That Last Post...

... was probably the low point for me since the conversion, a week and a half into a very difficult time. Although I'm still really sick, I've been able to attend a few conference calls (from the couch) and help with some writing and editing in the last two days , which has made me feel so much better. It's a terrible feeling knowing that you're stuck on the sidelines while other people, people that you respect and care about, work really hard. Just being able to contribute helped my mood a lot. And when I was able to take care of some writing for my wonderful boss (who has, in my absence, been doing the work of at least two people), here's the e-mail she replied with:

Oh God, I've missed you!!!!
This is awesome!

So things aren't necessarily rosy, but they're considerably better than Wednesday. :)

Three Things

First, the technology-conversion part of the project has been worse than any of us expected. Bad enough that there are threats of lawsuits. Bad enough that, for multi-hour stretches, we had users that couldn't open an account, place a trade, view account info, anything -- stuff that's kind of important in the financial services industry. And I can tell you that when that kind of stress is going on, group dynamics tend to get very very ugly. As in emotionally and verbally abusive (not from my wonderful boss, but if I get screamed at one more time by some jackass MBA from Accenture ... ).

Second, just when everyone needs to be chipping in to help, I get laid low by influenza (and yes, I did get a flu shot, but maybe it's not healthy for people to work 18-hour days or 85-hour weeks). It's Day 4 now since I started running a fever and I'm barely able to get out of bed. M's not much better, although he's gonna try to go back to work tomorrow. I'm going to attempt to work from home tomorrow -- just checking e-mails today wore me out, but I don't feel like I can just sit here, even if that's all I really have energy to do.

Oh, and third: I'm an employee again. I know I'll be excited about that (especially my amazing boss, the great health insurance and having paid time off) someday, but right now that feels really far away. For now, this whole thing is absolutely miserable.