Company-wide laptop issue

I'm glad that I took Monday off. My company had a worldwide laptop issue. It makes you wonder what the IT department loads that causes every single laptop to flicker and die.

I got my first work broadcast text. I don't have my cell phone number listed publicly in our company directory, but it is there for emergencies. It worked.

I did boot up my laptop tonight and it works fine. It's just in time for my returning to work later on today.

Extended bereavement leave by a day

On Friday, I made the decision to take today off and extend my bereavement leave. I wasn't sure how I'd feel today. I actually feel okay.

I think that this leave has helped me sort out past issues within my family. It was a much needed period to reflect, grieve, and be at peace with everything.

I'm not sure what I'll do today, but I will take it easy.

Bonuses have finally been reinstated

For the past three years, all employees in my department at work have not got a yearly bonus. The company went through a rough patch and decided to halt paying out bonuses for this long.

Needless to say, it doesn't help morale. I work hard. Every performance review has been positive. Yet, I don't have a bonus to show for it.

Last year, all of us did not get a standard of living increase on our base salary. Within the next seven days, three women colleagues will be leaving the company. All are talented and well-liked. Gone.

We got the news on Friday that we will be getting a bonus. That's encouraging news. I am thrilled. However, the damage has been done and many have already left the company.

I look forward to getting my bonus. Naturally, it will go to both savings and debt payoff.

This year will be a transformative one, which I am excited about. I have been working hard reducing my debt and increasing my credit score. I am seeing results, which motivate me.

It would be nice to get my bonus soon. I could do so much with it.

First snowfall

We got our first snowfall this winter on Tuesday. It happened just before 16:00. Yep, just before rush hour begins. How fitting!

A colleague indicated that he was going home early and would work from home. I liked that idea and followed suit, indicating to my team to do the same, if they wanted to. Our manager was at an appointment in the afternoon. Perfect!

It was good that I had left the office early. It took me nearly two hours to get home. On a good day, I can get home in forty minutes.

I'm getting winter tires installed on my car on Wednesday. My timing is a bit off, but it's better a bit late than not at all.

My guy is fortunate to be missing all this snow. However, the first snowfall is always nice to look at.

Mushy and sweet

Whenever my guy and I have to part for a certain period, I tend to be the one who says that I don't want him to leave. He'll reassure me that it won't be long and that we'll keep in touch on Skype.

The other day, we had the complete role reversal. I drove him to the airport. I parked. He sat there.

"I don't want to leave you. I want to spend more time with you," he said, boyishly.
"I don't want you to leave, either. But, you have a flight to catch," I reasoned.
"I know. I just want to be with you longer," he stated.
"We can kiss, but you do have to catch your flight. You're kind of late and we can't have the police come over to tell you to go," I said, with both of us looking at the police car.

We kissed. It was good. We then got out of my car.

My guy went to get a cart. I did my usual bit by fetching his computer rolling back. He loaded the rest of his bags onto the cart.

We hugged. I knew that I was hugging him tightly. He reciprocated.

It's nice that he is good at expressing how he feels. He is mushy these days. It's so sweet.

I can't wait till incompetent writer leaves... the countdown continues!

Thursday made me realize that it is truly good news that the incompetent writer is leaving the company. Yesterday was her farewell lunch.

I am a nice person. Perhaps I am too nice. Even though she initiated uninviting me to lunch get-togethers, I'm not the type to reciprocate out of spite. I organized her farewell lunch.

You would think that to add insult to injury that she decided to ride in my car along with my manager. I had a doctor's appointment after this lunch, so my giving folks a ride to and from the restaurant was fine.

She didn't realize that I had bought a new car. She just assumed that I still had a neatly kept Prius.

It wasn't a surprise to my boss. He has been a passenger in my car a number of times. She was surprised.

Well, that's what you get when you don't want to hang out with me at lunchtime or even talk to me. You don't have any insight on my life, let alone anything because you live in your own twisted bubble. You just assume that things remain the same with me.

In reality, things are the same with her. That cliche about not being able to teach a dog new tricks? She can get the old tricks down pat, let alone new ones.

To start, our team had a day-long work session yesterday. She literally had to look up the location of our room before going there. I had remembered it from reading the e-mail the day before, meaning that I didn't have to waste ten minutes finding the information.

Our team had the task of updating document numbers for specific user guides. I delegated all tasks, including giving myself work.

The co-ops always ask questions when they are unsure about anything. They know that I am happy to answer. We have a male writer who also was fine asking questions.

Incompetent writer? It took her forever to ask me a question. It wasn't until I asked if everyone was done so that we could run a documentation build that she approached me. Clearly, she had no idea what to do. She renamed the file. Renaming it does not update the document number. Considering that she used to do this task fairly regularly in the past, she couldn't do it now.

The co-op students, who have been with the company for over a month now, can do this task effortlessly. Incompetent writer cannot.

The same goes with expensing her meal. I had to expense it. She nearly paid for it herself after our manager told her to let me pay for it. What part of guest of honour does she not understand?

I am simply relieved that I do not have to work with her for much longer. Every time she has to complete a task, there is something wrong that happens. I am weary of it, but know that relief is in sight.