I answer "Good afternoon"I love putting coworkers in uncomfortable positions by slightly twisting what they say! :)
It's Good morning.
For you...
*I receive a text message and my phone makes a noise*
You're playing Mario, aren't you and just got a mushroom?
No, I am NOT playing Mario.
Well, I just heard the sound when you get a mushroom.
Oh, so now you're saying I'm on drugs eating mushrooms?
No, I'm just saying it's the sound when Mario gets the mushroom.
You DO realize it's the same sound as when he gets the flower, right?
So, you can now throw fireballs?
Oh, now you're calling me FLAMING?
No.. No.. Ok, this conversation is over.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
So, one of my "problem customers" calls today at 10:10am.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Top vs. Bottom
So, one of the heterosexical IT guys and I were going back and forth discussing a strange problem we're having with one of the systems. Then, this email chain occurs:
Me:
Me:
Me:
It's not consistent.Him:
If the one-liner is up top, it usually saves. If it's more to the bottom, it won't.
It is all I can do to refrain from commenting on top vs bottom.
But I would have thought both worked equally well for you.
;)
Not that I want to know.
;)
Ok, I almost just fell out of my seat laughing.At least he was able to tell... unlike someone else...
And I'm not going to let you know.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
I was on the radio!
All I can say is WOW!
Yes, that's Dallas, Tug, and I in the Kicks studio! They were awesome to meet and interact with. And I had an AWESOME time seeing how things work!
Here's what I can tell you:
The awesomeness? As I was departing, they said I should be a regular stand-in if someone is out. I TOTALLY would love to be able to do that! This is me crossing my fingers hoping I can do it again!
The mp3s below essentially starts at 6am! Already an hour into the Morning Show. I must apologize that the length is SO LONG, but I wanted to put it in as un-bastardized as possible. So, if you want to fast forward through commercials and music, here's where I am (when we cut to commercial or song, go ahead and forward to the next one) -- And, if you know of a way to either create a playlist or host a larger mp3 for free, please let me know!
6:12:45 -- I'm mentioned (before I get to the studios even -- in fact, I was in the shower)
6:53:40 -- I'm actually on the air for the first time!
6:57:30 -- First half of first story (Olive Garden)
7:06:55 -- Second half of the first story
7:12:55 -- Tease to future stories
7:21:30 -- Second story (Prostitute and his daddy) -- Sorry, I revealed a bit of information here.
7:28:25 -- Teaser about chihuahua story
7:36:30 -- Third story (Chihuahua)
7:43:15 -- Teaser to fourth story (Not in it, but great teaser)
7:52:10 -- Teaser in and talk about my sistah -- then lead into the fourth story (Naked man)
7:57:00 -- Second half of fourth story (OMG, I have NO WORDS!)
I also need to figure out how to cut out stuff in order to throw it on a CD for Nan and Mother.
Yes, that's Dallas, Tug, and I in the Kicks studio! They were awesome to meet and interact with. And I had an AWESOME time seeing how things work!
Here's what I can tell you:
- Dallas is AWESOME, and by AWESOME, I mean I thought she was cool from what I've heard her on the radio -- But, she's BEYOND cool.. BEYOND great... and cute to boot!
- Tug looks SKINNY from what his pictures on the website show. So, I guess healthé trim works! (although I don't know for certain what he looked like). And also cute to boot (He's probably blushing now if he reads this)
- Producer Matt is one of those odd characters and we all got to yell at him for doing something we don't approve of (although if Caddy was there, I'm sure he wouldn't have objected)
- All the cool technology in the studio had me in awe. Not as much awe as one of the CNN tours I had (different technologies, but awesome)
The awesomeness? As I was departing, they said I should be a regular stand-in if someone is out. I TOTALLY would love to be able to do that! This is me crossing my fingers hoping I can do it again!
The mp3s below essentially starts at 6am! Already an hour into the Morning Show. I must apologize that the length is SO LONG, but I wanted to put it in as un-bastardized as possible. So, if you want to fast forward through commercials and music, here's where I am (when we cut to commercial or song, go ahead and forward to the next one) -- And, if you know of a way to either create a playlist or host a larger mp3 for free, please let me know!
6:12:45 -- I'm mentioned (before I get to the studios even -- in fact, I was in the shower)
6:53:40 -- I'm actually on the air for the first time!
6:57:30 -- First half of first story (Olive Garden)
7:06:55 -- Second half of the first story
7:12:55 -- Tease to future stories
7:21:30 -- Second story (Prostitute and his daddy) -- Sorry, I revealed a bit of information here.
7:28:25 -- Teaser about chihuahua story
7:36:30 -- Third story (Chihuahua)
7:43:15 -- Teaser to fourth story (Not in it, but great teaser)
7:52:10 -- Teaser in and talk about my sistah -- then lead into the fourth story (Naked man)
7:57:00 -- Second half of fourth story (OMG, I have NO WORDS!)
I also need to figure out how to cut out stuff in order to throw it on a CD for Nan and Mother.
Monday, June 28, 2010
BIG NEWS, EVERYBODY!
Sweet Molasses of Anassas, I've got some big news!
Initially, I was going to post on the craziness that happened this weekend. But, the most awesomest thing just happened.
I got a phone call.
I managed to beg and plead my way into being a guest judge on this Wednesday's edition of "Make Us Say WOW Wednesday" on my favoritest radio station in the whole wide world!
Yes, you heard me right!
I'm gonna be on the radio!
For about an hour! (ok, maybe a total of two minutes because there's all the songs they play, and then the people have to tell their stories... and I'll probably only get to say things like "WOW" or "Not a wow.. close, but not quite", but it will go across the hour timespan)
So, I'm demanding that all eight of my readers tell nineteen of their friends and help make EVERYONE in the world listen to me Wednesday morning!
The details I know is it happens Wednesday. Producer Matt asked me to be there for 6:45. And they finish up around 8-815 usually. And you can listen to the station live on their website.
Maybe if I'm lucky, they'll give me a copy of the show!
And, I have Cadillac Jack to thank for this -- You're awesome! Maybe I can stand in for Dallas or Tug when either of them go on vacation so I can finally meet ya!
Initially, I was going to post on the craziness that happened this weekend. But, the most awesomest thing just happened.
I got a phone call.
I managed to beg and plead my way into being a guest judge on this Wednesday's edition of "Make Us Say WOW Wednesday" on my favoritest radio station in the whole wide world!
Yes, you heard me right!
I'm gonna be on the radio!
For about an hour! (ok, maybe a total of two minutes because there's all the songs they play, and then the people have to tell their stories... and I'll probably only get to say things like "WOW" or "Not a wow.. close, but not quite", but it will go across the hour timespan)
So, I'm demanding that all eight of my readers tell nineteen of their friends and help make EVERYONE in the world listen to me Wednesday morning!
The details I know is it happens Wednesday. Producer Matt asked me to be there for 6:45. And they finish up around 8-815 usually. And you can listen to the station live on their website.
Maybe if I'm lucky, they'll give me a copy of the show!
And, I have Cadillac Jack to thank for this -- You're awesome! Maybe I can stand in for Dallas or Tug when either of them go on vacation so I can finally meet ya!
Friday, June 25, 2010
Email I just got
Apparently I'm liked here at The Company.
I was CC'd on the following email:
I was CC'd on the following email:
Smply's Old Manager,My reply?
In case you are not fully aware I want to let you know that I appreciate Smply’s extra effort with the schedules database the last few weeks. In a limited amount of time he was able to create a new schedule (33: Major Customers) which required leveraging both Essbase and Oracle (previously always completed by arcplan/Consultant Dude), rework schedules 30, 22, 19, 18, each requiring new data fields/accounts as well as making numerous other improvements to each and every quarterly schedule. I would also like to highlight his efforts in helping IT find what I hope is the solution to our re-occurring “open file” error which has been causing the majority of our system downtime. Finally, I would like to publicize that Smply and I led an interactive database class last Friday where we educated and exchanged ideas with 40+ participants of the database user community. All of these actions are greatly appreciated by Our Department and we are grateful for your, Smply and the COE’s continued commitment to improve and support the schedule database.
Project Manager Dude
Oh please -- Tell New Manager instead! :)Yeah -- I think they like me here!
Monday, June 7, 2010
I had a dream...
So, Saturday night I had the strangest dream.
Now, mind you, I don't remember all the details of the dream (I normally don't), but this one was especially... odd.
As you may or may not know, I have a ghost in my house. It's not been a big deal generally with the exception of a few stories (which I just realized aren't posted here. I guess I have some projects to do). But, I actually had a dream where I interacted with the ghost in my house.
Here's how it went down (to the best of what little bit I can barely recall):
In my dream, I don't think I was minding my own business, but I saw the ghost roaming around the house. A physical being, people.
And, the ghost wasn't what you would expect to see based on Casper or the "random unimportant" ghosts from Ghostbusters. Not even one of those that you see when someone shows you a picture they've taken and there's an odd transparent person posed next to them.
This ghost was tall, very skinny, and black. And by black, I don't mean African American. I mean Crayola Black.
And in my dream, the ghost was walking around and I guess I tripped the ghost or something (I told you I couldn't remember if I was minding my own business or something). That's when it gets scary.
The ghost got all up in my face. I was terrified, and I woke up.
And it was cold in my room. And I had to pee. But I was afraid to get out of bed to go to the bathroom. I eventually fell back asleep and woke up Sunday morning all "WTF" like.
I hope I didn't do anything to piss off the ghost in the house. I probably really need to bring someone in to figure out who the ghost is and make sure the the ghost isn't pissed off at me for some reason....
Now, mind you, I don't remember all the details of the dream (I normally don't), but this one was especially... odd.
As you may or may not know, I have a ghost in my house. It's not been a big deal generally with the exception of a few stories (which I just realized aren't posted here. I guess I have some projects to do). But, I actually had a dream where I interacted with the ghost in my house.
Here's how it went down (to the best of what little bit I can barely recall):
In my dream, I don't think I was minding my own business, but I saw the ghost roaming around the house. A physical being, people.
And, the ghost wasn't what you would expect to see based on Casper or the "random unimportant" ghosts from Ghostbusters. Not even one of those that you see when someone shows you a picture they've taken and there's an odd transparent person posed next to them.
This ghost was tall, very skinny, and black. And by black, I don't mean African American. I mean Crayola Black.
And in my dream, the ghost was walking around and I guess I tripped the ghost or something (I told you I couldn't remember if I was minding my own business or something). That's when it gets scary.
The ghost got all up in my face. I was terrified, and I woke up.
And it was cold in my room. And I had to pee. But I was afraid to get out of bed to go to the bathroom. I eventually fell back asleep and woke up Sunday morning all "WTF" like.
I hope I didn't do anything to piss off the ghost in the house. I probably really need to bring someone in to figure out who the ghost is and make sure the the ghost isn't pissed off at me for some reason....
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Is insurance REALLY a good thing?
I confess. I have a bit of a medical condition. The good news is it's in the "pretty much cured" phase, but I still have a few doctor followup visits to go to to ensure I'm continuing staying healthy. This blog posting is NOT about my condition. I will not reveal that condition because it's irrelevant to anyone outside my close personal friends and family.
Anyways, I've been seeing my specialist ever since I was diagnosed with this condition. I want to say that was like 6-7 years ago. At the time of me being diagnosed, my then employer's biggest source of revenue was insurance companies -- because I was working for a health care company (corporate offices, of course -- we all know I can't deal with sick people).
During my visits with my specialist, I've always had to pay my "Specialist Co-Pay". We'll call it $40.
Then, came the unfortunate incident. But, then came the awesome event where I got new employment. Due to timings and other wait times between the two, I had to get on COBRA for about 2 months (And it's minimum 2 months on COBRA, but that's yet another story).
I had a specialist appointment sometime during the month of November -- COBRA had not kicked in yet (you hafta sign paperwork and get that mailed in and processed and yada yada yada), so when I went to see the specialist, they said I was uninsured and charged me for the office visit -- $75. Not a big deal, and I was pleasantly surprised.
This year marked a change in The Company's health insurance plans. We went from a "Co-Pay" system to a "Co-Insurance" system with the non-HMO plan. This means I'm required to pay out of pocket 100% of a doctor's visit until I meet my deductible, then I have to pay whatever co-insurance percentage is. For example, if I have a $500 deductible then 10% after that and I have a $1000 medical bill, I would have to pay $550 ($500 deductible plus 10% of the remaining $500) and insurance would cover the remaining $450. This is where people spent hours of calculations to find the break-even point in medical costs, but that's not the scope of this blog entry.
Back on topic, I had an appointment with my specialist this year. Due to the co-insurance thing, we pay $0 up front and get billed afterward after insurance pays their portion (which is after contractual discounts and whatever other BS goes into the calculations). I got the bill in the mail the other day.
$185.01.
The same visit type as when I was virtually uninsured before COBRA kicked in. Nothing extra.
How the HELL can you justify charging a patient MORE if they have insurance than if they don't? That's like a company offering a program where if you sign up and pay the premium, you get all kinds of perks -- including 200+% markup on products and services -- all just for being associated with them.
It makes me wonder how Obama's Healthcare Reform Bill will impact the same charges. Will the option of "I'm waiting for COBRA to kick in, so charge me the $75" go away? Will people, by default, have a co-insurance plan like The Company rolled out and if I'm waiting for COBRA to kick in I'll be charged $185?
If I had my choice, I would have said "charge me as if I don't have insurance." -- and send the bill to the insurance company to demonstrate I'm working towards my deductible (because they're not going to reimburse anything until I hit that number). And, if I break my leg, I may have more deductible to work through, but it's that much money I've saved if I don't break my leg.
Why can't we do things like this? Or can we? I really would like to know.
Anyways, I've been seeing my specialist ever since I was diagnosed with this condition. I want to say that was like 6-7 years ago. At the time of me being diagnosed, my then employer's biggest source of revenue was insurance companies -- because I was working for a health care company (corporate offices, of course -- we all know I can't deal with sick people).
During my visits with my specialist, I've always had to pay my "Specialist Co-Pay". We'll call it $40.
Then, came the unfortunate incident. But, then came the awesome event where I got new employment. Due to timings and other wait times between the two, I had to get on COBRA for about 2 months (And it's minimum 2 months on COBRA, but that's yet another story).
I had a specialist appointment sometime during the month of November -- COBRA had not kicked in yet (you hafta sign paperwork and get that mailed in and processed and yada yada yada), so when I went to see the specialist, they said I was uninsured and charged me for the office visit -- $75. Not a big deal, and I was pleasantly surprised.
This year marked a change in The Company's health insurance plans. We went from a "Co-Pay" system to a "Co-Insurance" system with the non-HMO plan. This means I'm required to pay out of pocket 100% of a doctor's visit until I meet my deductible, then I have to pay whatever co-insurance percentage is. For example, if I have a $500 deductible then 10% after that and I have a $1000 medical bill, I would have to pay $550 ($500 deductible plus 10% of the remaining $500) and insurance would cover the remaining $450. This is where people spent hours of calculations to find the break-even point in medical costs, but that's not the scope of this blog entry.
Back on topic, I had an appointment with my specialist this year. Due to the co-insurance thing, we pay $0 up front and get billed afterward after insurance pays their portion (which is after contractual discounts and whatever other BS goes into the calculations). I got the bill in the mail the other day.
$185.01.
The same visit type as when I was virtually uninsured before COBRA kicked in. Nothing extra.
How the HELL can you justify charging a patient MORE if they have insurance than if they don't? That's like a company offering a program where if you sign up and pay the premium, you get all kinds of perks -- including 200+% markup on products and services -- all just for being associated with them.
It makes me wonder how Obama's Healthcare Reform Bill will impact the same charges. Will the option of "I'm waiting for COBRA to kick in, so charge me the $75" go away? Will people, by default, have a co-insurance plan like The Company rolled out and if I'm waiting for COBRA to kick in I'll be charged $185?
If I had my choice, I would have said "charge me as if I don't have insurance." -- and send the bill to the insurance company to demonstrate I'm working towards my deductible (because they're not going to reimburse anything until I hit that number). And, if I break my leg, I may have more deductible to work through, but it's that much money I've saved if I don't break my leg.
Why can't we do things like this? Or can we? I really would like to know.
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