she handed out bags to each of us, which turned out to be doodads from her office. I almost cried when I got her hummingbird paperweight, which I'd always admired. There were bags of chips and gum and a voodoo doll as well as socks and Tums and ibuprofen, all these little things that she associated with each of us. And she gave the ED a red phone, since he's been threatening to call her in emergencies. What a wonderful and gracious woman, I almost had to leave for crying.

That's really sweet. What a great idea.

The stupid vet was all, "She looks great!" Thanks, asshole! Like it isn't hard enough.

Oh god. Fuck you, vet! I hadn't seen this one before, which was a little weird, but she didn't ask anything at all, which I appreciated. I did have to sign a thing saying he hadn't bit anyone!

Jesse, easy and warm thoughts to you.

Meara, this is the sucky website for the awesome cake shop: [link]

Julie, that sounds like a nice leave-taking.

I picked up Noah at school and both knees of his pants were entirely shredded. Sigh. So we went to the mall and bought 3 pairs of pants and a new pair of shoes for him. He is ridiculously rough on clothing.

He is ridiculously rough on clothing.

He's a little boy. I think it's in the job description.

So sorry, Jesse. So hard and sad.

I picked up Noah at school and both knees of his pants were entirely shredded.

Pre-patching is a thing people do, right?

I'm so sorry Jesse. I'm glad there's wine, and agree that there should be cupcakes too.

There are pants waiting for Noah at my house, Kat. ::smiley::

Oh yeah I prepatched mac's pants and then repatched using the cloth from outgrown pants.

What a tough day, Jesse. I do think you timed it about as well as could be. Bye, Homer, you big orange galoot.

You know me, I spent most of the rest of the day working my way through a kleenex box, so....

I am about to kill my coworkers. I've been very clear I'll be gone for a week. And there's this huge push to start a new project that I'm point on. Fine. I've had my end ready for over a week. I keep having to wait on other people. Or firmware upgrades. I'm really not comfortable starting it and then leaving it for someone else to run while I'm gone because as with all these things, this is the first time we've done it THIS way, and I like to start out slow and with lots of monitoring. And wouldn't you know? ME AND MOST OF THE PEOPLE WHO NEED TO LOOK AT THE RESULTS ARE GOING TO BE OUT. And really, a lot of them aren't back until after the first week in January.

I'm NOT dragging my feet! I just want this done right and to not come back to a holy mess and have to do all the work over again. And the start WILL be rough because it is non-standard data. IT CAN WAIT A WEEK!!!

And then there is a whole 'nother clusterfuck I don't even want to get into. But I expect to be spending more time getting cozy with the DO again. Sigh.

Oh! OH! And tomorrow, my last chance to potentially start anything AND get people up to speed in case they foolishly push me into starting this? I HAVE MEETINGS MOST OF THE DAY.

I don't even. I've been observing for over a decade that the worst possible time to start new work that requires resources is between TG and the first of the year. AND YET WE KEEP TRYING AND CRASHING AND BURNING.

And I have so much shit to do around the house the next few days, it is ridiculous.

Oh, man. So annoying. I do not get why the contractors on this project consistently refuse to read the frelling guidance I have provided them. The NPS is the expert on historic preservation, and they have these really handy materials that I have sent them electronically, for free, that explains what should be done -- this, in addition to the actual terms of our contract.

Do they read the guidance? No, they do not. Instead they send a question to the PM, and then to the contract manager, and eventually after a couple of days someone forwards it to me and I look it up in the guidance and answer the question.

Seriously, people. This ain't rocket science.

Bah, I still haven't called the insurance company about my stolen bike. Partly because it's my own damned fault for leaving the garage door open. Partly because I barely rode the bike. I just feel stupid. I should call them, though.