Day 3 .. the adventure fizzles

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

I said it could only get boring after the high of day 1. I was right. I'm starting to feel the effects of the time change. My laptop is still on CA time so when I got up this morning it said it was 3:00 am. WHAT!!?? Sheesh. Right now it tells me it's only 5:30 but the clock in my room is saying 7:30 and I'm feeling like it's 10:30 in any time zone.

We spent way too much time today trying to figure out why I was getting an error message every time I tried to reply to an email from my work laptop. Opened a ticket with IBM. Turns out it couldn't find my signature file. Probably because I didn't have one on that computer! Of course IBM tech support didn't figure that out. It was the desktop support guy who happened to be walking by who said "oh, I know what that is!" Problem solved.

He was giving me a bad time because I couldn't remember my password to get into my computer. I had changed my email password just before leaving home and couldn't remember if I'd changed the computer one too. Too many flippin' passwords!! He created a new one for me and was going to make it "forget123" but he decided to be nice. Of course, every time he passes me he mumbles "forget 123".

I will say everyone here has been really nice but they're a bunch of smart alecks. Yep! I fit right in!! I also find it sort of interesting that they have large signs posted on all the doors going into the building that say something to the effect "carrying concealed weapons is prohibited in this building". They explained that in TX you can carry a concealed weapon. But they also said since the sign says you can't carry concealed weapons, it must be okay to carry UNconcealed weapons!! Only in TX

OH! You might be happy (or not) to hear that my purse arrived this morning! A day late, but not a dollar short ... I counted all my money. Cal is checking into getting a refund because believe me, he paid and arm and a leg to get that thing to me overnight. More that $50, but less than $100. Isn't that insane! And then it doesn't even get to me overnight. The really weird thing is that it got to their Austin distribution center at 5:59am YESTERDAY. Apparently, it just didn't get on a truck. My brother-in-law used to work for FedEx and he said about 10% of the overnight packages don't make it overnight. That's a pretty high percentage.

I don't know if I mentioned it in my first missive, but my original luggage was overweight by 2.5 pounds. Normally, they charge an extra $50, but since I didn't have any money with me she just told me to be careful. I stopped at WalMart on the way back to the hotel tonight and bought another small suitcase. Since I now have 2 computer bags to bring with me, I'll put one inside the new bag and move 2.5 pounds of stuff to that bag too. :0 )

The hotel served BBQ tonight, which wasn't bad. Lean beef slices, bread, BBQ sauce, beans (I think--I didn't even bother to look), potato salad, sodas, coffee, tea. Nice spread that's included in the room charge. Farmers is paying for the room so I'm taking advantage of the amenities. There were 3 other Farmers cars in the parking lot when I drove in. I wonder who and what they are??

Barb, did Vince Thompsen (?) Thomas (?) come to Austin?? I could have sworn I saw him today.

It's almost 8:00 and I can hardly keep my eyes open. They told me to sleep in tomorrow and come in around 8:00 or 8:30. They do that because they end up working from home for several hours into the night. That's what I have to look forward to.

Still haven't learned anything that will be of much use to me. Every time Peggy shows me something she says, Oh, you're going to have VoIP and that will be totally different. *sigh* Adrian assures me he will have lots of suppport for me up in OR once I get there. I sure hope so. I'm feeling like this is just a meet and greet rather than a training opportunity. And believe me, the people who smoke (Peggy, Donna and Adrian) seem to be going out for a cigarette all the time! They drag me with them, and I feel like I have enough second-hand smoke to last me several months.

I'm going to get started on my VCU classes tomorrow while I wait for them to have time to explain whatever they can come up with about the system. Peggy and I have our all-employee meeting at 3:30.

Gosh, I feel like I should make up something to make today a bit more interesting, but nope. I had lunch (eaten at work) from Tex-Andwich, which is kind of like Schlotzky's if any of you remember that chain. English muffin-like bread, with cheese melted into the bread, ham and turkey and all the fixin's (except onion). I think I'm going to lose the battle to maintain the weight loss this week. *sigh*

I did pick up some bottled water at WalMart. No one here seems to drink much water. They are definitely soda people. I've been drinking green tea but tomorrow will be all water.

okay...I'm off to bed. Read for awhile, maybe a game of solitaire...then dreamland. Keep the home fires burning and I'll chat with you later.