant breaks. The list goes on and on.

The first incident happened last Thursday. I came in to work and he attempted small talk. He asked me whether I was thrilled about not having a 07:00 meeting. It was an uninteresting one-liner, but I give him credit from trying. I simply told him that these meetings are part of the job.

I still had my coat on. I still had my lunch bag strapped across my body. I had yet to take my laptop out of my bag. He started asking me work-related questions.

I don't work that way. Let me settle in. I told him so. He is 27 years of age. He doesn't act it.

I finally got my coat off and started logging on to my laptop. I grabbed my mug to get some hot water for my tea. Apparently, my bluntness wasn't effective enough. He started again with another work-related question.

"I am getting hot water. Are you serious? Let me settle in. Your question can't be that important, can it?" I asked him, practically rhetorically.
"No, it can wait."

As much as I like helping people out, I don't like starting my workday with countless questions and have yet to sit down to do work. Let me answer my e-mails and log in to all applications that I need. Let me breathe.

Then, there was Monday. I met with him to see how he was doing with a fairly straightforward writing task. Well, I thought that it was straightforward.

"Did you start a [documentation] build?" I asked him.
"No, I forgot," he replied.
"We need to start a build, so we can see what the documentation looks like from a reader's perspective. Often, I will catch issues that I don't see in our editor," I stated.

Well, my words of wisdom backfired on me. I asked him to start a build. I had yet to review his work.

My manager and this co-worker had a one-on-one meeting Monday afternoon. They came out of the meeting with my manager asking that all three of us talk about some work items that they had discussed.

It turns out that they reviewed the documentation build output that I had yet to review. Sure enough, this co-worker managed to make a guide that is supposed to have the same content in two different software products look completely different. He messed up bigtime.

I pointed out that it was the reason why he needed to build our documentation -- to review it. My manager also asked him the same question.

I was probably more perturbed that I had to explain what he was doing to my manager. This guy obviously cannot communicate what he is or was working on.

I also wasted even more time talking to him. As usual, he has a bunch of questions and does not try to retain any answers that I have given him on countless occasions. I sound like a parrot. I don't get any treats, though.

Oh, did I mention that we have a deadline for this Friday to have all our documents completed? It's not going to happen with this incompetent contractor.

I was steaming in frustration for the remainder of my time at the office. I haven't felt like that in a while.

My working out helped. So did the shower, as I have just mentioned. Blogging does, too. It's therapeutic.

I do wish that my guy could be with me right now. He's always good at hugging me, kissing my forehead, and telling me that things are going to work out. They always do. 

He's right. I just miss that reassurance from him.

A to Z blogging challenge is back

For the second consecutive year, I have decided to participate in the A to Z blogging challenge.

Like last year, I will be blogging about a new topic each day in April. The first day's topic will start with the letter A, and I will continue with each letter of the alphabet until I reach Z.

I typically don't select a theme for these posts. I find selecting a theme to be more restrictive and I don't want to lose interest in posting daily.

Anyway, I am looking forward to this challenge. I hope that you will read along with me in April!