the clock is ticking

I'M ALIVE!

Well, sort of. These past two weeks have been crazy and I can't remember everything that happened since last post, but I'll give it my best shot. I finished the cd case design for Harry's demo cd. I'm pretty happy with the result and I hope he is too because it's too late to change it now. ;) Even though it was tough at times, I had a blast making it and I learned a good deal in the process. I'm thankful he gave me the opportunity to do a project like this. It's out of my hands now, for the most part, so all I can do now is wish him luck at the Game Developers Conference and hope he gets rich so I don't have to tap the whiteboard every time he asks me for something (inside joke). He (or we) still have to get all the printing details sorted out, but for the most part it's all done. If anyone cares I'll post some pics of it later, once everything is all said and done.

I missed the volleyball team t-shirt deadline. Twice. Now I absolutely must finish it by this weekend because our first game is sometime next week. I'm kinda worried about this design because I'm all out of ideas on what do make. My original idea just isn't working, so I think it's best if I just start over from scratch. On top of that, I'm using Illustrator instead of Photoshop to design it, and since I'm new to Illustrator, it's going to be a slow process. Gotta keep hopeful though. Everyone is depending on me for this shirt design. woo.

Speaking of volleyball, we had our first practice this past Thursday. I had a blast. It was pretty obvious we were quite inexperienced at the game, but it was all in good fun. One thing is for sure though, it left me bruised and sore afterward. I may be skinny guy, but I never realized how out of shape I am. My legs are still a little sore a week later. I can't wait for our next practice!

Oh yeah, an update on the "problem employee." So I mentioned last post that I had been getting a lot of complaints about a certain coworker. I also mentioned that I was going to email my manager about it the following day. Well, I wrote a lengthy email explaining the situation and my thoughts on how to try and help this person improve. So I sent that email Friday just before my morning shift ended. Then I went to class and came back for my afternoon shift. From what I heard, it sounds like the person in question got a stern talking to in response to my email, but I didn't get any official word from my managers for a few days. So finally several days later (I think it was Wednesday) my manager calls me into his office to have a word with me. So I have a seat in his office and he goes over some info on some projects we have going. Then he gives me an update on the employee in question. First he talks about my email, saying how he was impressed with the depth to which I gave in both my description of the problem and the suggestions for how to deal with it. Then he tells me what their final decision is. She's fired. I was shocked. Basically he said that she just wasn't working out, despite having worked there for a long time (longer than most of us). A part of me feels a little guilty for her being fired, but at the same time I can't really feel bad. She brought it upon herself and I did what I had to do. The funny thing is just before my manager called me in to give me the news, she called the desk saying she wasn't going to make her afternoon shift, but that she would be there for her morning shift. She never showed up. On top of that, she got coverage for Thursday and Friday, and now that we're on Spring Break I don't think she knows yet that she's been fired. I'm just glad I'm not the one who has to tell her. Oh, and officially I am the only person aside from my managers who knows that she is to be fired. I really want to spread the word though. Such juicy info mustn't be kept secret! At any rate, now I have to go pick through the most recent applicants to find potential new hires. Ugh, I hate hiring new people. Although, interviewing them is devlish fun. >:D Too bad scheduling is such a pain. :|

In other random news, I broke my Amazon boycott and dropped $150 on the last two Dieselboy CDs I don't have, the Kurosawa Criterion Collection DVD box set, and the Chapelle's Show Season 1 DVD (since it's still sold out everywhere). Booo to Amazon for having stuff I want. /me shakes his fist at Amazon.

Ok, I'm too tired to write any more. I'll pick up the rest of this entry later. See ya.