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scenes from my office
Jun. 7th, 2006 03:36 pmOfficemate, in ironic tones: "Huh. Surprisingly, the dictionary doesn't recognize 'thesaurification' as a real word."
Me: "You amaze me!" *hyena-like laughter*
...followed by some discussion of verbification which is actually nounification of a non-existent verb that had to be verbified from something else. Officemate allows as how maybe he shouldn't be too surprised at the dictionary's intransigence. It's always nice when I get to quote Much Ado About Nothing.
Me: "You amaze me!" *hyena-like laughter*
...followed by some discussion of verbification which is actually nounification of a non-existent verb that had to be verbified from something else. Officemate allows as how maybe he shouldn't be too surprised at the dictionary's intransigence. It's always nice when I get to quote Much Ado About Nothing.
(no subject)
Jun. 6th, 2006 06:09 pmThink I shall start using these guys:
(Note on the math: The three tracks I've (almost) completed to date consist of 42 web pages and total 19,789 words, averaging 471 words per page (they vary wildly). The site is supposed to have 65 pages in total. I make that 30,626 words. I may need to recalculate after this track is done. 850 words today, not a full day.)
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20,639 / 30,626 (66.0%) |
(Note on the math: The three tracks I've (almost) completed to date consist of 42 web pages and total 19,789 words, averaging 471 words per page (they vary wildly). The site is supposed to have 65 pages in total. I make that 30,626 words. I may need to recalculate after this track is done. 850 words today, not a full day.)
(no subject)
Jun. 6th, 2006 04:30 pmWent out at lunch and got some clear plastic display stands and brochure holders for the conference. Am ridiculously pleased at how great they look (well, it's really how great our materials look, because our artists rock the house, but the stands add that extra professional veneer). Poster has gone to the printer. We're set.
Who needs a $10,000 booth? With a poster, some postcards and bookmarks, $35 worth of brochure holders from Staples, and a laptop, we are set to take on the world! (Or at least that part of it that will be in the booths either side of us.)
Uh, if that was too cryptic, I'm booth bunnying at a medical conference in Montreal next week, right next to all the pharma heavy hitters. I'm quite looking forward to it.
Who needs a $10,000 booth? With a poster, some postcards and bookmarks, $35 worth of brochure holders from Staples, and a laptop, we are set to take on the world! (Or at least that part of it that will be in the booths either side of us.)
Uh, if that was too cryptic, I'm booth bunnying at a medical conference in Montreal next week, right next to all the pharma heavy hitters. I'm quite looking forward to it.
Poll for all, but especially parents
Jun. 5th, 2006 05:02 pmI have to do an analysis of our competition. So I'm trying to figure out who our competition is. Please help me out! Tell your friends!
[Poll #742551]
[Poll #742551]
report from the second shift
May. 31st, 2006 11:28 pmDespite occasional thunder (the Weather Network's site this afternoon said we had a "chance of thunderstorms" this evening and a "risk of thunder-showers" overnight -- I'm still trying to work out the difference) and light rain, it is still muggy.
Went out to the Beaches, picked up my on-hold library books (Oryx and Crake and Paradise -- wish me luck, I haven't been reading anything heavy lately) and walked up to the house. Painted the ceiling of my dining room while John and Jen worked on my dishwasher and counter. William has trimmed the first half of my counter -- it's cut to match the cabinet underneath and has a chamfer (is that the word?) along the edge, looks great. A bit challenging because the lighting is still not all it could be. Still, one step at a time.
Then we went back and ate pizza and watched the second half of Bones and a taped episode of Foyle's War, which is fun (had never heard of it until last night).
Oh, and I had my first appointment with my new doctor today. Seems nice. First Canadian Place, much closer than Yonge & Eglinton. I think I had a small brainstorm and told her the wrong date for my surgery.
Work good. I'm hoping to hold steady at 3 weeks late on my current big project. Oh crap, I have a meeting on something else entirely tomorrow. Haven't prepared. Will try to keep it short.
My life is not so exciting.
Went out to the Beaches, picked up my on-hold library books (Oryx and Crake and Paradise -- wish me luck, I haven't been reading anything heavy lately) and walked up to the house. Painted the ceiling of my dining room while John and Jen worked on my dishwasher and counter. William has trimmed the first half of my counter -- it's cut to match the cabinet underneath and has a chamfer (is that the word?) along the edge, looks great. A bit challenging because the lighting is still not all it could be. Still, one step at a time.
Then we went back and ate pizza and watched the second half of Bones and a taped episode of Foyle's War, which is fun (had never heard of it until last night).
Oh, and I had my first appointment with my new doctor today. Seems nice. First Canadian Place, much closer than Yonge & Eglinton. I think I had a small brainstorm and told her the wrong date for my surgery.
Work good. I'm hoping to hold steady at 3 weeks late on my current big project. Oh crap, I have a meeting on something else entirely tomorrow. Haven't prepared. Will try to keep it short.
My life is not so exciting.
in other news
May. 30th, 2006 04:03 pmI have just compressed 94 34 [less impressive, sorry -- the page range was 94 to 128] pages of text into 1419 words. I could probably stand to shorten it a bit still. Nevertheless, go me. (Grade level according to Word: 9.0)
(no subject)
May. 11th, 2006 04:35 pmTranscript is done. Took forever, although at 2400 words I suppose that's not totally surprising and it did go much faster after I borrowed decent headphones from officemate. Now I just have to pull out the best bits and make them into a column. No problem, right?
(The nice thing about interviewing doctors is that generally you just wind 'em up and let 'em go.)
(The nice thing about interviewing doctors is that generally you just wind 'em up and let 'em go.)
(no subject)
May. 5th, 2006 03:39 pmDear Information Services:
Thank you for sending out an email last Friday to inform us about the scheduled down time of our shared drives from 3 to 5 p.m. today. I appreciate the thought. However, a lot has happened since then -- hell, there are 44 emails in my inbox after that one, and I know I've moved some -- and I would have appreciated a reminder, oh, say, today, so I could have retrieved the files I need.
I do have something I can work on instead, but, you know, maybe a more timely hint next time?
Thank you for sending out an email last Friday to inform us about the scheduled down time of our shared drives from 3 to 5 p.m. today. I appreciate the thought. However, a lot has happened since then -- hell, there are 44 emails in my inbox after that one, and I know I've moved some -- and I would have appreciated a reminder, oh, say, today, so I could have retrieved the files I need.
I do have something I can work on instead, but, you know, maybe a more timely hint next time?
(no subject)
May. 2nd, 2006 12:12 pmI have in front of me two illustrations (one of the brain, one of a synapse) in an otherwise very good book that, swear to God, look like they were drawn with an Etch-A-Sketch.
Showed it to some of the medical illustrators and they were horrified too. Honestly, publishers! Pay someone $200 and get something decent! It wouldn't take much!
Showed it to some of the medical illustrators and they were horrified too. Honestly, publishers! Pay someone $200 and get something decent! It wouldn't take much!
(no subject)
Apr. 28th, 2006 10:28 amSome days I wonder why I have a phone at all. (I'm a writer! All I really need is a small room where people can't get at me! Oh, and the Internet.) I think I actually get more wrong numbers than right ones. I work for a big hospital; everyone has their own four-digit extension, some of us are direct dial, some have to go through the switchboard. (I'm direct dial.) My number seems to be quite easy to misdial, for some reason, maybe because the last four digits are all clustered on the keypad.
Anyway, the failures come at various spots, so the wrong numbers fall into a few categories:
1. Straight-up wrong numbers.
2. Doctors who have been paged to a number that is not mine, wrongly dialing my number.
3. Doctors who have been wrongly paged to my number. (Those ones are really fun. I answer, someone says "This is Dr. X," I say "Yes?", they say "Is this the NICU?" (or Emergency, that's another one I get a lot), I say "Um... no...", they say "Then why did you page me?" Confusion reigns. I always wonder what happens after that.)
Today was in category 1, as follows:
TELEPHONE: Ring.
ME: [My department], [my name] speaking.
SMALL CHILD: Hello.
[Pause.]
ME: Hello?
SMALL CHILD: Can I speak to my mum?
ME: I think you have the wrong number. [Calling up the internal directory] What's your mum's name?
SMALL CHILD: Ann.
ME [looking helplessly at the 7000+ names in the directory]: Yeah, I'm sorry, this is the wrong... Ann what?
SMALL CHILD: Just Ann.
VOICE IN BACKGROUND: ...wrong number...
TELEPHONE: *click*
I think I had a message on my voicemail last week from the same kid.
This may be related to why I yell "Who are you and why are you calling me?" at the phone a lot.
Anyway, the failures come at various spots, so the wrong numbers fall into a few categories:
1. Straight-up wrong numbers.
2. Doctors who have been paged to a number that is not mine, wrongly dialing my number.
3. Doctors who have been wrongly paged to my number. (Those ones are really fun. I answer, someone says "This is Dr. X," I say "Yes?", they say "Is this the NICU?" (or Emergency, that's another one I get a lot), I say "Um... no...", they say "Then why did you page me?" Confusion reigns. I always wonder what happens after that.)
Today was in category 1, as follows:
TELEPHONE: Ring.
ME: [My department], [my name] speaking.
SMALL CHILD: Hello.
[Pause.]
ME: Hello?
SMALL CHILD: Can I speak to my mum?
ME: I think you have the wrong number. [Calling up the internal directory] What's your mum's name?
SMALL CHILD: Ann.
ME [looking helplessly at the 7000+ names in the directory]: Yeah, I'm sorry, this is the wrong... Ann what?
SMALL CHILD: Just Ann.
VOICE IN BACKGROUND: ...wrong number...
TELEPHONE: *click*
I think I had a message on my voicemail last week from the same kid.
This may be related to why I yell "Who are you and why are you calling me?" at the phone a lot.
(no subject)
Apr. 4th, 2006 05:26 pmI seem to have become so distractible that I've told my computer to nag me every 15 minutes to see if I'm working. It's annoying, but fairly effective.
Volunteering at Factory Theatre tonight, in an effort to break out of my rut.
Email today has been crazy. You know who you are.
Volunteering at Factory Theatre tonight, in an effort to break out of my rut.
Email today has been crazy. You know who you are.
Finished the article I was working on. I think (and my officemate tells me) it's pretty good -- it's sometimes hard to tell after I've been wrestling with them for ages. I just have to accept that these things DO take ages and I DO need time to think them over and I can't expect to get a complex article all done in a couple of hours and move on to something else. Also, printing out the incoherent point-form drafts (if one can glorify them with such a name) and scribbling on them is often helpful.
So, yay me. And it's the weekend!
So, yay me. And it's the weekend!
(no subject)
Mar. 30th, 2006 07:01 pmI am seriously having a hard time getting stuff done this week. Sigh.
I blame too much to do, also stress over political crap and everything else. Also the Internet.
Better tomorrow. I hope.
Off to choir.
I blame too much to do, also stress over political crap and everything else. Also the Internet.
Better tomorrow. I hope.
Off to choir.
Spot the problem
Mar. 13th, 2006 05:36 pm1. Information Services is doing maintenance on "my" email server between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. Their announcement says: "Lotus Notes DESKTOP users will automatically failover to their backup server. If you do not failover, there is a problem with the Lotus Notes setup on your workstation. Please call the Help Desk to report the problem."
2. The Help Desk is available between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.
If I'm reading my error messages correctly, I can send mail -- I just can't save it to my Sent Items folder, or save drafts. Time to go home, then?
2. The Help Desk is available between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.
If I'm reading my error messages correctly, I can send mail -- I just can't save it to my Sent Items folder, or save drafts. Time to go home, then?
home again
Mar. 2nd, 2006 12:03 amI'm back. Tales of drywall both harrowing and heartwarming tomorrow. My entire respiratory tract is angry with me; I'm having a little trouble sorting out all the components, but I think its grievances include drywall dust, Tilde, and the beginnings of a head cold with sore throat. I'm trying to drug it into submission and we'll see how we get on.
Checked on work and am disturbed to see that we don't appear to have published today. Oh well, we'll sort that out tomorrow too.
Checked on work and am disturbed to see that we don't appear to have published today. Oh well, we'll sort that out tomorrow too.
(no subject)
Feb. 27th, 2006 05:39 pmHoly crap, I think my feature article has actually come together at last (three and a half days late if you count the weekend, but who cares for that?). Marvellous.
Just printed it out to see if it's true.
Just printed it out to see if it's true.
(no subject)
Feb. 24th, 2006 03:44 pmI sent the daily House Update yesterday by email, but it hasn't arrived yet. Odd.
I am in a post-Indian-food coma at the moment. Taking Tuesday and Wednesday off to help drywall. Will be fun, but means I HAVE to get this stuff done first...
Interviewed 3 people today for the feature article I'm working on. Really have to plan to do that earlier in the process and get a mini tape or solid-state recorder. But I think it's going to be good.
*yawn*
I am in a post-Indian-food coma at the moment. Taking Tuesday and Wednesday off to help drywall. Will be fun, but means I HAVE to get this stuff done first...
Interviewed 3 people today for the feature article I'm working on. Really have to plan to do that earlier in the process and get a mini tape or solid-state recorder. But I think it's going to be good.
*yawn*
(no subject)
Feb. 17th, 2006 07:04 pmToday I struck a blow for logic and reason by deleting the term "Abnormal" from our online glossary.
It was defined as "Not normal." This made everyone giggle every time it appeared, and that's just not professional, and none of us could think of a definition that (a) made any more sense, (b) wasn't insane.
I did a bunch of other stuff to the glossary too, but that's the one I'm proudest of.
It was defined as "Not normal." This made everyone giggle every time it appeared, and that's just not professional, and none of us could think of a definition that (a) made any more sense, (b) wasn't insane.
I did a bunch of other stuff to the glossary too, but that's the one I'm proudest of.
part of a continuing series: Cysticercosis.
The picture in the Giant Illustrated Medical Dictionary of Doom is also
revolting. Ew.
The picture in the Giant Illustrated Medical Dictionary of Doom is also
revolting. Ew.
