A Visit from Guitar Man

Two weeks ago, Dad was in town for a conference and tacked on some extra days to hang out with M and me. I got half a day off from work and we had a really nice time -- a great mix of going out and just hanging out.

• We played a little Guitar Hero and got the best BBQ take-out in the state.
• We had a great meal at Chino, did a little MOA shopping, and attempted to go to the MN Zoo to visit Emmet. Too bad I didn't realize how early the zoo was closing in April (we pulled into the parking lot at 3:57 only to see the sign announcing the off-season closing time of 4:00).
• On the one sunny but slightly cool day Dad was here, he was a great sport about sitting outside. M and I were craving some patio time after a long winter and, although I could tell he was shivering a little, Dad hung in there for a good hour.

So, two fun stories to share:

First, a week before he was here (so this was early April), we were chatting on the phone about logistics.

"Bunny [blogger's note: she's a GREAT gardener] said I HAVE to bring the camera and take tons of photos of your garden," Dad said. "She's really excited to see how it looks this year."

I started laughing.

"What?" he asked.

"Well, um, you know we still have snow on the ground, right? Minneapolis got eight inches on Monday."

I could almost hear him slapping his forehead. "That's right!"

"So, you know. Everything's pretty much dead."

He then proceeded to tell me that Bunny had planned a big gardening project for the weekend and I got very, very jealous.

The other funny story is this: When he was here, we (of course) ended up talking about Addie. Mom had recently visited Seattle and told me that Addie knows where all of us live. Evidently, you ask her, "Where's Uncle Phil?" and she'll say, "Alana" (Atlanta). You ask about Uncle Mason and Auntie Laura, and Addie says, "Baby soda." You ask about Aunt Donna (my aunt in Texas), and -- this cracks me up -- Addie responds, "Obama in Hooston."

So I was relating this to my dad and we laughed about the Obama part. I then mentioned that when I saw Addie over Christmas, we had a great time and I could tell that she loved me, but it was clear that she didn’t know my name. (At one point during the holidays, my awesome sister-in-law LSB asked Addie, "Who do you want to go to?" And Addie gave me a huge smile, pointed at me and said, "That lady!") I know that she's little and that she loves me anyway, but given how often she asks about "Unca Masin," I felt a little sad.

As I related this story to Dad and said, "I know it's no big deal, but … you know."

He says, "She doesn't know my name either. Know what she calls me?"

I shook my head.

He gave me a big smile. "Guitar Man."

How cool is that?!? :) Thanks for an awesome visit, Dad!

How Awesome is My Bro?!?

An excerpt from a recent e-mail regarding local changes at my youngest brother's company:

Phil -----, Recruiter in -----, will assume the vacant MBO role [blogger's note: no, I have no idea what that is] in ----. Phil has been a true asset to ----- for the past two years. He has handled almost every responsibility pertaining to the operations of the office, and done so to a high standard. Many of you could take lessons from him on running D/L in the low 50’s! [blogger's note: That sounds almost made up, but even if it's not real, Phil's evidently awesome at it!]

Based on his knowledge base and skill sets, I am eager to see Phil excel in this role. He will start on Monday, April 28th.

Yay, Phil!

Spring!

It's been wayyyy too long since I posted here, but work has been getting in the way. (It's been seven weeks since the launch and I'm exhausted, but this migration-specific chaos has to die down soon, right? Right?)

On a much happier note, I think we can finally consider it spring in the Twin Cities. I know -- the calendar says March 21 is spring, but the calendar didn't help a whole lot when we got eight (!!!) inches of snow on April 7.

The bad news is that, although I'm suffering from wannastartgardeningitis, it's much too soon to start working the soil yet. (It's just too damp, so digging or tilling will compact the soil, ruining any drainage properties I improved last year by adding compost or other amendments.)

The good news? The Greengirls (my favorite local gardning blog) say that cool-weather annuals like pansies should do just fine in containers right about now. So I forsee a trip to Bachman's in my future tonight. Which makes everything better. :)

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.