Yes. It’s me. I am not dead. Not quite.
I have been getting used to traveling. I have also been dealing with some personal issues like whether to get rid of my dogs or not, because I can’t afford to have them stay at my vet’s house during the week. That, in and of itself just about killed me all weekend, and I couldn’t talk to anyone without bawling. Good news though; my friends and I have come up with a couple of potential solutions, and my vet is kinda helping me out.
My blackberry went to shit this weekend. The input for the charger got all fucked up. Wayne came to the rescue, and is sending me another BB to use to charge batteries so I can swap them out. So I will have phone access this weekend. Do you have any idea how frightening it is to travel without a cell phone? It’s not like there are any payphones anymore, so you can’t use the excuse that well, we used to do it all the time. That’s because there were pay phones every ten feet.
The first two weeks of “boot camp” (a very fast-paced course for in-depth education into the product I am working with) was all theoretical. I got it all except the finance stuff. I really struggle with accounting. I am a calculus girl. Accounting just eludes me.
You think you learn this shit, but after the weekend, it’s like it all just falls out of your head. I remember the stuff, but can’t remember where to find this shit. This product is about as complicated as SAP, so you can imagine how much I have to learn in a small amount of time AND remember where to find it all.
This week, we take a real life scenario and build out the product from scratch. I don’t mean installation; I mean, take a clean, base installation, and configure the damned thing based upon client requirements that are really shitty and vague on purpose. We have to ask all these questions, and as a group, we lean on each other to hope to get all the questions answered. And it uses the FULL functionality of the product. And we have four days to do it, because we have to present on Friday.
Typically, you would do this type of configuration over two to three weeks. And they know that. So you are hustling your ass off to try to get it right. We work with partners, but I haven’t been much help to them. They have been help to me. I feel like an idiot, because I have to get their help all the time, and **I** am supposed to know this product. But the one guy that I get help from has been using this product in the same capacity as the class theory for years. He is just required to get certified, which requires these classes. I can’t tell if I am behind everyone else, or if I am just an idiot or whatever. Ijust assume that they are getting it, and I am being a complete tard.
There is one other guy that is as careful as me, and maps everything out like a real consultant would. The problem is, we just don’t have time to do that, so we have to dig in. This would not be at ALL how you would do this as a consultant. So I just have to hope the fucking thing is right. I need to get it all finished today so I can test it all out tomorrow. We have seven scenarios of a “day in the life”. This means we have things like, “Mary Project Manager” logs in in the morning and does X, Y and Z. And we have to prove that the product functions that way. And I have to test it all for the presentation, or else look like an idiot if it doesn’t work.
So I am stressed, because I assume I am an idiot and don’t know what i am doing. But the instructor is checking our work after we leave for the day, and she said if we were behind or doing something horribly wrong, she would tell us. So I guess I am doing okay.
Today, we get the hard part. Processes. I don’t expect you to know what that means. Let’s just say it’s a mediocre hard part of the process. Thank GOD I do well at processes, because I did a lot of them in the previous competitor product that I worked on before. It was the financials that were KILLING me, and the administration of customized objects, because this product does it COMPLETELY differently than the competitor. But actually, this product is a LOT better.
Okay, I didn’t mean to get into all of that. I really just wanted you to know why I haven’t been commenting on your emails and stuff. I have had to work through lunch and work late to keep up with the configuration. Plus, I am getting used to traveling again, and, for some reason, this time, it’s been hard. Before, it was a breeze. I don’t know what my deal is. But this week has been much better after my friends helped me come up with some solutions for my dogs.
And on top of that, my father and I are having problems for the first time in my life, and I have had to temporarily cut him out of my life. My father and I have had a great relationship my whole life. He has always been there for me, and I have never had any issues with him. So now I am estranged from my mother and father both, and my brother works away from home, and comes home on weekends, and he doesn’t have time to talk to me (well, I respect his time) because he wants to spend it with his family. I mean, he would be there for me, but I don’t want to detract from what little time he has with them.
So besides the few very close friends I have (which is actually a lot considering; I have four of them), they have REALLY come through for me during this difficult time.
I want to call out one of them, since you know him. My closest friend Wayne has really stepped up to the plate to help me solve some problems, and I want to thank him for that. You all know what a great guy he is, and how helpful he is and goes out of his way, regardless of what’s going on with him, to help even strangers. He is a really great guy, even though I give him a hard time all the time.
So thanks for understanding. You may not even have noticed that I have been gone. But for those of you who have noticed, thanks for being patient with me, and I miss you all!
17 responses so far ↓
1 Evil Genius // Aug 20, 2008 at 12:18 pm
All you had to say was that this product was as (or more) complicated than SAP, and I was right there with you. Ugh…stress indeed.
Take care kiddo. Hang in there and, as they say, this too shall pass. And good luck with the doggy issue. I know that’s got to be tough, doing what’s right for them and not completely tearing your heart out at the same time.
Email or IM me if you just need to vent and don’t have anyone available. I’m finding myself pretty much in the same boat right now, with my only closest friends being scattered in several states, with families and a life that doubles mine in busy-ness. And I’m certainly no stranger to stress.
Evil Geniuss last blog post..On 09/25/2008, You Know Where I’ll Be…
2 Penelope // Aug 20, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Wow! You have a lot going on right now. Sorry it’s all a bit overwhelming. It sounds like you’re doing fine, just that your confidence is a bit low. Hang in there - you’ll be amazed with what you can do! :o)
Penelopes last blog post..Les Hommes
3 Robin // Aug 20, 2008 at 2:19 pm
1. You are one tough cookie, I have all the faith in you.
2. I’d crawl into a corner and die if I didn’t have use of my cell phone, no seriously.
3. Your job eludes me, I haven’t a clue what you do. Therefore I assume you are much smarter than I am.
4. I hope you know (honestly) you can text or email me when you want to. Ok?
4 laughingattheslut // Aug 20, 2008 at 2:39 pm
I would very much like to hear what is going on with the dogs.
I lost a cat while I was traveling.
laughingatthesluts last blog post..Remembering being sick before
5 Tug // Aug 20, 2008 at 8:04 pm
Hang in there girl, you’re going to do JUST.FINE. You’ve been out of the ‘loop’ so to speak for a little while, but you’ve still got it, so just don’t forget to breathe…and dig right back in.
Tugs last blog post..Heartfelt
6 dmarks // Aug 21, 2008 at 4:57 am
Wayne’s a cool guy. He helped me with a technical question via email once, so nice of him. I’m talking about Whall. Hope that is the same Wayne!
I travelled a lot for years, and watched as cell phones replaced pay phones. The pay phone companies are the ones to blame. It used to be that toll free calls where free, but they tacked on huge charges just to dial toll-free calls, like $2 or $3. I thought they were supposed to be toll free? And the phones themselves were muffled, and you had to bang at a volume button in order to get it audible… every time. Why not just set the phones to audible in the first place?
dmarkss last blog post..Who am I? Cthuluvian Guy
7 Absurdist // Aug 21, 2008 at 7:22 am
Evil: Thank you so much. I am so sorry you are kinda in the same boat too. My vet said that it seemed like August was a bad month for everyone! You can always email me or IM me too. Email is better right now though, since I can’t use any chat client on my work computer.
Penelope: Thanks. I really do appreciate that. I tend to be a cocky SOB when I am a SME (subject matter expert) in whatever technology I am working with. My ego doesn’t do very well when it is slammed against a wall and shown that it has to start over.
Robin: Thanks sweetie. I was freaking out traveling without a cell phone. And I don’t have a home phone. cell phone is IT. As for the job thing; just remember, if yoiu can’t understand what they do, it doesn’t mean that they are smarter than you. For example, an accountant could go on and on, and I would have no clue WHAT the hell they are talking about. But I know that they are the dumbest people on the planet. Just kidding.
Slut: I am soooo sorry to hear about your cat while you were traveling. I am so sad for that.
Looks like if I can work it out with my friend’s pet sitter, she will stay at my house overnight during the week, and move in with her friends officially. That way, I will pay her to “house and pet sit”, and she will still live with her friends. Quite genius on her part. She would effectively live with me all week (but I won’t be there so she will have the run of the place), and instead of paying rent to me for living there full time, she will be making money during the week, and going back to her apartment during the weekends, which leaves me alone in the house without having to worry abou someoneone being there.
I just don’t know how much I am going to have to pay her. If it’s the same amount I am paying my vet, well, I am still in the same situation.
DMarks: No shit. I actually SAW A PAY PHONE yesterday, and just about fell over! I am sure it was encrusted in some kind of gross mucuous and didn’t work.
8 Absurdist // Aug 21, 2008 at 7:23 am
Tug: Thanks girl. I go through this every time. I just never had to worry about how much I had to spend on my dogs before. Working for myself is good, because you make a shitload of money. But working for the man; well, I make a lot less and can’t afford what I used to be able to pay to keep them at my vet’s house.
9 dmarks // Aug 21, 2008 at 8:29 am
The worst situation is in Italy. The pay phones are these huge bulgy yellow boxes. They are festooned with stickers, and yes… greasy. You just don’t want to touch one. To use them, you have to slip a little card in. They don’t take money. To get the little card, you have to go to a tobacco shop. Yes, a tobacco shop. There are many things to love about Italy. The pay phones are not one of them.
10 laughingattheslut // Aug 31, 2008 at 8:14 am
This is your weekly post something or else message.
Hope that you are okay.
laughingatthesluts last blog post..Sorry that I haven’t been around
11 laughingattheslut // Sep 6, 2008 at 8:17 am
I wonder if I’m being too subtle?
Damnit, post something!
laughingatthesluts last blog post..I cannot tell other bloggers what or when to post, but…
12 dmarks // Sep 7, 2008 at 7:07 am
I went to make the same comment, but since it is here, I will “second” what Laughing said.
dmarkss last blog post..Star Trek: The Love Boat
13 Absurdist // Sep 10, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Hey guys. I am still around. I am just supremely bored, and I don’t really have anything to write about.
I just sit around collecting a paycheck, so I have been terribly apathetic. Please accept my apologies.
14 dmarks // Sep 11, 2008 at 8:48 am
Thanks for checking in.
15 laughingattheslut // Sep 11, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Yes, but do still post something.
laughingatthesluts last blog post..A screenplay treatment, writing seminars, and a Deep Space Nine script
16 Absurdist // Sep 11, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Like what? Another corporation has fucked me in the ass? And I sit here with a political agenda on someone else’s part to get rid of me because he was forced to hire me?
I have options, and I have exercised those options. But I have nothing positive to talk about in my life, and I don’t want to burden anyone else with what’s going on with me. Plus, I have readers that would shit all over me just for writing about the trials and tribulations that i am going through. And in most cases, I would blow them off, but right now, I don’t think I could.
Absurdists last blog post..Colonscopy
17 laughingattheslut // Sep 11, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Sometimes when you feel like venting, others can learn from your experiences.
Just be careful about things that might get back to your boss.
How’s the situation with the dogs working out?
laughingatthesluts last blog post..A screenplay treatment, writing seminars, and a Deep Space Nine script
Come on man. You know you want to say something!