"The Job I Love From Hell" written by Paul on estrip.org

Category: work

03/25/14 05:11 - ID#58832

The Job I Love From Hell

I seriously can never escape. I love what I do, I find it totally rewarding, but I really work all day everyday. This week I was supposed to be on vacation, including last thursday but everyday I worked for huge portions of the day. Yesterday for 12 hours which is 2 hours over my normal work day if I wasn't on vacation. I wake up with work phone calls and I stop working from bed as I go to sleep where I dream about work problems and then wake up to a work phone call.

In December I lost 4 days when they expired. Now I am losing about 60+ hours by April 1 because there is no time for me to take vacation. Everytime I try there is some mega project that needs to be done right now followed by a bunch of little things that are helping other people but add up.

I really can't ignore any of them it seems. Everytime, I ignore email, I just get a phone call. I keep asking myself why I am doing this when there are plenty of jobs out there that are better fit to my sanity...

tinypliny writes at 03:30:30 04/04/14 - Comment #71555: Hmm.. Baltimore. I'd be an hour away! We could totally hangout every weekend. But wait, once a workaholic, always a workaholic! :P

ExBuffalonian writes at 03:25:58 04/03/14 - Comment #71545: The federal agency I work for is currently recruiting Systems Analysts and Developers. You'd have to move to Baltimore, but that's not necessarily a negative. If you're interested, you can find the job postings on USAJobs.gov and here are the job titles and vacancy ID numbers: Analyst (105 Field Office Internal Hire), Java/Ab Initio (SH1085724), and Experienced Analyst (SH1085177). They'd probably bring you on with a starting salary somewhere close to $100K, depending on experience (and it sounds like you have a lot), and you could move up quickly and increase the pay significantly. Send me a message if you want more details/info offline.

tinypliny writes at 12:42:17 03/29/14 - Comment #71519: Just quit it and join Google.

heidi writes at 11:11:20 03/26/14 - Comment #71507: Thank you, (e:iriesara), for being so direct about it. I wholeheartedly agree. (e:Paul) has a complete lack of work boundaries. He has a team now, he can delegate.

iriesara writes at 04:46:26 03/26/14 - Comment #71506: It amazes me that as health-conscience (and as much of a hypochondriac) as you are, you continue to work these hours. Lack of sleep and an excess of stress are both terrible to your overall well-being, and manifest themselves in all types of bodily reactions one would not imagine. RELAX!!! You are well-valued as a professional and could find a rewarded, well-paid position anywhere (I'm sure, although I don't know the market for whatever it is you actually do, and you know I don't understand about that stuff). Take care of YOURSELF and loved ones, Paul. 60 HOURS OF VACATION TIME THAT YOU LOST!?!?! That's just fucking stupid. (You know I say that from a place of the utmost love.)

joe writes at 11:55:13 03/26/14 - Comment #71505: You're so redonk, I don't even know how you stayed up that late.

YesThatCasey writes at 11:03:00 03/26/14 - Comment #71503: At 4 am!? Holy!

paul writes at 04:07:07 03/26/14 - Comment #71502: Just finished working for today now. Not sure why but I am pretty sure I won't continue to much longer at this rate.

YesThatCasey writes at 12:09:06 03/26/14 - Comment #71499: So, why are you doing this when there are plenty of jobs out there that are better fit to your sanity?

Permalink: The_Job_I_Love_From_Hell.html
Words: 192
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 03/25/14 05:11

Category: food

03/23/14 11:02 - ID#58828

Whole Foods - Maybe Just Halffoods

We went to the wholefoods in Pittsburgh on the way home. If you remember I loved wholefoods in Orlando and (e:yesthatcasey) and I ate there everyday on our trip. Coming back from that trip I wanted one here so bad. Then I went to the Pittsburgh one. Its was so totally different. The prepared foods section seemed like so lame compared to the Orlando. If we got a wholefoods but its was a half rate one like that I would be so sad.

Permalink: Whole_Foods_Maybe_Just_Halffoods.html
Words: 90
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 03/23/14 11:02

Category: pittsburgh

03/23/14 10:57 - ID#58827

The Pittsburgh Botanical Gardens

The trip was to visit (e:joe)'s sister for her 20th birthday today. After the walk around the city, we met up the with family for a trip to the botanical gardens. The botanical gardens are similar to ours but its just so much more refined plus they have a cafe. I wonder if ours would make more money with a cafe attached.

With our membership to the Buffalo Botanical Gardens we get reciprocal deals at ~300 botanical organizations in the US. So (e:joe) asked at the desk if we would get a discount and they were like "pfft - NO" as though we were asking something totally ridiculous.

Anyways the $15 entrance was totally worth it. The temperature, humidity and smells were amazing. I loved the banana scented flower bush in the Indian Forest exhibit. I would go back again in the summer. They have a new sustainable green section that has net 0 energy consumption.

Permalink: The_Pittsburgh_Botanical_Gardens.html
Words: 213
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 03/23/14 10:57

Category: pittsburgh

03/23/14 10:49 - ID#58826

Morning Walk Around Pittsburgh

We had so much fun touring around the city in the morning. I kind of wish I lived there now. We tried to go up in the Carnegie Castle but the desk clerk said they don't have any observation decks areas since 9/11.

Permalink: Morning_Walk_Around_Pittsburgh.html
Words: 95
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 03/23/14 10:49

Category: pittsburgh

03/23/14 10:40 - ID#58825

Pittsburgh At Night - Dancing at Luckys

It was hard to get good photos at night but we had so much fun running around the city in the middle of the night. The architecture was hard to photograph at night but Pittsburgh looks awesome at night. Everyone awesome building we have, they have ten of the same at higher quality. It makes me think no one will really ever travel here for the architecture of downtown even if we restored every historical building that exists.

After a late start, we traveled all over the city looking for a cool place to hang out. We ended up at Lucky's

which was one of the best gay bars I have ever been to. If you are in Pittsburgh and like divey gay bars packed with tons of people, I say check it out. The vibe kind of reminded me of the old buddies in Buffalo and also kind of like the barn in Toronto.

The downstairs looks kind of like a diner with booths and a round bar. We sat and had a drink and I honestly thought that was the whole bar till I saw a sign on a door that said something about nude dancers upstairs. Needless to say, we went in the door and up the stairs of what looks like an old row house. There are still marble fireplaces upstairs and the stairwell looked pretty residential from another era.

The disco lighting, mirror walls and dark interior, mixed with marble fireplaces and totally nude male strippers really set the mood. It was kind of funny how the strippers, who were wearing nothing would just stand up and flop their junk back and and then bend forward to talk to people at the bar, only to pretty much shove their open butt crack in the bar tenders face.

At the very end of the night everyone sang, "Last Dance" by Donna Summers with linked arms dancing in a circle. It was probably the gayest moment of my life.

Permalink: Pittsburgh_At_Night_Dancing_at_Luckys.html
Words: 374
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 03/23/14 10:45

Category: hotels

03/23/14 10:15 - ID#58824

William Penn Omni - Statler

It was awesome. So glad we stayed there. I wish we could have drank or eaten at the bar but we were so busy the whole time hiking around the city. I would totally go back there. Its a perfectly central location.

Permalink: William_Penn_Omni_Statler.html
Words: 63
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 03/23/14 10:19

Category: food

03/23/14 09:48 - ID#58823

Lexington Coop Open Till 11

Yippie. The coop is open till 11 PM starting soon. This will make my dinners much better when I get out of work late.

Permalink: Lexington_Coop_Open_Till_11.html
Words: 26
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 03/23/14 09:48

Category: art

03/22/14 07:51 - ID#58817

Grovey Cleves At The Western New York Book Arts Center

We went to Mickey Harmon's Grovey Cleves art opening at the Western New York Book Arts Center on Friday. He had a voice actor reading excerpts from the book. Sadly we were a bit late.

I learned a bunch of interesting tidbits about the former president everyone talks about but no one seems to actually know anything about. The illustrations were playful and really drew you in. I am so jealous of his ability to bring his ideas to life with pen and paper.

My favorite piece was the shadowbox of Tumey Cleves, the hard palate tumor Glover had.

Not surprising, I was mega allergic to the gallery. I think I am literally allergic to books. I am so glad information has been digitalized. That being said, the art books look pretty cool and I just may return back to buy some gifts from the gallery shop.

(e:Robert) got me into cucumber sandwiches. I want to try cucumbers and waffles now.

Permalink: Grovey_Cleves_At_The_Western_New_York_Book_Arts_Center.html
Words: 177
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 03/22/14 07:51

Category: dancing

03/22/14 04:32 - ID#58814

Dancing at Wasteland

We went to wasteland for a dance party last night. It's been a while since we got to dance in a nice wearhouse space. The decor was awesome, the BYOB was awesome, the dancefloor was amazing, music was great. Jenn Kay is the best dancer.

Tons of people smoking cigarettes in an enclosed place with no venitallation, not awesome. Seriously, who does that. My jacket smells sick. My lungs hurt. It reminded me of the days when everyone was smoking at the pink or underground. I feel like a little tumor started last night. I hope they die.

Permalink: Dancing_at_Wasteland.html
Words: 128
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 03/22/14 04:32

Category: pittsburgh

03/21/14 10:27 - ID#58811

Omni William Penn Hotel

(e:joe) and I are heading to Pittsburgh tomorrow for his sister's birthday. (e:terry) can't make it because he is sadly stuck in tax mire. I never stayed at an omni and really wanted to stay at the Omni William Penn

in downtime PA because it looks exactly like the statler on the outside but seems totally remodeled.

All the statler hotels look similar

This one was built in 1940 versus ours which was built in 1907. I also stayed at Hotel Pennsylania in New York with my tortoise Sahara in 1996. Our train was damaged traveling between South Carolina and New York, so they put us up there. I never realized till now that it was so much like the Statler. I remember thinking the inside lobby was so fancy at the time.

Here are pics from the Pittsburgh one, lets hope it lives up to the name.