Finally - A Respite from Work...well, sort of

Today was my last day at the office until May 30! I guess it would be more appropriate to say my last 'regular' day, since I do need to go in at least once over the next couple of weeks to reboot some servers. It was a very busy, but fruitful week. I got a lot done. And I much prefer those weeks when I feel like I've actually accomplished something at the end of them. There are so many weeks when I feel like I've done little more than spin my wheels.

I got four projects done just today. I closed out four Change Requests with the help of one of the Java developers. These had a lot of database-related changes. I've started scripting more out now that I've had the PL/SQL class. It really does make things so much easier...and I'm getting consistent results across all the environments. That has always been a sticking point for me.

I still need to come up with a better process for refreshing environments. Folks on one of the Oracle lists insists that I should look at refreshing with RMAN. Seems complicated. I mean, the import/export method takes a while, and I do have some clean up afterwards, but I really understand what is happening and that is a comfort zone for me. But it's been a time of expanding horizons lately, so it's worth looking into.

When I left this morning, I was a little fuzzy. Stayed up too late again last night, so 5:40 came early...and I missed the snooze button. So, when I startled myself at 6:14, I had to scramble. There wasn't any way I was going to make it out by my usual 6:30. But I actually got to the office building only three minutes late. Unfortunately, I had forgotten my badge so I couldn't get in the garage. Parking is a CF around our building so I ended up over a block away in an area that seems seedy at best. Luckily, Ken was able to bring my badge down to my office AND take Miss Moo and I out to lunch. It turned out to be a not so bad day after all.

I've let it be known that I'm available by cell phone while in Oracle training, so it will be interesting if I get any calls.

Miss Moo has a bad rash tonight so we're doing our first night without diapers. She's just in regular underwear. We'll see how it goes. Ken is convinced that we will be called into her room at 2:00 am to clean out her bed. She's actually gone all night many times without wetting, but she has to sit on a toilet right away or there's hell to pay. I think she might do it, although I won't be surprised if she does call. I actually hope she does call out rather than sleeping on a wet spot all night. I put some cream on the rash, but it made it burn, poor thing. She was UNhappy. I got it cleaned off and put some Vaseline (c) on the affected area. Hopefully she'll be better by morning.

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE Fridays?

I love Fridays. Even those I have to work on 0 which is every other one. But today, instead of work, I was at the last day of my Oracle Application Server training. It was a good class, and there were lots of interesting people there. I'll miss the unlimited free coffee. What a budget saver! :-)

I found it interesting that most of the people in the class were Oracle employees. Well, to be honest, they were JD Edwards - PeopleSoft - Oracle employees. I guess the JD Edwards and PeopleSoft products are being ported over to the Oracle Application Server. At any rate, they supplied an interesting perspective on life in the public sector. I've been a Fed so long, I've kind of forgotten.

The training did end a little early today. I would normally have gone to the office, but I had put in so many extra hours this week that I didn't claim, that I didn't feel too bad about the extra 45 minutes or so of 'free' time. But actually, I guess I am feeling a little guilty about it. Isn't silly though? I mean, I give those folks so much of my time without compensation. I shouldn't feel bad about this.

It was nice, though, coming home and having a nice long afternoon with Ken and Miss Moo. Ken and I made up a plan for Miss Moo's 'big girl' room. We're going to start the painting tomorrow. Guess that means trips to Home Depot! Some might question the appropriateness of starting such a project given our current financial situation. But we've set a pretty tight budget. Doubt we'll stick with it...but really, the way I paint, we won't be spending the bulk of the budget for a couple of months!

I'm a terribly slow painter. I started Ken's and my bedroom project in October or November 2004. I had all the furniture pulled in from the walls. I wanted the portion of the wall below the chair rail to be a deep purple eg-planty color. The portion above was to be a sandy golden color. The trim and curtains were to be an olive green. I think it sounds weird when describing it to others. But that's the combination of colors on my comforter set, and it's beautiful. At a friend's suggestion, I focused on the wall behind the headboard first. I got the sandy color up and started on the purple down below. I originally wanted to do a faux technique, I just wasn't sure which one. My friend Susan was there to provide help, guidance and moral support. But no matter what I tried, I didn't like it. I decided to sit on it a while until inspiration struck again. Unfortunately for Ken, it never really did strike again. About a year and a half later, he went and finished the rest of the walls. He just went ahead and painted the bottem portion purple - no faux technique. We got the furniture back into place about three weeks ago. The room looks amazingly large now. And I don't have to climb through six pieces of furniture to get to bed. It actually feels STRANGE! :-)

At any rate, given my history, Ken isn't so scared about commiting to spend some money on Miss Moo's room. It will probably be awhile before the big project roles around. We decided we're going to build a playhouse/bed for her. We'll use a new twin bed matress, elevated it about 4 ft off the floor and build a shell around the bottom part that will be set up to look like a house. I think that sounds like a cute little thing to do. Sounds like a big project, actually. I'm leaving the construction tasks up to Ken. We have to have a pretty clear separation of duties or we'll start going rounds about how something should be done. :-)

Seeing as how it's almost 2:00 am, I guess Ken was right to be a little sceptical about me actually getting started tomorrow. But I'm determined! We shall see....I hope to prove him wrong. Hey! It could happen!

Dinner (I cooked it):
Tuna Helper Alfrfedo

Good night, my little digital diary...

A Rough Time

We've been going through a rough patch lately. Between Ken losing his job seven months ago and my and Mom's health scares, it seems that each week has brought some new challenge. We're holding up well, though. Of course, Miss Moo makes it all seem rather unimportant. Kids can do that, I've found.

Ken and I both thought he would have found a job by now. It certainly isn't for lack of trying. He's on the computer every day looking at job sites, posting resumes and getting contact info. And he's getting calls...only they only seem to be coming from people who want him to pay them for a job. Wha??? Oh sure, I'll give you $3,000 that we can't afford to spend right now in the hopes of making $100,000 in the next year. I can't believe how much of that is out there.

Mom seems to be in better spirits after meeting with her surgeon. She's using the same surgeon my Dad had a few years back for his cancer surgery. Mom trusts the Doc, and when she heard that there should be little chance of a tumor coming back after this one was removed, well, she calmed down considerably. She'll be on a rapid course of radiation, which sounds kind of scary to me. But it will only last five days. Then, of course, there's five years of meds and exams after that. Much better than the alternative, though!

I'm in training this week, so I'm out of the loop at work. It's been uncomfortable, because when I check e-mail at night, it seems like stuff kind of blew up. Not systems, just work...Suddenly there are people questioning things and looking for things. I felt I had it all battened down before leaving... I hate that unsettled feeling. I'd rather be at the office just taking care of things. But I am so thankful to have the opportunity to take the training, I am certainly not complaining. And it is a good class. It's one of those that shows me just how little I know...just how many opportunities for improvement I'm missing.

If I keep up with this Blog-thing, I may go into more detail...who knows.

Miss Moo went down tonight with no problems. She keeps making me sing Christmas carols before bedtime. She got a song book for Christmas, you know one of those that you push a button and some tinny-sounding music comes out? When she found out there were words with the music, she was delighted. So, I get to sing carols about five times a week. It's really hard to stay in a foul mood when you're singing 'O Little Town of Bethlehem'. :-)