I have the day off and have no need to go anywhere, which means I can completely avoid the Black Friday crazies and instead spend the day reading and writing.
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I upgraded my graphics card. All by myself!!
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Well, itās been a long time comingā¦ Ten weeks, to be exact, though it was festering for awhile before that. However, Iām actually finally pretty sure that my depressive fog has finally for good. Well, as good as it can until the next time. Been a good ten days and while Iāve still had some moments, the fog has cleared. Just in time for the holidays!
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I found a bunch of goodies in the sewing machine. Besides the machine being all original, there are parts, bobbins, and even original instructions with it!!
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Thatās a much more complete setup than we found kicking around in the basement of our old house. But ours might be a tad older. I really need to pull that out and clean it up.
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TLDR: I reconnected with a former boss, who took a chance on me when I was in a bad place in my life. Was able to tell her that I honestly didnāt think Iād be where I am today - which is a pretty damn good place - if it were for her and her COO having faith in me and giving me a chance and an opportunity.
Longer story: About 20 years ago I was in a not great place. I had quit my job in the investment industry with no new job due to stress and my mother being ill with some serious liver issues, which were eventually resolved but at the time were very worrying - to the point that I was willing to be tested as a live donor. Fortunately, I was able to get Employment Insurance thanks to my doctor at the time stepping up to bat for me. Even so, EI was about 1/5 of what I was making previously, and I had a mortgage to pay.
I signed up with a temp agency, and they sent me out on what was supposed to be a 3-6 week temp job as a clerk/admin assistant while the company was negotiating with a permanent exec assistant. Eight years later, when the company went under, I was still there and the person they hired originally was long gone.
In that eight years, I went from āhere, photocopy this, pleaseā to being their LAN administrator, webmaster, payroll administrator, office manager, data analyst, report programmer, as well as writing job descriptions for clientsā technical positions, as none of the consultants understood anything tech. In other words, anything they threw at me, I did - and was pleased to do. $President and $COO saw something in me that I didnāt even see in myself, and gave me encouragement and opportunities I had never even dreamed of.
It was an amazing company to work for, and an amazing group of people to work with, and I honestly donāt think I would be where I am today if they hadnāt had faith in me. And a few days ago, I finally got to tell $President that, and thank her for it. And, hopefully, weāre going to meet up for coffee next time sheās back up here.
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Thatās awesome. And itās amazing how often just being willing to do the things that need to be done works out. Iām starting to think that the next job I have if that effort isnāt recognized itās time to move on, even if itās only recognized by being given more stuff. The new model company is miserable at recognizing effort rather than rote obedience.
Nice place to be, Iām glad you had that opportunity.
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16 posts were split to a new topic: D&D Discussion
A (sort of) continuation to my previous post - last night I had supper with four of my former colleagues from $ConsultingFirm and it was wonderful. Havenāt seen some of them in almost 15 years, so it was great to catch up. We talked for hours, and weāre going to try and be better at keeping in touch.
Sentai Filmworks had a big sale on their anime products for Black Friday. I kept putting off ordering and missed it. Theyāre running another holiday sale with the same prices, some as little as $4 for the DVD version, so the only thing I might miss out on is if a particular item is out of stock now.
I secured employment for 2019 and itās not a contract position. (My current contract ends next Friday).
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I am now on holiday. I have 5 weeks off before I have to go back to work.
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Merry Christmas, my internet friends!
Just bought a Dyson v6 Absolute with three additional attachments and free 2 day shipping for $203 including taxes. In case anyone else is looking. Also glad to get rid of my big bulky vacuum. Now maybe I can get the kids to do it! That would be the happiest of all!
Saturday took the kids to the Big Explore and had a blast. I really hope they do it again next year. Yesterday took the boys ice skating and they loved it! Even with all the falling, and the fact that they are going to be bruised from head to toe. Might buy the quarterly membership since I love skating so much as well. And most of all, there is not a single thing on my to do list for today. Tomorrow and the rest of the week yes, but not today. Yay!!
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We bought a Sharp Aquos 1080p television (maybe 40"?) for $60 at Goodwill yesterday and the garage entertainment couch is now substantially upgraded. We spent a good portion of the evening playing Halo 2 on the original XBox. I have a whole box of games Iād like to replay (or at least nostalgically wander through), but first perhaps we need to buy a new electric blanket because the garage is a bit chilly this time of year.
Anyway, we had fun playing Halo and I only had to put the handicap on a little bit to make it mildly fair. The rule has always been in our house that you let the kids win occasionally in anything but Halo, but Iāve gotten a bit softer in my old age.
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Iām back at work! Iām not so much thrilled to be in the office, but very happy to be not sick, or at least, feeling tons better than last weekā¦ I picked up a cold or whatever right after Thanksgiving, but because of my allergies, the cough and congestion didnāt ever 100% go away. Fast forward a few weeks, and I played Fallout 76 with @Force10 (Which was groovy!!) after getting the new TV the week before Christmas, and coughed in his ear way too much, but around Friday night / Saturday morning, my throat got to hurting pretty bad, so I resolved to get in to see a doctor after Christmas. The doc put me on an antibiotic plus a steroid, and told me to rest. I am feeling a lot better now.
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ā¦and a bit sad. My mom passed away about 12 years ago, and her jewelryās been sitting up in boxes at my dadās place since then. Over the Christmas break, since all the girls in the family (me, my sister-in-law, and my two nieces) were there, we went through everything. I got first choice, as the only daughter, and got some really nice pieces I remember her wearing often. For my first day back at work, Iām wearing her good gold chain, earrings, and the watch she always wore. I got a bit misty when I took the watch into the jewelerās at lunch to get the battery changed - I hadnāt realised her name is engraved on the back of it.
I miss my mom.
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Condolences!
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Thanks, @Ook. Most days Iām good, but every once in a while something smacks me in the face.
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