Happy Halloween

There's a way nasty windstorm going on outside. The wind cuts and it's mixed with big snowflakes/sleet. Umbrellas work only to a point. The wet gets under, over and around anything you wear to avoid it. My hair, after today, looks an awful lot like that poodle down below......

Which probably explains that we only had one trick or treater this year. And he was the kid from across the hall. (Well, ok, another explanation could also be the fact that we live in a coded entry building, so no one gets in here without an invitation or a wierd magnetic key and keypad thingy that lets you then enter your code.) Anyhow, he was dressed as Dracula. Hopefully the cape will keep him warm on his rounds.

(insert awkward transition here)

A while back Bookhart asked us to post what we do on a day to day basis...what is a typical day for us? I don't really think I have a "typical" day anymore, but I can tell you that at work right now I am so mired down in red tape and stupid organizational busywork that I could just scream. The only thing keeping my humor up is that everyone else at work is pretty much in the same boat in some way shape or form, and we all know it is NOT of our making or even the company's making. What is it about?

We are working with a company in India.

I'd heard that India can be a nightmare of red tape and regulatory busywork, and I'll be damned if that was not spot on. You send them a list they request, and then they come back wanting three more like it, but with small differences that honestly they could have done themselves merely by rearranging the spreadsheet....and then everything has to bear an official company stamp and the signature of whatever poor fucker did the list/spreadsheet/form/whatever. And lately? That poor fucker is me. And let me tell you, organizing documents and forms with original signatures from people that are scattered all over the world is not exactly my idea of a good use of time. Especially when most of those forms don't REALLY need original signatures, they could be scanned and emailed or just emailed as an Excel document with no change in information or whatever. Because, really, how important can my signature be? I'm just the flunky doing the gathering. But sign and stamp I do. DHL is making a bundle off of me.
It's honestly just the absolute WORST example of what bureaucracy can do. I am so impatient with things like this. I hate officialdom for officialdom's sake. (This applies equally at embassies and drivers' license offices.) This has been a big test of my patience, detail orientation and sense of humor. The scary thing is, when I leave for my high school reunion? It still won't be done and I will have to hand over the stamp to someone else....yet anotherr poor fucker down the line.