Janet’s Webpage

This may sound bad, but I’ll explain myself later: For the first time in a long while, I feel that my schedule is jam packed every single day. From the minute I walk into the office till I rush to the company fridge to pull out the Lunchable and Juicy Juice before picking up Jason is filled with work work work… I used to have time to read an article on MSNBC or to talk to a few co-workers, but now I’m boarder line snappish to people who are taking more than 15 minutes of my time without an appointment.
See, the people I work with are (brilliant but) horrible when it comes to mentoring new hires. So I guess I’ve enjoyed a slow incline of work load up till now. These days, I always have “OH SHIT” Mondays.
“OH SHIT” Mondays are Mondays when I feel I’m going to have an ulcer just thinking about all the work I have to do. The feeling eventually goes away as the week progresses, but I can usually write a page and a half of tasks on Monday mornings. I asked Glenard if he knows how to get rid of the OSM, and he said, “just work Saturdays and Sundays as well.” Good plan.

  

The new Harry Potter book is really something.
I know I’m really behind, everyone around me has finished book 7 already. I can’t help it though, I really prefer Jim Dale’s audiobook instead. I think if I actually read it, I’d get too worked up and skip words or sentences. I’m about 1/3 way through and it’s very exciting.

  

We went to get gravel and plants today. We planted a decent number of plants, but it’s still hard to hide the filter and air stick…
Will wait a few days before putting in fish.

Day 2, fish tank with plants
I’m debating about the fish… Mom’s fish are doing well in the small tank, despite all reasons. The rule of thumb is 1″ per gallon, meaning that the 10 gallon tank will hold half a dozen tetras (which are the fish in Mom’s tank) and a few scavenger fish. This does not explain how can Mom’s ~3 gallon tank hold about 2 dozen tetras with no light, no plants, no filter, no air, and no heater… It’s amazing because now that I think about it, I believe it’s been like that for a while now. The tank seems to have it’s own ecosystem and I’m a little nervous about disturbing it… I found a smaller filter at the pet store that will work with the smaller tank and Mom’s already got an air pump with check valve and everything… Now the question is, should I transfer the 2 dozen tetras from the small tank to the big tank, or should I install the filter and air pump to the small tank and hope that I don’t disturb anything… … tricky…

  

Mom gave me her fish tank last week and all the fish miraculously survived the 3 hour drive. Last night, Mom and Jennifer dropped by to give us the remaining equipment, lamp, filter, and pump.
I was trying to set up the tank today. Both the lamp and the pump works (well… kinda… the little house that’s suppose to be pumping out air keeps floating upward…), but the filter was broken. So I went to Walmart to find a new one.
The smallest filter at Walmart would have taken up half of the tank… After thinking about it for a while, I decided to get a 10-gallon fish tank instead.

New Fish Tank, Day 1
Setting up the fish tank was a lot of fun. I’ve always felt guilty because when I was a child, I never helped setting up the tank.
Jason helped too. He knows a lot about fish tanks since we have 2 back in Taiwan. Tomorrow, we’re going to get gravel and plants. We’ll probably get more fish after a few more days.

  

I haven’t been able to update as often since work’s killing me (in a good way…)
Life’s been good, I’ve been real busy, but everything else is going great.
It’s Wednesday, so Jason made dinner again today. This time, it’s pizza!

  

My room is TRASHED…
The weekend was really busy. Mom, Jason, and I just got back from California on Thursday. On Friday, Mom went back to Ann Arbor, I went to work, and Jason decided that he wants to go to school after all… Friday evening, SO’s parents came by, so Jason slept in my room with the extra mattress. On Saturday, Jason and I went to Ann Arbor to catch the art fair. AMM and Jennifer were there too, and so was Phil! We walked around for hours and now I really wish I got a few things to show for it.
So… now… Sunday night (or Monday morning) I just got back from work and I’m exhausted… My room hasn’t been converted back so 2/3 of space is filled with stuff…
I got an unpleasant email from work on Saturday, saying that my big job next week is pulled because SL and LW got questions. I just hope next week will be less hellish… I JUST want to make it through the week.

  

Added new pictures for the WIN Conference.
Will add more as the conference progresses. (Sorry, none of the pictures are actually conference related.)

  

I got up early today and went to the WIN conference.
They had great speakers. There were several CNOs and VPs as well as chairman of NRC. I also got some ideas for our DCS maintenance improvements from the I&C breakout session. The more hectic part of the day was after the conference. Mom, Jason, and I went to Disneyland.
It was a lot of fun, but there were too many people. All the gardens are perfectly maintained and all the lines and rides well planned. Of course, that’s to be expected, especially when they charge that kind of price for entry. It’s just amazing what Disney can get away with by slapping on the Mickey Mouse icon. None of Disneyland’s rides would get any attention if it was relocated to Cedar Point.
I still had a good time though. I’ve been to Disneyland and Disney World for 3 or 4 times, but this is the first time where I got a great view at the parade. I loved it! Jason hated it… oh well, maybe he’ll appreciate it one day.

  

No offense, but I hate California.
Parking spots seems to be about 20% smaller in CA, and EVERYONE’s real good at spoting an opening. Which leaves me circling the restaurant parking lot for about 10 minutes, then finally parked at Target across the street.
My first conference day didn’t go so well. We were suppose to register and maybe attend one session. However, by the time I was at the Disneyland hotel, most of the sessions breaked already.
I came back to the hotel and Mom and Jason and I went walking at Downtown Disney.
Jason didn’t want to go to bed, but when the lights went off, he was asleep within minutes.

  

On Saturday, I pulled one of my very few authentic all-nighters.
I thought I’ve done a lot of them in college years, but now I know they really don’t qualify. Normally, back in the days at U of M, I’d work till 4 or 5 in the morning, then go back home and sleep before my 11 AM class. I mean, it sounds like I worked all night, but in truth, I still had plenty of sleep before going to class.
Anyway, I’ve been working on this mod that needed to be out before I leave for the Women in Nuclear conference on Sunday. Unfortunately, Mom was also coming to town on Saturday. So after dinner, I went back to work, and didn’t come home till 5 AM. Then I packed and we caught an early plane ride to Anaheim. (to be continued)