Got an email from my dad yesterday. He noticed the lack of postings on this blog and was wondering how things were going. To be honest with you, it’s been hell. I’ve been so busy at work with the lab project that I’m just mentally and physically drained when I get home. Because of this, I don’t really have much energy to do anything.

When I sit down to think about what I’d like to post on this blog, I come up with nothing new. There’s nothing interesting enough for me to Digg about. I haven’t taken any pictures since we returned from Florida. And if I do post something, it’s just me complaining about work (and I do enough of that already). I haven’t posted to Twitter much either, because I found myself becoming repetitive in my tweets. I lack energy and interest around the house too. I’m the dishwasher in our home, but the dishes pile up when I’m not in the mood. I’m thinking of downgrading our Netflix subscription because the DVD’s just sit there for days, even weeks. I had over 100 podcasts on my iPod, but I removed my subscriptions to all of them due to the fact that I’m not finding the time to listen to them. The only one I listen to is The Tony Kornheiser Show, but Mr. Tony is no longer doing the radio show due to his commitment to Monday Night Football. I’ll just have to listen to the old stuff until the football season ends next January.

I learned to leave my stress at work when I go home. Because of this, I’m happier at home (although you may have to ask Christine and Daniel on how my mood really is). I believe my relationship with Daniel has improved since our Florida trip. I’m trying to not be so hard on him, and he’s listening and doing some of his share around the house. Christine’s parents were in town a couple weeks back, and it was great to have them here; I’m blessed to have a good relationship with my in-laws. Salem’s been pretty good, but his fur has him uncomfortable in the warm weather (he’s scheduled for a cut today). Home life is good.

Work sucks (in case you didn’t know already). This lab project has been my life since January. It’s been a mess from the get-go, and there hasn’t been any organization to it from all sides (the vendor, corporate, the lab, and IT). I’ve been working with pocket PC’s for the last couple of weeks (this piece of the project somehow ended up on my lap when my manager went on vacation, and now I’m responsible for it). The original devices we had were not secure with our wireless network (they were given the specs up front, and they shipped us the bad ones anyway). There was a misunderstanding when we swapped old equipment for new (at no charge to us), and they got the old stuff overnight while it took 10 days for us to get the new. And we didn’t even get everything. We finally got the label printers that would be paired up with the pocket PC’s yesterday (but the package was still missing 3 more printers). This piece of the project is eating up time I don’t have. I’m off today, but I will work for a few hours on Saturday, and I plan to work Monday (my normally scheduled day off).

It doesn’t really end in July. If we’re up and running with the lab project by the end of the month (go-live is scheduled for the 24th), I have the month of August to get comfortable doing what I normally do before the next big project kicks off in September (implementation for a new clinical system for the hospital got moved up 4 months early). My analyst team has been informed that no time off would be approved for September and October, and any other requests would be closely scrutinized. Building and testing will begin in January 2008, and the rest of the year will be crazy busy until we go live with the new system in October. By then I’ll be ready for a sabbatical. That’s if I survive the next 15 months, of course.

So there you go, Dad. My first post in a week. And as usual, I’m bitching about work.