work

So much for that attempt

Blog Yeah, kitt finished writing this at 19:21 on 7 July 2006

And, after all that work, I managed to lose the client anyway.

If I had known in the end that I was going to lose the client, I wouldn't have worked the 100+ hours on the project. Nor would I have missed half the July 4th festivities at Adam's, the after wedding fun, the various ultimate practices, the extra time at communal dinner, the runs and the sleep. I would have said, screw it, the grapes are sour anyway, and enjoyed the last two weeks.

Though, probably feeling guilty the whole time.

The day started off crappy, with my staying up until 6 in the morning trying to finish a site feature that later in the day I found out wasn't actually in the original statement of work. Essentially, I was done on Monday, but the client confused two projects, and insisted a feature be added. I didn't realize it shouldn't be, and spent the last four days trying to put it in. Nothing like finding out Monday at 9:30 PM that a feature needs to be in by, oh, that day's morning to add stress to a project.

Yesterday, I had sent a note to the client letting them know I couldn't work Thursday or Friday on the current project that's been sucking up all my time, but that I'd be working on the client's other projects. Instead of being thankful for the heads up, they completely freaked, called up Mike on his vacation, demanded he contact me.

Because, you know, Mike is my dad and he tells me what to do.

The worse part is that I ended up spending all of Thursday working on the same project anyway.

I give up. I'm done with clients. As soon as I finish up the current projects for current clients, I'm not planning on taking on any more. If some amazing client project comes along, I'll probably take it. But I'm not seeking any new clients out.

Instead, I'm going to work on our projects, build our products up. Finally, finally, finally. Our work.

Because you're supposed to be nice

Blog Yeah, kitt finished writing this at 10:34 on 3 July 2006

Today was supposed to be a vacation day for Kris.

Having worked ungodly hours for the last month and a half (the last three weeks where he went to work at 6:30 am and arrived home after 9 at night, usually 10), Kris was finally able to take a day off. Four in fact: the weekend, today as a floating holiday and tomorrow as a real holiday.

Didn't happen.

Someone from his work called my cell phone, Kris' not working yet, and left a message to the effect that there have been site errors, mostly memory problems, and that the head honchos were cancelling the holiday and asking everyone to return to work. I listened to the message, and, annoying, tragically, did the right thing: I called home, had Heather wake up Kris at 11 in the morning, and told him he had to go to work. I then played the voice message for him. His response was a muted, "You have to be kidding me."

At least he got 7 hours of sleep last night.

An hour later, I received another phone call from the same coworker. I answered, and he asked for Kris. I told him that Kris wasn't here, he was on his way into work.

Apparently this was the best news this guy could have ever heard. He went off on oh, how wonderful that is, and after a few minutes, started saying how sorry he was that he had to call everyone into work, there were such problems.

As he went off on his apologies, my anger started rising. My husband has been effectively working for less than minimum wages for this company, and they're calling him in on his day off, the first in six weeks. Kris has missed half the ultimate practices in the last month, hasn't spent a weekend with me for two, and I can count the number of times his hasn't been too exhausted in the last month for sex because of work on one hand.

Right, this guy is sorry. So sorry that the site that isn't making any money has to fix itself right now.

I hung up on the guy.

I have no desire to be nice to the person who is clearly not as sorry as he is claiming to be. If he were that sorry, he wouldn't have called in the first place.

Asshole.

When needs to start today

Blog Instead of being asleep at 21:08 on 29 June 2006, kitt created this:

"Don't lose this client."

Nearly the last thing Mike said to me as he left for his two week no-contact-with-the-outside-world vacation a week ago. "Don't lose this client."

To him, this client is important. To me, that means this client gets first priority. When they say jump, I jump.

So, here I am, four thirty on a Thursday, and I'm completely exhausted. Doyle left this afternoon, and is gone until Saturday night. I have Mike's clients, my clients, and Doyle's projects. I've been working 12 hour days (making that 10 billable hours a day), and I'm still losing traction. My first thoughts last Thursday when I realized the enormity of the projects Mike left for me was, "Uh oh. I'm in trouble."

My first reaction was to complain. As the words came from my mouth, however, I realized how retarded this complaining was. It wasn't helping me finish the work. It wasn't boosting my productivy. It wasn't changing the fact that I had a huge mountain of work to do and the only way to get over the mountain was to simply start working.

So, I did. And haven't stopped. I left work not with the exciting feeling of accomplishment, but with dread: something left unfinished, something not quote done, something I'm still behind on.

As I was walking down the stairs from the office, I kept thinking things are just the same was they were when I was working for other people, nothing has changed. I'm not working on my own projects. I'm not building something that will build equity when I'm not working. I'm not building up a safety net. I'm not doing work that ultimate satisfies me and my sense of right.

It's the end of June, I barely remember my birthday, and it was only 6 days ago. If I work this hard on my own projects, how unbelievably successful would they be?

My next thought is, "One more week, survive only one more week, then I can start on my own work." But I keep having this thought. It's the same every day. But, I keep thinking that: when I have enough money, I'll do X. When I have more time, I'll do Y. "When" has to start today. It can't start when Mike gets back. It can't start in a week. It has to start now, or it never will, and I'll be 74 looking back wondering "WTF?"

The part of Kitt will be played by Liza today

Blog kitt decided around 17:12 on 4 February 2006 to publish this:

Since I wasn't feeling good yesterday, I didn't head into work. We have the sick policy that if you are starting to feel ill, stay home and work, rather than getting everyone in the office sick, too. So, I stayed home yesterday. Good thing, too, given how sick I was last night. Today isn't much better, not being able to do much more than sit around the house, drinking sugar water, and asking Kris, "Do I feel hot?"

Liza had been sick on Thursday, but was feverish on Wednesday afternoon, so she couldn't go into school on Friday. Instead, she spent the day with her mom at work, then with her dad at work. Apparently she managed to get as much work done on Friday afternoon as I did:

"I just lost five inches."

Blog Instead of being asleep at 12:45 on 23 January 2006, kitt created this:

"I feel so inadequate."

Turns out, TSA dropped his computer when they were inspecting his luggage. Like the TSA does anything worthwhile.

Gallery drupal conversion schedule

Blog Written with a loving hand by kitt some time around 14:36 on 18 March 2005

Deliver by 3/12:
* Forums (including moderators)
* Wiki   (including editor permissions)
* News
* Users

We discuss when/if for this work (beyond):
* Gallery FAQ
* Gallery Remote
* Polls
* Gallery Testimonials
* Sample Galleries
* G2 Theme ?