Crappolapalooza

I am dealing with a fairly crappy day from a work perspective--the hated document I had trouble getting someone else to work with last month ended up in MY hands to convert to HTML, and I discovered it was absolutely messed up. I tried to not mention it and fix it myself, but after two days, I had to give up. Then, the original reviser got ahold of it and began feeding me a steady stream of updates and excuses for why there were many pages of content in the appendixes, blah blah. Yes, I am patient. No, I am not that patient. I was finally driven to vent at the person in charge of the project, who told me I should have come in MUCH sooner, and who then whisked me away to an off-site Asian lunch (woo) and a lovely trip to Sam's, where the item we were looking for was no longer available. It is good to have a Work Man Friend.

Sadly, that did not fix things, as it turned out all sorts of fascinating fiascos revolved around the document. We kept wondering, "Why has no one complained about it?" only to find there was a really old version of a totally different document on the official website. Ha ha. I guess. But, after some time in the stairwell staring at the blackland prairie, then help from the other "real employee" dude here, normal breathing resumed. I am still waiting on the document so I can HTML-ify it, but I am being kind, supportive, and nonjudgmental. I believe that will balance my karma. Since my card from yesterday and today was the 5 of Pentacles (the one with people looking like they are fighting), I am not totally surprised.

Rule to Live By

On a happier note, my newest coworker is turning out to be a really nice and smart guy, so I am enjoying having him around. He thought up this new axiom, which, if you are a grammar person, will crack you up:

The Law of Conservation of Apostrophes

This world contains an exact and correct number of apostrophes distributed among all the words written by humans. The people who fail to use apostrophes when they should are precisely balanced out by the people who use them when they shouldn't.

This is the kind of stuff technical writers think about while waiting in traffic. But it MUST be true. Think about it. Explains a lot of really, really irritating signs you see on the sides of roads!!

OK, off to get the older boy some contact lenses.

translation: OK, look, the first time Lee and I ever went to lunch together and it was to keep me from having a hissy fit. Not romantic. OK, we did have a nice talk in the stairwell. Public place. Talked about work.

Comments

sandy said...
Bleagh. I hate when Tech Goes Bad. I had to re-install an OS this week at school...on the iMac!
Thursday, October 12, 2006 9:59:00 PM

Jody said...
Glad Work Man is helping you through the rough spots.{and, fyi, you might want to change that Pentacle to a Wand. 5 o' Pentacles is something way different.} =)
Friday, October 13, 2006 9:46:00 AM

Sam said...
I am one of those who can never remember where to put apostrophes. Actually, I am better with them than I am with commas.
Friday, October 13, 2006 9:38:00 PM