Ahira's Hangar

Well, finished work for the year. Got paid annual leave, (til Jan 7th), a 13th cheque, and christmas presents from them. Dust of Dreams and a Gb of Ram. How cool is this job? (Did I mention a massage therapist visits the office twice a month too?)

--A

You are making me jealous! I did not know a job like that even existed.

All right, duchess, we need to fly over to SA and give Avatar a "massage" he won't forget...

Other than that, happy holidays, Av! At least you get to enjoy the outdoors. With this cold snap we're in, I might be secluded in my apartment during Xmas break.

My company had its Xmas lunch today (for a hundred people) -- the last one at our present building. Next week we have to be packed and ready for the movers, as our whole organization is relocating to new digs. The complication is that the new building isn't actually ready to be occupied by people until March, though we can at least bring some of the furniture over. But it means that all the staff and whatever stuff they need to do their jobs will need to be separately moved to an interim space. And it all basically has to be done over next Saturday and Sunday. So I will probably be hitting new levels of stress by next weekend, heh.

Every time I get a week off from work, all hell breaks out there. People have told me I cannot have any time off anymore. I just got the phone call tonight that a former co-worker has passed away (from natural causes in his sixties), and a current co-worker made a suicide attempt, but they were able to save him and he is currently in a psych inpatient facility. Am now dreading Monday even more than I normally would...

My condolences on the move, Moonwatcher. Yes, it sounds horribly stressful.

Isn't this the second time your job has moved recently?

--A

Nah, it's all part of the same move; we're doing it in stages - not the most ideal way to move. It's a logistical mess. We have to be gone by December 31st - that's when our lease runs out. But since our new place won't be ready for business until March, we've had to scramble to find temporary locations for everyone.

So you're gonna have to move again in March? What a pain.

--A

Yeah. Eww, moving.

The Secretarial Department here at work is having a cookie exchange today, so I spent a bunch of time this weekend baking cookies. Our firm's holiday party is Thursday afternoon.

Survived the first day of what will doubtlessly be a mad, mad week. No moving, but we were deciding what stuff to keep and what to throw out. Then spent the rest of my time taking stuff apart and throwing it out.

But I did get a freebie: among the pile of unwanted items was a Microsoft Natural Ergonomic keyboard, so I claimed it. I'm using it right now and it works perfectly fine. The only thing I can see "wrong" with it is that some of the letters have faded. Considering that the retail cost of one of these is around $60, I'm pretty pleased to have gotten one for free. The keyboard is wired, so I'm totally guessing it was discarded for a cordless model. Speaking as a cordless user for the past couple of years, I think cordless keyboards and mice are overrated: you get annoying warnings about low battery levels even when there's still a good amount of juice left, the batteries in the mouse makes it heavier than I like it to be, and I actually end up with more clutter on the desk because of the remote pod that's needed to receive signals from the mouse and keyboard.

Anyway, I've never used an ergonomic keyboard until now: the thing is huge - it's like I have an aircraft carrier on my desk. But it feels very nice - "natural" indeed. It also has a generous wristpad. I'm loathe to go back to a "regular" keyboard now.

I like my cordless mouse, but couldn't care less about the keyboard. The battery issue can be a pain, but I keep a battery charger and rechargeable batteries next to my desk, so it's the work of moments to change them. Nice score MM.

--A

Good going, MW! One of my attorneys has an ergonomic keyboard and I cannot for the life of me sit at her computer and type. My hands feel like they're in unnatural positions and I can't find the right keys when I move off home row. Too many years of bad posture to convert, I guess....

Duchess, re the freezing fog, wow. Traffic *was* bad yesterday, but it's so bad most of the time now that it's hard to tell the difference any more. One way or another, I am moving in the spring. This commute just sucks.

The cookie exchange was okay. Not many people showed up, but I swapped some of my meringue cookies for several other types of cookies, so it worked out.

Sheesh, the commute is killing me too. My new job is only 15km from home, but it takes me the better part of an hour to get home in the afternoon...madness. I'm gonna get myself a small road bike to commute on. Really soon.

--A

I win, Av, altho I'd rather lose this one. I leave home around 7:45am in order to get to work at 9:30am. It's slightly shorter, usually, in the evening -- leave work at 6pm and arrive home around 7:30pm. Ugh.

As someone whose daily commute consists of a walk, I'm continually flabbergasted when I hear about 2-hour drives. (The furthest I've ever had to travel to work was a 20-min bus ride.)

Do you guys turn on the radio to relieve the monotony or what?

Today was nutty. Set up a ton of tables and chairs at the interim space, essentially for just over a month's time before they're to be taken down again and shipped off to the final destination. And we're doing all this in the middle of winter, heh. Although today was actually quite nice.