It's Not Easy Being Green

I spent another long night at work last night getting some things straightened out on our project. Tonight I finished off another large set of deliverables which took our project team from "Amber" to "Green."

So we posted Kermit the Frog up on our conference room door with the saying: "It's Not Easy Being GREEN! So now that we're there, let's stay there!"

Just yesterday we had decided upon the Jack Russells as our mascots. It looks like mascots have a short career when selected by a fickle crowd.

I also got kudos from our Project Management Office and my new Team Lead for putting the effort in to get this done. More kudos for the quality of my work. I'm feeling pretty good. I think it's time for a Guinness to celebrate.

We're currently the only team that is in the GREEN.

Project Team Mascots

Last night my the Global VP of HR took our project team out to dinner at the local Chinese Restaurant - Mandalay. It's got good food, but is very overpriced. Luckily, I was not paying. It also happens to be the only decent restaurant around. There's an Italian joint around the corner, but I've been warned more than once not to go there.

Anyway, back to the Mandalay. We had the usual table discussion: War, Politics, Tiger Woods, Family, Pets, etc. However, near the end of the meal, the VP made the suggestion that we should liven up the conference room that we are using at the hotel. Then she went on to suggest that we should do something funny to it. Of course I was ready to oblige with a few jibes at the Project Management Office's deadline bullying. But it seemed like an odd suggestion to get from a Global VP.

Anyhow, a course of action was sorted and one of my project team members now has the task of creating a mascot for the HR subteam. His puppy (a Jack Russell Terrier) and another team member's dog (a Miniature Jack Russell Terrier) will be pictured and posted on our door with the saying "My dog ate my documentation."

Not exactly clever, but the VP liked it, so it's happening.

Further Adventures of Banking

I got an email back from our HR department detailing the instructions that I needed to go through to set up an account with AIB. I went down to the local branch and was unfortunately treated to the same level of service as my last visit. The same girl helped me. and she didn't really seem like she wanted to. However, halfway through the transaction, another banker took over and she was quite helpful.

I don't have a bank account set up yet, but I was able to apply for one. Since the local branch of AIB doesn't hold the account for my company, they had to take all of my information, photocopy it and send it to the bank at City Centre.

So now I just need for the mail to get to City Centre, the person there to setup my account - providing that I gave them the right information, then wait for them to send me my information via mail. My hopes aren't high that this is going to work out. I may just go downtown and apply at the downtown bank in person.

I have also found that the definition of "banker's hours" was probably created in Ireland - banks are open M-F 10am - 4pm, so I may need to take some more time off work to do this. That's hard to do when we've got a lot of deadlines to hit on our project.

Nothing Like A Cold Shower To Get You Over Jet Lag

I learned an important lesson today about my new apartment: There are two switches on the heating controls - one for the heating and one for the water heater. I turned both of them off prior to my trip home for the weekend thinking that I was turning only the heat off.

My plane landed at 8am local time and I got back to my apartment at about 9am (yeah, I'm pretty close to the airport). Wanting to wash the travel off before going to work, I prepped a shower. Low and behold, nothing came out of the nozzle but cold water. Damn.

I was faced with a choice - go to work stinking like I'd been sitting in a plane for eight hours or brave the cold water and wash up. Ok, maybe "brave" isn't the right word. Perhaps I should say "I endured the lack of hot water" as there wasn't anything brave about it.

Needless to say, I hopped in the cold shower and took one of the quickest showers I've taken in my life. How's that for being green? I reduced the water output and I didn't waste any natural gas in the effort. Perhaps I should have a cold shower every day.

Screw that. I like my nice long, hot showers.

They Should Give Away Wii's

This weekend I bought Beth her birthday gift (also using up residual owed gifts from Valentine's Day and Christmas). She got a Wii. I wasn't too subtle about it. I let her know that we needed to go shopping for her birthday gift. She asked me what she was getting. I told her a Wii and we went to pick one up the next day.

While we were shopping for the Wii, I noticed that the Wii - just like other gaming systems - is marketed like crack. Two hundred dollars for a gaming system truly isn't bad, but they should have given it to us for free. Why, do you ask?

The actual Wii gaming system is just a gateway drug. You get the game box and one freakin' controller. Beth can have fun playing by herself. If we want another freakin' controller, it's another fifty bucks. On top of that, we now have the right (or the ability) to spend fifty dollars on every additional damn game for the system. So to have the Wii, Wii Fit, Mario Karts (seriously, why by anything Nintendo if you don't get Mario Karts), and an extra controller, we're out four hundred bucks (plus tax).

Yeah it's fun and I'm sure we'll get enjoyment out of it, but it's crack marketing. They're getting us hooked for two hundred bucks and then watching the cash roll in as we continue to add accessories and games. The scary thing is that in a mere two days, I have realized that I am powerless to stop it. Bastards.

Zoned Home

Today, Beth and I installed/affixed 4 baby gates in the house, effectively zoning the house into five different areas. All areas actually have an intent and purpose for their existence. I thought I'd share just for the hell of it.

Zone 1 - Upstairs
This zone is sectioned off by a baby gate installed at the top of the stairs. It includes 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a linen closet. Allowed within this area are adults, toddlers, skinny cats (who can squeeze under the gate), and dogs (evening access only).

Zone 2 - Stairs
The stairs are controlled by two gates - one at the top of the stairs and one at the bottom of the stairs. Due to the danger of this zone to toddlers, they are strictly prohibited from this zone and must be carried across the zone by an adult. Due to its absence of toddlers, it has also become a refuge for cats looking to escape the curious clutches of a toddler.

Zone 3 - Living Room/Dining Room
This is the primary exploration area for toddlers, where the Dining room has been retrofitted to their taste - including playhouse, play mat, and oodles of toys. It borders all other zones except for zone 1. Cats have full access to this area as it also is the area that provides entrance to their bathroom(laundry room). Dogs are strictly forbidden from this area with the exception of admittance for light cleanup duties (if we decide to feed RJ in this area). It is also home to the Wii and the PS2.

Zone 4 - Kitchen/Family Room
This area is the primary habitat for the canines, where they can dutifully clean up after meals. It has prime access to the back deck as well as the garage. This makes it easy to let the dogs out to the yard to do their business. Cats may enter at their own risk. Fat cats and old cats may have issue getting over the gates to get to this area, but that may be in their best interest anyhow. Home to the popular TiVo.

Zone 5 - Basement
The basement is not sectioned off by a gate, but rather the basement door. It is off limits to toddlers, dogs, and cats. The exception to this is when we have company, when this becomes the temporary home for the cats. The basement is used primarily for storage (especially unused fitness equipment).

The Honey-Do List

It's amazing how long a Honey-Do list can get when you're away for 3 weeks. While I'm away, I get plenty of reminders of what needs to get done when I get home. In addition, I have my own to-do list to boot. So these whirlwind weekends that I'm home for just 4 days tend to be consumed in cleaning, home maintenance and running errands.

This weekend I get to bolt baby gates to the walls, shop for a new car seat for RJ, clean toilets, get a haircut, return/renew books at the library, go through 3 weeks of mail, pay bills, deposit checks, pickup water softener salt, take Tana to the vet, send in my expense reports, buy Beth a birthday gift, shop for cheap things for my Dublin apartment, do laundry, install cabinet cabinet/drawer guards, pack for my flight back to Ireland, and find the time somewhere in there to spend with Beth and RJ.

Luckily, my biological clock is still messed up so I can start working on these things at 4am when nobody else is awake.

To top it off, I have project deliverables due on Tuesday when I land back in Dublin. I'm not sure when those are going to get done, because they lose priority when I'm back in the US.