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« June 2008 | Main | August 2008 » July 30, 2008Fear Me!I am Odessa, Goddess of the... copy/fax machine. Ruler of all things... copyable. Lordess over all things... faxable. Fear me or meet my wrath. My EVIL EYE! Muhahahaha! Too much? Not enough? Seriously, I need to think of something. People see a fax/copy machine and think they can just waltz right in and use it. Today some guy practically dry humped it while pulling out his paper. You'd think this was the only copy/fax in the whole damn hospital. I was on the phone and could only give him a highly annoyed glance before going back to being highly annoyed at the HospB IT support staff who can't seem to figure out how their system works. Anyway, back to the annoying curly haired dude. I asked one of the doctors if he was ours and he didn't have any idea who this yokel was. So basically some random guy decided to wander up here and use the machine. Lovely. I feel so safe. I already have some nice but uber creepy security guard stalking me. He seems pleasant enough... until he says things like 'So, you're here all by yourself huh?' and 'Must be uncomfortable to be up here all by yourself'. If I had mace he would have been on the ground, clawing his eyes out by now.
[keywords: Work] July 29, 2008Yay for EarthquakesMy first earthquake in my new office. Survey says... it sucks donkey balls. I'm on the 9th floor of an old building that hasn't been retrofitted. This means I'm basically fucked if the epicenter is in LA. Someone mentioned that they were supposed to be tearing this part of the hospital down. I said, "If this keeps up they won't have to!" The only good thing about this one is that it was a rolling kind. The other kind (up and down movements) would have probably shot me out of the window. What's funny is that most of the Medical residents come here from outside of California. They were having a meeting in the room across from me when the earthquake hit. They dove under the desk so fast it was like the floor dropped. After realizing that the earthquake was getting stronger i got up to get into the doorway. I had one hand on the door and one on the water cooler and prayed it didn't get any worse. It seemed to slow down so I yelled out 'At least if something happens I'll get medical attention'. a female resident yelled out 'Oh ha ha'. She was too scared to be amused. After it was over they all hightailed it down the stairs as I went back to my desk. Just another sunny day in Southern California.
[keywords: Work earthquake] July 28, 2008Great Hair...Sorry about the scalp burn. *grumbles* I love my hairdresser. LOVE her. She does a great job and is a complete doll. She owns her own shop and works with a few other hairdressers... including her sister. Her sister is also a complete doll. Her ability to lighten hair is... lacking. The last time she did my hair I ended up with blisters on my head. Painful, seeping blisters. Yeah, it was sexy. After politely telling my friend (after making her swear not to tell) that her sister made me look like a burn victim, I swore I'd never let the sister touch my head again. So of course I called to get my hair done last week and the sister answered. I bitched and moaned about how I really needed it done and couldn't wait to come in. She made my appointment and then casually mentioned that my friend was in Iran for a wedding and she would be doing my hair. Shit. I put on my best game face and said I couldn't wait to see her and no, I wouldn't be needed a haircut *just yet*. On Saturday I thought about canceling, but decided to give her another chance. She mentioned how my friend wrote out instructions about EXACTLY how much to use so I figured we were in the clear. WRONG! After she applied the lightener my head already felt like it was on fire. I'm already blonde so it's not like you need a lot. The sister disappeared (she was running in between customers) and when she reappeared it didn't hurt so bad. It was probably from the charred skin losing all sensation, but whatever. By the next morning my hair looked fabulous and my head looked like a burn victim again. Okay, maybe not that bad... but ya know. Now I have to deal with a week's worth of pain, blisters and crappy hair (using a blow dryer is totally out of the question) until my scalp heals. The things we do for beauty... and friendship.
[keywords: hair beauty] July 25, 2008Oh No She Didn'tSo today I had to deal with some snarky support person about a program. I was shown a new way to do the census from one of the doctors and noticed a patient listed as in-house without a room assignment. Considering I count by floors I needed to know if this was a glitch or if the status meant the patient was either not in a room or going home. Simple, right? Enter tier one support. The guy was nice, but didn't know what it meant. So he took my name, phone number, address, and blood type before putting in a call for a ticket. I figured I'd get someone who knew the system and let it go at that. Five hours later I get a call from some snarky wench I'll refer to as SW. Clever, ain't I? Anyway, she starts reading me the riot act about where EXACLTY I went and what EXACTLY I needed for before clicking on the census. By that time the one patient was gone but three more popped up missing a room. She started giving me MORE attitude, complete with chewing something, and kept saying "All we can tell you is what is on the screen". So of course my voice started matching hers. Bitch-fight ensues. After her refusing to answer my VERY SIMPLE question I finally pulled out the big guns. Me: I'm sorry... WHO am I speaking with? SW: My name is Snarky Wench Me: Okay Snarky. You sound agitated. I am asking you questions to understand the system and you sound very annoyed. It is not my intention to annoy you... Is the supervisor there or another colleague that will be willing to listen to what I am asking and answer my question around? SW: I can ONLY te... Me: Again, you sound very agitated. I am trying to do a report for (list of BBs) and simply need to understand the numbers before giving it to them. If the patient is not on the floor then I won't count them. If they ARE on the floor then I need to understand how they are entered so I don't say they have 5 patients on 5 East when there are actually 6. May I speak to your supervisor? SW: Uhhh... Hold on, there's a W by the name. Let me ask what this means. *puts me on hold* Okay, it means they aren't in a room yet and are being admitted. SW: Uhh... Yes. Me: Thank you. That's all I needed to know. Twit... Two minutes later the tier one guy calls to say that he found out what it meant. *sigh* I recounted my lovely conversation and he apologized for it. It's pretty sad when tier one support is more effective than tier two. Pretty damn sad...
[keywords: Work] July 24, 2008The Burning BedI seriously want to set my bed on fire. I loathe it. It's hard, lumpy and I haven't gotten a good night's sleep in forever. I'd love to buy a new one... but I don't want to cut my finances too thin. It's my fault for buying the damn thing online. It had the same name as my old one which was comfy but old. It even had that extra comfy thing added. We've shook it, flipped it over and almost out the window. The thing still feels like it's filled with cement. I even tried snoozing on the couch. Sitting on it is no problem. Once you lay down it digs into you like some Gremlin is living beneath it. Welcome to our humble abode. Coffee, tea or torture rack?
[keywords: home] July 23, 2008More Boss AwesomenessLately I've been pretty worried about my job. The census says that while beds are tight at our two hospitals the third hospital we're supposed to depend on for overflow is practically choking. Friday they had ONE open bed. ONE! I checked later on in the day and it went up to two. WTF!?! I don't know what sort of agreement the BBs made with this place but I hope money wasn't involved. If so... I'd ask for a refund. Yeah, so my job. It's been doing little shit here and there and getting ready for this HUGE influx of patients that doesn't seem like it's going to happen. If it does we're pretty much fucked. My boss had been finding other things for me to do 'in the meantime'. Luckily I've been right on top of things and they're all super happy with my job performance. Yesterday my boss called about me taking on some other duties. It sounded more like an assistant's job. She wasn't feeling well and had someone on hold so it was basically a summary with 'we'll talk more later'. After asking me what I thought I said, 'Well... I'd have to hear exactly what you're expecting before answering that'. She made a comment about 'Don't worry... it's not like you'll be getting their laundry or anything. You're not their assistant' and I snapped back, 'Good... because if it was that I'd be looking for another job. I was an assistant for ten years and don't want to be that anymore'. Yeah, not the coolest retort I've done. I've been so worried about my position even though they've gone to great lengths to calm me and I've been annoyed that the duties keep changing even though the job is being created by me. I felt guilty about it for a bit and then called her back. Once again she was on hold and so I had to do some fast talking. I told her I was sorry for sounding like such a bitch and she said I didn't. Then she added that she should have come over there to explain things instead of just throwing them at me. In the end we said we'd talk more and from the description of things it would really benefit me to do the tasks. And really... the job is still pretty damn awesome. I'm paid more, have a great office and work with some wonderful people. You can have the shittiest job but still manage to stay there if you have the right people to work with. It took me five minutes to get to work this morning and the gas we save is insane. To tops things off... this place is pretty damn friendly. You walk in and people smile and greet you. Everyone's so laid back compared to my other place. The BBs treat everyone like they matter and instead of some frantic rush when they arrive everyone greets each other like old friends. In the end... that's why my tasks will be welcomed. Because this place is pretty fucking awesome...
[keywords: Work boss] July 22, 2008My Awesome FriendDid I mention how awesome my friend Rose is? Seriously... she's a mental life saver. With all the server issues I've been having (that STILL haven't been fixed) I've turned to my Sims2 game to get away from it all. So of course some bizarre issue happens that I can't figure out. Suddenly Maxis benches and sidewalks are flashing... and some bizarre row of "IIIII"s show up across the street. It's like a parade of vowels. The school for the consonant challenged let out and they all decided to go to the clothing store. After being annoyed by this I mention it to Rose. After taking a few screen shots she figures out the problem... although I'll be damned if I know how a residential lot ended up on a commercial one and sends me the correct file for it. So instead of me losing all my data I can joyfully play the game and ignore the fact that every time I post I get a ton of errors and still haven't figured out how to upgrade the damn thing so I can try and rid myself of said errors. Maybe. Hopefully. It's worth a shot.
[keywords: Friends Sims2] July 21, 2008Closer... Or NotYeah, so this weekend I spent in limbo. I waited for my tester domain to get the database copied over. When it was I tried the comments. So of course it kicked me right back to J00wish. *sigh* Now I need to go through and see what needs to be done to upgrade the damn thing. Then... I'll upgrade this blog. I figure I need to at least update the stupid thing before screaming anymore. considering the amount of time spent trying to figure the errors out I could have had a brand new hard drive installed and started from scratch. The thing is... I'm told it's not a hardware issue. While the 500 Internal Server Errors have stopped I am starting to get all sorts of errors when rebuilding the site. Plus... the comments still don't update. Whatever. I'll tackle the issues as time and sanity permits. Hopefully by this weekend. It's one of those annoying things that gnaws at you. Every time I start to type I just know it's not working right and no one has been able to give me a reason why. next step: Changing software. I am sooo not looking forward to that option. Blah.
[keywords: Maintenance server] July 17, 2008Here's the DealThe comments seem to work (you have to refresh the page for them to show up) and I can get into the blog to post. I'm getting a bunch of funky errors with my blog which means I'm going to have to upgrade this weekend. I love my blog and miss posting in it daily, but this whole debacle has left a real damper on me in general. I have yet to find out what actually happened to my server. Anyway, I may not blog until after I upgrade just to save my sanity. I am sorry to everyone on the server who's had to deal with this. I feel absolutely horrible about it. I've never felt so helpless and angry... especially when nothing was ever really resolved. I feel like it's running with one and a half legs. *sighs*
[keywords: server] July 11, 2008This is a Test07/14/2008 Okay, not fixed. Comments still give 500 error and randomly allows to sign in. *grumbles* EDIT: 02:04pm - also updating is sloooow. I didn't think it updated thread at first. --------- GAH! Slow... but posting! *hops around* What did you do? I can't wait to hear what is going on and to get it so it posts normally. YAY! --------- Not fixed. Comments still give 500 error --------- fixed --------- This is to show that at certain times I am able to log in. This DOES NOT mean the problem is fixed. Once you are able to post comments on an entry without a 500 Internal Error AND log in I *think* the issue will be resolved. I just want to put this as a place mark so the support people can understand. 1. Logging in is possible at times. Other times we get a 500 Internal Server Error. 2. Comments give a 500 Internal Server error most of the time. 3. This must be some sort of cycle... that's all my very non technical mind can think of. 4. Please fix my server AND tell me what happened so I can tell the other people. Thank you. *pouts*
[keywords: test] July 10, 2008*POUTS*I'm so miserable it's beyond Emo. It's as if I'm being hurled into some sort of PMS filled depression. Bad. REALLY REALLY bad. I felt a little better after talking to Bane. He's the chocolate to my frenzy. I spent the whole day thinking about what I can do to fix the server. I drove all the support people mad, posted on forums in hopes they could help and searched for key words that might shed some light on why I can't even blog. More importantly, why NO ONE can. Sure, Jake hardly does... but it's the principle, damn it! I just want my server to work like it did before they moved it to some other room. I don't think there's enough chocolate in the world to lift my mood… but I'm willing to find out. *gorges*
[keywords: pms] July 09, 2008500 Internal Server Error From HellI am at my wits end. No matter what we've tried no one can find the culprit to why my server started giving me 500 internal server errors at random times. Sometimes it's when i am trying to log in. I have yet to be able to post a comment. SOMETHING on the server is fucked up and I don't know who I can go to that will help me. Everyone says to try and update the blog. Two problems. One: Bane did the original setup with design and I don't know how to upgrade or what will change if I do. I can't get a hold of him to even beg for help (although I've left a few messages along that line) and feel like I'm fucked. Two: Considering it's happening to ALL blogs on the server I don't see how upgrading one will fix all. I want my server to work right. this isn't fair! *pouts* It's been almost a week since the 'scheduled maintenance' brought my server down and so far nothing has fixed it. Not upgrading Image Magick (one suggestion) or countless tests by both my hosting company and a few by my server management company. I'd ask for people to post suggestions... BUT THEY CANT.
[keywords: server whiney] July 08, 2008The Magical Self Correcting Server!Okay, so apparently the server is 'correcting' itself whenever I post a trouble shooting ticket. they also said that the error is 'weird' and that it 'might correct itself'. Hopefully it will because I don't want to have to keep submitting tickets only to have the damn thing start working the minute I click POST. Maybe that's the key. the server gets nervous and corrects itself so it doesn't have to deal with anyone fucking around with it anymore. Whatever works...
[keywords: Maintenance server] July 07, 20084th of July BlastAnd it was a blast. We went to my friend's place in the late afternoon for a smallish get together. There was Banana Margaritas (thank G-d for Margarita Bob) and tons of food. Jake went into his regular pig out and go into a food coma routine but was able to recoup in time for an awesome display of fireworks. We pulled our chairs into the alleyway and watched the fireworks literally go off above us. At one point we had tiny ashes hit us, then chunks of fireworks. I finally put on my sunglasses to escape the ashes in the eye and tried taking as many pictures as possible. I can honestly say this was the best 4th of July to date.
[keywords: Friends holiday] July 03, 2008A Pat on the Back and Slap Upside the HeadToday was a roller coaster of emotions. It started off with me send the daily hospital census and crossing my fingers. Yesterday I didn't get any feedback, which I took as a good sign. Today I heard the email chime and grimaced. BBB's name was in bold. It was a reply to my email. After taking a few deep breathes I opened it up. Not only was there praise galore (this is a terrific report!), but he CC'd the other BBs outside of my area and asked me to add them to the list to receive the report. After making some sort of bizarre "EEEEEEEEEEEEE!" sound I took a breathe and yelled "Woo Hoo!" Thank goodness I was alone. Then the other emails came in and the calls started. Apparently I'm a hit. This is a good thing and bad, but mostly good. *grins* Say my name, baby... say my name! Later on in the day I managed to fuck up that positive aura. My boss was standing behind me (she came by to congratulate me on the report) and asked about some rules. I said I'd shoot off an email to my doc and instead of making a NEW email I just hit reply to the last one I sent. It just *happened* to be one saying "Anyway, I am still nervous about the position… even though My Boss says not to be. I have been pulling my hair out about nothing being ready. The bottom line is that it’s a waiting game for the doctors to get their ass in gear". Yeah, so anyway... I shit bricks. We talked briefly as I typed it out, not wanting to be so obvious but knowing she saw the whole thing, and then she left and I panicked. A few hours (and gazillion phone calls to friends) later I called her to explain the context of the email and it was all good. Did I mention I have the most awesome boss in the whole wide world?
[keywords: Work] July 02, 2008Pick a Number...Oh yes, work has been fun. I'm still trying to get the hang of everything, which is half the battle. Then there's the battle of the BBs. Every day I need to email a report showing the census of all three hospitals. No problem... except they want it broken down for JUST their department. That's all fin and dandy, except neither of the two UCLA hospitals or the private one list patients that way. So what's a girl to do, you say? Count beds individually. 330 for one, 200 for the other. The third just gives me a general guestimate, which I have no control over. The wrench in the works is that I still don't know all the doctors names. It's hard for me to give an accurate count other than looking up each doctor I don't recognize. Cue the time issue. So it takes me about an hour to do this. Fine. Whatever. They want numbers, I'll give them numbers. Except they keep changing exactly WHAT they want. And they don't even agree with what each one wants individually. So yeah, I'm just sitting tight until my boss gets out of her meeting so I can once again try to narrow down what the hell I should be doing. Once my job kicks into high gear this shit is going to mean diddly squat. Unfortunately it's they've pushed back the start time for me to step in until sometime in mid-August. *twittles thumbs*
[keywords: Work Flickr] July 01, 2008It's a Monday...Monday was a treat. And by treat I mean pain in the ass. It started off with me waiting for the elevator. And waiting. And waiting. Of the four elevators, only two go to the top floor. Guess where I'm located. You betcha! I went to the security desk to see if anyone else had complained and I was the first. Lovely. Meanwhile everyone else kept telling me that the elevators worked. One was sitting on 6 and the other wasn't even showing up. Working my ass... Finally the engineer department opened their eyes and noticed an issue. Twenty minutes later I asked where the stairwell was located. My boss said I could walk a flight if the elevators were too slow. After no one could tell me I said fuck it and ventured out on my own. I figured someone would be able to point me in the right direction. I walked the flight of stares and reached for the knob. Locked. Oh yes, it was turning out to be a lovely day. I went BACK down to the first floor and weighed my options. Unfortunately 'going home' wasn't one of them. I waited for the security guard who was on a call to get back and open the door in the stairwell. By this time three other doctors had gathered around, all waiting to hoof it to the top floor. We walked up, he opened the first door and we ventured onto the roof. And by roof I mean there was only a tiny ledge on the side between us and oblivion. I tried my best not to scream like a little girl. Once safely back inside I opened my office door only to hear the elevator door ring. Sonofabitch... Later on I made my way to one of the bathrooms and noticed someone didn't flush. I grumbled while trying to flush for them. Nothing. I tried again... Nothing. I made my way to the sink to wash my cup and turned on the water. Nothing. Oh yes, this was just awesome. Once back in my office I called the engineer department. "Didn't you get the email?" What email? "The one that said all water was shut off on your side of the building for an emergency." No... no I didn't. Apparently I wasn't added to the list for the new hospital. Oh joy, oh rapture. So now I had to pee and try and figure out where to call so I could be added to the email list. Luckily the outage only lasted an hour or so. Now the people not calling me back for the statistics I need... and then giving me wrong ones so that I look bad for the BBs... THAT is a whole other story. *sigh* I know it will get better... I just want that to be now.
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