Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Passport pictures

How come they always seem to suck? We just got some done this weekend, and DH looks like some kind of serial killer, I look totally matronly, and while BR looks pretty cute, she seems so sad! And it's not like they forbid kids from smiling in these pictures ;)

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Handheld doohickey?

I am starting to think I need to give in and get myself some kind of electronic tether device, like one of those modern cell phones or some kind of other handheld device. I don't really need the cell part of it, as I rarely find myself wishing I could call someone (though I imagine that could change easily once I actually had a cellphone). But I am finding it hard to keep on top of all the "to-do" lists I have on the go, and even more importantly ;) the blog post ideas that pop up in the most odd places, like the dentist's waiting room.

So in the interest of having my life flow smoother, keeping the number of to-do lists to a respectable 2 or 3 (instead of the dozens floating around right now), keeping better track of appointments and commitments, and generally be less frazzled at times (at least I hope so), I am convinced I need to get me one of those things.

A few years ago my company was running a trial of the network (one part of the company was working on wireless networks), so I signed up and got to use a fancy cellphone/PDA/wifi thing for a little over a year. It certainly helped me get more organized, but I was really hard on it, and after a while it started spontaneously hard rebooting on me, losing all my information in the process and driving me absolutely mad!!! So I have to be careful in my choice of device... Obviously those things have come a long way in the last few years, so it should be easy to find something more robust :)

So if I have any readers left after my prolonged silences, if you have any ideas/suggestions let me know (via comments, emails, or whatever works for you, I am not picky). I haven't started looking yet, so any pointers at all are very much appreciated.

And if you're thinking it's odd that someone working for a telecomm company has no clue about wireless devices, my lame excuse is that I've never worked in the wireless division, and like many old-school geeks I am somewhat gadget-averse and have a big phobia of ongoing expenses like monthly service fees. What can I say, it takes all kinds, eh :)

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Discombobulated

Background info: my current employer is in bankruptcy protection, and selling off different divisions one at a time, including my area, which was sold at auction and is currently being transferred to the new owner. This week we've seen layoffs for some, and job offers extended to others.

I am only now realizing how discombobulated I've been feeling over the last few weeks. Luckily it's all job related ;) We've known for a while that 15% layoffs were coming early in the year. I don't even think my crappy frame of mind had anything to do with being worried for my job (at this point I am mostly feeling fatalistic about the whole thing, and I'd like to think I would have been mostly ok no matter the outcome); I think it's the whole atmosphere at work getting to me. Things have been quiet, hushed, everyone huddling down and trying to get their own work done lest they appear as not being busy enough (and hence somewhat disposable). It made for a very grim workplace, a far cry from the usually friendly and mostly cooperative environment I am used to...

The fly in the ointment here is that I've finally snagged the team lead position I had been promised eons ago (as in, before I even got pregnant), so I should be ramping up my leadership role. I thought I was doing pretty well at first, but I am realizing that the last few weeks I've basically been doing the bare minimum on that front, basically just focusing on my individual goals, due to the aforementioned atmosphere...

The layoffs were announced yesterday, and job offers extended today. And yes, I am one of the lucky recipients of an offer letter. I am hoping I can somehow drag myself out of this fog and start focusing on the task at hand (leading the team) before I seriously start hating my job with a passion and become grumpy and bitter...

P.S. I am hoping that now that I've broken the long blog silence, I will get back to posting more regularly. I have tons of blog-thoughts rattling in my brain asking to be released...