And so it continues

As predicted this weeks is really going sideways. Not much sleep, too much work. Brain needs to disconnect ...

When it is too sticky

If you have been following you know last week was pretty much a disaster. This week is totally taking the some path. My client in NYC still has unresolved issues, the involuntary beta in LA is still swimming in rough waters. Sticky situation. All the other case had to be placed on the back burner. Cherry on the cake, one of my team's member got stuck at a site in NYC (a different one) and was therefore unable to take his shift on the on-call roster. Guess who is on call ?? Yep that would be me. Murpff !! I am going to have to find a good heart to take over at least during the day Saturday as we have a day trip planned to Lancaster, PA and there will be no way to do remote support.

Some good news though: Spring is definitely coming our way with temperature reaching 75F (25C) this weekend YAY!!! I know my little one is going to have a great time outdoors with a weather like this. I am going to try to get her summer dresses out of the storage bins I have them stashed away.

Final touches

This weekend was the occasion to put the final touch on a few projects. After tidying up my sewing gear the basement, I finally made the new sheers for the recently repainted living room and matching ones for the kitchen, I also re-appropriate the old living rooms sheers for the master bedroom (out with the cheap ones bought when we were new homeowners with more urgent stuff to spend money on !!!). I'm still not over how the living rooms looks so much better and brighter with something as simple as paint and window treatments.  

In the overdue department, thanks to the spring cleaning dumpster days in the neighborhood, we finally disposed of the last of the old commodes. We recently replaced one in the basement bathroom and never got around bringing to the county dump. Yes all the evil, poorly flushing, water wasting old toilets that were the same age as the house are gone. In their place, brad new water efficient Kohler models that flush properly. 

I also found time to prepare some treats for Easter. My little helper poured the ingredients in the mixing bowl and wielded the cookie cutters for some delicious chocolate frosted cookies. 

After that I made some ganache truffles flavored with Irish whisky liqueur. Yummmmm!! Sinful and heavenly at the same time. 

Beta, did you say beta? I say batty!

My company makes software. The software life cycle goes a bit like this : there is the pre-Alpha version, where not all the features are coded and has usually some serious flaws also called bugs. It's the layout stage. Then there is the alpha version. That usually gets tested internally by developers and internal testers. That's in the alpha testing that the big bugs are fixed and the features are all coded. Once the Alpha version has been stabilized, it changes name. Here comes the Beta. The Beta is still not the final product. But to be able to have all features tested in realistic conditions, Betas are tested in live environment by the end users. The betas testers are fully aware the product they are using is not a final version and is still flawed. They are carefully handpicked and they are briefed on what to reasonably expect in case a flaw, however major or minor,  is uncovered.

So I do have a problem when a Beta gets installed and the customer is not prepared, does not have the right kind of support to deal with everything that can ensue. And I have a problem getting this thrown on my lap with no heads up, no preparation and no support system either. It's a bit like being thrown in the arena with a bunch of growling dogs. You can coax them, cajole them all you want, you are still in a tight spot. Did I mention another customer is going to be installed with that same beta version next week? 

So there is my week and probably next week in a nutshell, trying to make the best of the cards I've been dealt. Putting out fires started by someone else. Running ragged. TGTIF !

From bad to worse

After a pretty nasty Monday, and a really crappy Tuesday, what else than a shitty Wednesday and promise of more of the same for the rest of the week. Thrilling!

Last night I came home exhausted and went to bed at 9pm, and when almost right to sleep, which is pretty exceptional. At least it got to work feeling rested. But then the disaster continued. More cases, still in a tight spot with the same customer as last week and looking like it may drag on to next week. Some more testing to do tomorrow but the master plan is to be executed Friday starting around 4am... Guess who is going to get up at o-dark-30 to do it ? yep that would be me. On the plus side I can invoke that to take off early on Friday afternoon and go shopping to make up for this frustrating week.

A case of the Monday's

Not a brilliant day. Rough time getting out of bed followed by draining day at work with a third day working on the same case. Yes the same case that ate up all of wednesday and thursday last week. Sometimes the frustration rises high. So does the chocolate intake. It's medicinal right ? At least some progress was made and hopefully this will be wrapped up tomorrow. I definitely need to do something else this week. 

On the house front, it was a quiet day. Lots of cuddles with my daughter. She also wanted to read books with me. Lots of books. That's pretty new for her to have to patience to go through one book, let alone 4 or 5. An this time around she let me flip the pages when I was finished reading instead of moving along as soon as she has identified the picture. I'm hoping this is the beginning of more reading together. I like that and I missed doing it when she didn't have the patience to let me.

Out of town

Once a year, I grab my sewing machine, a stack of fabrics and accessories, and off to Delaware. Ladies only. Each of us has an assigned meal that she needs to take care of, otherwise it sew, sew, sew, eat, chitchat, a glass of wine or two, some good laughter, a critical eye, advice, sisterhood. This weekend was THE weekend. I was great as usual. Good food, good company and a lot of sewing done. 

Added benefit: the house is only minutes away from Rehoboth Beach, a outlet store paradise. Yep, the shopping is definitely part of the fun. I have to confess, I have a soft spot for shoes. So this weekend, I got my fix for the season. This visit's loot: a pair of peep toe slingbacks and two pairs of wedge sandals. 

On top of it all, the weather was PER-FECT! One word to sum it all up: HAPPY!

Around the corner

It's really happening. Spring is around the corner. Second day of marvelous blue skies and temperature reaching 70F (that's about 20C). I am so excited. Spring the my favorite time of the year. The days getting longer and warmer, the flowers, people coming out of their "hibernating bear" mode. Soon strawberries season. This morning I took a closer peek at the front yard and they are there ... the daffodils, lilies and other bulbs are peeking out. I'm feeling giddy just thinking about spending more time outside, and soon having meals on the deck or the terrace. Yes, spring is really the best time of the year!

Two words: Jet lag

Rough morning, loooooooooong morning, loooooooooong afternoon. Today, just dragged and dragged and dragged. I kept yawning and had a hard time keeping focus on anything. Once I got home from work I literally collapsed and dozed off even before dinner while cuddling with my little one. Can you say jet lag?? Not much to say about my day except maybe one of my job leads seems to be leading somewhere. I'll find out more tomorrow I'm sure.

On the home front, it seems the cat issues are slowly but surely getting under control. Less scratching, less fighting,  less headache. Eck, even giving the medication is no longer the risky maneuver of the day: incredibly, out cat has decided it was not worth the fight and is now "cooperating", as much as a feline can be qualified as  "cooperating". Overall stress level in the household : way down therefore spirit : way up.

A bit lazy (actually a lot)

This morning I woke up after  a good night sleep at 9:30AM,  ... ahem with daylight saving time that's 10:30AM. By the time I got up almost 11AM. Gee that's already almost half the day gone. No point making big plan. This was the perfect day to be lazy. My day in a nutshell? Folded the laundry while watching a movie, knitted a few rows, played with the princess of the house (we had lunch party with her plastic food and read stories). I did tidy up the basement a bit because I needed the space for a special project I'm preparing, which will hopefully take shape next weekend. 

Hubby and I went to a birthday/fundraiser party at a nice restaurant while our princess was building a giant lego house with my husband's cousin that came to watch her for us. The food was nice but it was a bit too loud for us. Still had a good time. We were back for princess bedtime :). After that I succumbed to temptation: at my husband's suggestion, I watched the episode of Grey's Anatomy I missed this week on Hulu. Then Castle. Then I had to watch Chuck again since I missed a bit of the beginning. I should have never learned about Hulu. I'm catching myself wondering how complicated it would be to hookup my computer to the TV to watch stuff on the big screen at a more convenient time than the regular schedule. I might get tempted to catch up on other shows. This is baaaad. I MUST RESIST! Or is that even possible? 

Finally a chance of spring

This morning as expected, my little one wasted no time to jump in my bed after she got up. And I really didn't mind one bit. Except I'm paying the prince for a whole week of little sleep and particularly last night as we didn't get home until almost 1:30AM for a bedtime at about 2AM ... After which I tossed and turned for a long while even though I was totally exhausted. So I'm going to make this post quite short.

While I was away in Arizona, the snow finally melted here. Well not quite all of it... there are still some huge snow piles in supermarkets' and shopping centers' parking lots. But in my yard it's all gone. Yay. OK my plants look very pathetic right now. Flattened and soggy. Unfortunately the weather was depressingly wet today and there is more to come tomorrow so I wont be putting new much until the weekend after next since I'm going to be away (again) for 3 days, not for business thankfully. More on that later this week.  Laundry is almost done, groceries tackled, lots od hugging and kissing with my little one... a pretty good day. Hoping for a pretty good night too. I need it !

In transit

This morning, since the modeling was finally done, we managed to wrap up all the critical items of our install. The customer is mostly happy and we made arrangements to iron out all remaining kinks next week remotely. All in all a successful week despite the bumps in the road.

Towncar  service to the airport was nice. It was interesting to see the desert as green as it was. Apparently, it's quite exceptional. Phoenix also had one of the rainiest winters on record. We arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare to check my luggage, grab some lunch , go through security and get to my departure gate. I really don't like having to run to catch a plane.

I was pretty shocked today to find what some people deem appropriate garb for traveling by plane. I was quite stunned to see a couple of teenager wearing mini-shorts showing half of their butt paired with a tank top, flipflops and a see through overshirt. No need for pat down search, there is no place to hide anything. The face of some of the TSA agents was quite entertaining though. Uneventful flight from Phoenix to Denver. Just enough time to grab something for dinner, switch terminal to catch my second flight. 

About ready to board so ... 

Can't wait to be home, kiss the husband (a lot)  and hug my kid to death!!

Away from home - Day #4

Light! Light at the end of the tunnel. Not only am I going home tomorrow night, but our development office finally delivered a viable solution. It's not perfect but it's definitely working a lot better. Still hoping to deliver a finished model tomorrow before heading back home but worst case scenario we can handle a lot of the detail polishing remotely. 

After the workday, I went for a walk and took a few pictures, a nice sunny day again. I. would have been a shame to to be outside for a bit.

 Got to see the family over video stream again tonight Gosh I miss them a lot. Tomorrow I get to see them for real. It just sucks, my flight gets home so late. Way past bedtime for little people. I won't get a jug and kiss from my daughter until Saturday morning. 

Away from home - Day #3

This post could be dubbed when the s**t hits the fan. As of 9PM MST  the second modeling job is still running and at this point it doesn't look like it will be finished tomorrow morning. We changed the settings of the database and did everything we could to alleviate the load on the server to leave more processing power for modeling. It still looks like we are hitting a brick wall. My colleague and I are very frustrated. We are also very grateful the customer is taking this pretty well. Most would not be nearly as understanding. 

After this frustrating day it was really nice to talk to the family back home. My daughter did ask me to come home. I can't wait to hold her. 2 more days and some change. I won't get back home until late night Friday (well technically it will be Saturday morning). So no big hugs and kisses until Saturday morning. 

Also had a nice dinner with a long time known, never met before, internet buddy. It was a lot of fun and a nice break from the hotel's limited menu selections. Oh and tomorrow is supposed to be warmer with a ton of sunshine. Small consolations

Away from home - Day #2

Time zones are one of the downsides of traveling. This morning, my internal clock got me up at 7AM eastern, 5AM here. Bad clock, the rest of my body sure could have used a couple more hours of sleep. I'm hoping for a better night tonight. Bonus: after a rainy morning, the sky cleared up. 

Still on schedule with our installation. As expected, the modeling completed overnight. As expected, once presented with the results, the customer decided to make some changes in the setup. So we wiped the results and do-over is currently running. I was able to do a bit of shopping in the area and found a few cute things to bring back home as. I also took a few pictures for future craft projects. 

Major bummer though, I was not able to find any store selling western style fabrics, not even quilt stores. I was so hoping to find Anasazi, Hopi or Navajo inspired prints. Of course, being way out of town and without convenient transportation does limit the scope of my research. 

Bonus of the day, after poking and prodding for a while, hubby and I finally managed to get a video conference going. Yay! Double Yay! I was able to see my my baby girl before her bedtime and wish her good night and sweet dreams. Funny how little things can make you happy.

Away from home - Day #1

Busy day explaining brand new concepts to our customers. Customers that are pretty new to this business location and are still discovering how everything works out in this operation. Ultimately, all we had set out to do today was accomplished. While we are resting, the server is churning through data and building stats and predictions. That's called modeling but there is no catwalk involved, only CPU power. Tomorrow, we get to play by with the results. Very excited.

Very bummed about not being able to get the video stream going. It looks like the network settings are too restrictive to allow the session. So we had to go with good old phone chat. Better than nothing. As it turns out this place is a bit far from everything. Not that many options available to fill after hours. To top it all, most stores close at 6:00 pm. That doesn't leave much time for shopping after the workday. At least there is cable TV. 

Time for some sleep. 

Just what the doctor ordered

Seriously cool room very large with a bed so huge that they should supply a step stool for it





Cosy and perfect after a long day... ZZzzzzzzzzz


Posted from my iPhone

Joys of air travel

Just landed in TX but no time to say "hehaw". The plane was late (what a surprise!) so I only had time to use the restroom and buy a bottle of water before it was time to board again. Final destination: Phoenix where a car service will be picking me and my fellow installer Matt to take use to Scottsdale. My back is killing me despite the meds. I blame it on the tight quarters and lugging 2 laptops in a backpack. If I was traveling more oftern I'd be sure to invest in a fancy wheeled bag. I almost forgot the cherry on the cake: traveling right next to a cranky 5 year old. Yay! I should have packed earplugs. Mpff!

Hoping for a comfy bed after a nice hot shower.

- Posted from my iPhone

Location:Houston,United States

At the gate

As I feared, leaving the hubby and our little one at the security check was heart wrenching. It's not the first time of course but it doesn't get any easier. I am going too miss them both. I am hoping I can stay busy enough to not think about them too much. I loaded enough movies for the duration of the trip on my iPhone and a blogging app that I am testing right now. So far so good. More at the Houston stop.

- Posted from my iPhone

Location:BWI

Countdown

That's it. Well almost it. Tomorrow I will be in Arizona for a week. So today was all about laundry and packing. That part is almost done : suits and shirts all neatly folded, shoes selected and tucked in, makeup, meds, something to read. My OCD won't let me pack at the last minute. All that's left to do tomorrow: load a couple of movies on the iPhone, switch handbags, add toiletries and pack my MacBook and the cables in the computer bag.  That should be pretty easy.

The hard part will be to hug my little one goodbye, knowing that I won't be able to do that for a week. That part REALLY sucks. Like all parents, sometimes I admit she can be very tough to handle (she is about as pig headed and her dad and I combined). Sometimes it is hard to stay zen. But nothing she may do (or not do) can make me love any less. So yes I am leaving. But I will be longing for her little arms around my neck, her lovely cheek dimples, and her voice calling Mama.

Friday ahoy !

Yesterday, we had a meeting at my daughter's school and it is now clear the road ahead is still long. When she started the program she is in last september, we were so thrilled by the immediate progress we were seeing. I foolishly thought, my kid is so smart, by the end of the school year she will be back on par with kids her age. The progress is undeniable. There were plateaus and with the unexpected school interruption for 2 full weeks after the huge snowfalls, some serious setbacks. No doubt now the second year of the program will be necessary for her to be able to go to kindergarden in good conditions. I'm just glad we have been proactive as soon as we noticed something was not quite right. I am glad my daughter is getting all the help she needs to catch up with her peers. I know once she does she will be a run away for the gold (that's the proud mommy talking here).   

Add all this up with the general grumpiness, this week has been rough so far. Thankfully like a long voyage at sea the end is in sight! Friday ahoy mateys! And as we sail closer to the end of the journey things are looking up. Wonderful surprise this morning! Someone drops by my desk while I am working on a case. At first I don't really pay attention as I am totally engrossed in my work. Second look... YAY!!!! It's Karen. Karen is the one most wonderful gals. She is smart, always helpful and caring. Her hart is bigger than her country... and that's pretty big since she is from Canada. There should be more people like Karen on this planet. So we went out for lunch and the grumpiness started melting down. Now I'm hoping for a productive Friday that will make up for an otherwise pretty gloomy week. 

The reality of my trip to Arizona is also starting to sink in. It's nice to know I am going to do something so far from my routine for a whole week. Not just the work routine, but also the house routine. No cooking, no cleaning, no pets. Uhoh.. No hubby and no kid either. That bit is not so great. I know I will miss them both. Guess what... I'll be traveling with two laptops: my work issued HP and my very faithful and how so practical MacBook. Yay for integrated video camera. No matter what I will get to see my two favorite people from thousands of miles away. I just hope the internet access will be comp'ed because the company handbook says I can't expense it. 

Hmm I forgot I also have to worry about what to pack.

Still grumpy

Another grumpy day. Sometimes you know right at the moment you open your eyes in the morning it is going to be one of those days. Hard to get from half consciousness to the surface, hard to get up, hard to get ready for work, cranky on the way to work, irritable and anti-social, nothing can seem to shake it off. No juice. Chocolate not really helping either. Three days in a row. No energy and that nagging feeling everything is just crappy and uninspiring. Apparently I am not the only one feeling gloomy. My friend Shari was also in a totally anti-social mood (self proclaimed), and she was not the only one. At least my workday was not as bleak as yesterday, especially at lunchtime. Shari and I treated ourselves with our favorite : Qdoba's naked burrito. Then I was able to wrap up a couple of long outstanding support tickets. That always helps feeling a bit better.

I think the weather has to do with all this. I'm longing for spring as usual at this time of the year, it cannot come soon enough. I need more sunshine, see some green and some flowers. Yes, weeks after our snomaggedon there is still plenty of snow here. Big piles in some areas are still reaching several feet, and every shady spots has retained quite a bit, for instance my front yard. It  is still covered by almost 2 feet of snow and ice. It is slowly shrinking but unless the temperatures get significantly warmer it will take a few more weeks to melt it all off. I am wondering if my plants will have survived the ordeal. All adds up to this conclusion: my trip to AZ looks more and more just what I need to get over the gloom. Less than a week now. Time to think about what to pack. The idea of wearing open toes shoes after weeks in the Doc Marteens, and short sleeve shirts is something to look forward to!! OK it's for work, but as work goes, that is the cherry on the cake. Here's to cherries, my favorite fruit too!!

Parlez-vous Francais?

Since I moved to the States almost 8 years ago, the occasions to speak French, which is after all my mother tongue, have been limited. For the past year, I have been a member of a French club that meets the first tuesday of each month, and we chat about a chosen theme. There have been some amusing topics, some more serious, there were games and food tastings. We even have been to a local restaurant (french of course). So today was the first tuesday of March and even though I did not have the time to read the books that were going to be discussed, I chose to go the meeting. Among the members of the club, some are francophone, some are francophile, and all are fun. This was as usual a pleasent evening.

I do speak French to my daughter daily and with my mother at least once a week (thank you iChat video conferences!!). I must confess though having an adult conversation about just about anything, in French, it's bliss after spending the day immersed in English. I use my mother tongue so little, I don't even dream in French anymore! And sometimes I even have a hard time finding my words. I can't wait for my little one to make enough progress so we can really have a conversation together. Maybe another year or two. 

In the meantime, the club meetings are like a breath of fresh air. I just wish I could breathe more often. Good news also, we have found a babysitter so next Sunday, hubby and I are going to a nice french restaurant to celebrate the birthday of my french club friend. Too bad birthdays happens only once a year. I think, 2 meetings a month would be so nice. By the way, it started snowing as I was  leaving home, so I did wear my brand new red mittens. Awesome! Allez! Bonne nuit et à bientôt.

Grumpiness

Not a happy day at work. I was feeling grumpy already getting up and things just did not improve. Voicemail. Customer obviously called the wrong person for their purpose. But no matter, since they have my direct line I can make do right ? Yep. Sorry, I can only answer technical questions. Sent email to the account manager that can help out. Then a few hours struggling with customized documents in Oracle Report Builder hell, followed by database tuning and preparing a data migration (non geeks, please follow the links for explanations on what the fun is all about). Murpf. 

My flight to Scottsdale is now booked. I leave Sunday afternoon and return late Friday night (better than a Saturday morning red eye!!). A whole week out of the office, that is going to feel like a breath of fresh air I'm sure. And looking forward to see that new module in action too! 

Not looking forward to leave my baby girl behind for a week though. That part is rough. My mother-in-law will be coming from upstate NY to help the hubby out. He can handle little people, but having him all stressed out all week because of it would mean grumpy husband when I return. I'm going to make sure that the beer fridge is stocked up and that I get him some peppermint patties (his favorite treat) before I leave. 

Highlight of my day : the mail. Yes, I received my Olympic mittens !! Woohoo. Almost hoping for some cold weather before the season turns into spring just so I have an excuse to wear them. It's really not cold enough for mittens this week so far. And I'm pretty sure I'm not going to need them in Scottsdale !