Simpsons movie premiere in Vermont?

That's right, folks. Lil' ol' Vermont town of Springfield is the official premiere spot for "The Simpsons Movie." It makes me proud to live in this state.

Smattering of pictures

Okay. I have been really lame and not posted pictures from CA or several events this year. So here are a few. More to come when I actually have time.

CA - Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D with

Alex, Tiffany, Melissa, (me), Doug and Steve K.

CA - Why I want to be there right now... Pacific Ocean, Ventura.

Fast Forward to March...a party at Stephanie's. Things happen at parties like...

Taking pictures of each other...

Getting down with the Mario Dance Party...

"Hey Let's paint toenails!" becomes...

"Let's draw on people!" which becomes...

It was a blast of fun. It's been months since we have broken out the Mario Dance Party. I am looking forward to more fun this summer. But maybe no more drawing on people. Though it was really funny.

Aimless - oh how the the world turns....

So after feeling rather shmucky, I ended up baking cookies for DG and gave him a note of thanks and appology. I think it's all better and I won't do that ever again to him. Lesson learned.

Yesterday (Happy July 4th today, by the way) I had a big shocker. In the morning, I spoke with Rep C and we went over some issues. He and I felt that we needed to talk to his boss about Rep J's lack of support. An HOUR later, I get an email saying Rep C was terminated!! OMIGAWD.

• What happend?
• Does this mean I now have to work all the time with Rep J?
• Am I going to be removed from the project?

I soon spoke with Rep C (and Rep J)'s boss, S said that Rep C was let go because he just didn't meet the expectations of this project. (I found that to be a little bit pathetic, but said nothing.) Then I got a call from Rep J. He pretty much said the same thing then started bossing me around and telling me what I need to do to make them happy.

Later that day... Rep C calls me to thank me for the good work I did on his project. He had a different version of what happened. He said that S and Rep J are childhood friends and when Rep C told Rep J he was insane, Rep J lost it. Called S to get Rep C fired. In any event, Rep C is gone and there is a new guy, Mini Rep J. What's with these people getting lackies that have the same name? My first two conversations with Mini Rep J went well, though Rep J was on the second call and was rude, obnoxious and had all kinds of things to say.

What a fun time I am going to have now!

Aimless venting

Client Aimless is a growing pain in the ass. Rep J (the bad cop) hates email, so he calls me with alarmist issues. Rep C (the good cop) is stuck in the middle with needing to take care of his company's objectives and not being an ass.

We decided at the end of last week that the outstanding issues should be fixed by the end of today (Monday.) There were a few issues that I had tasked out to various parties. When I came in on Sunday, I found a few more. With 14-19 sites to launch using new technology, there is bound to be some issues. I also had a gigantic list of about 320 domains that needed some zones created, but it needed more detail in order to task it out to Domain Guy. Today really sucked. I told Domain Guy that I would have his stuff by 2:30. Here's a long summary of my afternoon and chat with DG.

3 - 4pm - I finalize the list and assign it to DG
4:00 - DG reports there is no way to get it done in an hour. I said if he can't stay later do the main ones and we can see if somebody else can do it. (in the meantime, I chatted his boss to let him know that I sent in a task waaaay late. Boss chats me back that DG will do it anyhow.) He said he would see how far he can get. I tell him to let me know by 5 how he is.
5-5:30 - I am talking with Rep J about his "issues"
5:40-5:45 - Client Aimless (Rep C) tells me that because Rep J found "issues", they won't launch today. [WHAT THE HELL?]
5:46 - I check on DG. His response: it's still f$%&ing going [Can you sense a little irritation?]
5:49 - I told him they weren't launching and he should just go. He feels it's too late.
5:50 - 5:57 - me: I am sorry about this. I know how bad it is to throw things so late in the day.
DG: 320 domains, come on.. i honestly cannot believe you had me stay to do this when they're not even launching today...
5:57 me: I JUST found that out. I didn't think they would suddenly change their minds... I am pissed at them, and you can/are rightfully pissed at me too
5:58 DG: you hit that one right on the head

In 10 more minutes he was finished and logged off. I can only think of two things to do... 1. Appologize with a gift card or something and 2. Never do it again. I KNOW I am not the only person who has done this, granted I am probably the only person who gave him so many domains to do. That's no excuse, and I realize that. I still fee like a shmuck and am really pissed that Rep J put the kabash on the whole damn thing because he overreacted to some "issues" he found with the sites. Totally overreacted.

The darker side of me is also a little annoyed that DG nor his boss said "nope. we ain't doing yer shit because you couldn't give it to us sooner."(which is totally the case.) Yeah, I did crap on him, which wasn't cool. I have had people complain to me about other co-workers doing the same thing and how much it sucks. I don't try to be one of those "crap-on-you" people, which is one reason I work 15 hours a day on big projects like this. Nobody said "No," so I let it ride, becoming "that" person.

I appreciate that he got it done before he left. But I think it will be a long time before he stops being pissed at me.