Finally Friday!!!

It was cold as hell on Friday morning with a wicked 22 mph wind here in Redford. So, I not only donned my coat, but my knit hat and gloves as well.

When I backed out onto the road, I found it had re-froze (is that a word?) into a solid sheet of ice! I put it into four wheel drive, but, of course, that didn’t help. But, I inched my way to Plymouth Road, which had been salted and only had occasional spots of black ice.

Sidebar: Whenever I think about four wheel drive (which works great in snow), I always laugh and think of something my Brother Pete told me, back in the day. I was talking about buying a Jeep with “four wheel drive” (I ultimately bought a Volkswagen Thing) and he said, “John, four wheel drive just means you can get farther off-road before you get stuck!” Words to live by…

I miss that big, crazy dude.

Anyway, I went to Time Out for lunch. I normally order off their “specials” menu, just so I can try something new. So, today, I got a BBQ chicken breast with bacon sandwich (sounded good) and some potato and beef soup. The soup was excellent (as I’ve said before, Bob makes wicked awesome soup) but I wasn’t that impressed with the sandwich.

Then I went and got the truck washed. I wanted to get the salt and dirt off of it. It was funny, as the guy outside, who wiped down my truck, tapped on my window and apologized for not wiping down the truck bed. They said the water on it had already frozen and they didn’t want to scratch my paint. I thanked him and tipped him two bucks.

The afternoon passed slowly as they always do on a Friday/Payday. The only excitement I had was when the Asset Coordinator and one of the Techs told me my metrics (which I report each month) were wrong! They claimed I was “double-dipping” using logs as new equipment purchasing. I told them that was not the metric. They repeated their claim, saying not every new employee gets a new computer or laptop. I said I know that and I repeated that was not the metric.

Sidebar: You have to love new, enthusiastic employees. If they would have just asked, I would have explained. But, they want to change the world!

Note: I gather data on purchases of new computers, laptops, docking stations, etc., from our ERP system, not logs.

The logs are used to show trends about requests for various equipment over the last calendar year (i.e. 53% were for laptops, only 20% were for desktops and, oh, yeah, 2% of the people needed dual monitors). It’s only to give upper management a hint so they can adjust the budget estimations accordingly.

So, I printed off my reports and patiently explained it to them and they finally got it. (Geesh!)

I left work at 5:00 p.m. and got home with no trouble.

I treated the damn cat and changed clothes. Since it was payday, I adjusted my check register to reflect my pay and the automatic deductions that were coming. Then I added into my spreadsheet the new water and sewage bill I got in the mail today.

For dinner, I heated up just one of those bean burritos (the only thing I can come up with to call them) I had made and a packet of Uncle Ben’s Spanish rice.  I skipped the stupid salsa and doused everything with Frank’s Red Hot Sauce.

My lips are still burning, but it was much, much better.  This is now on my weekday meal list.

I watched two taped shows and then switched to reading until bedtime.