Stressed ...

While I'm waiting on a test to finish I'm going to blog to vent...

Had everything hit me all at once today. Just all over the place. Processes failing, taking too long. I can't quite code fast enough to patch up the holes in the ship so to speak.

I hate to say this cause it sound like some bad 'B' sci fi movie.. but I've had to turn on modules I invented in the AI that I didn't want to. I'm not happy about it. You could say my Spidey Sense is tingling over this. Nothing good's going to come from it.

win one, lose one

As it turns out, one of the two people yesterday IS going to be fired today... but the other one I fought for and she stays. Its never easy being around when someone is fired. It's like watching them be condemned to death by hanging or something. Kinda gruesome.

This whole two managers thing is REAL confusing at times. The CTO did my review, the "daily manager" did the other engineers reviews. YET, I report to the daily manager and never talk to the CTO. I think he's a bit miffed that I jump in and lead the charge at times on things. They want all this paperwork and process and meetings to determine meetings. Just stupid. I'm more of a 'get the work done and move on' type of person.

Also.. I'm *still* not over that gunk.. I've got that clearing the throat thing going on. I kept waking up every two hours all night. So tired today.

No word yet from Low Budget Sci Fi. My fingers are still crossed on that. No name yet for the new Kinloch story and I'm I finished edit 1 of part 11 of Spec Ops. Part 11 turned out to be real short. Makes for a good last chapter.

Overall, I think its going to be a long day.

Pressure ...

Ok.. this is the second time in as many days that I've been asked to give advice on how to handle people and how to approach the hiring / firing of an employee.

I just have to ask.. WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH THIS COMPANY THAT THEY ARE SO QUICK TO FIRE SOMEONE? and WHY in the HELL am I the one to advise management??

True, I've no fear of firing someone (or much else actually)... BUT ONLY IF THEY DESERVE IT!

These are people (as of today TWO!!!!) that are diligent workers. One works a bit slow, the other is only a little inexperienced. But they work hard and try hard to learn. No customers have been lost over it and missing a damn deadline by a day or two is NOT a reason to fire someone! These two are productive. One of which I know is coming up to speed but is having to do on the job training to get there!

I've a friend who keeps asking me "I can't believe you've not taken the Clark Kent glasses off over this ..." or "Man when is the red scarf and fedora coming out?"(meaning the character the Shadow that I'm a fan of).

I've no answer. But I'm still protecting them, as best as I can. Maybe that's all I can do. I dunno.

Tired

Finally getting over my cold, flu, whatever. As always the end of an illness is about as disgusting as when it starts. The difference being you can feel your health slowly improve and know there is a light at the end of the tunnel that ISN'T the oncoming "flu train".

Damn, I'm tired. Sent off Response Time to a small press in philly named "Low Budget Science Fiction". This one has a longer response time but that's ok. He'll take simultaneous submissions. So I may find another mag who also takes simul submissions and send it to them as well.

This past weekend had a hacker decide to put digital graphitti all over a forum I manage for a costume club. That made for a very long, dull Sunday. All while not feeling well AND having stayed up late the night before! What a weekend. Got it fixed though, took 8ish plus hours with a friend of mine being a second pair of hands to copy files and download new versions while I moved database tables around and such. I'd love to say "on this day I work on updates" but I know better. I overplan for myself SO much I don't dare. Hell I never have time to work on stories and such like I prefer. Got a new one, a Kinloch story that I like where its going. I'm trying to stay focused on that and the last part of this latest story of Spec Ops. I should finish cold Case but I got burned out from doing the workaholic thing. So I'll set it aside for a short bit to get over my writer's block on it.

I need a vacation. A real one, yknow? One where I *go* somewhere and do something restful. Even if I go somewhere and write, stare at scerery or whatever. I need to refresh my mental batteries. I liked arizona, that was a fun trip. I know there is stuff around here in Alabama that I've never seen that is driving distance. I've not done it because I feel responsible for everyone around me. That everyone is relying on me for.. dunno.. something.

The wait is over

Well, finally got a response from iHero and they turned it down. Nice comments from them. They liked some elements, but thought the setting was limited and the editor figured out who the villian was early on so it made the story seem long. Oh well. I wasn't really going for a mystery as much as I was going for an adventure story. I'll try some other mags and see if I get anywhere with them. If not, I'll hang onto it for later or rewrite it. One comment on it though.. 3000 words.. cmon. That's pretty small to setup an entire environment, characters and all in.

The Day After

What is it about the day after being sick that is so depressing? I actually caught myself thinking.. 'I have to go to work... damnit! I'm not sick..'.

Maybe its the return to a very dreary, repetative cycle. I don't deal well with constant unchanging cycles. A lot of people feel that way about their jobs though. Dreary, boring tasks that generate money for them.

Still no word on 'Response Time'. I've picked out several other magazines to submit to. Hopefully one will be interested. Got another short story in the works, a Kinloch one. I'm about 3300 words into it. Not sure how long it'll be yet but it'll be healthy.

Well.. more coffee then tea to fight off the cold remnants.

Today started off like a typical Monday, then dove into "classic" real fast when I found I had a low grade fever and almost couldn't talk. Huzzah...

Called in and slept nearly an additional 8 hours! Man Robutussin is strong at times.
But I'm feeling better now and nursing a bowl of chicken soup I've amped with a few different kinds of peppers. Seems to help. I should be ok and back to what I call normal tomorrow.

Still no word on Response Time. Their 4 week limit is approaching so I'm going to make a list of potential mags to send to next. Then work on the next Spec Ops installment AND a short story. For me that's light stuff.

I think I may paint today some too. Something quiet and low effort.