Panic Stations

I'm beginning to have doubts about my employers.

More than usual, I mean.

Recently, I agreed to look into taking on certain tasks relating to the upkeep and improvement of the websites, basically extending my support role to tidying up what the editors upload and adding keywords to make them more search engine-friendly... On Friday afternoon, I received and email from the Publishing Director, in lieu of a meeting to discuss my progress on all kinds of shit I did not agree to do.

I've said all along that they should be headhunting someone with the skills and experience necessary to take on the web project, but it's becoming increasingly likely that they want to strongarm me into the job, despite the facts that I don't have the skills, experience or - frankly - the inclination to take it all on. I've been in a minor support role all along, and that's all I have time for. They want to offer me extra money for out-of-hours, out-of-office work, but they have no idea what's actually required, or how long it will take... Which is one of the reasons I agreed to look into things. If nothing else, I'd be able to give them a more precise idea of what's needed from whoever they employ.

The problem is that they "don't have the budget" for a full-timer on what's perceived to be a part-time project. The problem with that is that they have targets to hit... and I have no idea how to achieve them. Seriously, these people have created so many problems for themselves by promoting existing employees into jobs they are incapable of doing... I'm not about to become one of them. I think I can barely do the job I've just been promoted to - Production Manager - because I'm still spending all my time doing what I always used to do, and I don't have time to keep tabs on my team. The only reason I'm surviving is that I have a bloody good team... for the moment.

I woke up quite early this morning, but only managed to stay awake for about an hour and a half because I was still quite tired and because it's suddenly become rather cold. From the recent clear blue skies, we have come to skies you can't even see because of the cloud and constant rain, and temperatures have dropped markedly. When I woke up again, I had a cold sweat and a headache... possibly due to equal parts job panic and worrying about a friend in the States who's seriously unwell right now.

If there was any light, I could take my mind of things by doing some photography... Not only am I behind in photographing my TF Movie toys and my repaints thereof, but I have things like Music Label Soundwave and, more recently, BotCon2007 souvenir figure Springer (who's excellent - far less garish than Galaxy Force Exigeyser, and manages to look just enough like his Gen 1 incarnation)... And I haven't even photographed the boxed set.

Even more annoying, I have plenty of ideas for fun 'posed' photos - like Movie Megatron holding his arms out to my scrapmetal 'Predator' statue, asking "Daddy?", and a short photocomic where ML Soundwave infiltrates the Autobot base, gets Classics Bumblebee hooked on Goth Rock, and turns him into 'Emo-Bumblebee' (aka Bug Bite from this year's BotCon set).

On the subject of ML Soundwave, now that I have a Mini SD card (or three - thanks, Crucial, for supplying one after you'd told me they were out of stock!), I've been able to play about with him an a more meaningful manner. I have to say, the quality of his sound output far exceeds that of my three year old Creative Zen. He's able to reach higher volumes, too. If it weren't for the bland design of his alternate mode (come on, Reprolabels... Do something!), and Gen 1 cartoon accurate head sculpt, he would be (in the contemporary vernacular) 'made of win'. Strange that there have been so many complaints and problems bandied about in the fandom... but I guess I've just been very fortunate with mine.