Month: June 2009

here comes the future

yech.

Miss Margot gets fixed on Friday.  It is possible this will affect my ability to go to Pondfilk, we’ll see.  Also, I have been invited to go to Hot Springs soon, and that may be interesting in terms of timing as well. I can’t put it off any longer, she could go into heat at any time.

The vet says Miss Margot will not grow substantially bigger than she is now.  This explains a lot.  Considering that she was born Dec 9, she’s tiny… she weighs in at 2.35 kilos.  So in addition to cute, smart and phlegmatic, she was bred to be pocket sized, thus her mother’s birthing difficulties and the breeder’s insistence she be spayed.

She advised us with regular bulletins on the way to the vet, one of which was actually Meow (she said meow, how odd) ’bout how very disturbed and unhappy she was about her mode of locomotion. After we got home I left the carrier out with the jailer’s peephole open and she jumped into it for fifteen minutes.  Gizmo watched with a look of disbelief and distaste.  Both the boys are learning to deal with her, as ignoring her is simply impossible.  Gizmo curled up on me the other day, only the third time that has ever happened.  Other cats make a big production of getting into your lap; Gizmo flows into your body heat like a furry puddle and evaporates with the same skill.

Jeff is steadily advancing his chief project “The Audio visual dungeon made of awesome” and the living room is now fit to sit in.

I have a number of appointments today

And so I cannot start off with my 10 – 5 routine of work which I have planned for myself as the best way to treat my year off. I will, however, be working in the middle of the day on something, probably a choon.  There certainly are enough of them, and John’s song is not written down yet, so that might be a good place to start.  Tomorrow…. up whenever, cook breakfast, to work at 10.

See how I took all the fun out of everything by making it all like work?  But I know only too well what will happen to me if I don’t put some new habits in place of the old one.  I’ll end up completely deranged in a big pile of paper, and that’s not too far from what things look like right now.

I am reading Austen’s Mansfield Park.  Fanny Price is a remarkable creation.  She looks like a prig but she’s just really really sensitive.  The description of how she feels when she goes back to Portsmouth to be with her noisy gross family is awesome.

Here comes the sun

I attended the Vancouver Lesbian and Gay Choir last night.  The voices (with the exception of that one screechy soprano, who might wish to consider another hobby) were much better balanced than the last time I attended a VLGC concert, the selection an interesting mix of new material and show tunes, and it was very pleasant.  I would also appreciate fewer solos …. there were three songs where the choir just stood there and it was a soloist and the pianist. On the other hand, maybe the choristers appreciate the break.

Happy Solstice everybody.

Tarot reading

Re the next year:

  1. V swords
  2. IX Cups
  3. Death
  4. II Cups
  5. X Wands
  6. Page of Cups
  7. The High Priestess
  8. VIII Cups
  9. The Empress
  10. Ace of Cups

After winning a contest by trickery (or having won, gloat too hard and too long), and overcoming the inertia of self-satisfaction, I was smacked by Death into reconsidering all aspects of my life, including the notion that I have to be paired up with somebody in a romantic relationship.  I put down a large burden (my job) and am now contemplating a gift of wisdom and self-knowledge.  Filled with knowledge I may not reveal, I seem to be turning my back on ordinary life to take a lonely, moon-watched journey.  But the outcome will be fecundity, richness, and an outpouring of the gifts of the Spirit of Life.

An unbelievable layout.  I knew Death would be in the layout, and there it is, right at the top.

Wasn’t that a party….

So, anyway, I had a faboosh time at the going away bash last night, and yes, there was a rainbow.  There was also a cement mixer, purchased by RobbieBaum, but I know what happens when you mix Baileys with something sour.  It curdles, resembles vomit, and makes the recipient unhappy.  Drunk as I was, I looked at it, realized I was going to have limey tinged cheese curds appear in my mouth, and didn’t even change my facial expression, causing me to uplevel to a new platform of coolth.  Nobody wanted to believe that I wasn’t disgusted.  I wasn’t.  It’s all about managing expectations, yanno?

Here’s my good-bye email:

11 Commandments for an Enthusiastic Team

1) Help each other be right – not wrong.
2) Look for ways to make new ideas work – not for reasons they can’t.
3) If in doubt – check it out! Don’t make negative assumptions about each other.
4) Help each other win and take pride in each other’s victories.
5) Speak positively about each other and about your team at every opportunity.
6) Maintain a positive mental attitude no matter what the circumstances.
7) Act with initiative and courage as if it all depends on you.
8) Do everything with enthusiasm – it’s contagious
9) Whatever you want – give it away.
10) Don’t lose faith – never give up
11) HAVE FUN!

A long vanished Sales VP gave me that list, and I’ve tried to live by it.

As I survey 12 years of employment at Xantrex, I have a LOT of happy memories…. And not so happy ones…and downright bizarre memories.

The time a customer told me, “Lady, your hold music would make a dog eat her puppies…”

Walking around the office and seeing Valentines I handed out 5 years ago still tacked up over people’s desks….

Sitting around a campfire on Gabriola at the old Statpower company camping trip….

People screaming in delight when it was November and I started baking biscotti again….

Forcing a CEO to buy me beer after I invited myself along for a team building exercise…. (now THAT was satisfying….)

Going through a team building exercise during which all of the people on the team reviewed the ‘challenge’ and then turned as one person to the smartest person on the team and said with one voice, “You do it!” (No it wasn’t me, it was an engineer).  It was like being back in high school.

Fires…. Power outages…. Ludicrous, inhuman weather… getting really good help from the first aid people (who rock, incidentally).

Having a coworker come through on an orientation tour with a new HR person, and when asked, “Do you know this person?” saying, truthfully, “Well yeah, I’ve seen him naked.”  (Long story, and not anywhere near as dirty as it sounds….)

A lot of really amazing customer interactions… because really, without customers, Xantrex doesn’t exist.    And some of customers are very smart, and very nice, and they shared a lot of good information with me.

“When are we doing a product rationalization?”

The time a customer said “Do the fans on your inverters exhaust or intake?”  And running to a certain person who is still working at Xantrex for help.  And he said, and I quote, “We used to suck, but now we blow.”  And I ran back to my desk and told the customer that –  he laughed his head off.  We weren’t recording Customer Service calls in those days….  Too bad, that would have been a keeper!

Neckrubs!

Taking care of my ‘internal customers’ at Xantrex.  Because we’re not in this alone…..

Trying really hard to be a good coworker.  For those of you for whom this was not a reality, my abject apologies and a hope that you won’t take my lapses personally.  For those of you I didn’t get a chance to get to know…. We were part of the same team.  We served together, and that counts for a lot.

I’m taking a year off paid employment to ‘pursue creative interests’.  Yeah, I know, it’s lame, but it’s also true.  I lost a close family member at the beginning of May, and it made me re-assess my life in a way that I hope none of you have to go through anytime soon.  When the year is over, I’ll be back in the work force, hopefully with a lot of items scratched off my ‘bucket list’… as in, things I wanted to do before I die.  But not at Xantrex, unless you guys are crazy enough to want me back!

The friendships, the unparalleled learning experience and the opportunity to serve our customers — all this has been humbling and character building.  I’ve worked here more  than a third of my adult life…. I will never forget Xantrex and you can bet I’ll be by to say hi, and re-acquaint myself with Chris’ cooking in our ‘caf’.  Yes, Andy, I paid my tab.

I’d like to thank Tanya, Frozan, Cris, and Andy N (my immediate teammates and boss) for being awesome, and ALL the CS techs whether in Renewable or Mobile for their long-suffering assistance…. You’ve all been great.  I’d like to thank the equally long-suffering bunch of folks I’ve eaten lunch with so many times over the last few years (Ryan S, Scott, Trevor, Peter A., John A., Francis K., and Hardeep).  Sorry about all those anecdotes that made it impossible for you to finish what you were eating.  A special shout out to Patricia O’Connor and Mike McG for their helpfulness.

I’ll be seeing some of you at the Golf Course for beverages later….

My apologies to anybody I missed… it wasn’t deliberate….

I can be reached at allegra.sloman@gmail.com if anybody wants to get hold of me. Goodbye, and take good care of each other and the customers!

All the best,

allegra

When I cease from thinking

When I am in the realm of feeling and not in the realm of thinking, thinking, reacting, reacting reacting, time broadcasts a completely different range of inbound signals.  Time hits your brain and your skin and your gut and your libido and your joyous joust with interesting problems in a different way.  Time is a series of musical pulses, overlaid and sotto voce with the breath and breadth of the human voice, deep voices and silvery, hard voices and soft.

When two people I love, or three or four, are engaged in conversation, there is a deep and thankful part of me that does not need for a moment to know what the content is; the sound and intent of their voices is like a deep and healing balm for my soul.

And thus it was at the last day, and in the last hour, when we sat at the Golf Course and spoke of mean things and great, and drank beer, and endured rain, for the sake of the rainbow.

In the moment I decided to quit, there was a rainbow.  In the celebration and farewell, there was a rainbow.

Make of that what you will.

various kindnesses

Robof9 took me out for lunch, thanking me for 4 years of amusement, and Jeff took me out to dinner at the Heritage Grill, where I viewed a large number of Mr. Music’s colour collages, which are gorgeous, and not too ‘spensive.  Then we came home and watched BSG with Keith.

I feel kinda of  blank, but that will all change shortly.

Raccoons

Raccoon or Raccoons came yesterday and tipped over the garbage.  Blech.  The cats were all inside, thank goodness.

Exit interview today.  Many people warned me not to, and I don’t care, I think it will be fun.

The single biggest project that has been worrying me will be up to date today.  Yay me.

All I can think of is “I’m glad it was in her arm”

A disgusting, horrific story about one British woman’s encounter with a tropical parasite.

Which also managed to be funny.

Chicken and corn on the cob last night.  I was thinking of going to Jericho and bailed.  Jeff and I watched “Hush” from Buffy season IV.  The first time the villain appears, Jeff turns to me and says, well he seems nice.    I’m hoping to get him to watch “Restless” today.

True Blood

Got the Planet Bachelor folks (less Katie, have no idea where she is but she’s obliviously all right as she’s posting to facebook every six hours) over to watch the season opener.  Was that Lafayette’s corpse?  Nope.  But it’s somebody’s corpse. What about the maenad… where’s Eric?  And why is he getting his hair done?  When he came down the stairs I just about burst out laughing.  But he’s still scary as hell.  What about that little vamp Bill turned?  What’s going on with Andy Bellefleur and his alcohol consumption?  And why could Keith consistently predict what was going to happen next for every major scene??? At one point he said, “Countdown to character introduction in 5..4..3..2..1.. and mark…” and POOF the character appeared.  That boy knows his TV tropes like God told ‘im.