Catching My Breath...
After the 6+ weeks of high-level stress and overload at work, the bulk of my code is checked in and working! Now I'm finishing up a few lingering tasks and ironing out a couple of areas where we never quite finished connecting all the pieces. I've had some moments today where I could actually think, instead of chasing problems in circles. What a relief.
It isn't all smooth sailing yet. My PC still struggles to maintain its internet connection at times, and connectivity to my Linux machine at work is hugely problematic. I spent HOURS yesterday trying to access my code, and eventually the Linux desktop crashed. After I just rebooted it the day before. I received a new PC from the office last Friday, but I haven't had time to get it set up. I've been under so much pressure to get my code in that I haven't had the time to resolve those larger productivity problems. \o?
Honestly, I wake up to the alarm clock every morning and wonder what day it is. That's been the shape of the last six weeks, at least. But at least it's better than last week, where I had an early-morning meeting and was awakened 20 minutes early by the "phantom" alarm clock in my head. GAH.
In non-work news, Idol Survivor is finally winding down. We've been answering questions for the last two weeks, and I finished and posted my closing statement last night. Now, it's all up to the Jury. :O I sure hope they vote for me!
Some humor (click the video box), shared by our son. The funniest part of this is that the first guy immediately hears what he sounds like, and relaunches the phrase using a West Coast dialect. But his friends keep obliviously grunting out "Urr urrr a(n) urr URRR," because that IS how they say it and it doesn't seem strange to them. Our son told me what the phrase was before he played the video, and I couldn't imagine why it would be interesting. But I had no idea how similar a Baltimore dialect would make those vowel sounds BE. Wow.
Now, in my dialect (West Coast), the vowel sounds in "earned" and "urn" are the same, and I don't know of anywhere in the U.S. where they wouldn't be. Is there a region that says oorn or uhhrn for "urn"? Actually, I can maybe see parts of Texas saying uhhrn (and arn for "iron"). And I'm sure "earned" sounds more like AIRnd in Scotland, but that doesn't count here.
"Aaron" and "Erin" are pronounced the same way in my dialect, but parts of New York would run a steamroller over the first part of "Aaron" and then lean on that dead vowel afterward: AR-run like the "a" sound in "cat." Previously, I would have said that those were pretty much the only two options for pronouncing that name, but that video proves me wrong! Though I can't help wondering if "Aaron" and "Erin" also sound the same in THAT dialect, but with a different vowel sound?
This brings back memories of when I worked in Illinois, and the guy on the National Weather Service channel would talk about a storm or cold front moving in from Utah, and make it sound like the state ended in a "w"- YOO-taw! \o?
It isn't all smooth sailing yet. My PC still struggles to maintain its internet connection at times, and connectivity to my Linux machine at work is hugely problematic. I spent HOURS yesterday trying to access my code, and eventually the Linux desktop crashed. After I just rebooted it the day before. I received a new PC from the office last Friday, but I haven't had time to get it set up. I've been under so much pressure to get my code in that I haven't had the time to resolve those larger productivity problems. \o?
Honestly, I wake up to the alarm clock every morning and wonder what day it is. That's been the shape of the last six weeks, at least. But at least it's better than last week, where I had an early-morning meeting and was awakened 20 minutes early by the "phantom" alarm clock in my head. GAH.
In non-work news, Idol Survivor is finally winding down. We've been answering questions for the last two weeks, and I finished and posted my closing statement last night. Now, it's all up to the Jury. :O I sure hope they vote for me!
Some humor (click the video box), shared by our son. The funniest part of this is that the first guy immediately hears what he sounds like, and relaunches the phrase using a West Coast dialect. But his friends keep obliviously grunting out "Urr urrr a(n) urr URRR," because that IS how they say it and it doesn't seem strange to them. Our son told me what the phrase was before he played the video, and I couldn't imagine why it would be interesting. But I had no idea how similar a Baltimore dialect would make those vowel sounds BE. Wow.
Now, in my dialect (West Coast), the vowel sounds in "earned" and "urn" are the same, and I don't know of anywhere in the U.S. where they wouldn't be. Is there a region that says oorn or uhhrn for "urn"? Actually, I can maybe see parts of Texas saying uhhrn (and arn for "iron"). And I'm sure "earned" sounds more like AIRnd in Scotland, but that doesn't count here.
"Aaron" and "Erin" are pronounced the same way in my dialect, but parts of New York would run a steamroller over the first part of "Aaron" and then lean on that dead vowel afterward: AR-run like the "a" sound in "cat." Previously, I would have said that those were pretty much the only two options for pronouncing that name, but that video proves me wrong! Though I can't help wondering if "Aaron" and "Erin" also sound the same in THAT dialect, but with a different vowel sound?
This brings back memories of when I worked in Illinois, and the guy on the National Weather Service channel would talk about a storm or cold front moving in from Utah, and make it sound like the state ended in a "w"- YOO-taw! \o?