A sad day for me
 

Well, today marks the last day of an era for me. For 10 years, 2 months, I have been self employed, working from a home office, able to distract my mind from certain tedium with sometimes (often) lengthy excursions into the LoT.

Monday, I will be in a cube farm (though thankful for the opportunity) where, as an employee of someone else, I would not feel right to take such excursions, and I'm certain they would not be permitted anyway.

So, while I will be around, I will no longer be able to keep up with all the interesting and intelligent people around here, and this makes me quite sad. I'll get on in the evenings, I'm sure, but there is no way I'll be able to read a couple 100 posts and respond as I would love to and have done for these 18 months (or so) of the existance of the LoT.

I will truly miss it.

Your presence will be missed.
Come back and join us when you can, and know that we will miss your running witty commentary during the day.

That said, best of luck in the cube farm!
I hope your new job is a rewarding one!

Missed indeed. Although, just go ahead and ask for a show of hands of people who have made similar posts...only to be posting away a few short months later. :D

I hope I will be so fortunate.

You'll be able to post. You just gotta know how to do it...
I didn't think I'd be able to at my current job and well...
:)

nooooooooooooo

Leo- how can I survive without you! :( :(

Congrats on the new opportunities (sorry about the veal bin cubicle) but I am SO going to miss you!

Check in often!

/snicker

Famous last words.

Look forward to seeing your posts, bright and early monday morning. If not, you will be missed.

I feel your pain.

If not, we can pretend to be scaeagles.

Here:

Blah blah blah Democrats. Blah blah blah Hillary. Yaddah yaddah Bush yaddah. I disagree. Iraq quack quack quack. Ann Coulter is hot. Blah blah darn kids. Yack yack I love Dominio's. You mean to say that yaddah yaddah... Clinton blah blah...

See? Easy peasy.
:D :evil:

Been there. It's hard but you'll get the hang of dipping in and out of the conversations. Not as fun, but it suffices.

Best of luck with the new gig!

Except for the Dominos part, that about sums it up.
:)

Yeah, I don't even bother pretending anymore.

scaeagles, best of luck in your new job!

I am also in this club. Every once in a while I get paranoid, then I say eff it.

Best of luck with your new job, scaeagles.

Hey, Leo! Good luck with the new job, and hopefully you won't be too scarce!

I've been here just over a week, and here I am!

Leo, best of luck in your cube farm! Being gainfully employed does have perks, even in a cube farm!

We'll miss your seemingly constant presence here and hope you will be back in force as you can.:evil:

Thanks for the well wishes, all.

I do have a three month probationary period. Something tells me it's going to be a least three months before i even see if it is possible to log on to the LoT from work.

Don't be so paranoid :)

You know how conservatives are with their paranoid conspiracy theories.

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you.

Nah - last time I was paranoid was June 11.

Hey, I'm posting at work right now!

There was an article in the paper a couple days ago that the average worker waists 2 hours a day at work. I think they expect it!

:D



Good luck with the transition!

~Bob

Have fun with the new job but I doubt you'll be away from LoT for long. You'll hear the siren call of a bunch of liberals stating what you consider BS and you'll come a-running.

scaeagles, can't the missus make up the missing salary by working all night at a diner or something more perverse so you don't have to go? Options are there if you look for them. Paper routes for the kids, selling blood, Amway, etc...

Seriously, you are going to have to work this out. :(

We'll just ignore the part about the russians moving the WMD's then and go with the June 11 line. ;)

We're a one-ho family, MBC, and I have already taken the position.

Actually, what makes me saddest is that working from home provides lots of contact with my kids. After school, during spring break and summer and Christmas vacations, etc. Those are no more. Thankfully, my eldest is babysitting age and being with the other two at home from 3:15 until 4:30 or so when the wife gets home won't be a problem, but....it's just a bummer.

NA is scarier to me than the Russians, MBC.

Such POWER! ;)

Woohoo! I'm above average!

Good luck Scaeagles:)

That is a lame-o about the kids. I hope the transition manages to show some serious silver linings before long.

But, hey, since I can't post from work anymore ... and now scaeagles, too ... and there's others ....

well, i propose we close the board from nine to five weekdays. Howzabout it?



(I've been finding it hard to play catch-up for an hour or so in the evenings, but it's doable ... and although I participate in a much more limited fashion, I still feel this is my cyberhome.)

I've known that for years!;)

For perhaps the first time ever, I am completely with you, ISM.

Good luck with the new job, Scaeagles- gonna be a bit of a transition, but you'll figure out a new posting pattern: Get up early, do a quick scan and apply any retorts your sleep-muddled brain will allow, then get ready for work at the last possible moment and run like hell to get there on time. When you get home, go straight to your comp and edit all the early morning grammatical and comprehension errors you made, and then fire off some more potshots at the whacky libs. Check in on MBC to make sure he isn't giving appliances to others in your absence, then scan the Drudge Report for anything that is Daily Grind-worthy. Oh, eat dinner and stuff somewhere in there as well. Probably should say hey to the family, too. Then back online for late night last minute fix, and your good until the next a.m!


It's totally doable.

Good luck with the new job, your posts are really fun.

As a long time denizen of Cubeville, I would just like to say:

One of us! One of us! Gooble-gobble, gooble-gobble!

Don't tell them about your Hamneggtomy or they'll all want one ! :D

..And have fun !

Great band name. :)

Damnit - your new sad face avatar makes all your posts sound so...sad

The best advice I can give is to become highly familiar with the film Office Space.

I have had several Temp (and now Perm) jobs in offices over the past few years and I don't think a week has gone by without a reference to Storage Room B or the Red Stapler. The term Flair is also fairly prevalent and people love to do their little Gary Cole impressions ("Yeah, uh...")

Office Space has definitely replaced Dilbert as the in-joke. What happened to Dilbert? Did he jump the shark with that TV cartoon? Or was it way earlier?

I had to grow up and buy brown dress shoes yesterday.

I had to wake up and shave this morning. I haven't shaved on a Monday in I don't know how long. Perhaps the worst is behind me already.

Yuck! Dress shoes.
:(

Hang in there, Leo! First day blues go away.

I would complain about having to wear pants, but I thought that might be pushing it.

Hey! I've been on the LoT twice today already! Yay! Perhaps I'll have to change my avatar.

Good luck on your first day!

um, no, I'd like to hear you complain about wearing pants. ;)

Our scaeagles is all grown up now. Wearing pants and dress shoes...
:sniff:






:D

You may have bought dress shoes, but the growing up part? I don't believe it. Good luck on your first day.

(scaegles mom) I bet he looks so handsome!

For what it's worth, I get to go to Jury Duty today.

So I hope none of you are on the docket... :evil:

Aww... our Leo is all growed up.

We expect a report on your first day when you get home!

:cheers: Good luck Leo! Have a great first day!
Don't worry, soon enough you can be a slacker in terms of dress like the rest of the cube farm people.

That's one plus of this firm, this office is beyond casual!

At first, I read this as "I had to grow up and buy a brown dress." :eek:

I'll just have to start posting all sorts of inflammatory political posts during your work day so that you won't be able to resist checking in at the LoT. :evil:

Ps. Regarding work and LoT access, You are familiar with windows "Remote Desktop Connection" aren't you? ;)

Right about now, his co-workers are starting to notice a distinct ham smell in the building. :)

I have never felt more completely inadequate and stupid in my entire life.:(

I really don't have anything else to say.

Sounds like it can only get better from here.

I'm sure the rest of the week will get better and in a month you will look back at this and laugh.
At least I hope so.
Because I feel kind of bad for you right now.

To hell with scaeagles ... what's this "Remote Desktop Connection" thingy??????




(not that he can't use it, too, if it pans out)

First days always make you feel like a dummy, no matter what you're doing. It's all very unfamiliar and I know I always feel like an idiot no matter what I do.

Hang in there. It WILL get better.

Aww. I'm sure it's not nearly as bad as you think.



Remote Desktop is a way to connect to your computer from another computer, or for others to connect to your computer from another computer. Once logged in you will see your desktop, your pograms, your comptuer. It needs your IP address and a password. I think only XP Pro has it.

I want this. I think it is important to see what pograms I'm involved with at all times. :evil:

Ah, yes, now that I recall, it does need XP Pro, which I don't have. And, I'd have to leave the remote computer on all day just so's I could have access to it ... and through it's own internet connection back out the LoT, thwarting my office's firewall?????

Eh, I think a wifi laptop at work is still a better idea.




Oh, is this thread about Leo?


sorry.

It is very important to see what pograms one is involved with at all times. Without a close watch on ones pograms they can spiral out of control.

No need to apologize. I am not a good topic for conversation at the moment.

If you don't have XP, you can also use a free program called WinVNC to accomplish the same goal. I'd be happy to walk you through setting it up if you like.

Yes, you do need to leave a PC on all day, but if you turn off the monitor and don't use a fancy 3d screen saver (which keeps the CPU busy) then it takes very little juice to run a modern PC, unless of course you have a cheeseburger model...

Using a separate laptop can be, how shall we put this, conspicuous. Whereas a remote desktop is gone with a click.

Well, I have XP ... just not XP Pro. And yeah, I'd be interested in trying this out .... just to thwart the muthafukas at work who are suddenly being so petty with me ... cutting off my LoT access after years and years of free reign.


Bastards!!!





oh, ahem, i'm fine .... really.

Only problem with VNC is the download of the software, and the brows it may raise for being installed when it shouldn't be.

...and it would of course be silly of me to point out that remote access works on apple computers...

chin up, Leo! You've got to bring the thread back...

I'm thinking someone needs to give me a primer on remote access

I had a thought. Leo has mentioned he has less time with the kids since he no longer works at home. I hate the idea that he's chopping into what little time he has by being here instead of with them.

You know we love you but your family needs you more than we do...but of course you knew that already and are going to be able to balance things well. :)

Hang in there at the new job. If the first day wasn't over your head then the job wouldn't be challenging enough to keep your attention.

I feel it.
When I got hired for my job, my boss really wanted me in her office. She'd worked with me before, I'd been her admin aide, she wanted me back.

That first week, month.... I agree.
How totally useless can one person feel you know?
And the worst part?

It comes back to haunt me all the time.
I feel your pain. The only good thing I have to say? There will come a moment, when for that instant, YOU will know the answer, and they wont.

Chin up. Hugs to you and your family. It'll get better.

I won't be on nearly as much because of that. It will be now only early in the a.m. prior to their awakening and late in the evening after the kids are in bed.

Sigh.

However, today I was only severly depressed after work, rather than suicidal and despondent. Even small improvements are important.

At least the trend is in the right direction. At this pace, think how great you will feel next week.

I got out of bed willingly again. This is a good thing.

As I sit here and type, my little almost 5 year old (Sept 17 bday) came downstairs and she gave me a big hug. Best damn feeling in the world.

Good for you Sceagles! A perfect start to your day. So? Sneaking the little sprite to DL for her birthday are you?

Thank God she didn't catch you wearing that brown dress!

what a joy to have a hug from your little princess to start the day:)

hey Leo, look on the bright side - you could have my life. i came downstairs this morning and was startled awake at my housekeeper busy at work:

Maybe she is just happy to not have to listen to Fox news all day anymore. :evil:

And, ML. That is disturbing...and hilarious.

Actually, it's Rush and another local guy, and she's usually telling me to turn it down because she can't hear Jimmy Neutron or something on the TV.

To quote Herbert Lom from the Pink Panther movies - "Every day, in every way, I'm getting better...and better." Just a little better every day is all I can ask for.

I just hope you don't go "Now Now" on us! ;)

Thank goodness he wasn't hard at work....

HA! I was "now now" before the job change.

So how was it today? Exactly what sucks so much about it? Are you the only republican there?

Oh no!!!! Say it isn't so!!

No - not the only republican. My contact there that hired me that I had worked with some 11-12 years earlier is also on the conservative side. I haven't delved into any sort of political discussions or anything personal with anyone, really. Only my first week. I have to become more valuable before I start alienating everyone.

What sucks about it? It has nothing to do with the people or organization. Both are great from what I've experienced thus far. It has to do with the change for me. I have gone instanteously from being a one man show with all the answers to a know nothing. I'm also now bound by a cube. For over 10 years I worked from a home office, picking up my kids from school almost every single day of their school existance. I can't do that now, and it makes me profoundly sad. I have two hours less every day with them now than I used to. I am seriously considering giving up coaching because I can't go to work at 7:30, come home for an hour, and then go to practice. That would not be right. I am hoping to just have to take a year off as a pseudo sabbatical (sp?), and be able to adjust my work schedule to perhaps 6:00-3:00 when I'm up to speed and productive.

I ran into the CEO (figuratively, not literally) today in the bathroom and he asked how I was doing. I was honest about how overwhelmed I was feeling. He basically said "We didn't hire you because you were Scott's friend (the guy I used to work with). I know about your background and experience and talked to some people about you, and you were hired because we know you will be a valuable asset very shortly. We want you around for the long term." Not an exact quote, but close enough. Helped immensely. May have been a load of crap, but it helped immensely.

It was a good time for it, because about 10 minutes later I changed a program that caused an application to crash that everyone who knows what they are doing are working toward a new release on next Monday. I fixed it pretty quickly - maybe 30 minutes or so - but it wasn't a good way for the new guy to become popular.

Is your avatar taking a dump?

No, but my previous one had the flu.

Now this one is just envious of those that can post during the day?

Better? Back to the sick green look, away from the constipated look, not angry, just sad.

Seems more confused really - perplexed more than sad...

Aw, chin up Scaeagles! Either this job will get better and it will make the sacrifices you are making worth it, or it won't. If it doesn't, you'll find a way to work from home again. Here's hopnig that next week is better than this one. Try to forget about it for the weekend and have some fun. :)

It's damned hard to find a sad face avatar that truly communicates what you want it to. Perplesed is certinaly part of it, but just a piece. I may have to go back to the original green guy....that still fits best.

Well, not claiming to know your precise emotional state, I like to think that the new, blue one fits fine.

(If you're really still the green one ... I hope you will do us the kind service of lying about how truly upset you are, and continue to use the blue one.)





(In any event ... I'm relieved you realized that Face Yellow was just wrong.)