12.26.04
Posted in Old Rantings at 6:34 am by mdellinger
I had to work another over night tonight (and yes it is Christmas night [now the next morning]) and what should happen? ….Only the biggest earthquake to hit the world in the last 40 years…Earthquake Rocks SE Asia
Granted I’ve only been here for less than month and I have gotten the shaft on this shift and been kind of stuck here to fend for myself in the middle of the night…but I think I pulled it off alright. It’s tough to try to do something right when you’re at a new job without someone there to ask questions to and make sure you’re doing what you should be. But I think I’m starting to get a feel for this and picking up little things here and there that people can’t really teach you.
I’m hoping to be put on full time soon, and I pray to God that I don’t have to keep up with this shift for much longer. Although I have to say that it does have its bonuses. But I would gladly trade it in a second for a 9-5 Monday through Friday. Most people don’t really appreciate having a regular schedule and getting regular holdays off (like oh say, Christmas). But I can’t even tell from week to week when I may have to come in for these overnights, or if I’ll have to work on what normal people call a ‘National Holiday.’
Only time will tell if things get better, but from where they stand now, they can’t get much worse.
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12.23.04
Posted in Old Rantings at 2:10 am by mdellinger
Counting down the days till Christmas and also till the end of these overnight shifts. Tonight is the first in a long stretch of overnights and I’m not looking forward to the rest of them.
I’m really not looking forward to trying to fit in Christmas between all of these overnights either. Maybe if I just worked Christmas Eve and had Christmas off it would be better, but I’ll have to keep working Christmas night and the next night.
I’m starting to get really tired, and I have a lot of time left to go. I hope this time is duly noted and not overlooked.
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12.19.04
Posted in Old Rantings at 8:10 am by mdellinger
Well I just tried to post this and lost it, so I’m going to try and recreate that again….here it goes.
It’s been a week and Whitney and I have finally gotten everything in our new place squared away. It’s taken a lot of work, but we’ve gotten it done, and I have to say looking pretty good.
I got to see my friend Mark’s new house last night and he’s got a pretty nice place. It’s a little far out there, and I wouldn’t want to have to make that commute every day, but it’s still a really nice looking place.
Also, Whitney’s old roomate, Jaime, is in town and staying with us until tomorrow. Which is pretty cool cause I know Whitney really wanted her to see our place, and she has someone to hang out with while I’m at work.
She has just graduated from Auburn and I know she’s going to miss her and a lot of her other friends down there.
She still manages to astound me everyday. She’s graduated from college in 3 and half years and now is trying to get into grad school to study to become a clinical psychologist. You can really tell that’s what she’s interested in too, I think that would be a perfect fit for her.
She has been so cool lately too, she drove me in to work this morning so I didn’t have to wait for a train in the cold. It was nice of her to go out of her way like that when she didn’t have to. We’ve made a deal this Christmas to not get anything too expensive for each other, but I really want to make sure to get her something special this year.
You know, earlier in the year I was kind of dreading this holiday season, having to go shopping and dealing with everybody running around like crazy. But I really am enjoying the time spent with family and friends I haven’t seen in a while. You really take a lot of that time for granted when you’re younger, and learn to respect those times when your older. I guess that’s really what it’s all about though.
I think even though I have to work late on Christmas Eve and Christmas, I should still be able to celebrate with everyone and enjoy the time spent together.
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12.09.04
Posted in Old Rantings at 10:43 pm by mdellinger
Well this weekend is the big move, and I can’t wait. I’ve been waiting for this for a long time now. I can’t believe that it’s only a couple of days away. I know that there are some people that have a problem with the two of us moving in together before we’re married. But I don’t really see it as that big of a deal. Of course, times have changed and what might be right for you might not be right for some. But I see it as a way to really know each other before we make that final plunge. Really, I don’t think there will be anything shocking that will drive either one of us away. But I think we’ll really know what being together is really like and how the other person acts every day.
Anyway, I think seven years of knowing each other gives you a pretty good idea of what the other person is like.
Aside from all that, I’m just ready to get everything done, and have everything set up….that’s become another issue altogether. It turns out that the girl at leasing office mistyped my social in the utility setup website they set up for us. So my power bill came back declined. And before I could change the number, I’ve already submitted a phone bill. So I don’t know if that will come back as declined or what.
I can’t really predict the future, but I think it’s safe to say that once we are all settled in things will be a lot less stressful, and we’ll be able to breathe a little easier.
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12.07.04
Posted in Old Rantings at 5:31 am by mdellinger
Well as you can see by the time stamp on this post, I’m on another overnight and I have to say that it’s actually getting easier. I’m a little more adjusted to everything and I’m not as exhausted as I was the first couple nights. Plus I’ve been bringing in something to eat which helps out a ton.
But where do I begin? First thing I did today when I got up was turn on my computer, and what did I happen to see but the blue screen of death. I did everything I possibly could to get rid of it, but then just decided to cut my losses and just get a new hard drive and I could just use the main one as a backup….Sounded good at the time.
Anyway, while I was setting up the new hard drive I ended up doing a quick format to my old drive….losing everything I have.
I’ve found a way that can unformat everything and get my files back, but that proved not to work at all, no matter what I tried. I may end up having to bite the bullet and spend about 50 bucks to get everything back….and figure out where all of the cliches are coming from.
But on top of that, I found out that our request from Georgia Power was declined because I mistyped my social security number. Now I have to go into the office with my card (which I don’t know if I have) to get them to hook up our power before we move in.
I’m starting to notice a trend in all of my posts too, I’ve really been bitching a lot. I guess I have to vent somewhere.
But hopefully everything will make a turn for the better soon. I can’t really say that life is terrible now, but certain things could happen to just help me out a little.
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12.03.04
Posted in Old Rantings at 1:57 pm by mdellinger
Well I worked my first overnight last night, and I can’t say it was the worst thing ever, but I do have to say that the human body was not meant for a schedule like this. People really should not be functioning at that time of night.
The worst part about it is I’d better get used to it, cause that’s going to be my schedule pretty much for the rest of the month. From the looks of it the only time I’m not working overnights for the rest of the month is next week. And this is right in the middle of Christmas and New Year’s.
What’s really bad about it is that it is mine and Whitney’s first Christmas and New Year’s actually living together, and I’m going to be squeezing in Christmas between a week of freakishly long nights…and I will be actually working during New Year’s…Happy New Year indeed.
I kind of knew getting into this line of work for a news organization that runs 24-7 would bring this kind of craziness, but now that it’s actually happening I’m a little shocked at how crazy it really is.
I just hope that paying dues is something that will be noticed and appreciated and that things will change before too long.
I think that the holidays are really the cause of this plague of a schedule, and my coming on board right before them definitely put me in the crosshairs as the scapegoat. Thanks Ted, but someday I’m going to come up with a news organization that runs 16-5 instead of 24-7, and when people try to tune in Christmas and Thanksgiving there will just be a graphic up that says “Breaking News: It’s Christmas and You’re Watching the News…Turn off your damn TV.”
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12.01.04
Posted in Old Rantings at 3:48 pm by mdellinger
It’s my third day now, and things are going a little better now. I actually have access to most everything I need, so I’m not just twiddling my thumbs as much. I have noticed that there is still going to be some down time, which is a good and a bad thing, but I’m not complaining.
I found out that I’m going to be working a few overnights, and there’s one whole week where I’m going to be doing nothing but working overnights. I can’t say I’m too excited about that. I’m going to have to do my first one tomorrow night, and I have no idea how that’s going to work out. I mean I’ve stayed up all night before, and I’ve even stayed up all night working on something, but I’ve never stayed up all night at work. I’ll have to do that for two days straight and then have the weekend.
I really like what I’m doing, and enjoy it a lot more than my other job, but it is a lot to sacrifice with all of these crazy hours. I know it’s just one of those things that comes with seniority, but I’m hoping that it won’t last too long.
I heard one of our songs on the radio the other night, that was pretty cool. Maybe we can get the band together when everybody moves close together and we can just retire and be rockstars.
At least then our overnights would be by choice.
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