We're getting more of the white shit. After a fabulously balmy winter, things have cooled off considerably tonight, and the snow has been falling for a bit. Fortunately it's a light snow so far, but it's steady, with no signs of stopping soon. So if it keeps this up, I may be greeted with a fair bit of white shit in the morning!
The good news is that it's so late in the season that it will still be a short winter, even if we get a lot of snow and cold weather now. It's funny though - on the way home today, I was happily thinking about how much I've enjoyed this winter - especially the road conditions. It looks like it's a good thing I was enjoying it while I could!
I got to work this morning to discover that our computer system was down. Yay. I asked our IT manager what was wrong and when he expected it to be back up. He said, "is it down?" I said, "well, yeah." He said, "well, no one told me about it!"
So it had been down for some time already, and none of the employees had mentioned it - even though they were not able to do their work because of it! One of the girls told me that she had mentioned it to one of the other guys, as he is often the one who gets asked to help when there are system problems. I told her that was fine, but she really had to talk to the IT manager about these things, not this other guy. At least she mentioned it to someone though - I still can't believe no one else said anything!
At any rate, the system was down for the entire morning, and even when they got it up and running again, one of the guys still spent the rest of the day dealing with it, as there were printing issues and a few other issues that had to be fixed. By the time he left tonight, there were still some problems that weren't solved. One of the major problems is that the old IT guy left last month, and no one else knows how he had things set up. One guy in our office (the poor man who spent all day on it), and the new IT guy in our head office have been working on things, and they are slowly able to figure them out, but it's been frustrating as hell for them as they don't know what the ex-IT employee had done. I feel sorry for them, but they'll get there in the end - hopefully without having nervous breakdowns!
So it was not the most productive day, although fortunately I had some stuff to do that didn't require the system. I didn't get all the stuff I wanted done today, but I did manage to clean some other odds and ends off my desk, which was good.
In other news, I've been having a heck of a time the last few days as I have not been able to sleep. Sunday night I did not sleep at all. I dozed for about an hour, but it was one of those dozes where you are still awake, and you know you are awake, yet you are having very funky, weird-ass dreams. I hate those, because I think, "oh, I dreamed, so I must have slept." Then I realize that no, I was wide awake because even while I was dreaming I was thinking about how pissed off I was because I was still awake and couldn't get to sleep!
Of course, this made for a rather interesting day on Monday. We're finishing up year-end stuff at work, so I had to go in. I was actually quite wide-awake at that hour of the morning anyhow, so I figured I'd be fine. Then around 10:30 my body decided that it wanted to sleep. Immediately. I managed to keep on slogging through, although as I was waiting on one person for the stuff I had to finish up, and he did not get the stuff to me that day, it turned out that I could have stayed home. I left an hour early, as I decided I was way too tired to face driving in rush hour traffic. Judy, bless her heart, played games with me that evening, so that I could stay awake until bed time. I knew if I fell asleep during the evening, I'd be up all night again.
I did manage to get a bit of sleep Monday night, although it wasn't very deep. I kept tossing and turning and waking up all night. Still, it was a lot better than Sunday! So Tuesday was a bit less foggy, and more productive. I was still wiped though, and through the evening, I could tell it was going to be a sleepless night again. So I broke down and took a pill. It's actually a mild anti-depressant that was prescribed to me for the fibromyalgia. One of the big issues with fibromyalgia is that one doesn't get a proper sleep - you can sleep for 8 hours, but it's not a deep sleep, so you don't get the sleep you need. This medication is widely used for fibromyalgia - not for depression, but because it helps to put the patient in the deep sleep phase. As an added bonus, it also helps with some of the digestive issues involved with fibromyalgia.
Anyhow... I took one of these pills last night, and thankfully had a very good sleep. I am still exhausted - it will take me awhile to recuperate from that one sleepless night! But I felt much better, and I've decided to keep taking the pills for the next few nights, in order to help get my sleep back on track. I rarely take them, simply because I don't like taking anything unless it's absolutely necessary. However, these aren't addictive, so there are no worries there, and they do help, which is definitely needed at this point! So I'll be a good girl and take them for awhile!
One last note. Friends of mine have had a baby boy. The birth of a child is always wonderful, and this one certainly is. However, the trouble is that he had to be delivered very early, due to the mother developing preeclampsia, which caused her blood pressure to go through the roof. They were unable to control the blood pressure, and had no choice but to deliver the wee boy. And when I say wee boy, I DO mean wee. VERY wee. He was 14 ounces at birth. Yes, you read that right. I said 14 ounces. Less than a pound.
The little guy is holding his own - he's an amazing fighter. There have been some issues - bleeding in the lungs, a need to be on a boatload of meds, etc. However, all things considered he's been doing very well. At last update tonight, he had gained weight and is now 1.07 pounds. The lungs are fine at the moment, and he is on a regular respirator. They've been able to discontinue several of the meds. They've actually had to sedate the little monkey as he's been very active and there is a danger with all his moving around that he could do damage to his tiny little veins, as there are all sorts of things that are plugged into said veins at the moment. On his first full day of life he actually grabbed and held on to his Daddy's finger. So, all things considered, he's doing very well, and it looks like he may very well make it. I've actually felt from the beginning that he had a good chance of making it, and every day - hell, every minute - is a gain.
In spite of how well he's doing, he's far from out of the woods yet, and he has a very long haul ahead of him. We all belong to an online forum, which has a huge membership. There are tons of people praying and sending positive energies to the family, and to him. And of course many of the people on the site have had them included in prayer circles in their churches, and have just had their own friends and family praying for them. I would like to ask that any of you who are reading this also please include them in your prayers, and send out positive energies if you can. I know the ones being sent already are helping immensely, and adding more can only help even further.
So in all of this long, convoluted blog entry, a theme emerges. Taking the bad with the good. Yes, it was crappy that it started snowing, that our system went down, that I haven't been able to sleep, and that my friends and their wee angel are having such a hard time of it. However, the snow is lovely, it will be one of the shortest winters ever, and it's been awesome so far, our computer system did get up and running for the most part, I got work done that I wouldn't have had the system been up, my lack of sleep led to me deciding to use medication that will help, and the wee angel is hanging in there, fighting with all his might, and has drawn a great many people to unite in sending out positive, healing energies and prayers on his behalf. Not only will this help him, but it helps all of us who are involved, and I can't help but think that all that positive energy and love going out will spill over into the world and the universe, and will have a positive effect in some way.
In all of the less than optimal things, there are many positive things. And at the end of the day, I can't help but smile and be thankful for all of it - the bad and the good.
Blessings to you all, and may you all sleep well and have sweet dreams. Good night!
