Microsoft

I must be an Office 2010 God. Someone...hit me wit da magic stick.

Life is Fragile

Sadly this happened at my office building. I go out this way everyday. I think I'm still in shock about the whole thing.
Just such a freak accident to happen. Thinking about all the family and friends of the individual at this time.
So sad.

Edmonton woman dead after being hit by car

Suvivor

I survived another On Call weekend shift relatively unscathed. Some late night calls made me sleepy but overall it was ok. I really need to get brave and venture OUT though. Being home bound can make one a little stir crazy!!! Ok ok...I'm generally crazy anyway but when you're stuck in one tends to go a bit more mad. *s*

Say yay to sunshine!!!

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

That my friends...was a very full day of work. *whew*

The Cube

There are rules and laws in Cube Land. You must obey or be punished severely. Stay within the lines fellow Cubians...it's very scary territory out there.

30 Minutes and Counting

I am 30 minutes from turning off the On Call cell phone and not having it until next month! Actually this was a decent shift this week as I didn't get too many calls in the middle of the night. Those are always the killers. When you are up every two hours and then have to go to work in the morning. I'd say I got quite lucky. *s* So ya, survived another bout and looking forward to the freedom I will feel tonight...and um hey...it's the weekend too! Sweet.

Tour at Work

Today was like Show and Tell. I got a chance to go on a tour to see the Server rooms and telecommunications center. I found it all extremely fascinating. The rooms were clean and loud. Imagine hundreds of computers running! And boy do they kick out a ton of heat. I was standing by one rack of servers and I could have closed my eyes and pictured myself on a beach. :-) Of course they keep those areas cooled down with some big time air conditioning. The last stop was where all the telephone lines run into the various buildings Atco has in the downtown core. All I can say is that it was a MASSIVE wall of wires. Insanity to me...to try and find the correct line attached to someone's phone. The network guy said he can find it with relatively no problem. I see chaos and he sees organized wires I guess. That's why they pay him the big bucks! Yup...t'was a great day at work!!! :-P

These photos aren't from my tour. I just found some on the Internet that reminded me of what I saw today.

35 Million

Now wouldn't that be a nice pot to win? My co-workers and I finally went into a pool together and purchased a bunch of Lotto 6/49 tickets for tonight's draw. I think if we win we each get around 4.4 million. That's doable. :-P We've been talking about it for a bit now and today Loren finally asked everyone if they were interested. I guess it helped that we all just got paid yesterday. So it looks like we will have a lotto pool going after all. We have to get some sort of contract written up. Although I don't foresee any issues with this group you just never know. I have heard of some horror stories and legal battles from pools such as these. Nice to cover ones bases I guess. There were two people that didn't buy in today. Hopefully...it will be awfully lonely for them in the upcoming days...while the rest of us work on our tans and sip on cool tropical drinks. *s*

Useless Information

It's been a fairly busy day in the On Call neighborhood. This is my first weekend On Call shift and I have to say it feels a bit too much like working for the most part. I did have a pretty good lull in the early evening but it started out busy this morning with some difficult calls. Where are those easy password resets anyway? Here's to hoping I get some sleep tonight but with Calgary having some major issues...I really doubt that's gonna happen. Oh ya, and I think far too many people are working from home on the weekends! Too many VPN (Virtual Private Network) issues to deal with. I'm sure I will be a fully qualified VPN expert in no time. *s*

Stairs vs. Elevators

So I was going to turn a new leaf over at work today. I was going to take the stairs instead of the elevator from here on out...or whenever I possibly could. So my quest began only to find the door to the stairwell locked on the lobby level. Doh! So much for my plan. I would need to take the elevator to the 2^nd floor and get out and access the stairs from there. Um, too much work considering I work on the 4^th floor. So anyway, I wouldn't be foiled in my quest to be the stairs queen! On my last break at work today I did 200 stairs and still had plenty of time to spare. Nice. I have a new routine added to my day.

Late Night Work?

Ok, so I just took this and I know it's not the most interesting picture but I had to comment on it. These workers were here through the ENTIRE night preparing the roads for paving. I have never witnessed construction workers with this kind of shift. It struck me very odd. Were they noisy? Yes actually they were. Beep beep beep and loud crunching sounds as they ripped up the old pavement. I had the air conditioner going though so at least I didn't hear them when I went to bed but they were definitely there. So of course, because I have the day off here...they would be here making noise. So much for my semi peaceful java on the deck this morning. *sigh*

My New Vocabulary

Well I've completed three days at my new job (Atco I-Tek). I feel like I am trying to learn a new language in two weeks or less. Here are some of the new words that are now a part of my daily activities. Mainframe, Citrix, VPN, Nortel Networks, SSL, Oracle, File Restoring and the list of new words goes on and on. Now yes, I do not completely have to know these things inside and out...or write programs but I am learning a ton of stuff! Talk about a full head though. *s* So, if I'm a little quiet over this next week just know that I'll be icing my noggin'. :-P

First Day At The New Job!

Two thumbs up! The people are great...my new digs are great...the location is great! I couldn't ask for anything more. Of course, it IS a new job so the learning curve is steep. The next couple of weeks will be a bit challenging but that goes for any new adventure. So for my first day I give Atco I-Tek two thumbs up...one thumb for the things I have mentioned and one for having my name plate on my cubicle already. :-P

The Fat Lady Has Sung

I finished my last shift today at Dell Edmonton. It was a very sad day for me indeed. Tomorrow I just go in to sign some paperwork and hand in my notebook and badge. I have worked with Dell since February 2005. It was a great run and I had the pleasure of working with some of the most talented people I have ever met in my life. Unfortunately for business reasons the company decided to pull out of Edmonton and just yesterday announced that Dell Ottawa would also be closing. I'm afraid this is a sign of the times. It's just getting too expensive for companies to operate here.

Sadly, I will miss all the water cooler talks...even though I never stood by the water cooler. I will deeply miss my co-workers and seeing their faces every day and I wish them all the best in their journey from here. It has been an extremely interesting few months and hope I never have to experience getting laid off again but in this day and age one just never knows...but I can still hope. *s*

Goodbye Dell. It's been one helluva ride!

A Hard Day's Work

You certainly don't have to be at work to "work" do you? We were up early today and rearranging everything so we could have room to paint the window wall. Living in such a small space has it's challenges when you are doing any kind of reno work. Even with the couches and table out of here it is still a tight squeeze. So after we put coat number one on we got cleaned up and were out the door to help friends move. The move went fairly well despite the weather. It was a slushy winter mess and a bit cool but we all managed. The hundred trips up and down three flights of stairs definitely took their tole on me. After the move we visited a bit and played a few songs on Rock Band. I'm pretty amazed that Tan was able to find everything she needed to hook it up! We ate before leaving and than painted a second coat to our wall. Now we have prepped our final wall for painting tomorrow. It's a different colour so that's why we didn't do it all the same day. Now it's time to call it a night. My back is screaming at me so I better rest it well. *s*

Fun at Work?

Either these chairs are multiplying themselves or we have a desk chair hoarder amongst us!

Toys at Work

I took a few shots of some of the toys that people have at their desks today. Let me just say, this is a very small sample. I work with some of the geekiest people I know and I count myself as one! That huge Nerf gun is located in my aisle. I've definitely been nailed a couple of times.