Saturday
Oct082005
Momentary Digression
Saturday, October 8, 2005 at 08:55AM
Even though I'm only going for a little under a month - I feel like I have to wrap a bunch of stuff up. So, here's a couple things.
My three month(ish) checkup with my rocking plastic surgeon was last week. He's still pleased with how it's going but says that there's still a ways to go and I should expect that it will take the full year before my face is all settled. I know I've been promising to put up pics but it looks like y'all have to wait until I get home cause you really can't tell from the front (unless you're me, of course).
The only thing that I find disconcerting is that when I close my left eye, part of my face moves. Not so's you could see it but I can certainly feel it. It's seriously annoying actually and feels a bit gross. Now because I'm going to assume that they didn't purposely attach my eyelid to my nostril then I have to take Dr. Wonderful's word for it that it's probably scar tissue.
I've gone back to that technique I used before to get rid of that bone poking out of my face (squish your face really hard) in the hopes that I'll be able to get it to let go. Otherwise, by next year, it'll have driven me insane and we may have to operate on it again so I can get out of the asylum I'll be living in by then. After all, as charming as it sounds, I don't want to spend my life shuffling around in pj's moaning about my eyelid being an evil puppet master.
Next!
One of the reasons I didn't feel so bad about quitting my job as an analyst back in August was that I had re-vamped their system for them ie: I left them in a better position than I found them.
The order system was ALL paper. Faxed, internal mailed, handwritten requests. In big piles. Everywhere. Highly inefficient and wreaking havoc with my entire being.
As a small example of the time spent on unnecessary tasks - when someone called to say, "What's happening with my order?, the two analysts would transfer the calls back and forth and check with their boss to see who had it or search through the month-high backlog to track it down. With a third analyst added to the mix, we spent more time doing that than catching up on the workload. The duplication and wasted time just downright offended my sensibilities, I tell ya.
So, I took all of it and designed, built and tested an automatic intranet order form. Then I set up an Outlook task-based system derived loosely on an order system we used at that unnamed phone company I used to work for.
Given that it's not my area of specific expertise, it was frustrating at times and I had to learn a LOT of technical stuff on the fly given that there is virtually no support in our current organization for what I was trying to set up but, in the end - a huge accomplishment that streamlined their process and freed up precious time in a hugely overwhelming environment.
There was also a large statistical component that previously was handled by the analysts re-entering information in a spreadsheet to track each order. I completely eliminated that whole slice of effort by an export function to excel.
(Don't you just love how I lapsed into corporate-speak for four paragraphs? Saying a lot and saying nothing. It's passed now - I'll be okay. No, really.)
Last week I went back for four hours to train them on how to run the stats.
One of my ex co-workers turned to me and said, "You know, this is such a great system. And it's based on software that is already universally used by most businesses - it's just seriously under-utilized. You should package this whole concept and get out there and sell it. You could go in, set it up and train whole companies on streamlining their workflow. There'd be tons of people who would benefit from this."
And I thought, yeah, she's right. It IS excellent. *I* am excellent for actually pulling it off in addition to learning and holding up my regular duties. And I'm anal enough to enjoy organizing the shit out of other people but.... nahhh, too much work, man. Maybe if that's all I did but...? Medical Imaging - casual - shiftwork - I'm taking this month off, kay?" - it's my bag. Who needs the stress?
Besides, why mess with perfection? This life has seen a lot of wrong turns down ill-considered side roads and now I've found the right highway and I've got an exciting journey ahead.
I have to admit though - just for a minute - I imagined a different outcome over the next few years. The first time in my life I saw something I could corner the current 'market' on. A niche for Jen.
It just happened to be one I've finally come to understand isn't for me.
But, hey! what am I talking to you for? I've got work to do and 7 hours left of my last shift before I get on a plane tomorrow morning. I'll stop by later and leave you a quick goodbye (along with the hair I've got left after actually packing my backpack).
but timing is everything here,
My three month(ish) checkup with my rocking plastic surgeon was last week. He's still pleased with how it's going but says that there's still a ways to go and I should expect that it will take the full year before my face is all settled. I know I've been promising to put up pics but it looks like y'all have to wait until I get home cause you really can't tell from the front (unless you're me, of course).
The only thing that I find disconcerting is that when I close my left eye, part of my face moves. Not so's you could see it but I can certainly feel it. It's seriously annoying actually and feels a bit gross. Now because I'm going to assume that they didn't purposely attach my eyelid to my nostril then I have to take Dr. Wonderful's word for it that it's probably scar tissue.
I've gone back to that technique I used before to get rid of that bone poking out of my face (squish your face really hard) in the hopes that I'll be able to get it to let go. Otherwise, by next year, it'll have driven me insane and we may have to operate on it again so I can get out of the asylum I'll be living in by then. After all, as charming as it sounds, I don't want to spend my life shuffling around in pj's moaning about my eyelid being an evil puppet master.
Next!
One of the reasons I didn't feel so bad about quitting my job as an analyst back in August was that I had re-vamped their system for them ie: I left them in a better position than I found them.
The order system was ALL paper. Faxed, internal mailed, handwritten requests. In big piles. Everywhere. Highly inefficient and wreaking havoc with my entire being.
As a small example of the time spent on unnecessary tasks - when someone called to say, "What's happening with my order?, the two analysts would transfer the calls back and forth and check with their boss to see who had it or search through the month-high backlog to track it down. With a third analyst added to the mix, we spent more time doing that than catching up on the workload. The duplication and wasted time just downright offended my sensibilities, I tell ya.
So, I took all of it and designed, built and tested an automatic intranet order form. Then I set up an Outlook task-based system derived loosely on an order system we used at that unnamed phone company I used to work for.
Given that it's not my area of specific expertise, it was frustrating at times and I had to learn a LOT of technical stuff on the fly given that there is virtually no support in our current organization for what I was trying to set up but, in the end - a huge accomplishment that streamlined their process and freed up precious time in a hugely overwhelming environment.
There was also a large statistical component that previously was handled by the analysts re-entering information in a spreadsheet to track each order. I completely eliminated that whole slice of effort by an export function to excel.
(Don't you just love how I lapsed into corporate-speak for four paragraphs? Saying a lot and saying nothing. It's passed now - I'll be okay. No, really.)
Last week I went back for four hours to train them on how to run the stats.
One of my ex co-workers turned to me and said, "You know, this is such a great system. And it's based on software that is already universally used by most businesses - it's just seriously under-utilized. You should package this whole concept and get out there and sell it. You could go in, set it up and train whole companies on streamlining their workflow. There'd be tons of people who would benefit from this."
And I thought, yeah, she's right. It IS excellent. *I* am excellent for actually pulling it off in addition to learning and holding up my regular duties. And I'm anal enough to enjoy organizing the shit out of other people but.... nahhh, too much work, man. Maybe if that's all I did but...? Medical Imaging - casual - shiftwork - I'm taking this month off, kay?" - it's my bag. Who needs the stress?
Besides, why mess with perfection? This life has seen a lot of wrong turns down ill-considered side roads and now I've found the right highway and I've got an exciting journey ahead.
I have to admit though - just for a minute - I imagined a different outcome over the next few years. The first time in my life I saw something I could corner the current 'market' on. A niche for Jen.
It just happened to be one I've finally come to understand isn't for me.
But, hey! what am I talking to you for? I've got work to do and 7 hours left of my last shift before I get on a plane tomorrow morning. I'll stop by later and leave you a quick goodbye (along with the hair I've got left after actually packing my backpack).
but timing is everything here,
and for the moment the "we" is reprieved
but, as I watch the girl unfold before my eyes, I discover
that I like her
would you please get out from under my skin?
'cause I can't begin this yet
and I don't know what my intentions are
-they're speaking in a different tongue
in Life
Life 
Reader Comments (2)
david