Time goes by so fast!

It is hard to believe that two more weeks have gone by. It has just been whirling past me. Still putting in long hours but thankfully not as long as the cutover and go-live weeks. Only around 57 hours now!! Things are very slowly settling down. Still lots of data issues and one time when I relayed the problem to my supervisor she replied "hummm. I will have to ponder that". We have a habit of coming up with "new and different" problems!!

On the home front, Terry has had a hard time "keeping trucking". He gets to a place and then it takes 2-4 days to get another load to somewhere else. Then he has to wait another 2-4 days. Very frustrating and boring. Believe it or not, Terry was stuck in Las Vegas and was happy to get out of there!! When you have a big truck, you can't go far and usually the company yards truck stops are not close to the casinos or shopping. That is probably a good thing!! Pretty boring when the highlight of the day is doing laundry or getting a Subway sandwich. Now he is on his way to Fort Collins, CO. Will see where he goes from there. He hasn't been home since Christmas...sigh.

I haven't done anything but work so there are no pictures to post unless I take one of my office!! Thanks again to everyone who has been praying this project will go well. I certainly am learning A LOT about the "new" system, mill procedures and office politics.

We did it

Got done with this week's work Saturday at 1:45 p.m. So the week after Christmas I put in 69hours (even with taking half day off to go to Dr and get meds for my sinus infection AND a much needed nap!!). I have improved greatly but still coughing some. This week I put in 88 hours. The project implementation went well. The Prineville team did great (there are a couple folks that are struggling with the transition but overall folks have good attitudes and are learning fast and making progress.) There is still ALOT of data setup issues so most of my time is still dealing with data instead of support for the folks. My supervisor put even more hours in than me but went home Saturday after being here for 2 weeks. We had several folks helping us from corporate IT and the other mills. One of my worries is that since I have spent the last two months AND implementation week on data, I will be learning the support role as I go but I will be able to make lots of phone calls and get help. Overall it was very successful considering it was a total change of systems and our folks had to change their way of thinking (from tracking units of wood with individual numbers to tracking it only my part number and quantity and going from one Work Order per sales line to mutiple Work orders because now there is a work order for each component used to make the final product). The support will get lighter as they learn more and do more on there own but the stabilization will take about 3 months. To get an idea about how big the project was - there are 10 different screens of data that need entered to set up one part and we set up over 11,000 parts. Some of the parts have 2 to 10 components. I wrote the scripts to pull the information from the old system and created the spreadsheets used by data entry folks - about 130 spreadsheets (so far). Anyway, the Lord has sustained me. Local Management were really supportive and even the Millwork Division Manager came from corporate offices to be on hand for support. I have always felt that the Lord wanted me to have this job and He has made sure that I have been able to help the folks to be successful. By His mercy and help, WE DID IT. Praise His Holy Name!!!!!

Sinus infection

I was even sicker today. Planned to work from home but there was a power outage blip and then the internet wouldn't work. So headed to work. Got DR appt and found out I have a sinus infection. This is only the 2nd one I have ever had. The other one was when Ryan and Eric were about 4 & 5 years old!! I did not know that the pressure would even make your teeth, ear, and under your chin hurt. But the antibiotics have kicked in and I took a nice nap so am feeling a little better tonight. Doctor says I should feel better tomorrow or for sure the next day. Everyone at work was very caring and concerned about me. Even though I was feeling yucky somehow the sympathy helps!!!
Thanks in advance to anyone who might be sending prayers my way.

Only 7 days to go

In seven days, we will implement the project I have been working on for over a year. I have been working long days and a cold/allergy mix has taken hold of me. It is definitely the WRONG time to get sick. It may have turned into bronchitis. I was getting better and thought I was doing well on Sunday and then Monday I started coughing way too much. Now my sides and back muscles hurt. So now I am trying to decide whether to use Nyquil tonight or Benedryl. It has been raining all day and that hasn't helped. I think I am really allergic to work and winter. Well, enough complaining. For those of you who may not know, I have identical twin grandchildren due in July so when I am feeling overwhelmed and down I just have to think about all my wonderful children and grandchildren, husband, family, supervisor and co-workers and it lifts my spirits. If I don't blog much the next couple weeks, you will know it is because I have been "consumed" by work. Had chinese food tonight and my forture said "Use your abilities at this time to stay focused on your goal. You will succeed." HAVE A GREAT NEW YEAR!!

Snow dogs and bunnies

Saturday we woke up to 4" of snow and then by noon had another 2". This afternoon it is snowing hard again. Don't know how much will accumulate this time. The dogs had a fun time searching for bunnies in the front yard while the bunny was in the backyard with the birds helping himself to some birdseed. Watching the snow, the bunnies, birds and dogs is fun but driving in it is NOT. It took me twice as long to get to church because of the icy, snow packed roads. It is hard to be too dismayed when you think about God decorating his world for Christmas! It is very beautiful.

Various things

Truckin' business is slow going right now - Terry was stuck in Bakersfield for 3 days, then got a short run to Las Vegas then back to Fontana CA where he was stuck another 3 days. Today he has a load to Red Bluff. With the slow economy it is hard to get loads with any miles to them and at this time of year the customers want to keep their inventories low so don't want deliveries until after the New Year. Then from the customer's point of view, sometimes they have deliveries they want to get made but it is hard to get trucking companies to do them because if the destination is too far across the country, the truckers can't get back home in time for Christmas.
It's like a catch-22.
On the home front - just working!! LOTS!! One bright spot was Terry Jr's band concert where he played a short solo! He plays a trumpet. He did GREAT!
Our 6 inches of snow melted and now we have rain and ice. Every few days we have something different. Keeps me on my toes (and shivering!)

Sleep-over

During our Thanksgiving week-end we had our grandsons TJ, Skyler and Keon spend the night. We made cookies and played games. It was a fun sleep-over. Grandpa was home too so had a nice time together - but as always it zipped by too fast. This whole year has just zoomed by. I am sure working 45 to 60 hours each week since mid-September makes it go fast. We only have 32 days until the big project I have been working on is implemented. Our GO-LIVE date is January 4, 2011. That's when we migrate from our local database to the corporate database. I have been gathering data for over 10,000 parts and making data entry spreadsheets for months. I dream about Excel spreadsheets and sorting data. So anytime I get to spend time with my hubby or grandkids, family and friends is like a mini-vacation. I want to THANK THE LORD for ALL the blessings HE has lavished upon me and my family.