Archive for the Work Category

Last day of work 2021

Posted in random, Work with tags on December 30, 2021 by jefferyrn

I took some time off for the holidays. I decided to come back to work today so I could clean up some emails and projects before the end of the year. It should relieve some of the stress in 2022 not having this unfinished business, but there is one problem. Some of the people I need to clean up this mess are out of the office. At least I can push it their direction as they did to me before they left on holiday earlier in the week. It’s a game of “not me” where there are no winners unfortunately. I resolve not to let this bother me and calmly move forward.

Last Day of Clubs is MAY 19th!!!

One bright spot, Congress passed a piece of legislation that included a directive to CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) to delay its implementation of the RO (Radiation Oncology) Model until no earlier than 1/1/2023. While this probably means nothing to the average reader, for me it means a lot of work that needed to be done today is now delayed. It looks like we may implement some of the changes anyway, but not until May at the earliest. What it is basically is a new “simplified and predictable payment system” for cancer treatment. What it really is…. a pain in the neck need to document everything so we get paid according to Hoyle*. When, I ask you, has anything done by the Congress been simple? The concern is never really about patient care but about money and how “to” or “not to” get it.

Tonight we are going to see a Cirque style open air cabaret. What you might ask is that? Well it is an acrobatic/erotic show setup in the parking lot behind Hunter’s night club in downtown Palm Springs. I am guessing a low budget “O” or something of the sort. It should be fun, but it is cold outside. Cold is a relative term as it will be 54 degrees at showtime.

AirOtic Soireé: a Cirque Style Open Air Cabaret Palm Springs | Fever
AirOtic Soiree

After the new year, we are having the neighbors over for cocktails. After 6 months it is a long over due occasion. In the mean time we need to get all the Christmas crap er ah decorations put away and dust. Not sure how many neighbors. At least one maybe two are expected. The nice lady at the end of our building and the nice man who jogs by every day and leaves lemons on the mailbox. Hey, it’s a start. Reaching out to strangers is not easy when you move to a new place. These two reached out to us an it seem only proper to invite them in and see where it goes from there.

How to Dress for a Cocktail Party
I don’t know what these are but they look pretty.

*Hoyle is the author of the definitive rules for card games.

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We gotta get out of this place

Posted in retirement, Work with tags , , on September 23, 2020 by jefferyrn

The days go by so quickly and yet the future seems so far away. I am so ready to retire from this place and spend my last days doing what I want to do when I want to do it. I turned 60 this month. It’s amazing I have lived this long and yet I see at least 20 more years in my future. It looks like I might be able to retire at 62. It all depends on our financial situation and healthcare.

DOW in downward spiral


Watching the stock market makes be afraid that my goal is unattainable. The real estate prices are holding so we might be able to sell our place. We might need to do that now and start renting. Our destination is Palm Springs. The prices there remain stable. But then I hear stories of investors looking for deals. Palm Springs is on their list. With people working from home during this pandemic, workers are discovering they don’t need to be in San Francisco or Los Angeles. They can work from anywhere there is internet.

Palm Springs is roughly 100 miles from LA or as the song goes 99 miles. There is less traffic, less smog, better weather (if you don’t count the extreme heat in the summer), and an all-round increase in the quality of life. That’s why I want to move there.


Also, it is eclectic. All sorts of people live there. Here I am surrounded by conservative MAGAs who scare the crap out of me. In Palm Springs I hope to be surround by my own people. It is a gay retirement destination of sorts. It is an old Hollywood retreat historically, but now it is more of a golf and leisure land with 360 days of sunshine a year. I don’t play golf but I would rather look out at those fields of grass then into my neighbor’s condo as I do now.

Beautiful Palm Springs


I think we would make friends. Not that we don’t have friends, but friends that understand who we are and aren’t just curious bystanders. I have high hopes for this utopia. But honestly we’ve got to get out of this place, if it’s the last thing we ever do. The people here are such animals. Pun intended.

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Head games

Posted in computers, health, Work with tags on June 23, 2020 by jefferyrn

Too many things stuck on my head.  I have glasses now because I am old and blind (for reading).  I have a mask for COVID-19 protection.  I have a wireless headset for my phone and computer (Microsoft Teams).  All of these things get tangled up together and create havoc on my face.  My mask either ties or has elastic that goes around to the back of my head.  I can’t use the ones that go over the ears because they flap my ears down and cause pain.  The headset is noise canceling so it has two muffs and a strap across the top of my head.  My glasses keep falling off when I adjust things so they now have a cord that goes around my neck.  If I am wearing a mask that ties those damn bows really are annoying. The new normal.

From happy to the dark side and beyond

I was hoping to give up sounding like Darth Vader but the numbers are up here in Nevada.  I can take my mask down when no one is near me (six feet).  That is what causes some of the frustration. Up down up down. Earphones on off on off.  Glasses off to remove the steam and then back on.  I need to invent something that handles all of this for me.   A headdress with built in glasses, headphones, and a mask.  Maybe headdress isn’t politically correct. Head gear that’s the ticket. Working from home was so much easier.

Bionic head gear.

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Conference call

Posted in family, friends, Work with tags , on August 6, 2019 by jefferyrn

I am here listening to music waiting for another conference call to start. Snow Patrol is playing on Pandora, Chasing Cars. I want to opt out of this meeting and do what the song says, “Lay here and forget the world.” Of course I am sitting and at work so that is not possible. Queue meeting. Music off.

This is my Tuesday, one meeting after another straight through lunch. Literally through lunch. It is late lunch day to compensate for a noon meeting. I don’t take much about work but today I need to ask a question of the universe. Is depression contagious?

I know that sad people can make you feel sad too. My director has been going through some things with her job, her family, and life in general. She confides in me. She makes me sad. But we talk about her problems and I try to listen. There is a tendency to want to solve her problems, which of course I cannot do unless they are work related. So I listen. At times I share similar stories trying to relate to her and let her know she is not alone. It has gotten so bad that she is going to see a counselor this afternoon. Bad may not be the right word. I think everyone should seek help with no stigma attached. But I get the feeling she feels like she is failing or somehow lost control. I am hoping this professional will lead her through this difficult time in her life.

So it makes me sad because she is the rock that holds this department together and yet her life seems to be falling apart. Without going into detail, her issues are really quite normal. Problems with her children growing up and testing their limits. Having devoted most of her non-working hours to her kids she is finding herself alone with her husband and not knowing how to relate to him and be a couple again. She is blaming him for the problems and at the same time telling me how great he is to her.

Here is the number one issue that came up yesterday. She wants to have weight loss surgery and her husband is against it. “You can do it without surgery, with diet and exercise,” is his response. I can relate to this because my partner tells me the same thing. But weight loss is not the real issue here. She is not happy with herself. She is questioning her life choices.

It is funny because she usually has all the answers. I think she knows the answers here too. She is just reluctant to except the changes in her life.

Sometimes we really don’t have any freedom of choice, because choices have outcomes and responsibility.

For me for example, what if I lost weight and I still wasn’t happy with myself, which would likely be the case. I think happiness is the key. So I try to divorce myself from her problems and find my own happiness and share that with her, rather than dwelling on the sadness. I share baby pictures. We talk about food. (I know that sounds counterproductive, but we both love food.) We talk about vacations. We talk about our dreams. It is a much more positive approach. And we talk about work of course.

Hey my conference call is over and now I am listening to Keith Urban, ‘You’ll Think Of Me.”

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Metrics

Posted in Work on June 7, 2019 by jefferyrn

It is time for the Friday “Operational Metrics” meeting, as I like to refer to it patting ourselves on the back and crowing like a bunch of rosters. We are supposed to be looking at metrics such as downtime, customer satisfaction, employee rewards and recognitions (Everyday Amazing), and our SLAs (Service Level Agreements).

This week I got a award, a silver award (should have been gold or platinum!). These awards give you points that you can save up and buy things from an on line catalogue. It seems like a nice thing until you realize how many points you need to get anything. One time I cashed in for a TV sound bar. It was such an inferior product I took it straight to goodwill. Maybe if you have no speakers it would be useful. But the sound on my TV was better without this one.

I will be so glad when I retire and I can forget about all this crap. But I will go to the meeting just before lunch and pretend to be happy about the praise, knowing full well my colleagues think I must have kissed butt to get it. Little do they know the woman who put in the award for me has been kissing my butt for months? Such a phony. It is all I can do to stay in her presence and do what she asks. But it comes with the job. Be nice (in person at least).

So happy Friday.

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Somebody’s watching me

Posted in Work on February 28, 2018 by jefferyrn

Sometimes it feels like somebody’s watching me. I sit here in my cubicle after two 10 hour days in a row writing this blog. I have word open in a tiny window so as not to call attention should someone be watching. Behind me is a public workstation, fax machine, printer, copier, supply storage. People are constantly behind me for something.

I have the option of moving to the back and sitting in a more private cubicle but this one has the best access to the doctors and the director. They have become accustom to just calling out to me from there offices. Plus it is easier for me to know when they are available to answer my questions.

So, here I stay. Mostly I am pretty busy, in fact their screams and impromptu visits to my desk are almost always disrupting something else I am working on. But whatever they need is most important, right?

Somebody is watching and likes what I am doing. The director is always praiseful of my efforts. Which brings me to something I have mixed feelings about, our employee recognition program which keeps changing.

We used to have a system where by people could nominate you for dementrating one of our core values. An email was sent to your supervisor and merit points were awarded that could be spent in the cafeteria or the logo shop. The “Boss” would send an email to everyone on your team so that all might bask in your glory and pile on additional praise. This was the part I hated. My mail boxed filled with non-sense from colleges saying “great job”. Some of these contained inside jokes about the person being praised. Of course, If I were the one being praise I like it.

Well the system changed. Now they send out eCards. You get a email with a link and your boss gets one too. These have gone unrecognized for several weeks because the leaders were not aware of them in their massive inboxes of crap.

Yesterday, “captain awesome” , found one and sent it around for us to see and pile on the praise. He really calls himself “Captain Awesome”, he even has “executive time” on his calendar called, “Working on being more Awesome”. He recently updated that to be “Dominate Relentlessly”. Either way he comes off as an AH.

So, I got a little off track. The thing is he is my bosses boss but I actually report to the director as I mentioned earlier as part of a co-located IT support function. The rest of my team sit together one floor above me and provide remote support.

Where I am going with this is that the director sent me one of those eCards. It went unnoticed. So when I saw the one that Captain Awesome found for someone else, I let them know that I had received one too.
Here is the awkward part. I don’t usually toot my own horn. The praise seems a little personal and well I decided to let him know anyway.

Turns out the new system sends these to my immediate supervisor not “Captain Awesome” and he released it to the group. It says, “thanks so much for your blah blah blah You Rock!!! Love having you work with me!!!” The boss added his own thank you.
I don’t know if I should feel good about this or not. People think I am up the director’s butt already. But she is a difficult person that I have somehow connected with and I love working for her, not “Captain Awesome.” I guess I need to learn to accept praise and appreciate others and not be so cynical.

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New position

Posted in family, random, weight loss, Work on November 21, 2016 by jefferyrn

It is the Monday before Thanksgiving, and I am sitting at my new desk.  It feels different.  I have a new role.  I am the EMR administrator for the Cancer Center.   It was a promotion of sorts.  I was already support the system but I asked for a raise to become the full time administrator and they gave it to me.   This is the first time I every pushed for something and got it.  Of course, the director wanted me in this position so I didn’t have to push too hard.

I am thankful for my new position.  It comes with a lot of responsibilities and new things to learn.  I have training December.   Three days in Las Vegas.  Rick is going with me but I will be in class while he is out and about.

The Vice President just walked by and welcomed me to the family!  She is nice on the surface but I know I need to watch my back.  Look at me already thinking negative thoughts.

At least for the next 3 days I can get my feet wet while most people are dreaming of turkey and pumpkin pie.

I have an appointment tomorrow to meet the surgeon about my hernia.  I will probably post pone the operation until after the first of the year. I am not looking forward to it.  I am supposed to lose some weight before the operation.  I have already lost 10 lbs. unfortunately it is the same 10 lbs. that I lose and gain over and over and over again.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Watch me

Posted in random, Work on June 15, 2015 by jefferyrn

Big Brother is here. It maybe 31 years late, but they are watching  me. A new Web filter has been installed,  sort of a net nanny  for the office.

I can’t  blog anymore  or check emails from home. Thank goodness  I have a smart phone. It’s all business  now. There is a loop hole of sorts. You can choose  to go ahead to the site for 10 minutes provided you have not used up your one hour quota. Like I am going to voluntarily say “Hey look at me. I’m not busy so I am surfing the web.” It doesn’t  sound like the path for career advancement to me.

So  as I am seeing less and less of me, you will see less and less of me blogging.

I did take that before picture. When I have a few progress reports I may do a comparison. I probably will make you click to see it (for those with weak stomachs).

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SAH

Posted in random, Work on April 24, 2012 by jefferyrn

I have been so busy this week!  It feels like this should be Friday.  They guy I was shadowing came in with his baby and I got to ask him for help on a few problems I was having.  We’ll just call him SAH for short.  He made it all look so obvious.  I should have been able to figure it out myself.  His condescending tone,  “remember I showed you ….”.    Yes I remember but associating what someone shows you with a question you are getting from a user is not always that easy.  I don’t have SAH’s vernacular down yet. But I am learning and I only took up 5 minutes of his precious time.

Okay, I am over it (getting over it).  SAH is really not that bad. But some people just have an air about them that makes it hard to breathe.  In fact,  it makes me feel like doing something mean, like slapping him or something.  I kept my hands to myself and I got my questions answered.  SAH made some lame excuse for ignoring my earlier cry for help.  I had texted him.  I got the boss to text him today, hence his arrival on site to “save the day”.  I will let him have that for now.  I am not fond of being his shadow, but I have learned why the others in my group have refused to work on his stuff unless they are forced to do so.  They havea cute nickname for him that I can’t share here.  It is a play on his name, one of the lowest forms of humor, but I love it.   I have to be careful not to call him that to his face when he returns next month.  Humor helps me relief the stress SAH has caused me.

The boss told me this morning not to get too stress out over all of this, so if he is not overly concerned I guess I can relax a little too.  I will just keep doing what I can and that’s all anyone can ask.  It is not worth having a stroke.

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