I hate it when they use the “B”-word
The other engineer where I work came into the sever room today with a project. (It is sort of my office. It is where I work...)
“Wait,” my boss said. “I’m not sure we have the budget for Frank to work on that!”
“It won’t take him long,” the other guy said. “He’s very good with Solidworks.”
“OK,” my boss said. “But, he can’t spend long on it. As we don’t have much to spend on it.”
So, I guess it turns out I’m not the only one who is very aware of how much my time costs these days.
I’ve got mixed feelings about it.
The down side is that it is a reminder that they’ve only put aside so much money for me and when it runs out, I go home.
That reminder of how tenuous my employment is wasn’t a lot of fun.
The up side is that my time is valued and the people I work for don’t want me wasting it.
Now, you might think that’s been true as an engineer for a long time. But, it’s not true.
I’m spent many, many hours doing things that were total wastes. Some of them were even known to be wastes when I did them.
So, I’m trying to think of the good part of being concentrated on useful work and not on the idea I might not stay as employed as I’d like.
The good news on that front is the other place emailed me today with my start time for Monday. So, even if the budget runs out this week, there will be a next week.
In other stranger news,:
I spent some time this summer trying to grow some stuff on my balcony. Although the parsley was very parsly-ish, none of the other things grew more than green.
As it’s been getting cold (I had to scrape ice off the windshield this morning) I’ve brought the plants in for the winter.
But, right under the tree tonight, just where you’d expect to find fruit, I found this:
Yes, it’s a crunch bar!
We’ve thought it was a “dragon” plant. But, apparently it is a candy plant and grows chocolate right along with the wrapper.
I ate that one, just to be sure.
We’ll see if any others show up.
That would be cool.