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So this is a weird “holiday.” Sure it is a US federal holiday so most government workers are not working today. I am at work, however, and Capt. Mcarmypants is at work as well. So a non-government employee (me) and a government employee (the Mediocre Captain {a title of “The Good Captain” would inflate his head/ego to monumental proportions. Don’t get me wrong, he has a tiny little noggin to begin with so some swelling is nice, but the poor enlisted soldiers forced to be on a plane with his ego would suffer unduly) are both working diligently today. Let me ‘splain.
Me: Our client (a government agency) wants to look at some materials for a public involvement meeting during an internal get-together tomorrow mid-morning. The issue is that while most of the data that I am working with is internally produced, I do have to work with some stuff a different company produced. To make matters worse, I need to marry the line work with some aerial photos that are not matching up perfectly. I could go on and on with technical prattling about this, but I am even boring myself. Suffice it to say that it is a painful process getting the 4 different datasets to look seemless, but that is why I am paid the big bucks.* It is a tedious and painstaking process, that is sadly more trial and error than a multi-step process by rote. It takes patience for which I am losing quickly.
Captain McArmypants: The Mediocre Captain shipped out under cover of darkness last night for his deployment to Afghanistan. (Sure, my working on a holiday is not nearly as exciting as being deployed into a combat zone, but, hey, I am a whiner and this is my blog.) McArmypants is to be gone for a full year. Luckily it is “only” to Afghanistan and not to Iraq, but that is truly a relative comparison. Violence in Afghanistan is escalating because we are decreasing the total number of troops in the country so that we can have a troop “surge” someplace else, … I forget where.
To recap:
I am tired
I have tons of work to do
The Captain has 30 hours of transit to deal with
He also has the amazing ability to sleep almost in any position
The 30 hours will seem like 10 to him
I have a shit-ton of work to get to
“A shit-ton,” I say
Again the progression is:
Ass-load
Shit-load
Fuck-load
Ass-ton
Shit-ton
Fuck-ton
At least I only have a “shit-ton” to do
By 3 pm today it should be down to an “ass-ton”
Not an Astin an “ass-ton”
* “big bucks” is defined here as meager living.
Me: Our client (a government agency) wants to look at some materials for a public involvement meeting during an internal get-together tomorrow mid-morning. The issue is that while most of the data that I am working with is internally produced, I do have to work with some stuff a different company produced. To make matters worse, I need to marry the line work with some aerial photos that are not matching up perfectly. I could go on and on with technical prattling about this, but I am even boring myself. Suffice it to say that it is a painful process getting the 4 different datasets to look seemless, but that is why I am paid the big bucks.* It is a tedious and painstaking process, that is sadly more trial and error than a multi-step process by rote. It takes patience for which I am losing quickly.
Captain McArmypants: The Mediocre Captain shipped out under cover of darkness last night for his deployment to Afghanistan. (Sure, my working on a holiday is not nearly as exciting as being deployed into a combat zone, but, hey, I am a whiner and this is my blog.) McArmypants is to be gone for a full year. Luckily it is “only” to Afghanistan and not to Iraq, but that is truly a relative comparison. Violence in Afghanistan is escalating because we are decreasing the total number of troops in the country so that we can have a troop “surge” someplace else, … I forget where.
To recap:
I am tired
I have tons of work to do
The Captain has 30 hours of transit to deal with
He also has the amazing ability to sleep almost in any position
The 30 hours will seem like 10 to him
I have a shit-ton of work to get to
“A shit-ton,” I say
Again the progression is:
Ass-load
Shit-load
Fuck-load
Ass-ton
Shit-ton
Fuck-ton
At least I only have a “shit-ton” to do
By 3 pm today it should be down to an “ass-ton”
Not an Astin an “ass-ton”
* “big bucks” is defined here as meager living.
Labels: Holidays
4 Comments:
Yeah, I'm thinking about McArmypants today, too.
All I have to say is he better come back all right because I'd hate to have to have another child just to give it a middle name that honors your best friend who couldn't figure out a better way to get out of Alabama than to join the military.
So Capt, come back safe and sound. We love you.
As a poet, and an avid reader, I have to say that I very much enjoyed my leisurely stroll through your blog...it was time well spent; entertaining and enlightening. I thank you...
Wifey (ZM):
What is best is that on the way into work this morning there was an item about the increased violence in Afghanistan. Yippeeee!
WHAT...TL:
Well, thank you very kindly for your unwarranted praise. Stay around for the Tuesdays, they seem to be the most fun. At least to me...
Is there anything fun at all in Afghanistan?
Atmikha
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