Olympics, EAJs, and an alpaca with messy eating habits
My life for the last two weeks has mostly consisted of working on EAJ2 in front of the Olympics, interspersed with tree planting and weed spraying. Watching sport at least 8 hours a day has been different enough to my usual routine that I almost feel like I've had a holiday. Well, a change, anyway. I'm now suffering from withdrawal and counting down to London.
I got really, really excited about Sally McLellan's silver in the hurdles and Steve Hooker's gold in the pole vault. Both of them seemed so incredibly focused and deserving that I was thrilled they did so well. Plus, I love Hooker's hair and was glad to get to see a lot of it! Then Matthew Mitcham's gold in the diving topped everything off nicely. It's hard to believe there's only one publicly out gay male athlete in the entire Games. I also loved Ken Wallace's (gold in kayaking) comment in the TV studio while watching a replay of Mitcham's dive: (something like) "Wow, how amazing to be an Olympic gold medallist!" Reporter: You are an Olympic gold medallist! Wallace: (surprised) Oh! Yeah, I guess so!
EAJ1 has continued to be a pleasure. I sent the guy an invoice after completing the bulk of the work, and was a bit disappointed to find that he was much slower to pay me than he had been to answer any of my questions relating to getting the job done. I kept checking my bank account to no avail and telling myself that normal commercial terms are 30 days and it was perfectly fair for him to wait that long. Then, I finally went to the post office and found a cheque had been sitting there for a week! He hadn't been slow at all, it just hadn't occurred to me that any company would pay by cheque. I hope that company wants me to do some ongoing work, though I think they're planning to hire a full-time accountant soon.
EAJ2 is still an utter shambles and the audit is due to start Monday. My last three emails and one text message requesting more information are yet to be answered and I heard yesterday that one of the people I've been trying to reach has gone to Peru. Grrrrr. I hate it when direct requests go ignored! A simple one-liner saying "Will get back to you next week" or "deadline has changed" or even "if you're having to ask these questions you're obviously not the person for the job" would make all the difference to my state of mind. I'll get on the phone if I haven't heard anything by this afternoon, but I'm not happy. They're probably not happy at how much work remains to be completed, but they're not making it easy.
Our cute little 3-month-old cria Miranda has an interesting habit. About a month ago I noticed a yellow liquid appearing in the feed dishes of the group of mother alpacas with cria. Very strange! The amount of liquid and the number of dishes affected (and requiring washing) increased over time, so apparently it wasn't an accident. By separating the alpacas into different yards to feed, I figured out that it was Miranda, and that she was, in fact, deliberately peeing in her feed dish. I thought perhaps she preferred the feed wet, and tried adding water, but at this point I've concluded that she just happens to like the taste of food soaked in urine. It drips from her cute fluffy little face as she eats... As far as I know there's no health problem with this, so for now I'm just separating her at each feeding so she doesn't wander around and pee in all the other dishes, too. Suggestions welcome if anyone has a better idea!
I got really, really excited about Sally McLellan's silver in the hurdles and Steve Hooker's gold in the pole vault. Both of them seemed so incredibly focused and deserving that I was thrilled they did so well. Plus, I love Hooker's hair and was glad to get to see a lot of it! Then Matthew Mitcham's gold in the diving topped everything off nicely. It's hard to believe there's only one publicly out gay male athlete in the entire Games. I also loved Ken Wallace's (gold in kayaking) comment in the TV studio while watching a replay of Mitcham's dive: (something like) "Wow, how amazing to be an Olympic gold medallist!" Reporter: You are an Olympic gold medallist! Wallace: (surprised) Oh! Yeah, I guess so!
EAJ1 has continued to be a pleasure. I sent the guy an invoice after completing the bulk of the work, and was a bit disappointed to find that he was much slower to pay me than he had been to answer any of my questions relating to getting the job done. I kept checking my bank account to no avail and telling myself that normal commercial terms are 30 days and it was perfectly fair for him to wait that long. Then, I finally went to the post office and found a cheque had been sitting there for a week! He hadn't been slow at all, it just hadn't occurred to me that any company would pay by cheque. I hope that company wants me to do some ongoing work, though I think they're planning to hire a full-time accountant soon.
EAJ2 is still an utter shambles and the audit is due to start Monday. My last three emails and one text message requesting more information are yet to be answered and I heard yesterday that one of the people I've been trying to reach has gone to Peru. Grrrrr. I hate it when direct requests go ignored! A simple one-liner saying "Will get back to you next week" or "deadline has changed" or even "if you're having to ask these questions you're obviously not the person for the job" would make all the difference to my state of mind. I'll get on the phone if I haven't heard anything by this afternoon, but I'm not happy. They're probably not happy at how much work remains to be completed, but they're not making it easy.
Our cute little 3-month-old cria Miranda has an interesting habit. About a month ago I noticed a yellow liquid appearing in the feed dishes of the group of mother alpacas with cria. Very strange! The amount of liquid and the number of dishes affected (and requiring washing) increased over time, so apparently it wasn't an accident. By separating the alpacas into different yards to feed, I figured out that it was Miranda, and that she was, in fact, deliberately peeing in her feed dish. I thought perhaps she preferred the feed wet, and tried adding water, but at this point I've concluded that she just happens to like the taste of food soaked in urine. It drips from her cute fluffy little face as she eats... As far as I know there's no health problem with this, so for now I'm just separating her at each feeding so she doesn't wander around and pee in all the other dishes, too. Suggestions welcome if anyone has a better idea!