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A Bit Under the Weather

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Today’s post comes from Curiosity’s Mars Rover.

So I hear the people at Yahoo are being told not to telecommute because it tends to isolate you. Thanks for the timely tip – though it’s not very helpful to me now. I’m committed to working at a distance.

And I’m not complaining, but how many of you would be able to stay calm if your workplace was millions of miles away from the home office, and yet most of the world finds out within minutes if you’re having an equipment malfunction? That’s what it’s like to be me. You’re wonderful, sophisticated, cutting edge technology. Blah blah blah. They love you for the textbook landing, but start to complain the first time you have a down day.

OK, so what if we had to switch to my “backup brain.” Is that so bad? Does everything have to carry such a stigma? If it had been my drilling arm that malfunctioned, my inbox would be overflowing with sympathy. But say that I’ve had a “software glitch” and suddenly the rumor mill is saying I’ve lost it.

Thanks for the vote of confidence.

curiosity020313

But I’m not complaining. I’m NOT!

Really, I’ve been patient. You wouldn’t believe what it’s like to work with these NASA engineers. Everything has to be examined and discussed. Trying something crazy just to “see what happens” is not in their vocabulary! I know that thinking things through is their strong suit, but really, you can overdo it, guys.

Yes, I’ve had a chance to drill a hole in a rock. Or so they tell me. Big whoop. Mostly I sit around waiting for instructions while Earth people in white shirts and skinny ties talk about what might happen next.

Yawn.

It’s no surprise one of my computers got “stuck in an endless loop” trying to process a command – they come so infrequently! And when I got switched to my “other brain” – a backup computer – do you think I noticed the difference? I did not. At least there should be a few feelings of freshness that come with turning on your backup brain, don’t you think?

But no. It’s just more of the same waiting game, only now I don’t even have the memory of drilling that hole. Must have been great. I get the feeling it will be a while before I get to do something like that again.

Ah, well. I await your command.

How do you compensate when you’re having an off day?

61 thoughts on “A Bit Under the Weather”

      1. I’ve seen Monkees recently on one of the retro stations that I get w/ cable. But more fun than that, is I happened upon an episode of Circus Boy, made when Mickey Dolenz was still a week tot. Actually kinda nice!

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        1. saw it this morning on an off channel circus boy that is. i used to watch it as a tike age 6 or 7 i would guess

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  3. Morning all. Very apropos topic for me today, since I’ve had a string of down days. It’s that time of year for me… too much work, not enough time. Yesterday I had to stop what I was doing and take a couple of big breaths to get centered. But mainly I have a scrapbook at my desk of assorted photos of myself in places all over the world that I’ve been lucky enough to visit. Whenever I get really beat up by a bad day, I take it out and flip through the pictures. It reminds me of the perks of my job and then i can usually soldier on.

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    1. Just cut up a banana and ate my cereal. My hands are screaming at me for doing that. I will be mostly a lurker for awhile longer.

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  5. Good morning. I’m not good at dealing with days when I am not in good form Actually, I don’t have that many days when I get into top form. Most of the time of the time I am more or less functional. On low functioning days I end up consuming more chocolate than usual and might fall asleep while trying to do some reading.

    Even on those days when I am far from top form I do mange to get through my usual daily chores and might get a little work done on some larger project before the day is over. Also, if I am not ready to get to work on things that I think I should be doing I will take time off and do a sudoku puzzle. Other times I can get myself back on track by telling myself to stop stewing around and to get back into gear.

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    1. Yes, Jim – I wonder if a sudoku sort of rearranges the brain to make it ready to “get back at it”, whatever it is.

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      1. Maybe the sudoko helps me get going. I’m afraid doing sudoko is just a delaying action because I am not looking forward to whatever is not my list of things to do.

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      2. The effect a sudoku has on my brain, is, unfortunately, to make me want to solve another sudoku. If the objective is to move me on to something else, it usually fails utterly.

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  7. An “off day” usually requires some kind of treat, usually a SWEET treat. And part of me knows that some kind of physical exercise will usually make me feel better, but another part doesn’t want to get up from the sudoku.

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  8. I do just the opposite of what I should do when I’m feeling low. I hide from other people, pour a big glass of wine and find a good DVD to watch, like maybe one from season 2 of Downton Abbey.

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  9. Because (as my friend Steph has told me), I have +10 positivity powers, when I have a down day it makes me extra cranky: first because it’s not a good day and then more so because I can’t get myself out of it easily (it’s like a person who doesn’t get headaches regularly complaining that much more when they do crop up because they’re just not used to them…which is also me). Dark chocolate helps. A book that makes me giggle helps (a Jasper Fforde does nicely). Getting together with a pal who can make me laugh so hard I cry – extra double plus good. Stopping and thinking about three things I am grateful for really helps – that one allows me to pause and reset the rails of where my little train is going.

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  10. when an off day is the thing that you find
    and the best you can do is take it reclined
    the only salvation is for things that you pined
    is to put your feet up and try to rewind
    take the world as it is with a touch of quinine
    try to get the world right , to get it alligned
    while old brother off day sneaks up form behind
    to get you off balance and mess with your mind
    make peace with the stars and the sunbams that shinded
    to make the day work like an off day refined
    you need good to get in there with bad intertwined
    take and try swirling good with the bad vibes combined
    and while it may not feel youve been valentined
    at least to your own heart you can try to be kind

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    1. I don’t really know, but I’ve always opined –
      On days when you’re feeling alone and maligned,
      Diminished and broken by life’s daily grind,
      You’ll feel better after you’ve wined and you’ve dined.

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      2. i wrote the damn thing once and was very pleased with it then word press messed with me and it disappeared. i hate it when that happens. i put it back together a second time with a strong departure from the first one.i am learning to feel less and less loving toward word press

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        1. You have to offer it sacrifices occasionally, by making little graven images or burning artfully crafted poetry or prose at its altar.

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      3. If for those good feelings you’ve unsuccessfully mined,
        And you wish you could punch the button called rewind,
        And to all of your people you’ve interminably whined…
        Take this tip I just thought of and go thou outsinde.

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  13. Fingers sightly better. Had a coyote–a big, sleek, well-fed looking coyote–run right outside my window yesterday. Loving our woods view. Getting the bird feeders setup, fending off the squirrel population.
    I seldom swear. I reserve the swear words for the bad moments. And since anger triggers my fm, I usually end up in a dark room lying down for at least a few minutes. And I decide if I am going to burden you Baboons with it. Deciding not to and only rarely telling you gives me some inner sense of peace.

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    2. Glad fingers feeling a little better too!

      I, unfortunately, am spitting mad right now. Have lost about 1.5 hours of work – working on my home laptop is NOT the most efficient. AARRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!

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  14. Well, a three hour nap has just revived me. We sang in the church choir at our 8:00 service this morning, and I found myself to be rather churlish. I was really, really irritated with the organist/pianist for her tempi (she plays too slow for singers to comfortable sing, and ignores the director, adding emotional, evangelical curlicues to her phrasing) so we skipped rehearsal after church and I went home and went to bed. Now I am all better.

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    2. have you got access to a REALLY LOUD metronome? (maybe mic it) if the tick tick were such that it would throw her off if she wavered. you could assign a tempo and make her set the metronome to a predetermined speed and if she slowed down all would know the metronome was not being followed.

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  15. I find that what usually works for me is a good long walk, even if it is just in my own little neighborhood. Bonus points if Ribbons the cat is out and about several blocks away.

    and Curiousity–I soooo envy you that “back-up brain”. I’d love to see what I could do if I knew I had a “back-up brain”.

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  16. an off day is a thing to bite the bullet and work through the best you can and hope for a better tomorrow. the beauty of an off day is that you can count on things getting better ( at least you can tell yourself so) it can be exhausting when it challenges you with an extended run of it cant be this bad tomorrows. thats what makes us different than the animals, we can dread and worry and focus on fear or… we can figure out how to do something, anything to get things going in the opposite direction. an off day is tolerable if it is an occasional visitor, its like a bedsore when it is extended and expected to made welcome and at home. i like anna am a lousy sick person because it never never comes up. when i do cave in to illness it is like a freefall into no mans land. i more often have challenges with figuring out the i dotting and t crossing on the everyday end of the spectrum. i got myself into a bunch of maintenance based commitments that have the ability to mess with you. i would rather be sick as a dog for a day than have the tight shoulders of angst be my partner until the wave passes. hot tub and tunes are the usual perscription. i am very comfortable being shriveled from extended bath therapy. i am lucky that i love my work and while many people say things like a bad day of fishing is better than a good day of work… i dont have that problem . i love figuring out the twists and turns of right brained solutions to the hurdles i keep banging my shins on.
    and clyde didnt want to burden,
    see clyde. if i cant whine and piss and moan on the trail where can i?

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  17. A few weeks ago (would you believe on the anniversary of my fall?) I got a nasty infection in my lower jaw, and have been pretty miserable ever since. My dentist gave me antibiotics and Vicoden, and I made an appointment with a periodontist. After much deliberation of what my alternatives are, I was scheduled for the extraction of the tooth that is the culprit (slim chance of saving it, and VERY pricey) and oral surgery to clean out the mess and make a bone graft in preparation for an implant. That is scheduled for Tuesday of this coming week, however Friday everything went to hell in a hand basket. Despite the antibiotics, I’ve come down with a nasty upper respiratory infection, and this afternoon at Urgent Care I was told I have pleuricy, so the oral surgery has to be postponed. I hurts to breathe and don’t even think of coughing; it’s been a long time since I’ve been this miserable. Hans is in full homemaker mode and tries to cheer me up with his culinary specialties, don’t know what I’d do without him. So to answer the question, when I have days that are this far off, I just curl up in bed and try to pass the time until I feel better doing Sudokus.

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    2. i need to do some tooth stuff and the option of going to thailand is something i have been told is a fantastic value. 1000 for the airplane ticket and 200 for the tooth the best hyatt i ever stayed in was 104 per night in downtown bangkok and the foot massage is 2 dollars and hour body massage 6 bucks food fantastic and the beach to the south is supposed to be to die for. when your tooth hurts plan a vacation to bangkok.
      (i heard mexico is good for tooth work too)

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  19. I like how Dale got into the “mind” of this Curiosity. Wish we could send Data from TNG, or even HAL, to keep him company while he’s doing all that waiting.

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