I Love When Things Work Out

I do love it when things work out better than expected. Case in point, I just put my boss on an NPR program. He wasn't sure it went as well as he would have hoped, but I told him that he did a great job and that because of the program's reach, it was a fantastic spot for us. I got him feeling better and then right after I got off the phone with him, I got a call from the program's host to say thank you and to invite him on again in the future. Who rocks?! Booyah!

Can't Work, Ah Well

Ahhh, it should be a relaxing day at work, but it so isn’t. But damn it I can’t really think so I’ll just churn out a blog post to get the writing groove started.
Ever since I work up this morning, I’ve had Lee Dorsey’s “Working in a coal mine” song stuck in my head. In case you don’t know it, it starts off like this:

“Workin' in a coal mine
Goin' down down down
Workin' in a coal mine
Whop! about to slip down
Workin' in a coal mine
Goin' down down down
Workin' in a coal mine
Whop! about to slip down
Five o'clock in the mornin'
I'm all ready up and gone
Lord I am so tired
How long can this go on?”

So yes, the event I was working on went over very well we got a lot of good media coverage for it and I’m a happy camper. I got a ton done, but I’ve still got oodles of stuff to do to actually reach the happy place -which I’m almost convinced is fictional- called, Caught Up. Ah yes Caught Up, it’s a lovely place to visit, just south of Hogsmead and Hogwarts.

Blech. So yeah, I have a few deadlines handing over me like the sword of Damocles. But I will be damned if I get myself as worked up as I was last week. It’s just not worth it. Not to mention poor wee girl may end up coming out looking like Tweak from South Park, if I keep that up. I just won’t let it happen damn it.

Ooh speaking of the wee girl; you know how you so often hear parents say that every day brings something new once you’re a parent. It’s actually very true. I have never experienced so many random things. For example, it turns out that the wee girl is under the impression that my bladder is a bouncy house. I normally get the giggles when I feel the movements but when I already have to pee and she decides it’s time to play, it’s not so cool. Another thing is, I used to be able to sleep with very minimal movement. I used to be able to wake up, pull the corner of the cover back and viola! The bed is made. Now, not so much. Because of all the position changes, the middle of the night pee breaks, hot spells and numb hands and arm (so need to get back to this) my room, not just my bed, now looks like a frat party made its way through my room in the middle of the night. I’m talking there are papers, magazines, articles of clothing and empty cups all over the damn place by the time I wake up.

So yes, I’ve apparently come down with a common symptom of pregnancy. I’ve experiencing numbness in my right hand and sometimes part of my arm. It mostly happens in the middle of the night but it really happens at all hours. The other day I was at work my fingertips started going. As it turns out my chair at work sucks. Ah well, at least I haven’t actually started leaking yet.

I’m not kidding, this is actually something I’m happy about. Aaron seems to like reminding me about that. He thinks it’s funny. He learned all about what to do and what not to do from the book I gave him, “The Expectant Father” or something like that. So yes the book says to be nice and to not make fun of your wife, significant other, baby momma, whatever. So what does he do? Yep, he sticks to his ways and uses the stuff he learns about as comedic material. Not in a bad way of course, he’s not a complete bastard. He’s just a smart-ass who can’t help himself. So yeah, the potentially leaky boobs thing had him rolling when he first read about it. The other day he joked that I should use them as water guns or something equally ridiculous. Yes, my husband who’s about to become a father has reverted to a 12-year-old. :)

The good thing- yes despite my bitching, there are several good things- is that the rounder I get the more he insists on rubbing and talking to the belly. He’s even made it part of his daily routine. Things like that make up for the childish behavior.

Aw crap, I’ve looked at the time and I should probably get back to work. Booo.

Why You Little...

I find it amazing that the moment someone shows that they aren't completely useless around computers, others will automatically assume you're the next Bill friggin' Gates.

At work, I do some of the updates and I fix a few things around to make them run smoothly. I wish I had never started this. Today I was referred to as the webmaster. WRONG! But the worst wa that while I was out sick yesterday a huge mound of work piled up that was all web-based and out of my capabilities. Had they actually spoken to the IT/ webmaster in the office, they would have gotten a lot of things straightened out and I wouldn't have had to freak the hell out while trying to catch up with the things I am actually responsible for.

There. Now that I've bitched and feel remotely better.

Today is the kind of day that I wish I could sit down and throw back a beer or two. Ah well, I suppose an herbal tea will have to do.

Ever Puke So Hard It Left Red Spots All Over Your Face?

If you haven’t, I envy you. And if you have, I give you a hug. Yeah the wee one made his thoughts on meetings known today. Much like Momma, he doesn’t care for them. I’ve always joked about puking during a meeting. Never thought it would actually be inconvenient to do so.

Yeah about an hour into our monthly all staff meeting, I started feeling queasy. This progressed. About an hour and a half later, I scribbled a note to my manager telling her I had to get air. I left the conference room and about three steps into the hallway, I had to do an about face and jet to the ladies room. Luckily, the place was empty and I was free to gag, heave and puke away.

A little while later I actually managed to run back to my office get some mints and head back to the conference room. I’m not sure which part was harder, the trying to keep the sick feeling at bay before or after puking. Either way, I was extremely grateful when the meeting was called to adjournment a few minutes early.

Now I’m trying to eat small bites here and there to get something back into my system and drinking ginger ale. I still feel like crap and my face looks terrible, but at least the day is progressing and if I call it an early day, my manager knows I did try to stick it out.

“I’m Back in The Saddle Again”

After a week-long vacation to Bermuda, I’ve returned. The vacation was pretty wonderful (I’ll go into more detail in a different entry). We’re already unpacked and back to life as usual. Well, I am anyway. Aaron is still off for a few more days.

Getting back to work was quite a bit easier than I anticipated. Granted, it did take a little bit to get through the 178 e-mails I received over the week. But it’s all good. I moved quickly to patch up a few errors that occurred while I was out (some people didn’t follow the carefully outlined and detailed instructions I left) and now I’m back to bouncing ideas and thoughts around and working on my next writing assignments. Yes, this is part of my process too. I’m not just goofing off. The draft I came up with is waiting on another page. I’m not taking a few minutes away from it before I go back and start editing it (tearing it to shreds).

I got a very nice compliment from my big boss again while I was on the phone with him earlier. I think he missed me. He said that he was a little annoyed last week when he was looking for something, them my work, “miraculously” appeared (one of the goofs). Then, right inside the document I wrote were the words he was looking for. It‘s kinda nice hearing that. He also said I’m quickly becoming one of the most productive people on the whole team. Again, kind of nice hearing that. I just hope I can keep up to the steadily rising bar. Damn it, why did I have to set it so high?

Ah well, back to work I go. Here's hoping the meeting I'm about to head off to doesn't end with me ranting like a maniac.


...


YaerrrrrHJK:HJK:YGYURYighjrtfyfghui;yuihhhhhhprrrrtthhhhhh!!! (Ranting like a maniac)

Lord, please give me the patience to put up with all the nonsense. That's all I ask for... well, actually Lord, if it's not too much trouble, can you please grace me with a fully functioning crossbow with a hair trigger, to ward off people intending to send me their work to do. Thank you lord. Amen.

Hear Me Roar!!!!

I rule!

I love days like this. Today was one of those days that friggin fed the dragon lady. Going in, I knew it was a tough-ass day. I had a few very big things due and boy did I ever perform well. I got glowing reviews on all the pieces I submitted. My boss was pretty damn happy. Not to mention, I found yet another media hit (a prominent one too) that I hadn't expected. It came about as a result of my NY Times placement. Awesome!

For the last few days I had been sort of anxious to see how this day was going to turn out. Everything that was due today was originally due two weeks from today but because I am going to be out the last week in April and the big boss isn't going to be in next week, all of my deadlines got moved up significantly. So last night I as up reading up on an insane amount of material (not to mention, watching Idol and Glee). So this morning I was beat. It took about seven 12 oz. cups of coffee to animate my carcass for the day but hell, I worked it out. As it turned out I was super focused and productive like you wouldn't believe but best of all, my writing was just on point. What more could I ask for? Oh yeah, impressing the reps from the Washington, D.C. lobbying firm. Boo-yah!

So yeah, I've had nothing but ballsy songs blaring through my iPod from the moment all the madness (deliveries, prsentations, meeting and phone conferences) ended. to quote one of my favorite movie characters ever (Ash from Evil Dead), "Groovy."

What to Do?

I have been at this job for about a month and already my presence seems to have rubbed someone the wrong way. Not anyone in the office per se but a vendor we have a contract with. Apparently the vendor was hoping all the public relations/communicaitons work would be left to him and his company. But they decided to go ahead and hire someone. Then there was an issue about hiring lobbists. The vendor had people in mind, but then the president decide to go with a bigger, more established firm. This didn't sit well. Now the vendor seems to have a thing against me and has been trying to do anything to make me look bad. Luckily, I've been on my toes from the beginning. And I've been doing my job as best as I can to make sure that there are no complaints. I've been in situations like this before and I've been getting better at the game. I just hate the fact that there are those who prefer to play games rather than spend their energy actually doing their jobs well.

Fail/Win

Meh. So I couldn't get me boss on TV this weekend. 'Sall good. I couldn't get a hold of him till 6:30 but the MSNBC people knew that I was trying my hardest and understood that it was a very last minute thing. Still, I looked good because I damn well tried.

This weekend has been surprisingly productive. I got a mound of laundry done. I got a gift for our friend's kid's first birthday. Attended said party and still managed to get some good, comfy couch time with Aaron. And today I'm relaxing, preparing for the early meeting tomorrow morning, getting ready to make chili and last but not least tidying up the messy corners around the house.

I've noticed that since I started working there have been little piles of random crap gathering int he corners and no one seems to want to bother to clean it up. I've piled them into bags and left them in favorite spots on the couches. I also left post-it notes on each bag saying, "This is your crap. Throw it out." I know what you may be asking, 'how do you know it's not yours as well?' That's simple; most of the stuff there has their names on it OR it's something I know they brought into the place.

I totally understand, now that I'm not there, they (well, not really they, it's more like the brother-in-law) feel they can return to prior slobbish tendencies. But what they have to understand is this, I still live there and if they want to keep breathing, the house better remain tidy. I'm not expecting cleanliness that is up to my standards, but tidy enough that I will not immediately notice and go into a cleaning frenzy and take everyone out in my wake.

One lovely change since I started working is that Aaron wants to help me cook. I'm really trying to include him. I think tonight will be the real test. I am making a recipe that I have in my head which means I'll have to be able to give him directions as we go rather than just do it all on my own. I tried doing this the other night but it didn't really work since there wasn't much to be done. I had to braise leeks, slice oranges and place fish on top of the orange and leeks. He did juice one of the oranges though. I forced myself not to just do it for him. Instead I told him what to do with the orange to prepare it and how to use the reamer. Baby steps. Baby steps.

AWESOMESAUCE!

I really hope you don't mind me swiping your word, Michele, but really today is (and I am feeling) awesomesauce!

I love looking like a rock star. And so far, every day that I have been at work, I have come off looking like a rock star or a "Superstar" *insert jazzhands here.*

Today was an out of office day. I hit the pavement, if you will, and hit up my contacts over at the news networks. I first visited my old buddies at MSNBC with cupcakes from Magnolia's in tow and had a lovely, but short chat with them. I wasn't so successful at CNN since the people I wanted to see were either away on vacation or they were already gone for the day. BUT as soon as I got home, I started getting calls from my buddies at MSNBC. AWESOMESAUCE!

They want my boss Dr. McPhail on TV tomorrow morning. I called immediately and got his contact information. This process was a little painful because his assistant was really reluctant to give me his numbers. I had to convince her that he had indeed given me his info and that he would be really pissed if he missed out on this opportunity because she didn't give me his number. He's been wanting to get on National TV for ages. The problem is that he is currently on a plane home from DC. The good part about all this is that even if he misses the deadline, he knows that I damn well delivered on what I set out to do today and wasn't wasting my time.

I left him a message at home and on his cell, so if all goes well and I can secure him a spot tomorrow morning, he will be beside himself with joy and I will look like a rock star. If it doesn't go well and we miss the deadline and doesn't go on, I'll still come off looking like a rock star because I did everything I could, short of going to the airport and trying to catch him as he comes off the plane, that is.

I hate waiting.

Oh lord I hope this works out right. Then I'll have to put the word out to every member on the board of directors and out the news up on our twitter and facebook sites. Ah yeah, check me out, Spin Doctor extraordinaire!

Sadly, now I have to wait till he gets off the plane and/or turns his phone on. I'm giving him five more minutes before I begin calling him again.

Working, Working, Working.

I love working. Although I'm already up to my eyeballs in stuff to do. I still love the fact that I'm making a living by doing something I actually enjoy and take pride in. There aren't a whole lot of people who can say that.

Day One: I'm Pooped

Today was my first day at work! WooHoo!

I got a pile of work and a meeting with some of the place's board of directors. Interesting and long. But it's all good. I had an incredibly fast paced day but the great thing is that I actually got a lot of actual work done. Not your typical first day of work.

What was funny is that I actually got there about ten minutes late. I was at the building on time, but I couldn't' find the entrance from the back parking lot and once I did, I couldn't get into the building! HA! I had to call the office to have someone come to let me in. they were more than cool about it and apologized for forgetting to get me a key card.

So far I have a really great feeling about the place. I have some work to still do tonight but I'll have to not make this a habit. I've never been a fan of bringing work home regularly. But since I still don't have access to my computer, and I have a deadline, well, I have to suck it up and deal. Tomorrow I have an early meeting and then I'll be back on the run. I love it.

I RULE!

I got a new job!

I'm now a Director of Communications for a fantastic non profit organization. And yes, this is the place the turned me down a few weeks ago.

Apparently the other person they went with was really trying to wheel and deal on the salary then took forever to give them an answer. Then the CEO decided that he would go with me because my writing is a lot stronger and I am was the more aggressive and better connected person in terms of media, which is what they want anyway. Soooo, woohoo!

I will be starting work on Monday. Awesoooome. I am so excited. Not only did I get a nice raise, I got a great title to add to my career. How awesome is that?!

Aaron and I already started figuring out our new budget and worked out how much we want to sock away per month to save up for a down payment on a house. With what we worked out, we should be able to have more than enough to get a house by the new year. So hopefully by this time next year, we'll be closing on a house.

Sigh... that's really the most exciting part. Finally being able to get back to building our lives. For the last year, although we've been able to accomplish a lot, like pay off our school loans, paying off his car and eliminating the balances on our credit cards, we had to put off the house hunting and starting a family. Now we can actually get on those. Woohoo! I feel like doing a tap dance.