26 October 2001
Last year: They knew exactly what they were doing. The bastards.
Gah. My manager came into my office yesterday and told me that the reason I'm doing testing right now is that there isn't any programming work to give me at the moment.
Well, okay, I'd pretty much figured that out on my own.
Then he told me that I'd be doing testing for probably the next several weeks. Yick. But again, there's no surprise there. The government's fiscal year just started; it'll be a few weeks before we get our contracts all ready to go.
Then he implied that he was moving me in that direction; that is, eventually I'll be the person who builds internal test plans for products, and manages the testing staff.
It's a little less tedious than actually doing the testing, but not much. I don't want the job. NASA offered me this job, for ten thousand dollars a year more than what I'm making now, and I turned it down because I don't want this job.
Unfortunately, they don't have any other work to give me at the moment. And my political position in the office is so bad I can't really afford to tell anyone that I don't want this job, or I'm likely to be without any job - which would be a Very Bad Thing, in the current market.
So I'm going to write the damn test plans, and do the damn testing, and polish my damn resume.
I hate having gunk in my keyboard. At least once a week I turn my office keyboard upside down and shake it out. Bits of fluff and dust occasionally linger, though. For that, I bought a can of compressed air, with the little nozzle for spraying down into narrow spaces, like the cracks between keys.
Yesterday, I discovered a new use for the compressed air.
I've been complaining for a year now about how dirty my rings are getting - especially my engagement ring, which has numerous nooks and crannies for gunk to get wedged into. Yesterday, I was trying once again, with the tip of a mechanical pencil, to scrape some of the dirt off the underside of the stones.
It wasn't working very well, but I had scraped off a small bit of fluff. The problem was, it was loose from the stone, but wouldn't come out of the ring. So I picked up the can of compressed air and gave it a blast. And then, purely on whim (and because compressed air is cool) I air-cleaned the ring, spraying it with the air from all sides and angles.
And I'll be damned - it worked pretty well! Okay, there's still dirt wedged in between the stones and their mountings, and I'll have to cave in and buy real jewelry cleaner to get to that stuff. But at least light passes through the stones again! My sapphire no longer looks like a poor excuse for onyx.
I'm going shopping with K.T. tonight, and I have a decision to make.
See, we're going shopping because she bought some really adorable clothes when she went on her spending spree earlier this week, and I want to find some of them in my size.
Among other things, she bought a Chinese-style satin suit. You know the kind of thing I'm talking about, I hope - black pants, and a knee-length jacket with the Chinese collar and embroidery. Hers is red, but she said they had them in several other colors. And for such a pretty suit-set, the price was very reasonable, only about $70. And to top it all off, it's even machine washable.
I want one. Long jackets like that are usually flattering to my figure, and it's pretty and different enough to be eye-catching.
But before I buy it, I have to decide whether I'd actually wear it. I'm going to have to put it on and see if it's comfortable. I'm going to have to look in the mirror and walk around the dressing room and decide if I would be willing to wear it to work; to lounge around the house in it.
Because I want it - but there's no point in buying clothes I'll only ever wear once.
Word of the Day:
magnanimous - 1: showing or suggesting a lofty and courageous spirit; 2: showing or suggesting nobility of feeling and generosity of mind