Martini Cartwheels

Here are some reasons why your payroll at work may be totally eff'd up. Or why your leave time balance may be missing a few hundred hours. Don't outsource your IT to places far away. Because if you do, one of these fellows below just may be keeping your payroll software up to date. Question: I am new to this [NameHidden] Admin area. Actullay i am Oracle dba and now i am going to support [NameHidden] also.Please give me some useful link or Document to get some basic infomration about [NameHidden]. Answer: There is no simple read a document formula for knowing how to administer [NameHidden] . Many people believe it is an extension of being a dba. You have to understand the product. I would suggest you take some classes related to the architecture. Follow-Up Question: Is there two kind of activity in [NameHidden] Admin part? Means one is [NameHidden] DBA and other one is [NameHidden] Admin. Is this correct? or please tell me the structure of [NameHidden] Admin. Thanks in Advan...

My little buddy at work, Mr. Vo , took this picture of me in a meeting yesterday. He's thinks it's fun to snap pictures and videos with that fancy phone of his without us knowing while we are at work or out to lunch. Luckily I saw him and was able to at least give him half a smirk. And he caught me on a good day - my socks match my sweater. Sometimes my socks don't even match each other. This is my "I look like crap because I have been up since 4:00 AM look". It gets worse as the week goes on. Fortunately today is my last day to drive in for the week and tomorrow I work from home.

I'm experimenting with some new video software. I have a long way to go to master this. In the mean time, here is a boring little video that I have been playing with. For you Mac owners, if you can't view this, could you please let me know. I never can quite figure out in which format to render these. Thanks all!

Anyone who reads my blog has realized that I am a terrible speller. At work, I have the spell check set to check all my emails right before they are sent. Occasionally, I hit 'accept' for the suggested change when I should have hit 'ignore'. Below is a line from an email I sent out the other day where I should have instructed the spell checker to leave the word 'pagelet' alone. "Would it be possible for you to create a separate Tab in Portal Test (PT1) with just the Company Directory piglet on it?" Oh my. Yes, ever the consummate professional, I replied to my error with the following: "The Company Directory piglet resides next to the Winnie the Pooh pagelet." At least one person in the office got a kick out of it. As for the rest, they are just happy my contract ends in June.

I have a an application going live this weekend, which means I will be spending way too much time working in Boston and not enough time blogging this week. I did make the rounds yesterday visiting all my favorites. Sorry I was unable to leave any comments. I left the house at 5:15 AM and did not return until after 8:00 PM (small violins should start playing now) and so my brain was mush by the time I go to the computer. Hopefully I can sneak in a few posts this week that will be as fascinating and captivating as this one which I would rate about as fun as watching paint dry.

This is a view of Boston from my office. Well, not my personal office - we all have cubes. This is where I spend my workday. This photo was taken at 7:00 AM yesterday morning. You can see the Boston Waterfront and Logan Airport in the distance. The building in the second picture is Faneuil Hall which has served as a marketplace and a meeting hall since 1742.

I did something yesterday at work that I have never done before. I walked into my standing 3:00 Monday meeting and took my place at the conference table. A few of the regulars filed in along with a few not so regulars. Oh well, special guests I thought. Within 15 seconds of the start of the meeting, I knew something was not right. "What are we talking about", I said to myself. When it dawned on me that I was sitting in a meeting to which I had not been invited, I put my head down and began to take notes. Image is everything. Since I was peripherally associated with the topic at hand, I pretended to show interest while I jotted down bits and pieces of the discussion. I imagine the organizer was thinking to himself "Why is she here, I didn't invite her." I made it through, no questions asked. I got back to my desk and threw away my notes.

I was whining to myself today about having to go back to work tomorrow after a long weekend. Then I remembered about some of the jobs I used to have. I once worked in the women's clothing department in a large discount retail store in Springfield. I never got to announce a blue light special, but I could frequently be heard over the intercom saying "Housekeeping to the women's dressing room with a mop". Apparently not having a bathroom in the store was not about to stop some people from relieving themselves. Luckily I had my wisdom teeth ripped out that summer and it gave me an excuse to call in frequently. I also worked as a counselor at a sports camp. I had always been athletic, but swimming and gymnastics were not two of my strong points and they were both big events at this camp. My favorite game to play with my group of precious darlings was Campers Lie Still. The kid who could lie (or is it lay - I can never remember that) quietly on the grass without mov...

These are some photos I took while on my commute home yesterday. The top photo is the Mass Pike in Newton. This part of the Pike always stinks. You are bumpa to bumpa (as they say in Bahhston) so it's easy for drivers to see into other people's cars, which is usually ok unless you are snapping photos. Then you get some odd stares. People are so uptight when it comes to this whole safe driving thing. The middle photo shows commuting essentials. Obviously you have to be careful with the water consumption (refer to photo 1). The candy has been in my car for a month - it's just an emergency snack in case I need a little sugar pick me up while driving. No coffee, for it can create issues similar to the water. Books on tape are a great way to pass the time. Creepy books are not good because they make me think someone who is hiding in the way back of the car will eventually pop out and kill me. The last photo is a shot of the sky around 5:15 pm. This was tricky to shoot because th...

I'm walking down the stairs of my usual parking garage early this morning, trying not to trip as I did two weeks ago, when I spy something that startles me out of my morning stupor. There, underneath the landing at the bottom of the stairs, I see a pair of horizontal legs, construction boot clad feet toes down. I'm now thinking 'that's an odd position to be in to do electrical work'. When I get to the bottom, still alone in the stairwell (except of course for the body I assume is attached to the legs), I peer around the last stair to see a man lying face down on the cement. Hmmmm, this is not good. So what are my options here? I could approach, but this being Boston and seeing no other people around makes me question if that is such a good idea. And what if the guy needs mouth to mouth or something? Or he is shot in the head? Not something I want to see at any time during the day, never mind before 7:00 AM. I decide this one is better left to a professional ...

I wore two different color socks to work today. It's not as though one was pink and was one green, but I still felt slightly self-conscious. My cube mate noticed - came right out and said it as I was looking down at the bottom of my pants. Thanks for noticing. It's odd because I have another pair exactly like the one I wore today. Yes, I can hear you saying 'That's not funny CJ '. I will wear that pair tomorrow to get things back in synch . I showed up to work once with my shirt inside out. That was worse. Yes, it is pretty amazing that I make it to work at all some mornings. I think I need to go to bed earlier.

Today is Saturday, which means I get a break from driving to my job in Boston. I love what I do and I honestly don't hate my commute. By the end of the week however, I can get fairly tired from the trip. So, in order to stay sharp on my drive, I've adopted the following strategy to make things more fun,interesting and bearable. Talk on the phone. Talk a lot. And don't use your blue-tooth wireless set up either. It's more challenging getting in and out of Boston if you have one hand on the wheel and one up to your ear. Send text messages. Nothing says 'I love you' like a text message sent from a friend while navigating bumper to bumper traffic on the Mass Pike. My preferred technique - look down and type, look up for a quick lane check, back down again to type. Scan the newspaper. No better time to get caught up on the days events than while you are just sitting in your car doing nothing. Take mini-naps. Once you establish a path of travel, throw on the cruise co...

I get a lot of shocked looks when I tell people I commute from Western Mass to Boston, a drive of 77 miles each way. But honestly, it's not that bad. Take today for example. I got up at 4:00 AM, got ready, and hit the road by 5:08. A quick stop for gas and I'm off, commuting east on the Mass Pike into Government Center. I arrived at my desk by 6:45 AM and started work, eager and ready to face the day. I worked until 5:45 PM and then headed back to the parking garage where my commute home begins. I arrived home at 7:30, ate a little supper, and here I am. It's now 9:30 and I'm not really tired at all. I think tomorrow I will head over to the library, where I can pick up a dozen coconuts. Later I will cross the street so I will be ready for my new yellow shoes. If I do decide to ride Marsha Brady's unicycle over to the green brier banana patch, I will make sure I change the batteries in my umbrella. That way my vitamins will not expire before I have a chance to cle...