The Emotional Rollercoaster that was My Day

Chapter 1 - Frustration

So, today I spent the majority of my time migrating my project intranet pages to a content management system. Well, okay, it is now a blog, but what sounds better in my activity report? Dealing with the skins, the templates, the database, and the scripts to figure out how they all interact to produce a web page was not a straight forward task for those uninitiated with the intricacies of blogging engines and/or content management systems. Did I mention that I was uninitiated with the intricacies of blogging engines and content management systems?

Chapter 2 - Relief Crescendos to Excitement

So, towards the end of the day, I finally get the little bastard to do the majority of the things I want it to do. I start getting the pages looking more like what I had in mind than the initial templates, and each task seems to go a little bit easier. I get the content of the old website migrated over much more easily than anticipated, and the website is finely in a workable state. Now it supports syndication (read RSS/Atom), searching, and hell of lot easier means of updating the site. I start to realize how freaking cool this is. I anticipate the value of the website to increase several fold, as new content is displayed on the front page, and old content gets pushed aside but is still easy to access via the search.

Chapter 3 - Straight Giddy, Yo!

So, I am driving home to start five days off work. It is the closest thing I have had to a vacation in over two and half years, if you don't count the work I missed as a result of my car accident. I am rocking out to Cursive's Domestica, singing along like a dork vomit in my off-key baritone not caring who sees. I pick up some Bud Light Beer to drink with Buzz Light Year on the way home. Oh, I pick it up on the way home, not drink it on the way home with Buzz Light Year. Whatever. To Infinity and Beyond!

Chapter 4 - Sympathy and Sadness

So, I get home and I am just about to have a refreshing coldie at the end of day in which I struggled, yet emerged victorious, when the doorbell rings. I haven't even taking my badge off yet, so I start panicking thinking one of my neighbors has been watching my house so they could give me a piece of their mind over my yard or hedges or some other form of banal minutia. As I walk to the door, I decided this probably isn't the case since the shadow is all of about 4'6". I open the door and the young girl asks me if I have seen her sister. She has a flyer that reads "MISSING" with a picture and vitals, the whole bit. I don't recognize her. I haven't been out much in weeks, so there is little chance I have seen her. I tell the little girl no. She begins to describe her, something about a hair accessory. I continue to look at the flyer and see her sister is 22. I try to convince myself she probably ran off with a guy or something. The little girl's continued description after I said no was socially awkward, but she's a little girl whose upset about her sister missing. She's allowed to be socially awkward. Sort of the story of my life... I make valid reasons for everyone but me to behave socially awkward and beat myself up over it when I do it, but I digress. True to form, I tell the little girl "I haven't been going anywhere but work, so I don't think I have seen her." I don't think my logical explanation eased the little girl's disappointment. I followed with "Well, I haven't seen her, but I hope you have good luck finding her". Well, that is a nice thought, though awkwardly phrased. To make matters worse, it came out cold, stale and insincere although I meant every awkward word of it. It was one of those remarks you want to pull back out of the air before someone can respond because it came out SO wrong. The little girl thanked me and walked away. I watched her as she did, and noticed she walked through my yard. Then it really hit--she was walking door-to-door through my neighborhood by herself on a cold and rainy November day two days before Thanksgiving trying to find her missing sister who could be dead, kidnapped or just never heard from again or who the hell knows what else. My problems seemed less significant, and my good mood distant.