It was a tough move because I was feeling really sick on Friday with a migraine and a sinus infection. Even not doing any of the actual moving of boxes, it was exhausting because I spent from 8 a.m. to almost 5 p.m. on my feet or sitting in a kitchen chair or on my stability ball while the moving happened--not crashed out in my bed, on my sofa, or in my reclining chair as I would have wanted. In the afternoon, once we were at the new apartment, I was so tired that I lay down on the carpet with my coat over me and took a nap for about half an hour. I was absolutely frigid all day. Even when it was 70 degrees inside, I had my ankle-length wool coat on and was still shivering. But a lot of the day it was quite a bit colder inside because the movers opened the windows while they were working (and getting overheated, which I totally get).
I'm feeling better today and finally a little less tired as I got a full night's sleep plus a couple extra hours sleeping on-and-off before finally getting out of bed around 9:30 this morning. Robert decided he needed to go to work today but I decided to stay home with a personal day, as originally planned, even if I don't get a lot of the serious unpacking done. Getting caught up with laundry, cooking, and all the normal weekend chores before starting a new work week is going to keep me pretty busy anyway.
Now for the previously scheduled post:
Friday Before a Three Day Weekend and I'm Wearing a Suit Jacket -- Friday, 1/16/15
But that's only because I felt weird about dressing down on the day we were having user orientation on our new data software (even though I wasn't presenting anything and the users were all in jeans and whatnot) and because I really did want to try out another of my 88 cent bargains from the thrift shop.
Yep, we went live with our project, exactly according to schedule, which is kind of a miracle in itself. The data aren't really quite right (long story) but I get it that for our department head, we needed the credibility with executive management that we could deliver on time more than we needed to get every kink in the problematic data process sorted out before going live with it. (After all, she was able to tell our phase one users today that we're still working some things out so they shouldn't go to the bank with the numbers quite yet.) Our department head was pretty much in the very best mood I've ever seen her today after our user orientation session. What a relief to her to have reached this critical milestone.
Anybody out there have experience with "agile development"? This is the model we're using, and I definitely have some questions about it. It's kind of crazy....my team comprises the "developers," and I guess that's what we are, but I don't think any of us really have experience with anything that people like my sister would recognize as a development project.
So anyway...as you might be able to tell from the relatively high stance of this blazer, and its somewhat pronounced shoulder pads, it's an older, no, let's call it "vintage" suit jacket, and probably a size larger than I would usually buy. But for 88 cents, I loved the subtle maroon/black pattern and thought I could rock an 80's style slightly oversized blazer well enough. And the color matched my awesome ankle boots, so what's a girl to do?
*Black/black striped T (thrifted, Talbots)
*Maroon suit jacket (thrifted, Le Suit, 88 cents)
Black/black striped pants (thrifted, JCP)
Black tooth/claw necklace (Outfit Additions)
Maroon ankle boots by Dolce Vita
Here's a close up of the jacket and top. Oh what a difference some light makes. See, it's not black as the photo above would suggest!
I enjoyed wearing basic black pieces with subtle black-on-black stripes -- horizontal on the top, vertical on the pants. I love the thin fabric of this knit top; I think it will be perfect for wearing under a sleeveless dress once it's a big warmer. And these boots basically always make me feel like a bad-ass. Put the boots with the tooth/claw necklace on this outfit and I think I'm out of the primary "matronly and horribly outdated" zone where this blazer would otherwise be perfectly happy to gravitate to.
Verdict: This jacket isn't going to be one I go to all the time, but I found it both comfy and just a little bit dressed up as well as very easy to wear with black, and there are times that's just what you're looking for. I feel like I've already gotten my 88 cents worth out of this purchase; it's all extra from here.
5 comments:
Yes, we've been doing agile development for years as it has replaced the old waterfall method. Rick is a certified SCRUM master. I think it's a good process, but most teams take some liberties that sometimes make sense and are totally fine but other times can compromise the benefit of being agile. It's a good methodology though.
I have been so frazzled by our move, I got stranded this morning because Rick lost his car key last week and borrowed mine, and then accidentally took it to work in his jacket pocket instead of returning it to my purse... leaving me with the car but no way to drive it. I think I should have taken the week off from everything but unpacking. I almost had a nervous breakdown trying to find some stuff that got packed in some random box... so exhausting. I hope your move is going better, despite having been ill on the actual day of the move.
Ah, Jen, the post-move chaos. UGH. The thing with the car is just...bah, so bad. And it's awful when something ends up in a random box at the end - and doesn't that always seem to be the important stuff that you kept out to use up to the last minute?? I totally agree that I could have used a week off just for unpacking as well.
On the upside, it took me almost as much time to back out of my parking space and turn around to get out (we have assigned parking - my spot is easy to get into but is a very tight turn to get back toward the exit) as it did to drive to work. I'm about 5 minutes away. One of my co-workers (who moved from Snow City to Coldville about 6 months ago) pointed out to me today that you can see my apartment complex from my office window!
Jen, thanks for the info on agile - I might have to pick Rick's and your brain sometime. One thing I'm already seeing is documentation lagging the development quite a bit; it sounds like this is expected with the method, but I wonder whether we will ever get around to the documentation. I'm trying hard to keep my piece of it up-to-date.
You can definitely add documentation tasks to your sprints. I think it's easier if you work on it as you go instead of putting it off until later -- you just have to review & update if things change (as opposed to just adding new stuff). The only thing worse than no documentation is incorrect documentation?
My documentation is in pretty good shape, and luckily I volunteered for (what I perceive to be) the most important documentation task, so hopefully we won't be totally lost. But it's definitely a challenge for my group -- documentation generally, I mean.
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