Something evil this way comes...

Oh, they've got me again. Some 12 year old in China or Russia or maybe even Dubuque has gotten his jollies by sending me some nasty malware/adware/CRAP that has infected the desktop. How do I know you ask? Well, my screen scrolls...of its own accord. It also takes close to an ice age for the computer to load. These are the steps I have to take in order to use said computer a minimal amount of time. Step one: Run Disc Cleanup from the system tools folder. Step two: follow that up with a run of Spybot. (Remembering to update the tools once a week.) THEN you can run the computer, but remember that the screen scrolling is not cured by any of that, it just means a page will load in under an epoch. The screen scrolling all by its lonesome is getting very, very annoying. Scrolling how you ask? Try typing an email with the screen bobbing up and down like a dinghy in a gale force wind. I may develop vertigo if I don't get this fixed. Oh, and I talked with a local computer pro and his speculation is that it's embedded in the registry. I have no idea what that means fo' real, but it doesn't sound good. So, if I disappear for an inordinate period of time I'm probabaly getting rebuilt. Hmmmm....as long as I'm getting things rebuilt I wonder what they can do about my butt.

Happy Birthday to me

Another Ides of March and another year older. I like to fool myself into thinking that I am a Spring baby, but today's weather reminds me that I am really and truly an end-of-winter gal. Oh, well. In some years my birthday is warm with lovely yellow jonquils in the yard, but this year with the late snow and the lack of sunshine I'm afraid that all the jonquils and daffodils I've seen have been in the florist's section of the local grocery. Had a lovely birthday anyway with just-what-I-wanted gifts from husband and daughter (thanks in part to a wish list which was demanded of me) - with a lagniappe or two along the way. Went to our friends' house for brunch and cards and whiled away the afternoon. Cake was yummy, but I must resist any more after today. Time for the old WW routine again.

March Snow

Happy March 1st. We had our latest snow of the season last night and are expecting more today.

What I want to know is, who shifted the seasons? We are normally done and I mean DONE with snows by the third week of February. March is supposed to be the season for more sunshine, daffodils, crocuses (which also may have appeared in February bless their little cold-tolerating pistils and stamens), and a brighter outlook. Oh, did I mention the forsythia? The forsythia...central Virginia's first harbinger of Spring...should be brightening up the gray landscape with hillocks full of all its yellow showiness about now. But noooo. We have snow. With more expected. I don't know if it's global warming or not, but someone is messing with my seasons and I won't have it. I don't want snow, I want show.

Come on Spring. Let's have a lot less of that and a lot more of this.

Claaaaaaaas!

O.K. how many of you can remember the Cheech and Chong comedy bit from the pot-smoke-haze of the late seventies about their former nun schoolmarm, Sister Mary Elephant? "Her" claim to fame was saying "Claaaaas" in a drawn out nasally voice followed closely by a shouted "SHUT UP". Well, she's teaching my computer class at the local community college. Well, that's not exactly true. My instructor seems very nice, and looks nothing like Cheech or Chong or a nun, but she has this habit of addressing us as "Claaaasss". It reminds me of the Sister Mary Elephant bit and I just start chuckling to myself. Of course that makes the twenty-somethings in the class think I'm a weird old crazy lady...and they may be right, but it amuses the crap out of me. O.K. got to go read my computer textbook so I don't piss off Sister Mary...

Sunday Night Blues

Oh, the curse of the working class...Sunday night blues. The discontent of not having done enough over the weekend. The anticipation of a long week at work. The uncertainty of what will show up in your inbox at work. Oh, I remember it well. So this being the first Sunday night after an all-too-brief weekend I am just waiting for Sunday night blues to hit. But guess what? Nothing so far. Maybe it's because I do like this job so far. Maybe it's because I work only a 5 hour day. Maybe it's all the newness. What I do know is the last job I worked I had all kinds of alarm bells going off the first week of work.

Oh, it was nice and all...I got taken to fancy restaurants on the Downtown Mall EVERY DAY during my first week. I know you're not supposed to look a gift horse in the mouth, but my thought at the time was, "Why are they bribing me with food?" I had to fight to go to work every day for the first month and came THIS CLOSE to quitting more than once. Still can't figure out why I didn't since I knew from the get-go that it was one of those places where I would just survive and not thrive. I lasted 6 1/2 years and I have to say they were not absolutely miserable, but they weren't altogether pleasant either.

So far, the new place...needs some work particularly on the benefits end, but the other aspects of work are good. Good people, good boss, people who have confidence in me and are assured that I will do a good job...and I will. That goes a long way towards job satisfaction. It's not all about the money folks. It's the corporate culture and the belief that you're hiring competent people and stepping back and letting them do their thing.

No Sunday Night Blues here, folks. I'm looking forward to going to work in the a.m. I get to learn something new this week. That's a good thing.

ZZZZZ Mail

Newest emailing phenomenon: zzzzzmail. Have you heard of it? In a nutshell, researchers from the University of Toledo reported that a woman arose after two hours' sleep, went into her computer room, logged on using her user name and password, and sent three separate emails inviting friends over for a party the next day. The content of the emails is quite funny. The first read, "Come tomorrow and sort this hell hole out. Dinner and drinks, 4.pm,. Bring wine and caviar only." Another email read, "What the..."

O.K. I don't know what anyone else thinks, but I want to know this person. She sounds like just my kind of person. I'm hoping to get the next invite.

Check out the story at this link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3743289/Zzz-mail-What-happens-when-sleepwalkers-go-online.html

Back to Work

Well, it was a really quick morning. Since I'm only working 5 hours a day the time just flies. I have a very hands off boss. Good for me because I like to work independently. Still want to meet with the guy to set up regular meetings so we can review any issues that need to be addressed. Am being trained by the accounting manager, Loretta. She's a no-nonsense gal with lots of experience in Accounting and HR. She's a by-the-book person who has been trying to impart some structure to what apparently has been a somewhat lackadaisical culture. It could shape up to be a very interesting job that I could make my own. We'll see how it goes.