We bought a pick up from the impound auction. It runs, and came with the key, two bonuses. We paid for it and I took the key, looked at it, and said, “One key. Gonna have to be careful with that. Be bad to lose the only key.” I resolved to not let loose of this key, until the very close time that I would have a duplicate made.

“The truck runs best,” I said, “with a key.”

My spine felt much like someone was running a Jell-o shooter made with anti-freeze along its length. Looking over my left shoulder, I saw the ghost of Xander Harris smiling. He shrugged his shoulders and gave me a finger wave. I shuddered and looked away, gripping my key.

I drove the truck out of the lot, thinking I’d first and foremost hit the gas station. Checking the gauge, I saw I had a full tank. Bonus! “The truck,” I noted, “also runs best with gas.”

Xander, I could see in the rearview mirror, was sitting on the wheel well and shaking his head, looking at his hands.

I kept thinking about the key, all week, every time I drove the truck, every time I saw the key. Yesterday I tried to have a key made, to exorcise Xander’s ghost. The keysmith had no blanks in my size and shape.

Xander clapped me on the shoulder, but didn’t say anything. I was not comforted.

This morning I drove the truck to work, and stopped at the gas station for a fill.

“Regular. Thanks.”

The attendant smiled and nodded. “No problem. Can I have the key to the gas cap?”

Key –

–the truck runs best–

–Ah!

I had enough fuel to get to work, where, happily, the local automotive guru had a master key for gas caps. Next time I notice the ghost of Xander, I will attend more closely what is going on.

Wrote: (+) 556 words
For: (-) 1 hour

Well. Good & bad. I mean, yes on the word count, but not so much on the hours. Further, I didn’t really want to write longer, as I had major things to accomplish. I am considering axing the time goal entirely, and raising my word count; I could easily have gone further, much further, without much thought.

That’s what I’ll do. No time limit, 750 words/week. There.

Now, those 556 words, they were damned fine words. They corrected much of what was poor last week, and I felt quite good about them. Nice words, those, if not wonderful words.

I have been, while working as an office monkey, taking estimates for new jobs, reformatting them appropriately, and pushing them through our software into the working database. This process takes the estimate and turns it into a budget that tracks costs and such, and makes huge jobs manageable by breaking them into digestable pieces.

I was doing this, mind you, while doing other work full time.

I was relieved of my office monkey duties, given a hatful of DB management duties in place of (which I had also been doing), and handed a few tasks (like work out assessments, lesson plans, and then implement them & track the results) in addition.

I am swamped. I can see, wavering, dim, and far, the light of the sun rippling through the surface of my pool of work, slipping further away and dimming….

Yesterday was a wild exercise in stress control. About 4PM I lost my grip and began to fully panic; I was either going to fail miserably in this job or I was going to devote all of my free time to it. The company (and construction & business in general) promotes the mindset needed to spend your evenings and weekends working. Successful marriages and happy lives do not. I’d rather have the latter two than the first. But the panic implied that my requirement was to meet all expectations thrust upon me or –

– uh –

…oops.

Other people’s expectations do not equal my obligations.

[forehead smacked resoundingly]

I spoke with the Pres about priorities of work, we agreed on an order of importance, and I cheerfully retired from the field. It is, I feel, entirely fine to say, “I have not completed B or C as you instructed because I have been working on A, which you determined was more important. I will get to B and C when A is complete.” And, if I am operating at a higher speed and efficiency than anyone else could in this position, and am working in the order indicated, then, well, if I’m disposed of, screw ‘em.

My mind thus cleared, I came to work early today (for DB mgmt), finished enormous amounts of everything, thought of solutions that were not in my landscape yesterday, and things are neatly under control, if still overburdened and busy.

Much better.

My job, last May:

Office monkey. Computer understanding & people skills required, to be first-line computer/software support for 35 people/stations. Office:Computer ratio to be about 80:20.

My job, last August:

Office monkey. First-line computer support. Excel expert for company. Recognize needs for smart forms and logs, implement independently, educate users, some of whom refuse to use computers. First-line support, expert, and educator for specialized software company has used for 20 years. Wages move up $1/hour.

My job, last November:

As above. Additionally, expert in Estimating portion of construction software. Teach officers of company, some of whom refuse to use computers, usage. Refine 13,000 db to 4,300 usable items, organize, relate items to existing company software to standardize software usage company-wide.

My job, today:

As above, minus office monkey. All project managers & company officers required to use company software weekly; monitor usage, document usage, refine results to Boolean quantities for president of company. Spend minimum one hour weekly with each project manager, estimator, and company officer, educating them until they no longer need it. Document progress for president of company. Learn estimating process & work into estimating field with direction towards project management.

I am currently paid as a very poorly-compensated computer geek or a moderately well-paid office monkey. I moved into my office, about the size of a walk-in closet, with a window, yesterday. I think, based on my job duties and the regard implied by my location, that it may be time (after 8 months on the job) to ask for a raise. I should at least, I think, be paid at a decent computer geek wage.

Nice to have some quiet to work in.

I just finished moving into my office.

!!!!

More on this later.

This weekend Bridgette & I popped off to the impound auction and scored a lovely pick up truck, ‘77 Toyota w/ sunroof, bile yellow, for $290. The inlaws came to visit, and we used their truck to haul off 1.5 yards of waste from the property. We cleared rubbish & brush from the site of the new dog run, cleared rubbish and brush from the site of the new greenhouse.

And I wrote 784 words, with a pen, in about two hours; I stopped then because the scene had stopped. The path for the scene I wrote veered sharply from what I had envisioned, and my protagonist is obliged to enter and resolve the plot, something that I hadn’t expected. Things are happening because they must happen, which is entirely unexpected, as well.

I am pleased, and more than please.

Writing 540 words/week: ++
Writing 3 hours: +/-, but I am pleased.