Tropical Storm Wind Warning, Tornado Watch

The front page of the St. Petersburg Times this morning says it all "Fay is Fickle". I'm not complaining - I'm glad all this preparation was for almost nothing. I told my DH when he put up the storm shuttes that he had personally guaranteed we would not have a hurricane (by being so proactive). So, now I am off work today because the City closed down. This is what it SHOULD look like today:




Apparently we will get lots of rain, probably some flooding, but since the wind of the storm will be coming from the east (over the bay but not the gulf) it should not present a strong surge causing severe flooding. It's a little confusing because Pinellas county is a penninsula on a penninsula.

It's a good thing work is closed today because I got very little sleep last night - maybe 4 hours. There was some sort of banging noise outside, the ratties had 3 barking fits in the middle of the night so I ended up closing off the dog door, Chloe or the cat wanted out everytime I closed off the dog door, wind was creating movement and shadows (what we could see of it through the shutters anyway), etc.

Luckily the change in the storm means I won't have to put up the last 6 or 7 metal shutters, bring in patio furniture, plants, etc. That's a good thing because I am exaughsted from all the up and down last night. I ended up sleeping on the couch so they wouldn't as easily hear that noise on the side of the house. I went out this morning at 7am to look and I heard it just before going into the side yard and waited but it didn't repeat while I was there. The noise remains a mystery.

Changes at Work

I borrowed these images from the City's web site to show off where I work :) The City has a huge photo gallery if you are interested in seeing more of beautiful St. Petersburg. (click on images for larger view)

This is image of the north side of Central avenue coming from my building. I believe Centrla Ave is almost solely responsible for the sustinence of the government worker as witnessed by the number of eateries you see in this photo.

This is a skyline view of the downdown area. Notice the tall black building. I work across the street. Mostly what you see of my building is the parking garage, looks kinda yellow. It is to the right of the black building and about half the height.

This is the St. Petersburg pier. Shops, restaurants, events, boats, etc. There is even a floating wedding chapel!

This is Baywalk. shops, restaurants, movies, and art. Baywalk and the surrounding area is very walkable and browsable 9is that a word?).

I'm up wide awake at 3am so thought I would write a boring blog about work. Perhaps it will put me back to sleep! LOL

Worked very late tonight moving to a different workstation. Starting Tuesday (Monday is a holiday) I will be assuming a new position. No applause, it's a lateral move. But, that's OK - it gves me an opportunity to learn something new and important to the organization.

Tonight we had to do the desk switches which also involves phone extensions and computer changes. I moved from being a customer Service Supervisor in the call center to being a Customer Service Sueprvisor in the adjustments section (commonly referred to as the Billing Supervisor). The Administrative Secretary moved into my old position and a customer Service Representative moved into hers. But, the desk swapping didn't stop there. The CSR came from a different floor meaning we added one body to our floor (same department).

So to make room for the person who previously held my new position, we started by moving a person who spends most of his day in the field into the conference room that is set up like an office (actually it was my office at one time, LOL). This meant we could move another CSR into his space which worked out well because one function she does requires a bit more space. With her space freed up we were able to move another CSR who sits a bit far away from the rest of the call center into the other CSRs space and bring her closer to the pack. Her space was then occupied by the person who was sitting where the person I am replacing is going.

Got all that? Tp add to it, some phone extension were moved and some stayed the same and only the names were changed in the directory. Plus, Tuesday some computers will be moved - some will stay. I had to draw myself a schematic to keep up with it all!

See, told you it was boring,
Vickie