Today's timecard really should start with the entry, "Early - 1/2 hour." Not that anyone but me will ever know.

I guess Bernie is "working from home" today. At least, it's 12:15 and I haven't seen him and have only received one, brief e-mail from him today.

In fact, no one but me showed up today. Typical. I was here half an hour early, and there's no one who can confirm that I'm not always late.

I hesitate to say that it's a very peaceful sort of day, because the last time I said that, Chaos Boy had a major meltdown thirty seconds later and I don't want to jinx anything, but....

I've been taking advantage of the peace to do a little work.

Like cleaning out some of the random handfuls of CDs and floppy disks just laying around unloved. Throwing away manuals for things like Outlook '98. Finding a place to hide all of those miscellaneous kinds of "cords" and "cables" that always seem to accumulate around computers. Digging out the wipes and actually cleaning a few now-empty surfaces.

Trying, in short, to make the office look just a little less like a slum clearance area. (I do wish I'd known I was going to get into this mood when I got dressed this morning. I'd have worn jeans and a tee-shirt instead of nice clothes.)

Part of Bernie's bitch-list for the last week (since he laid off DiamondGirl) is that the office looks like no one works here (in addition to looking like a trash dump), so I also tried to make sure the computer equipment and desks that are still hooked up are arranged on desks to look like the person who works with them just didn't come in today or something.

The things I do to try and placate that nitwit.

I found two laptops and two scanners during my foraging. Presumable none of them work, or they'd be hooked up and in use. I have no idea why they weren't disposed of, but I stuffed them in a drawer against the time when I can find someone to ask about them. (Out of sight, out of mind, that's my approach. None of this is my "stuff" and some of it I really can't just throw out without asking someone.)

I also did bookkeeping. Mostly just paying bills and posting stuff and filing.

I tried to teach myself to change the batteries in our electronic boxes, which is another task Bernie has decided should fall to my lot.* This was not so much of a success. I got one done but on the second one, I couldn't get the box to go back together, so I just left it all. If anyone else ever shows up for work around here, maybe they can show me how to reassemble it all.

Damn. I left my desk for ten minutes to get the mail, go to the bathroom, and check something in the shipping room, and Chaos boy sent me 2 IMs, five e-mails, and called me six times.

I should have kept my mouth shut.
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(* Yesterday's new responsibility was learning to upload graphics for our online survey program. Which sounds all well and fine until I explain that for some irrational reason, they don't just use an .ftp program. No, it's a 30-step process involving three different software programs. Boggles. The mind.)