A surreal experience at the end of my day today. I had stayed late to take care of some things and, around 6:30, headed down to the lab to finish up. That late, the offices are mostly dark, and (since it's been raining most of the day) the hallways are kind of shadowy and vaguely creepy. As I was heading down the (also dark) staircase, I heard someone whistling the Harry Potter theme. Whoever it was actually had really good pitch, but the whistling faded away into the creepy empty offices and I never saw who it was.
It was an interesting if mildly surreal experience, and surprisingly good atmospherics to make it work. Since I'm 100% sure I'm a muggle, I guess I should start keeping an eye out for lurking Slytherins in the halls after hours.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Sharing the pain isn't always the right strategy
Why is it it that you're only a team player if you don't have a life?
The immediate back story - last year the company thought there might be a slowdown and they didn't want to have a bunch of people on overhead for a few months while they found new contracts because that would lower our profit margins and by extension, decrease the executive bonuses. So they laid people off, in weekly rolling waves. Fast forward a few months, and all the contracts we leads said were coming in have arrived. And we are short staffed at least 50 people in one particular area that was hardest hit by the layoffs. And, in an apparent shocker, no one is willing to work uncompensated overtime.
So, a multiple choice quesion. Does our fearless leader:
A. Put pressure on our HR people to speed up the hiring process
B. Allow paid overtime
C. Ask for voluntary transfers
D. Spread the pain around by pulling people off their assigned tasks to backfill the program she didn't think was worth the overhead money
If you chose A, B or C... I would really like to work where you do. But, alas, our brilliant automaton chose option D. Which leaves me in an impossible position - the other program asked for me specifically because of some work I had done for them in the past, but my current job takes up all of my time (including a sickening number of my days off) and Dr. Evil sees no reason why I can't be all things to all people and simply do both jobs. I vetoed that and got the "We need you to be a team player" speech. Shockingly, I remain unpersuaded. Seriously, I don't mind taking one for the team, but this is just too much to ask.
On a happier note - my new favorite cross stitch pattern place just had a big sale. Ok, I have more projects than I can finish in a lifetime - they're still really cool.
The immediate back story - last year the company thought there might be a slowdown and they didn't want to have a bunch of people on overhead for a few months while they found new contracts because that would lower our profit margins and by extension, decrease the executive bonuses. So they laid people off, in weekly rolling waves. Fast forward a few months, and all the contracts we leads said were coming in have arrived. And we are short staffed at least 50 people in one particular area that was hardest hit by the layoffs. And, in an apparent shocker, no one is willing to work uncompensated overtime.
So, a multiple choice quesion. Does our fearless leader:
A. Put pressure on our HR people to speed up the hiring process
B. Allow paid overtime
C. Ask for voluntary transfers
D. Spread the pain around by pulling people off their assigned tasks to backfill the program she didn't think was worth the overhead money
If you chose A, B or C... I would really like to work where you do. But, alas, our brilliant automaton chose option D. Which leaves me in an impossible position - the other program asked for me specifically because of some work I had done for them in the past, but my current job takes up all of my time (including a sickening number of my days off) and Dr. Evil sees no reason why I can't be all things to all people and simply do both jobs. I vetoed that and got the "We need you to be a team player" speech. Shockingly, I remain unpersuaded. Seriously, I don't mind taking one for the team, but this is just too much to ask.
On a happier note - my new favorite cross stitch pattern place just had a big sale. Ok, I have more projects than I can finish in a lifetime - they're still really cool.
Monday, June 11, 2012
Oh, Sudafed, How Do I Love Thee?
Let me count the ways:
1. Because with your help I can breathe through my nose. No one, no matter how sincerely they may try, can breathe through their mouth without looking rather like a trout, which honestly isn't my best look
2. Now the balloon in my head is smaller and more manageable (though I still think my head is at least the size of a large pumpkin)
3. No one wants to go to work and be "that" person snorfling and sneezing in their cube all day
4. While you make me sleepy, you don't make me so sleepy that I spontaneously pass out on the couch and wake up the next morning crackling like a bowl of rice crispies
In somewhat related news, I have found cross stitch nirvana (because nothing says I'm home and sick and feeling sorry for myself like an epic cross stitch project). The site is called Heaven and Earth Designs and if I live to be around 300, I can actually finish all the projects I want to do. A minor problem, I know... I'll have to work on that whole "live forever".
Catching up on vacation news. Chicago stopped only a very little short of being a total disaster. It was totally my fault, though. I had somehow managed to miss the fact that the one weekend I was free to go was also NATO conference weekend. Even after I found out, I thought it would be OK (the conference wasn't scheduled to start until the day I was leaving). But no. Most of the major museums were closed that Saturday. So, no famous Art Institute, no Field Museum, no great views of the city from the Aquarium. *muttering*
The Chicago City Museum was, very fortunately, quite nice and it was still possible to see a lot of the architecture. I also got to see Millennium Park (the bean is actually really, really cool) and the waterfront and do some shopping. A note on being a pedestrian in a city expecting the NATO apocalypse - when you see a platoon of mounted police heading to the place were all the helicopters are hovering, it's best to head the other way.
Stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel - the pool alone is worth a trip to this hotel. It's also right next door to the Tribune building. Chunks of stone from all over the world are embedded into the tribune building, so you can see pieces of the Great Wall, the Taj Mahal, I think I saw a plaque for the pyramids, etc in the facade of the building. I know, nerdy, but I love rocks.
Also loved, despite the New Yorker in me screaming bloody murder about my treachery - Chicago deep dish pizza. Ate at Gino's East (worth the wait, both standing outside for a table and inside waiting for the pizza) - as a hint, unless there are at least 3 of you (or two if one is a sumo wrestler), do not order an appetizer if you get even a small deep dish pizza.
1. Because with your help I can breathe through my nose. No one, no matter how sincerely they may try, can breathe through their mouth without looking rather like a trout, which honestly isn't my best look
2. Now the balloon in my head is smaller and more manageable (though I still think my head is at least the size of a large pumpkin)
3. No one wants to go to work and be "that" person snorfling and sneezing in their cube all day
4. While you make me sleepy, you don't make me so sleepy that I spontaneously pass out on the couch and wake up the next morning crackling like a bowl of rice crispies
In somewhat related news, I have found cross stitch nirvana (because nothing says I'm home and sick and feeling sorry for myself like an epic cross stitch project). The site is called Heaven and Earth Designs and if I live to be around 300, I can actually finish all the projects I want to do. A minor problem, I know... I'll have to work on that whole "live forever".
Catching up on vacation news. Chicago stopped only a very little short of being a total disaster. It was totally my fault, though. I had somehow managed to miss the fact that the one weekend I was free to go was also NATO conference weekend. Even after I found out, I thought it would be OK (the conference wasn't scheduled to start until the day I was leaving). But no. Most of the major museums were closed that Saturday. So, no famous Art Institute, no Field Museum, no great views of the city from the Aquarium. *muttering*
The Chicago City Museum was, very fortunately, quite nice and it was still possible to see a lot of the architecture. I also got to see Millennium Park (the bean is actually really, really cool) and the waterfront and do some shopping. A note on being a pedestrian in a city expecting the NATO apocalypse - when you see a platoon of mounted police heading to the place were all the helicopters are hovering, it's best to head the other way.
Stayed at the Intercontinental Hotel - the pool alone is worth a trip to this hotel. It's also right next door to the Tribune building. Chunks of stone from all over the world are embedded into the tribune building, so you can see pieces of the Great Wall, the Taj Mahal, I think I saw a plaque for the pyramids, etc in the facade of the building. I know, nerdy, but I love rocks.
Also loved, despite the New Yorker in me screaming bloody murder about my treachery - Chicago deep dish pizza. Ate at Gino's East (worth the wait, both standing outside for a table and inside waiting for the pizza) - as a hint, unless there are at least 3 of you (or two if one is a sumo wrestler), do not order an appetizer if you get even a small deep dish pizza.
Ultimately, it's not fair to compare Chicago and San Francisco. I saw one on a tough weekend, the other on a perfect weekend, though it was much easier to walk around Chicago... fewer hills. Here are some other good things about Chicago: the people are really, really friendly. The architecture is amazing, and there's a lot of variety, from sky scrapers (Sorry, Willis Co. it will always be the Sears tower to me) to Frank Lloyd Wright. It has great park spaces, and they're spread throughout the city so each one has a slightly different character. Public transit is efficient and convenient, so you can save your rental car money for a nicer hotel or shopping, etc. Pedestrian friendly and great downtown core.
Highlights: Millennium Park, deep dish pizza (I will deny everything if confronted about this back home), City Museum
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