The Braseltons

I’ll start with last night and work my way to now. Last night I picked up my little ibbi and head out to my Tammy’s house. While driving up her street, I noticed that it was VERY dark. I looked at the houses while passing. Hmmm, it’s dark. I pulled up and went inside. I heard the alarm chirp as I opened the door but when trying to turn on the light, nothing. Power was out on the whole street. I used my phone as a flashlight and found a candle. I lit the candle and tended to the animals by candle light. Since ibbi was with me, Dali was in hiding. I found him perched on the bar with the “evil eye” towards ibbi. I pet him for a bit and tried to make him comfortable. The power resumed in about 30 minutes. I turned the heat up and headed for bed. It took some patience but I was able to set the time on the alarm clock next to the bed. I just can’t get along with that thing. It is even too complicated for me! Since there was a missing item in this equation, I slept on her side. It didn’t really help. mT is certainly my main thought the entire time and was heightened while trying to sleep. I woke up to the tune of ibbi whining. She had to go outside. She is such a good alarm clock. She is the other girl that I would do anything for. We went outside to potty. I came back in and took a quick shower. I left pretty early as today I had meetings in the morning. While driving in, I called and let them know I was running behind. I miscalculated the arrival time by 10 minutes. Traffic was a bear.

Thursday morning meetings stink as bad as my Monday morning meetings. Though these are usually not as long since it is just more status from Monday than anything else. Lately I try to keep my mouth shut. I found that when I open my mouth, more work gets piled on Tom. I have enough on my plate to keep my really busy. Well, I just couldn’t keep it shut! They were talking about getting baseline performance numbers on all devices we work on. For example: Network cards, Storage controllers and full systems. I listened for about 10 minutes before piping up. I couldn’t take it any more. I am the performance KING! So, I reminded them that I wrote a tool while at Dell that would gather all of the required information in about 20 minutes. I went over all of the features and capabilities. I mentioned that it would be a good utility to have here and that we should write one. Everyone jumped on-board. Oh crap! What did I do? I expanded on the utiliy and said that it would be important to gather CPU utilization while the test is performed. They all agreed. Result? I have to define a complete specification on what/how the tool will work. I then have to explain it to my software guy so he can write it. I hope he can keep up with me. The task is not an easy one. I know because I have already done it. More work for Tom. Ok, that meeting ended punctually in it’s alloted 1 hour. Now it’s time for our Managers meeting. I loaned some guys to another group and they are not performing up to par. I have to correct that. I also have to hold some other people’s hand as upper management is worried the are “not doing any work”. This industry is cyclical. There are times one is swamped and times when there is a “catch-up” period. So, this doesn’t bother me that much. They are concerned with any down time. Ok, I have to correct that too and give more face time in that lab. Now for the REALLY cruddy part! Yearly reviews are due Monday! Oh poop! How much do I have complete? NOTHING! I have not put one minute to this task. I also have to complete a training class next week. I haven’t even written any documentation on the topic yet. Oof! Let’s see – order of importance – Reviews / Get POP3 configuration information in SuSE Linux to one of our customers / Documentation and Training prep. and setup (big task) / Complete specification of new utility for performance. I also have to whip my folks in to shape today. By the way, our Christmas party is tomorrow. Another hole blown in my time. Hmmm. Personal needs will supercede any of the aformentioned activites. I have to be ready for my Tammy when she gets home. What can be the minimum I can do quickly (and that HAS to be done) before my angel gets home? I will certainly do the reviews. The POP3 information can wait. The training information can also wait until Tuesday. The specification is more of a long-term activity. And this whipping in shape will happen today. There! Now I have a schedule that does not conflict with a pleasant day for the return of my Tammy.

In my imagination, I see them out to sea somewhere. I bet they will dock tomorrow and set sail sometime Friday night or Saturday. I hope she is wearing the Bull Frog sunblock. That stuff really works well. I wouldn’t want her in any pain with all of the lying by the pool. Come back already, won’t you?!?!?!

Tom B.