Flew back in today. My brain has been reduced to something akin to tapioca, early wake up, flying, having my bag searched because of eldritch objects, and a screaming child two seats away. But that's just the return journey, the rest of the trip was gloriously fun. Movies, books, friends, good food, things with tentacles. Friends with tentacles. I'll write up a more detailed post probably this weekend. For now though, I'll try to regrow some tentacles for returning to Carcosa Corp tomorrow, and probably go to bad way early.
Category Archives: Blog
Pilgrimage to Innsmouth West
Heading out to Portland in a few hours, for the HP Lovecraft Film Festival. Very much looking forward to it, hoping for an
easy trip (I have a sinus infection, and that's making me a tad nervous about flying). Lovecraftian movies and people, book raid on Powell's City of Books, and some rather good food. So wish me luck, and I'll post again after I get back, and fill you all in on the eldritch details.
Three-lobed burning eyes
Good news everybody. The eye doctor said my eyes are quite healthy, no signs of any issues from the diabetes, other than my vision prescription has changed rather dramatically. And since my blood sugars aren’t stable yet, they may change yet more. So I have a new ‘script for glasses, and found a place that could get me distance glasses made today. So I’ll use these ‘cheap’ glasses til we’re sure my script won’t change again crazily, then I’ll get my bifocals made. For now thought, I’m going to go rest my tired eyes, at least until the damn dilation goes away. *blinkblink*
How am I doing?
Well it's currently Day 13 of me being diagnoses with diabetes. So how
am I doing? Well, it's officially official. My bloodwork came back with
confirmation of being diabetic. Which beats having something weird and
esoteric in my pancreas. Been doing the blood testing twice a day per
my doctor. Once when I get up, once after a meal (usually dinner or
lunch). Don't like the jab, but I'm not needle phobic at all, so it's more
of a 'sigh' *bleed* *move on*. Blood sugar is going down, which of course
is the way we want things to be going. Yay medication and diet.
Speaking of diet, I've gone from an average of 3000 calories a day, to under 2000. How, setting limited portions, snacking on cucumbers and tomatoes a lot, and trying to be mindful of how I'm doing. The snacking urge is hard to ignore, I hate being hungry. But my stomach is shrinking a bit, and I've found stuff that works well for me. So I'm doing ok. Trying very hard to not set myself up for a fall. If I go over calories/sugars, then oh well. Try better tomorrow. I'm going to go over tonight by a bit. (I treated myself to NYC pizza, was good and only ate two slices. That was hard). But I don't have to be perfect. Just have to improve.
Otherwise, I'm kind of kerfrazzled, the vision stuff is scary, but I think my eyes have settled down to a point where I think that unless they find something else wrong, And if they do, I'll deal. Though if I stop being able to read, there will be problems. Work is stressing me, lots of meetings, lots of questions I just don't know. Company buyouts are stressful as heck. I ended up taking today as PTO to just decompress. Tomorrow and Sunday are more decompression time, need to do some more chores around the house, read, and really, REALLY try to catch up on sleep.
Speaking of reading and sleeping, I think that's what I'm going to do. Night fellow cultists (and everyone else reading this)
Speaking of diet, I've gone from an average of 3000 calories a day, to under 2000. How, setting limited portions, snacking on cucumbers and tomatoes a lot, and trying to be mindful of how I'm doing. The snacking urge is hard to ignore, I hate being hungry. But my stomach is shrinking a bit, and I've found stuff that works well for me. So I'm doing ok. Trying very hard to not set myself up for a fall. If I go over calories/sugars, then oh well. Try better tomorrow. I'm going to go over tonight by a bit. (I treated myself to NYC pizza, was good and only ate two slices. That was hard). But I don't have to be perfect. Just have to improve.
Otherwise, I'm kind of kerfrazzled, the vision stuff is scary, but I think my eyes have settled down to a point where I think that unless they find something else wrong, And if they do, I'll deal. Though if I stop being able to read, there will be problems. Work is stressing me, lots of meetings, lots of questions I just don't know. Company buyouts are stressful as heck. I ended up taking today as PTO to just decompress. Tomorrow and Sunday are more decompression time, need to do some more chores around the house, read, and really, REALLY try to catch up on sleep.
Speaking of reading and sleeping, I think that's what I'm going to do. Night fellow cultists (and everyone else reading this)
The Eyes Don’t Have It
Quick post. Last Thursday (a week ago), my eyes started acting up. Vision
got kind of fuzzy, over the next few days my eyes changed enough that my
glasses are unwearable. My distance vision is lousy, mid range is fuzzy
but workable, and from arm's length and closer I'm alright. What's going
on ? No idea. It could be the change in blood sugars from high to less
high triggered a change in eyeball/lens shape. It happens, per some diabetic
friends and some major googling. If that's it, my eyes should self correct.
If not, well it could be a number of other things. Thus I have an
ophthalmologist appointment on Monday to give my eyes a complete look over.
They'll be able to tell if I have other eye problem, or if my eyes have just
changed and I need a new 'script. We'll see Monday.
What does this mean? I haven't left the house since Sunday. I can drive, but that's a bad idea IMHO. I took Monday off from Carcosa Corp, but after that I rearranged my desktop setup at home so my computer screens are close enough to limit the eyestrain. I haven't been getting a lot done, but it's been a week of meetings, which doesn't require me to geek much. I can read, thank Cthulhu, otherwise I'd have gone nuts already. I'm listening to a lot of pdocasts and audiobooks when I'm doing other things. So I'm not crazy, but I'm definitely antsy as hell.
So, hopefully the docs can figure out a fix, and life returns to normal. My plans for this weekend are just about non-existent. I'm probably going to stick around home, read, etc. I'll be stircrazy, but not much I can do about that either way. I can at least futz around the house doing chores and stuff. And we'll see how things go after that.
What does this mean? I haven't left the house since Sunday. I can drive, but that's a bad idea IMHO. I took Monday off from Carcosa Corp, but after that I rearranged my desktop setup at home so my computer screens are close enough to limit the eyestrain. I haven't been getting a lot done, but it's been a week of meetings, which doesn't require me to geek much. I can read, thank Cthulhu, otherwise I'd have gone nuts already. I'm listening to a lot of pdocasts and audiobooks when I'm doing other things. So I'm not crazy, but I'm definitely antsy as hell.
So, hopefully the docs can figure out a fix, and life returns to normal. My plans for this weekend are just about non-existent. I'm probably going to stick around home, read, etc. I'll be stircrazy, but not much I can do about that either way. I can at least futz around the house doing chores and stuff. And we'll see how things go after that.
DevOps is the Devil
Been a crazy week. Anxiety dreams to start, work quirkiness in the middle,
and a DevOps conference at the end of the week. The DevOps thing was...
odd. Not my technical ball of wax, and it wasn't aimed at the newbie.
I did learn some stuff, and got random inspiration for other work stuff.
Too bad the airflow sucked, and I spent most of the two days sweating
like a pig. Oh well.
The weekend has been good. First, I have Labor Day off, yay three day weekends. Friday night I didn't do much besides try to cool off, then sleep. Yesterday I did some chores, and hung out with Amythest and Nymaz. Due to various job foos, we haven't hung out in a long while. Watched 'Deadpool 2' (which I didn't see in theaters) and 'Infinity War' (which I did.) Was fun, we ate pizza, laughed, chatted. And I got to pet cats. Sadly, my allergies kicked up hard...luckily I had benedryl.
Today would have been Mom's 86th birthday. So I planned today to be pretty busy. I got up fairly early, got my ducks in a row. I originally meant to go out to a place me and Mom went to for breakfast, but honestly I wasn't really in the mood. So I got to-go breakfast, and headed out. Hit a total of 4 bookstores, Recycled Books up in Denton, and 3 Half Price Bookses... Booksi? How ever you pluralize a plural. Got a nice variety of weird fiction and esoterica. Drove while listening to DART radio plays, and plotted some other stuff out while driving. Came home, by way of lunch at Jason's Deli, and took a long shower to de-sweat, and have been futzing around online and listening to audiobooks.
Tomorrow I'm going to try to take care of the remaining chores, as well as engage in more hermiting. Then it's back to work, but hopefully it will be a productive week, I have plots and plans. For now, I'm listening to a audiobook about H.H. Holmes and the Chicago World's Fair. Amazing how bonkers Chicago in the Gilded Age was.
And I've been staring at this post for an hour, so I'll call it done. *waves tentacles*
The weekend has been good. First, I have Labor Day off, yay three day weekends. Friday night I didn't do much besides try to cool off, then sleep. Yesterday I did some chores, and hung out with Amythest and Nymaz. Due to various job foos, we haven't hung out in a long while. Watched 'Deadpool 2' (which I didn't see in theaters) and 'Infinity War' (which I did.) Was fun, we ate pizza, laughed, chatted. And I got to pet cats. Sadly, my allergies kicked up hard...luckily I had benedryl.
Today would have been Mom's 86th birthday. So I planned today to be pretty busy. I got up fairly early, got my ducks in a row. I originally meant to go out to a place me and Mom went to for breakfast, but honestly I wasn't really in the mood. So I got to-go breakfast, and headed out. Hit a total of 4 bookstores, Recycled Books up in Denton, and 3 Half Price Bookses... Booksi? How ever you pluralize a plural. Got a nice variety of weird fiction and esoterica. Drove while listening to DART radio plays, and plotted some other stuff out while driving. Came home, by way of lunch at Jason's Deli, and took a long shower to de-sweat, and have been futzing around online and listening to audiobooks.
Tomorrow I'm going to try to take care of the remaining chores, as well as engage in more hermiting. Then it's back to work, but hopefully it will be a productive week, I have plots and plans. For now, I'm listening to a audiobook about H.H. Holmes and the Chicago World's Fair. Amazing how bonkers Chicago in the Gilded Age was.
And I've been staring at this post for an hour, so I'll call it done. *waves tentacles*
Cthulhu’s CtheeseBurger and other Weirdness
Haven't had a lot to talk about. Work is still fluid, brainmeats are still
iffy. Texas is still hot as blazes. Having issues with sleep, and with
waking up unwanted early (6am on a Saturday is just wrong). Though on
the positive tentacle, I did get almost all my chores done. On another
positive tentacle, I had lunch with some nifty friends, and was reminded
that I have a pretty good burger place just down a couple of roads from
me. (Fuddruckers for those who care about such things. Used to go a lot
with friends, and with Mom, but in the last few years I haven't gone.)
Didn't get anything fancy, a 1/3rd pound cheeseburger (provolone, cheddar
and swiss), steak fries, and a grape sprite. Just what the burger desires
ordered.
Post food and friends, I went to a Half Price Books, only found one book that said 'you need this'. A collection of Aleister Crowley's 'Simon Iff' stories. More interested in his idea of an 'occult detective' vs Crowleyness. I also went to B&N for the first time in a few years. Was looking for the latest issue of Fortean Times. They had an issue, from July 2017. Oops. Came home after that, had some errands I thought about running, but it's too darn hot here. Came home, chilling out. Actually, I'm kind of craving another burger (and their fries). My crazed cravings.
Plans for the rest of the weekend, maybe some more errands in the morning. Maybe working on some more reorg of Château Innsmouth. Next weekend is a three day weekend, so I'll try to balance social/hermit, along with some bookstore raiding (Half Price Books 20% off weekend). In a few weeks I'll be going back to Portland for my 2nd HPLFF. Really looking forward to the gathering of the cultists, and the fun of Lovecraftian/Weird films on a big screen. Plus the Hollywood Theater in Portland is awesome. And of course, Powell's City of Books. Hopefully by then I have a plan for what path my gainful employment will take. I can hope at least. And on that note, I'm going to call this a post.
Post food and friends, I went to a Half Price Books, only found one book that said 'you need this'. A collection of Aleister Crowley's 'Simon Iff' stories. More interested in his idea of an 'occult detective' vs Crowleyness. I also went to B&N for the first time in a few years. Was looking for the latest issue of Fortean Times. They had an issue, from July 2017. Oops. Came home after that, had some errands I thought about running, but it's too darn hot here. Came home, chilling out. Actually, I'm kind of craving another burger (and their fries). My crazed cravings.
Plans for the rest of the weekend, maybe some more errands in the morning. Maybe working on some more reorg of Château Innsmouth. Next weekend is a three day weekend, so I'll try to balance social/hermit, along with some bookstore raiding (Half Price Books 20% off weekend). In a few weeks I'll be going back to Portland for my 2nd HPLFF. Really looking forward to the gathering of the cultists, and the fun of Lovecraftian/Weird films on a big screen. Plus the Hollywood Theater in Portland is awesome. And of course, Powell's City of Books. Hopefully by then I have a plan for what path my gainful employment will take. I can hope at least. And on that note, I'm going to call this a post.
63 Hours of Hermitage
Well, this weekend has been near maximum hermitage. Came home Friday
evening, and I've only opened the door for food delivery. I reorganized
the Starry Wisdom library, I've watched a lot of horror movies, read.
Caught up (kind of) on sleep. Yesterday was little to no anxiety, today
isn't quite as nice. Tomorrow is back to the job, with patching and
probably a number of meetings about the migration. I really don't have
updates from my last post on the subject. I've got a plan, and a schedule
as a framework. So we'll see how it goes.
Non-work related stuff, less than 2 months til HPLFF in Portland. Looking forward to visiting Innsmouth West. This week I need to drop my car off at the dealer for general maintenance, plus the usual allergy shots. Next weekend 'Meg' gets released, giant sharks and giant squid. I'm so there. Not much of anything else in the works. Or really to talk about. So I'll call this a post.
Non-work related stuff, less than 2 months til HPLFF in Portland. Looking forward to visiting Innsmouth West. This week I need to drop my car off at the dealer for general maintenance, plus the usual allergy shots. Next weekend 'Meg' gets released, giant sharks and giant squid. I'm so there. Not much of anything else in the works. Or really to talk about. So I'll call this a post.
Well I thought last week was bad
The current state of the Fox in regards to work. It's copied from Facebook,
so it might not be completely coherent, or grammatically correct.
Last night:
Tomorrow morning is probably going to be interesting, in the 'may you live in interesting times' way. Cross tentacles and have kittens on standby if it goes pearshaped.
Today:
Well, I got my answers. Branch of the company I've been working at is being sold. The buyer of the branch has elected to not bring me along permanently. I will continue to work here through the migration til it is complete, or 1 year, which ever comes first. There is no guarantee I will have a position with corporate at the end of that period. If one is found, I keep working for parent, otherwise it's a severance package and a good luck in my future endeavors. .
Not doing good at all. Not one little bit. I know it's life in a big corporation, but I still feel like shit scraped off a shoe. Please no advice right now, or 'you know you're a good employee' or other well meant platitudes. The sudden reality check I just is going to be louder than anything else right now. Caring and kitten/critter pictures much more welcome.
Later today:
Working from home the rest of the day. Did figure out that these changes mean that two of my PITA projects are either going to halt or drop in scope. Also, various local people have pointed out that they're pulling for newcorp to bring me over because I'm a valuable resource (and I fit in well). So that helps. Still going to update the resume, and spend part of the new few weeks documenting out the weird stuff that only I do. In case of being run over by bus, or being thrown under the bus. *is a professional*
As for me care. Working from home for one. Ordered a cheesesteak for two. Weekend plans are probably going to be near/all hermiting because well, *gestures wildly at the last few weeks* I have shelves to put together, and the reorg of the library should be worked on, especially since I have a fancy respirator now to filter out the dust. Plus books, and movies, and probably some plotting and planning. Also, this will not affect my plans for the HPLFF. There's a mighty need for time with a large number of my tentacled tribe.
So, surviving, but frazzled.
Addendum. The powers that be at the local office are trying to convince newcorp that I'm a valuable member of the team, and to also bring me along. Which is appreciated. I'm not holding out a ton of hope, but when do I ever ? I guess we see what happens, and what I get done during the transition.
Last night:
Tomorrow morning is probably going to be interesting, in the 'may you live in interesting times' way. Cross tentacles and have kittens on standby if it goes pearshaped.
Today:
Well, I got my answers. Branch of the company I've been working at is being sold. The buyer of the branch has elected to not bring me along permanently. I will continue to work here through the migration til it is complete, or 1 year, which ever comes first. There is no guarantee I will have a position with corporate at the end of that period. If one is found, I keep working for parent, otherwise it's a severance package and a good luck in my future endeavors. .
Not doing good at all. Not one little bit. I know it's life in a big corporation, but I still feel like shit scraped off a shoe. Please no advice right now, or 'you know you're a good employee' or other well meant platitudes. The sudden reality check I just is going to be louder than anything else right now. Caring and kitten/critter pictures much more welcome.
Later today:
Working from home the rest of the day. Did figure out that these changes mean that two of my PITA projects are either going to halt or drop in scope. Also, various local people have pointed out that they're pulling for newcorp to bring me over because I'm a valuable resource (and I fit in well). So that helps. Still going to update the resume, and spend part of the new few weeks documenting out the weird stuff that only I do. In case of being run over by bus, or being thrown under the bus. *is a professional*
As for me care. Working from home for one. Ordered a cheesesteak for two. Weekend plans are probably going to be near/all hermiting because well, *gestures wildly at the last few weeks* I have shelves to put together, and the reorg of the library should be worked on, especially since I have a fancy respirator now to filter out the dust. Plus books, and movies, and probably some plotting and planning. Also, this will not affect my plans for the HPLFF. There's a mighty need for time with a large number of my tentacled tribe.
So, surviving, but frazzled.
Addendum. The powers that be at the local office are trying to convince newcorp that I'm a valuable member of the team, and to also bring me along. Which is appreciated. I'm not holding out a ton of hope, but when do I ever ? I guess we see what happens, and what I get done during the transition.
Week from Sheol
Oh elder gods and little fishies, this week has been crazy. All work
foo. One, my fellow admin at Carcosa Corp was traveling for business,
so 4 of the 5 days I was the lone admin. And it's patch week. And I had
a large chunk of a project scheduled to go into production as of last night,
with a process that i wasn't 100% comfortable with. Plus the usual daily
foo. It's been rough. I haven't been sleeping solid, and I'm dragging
today.
But work was pretty calm for normal sysadmin foo, my usual having to herd cats to get things scheduled for patching. And last night's big change went well. While it involved things I don't know well, databases and applications that run under Java, along with Microsoft Active Directory for the trifecta of eww, I made it all work, and I got things working faster than I estimated. So all would have been well if I'd gotten a full night's sleep. So of course I didn't. *eyeroll* At least I'm more comfortable with the whole process, now to just work out the 3rd magic step that has baffled the software vendor's support. Which I just had a small lightbulb moment about. Excuse me while I email myself.
*time passes*
Ok, note to future me sent. Will argue with it later this weekend, or Monday AM. Yay aha moments.
And with that, I think I'll end this post. Probably will be heading to bed and book early tonight. Hopefully I can get some real rest over the weekend. Night all.
But work was pretty calm for normal sysadmin foo, my usual having to herd cats to get things scheduled for patching. And last night's big change went well. While it involved things I don't know well, databases and applications that run under Java, along with Microsoft Active Directory for the trifecta of eww, I made it all work, and I got things working faster than I estimated. So all would have been well if I'd gotten a full night's sleep. So of course I didn't. *eyeroll* At least I'm more comfortable with the whole process, now to just work out the 3rd magic step that has baffled the software vendor's support. Which I just had a small lightbulb moment about. Excuse me while I email myself.
*time passes*
Ok, note to future me sent. Will argue with it later this weekend, or Monday AM. Yay aha moments.
And with that, I think I'll end this post. Probably will be heading to bed and book early tonight. Hopefully I can get some real rest over the weekend. Night all.