Snow update and bubble tea

The good news is that my street has been plowed. The bad news is that it's currently snowing again.

The temperature is expected to rise, so there should be a gradual melt happening. Perhaps I will head out later today. We'll see.

I was supposed to pick up free bubble tea with a friend yesterday. We both decided to postpone meeting up. We got so much snow that it didn't feel safe meeting up.

I'm glad that I went grocery shopping on the weekend. I technically don't need to get anything at the store for days. I would love to get some fresh air, though.

My manager has been away sick for the last two days. As much as I hope that he feels better soon, I like that my inbox has been nice and quiet.

Huge snow accumulations and frustration working with a software developer

On Monday, my area got a blizzard warning and a lot of snow. 

Snowfall estimates were bumped up to between 40 to 60 centimetres. Toronto got 47 cm. Oshawa got 55 cm. Where I live is midway between the two. I'll take the median and say that we got 51 cm. It was a lot!

I don't think that my street has been plowed yet. It's so quiet. One neighbour tried to drive on the road and was highly unsuccessful.

I got annoyed with a software developer yesterday for a few reasons:

• He sent me a Word document that was on his personal SharePoint site. I couldn't access it because he didn't share it with me. I told him to send the file to me as an attachment.
• The details in his document were vague. I had to ask him about specific parameter names. Some had global as a prefix. Others did not. Highly inconsistent. He said to follow what the old parameter names were as a guideline. Um, no. That's not how it works. If you give me a list of new parameters, I assume that they apply to all hyperlinks that you have mentioned in the same section.
• I asked which software releases these changes were for. He guessed at it. I asked him to confirm.

As patient as I am, I got more annoyed with the number of questions that I needed to pose because he took shortcuts to give me in the information. Horrible! If I have so many questions because the content provided is unclear to me, how is a customer going to understand the information that I am writing about?

I let him know that details need to be more explicit in future. Telling me that he can have a call to explain stuff was ridiculous. Just give me the correct details right off the bat and save us both time and frustration.

Here's hoping that I'm not snowed in on Tuesday.

Quiet Canada Day

I spent Canada Day at home. It was nice spending a quiet day at home.

Later on, I'm out and about. It'll be a fun next couple of days, at least.

Working quietly and not liking instant messaging interruptions

I have a ton of content to put together for work. It's not difficult work. It's volume. I need to have my work done in over a week's time. I simply like to work quietly without any distractions.

I have a love-hate relationship with instant messaging. Getting messages from folks while I am doing a ton of work throws me off.

At work, we have two messaging apps. We use Skype for Business and Microsoft Teams. I am only on the former because my boss does tabs on when people log on and off. It's sad, but it's a virtual punch card machine.

I work enough hours that I don't really care. I get messaged often, which I don't enjoy. I am the longest-serving employee within our group, so I have a ton of knowledge. Everybody thinks that their work is important. Meanwhile, they don't realize that they may be interrupting work that I am doing that is important to me.

I only log on to Microsoft Teams when I have meetings. I haven't figured out a way to block people I don't enjoy working with yet.

Anyway, there is one project manager who has rubbed me the wrong way for at least two years. I have told her countless times that I prefer e-mails than instant messages. The former gives me time to think. I also write back with details.

She can't absorb e-mails. She wants everything quickly and continues to communicate with me through instant messages. I hate all of that.

I let her know that I am super busy. I copied two of her colleagues who know just how swamped I am with work. They also happen to be my past and present project managers on my team. I let her know calmly that I have shared everything with her and don't have an answer on how she should communicate to folks asking about software delivery. I am simply the person who put the contents of a document together. Delivery of this document is out of my scope once it is published.

Meanwhile, she makes it such a big deal to call and instant message me. If my status says that I am offline and she can't reach me, it's because I'm offline. I don't know what is so unclear about that. If telling her three times that I prefer e-mails doesn't sink in, that's her problem.

Early start and a new modem to come

Yesterday, my workday started before 7 am. It's nice wrapping up work early. In my case, I ended up working a bit more because only one person was in a spreadsheet that I needed to update. It's much easier to update dropdown menus when there aren't a ton of users in the same shared file.

I do have an update on my Internet issues. Naturally, a test was done before 6 am and the signal was fine according to my Internet service provider. Of course, it was! I had rebooted my modem before I went to bed and I expect the signal to be strong when I'm not fully using my wifi!

Anyway, I am getting a new modem shipped to me this week for free. That's good news. This modem has two wifi bands. We'll see how things work out. I'm optimistic.

Getting rid of old magazines and putting cube storage together

After work on Monday night, I went to get some more cube storage. Curbside pickup works well. Yesterday night, I spent some time assembling it. I do enjoy this quiet activity.

Last night, I found two huge stacks of magazines from over a decade ago. I don't know why I saved them, but it felt good getting rid of them. 

It has been therapeutic getting rid of items that I no longer want or need. I have been making progress every day, which makes me happy.

Eye appointment and sniffles

I am working from home day. I look forward to some quiet time, away from incompetent folks.

I need to schedule an eye appointment. I am due to see an optometrist. Here's hoping that I can get an appointment this week.

I'm a bit sniffly. It's not the best time to catch a cold, but I feel something coming on. Let's hope that I am wrong.

Work,working from home, and balance

I am working from home today. I have a dentist's appointment in a few hours. Here's hoping that all is well.

Currently, I'm doing a bit of work. I normally don't log on at this hour. However, this work requires that my colleagues are off our authoring tool.

I like that things are quiet. I don't have any interruptions to deal with right now. It's nice.

I haven't worked from home for over a week. It feels odd. Yet, it's precious time.

Sadly, I have to go to work on Wednesday. Next week will be back to my regular work-home balance.

Staycation and benefits

I am enjoying my staycation. I like going to work and having a shorter commute.

It's nice to grab some dinner and a hot chocolate after work. I head back to the hotel and relax as if I am at home.

Of course, it's helpful to have been upgraded to a suite. It's cozy and I like the bedroom being separate from the living room. I sleep a lot better without hearing folks in the hallway.

It's always great when your hotel room feels like your home away from home.

Rest and hobbies

I took Thursday off. I was chilled and tired. I slept. It was all good.

These days, I have been resurrecting my love for sewing. I find it relaxing and a nice way to unwind. I hope to get around to learning how to crochet.

It's nice doing quiet hobbies, especially when the weather is getting colder.

Cake and boredom

I have not worked from home for over three weeks. I go into the office tomorrow, but will thankfully get to work from home on Wednesday.

My student is progressing well. I am thrilled about his progress.

We had a September cake break on Monday afternoon. We sat there and ate cake. I asked about a fellow student who was in a meeting with our development team earlier in the day. He looked bored out of his mind.

Our manager came over and I pointed out how bored he was earlier in our meeting. My manager indicated that he was loud the other day and wasted time gabbing with three employees. I let him know that he didn't say a peep in our meeting, which seemed amusing to us.

Perspectives are interesting. I have never asked a student to go into this meeting with me, as the information would be way over his head. I like my judgment in this case.

Book on coping with a breakup and periodic thoughts about my ex-guy

A few weeks ago, I bought a book on how to cope with a breakup. I started reading the first chapter, but got busy with a couple of trips. The chapter that I did read put me at ease.

My problem isn't keeping busy. From being on vacation, and being out and about, to getting through work tasks, I don't have a chance to think about my ex-guy.

The problem occurs when I am not busy. My mind floats over to the loving moments that we had together, as well as the fact that I deserved better towards the end of our relationship. Before I go to bed, I think of him. When I am driving home and my commute is nothing to sneeze at, he pops up in my head. It just happens.

I didn't have this issue with my ex-hubby. The difference is that I loved my ex-guy. I fell out of love with the ex-hubby.

I am far from being over him. Baby steps. Gone is my mild anxiety about us not being a couple, which is a positive sign. 

This weekend, I hope to read more chapters out of this book. Perhaps my memories and thoughts of him will slowly subside.

Working on a sick day and enjoying it

On Tuesday, I took a sick day. The weird thing was that I did work. Quietly. No distractions. It was nice.

I liked not having my instant messaging app showing that I'm available. I liked not having folks asking me questions throughout the day.

I have a task where I need to rename a number of properties in our documentation. It was great going through a good chunk of the work. It was also nice to not answer e-mails.

Luckily, I am working from home today. Sadly, I have a couple of conference calls to participate in. At least I sound less congested and my cold is on its way out.

I do wish that I worked with a more competent colleague. I may just call her the idiot going forward. I couldn't have chosen a more accurate nickname for her.

Thanksgiving staycation plans with my guy

Good news! I will be spending the long Thanksgiving weekend with my guy. September seems to be breezing by. Thanksgiving is only a few weeks away.

Things are still busy on my end. I get to work from home today, so that'll give me a chance to not talk a whole lot and to catch up on some quiet work.

Quiet, productive workday when it typically isn't

This week has been busy. I have been working with the new student, preparing for my presentation to the team, and dealing with training another new employee next week when little is in place. With the last item, there is a holdup in the system, which will make training this person without a laptop a challenge.

I have trained a writer without a laptop before. It wasn't fun. I ended up repeating items again. What can you do, right?

It was a pretty quiet Friday, which I liked. Our team generally goes out on Friday, but only two people had said yes. My manager asked if I wanted to still go, as I was one of the yes people. I asked that it be cancelled. Instead, I grabbed lunch locally.

My student was sick. My manager wasn't feeling well, either. He decided to go to his family doctor for an appointment.

I asked the administrative assistant whether I could change my locker at work. Ever since our office moved to this site four years ago, my locker has never budged as far as location goes. I have been on and off teams like there's no tomorrow. I decided to leave my locker where it is, which is the opposite end of the floor from where I currently sit.

For a while, my teams have not changed. There is a free locker right next to my desk. I decided to take the plunge. The administrative assistant was fine with the swap. She got the operations manager to give me the key. I will go into work on Saturday to move my stuff. I am hoping that no one is there. Again, I like doing quiet work without any distractions.

I didn't have a chance to do the change on Friday. I spent it fixing the training materials. My last student did a good job at putting them together. The main problem with her slides is that she points to videos and has to switch between two different file locations.

I decided to include the videos in the slide deck. It's simply a question of playing each video when it's in front of me.

It's nice to do quiet work. It's rare for me, but I do take advantage of it when the opportunity presents itself.

First day back at work with revelations

I survived my first day back at work. I shouldn't be surprised, but my first day back at work seems to be different than most.

I figured out why I tend to be working with writers that I typically don't work closely with. It turns out that the two most experienced writers, when you exclude me, have dropped the ball on coaching other writers. Instead, these neglected writers have turned to me.

My manager and I had a good planning session on what our team will be doing this year. He revealed this important piece of the puzzle to me on the lack of support provided by these two writers.

As an example, I worked with a writer in Brazil on a software release that I typically don't work on. She genuinely appreciated my help, as it's a new process for all of us.

I have noticed recently that the contractor tends to be clingy. She isn't as independent as I had originally thought. I gave her work to do that was pretty straightforward. Yet, she still wanted to talk to me. I had to postpone meeting with her.

My first day back always consists of going through hundreds (I am not even close to exaggerating) e-mails and answering them. Besides working on a software release with another writer, I had to make sure that the new co-op student that I am training next week has a set of e-mails that I tend to forward with important work-related details. I also have to ensure that she has access to various applications to do her job.

I had a discussion with my boss about my findings on the contractor. He was also surprised that she is still dependent on me when she works on tasks. I see her being the stereotypical introverted writer the more she works. During my entire time away from work on vacation, she didn't send me a single e-mail. Today, she decided to bombard me with e-mail updates after I had prompted her to provide status on something.

Anyway, I like that tomorrow is Friday. All workweeks should be short!

Having lunch at a Middle Eastern restaurant, being groped, and showing quiet signs of affection

My guy pinged me first thing on Thursday morning on our corporate instant messaging application. It is always nice to hear from him.

He asked me whether it would be okay to change our lunch plans. Two of his students wanted to have lunch with us. I was okay with the extra company, but we would lose some quiet time for ourselves.

Well, I found out later that his entire class wanted to go to a Middle Eastern restaurant for lunch. It was nice meeting his students. I especially enjoyed talking to one gentleman who lives in Dallas, but is originally from London, UK.

My guy and I sat next to each other at the restaurant. He discreetly touched the side of my thigh as we conversed with everyone. I went and caressed his leg. He hiked up his pant leg and I caressed his bare, muscular calf for quite some time while chatting with others.

The food at this restaurant was delicious. My guy and I both had beef shawarmas. I went with the platter version, whereas my guy just had the wrap. We also had hummus and pita bread.

I caressed my guy's thigh. He quietly held my hand under the table.

When our entire group was done, we went to settle the bill. My guy paid for me. He's sweet.

We then all left the restaurant. My guy and I were at the back of the pack. He discreetly and strategically groped my left buttock as we went through the first set of doors. I looked at him and smiled. He placed his hand on the small of my back. I quietly grabbed his right hand and squeezed it.

We can be affectionate without being bold. It feels good.

T is for talk and tease

I am a fairly chatty person. I am not sure how that came about.

Ever since I can remember, I was often dubbed as being shy. I disliked this label, because I like being with people. People don't frighten me. I simply happen to be a quiet person by nature.

Being quiet does have its perks. I tend to be a better listener than those who enjoy talking all the time.

My role has changed this year at work. Instead of actually doing the grunt work of writing information from scratch, I am reviewing those pieces that other writers produce on the team. It is a lot of work, but I do enjoy it.

The role that I have also involves talking to each writer briefly when I am in the office. There is one writer who is an only child. I am, too. Yet, we are so different.

She is both shy and quiet. I have to ask probing questions and pry information from her. As for me, I am more of a free communicator. I share information and what I am doing. People don't have to guess what I am thinking or working on.

My guy is equally as chatty as I am. He has told me a number of times that I am a great conversationalist and that everything I talk about is interesting to him. I have never seen his eyes glaze over when I talk about a topic, so he isn't buttering me up!

It's one of many reason why we are compatible. We can talk for hours and never get bored of each other.

We both like to tease each other. When he was trying to cheer me up the other week, I teased him that he could record each positive phrase one some recorder and just press a button to play back an encouraging phrase.

"You can tell me that everything will work out fine, record that sentence, and save it as button 1. You can then press it when you think that I need cheering up," I teased.
"Do you think that I don't mean it?" he asked, knowing that I was pulling his leg.
"I know that you like to optimize your time. So, you could record a speech on how things will always improve over time, press the button, walk away, and fix yourself lunch," I joked.
"Oh, really?" he asked, with a tone to his voice that hinted that he was smiling.
"Sure. You just play it and I listen to it. I continue to feel better as I listen to what you have to say. You then walk over to the couch and take a nap. You wake up from your nap and your recording is still going," I giggled.
"I can't wait to see you soon. You are so going to get it."

It's fun teasing him. Of course, there's a price for doing it. I will have a sore backside the next time we're together. I don't mind it one bit.

Q is for quality time

My guy and I love quality time. It's pretty evident from the posts that I have written so far!

It can be as simple as us cuddling together in bed. My guy can be groping my butt, which leads to a spanking. It is then my turn to give my guy a blowjob. It's fun and exciting. It's intimate and loving. It's just plain nice.

I enjoy curling up next to my guy after getting a hard spanking. He loves wrapping his arms around me when he is dopey. It's a wonderful, perfect feeling.

Depression and a movie

It saddened me to hear about Robin Williams's passing. He was too young to take his own life. May he rest in peace.

Depression is an illness. My guy has been talking about his battle with depression often, which I welcome. It does worry me when he doesn't open up, because it is difficult to tell how he is feeling. However, we talk often and he knows that I am there for him whenever he needs a good listener.

What is my favourite Robin Williams movie? Well, there are so many to choose from. I must admit that I love Dead Poets Society.

I was in high school when this movie came out. My closest friends and I hit the movie theatre to watch it. We all loved it. It was inspiring, moving, tragic, funny, and more.

I actually have Robert Sean Leonard's autograph, who went on to star in House. I could identify with Ethan Hawke's character in the movie, for I was a fairly quiet person who didn't enjoy public speaking back then. These days, I can't shut up!

Of course, this movie has a paddling scene. I secretly wanted to be paddled. I never told anyone that I liked this scene. Now, you all do.

I own this movie on VHS. Yes, I even have a dual VHS player, thanks to living in the States and watching QVC. I don't even know if GoVideo is still kicking around, but my double-decker VHS system still works.

Unfortunately, I am not sure where I put this movie, but I need to dig it up. Otherwise, I will need to get with the times by either downloading it off iTunes or getting a DVD version.