The Aussie was successfully retrieved from the airport and driven to Silver Spring. I stayed for a glass of wine and some conversation, and then headed back home around 11pm. I’m just now starting to wind down. I’m glad we don’t have anything in particular to do tomorrow during the day. I’m looking forward to sleeping late!
Archive for March 14th, 2008
Fantabulous - made of Fanta
Today was both good and bad. We slept really well last night and were feeling pretty darn chipper when it came time to start work, but the first work email I got told me that one of the senior people on my team had left the company yesterday. I thought it was really odd for him to leave without warning, and on a Thursday. I was right about it being odd. They terminated him because his wife accidentally used his corporate credit card last month to make a couple of purchases. Apparently my company has a zero-tolerance policy and the fact that he’d been with the company for over 15 years, was a team lead, and an incredible worker as well as all around nice guy didn’t matter. Losing him really cripples our team and finding someone to replace him is going to be very difficult. We will find someone, but I doubt they’ll be as good as he was.
On top of the upset about losing a coworker like that was the worry that I could be terminated for checking my personal email on my work laptop. Technically you aren’t supposed to do that, but of course everyone does, especially if you’re involved in the technical side of things. I had assumed that if the company was going to crack down on things like that, then people would get warnings before being terminated. I can’t assume that anymore, so from now on no personal email or AIM or gchat or whatever on my work laptop. Luckily I work at home and so the answer was easy - just move my personal laptop to my work desk and use it to chat and check email while I work. I know, I know. It’s not the entirely kosher answer, but I’m doing it anyway because they get plenty of work out of me plus some and the rules are stupid anyway. La la la.
Also it was an excuse for me to buy a $300 Asus Eee laptop to play around with. I suck so very hard.
I’m not sure how this will change things, but the project lead for my old project gave me a call and asked if I’d consider moving back to be her other half. (The guy we lost was mentoring her and she’s especially hard hit about his leaving.) I told her that would be fine with me, if that’s what our manager decides to go with. It’ll be interesting to see how things shake out.
I’m all ready to pick up John B. at the airport. His plane doesn’t get in until 8:45pm though so I have a little while before having to leave. I’m a little nervous because tonight is all about meeting complete strangers from the Internet and I am such an introvert and have such a bad body image and OMG what if they don’t like me?!? But I recognize that for the silliness it is, and I intend to enjoy myself. I do love talking to people and hearing about their lives.
Wish me luck!