Sunday, August 28, 2016

AH..... BLISS!

This is my idea of an awesome day at work: In a rocker, on the landing of the wolverine habitat, waiting for them to come out and play....

I should be working on my business plan, or the exhibit for the castle, but I'm just vegging. Enjoying the quiet in between visitors, who have no idea what they're missing, when they run up, look around, don't see anything, and leave again. It's been almost 3 hours, and I haven't seen them yet, so the visitors may have a point, but I still think if you're in a zoo to watch animals, you should at least give them a chance to show up :-) If you want them ready and waiting for you at the fence, you really should consider going to a ridingstable.

Internet is available, but I can't even get google to come up, so I'm happily "off line" today. I wonder if I should check  with the cell provider, if the bundle I'm looking for when I'm "official" includes me using my phone to get my laptop online.

The other thing I'm just thinking of is......... If I'm offline, will my "local host" dealy work? That will put a crimp in me coming out to my favorite office to work..... I'll try that out in a little bit. For now, I want to sit, relax and if I drift off......... so be it, as long as I don't drop my laptop that is.

Sitting here, I noticed that the zoo is growing up. There are less bare spots, trees are thicker, and so is the underbrush, and were the wolverines pretty stealthy before, I truly believe they could be right below me in the woods, and I would not see them. Luckily they still have the old paths in use, so maybe I'll get lucky today, and see them. Per the newsletter, they now have a new male to better match up with the female they had put with the older male when his mate died, so I don't know where their favorite spots are yet. I never DID get an answer as to what happened to the old male. He was so funny to watch. Always busy, running this way or another, inquisitive and playful. I couldn't count the times he would haul ass thru the paddock, dissappear, and reappear halfway up a tree. Always the same one, but never from the same route as the last time. I think watching this little guy got my love for them started, and the special Casey Anderson did on them, clinched it. Wolverine will have to go on my list of pets I would love to have and know I can't because they're not quite "cuddle up on a cold winters night" material, and best viewed in their element....... right up there with a wolf, a cougar, a bobcat, a raccoon and a hedgehog.

Clouds are coming in, so I hope it will rain so they'll come out and play, but it's been awfully quiet.......... Even the birds seem to be giving this area a mis.  Upswing is... there's not a whole lot of people here today..It's almost 1, computer is starting to run low on juice, I'm getting hungry and I drank 2 bottles of water (with the customary side effects) so I think I will wander down to the restaurant for relief and a cup of tea and see if they have a plug-in.

Don't forget to hug that loved one?

Pauli

What's not to love about this office? LOL.

Saturday, August 27, 2016

SO HAPPY, BUT NEVER AGAIN

will I sign up for a course at Scheidegger. What a mess!
I told you about the first half of the course, and some parts of the second half, but the final part is the absolute kicker!

So I turned in my exam, (did I tel you about how easy that was?) and waited. 4 to 6 weeks...... On Thursdaymorning, so the day before the deadline for getting my grade, I got word that my results were in and zipped over to e-connect to see, and just about had a conniption fit!  I failed with a 1 (out of 10 score) Not because I didn't know what I was doing, but because they couldn't open the files I had sent them. I couldn't figure out what was going on with that, because I sent myself an email, with the same zipfile from WeTransfer, and opened it just fine.... And than I realized..... I had never seen a download confirmation that they had actually downloaded the files in the first place, even though I had told them, that the link was only good for a certain number of days AND even put the expirationdate of the link in the email. I did get an email that they had sent the files on to the examiner, but I forgot to ask if they sent him the link, or the actual files. I guess that's on me.......

So I emailed them to ask the WTF!? You wait 6 weeks to tell me you can't open the files, that open just fine for everybody else, by the way, and than fail me? I got no response to that, so I called, and got no response, so I sent them another email......... and got a response! I was amazed. So sorry, don't know what happened, examiner should have let us know, so we could have advised you to resubmit, you have till Monday end of business to send us your exam information. Mind you, this email I get afternoon Friday!. In itself not a problem, but at this time, I have no clue WHY he can't open the files, and if it is the way they're zipped, sending it again, is not going to help, but WILL take a retry for the exam away. So I call, and all I'm told is that he couldn't open it, and they don't know why, and to just send it in, "it will be ok". YEAH RIGHT!!

So I send it in, in loose folders, attached to an email, (which promptly turned it into a googledrive file) with the question if they can see if they can open the files, and let me know, because I don't know why the examiner couldn't open them. I even included the email from a friend, showing that THAT morning, he opened the zip I sent initially, without a problem, so........ Help me out here. (At this time it's after 5, so well after they close for the weekend, and I'm twitching all weekend) Now their email system sends you the per-functionary "we got your mail, and get back to you eventually" message, so I called them Monday morning, probably 5 minutes after they switched the phone off weekend-service to let them know it was there, and could they please check....... They couldn't open the files, but they could check with the examiner, and please hold........  After a couple of minutes, they get back on the phone, they cannot reach the examiner, but they will open up the e-connect exam upload area for me, until the next evening. At this point, I STILL don't know if it is a zipfile thing, or if I deleted one too many files from the baseprogramming, but I'm deciding to roll with it anyway.  So I delete the old files, and upload all the files seperately. Now that's a tricky bit, because, there's an 8  file-upload max AND a total MB max the system wil allow (the reason I tried to streamline the website in the first place) I combine what I can into folders, cross my fingers and hit send.... Monday evening, I go thru what I uploaded with my nieces boyfriend to troubleshoot possible trouble, since we don't know if they can, or why they wouldn't be able to, open the files. He "spare" zips them a couple of ways, even though we both know that a zip is a zip, but hey, at this point we're grasping at straws, he writes me a hash, so they can check if the files corrupt in transfer somehow. I know, at this point, I have done everything I can possibly do to get the files there, and silently vow, if they still can't open them, I'm going to drop them off on a usb-stick taped to a brick, thru the office window. LOL.
So Tuesday morning, I call the office again, and it showed them received and passed on to the examiner. When I told him I was wondering why they couldn't be opened by them, and if maybe it was the specialized programs used to create the files (but I sincerely hoped the examiner would have them installed as well) or if there was a fundamental problem with the files, he was very nice about it, put me on hold and talked to the examiner, and came back on. He didn't seem so upbeat at that point, and when he said: "Your files are with the examiner, he can and has opened them, and your work has his full attention" my heart sank...... I figured he would nitpick it to death, just because I had been a pest! I was told that there would be results posted probably by end of the week, but no later than the end of next week.  Wednesday evening I had my results! I passed! Score of 7 out of 10, so I was extremely pleased with that. Now I can start practicing and learning for real! I'm expecting my diploma in the mail within 10 days!

You know, I'm happy I made it, but I honestly believe that this whole experience should not have been so freaking stressful. It's not the study, it's everything around it that just feels like a sheister operation. I mean, I got the same help from the teacher as if I were doing a "do it yourself" downloadable PDF course.  The books weren't worth the 400Euro's they charged for them, but I guess if they charge the same for books on every course, some courses come out ahead, and some will have more costs than gets taken in, and in the overal picture, the school doesn't lose money on the deal....... I think they actually worked for the 195 Euro I paid to take my exams, but I think they royally overcharged for the teacher to be there! And than there is the fact that they "forgot" to inform me that the course that I picked, was cancelled, sending me double the distance to school etc. etc. etc!

BUT! I MADE IT! Now the fun really starts!  I need to practice so if you have ideas, send them to me, so I have other ideas than my own to work on, but mainly to get me out of my comfort zone. THAT part doesn't take a whole lot at the moment, but still. LOL.

Well, you're updated. Tomorrow I'm going to test my "office at the zoo" and if that works, I'll be working there one day a week, until it gets too cold. Got my spot all picked out. Above the Wolverine pen, there is this deck, with hanging wicker chairs hanging from the ceiling, looking out over the whole area....... THAT'S where you will find me tomorrow, from 10 to 6. Mike will drop me off, go to work, and pick me up (he "hopes to remember to swing by the zoo" LOL) on his way home.....

For folkes reading this, and in the area, we're having a free entry to the castle weekend September 10 and 11, with all kinds of things going on, and I'm in charge of the exhibit about Archeology at the castle! SO MUCH FUN!!  I'm working on getting a Falconer, but not having a lot of luck, the event being 2 weeks away and all. LOL. I'll let you know how it pans out.

Well, it's time to leave you alone, go to market, get some lunch (I've been up since 4.30, so this is lunch time for me :-) Don't forget to hug a loved one and twice when they're the fuzzy variety?

Love and hugs,
Pauli