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Sitting in my seat, doing the potty dance (the funny thing about needing to go in pregnancy is not that I go a lot because that's normal, considering my water intake, but that I go from naught-to-need potty in thirty seconds), and looking out at a typically grey Manchester day.
This week at work has been a bummer. Two of our computers, one of which happens to be the one on my desk, have been freezing intermittently for months. We bought them from a friend of someone who'd done a lot of our IT work and, somehow, our normally meticulous financial person who took care of the purchase apparently did not have them sign a contract for what service they would provide to which date. As a result we've had to have IT Services from the university come out and attempt to fix them--everything short of testing the hardware has been tried, including reinstalling Windows, and things are almost worse now than they were before! My computer just turns itself off rather than freezing, we can't find an updated driver for our sound cards to make them work, and Steve's computer is still freezing multiple times each day.
Oh, and Thunderbird won't open any of my e-mail messages now so I've had to resort to Outlook Express, hated program that it is!
So now, after what is probably about £500 of work on the computers, we're looking at either having them pull apart my computer while I'm on vacation to see which part is broken and then pay for a replacement (at £70 per hour it isn't cheap) or just buy two new computers that will have year-long warranties, with the option to pay for an additional two years. For a not-for-profit, neither option is particularly savory.
All of that pales in comparison to the real tragedy of the last month, namely, that our chef died of a massive (and unexpected) heart attack while in the hospital a couple of weeks ago. Since the cafe has been doing brilliantly during her time here it's another financial blow but, more importantly, is hard for all of us because we all were relatively close to her. She had a very big personality, as chefs seem to do, and was particularly loved by the students, who saw her as a surrogate mother. Not having her come in and tell me some funny anecdote, or stomp through the door with some massive new drama is strange, to say the least.
***
I'm taking Friday off to do Christmas shopping as we have yet to purchase anything for anyone. I suppose I'm giving away more than I should about my (miserly?) personality here...but part of me really doesn't like asking for gifts (hence why I haven't done that gift meme) not because I don't like receiving them or giving gifts in return, but because the obligation to give something back can be very stressful, particularly when money is tight and I find that I am much better at intending to give something than actually carrying through. Just ask![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
odiedragon, whose gift is wrapped, addressed, and sitting on my kitchen counter (and has been for weeks now) just waiting to be sent.
I mean well. I WANT to be one of those really tremendous people who manage to send out lovely, well-thought-out packages that make people squeal when they open them, but somehow my intentions are always better than my actual deeds. I feel sad about that and always feel driven to apologize to all of my friends that I don't do all the special things for you that I DREAM about doing for you even if you don't know that I do! If you all only knew what magnificent surprise packages I think up for you (and never end up putting together) surely I could have a prize for at least being thoughtful, if completely disorganized and pathetic?
This week at work has been a bummer. Two of our computers, one of which happens to be the one on my desk, have been freezing intermittently for months. We bought them from a friend of someone who'd done a lot of our IT work and, somehow, our normally meticulous financial person who took care of the purchase apparently did not have them sign a contract for what service they would provide to which date. As a result we've had to have IT Services from the university come out and attempt to fix them--everything short of testing the hardware has been tried, including reinstalling Windows, and things are almost worse now than they were before! My computer just turns itself off rather than freezing, we can't find an updated driver for our sound cards to make them work, and Steve's computer is still freezing multiple times each day.
Oh, and Thunderbird won't open any of my e-mail messages now so I've had to resort to Outlook Express, hated program that it is!
So now, after what is probably about £500 of work on the computers, we're looking at either having them pull apart my computer while I'm on vacation to see which part is broken and then pay for a replacement (at £70 per hour it isn't cheap) or just buy two new computers that will have year-long warranties, with the option to pay for an additional two years. For a not-for-profit, neither option is particularly savory.
All of that pales in comparison to the real tragedy of the last month, namely, that our chef died of a massive (and unexpected) heart attack while in the hospital a couple of weeks ago. Since the cafe has been doing brilliantly during her time here it's another financial blow but, more importantly, is hard for all of us because we all were relatively close to her. She had a very big personality, as chefs seem to do, and was particularly loved by the students, who saw her as a surrogate mother. Not having her come in and tell me some funny anecdote, or stomp through the door with some massive new drama is strange, to say the least.
***
I'm taking Friday off to do Christmas shopping as we have yet to purchase anything for anyone. I suppose I'm giving away more than I should about my (miserly?) personality here...but part of me really doesn't like asking for gifts (hence why I haven't done that gift meme) not because I don't like receiving them or giving gifts in return, but because the obligation to give something back can be very stressful, particularly when money is tight and I find that I am much better at intending to give something than actually carrying through. Just ask
odiedragon, whose gift is wrapped, addressed, and sitting on my kitchen counter (and has been for weeks now) just waiting to be sent.I mean well. I WANT to be one of those really tremendous people who manage to send out lovely, well-thought-out packages that make people squeal when they open them, but somehow my intentions are always better than my actual deeds. I feel sad about that and always feel driven to apologize to all of my friends that I don't do all the special things for you that I DREAM about doing for you even if you don't know that I do! If you all only knew what magnificent surprise packages I think up for you (and never end up putting together) surely I could have a prize for at least being thoughtful, if completely disorganized and pathetic?
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