When things get stressful at work, repeat Mooch’s mantra:

“Little Pink Sock, little pink sock.”

I don’t know why I find this so soothing, but when it’s little pink sock day at Muttscomics, I’ll forget my troubles and be the kitty for a moment with my beloved l’il pink sock. I’ll even sing it under my breath.

Be the kitty. Mmmm. It helps to keep my head from exploding.

For example, today’s the first day that just about everyone on my team at work is using Lotus Notes for email instead of a web-based email package. I hated the former email client they used, because for the technically non-savvy (and we’re talking on the level of “my blinky is stuck” remember), it’s a terrible product. Mostly because the TNS folks are very link-dependent, and for some reason in this particular package, the links to their inboxes were constantly getting corrupted and had to be rebuilt. Also, they were constantly messing up their passwords and getting locked out (actually, a small minority did this, but the same few people multiple times), so I was frequently sending “please reset password for user Cluefrieda Myblynkistock” emails to the tech support desk. Note: for the technically savvy, it’s not a bad product, but a bit funny about links, so you get used to typing a partial URL into the browser and letting it autocomplete its way to your inbox.

Next week I get to send the tech request to blow away all the IDs for the old email package. I can’t wait. Especially as it’s Hat Week next week, and I plan on wearing something really silly in honor of Spring, and also Blowing Away Those Damn IDs.

Okay, so now they’re all on Lotus. I’ve been on Lotus now for about 2 1/2 years or more, so I’m used to it (not that I love it – I’m simply not as frustrated with it as I was in the beginning).

The question of the day, of course, is:

“Red?? I can’t get to the Internet?”…

…because most of them don’t realize that email and webpages are actually two different Internet applications (actually, did you know that webpages ARE “the Internet?”)

So for those few, those pycho, those totally cluefree members of my team, I will be repeatedly telling them to “click on the blue E” to get to “the Internet.” Forever, probably.

::deep, cleansing breath::

Little pink sock, little pink sock…