When I went into the office this morning, Mama Goose was still sitting on the nest. It looks like last week’s goose photos were “just in time,” because when I went to get something from the car in the late afternoon, I found a few of these signs in the parking lot.
I tried to get a couple shots of the nest, but they didn’t come out right. No sign of Mama Goose and the kids though. They either waddled off to the stormwater pond out behind the building, or else she was already busy teaching them to poop on cars.
Category Archives: Work
Scenes from a Parking Lot
About a month ago, the facilities people at my office set up some cones in the parking lot, blocking access to three spaces. Surface parking is always kind of tight there, so on the one hand, I was a bit mystified as to why they would do this. On the other hand, our parking lot is currently in the midst of its annual occupation by a group of Canada Geese, and I wouldn’t want to be parking at the surface level anyhow, lest I have to clean some nasty goose stuff off the car. (And anything like that gets on your car, you need to wash it right away. Otherwise you’re gonna need a new paint job.)
Two weeks ago, I was heading out to my car at lunch time, and I discovered why those spots had been blocked off — Mama Goose had moved in and set up a nest on the traffic island!
Late last week, I happened to walk by while Mama Goose was standing up to stretch and count the eggs. I didn’t want to get any closer for fear of disturbing her, but still managed to snap this shot. If you look closely, you can see about a half-dozen eggs between her feet.
Holding My Breath
The big software release came around 5:00 on Friday. There were a few scary moments, but that’s normal with these things. The biggest of these involved a problem with the format of a report. In the end, it was deemed to be “something that can wait until Monday” and the release was declared a success around 6:30.
Several project team members may have immediately adjourned to a nearby bar.
The big test for the system came today. The web site is accessible to the public 24×7, but the nature of things is such that most of the people who visit the site do so during the work week. We got through today with only one glitch, and that one was a relatively minor data issue.
I’m not ready to declare complete victory quite yet (after all, I was at the office until 8:00 this evening and won’t have time to get bored tomorrow either). But I don’t feel the weight of the world quite as much as last week.
Nervous
I’ve been a little stressed out at work this week. We have a new software release going out this week and it represents a couple major firsts for me.
First, this is first project where I was the lead developer. The quality of my work is going to be on display in entirely new ways.
Second, over the past 20 years, pretty much everything I’ve worked on has only been seen by a handful of people.
What’s been gnawing at me has been the realization that the web site we’re updating this week routinely has more than 2 million page views per month.
I mentioned this to one of my co-workers this afternoon. He replied, “What do you mean 2 million? It’s more than 24 million.”
This was soon followed by the rather Hagrid-like admission, “I probably shouldn’t have told you that.”
No, that’s OK. Just so there’s no pressure or anything…
Questionable Judgement.
As I’ve mentioned, my co-workers have prohibited me from making jokes during the last few weeks before a software release. We’re in one of those joke-free periods right now in fact.
Between business meetings and taking some time off, the Chief’s been out of the office a few times over the past month. When that happens, he generally leaves Olive in charge. Olive in turn has been threatening to leave me in charge if she and the Chief were both out at the same time.
My response to this threat has been to warn her against it. It’s just a bad idea and under no circumstances should she leave me in charge.
The Chief’s been out for the past three days.
Olive called in sick on Tuesday.
I ended up in charge.
When Olive came back on Wednesday, the big software release we’ve been working on had been pushed back for at least a week.
I certainly hope she has learned a lesson from this mistake.
What Did You Do To Deserve This?
The desk calendar I use at work occasionally includes some “interesting” quotations. One recent example – from no less a personage than Genghis Kahn – left me laughing:
I am the punishment of God… If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you.
I admit to being something of a wiseguy, so I showed this quotation to my co-worker Olive and asked, “Does this remind you of anyone you know?”
She laughed and replied, “Yes it does. But I’m an atheist.”
Olive paused for a moment and then added, “Oh. Do you think maybe that’s what I’m being punished for?”
Prime Real Estate
As they say, the three most important things in real estate are: Location, Location, Location.
About a year ago, my officemate and I were moved to a new office at the other end of the hall. The old office had previously been dedicated to just one person, so the new digs were a definite improvement in terms of being able to move around.
The downside to the new office is that it’s right next to the kitchen. A wide variety of smells drift in at lunch time: some are quite tantalizing; others are quite the opposite.
MC took a new job back in the Spring. Six months later, I have a new office mate and he’s been making the making the same discoveries about the lunch smells. Today however he discovered one of the points that make this a prime location: This afternoon, we were the first to find out about the chocolate chip cookies. 🙂
Asking for Trouble
The Mad Russian is going to be out of the office for the next two weeks. One week in training, one week on vacation. She won’t be in the office at all during that time, so she’s asked me to water her plants while she’s away.
On the one hand, they’re just a couple plants. But the truth is, people care a great deal about their office plants. You don’t ask someone to take care of your plants if you don’t trust them. It’s a responsibility I’m taking quite seriously and I fully intend to take very good care of those plants.
This raises an important question however. Before The Mad Russian returns, should I replace them with plastic plants? Or with cacti?
Performance Appraisal
When you fill out the self-evaluation portion of your annual performance appraisal, you’re supposed to be honest. I had to do mine a couple months ago:
Q: List what you have done with respect to your job that provided the most satisfaction during the evaluation period.
A: I got paid.
Q: List what you have done with respect to your job that provided the least satisfaction during the evaluation period.
A: Arrived at the office after sitting in traffic.
Q: List any improvements that you believe can be made in your own performance, your work environment, or in areas where you feel [the company] could make changes.
A: Pay me to stay home.
I wonder if it’s possible to be too honest on these things.
Holiday Decorations
We had a door decorating contest as part of our office holiday festivities. Among the others, there was a category for “Best Use of Office Supplies.” One team reportedly cleaned out the office’s entire supply of green and red paper and others were equally lavish.
At the last minute on the morning of the voting, MC and I entered the contest with an impromptu decoration made with nothing but office supplies.
The fellow responsible for facilities management declared it to be either the “Best Use of Office Supplies” or at the very least, “Least Abuse of Office Supplies” and brought a string of people by to see it.
In the end, we got four votes. Not enough to win, but that wasn’t the point. Everyone got a good chuckle from it.