Weekly Update

Hey, get up off the floor! I know it’s completely shocking that I’m actually writing a post but, really, I said it would happen again eventually!

*ahem*

So – I figured I’d start posting at least on Saturdays to let everyone know what’s going on and maybe to vent a little about my week. Don’t get me wrong, I have it pretty good for the most part, but there’s always something to vent about :)

The Evil Day Job
I thought this would be the first week in a while that I’d have a bit of time. We’d shipped the project we were down to the wire on last week to our product team and now the pressure should be off. We’d already had some minor issues and I’d hope this was the worst that my boss’ ill-advised jinx statement that “this was my easiest release ever” would incur. I should have known better. I should have been even more suspicious when he decided to take rest of the week off after Tuesday.

The first part of the week went fairly well, lulling me into yet more false security. So much so that I decided to take Thursday off work and try to do some writing for myself (and maybe fit in a nap or two). Great visions of what I could do with an entire day filled my ming with possibilities.

Then the sky fell. My boss was out of town and out of touch and something is wrong with the files we delivered. Well, something is wrong with the content of the files we delivered. One of our General Managers called me Thursday morning with the situation. Thus proceeded an entire DAY of chasing around like a headless chicken, trying to coordinate from home between laptop, cell phone and instant messenger. A plan was concocted, people were conferred with, the plan was executed and at the end of the day we had new files ready for us to check with a fine-toothed comb on Friday.

Because my boss was included on the various panicked emails, I did send him a separate email to call or talk to me before he freaks out. Not that I thought it would stop his freaking out but I thought it might at least prevent him from starting to reply to emails in the order received and without the latest information.

Friday we finished the process and we were able to pass the files back to the product team. Mind you, I had barely finished my part of the file check before all the power at my house went out. Good thing I have a smart phone that gets my work emails. I needed it a lot this day. I thought we were set but I was paranoidly checking my email all day and into the night for fear something else had gone wrong. By bedtime, I was exhausted.

My boss finally checked his emails today and was probably working on an ulcer by the time he replied to my “don’t panic” email. I just hope I made the right decisions and too the right actions. But next time, if he says any jinx phrases, *I* am going on vacation and I’m going to turn OFF my phone.

Family
Minion’s birthday is the end of the month so we’ve been getting ready for his party. He’s chosen a blacklight (aka “Lights Out”) party at a bouncy-house place and I’ve been ordering a cake, getting favors, etc. I also need to make a small cake I can have as well as one of his friends who is egg and dairy allergic.

Health
Hanging in there. A few stress headaches this week but still doing okay. Still on my diet pretty well thought I did cheat and have a little bit of dairy in the form of butter. My freezer is now full of a 1/2 steer’s worth of beef (bought locally on the hoof) and it’s SO tasty. I can’t wait to cook more of it. Have made a couple of batches of sorbet which is yummy but a bit tricky. Also seems a bit too sweet so I may try adjusting the recipes some more.

Writing
I’m happy to announce I have gotten some time in for writing this week. On the advice of my lovely mentor, I have blocked off 12-1 at work and have been writing on my netbook during that time. Since the netbook has no corporate network connection, I can’t get distracted by surfing, IM or Twitter. I can’t do it every day, some days meetings or classes interfere but it’s helping. Right now I’m still finishing edits on Escape to Me and working on my partial of Desert Alchemy. When those are done, I’ll have to see what shows up on the list next. I have a lot of potential projects.

That’s this week’s review. What have you all been up to?