Plots and Plans

Well, I finished my final boring strategy lesson last night, now it's on to practical applications~!! It was fun tho, since the conversation inevitably worked around to plots, and I was able to score mucho points for the fact that I've got one already completed and another started and others lined up behind those. Poor Kemper seems to be either out of ideas, or too timid to try them, as I have seen neither hide nor hair of anything coming from his direction yet. He also made what I believe to have been a major strategic mistake, by revealing his absolute worst fear. It's possible of course that he was bluffing, attempting to divert my attention from my current plots and onto something longer-term, unfortunatly for him I have been having no difficulty working on both short and long-term plots. If his fear is real, I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that on June 4th he will be completely terrified. If his fear is feigned, I am still confident that my preparations will have their desired effect. As for the short-term plots in the meantime, I was recently warned by an accomplice who is aware of a few of my plans to make sure that I'm holding something back... I was able to reply in complete honesty that I am, in fact, holding a lot back. The accomplice was duly impressed, and has sworn to remain on my good side for all eternity. In fact, I'm still trying to decide if I'll be able to fit all of my current plots into the remaining 89 days...

My Fellow Office Workers:

I would like to announce the discovery of a startling fact! Paperclips GROW!

Upon inheriting my current desk from a former co-worker, I proceeded to remove all of the extra-large paperclips from her magnetic paperclip dispenser, as they would often jam it up, plus as a systematic person I like to use only one size of paperclip. The paperclip holder is kept in a drawer out of sight when I am not here, and the drawer is very sticky and hard to open. Even so, the next day when I came into work, I found more large paperclips in the dispenser. It was only a couple, so I figured I must have somehow missed them the day before. I removed them and continued working. The next day, once again I found large paperclips in the dispenser, but once again there were only a couple. I didn't give it any thought, and enjoyed my 3-day weekend. When I started working today, I found not a couple but 6 large paperclips in the dispenser. 6!!

I believe this is sufficient proof that SOMETHING is going on here, but it doesn't tell us exactly what is happening while the office is dark and empty. For that information, experiment is needed. I intend to mark my drawer in such a way that I will be able to tell if anyone enters it tonight, to rule out human interferance. If that suceeds, and yet large paperclips continue to be found, further experimentation will be in order.

I would like to ask for your assistance, if you have experienced a similar occurance, please recount your story below.

Also, many of you may be familliar with the theory that single socks turn into clothes hangers, hence explaining both the "lone sock" problem and the "where did all those hangers come from" issue. If you have any evidence to support or debunk this theory, please feel free to share.

Plots Under Way!

Plot #1 is on it's way, and #'s 2 and 3 are already in progress. Mwahahahahaha!

Ok... no way in hell

There is no way in hell I'm staying on at that job. Not that today went particularly badly, because it didn't, but Lisa has already started her intrusive meddling that has caused everyone else in the office to hate her. Nothing's ever enough with her, nothing's ever her fault, and nothing's ever being done quite right. And it's all our fault, 'cause we're either 1) after her job or 2) out to sabotage the project. The weird thing is she's got like this split personality going on, so like one second she's like "Ok Liz, before you make any more of those calls (I've already done 20 of 30) there's a couple of things you should be doing. Ask if they've gotten their Large Site Preparation Handbook, and if they haven't tell them to request one from their District Coordinator. Also, give them your name and number in case they have any more questions." "But Lisa, I don't HAVE a number..." "Well, give them mine then." "Ok" *pause* "Umm Lisa, what IS your number?" But then like 5 minutes later she'll be gossiping with me about all the other employees behind their back. About Mary's betrayl of their friendship, Deb's immaturity and inability to face facts, Cathy's family problems... I just smile and nod and wish she'd shut up and let me work in a different office. Only 2 more weeks Liz... just 2 more weeks...

Interesting Options...

Lisa has offered to let me stay on the project until June, working either 20 or 32 hours a week (my choice) doing data entry, making calls, etc.

The up side would be:
1) no coworkers to create drama
2) flexible hours
3) low workload
4) I'm a contract worker, therefore I keep my benefits
5) 32 hours a week *should* be enough to meet my budgetary needs, although it wouldn't allow me to save up any more
6) 32 hours a week would give me a couple more hours a day to study for my A+
7) 20 hours a week would allow me to take an evening part-time job to fulfill my monetary needs as well as save up some more
8) no down time while looking for a job
9) I already know this job for the most part, so no new training

The down sides:
1) it would just be me and Lisa, nobody else, so if she got back into the habit of venting wrath on people... I'd be her only target
2) theoretically 32 hours should be enough $$$... but there's no guarantee
3) it's not a technical job, and thus doesn't further my career goals, except in allowing me to study for my A+

So... I hope to give her an answer Friday, but if not she said I can take until Monday to mull things over. I'm now wishing that I'd spent more time working closely with her, just to see if I'm likely to become a target for her like everyone else has.



In other news, according to Pat I've "gotten his plotting blood up" with all my talk of plots I'm working on, and he's accelerated his timetables... all units be ready for an assault in 1 week, repeat 1 week. Plan Alpha.

Temp changes!

This isn't very interesting news, but it totally took me by surprise today... I drove to work this morning 'cause it was freezing cold, and unusually enough for Florida, "freezing" isn't much of an exaggeration. But when I stepped outside to walk back to work from lunch, I suddenly realized that it was a balmy 72 degrees, partly cloudy, with a mildly cool breeze still blowing. It was, quite literally, perfect weather.

On the other side of news, I put my job on the line today, almost hoping I'd get let go... Mary, the employee who is staying after the 3rd when the rest of us are let go, finally got so fed up with Lisa's BS (details of which I don't feel like getting into since I'm currently at work) that she confronted her about it. I told Mary before the confrontation that if Lisa asked how the rest of us felt, she could tell her for me that I agree with Mary. I donno what happened during the confrontation, but for now everyone's pretending that everything is normal, so meh, guess I'll find out the truth later, if at all.

That's really all the news I have... I'm just doing this because I've been QA'ing all day so far and I'm about to fall asleep. I know what I need, sugar, but I can't have any :( Gotta make sure by June I'm the secksiest person alive ;)

Bemused

Today started a half our before my alarm went off. My phone was ringing, it was Gio wishing me a Happy Valentines Day. *That* was a good start to today :) I spent the rest of the morning spreading the Virtual Valentines cheer amongst my friends.

When I got to work, Lisa wasn't here (yes!) but neither was Debra (boo), but that's not too unusual for Deb to be late. Lisa, it turns out, is still out sick, which means I can relax and enjoy the day. But Debra still hasn't called in or showed up, it's noon, and the decision has already been made that she's fired. It's a shame really, she and I were just starting to really get along, she even offered to help me "girlify" myself, since I definitly will need some help. I'm going to try to retain the friendship, I have her yahoo id. I just hope she's ok, because while she was often late before, she usually calls in. I think everyone agrees that she DESERVES to be fired, and probably should have been a long time ago... but given that there's only 2 weeks of work left for us, and that Lisa knows Deb just signed the lease for a new house, I think it's a little cruel to terminate her now.

On to good news... Dan, the recruiter who got me this job, just stopped in to let me know that he's looking for something else for me. He's pretty frazzled that this one ended so soon, feels bad about it, and is pretty much begging me to give him another shot. Which I'm happy to do, although it won't stop me from looking myself also.

I believe I will splurge for lunch today... made an easy $20 selling that scanner yesterday, so I'm goin' to Chik-fil-A!

As for plots and such, I came up with a whole spate of cool ideas this morning, many of which are quite creative... and evil ;) All involve a little bit of groundwork tho... so unless I come up with something quick and easy it looks like Pat's safe for the time being.

Accurate enough..

Maybe you could... You scored 30% Cold and 58% Level-Headed!

In a pinch, you could do it, but you'd need a damn good reason to. And you're not going to be too happy afterward.

My test tracked 2 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 20% on Cold You scored higher than 51% on Level-Headed

Link: The Can You Kill a Man? Test written by notmarkflynn on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

What to do, what to do...

The Emperor has issued a challenge to me, outside of the lessons in strategy and studying of Sun Tzu to which I am supposed to be devoting myself. This challenge is to take the offensive in plotting against him, rather than sitting back and "taking" whatever he deals out. I agree, but in the past have believed that I lack the necessary resources to wage such a war... For example, here is a list of all of the "plots" that I am aware of l'Emperor having run against me:
Blind first date
Serenade by barbershop quartet
Visit to Seattle for Christmas
Snoqualme Falls
Visit to Florida
Visit to Seattle for Les Mis

In addition to these actual "plots" there has been the following "general evilness":
Opening doors for me, even if it means racing me on rollerblades
Roses
Regular care packages with chocolate, games, and books

Given my poor memory, I'm sure there are others that have disappeared temporarily into the mists of time, hopefully by the time I get home from work I will recall more of them.

I cannot possibly compete at that level of plotting, both my limited resources and my lack of creativity (at this time... I am working on it) preclude it. However... now that I've reviewed the sorts of plots he has run in the past... they cover a very narrow range of options. I believe that with a little thought I may be able to come up with some things that are completely "outside the box"... hmmmmmm...

When I ask myself why I've been such a "camper" thus far, there are a number of different answers, and none of them are the sort of thing that would stop me under normal circumstances. I think it's just never occurred to me that I COULD "plot back". But I believe I can, and I will, and it shall start today, because I already have a few ideas, and I've been delaying too long... *rubs hands in anticipation*

Coolest Rollerblade Outfit EVER

Check this out! I want one!!!

Weekend Status

I had a very nice weekend, played a lot of DoD:S, studied 2 chapters in Art of War, installed and practices Red Alert 2, cooked homemade turkey soup, and went grocery shopping for the first time in... a month? All in all good times all around, wish I'd had time to hit Disney but I really needed to stay in and get some stuff done, or at least pretend to. However, my pass does expire on Saturday of this week, so I have to decide whether I'm gonna renew or not soon. It's in my budget, but I've been going over my budget on little things here and there, so it's tempting to just save the $350 for something more important, and I don't really NEED Disney to keep my sanity anymore.

One funny thing happened this morning... I got a match off of eHarmony that PROVES that despite having a halfway decent personality profile, that site is pure BS where finding matches is concerned... here's the "match" it found for me, check his occupation: Justin from TX (if that link doesn't work... his occupation is listed as "makeing pipe", and all the questions that require a hand-written answer are filled in with just dots)

Anyway, I don't know if David was able to make it back from Boston yet, but the lucky bastard got up there just in time for a record breaking snowstorm... I guess I'll find out after work today if he got snowed in or not ;)

What is it with me and jobs?

I got the official word today... I'll be let go on March 3rd, because our customer hasn't managed to get the new USPS hardware approved for use by the USPS yet, so they want us to slow down our surveys 'cause they can't keep up, which means that we'll drop from 60-70 surveys a day to 6 or 7 per day. There were 6 people at this office working on the project, it's dropping to 2, and they're both managers.

The good news is that Deb and I must actually be "friends" now, we went out to lunch today and had an "ok" time (mmmm CiCi's), we actually have more in common than I gave her credit for at first glance, and although I never want to turn out at all like her, we can at least cooperate and get along now.

I've already emailed Dan at TEKsystems letting him know I'll need another job lined up around the 3rd, Lisa said that I can take w/e time off I need for interviews as long as I give her a day's warning, so she's being fair about it.

I'm actually pretty satisfied to be leaving this job so soon... I know that I rose to the challenge and learned how to cope with an extremely difficult work situation, but I also know that this job isn't a path to a career, so it was just wasting time.

My thoughts right now are revolving around possible future jobs... trying to decide ahead of time what minimum pay I can accept, what sacrafices of time and money I'd be willing to make in order to get a technical job, etc. There is one position available right now that I might interview for... but it's an hour or hour and a half commute in stopped traffic, and pays $2 less per hour than this job did. But it IS an entry-level pc technician position. With the pay that low, and the commute that long, I don't think I can afford to take it... for one thing putting that kinda wear on the Van would be a Very Bad Thing. I hate to pass on it tho, never know when another similar opportunity might come up.

Oh well, I'll just let my brain mull that stuff over in my subconscious for a few days, it'll come up with all the answers I need :)

Work-based Rumor Mills are FUN!

Ok, so over the past 2 days Deb and I have been getting along very well. Lisa told Deb today that by the end of the month, everyone except Lisa and Mary will be let go (that means letting go 4 of 6 workers, including myself). Apparently, Lisa just found this out on her last day of meetings up in Chicago, and has so far only told Deb. Deb has in turn only told me. Why has Lisa told Deb, if in fact she has? Because Deb *just* signed the lease on a new house, and being let go 3 months earlier than she had planned is disastrous? Because Deb is her friend? Because Deb shares her office and would have found out sooner or later? If this is all true, then why hasn't Lisa told the rest of us? She bought us all lunch today, it cost her $75, we were all secretly wondering why she was being so nice... and yet she never broke the news.

My options are pretty good, no matter what happens, because this week alone I've gotten 3 calls for interviews for other jobs, the remnants of my CareerBuilder blitz. One of them is a PC Tech job, but it's only $10/hr, and it's on the other side of the city with a really really bad commute along the way. I'm tempted to go for it anyway, just to get it on my resume, but I want to hear what the people at TEK think they can find for me first. I feel as tho, if I really do lose this job this month, then they owe me a lot... perhaps enough to get a tech job like I asked for in the first place.

Oh well, we will see... More updates when I get 'em.

Lunch Break

So far today has been great, I'm sitting alone in a little mini-conference room, listening to streaming 96.5 Classic Rock while finishing a lunch from Applebee's that Lisa paid for. Granted she completely forgot to order me anything and had to call them back to update the order, but I can't complain. All I'm doing today is what we call QA, which is basically checking the information on the intraweb against the handwritten and then faxed originals. It's tedious, and boring, and makes me sleepy, but now that I actually allow myself to take breaks and listen to music it's not so bad. At least this job is getting me SOME useful experience... I could switch to a data entry position after this pretty easily...

Poor Stormy is locked in my bathroom at home... she's been spending every day this week in there because there are supposed to be workers entering the apartment to fix up the interior a little... They were supposed to be working Monday and Tuesday and that's it, but I still haven't seen any sign of their entering the place... I feel really bad about leaving Stormy locked up in there all the time, I wish these workers would just get their butt moving and get it done with :(

I got my first paycheck today! $408 for 39 hours. It's not too bad... it sounds small to me because I'm used to being paid bi-weekly, but here I get paid every week, which is really very nice. When I get home I'll have to re-do my budget calculations, because both the pay and the hours are gonna be lower than I was hoping for when I last ran through them.

Well, I'm done with my Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo, so I guess I'll get back to QA!

Crossed Fingers

I had a suprisingly good day at work yesterday! Deb (my coworker) and I got along great, and I didn't mind any of the bitching or slacking off like I usually do. Part of the reason is that I've removed a source of stress that I was under earlier (being ruler of the world is a LOT of hard work!), but I think the bigger factor was that instead of working like a slave, I started working at a comfortable pace, taking breaks when I needed one. Basically, I was happy and relaxed internally for the first time since I started at that job, and that made all those external aggravations not even matter. Of course, it was also a huge help that Lisa (the boss lady) wasn't there, so instead of everything being a little drama production, things simply got done. Honestly I thought I respected Lisa because in our interview I thought we saw eye to eye on issues like honesty, bluntness, maturity, etc... but it turns out she's one of the biggest hypocrits I've ever known. All of my past bosses have taken it as their solemn duty to protect their underlings from the "wrath from above" and to inspire them and teach them to work better. She sees her duty as to BE the "wrath from above", and she neither inspires nor teaches at all. She's also not honest or blunt about anything, and talks about her employees behind their backs with her other employees. However, I find that I am typing all this, and recalling instances of this behavior, with very little anger compared to what I would have been feeling early this week. I am actually quite confident that her return won't be able to entirely break up the newfound sense of peace I have with this job, although no doubt she'll try.

In other news, I'm currently acting as understudy to Kemper so that I may finally learn both strategy and how to play strategy games. As part of my homework, I will be reading 3 different translations of Art of War by Sun Tzu. The 3 I have selected that I found available for free online are one by Giles, one by the group at Sonshi.com and one by the Literature Network. If you know of any other, or better, translations available online, please let me know.

As for Kemper's comments about my surprisingly quick surrender... I would like to point out that since I simply wasn't having any fun being the ruler of the world, there was no logical reason to hold on past the point at which I realized this. To do so would have been foolish, and invited disaster for both of our plans. I am very happy with my decision and content with what I have gotten out of the deal, he can ridicule me all he wants but I ask him to remember that as one of his Generals, my reputation going into battle will be an important factor. Perhaps he should keep this in mind ;)

On another note: David is on his way to Boston as I type this, so I've got the whole apartment to myself until Monday. It will be a great opportunity to get some cleaning done, and I know that I'll need something to do as a break from admining the =1stCPB= DoD:S server this weekend (anyone who wants to can download and play DoD:S for free this weekend, so we know our server is gonna be crazy full of nubs and asshats). If I didn't know that he'd kill me, I'd take this opportunity to sign him up for that local fencing club we found, and get him some starter equipment... but he's still trying to pay me back for the tablet I got him for Christmas. I guess I'll let him slide this time ;D Or maybe I can find something sneaky but cheap..... *ponders*

A Truce!

"Darth Napoleon" and I have declared a truce! In exchange for unlimited access to all developing technology and all of the elite units of the military, I have turned over control of the Earth to your new Emperor! I plan to continue my education in the finer points of strategy and eventually control my own branch of the military under the Icehawk banner, but in the meantime I order you to pledge yourselves to Bright Helmet!
Oh, and there's the little matter of my asking him out on a date in June, to which he agreed, but that had nothing to do with this. Now stop reading the fine print, you'll hurt your eyes.

"Improved" Icehawk Banner! (improved meaning now people with cheap monitors can see it as I see it)

 

This is a Banner that the World can Flock To! Join Me!

 

Need I say more?

 

What a day

So today started normal, then quickly went downhill. Work was pure drudgery, my co-workers went from mildly annoying to unspeakably inhuman, and it turns out there isn't enough work for all of us so there was plenty of time to be bored. I marked this one up as a bad day, but thanks to some advice from an excellent friend I think I will mark it as a turning point instead.

I know that I am one of the most stubborn people on earth when I know what I want. I know that I almost always know exactly what I want. But I also know that I have zero patience when it comes to getting something I want. This has never led me to cross any lines in an effort to speed things up, because the thing I am most stubborn about is my integrity and morals, but often I find myself running out of steam and giving up on something because I bashed my head on the front door one too many times trying to get there, or stood staring at a blank edifice until my eyes watered.

What David taught me today is that if I step back and look for the right tools (or weapons) to do the job, and then get them and use them effectively, not only can I get what I want faster, but I can get cool bonus items along the way as well. I've always known intellectually that such a course of action was preferable, I guess it just took this situation and this discussion to get it through my thick skull in a way that I can not only understand, but implement.

My new weapon shall be humor, and it shall be the bridge between myself and other members of my sex, as well as my new job security. An ancient weapon, it is literally the Swiss Army Knife (or Gerber, if you prefer) of human interaction, and in the hands of the right person it can cut devastating swaths through the masses.

My enemies beware, and my friends rejoice. A new day is dawned for my kingdom, even as the shadows in the West deepen.

The Meanderings of an Evil Overlord

The Meanderings of an Evil Overlord

Exercise is cool...

Not only does it give me the chance for some quiet time with good music, but I was checking myself out this morning and I think I can already see a noticeable difference... Pretty fast if that's the case, it's only been a little over a week :)