Had a busy and rather lovely day, despite the weather being foul.
Thought we'd try Pineland YMCA pool for a change. It was great - good size, not too busy. Afterwards we went to the farm shop in Pineland and ended up having delicious soup and sandwiches and nice fresh cider for lunch. It's a lovely shop, but was almost completely deserted.
Then we rushed home to get tea ready and wrap presents for Zoe and Kate's birthday party. While we were there the power went out. Hmmm. We have melting snow, heavy rain, high water levels... and now potentially no sump pump working to keep the basement dry.
Not much we could do, so we headed out to the Children's Museum for the party. The kids played non-stop except for a brief break for cake and ice-cream. Naturally Ellie was the last child left at the table. There is always a Zimmerman at a party table after everyone else has left.
It was nice for me to get to catch up with all the mums of Ellie's friends, and meet a couple for the first time. The downside of working is that it's hard to keep up with friends. It was great to catch up with everyone.
Sasa and Renee invited us over to play and eat afterwards, so we arrived there around 5pm and devoured pretty much all the food they put on the table. Then admired their new bathrooms. Hannah fed canteloupe to Loki the dog. The rain got heavier, and we talked about better places than Maine to live. I don't know - I'm not convinced that there are that many better places. The winter is hard, but the summer is lovely. Hmm, but then I could probably be convinced to move to the Caribbean, or maybe some lovely parts of California...
Mark was shattered after all that. He was asleep by the time we got home, possibly related to the fact that we put The Sound of Music on the in-car DVD player!
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
From ice to water just like that
In just a week the Royal River has defrosted. Will try to get a photo of it today, but I'm really struck by how fast everything melts when you get a spell of above-freezing weather.
We have almost no snow on the work campus now, but still have quite a bit on the garden up here.
And now it's raining...
We have almost no snow on the work campus now, but still have quite a bit on the garden up here.
And now it's raining...
Friday, March 27, 2009
Got that Friday feeling
As the title suggests I indeed have that Friday feeling of being completely shattered and ready to sleep for 24 hours.
Once again I got only half a night's sleep. Hannah came into our bed at silly o'clock and I was too tired to move.
Day went like this...
Sprint to nursery to drop Mark off.
Sprint to Royal Bean for coffee and breakfast and brief chat with husband.
Sprint to Hannah's school to watch three short plays (one about a boy who was determined to find the willies).
Sprint to work, spend the day with my head exploding thinking about how to improve work processes and trying to track down links to our pages, latest versions of documents, and some sense of being in control.
Having calmed down somewhat, drive home at about 80mph to pick up the children, who were all soaking from playing in the snow and needed a change of clothes.
Sprint to the Muddy Rudder for dinner - rather nice actually, will definitely be going there again, especially the bit where Hannah sang along to the pianist.
Meander home via Blockbuster, relishing the peace that comes when the children are in another car.
Try to deal with manic overtired crazed noisy rumbunctious children while setting up their mattresses in our bedroom - heck if they're going to sleep in my room they at least get their own beds.
Put all three children in our bed, switch on electric blanket (trying to make them comfy, not kill them, honest), and put a video on for them.
Collapse on settee at 7.45pm.
At some point I will brush their teeth and try to move them into their own beds, but for now I've had a Gray Goose and tonic, and am thinking about having another...
Once again I got only half a night's sleep. Hannah came into our bed at silly o'clock and I was too tired to move.
Day went like this...
Sprint to nursery to drop Mark off.
Sprint to Royal Bean for coffee and breakfast and brief chat with husband.
Sprint to Hannah's school to watch three short plays (one about a boy who was determined to find the willies).
Sprint to work, spend the day with my head exploding thinking about how to improve work processes and trying to track down links to our pages, latest versions of documents, and some sense of being in control.
Having calmed down somewhat, drive home at about 80mph to pick up the children, who were all soaking from playing in the snow and needed a change of clothes.
Sprint to the Muddy Rudder for dinner - rather nice actually, will definitely be going there again, especially the bit where Hannah sang along to the pianist.
Meander home via Blockbuster, relishing the peace that comes when the children are in another car.
Try to deal with manic overtired crazed noisy rumbunctious children while setting up their mattresses in our bedroom - heck if they're going to sleep in my room they at least get their own beds.
Put all three children in our bed, switch on electric blanket (trying to make them comfy, not kill them, honest), and put a video on for them.
Collapse on settee at 7.45pm.
At some point I will brush their teeth and try to move them into their own beds, but for now I've had a Gray Goose and tonic, and am thinking about having another...
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Conversations with The Room
Back to work today feeling much better thank you.
Today I tried to do something I hadn't tried before - I tried to book a small conference room for a meeting. Ideally I wanted to book room 1F. It's just the right size, has a lovely conference phone, and is right near my office.
My colleague Heather walked me through the process of setting up a meeting in Outlook Calendar, I selected Room PTL HO2 Dept 1F, and sent off my invites.
I immediately got a short sharp note from Room PTL HO2 Dept 1F saying it had rejected my booking.
Heather said 'Hmm' then asked another member of staff called Sonya to book the room for me, which she did. One of the attendees then said she couldn't make the meeting anyway, so I decided to rebook for next week.
So back in I went, added my attendees, selected Room PTL HO2 Dept 1F as a resource, and sent off my invites. Failed again. This time I got an email from Room PTL HO2 Dept 1F telling me that the procedure for booking rooms had changed, and to read the attached document explaining how to book a room correctly.
Of course Outlook had blocked the attached document as potentially dangerous.
A bit peeved, I emailed the room back asking it if it would mind reconsidering its stance on letting me book it, and pointing out that I'd love to read its attachment if it could find some way to unblock it.
I immediately received another short sharp email from Room PTL HO2 Dept 1F, identical to the previous one. At this point I realised that the room wasn't chatty.
More peeved, and starting to get really determined to fix this Dilbertish scenario, I looked up Room PTL HO2 Dept 1F in the phone directory, but was unable to get an answer when I called its owner.
I emailed Mike about my being defeated by technology. He pointed out that if I'd got to the stage where I was having conversations with a room I should probably rethink my mental health status and get myself a Starbucks.
This seemed like good advice, so I went to the company cafeteria for a Caramel Macciato (on special, $2.50 for a 16oz, highly recommended).
On the way I recounted my disasters with room bookings to Kathy, my boss. She said she had been happily booking the room with no problems, and indeed she did so in front of my very eyes as soon as we returned to our cubicles.
I emailed Mike again saying the room loved other people but not me, but that I'd had a lovely Starbucks. He said I should fill out a 360 degree review on the room, listing the ways it had made me feel unwelcome to the company, obstructed me from doing my job, reduced me to tears, and generally not done its job properly at all.
I dismissed this as a silly idea, so he suggested instead I badmouth it behind its back, and fart loudly next time I was in it. I said the Starbucks had restored my sanity, and besides I'd now got Kris (who the room also loves) to book the room for me. Everyone had accepted my invite to the meeting, and I was planning on putting my experiences behind me and moving on.
Of course now I need to book another meeting for early next week... I have emailed the room's owner, and I await a reply.
It's funny being back at work. I forgot what it's like. You think 'Oh I'll achieve X Y and Z today', and in fact all you do is spend half the day trying to work out how to book a room, and the other half trying to work out how to print documents to the printer using some new software you're not used to, because they don't have the software that you are used to installed on your machine. Which by the way didn't talk to the monitor/keyboard/mouse yesterday, but seems fine today.
After all that I forgot to leave work and come home to collect my children. Again.
Today I tried to do something I hadn't tried before - I tried to book a small conference room for a meeting. Ideally I wanted to book room 1F. It's just the right size, has a lovely conference phone, and is right near my office.
My colleague Heather walked me through the process of setting up a meeting in Outlook Calendar, I selected Room PTL HO2 Dept 1F, and sent off my invites.
I immediately got a short sharp note from Room PTL HO2 Dept 1F saying it had rejected my booking.
Heather said 'Hmm' then asked another member of staff called Sonya to book the room for me, which she did. One of the attendees then said she couldn't make the meeting anyway, so I decided to rebook for next week.
So back in I went, added my attendees, selected Room PTL HO2 Dept 1F as a resource, and sent off my invites. Failed again. This time I got an email from Room PTL HO2 Dept 1F telling me that the procedure for booking rooms had changed, and to read the attached document explaining how to book a room correctly.
Of course Outlook had blocked the attached document as potentially dangerous.
A bit peeved, I emailed the room back asking it if it would mind reconsidering its stance on letting me book it, and pointing out that I'd love to read its attachment if it could find some way to unblock it.
I immediately received another short sharp email from Room PTL HO2 Dept 1F, identical to the previous one. At this point I realised that the room wasn't chatty.
More peeved, and starting to get really determined to fix this Dilbertish scenario, I looked up Room PTL HO2 Dept 1F in the phone directory, but was unable to get an answer when I called its owner.
I emailed Mike about my being defeated by technology. He pointed out that if I'd got to the stage where I was having conversations with a room I should probably rethink my mental health status and get myself a Starbucks.
This seemed like good advice, so I went to the company cafeteria for a Caramel Macciato (on special, $2.50 for a 16oz, highly recommended).
On the way I recounted my disasters with room bookings to Kathy, my boss. She said she had been happily booking the room with no problems, and indeed she did so in front of my very eyes as soon as we returned to our cubicles.
I emailed Mike again saying the room loved other people but not me, but that I'd had a lovely Starbucks. He said I should fill out a 360 degree review on the room, listing the ways it had made me feel unwelcome to the company, obstructed me from doing my job, reduced me to tears, and generally not done its job properly at all.
I dismissed this as a silly idea, so he suggested instead I badmouth it behind its back, and fart loudly next time I was in it. I said the Starbucks had restored my sanity, and besides I'd now got Kris (who the room also loves) to book the room for me. Everyone had accepted my invite to the meeting, and I was planning on putting my experiences behind me and moving on.
Of course now I need to book another meeting for early next week... I have emailed the room's owner, and I await a reply.
It's funny being back at work. I forgot what it's like. You think 'Oh I'll achieve X Y and Z today', and in fact all you do is spend half the day trying to work out how to book a room, and the other half trying to work out how to print documents to the printer using some new software you're not used to, because they don't have the software that you are used to installed on your machine. Which by the way didn't talk to the monitor/keyboard/mouse yesterday, but seems fine today.
After all that I forgot to leave work and come home to collect my children. Again.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Ill
I left work early yesterday feeling ill - headache, nauseous, and a very sore right ear. The ear thing was kicked off by wearing an in-ear headset for an hour-long conference call followed by another conference call straight afterwards. The headache and nausea just seemed to invite themselves in and take residence.
After a nap I felt better, but then this morning I felt dodgy again, so called in to work and asked if I could work from home.
Spent about half an hour trying to log my PC into the Unum VPN, involving a call to the IT Helpdesk and more headaches. By the time I'd logged in and emailed work I was feeling sick as a dog. Ended up spending the entire day lying down, trying to not throw up.
My wonderful neighbours stepped up to the plate as ever - Mike was stuck in traffic trying to get home, so they fed the children, and delivered soup, bread and egg custard to our house.
Feeling much less sick now - the wonders of Dramamine. But still not quite right.
Don't want to have more time off - I have too much work to do!
By the way, I forgot to mention that I spent most of the day asleep in a cupboard. I'll explain more later...
After a nap I felt better, but then this morning I felt dodgy again, so called in to work and asked if I could work from home.
Spent about half an hour trying to log my PC into the Unum VPN, involving a call to the IT Helpdesk and more headaches. By the time I'd logged in and emailed work I was feeling sick as a dog. Ended up spending the entire day lying down, trying to not throw up.
My wonderful neighbours stepped up to the plate as ever - Mike was stuck in traffic trying to get home, so they fed the children, and delivered soup, bread and egg custard to our house.
Feeling much less sick now - the wonders of Dramamine. But still not quite right.
Don't want to have more time off - I have too much work to do!
By the way, I forgot to mention that I spent most of the day asleep in a cupboard. I'll explain more later...
Monday, March 23, 2009
Young love
Just a quickie. Hannah and Max are in love.
Today they hid behind a snowbank and 'kissed in the wedding way'. Max says he loves her a bit but he's not sure if he loves her a lot, but he thinks he wants to marry her.
Mike and I are wandering around with our mouths hanging open...
Today they hid behind a snowbank and 'kissed in the wedding way'. Max says he loves her a bit but he's not sure if he loves her a lot, but he thinks he wants to marry her.
Mike and I are wandering around with our mouths hanging open...
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
I asked Mike what I could type in this post, as I can't remember anything we've done recently. He said:
"Work... eat... sleep... paycheque."
That just about sums it up.
The weekend zipped by. The girls did swimming lessons while Mike sat at the side working on the laptop. Then he and the girls went to the Portland Flower Show and came home with crafts and leaflets.
Meanwhile Mark and I went for a walk in Pratt's Brook Park. Never been there before and thought it looked a bit scrubby and small from the carpark. Of course it isn't like that at all. We are in Maine after all. It's a nice big forest. Big enough to get comprehensively lost if you go in there without a map or compass.
Eventually we all found our way back out by walking towards the sun (well, I knew we wanted to go south).
Ellen and her kids came with us, then they stopped by afterwards for pizza and a play with the bunny.
Sunday I made french toast using Colette's plaited lemon bread, which was almost stale enough, and tasted absolutely delicious with blueberries.
Yesterday was a bit of a nightmare. First Mark cried (again) when Mike took him to nursery. Poor Mike didn't get out till nearly 8.l30am, and he phoned an hour later to see if Mark was still sobbing. Of course Mark was fine by then - it's a Monday morning thing.
Then Mike offered to go home early to do tea with the kids, because he had to be back in Portland by 7pm for a meeting. He left work before 5pm and spent the next hour sitting in a traffic jam caused by a crash on I-295.
Meanwhile I worked till nearly 6pm and came out of work to find paramedics and a fire engine outside. No idea why.
Eventually Mike got almost to the end of the traffic jam, by which time he just turned round and went back to Portland. Which left me arriving home after 6pm, with children to feed and bathe and talk to. I was so shattered they didn't get to bed till after 8pm, mainly because once I'd done tea I couldn't motivate myself to actually stand up for long enough to get them into bed.
Mark paid for the late night by being horrid at nursery today, after which Nadja put him down (nicely but firmly) for a two hour nap.
That's about it for now. My goal for this week is to start going to bed at a reasonable hour.
By the way, look at this photo of the Royal River...
I was browsing someone's photos on Facebook the other day and there was a photo of people snowshoeing along the river with this bridge in the background. Cool.
"Work... eat... sleep... paycheque."
That just about sums it up.
The weekend zipped by. The girls did swimming lessons while Mike sat at the side working on the laptop. Then he and the girls went to the Portland Flower Show and came home with crafts and leaflets.
Meanwhile Mark and I went for a walk in Pratt's Brook Park. Never been there before and thought it looked a bit scrubby and small from the carpark. Of course it isn't like that at all. We are in Maine after all. It's a nice big forest. Big enough to get comprehensively lost if you go in there without a map or compass.
Eventually we all found our way back out by walking towards the sun (well, I knew we wanted to go south).
Ellen and her kids came with us, then they stopped by afterwards for pizza and a play with the bunny.
Sunday I made french toast using Colette's plaited lemon bread, which was almost stale enough, and tasted absolutely delicious with blueberries.
Yesterday was a bit of a nightmare. First Mark cried (again) when Mike took him to nursery. Poor Mike didn't get out till nearly 8.l30am, and he phoned an hour later to see if Mark was still sobbing. Of course Mark was fine by then - it's a Monday morning thing.
Then Mike offered to go home early to do tea with the kids, because he had to be back in Portland by 7pm for a meeting. He left work before 5pm and spent the next hour sitting in a traffic jam caused by a crash on I-295.
Meanwhile I worked till nearly 6pm and came out of work to find paramedics and a fire engine outside. No idea why.
Eventually Mike got almost to the end of the traffic jam, by which time he just turned round and went back to Portland. Which left me arriving home after 6pm, with children to feed and bathe and talk to. I was so shattered they didn't get to bed till after 8pm, mainly because once I'd done tea I couldn't motivate myself to actually stand up for long enough to get them into bed.
Mark paid for the late night by being horrid at nursery today, after which Nadja put him down (nicely but firmly) for a two hour nap.
That's about it for now. My goal for this week is to start going to bed at a reasonable hour.
By the way, look at this photo of the Royal River...
I was browsing someone's photos on Facebook the other day and there was a photo of people snowshoeing along the river with this bridge in the background. Cool.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Really enjoying a new program called American Loggers, about loggers working in the north woods in Maine. The machines they use are amazing. I knew they drive like lunatics down those forest roads, especially the Golden Road, but having actually watched them I now know why they say 'If you see a logging truck coming the other way just get off the road as fast as possible.'
http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/american-loggers/american-loggers.html
We all survived my first week at work and are very tired now. Not helped by the fact that I stayed up till after midnight last night. It's good to have made it to the weekend.
Tomorrow night we're going out with a bunch of British people, so there will be lots of swearing and beer and people saying 'PILLOCK!'
I'm not saying it's cold in our bedroom, but I caved in and bought an electric blanket the other day. It is heavenly.
Got my new PDA at work yesterday. It does email and calendar and phone calls and bubble games, but it doesn't have a text messaging plan. Very odd but I'm not complaining. Well, not yet anyway.
Work... I've met various people, fitted out my cubicle, got two screens set up to work at (I'm ridiculously excited), ordered my chair, got access to the various systems I need, explored the various buildings, talked to Heather about what her job involves.
I touched up a Powerpoint presentation yesterday, then today I created an Excel spreadsheet using some funky stuff today. It's weird being back at work learning new stuff again, it sort of appeals to my geekiness.
Now I have to catalogue a LOT of content, the dull bit of the job.
Today I was so lazy I drove from Home Office 2 to Home Office 3, to look at the gym. That really was very slummy. It was so cold though...
http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/american-loggers/american-loggers.html
We all survived my first week at work and are very tired now. Not helped by the fact that I stayed up till after midnight last night. It's good to have made it to the weekend.
Tomorrow night we're going out with a bunch of British people, so there will be lots of swearing and beer and people saying 'PILLOCK!'
I'm not saying it's cold in our bedroom, but I caved in and bought an electric blanket the other day. It is heavenly.
Got my new PDA at work yesterday. It does email and calendar and phone calls and bubble games, but it doesn't have a text messaging plan. Very odd but I'm not complaining. Well, not yet anyway.
Work... I've met various people, fitted out my cubicle, got two screens set up to work at (I'm ridiculously excited), ordered my chair, got access to the various systems I need, explored the various buildings, talked to Heather about what her job involves.
I touched up a Powerpoint presentation yesterday, then today I created an Excel spreadsheet using some funky stuff today. It's weird being back at work learning new stuff again, it sort of appeals to my geekiness.
Now I have to catalogue a LOT of content, the dull bit of the job.
Today I was so lazy I drove from Home Office 2 to Home Office 3, to look at the gym. That really was very slummy. It was so cold though...
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
The day after the storm
Took the girls down the drive at 7.20am to catch the school bus. It was cold and fresh, and the snow was squeaky. It was just lovely.
Work was fine, although I got that 2pm 'I just want to go to sleep' coma thing.
I set up our health insurance. Our premium has gone from about $1000 a month to $310 a month. Amazing.
Explored what websites are blocked on the company network. They include flickr, facebook, googlemail, twitter. How am I going to explore the use of online social networking options for the company?
Work was fine, although I got that 2pm 'I just want to go to sleep' coma thing.
I set up our health insurance. Our premium has gone from about $1000 a month to $310 a month. Amazing.
Explored what websites are blocked on the company network. They include flickr, facebook, googlemail, twitter. How am I going to explore the use of online social networking options for the company?
Day one at Unum
Woke up Monday to heavy snow. Radio and websites showed Unum office as closed. Ummed and ahhed about what to do, then realised I really did just want to go to my first day at work, so drove there. Drive was a bit scary, worst bit was being overtaken by a truck who thought 75mph was a reasonable speed in a blizzard. Wanker.
So my boss Kathy picked me up from reception, looking surprised I was there.
Hardly anyone in the office because of the weather, but I got a bunch of stuff done - laptop arrived and set up, phone, voicemail, looked at the intranet, met some people, had lunch in the cafeteria with Heather and Kathy. Left at 4.30 when I realised it had started snowing again.
Got home to find all the children playing on the Wallace's drive in deep snow, and Carl and Nadja looking exhausted after a day with all three children.
Too tired to cook tomorrow's tea in advance, so just made packed lunches for tomorrow and went to bed.
So my boss Kathy picked me up from reception, looking surprised I was there.
Hardly anyone in the office because of the weather, but I got a bunch of stuff done - laptop arrived and set up, phone, voicemail, looked at the intranet, met some people, had lunch in the cafeteria with Heather and Kathy. Left at 4.30 when I realised it had started snowing again.
Got home to find all the children playing on the Wallace's drive in deep snow, and Carl and Nadja looking exhausted after a day with all three children.
Too tired to cook tomorrow's tea in advance, so just made packed lunches for tomorrow and went to bed.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Mark's nursery
Mark's nursery
Originally uploaded by jillian_werb
This is how Mark's nursery looked today and yes there is a building in there somewhere.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Ready for tomorrow
Have spent the weekend getting ready to start work at Unum tomorrow at 8am.
Shopping is done, freezer full, meal plans written.
Dinner for tomorrow night half prepared.
Childcare organised.
Clothes bought and hung up.
Checked route to work today, drove around company carpark, counted snowploughs (approx 10).
Forms filled in, taxes calculated, W4 nearly ready.
And after all that... we're due for a load of snow tonight, and yet more tomorrow. So the kids probably won't go to school, but next door. And I hope I can get there and back safely, because there's NO way I'm missing my first day of work.
Today was Sophie's birthday party at the Maine Academy of Gymnastics. Ellie and Mark loved it. Hannah cried a lot, which was a bit ironic as she was by far the oldest child there. Things just weren't really going her way, and she didn't cope all that well with it.
Still, it was fun. Nice to see John and Kerry and their boys. Good to chat with Renee and Sasa and see their girls. I met three mums from Yarmouth, plus one mum who moved back from London recently. And we remembered to bring coffee with us from Panera, which was very wise.
Shopping is done, freezer full, meal plans written.
Dinner for tomorrow night half prepared.
Childcare organised.
Clothes bought and hung up.
Checked route to work today, drove around company carpark, counted snowploughs (approx 10).
Forms filled in, taxes calculated, W4 nearly ready.
And after all that... we're due for a load of snow tonight, and yet more tomorrow. So the kids probably won't go to school, but next door. And I hope I can get there and back safely, because there's NO way I'm missing my first day of work.
Today was Sophie's birthday party at the Maine Academy of Gymnastics. Ellie and Mark loved it. Hannah cried a lot, which was a bit ironic as she was by far the oldest child there. Things just weren't really going her way, and she didn't cope all that well with it.
Still, it was fun. Nice to see John and Kerry and their boys. Good to chat with Renee and Sasa and see their girls. I met three mums from Yarmouth, plus one mum who moved back from London recently. And we remembered to bring coffee with us from Panera, which was very wise.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
