Friday, January 11, 2008

I am so sleepy right now...and it's not even 10 a.m. (Of course it will be by the time I get around to posting this, but you will just have to trust that I wrote it down by the station early in the morning...)

Like the good little girl I am, I got on an early, early train with Matt this morning. He had an interview in New York at 9 a.m., and he was nervous that he wouldn't make it in time if we took my usual 7:17. So I agreed to get on the 6:56 with him so he would be less nervous and we could save $6 on parking. Which is fine...except we actually made it in earlier than I anticipated, and we got on the 6:46...so I got here before 7:30. And now I am so tired. Normally, I would leave early...except we have an off-site meeting this afternoon, so I can't even do that. Matt seemed to appreciate the company, so it is ok. Anyway, it's not like I have a very taxing afternoon. I just have to be awake enough to participate in any presentations that require it and to avoid zoning out on the rest.

It's making my whole week go faster. I feel like this is the longest week I've had in a while, so I've been looking forward to the prospect of getting out for a little bit this afternoon. Next week I have a few interesting meetings (a shower and a team meeting...which I know doesn't sound very interesting, but sometimes they are) and then the next week I have a day off, so yay!

Less yay-inducingly, Matt will be away for most of next week. I will miss him, and I'll have to drive to Philly at times when I should be asleep, so I'm not really looking forward to this trip...except that Matt might get a job offer out of it, and that would be very good for both of us. I think he's getting a little discouraged. Not that I think he should - the jobs he really wants are still on the table - but he'll feel better once he has an offer in hand. And it sounds like he may get that next week, so that will be good. Also, a few of these interview processes are dragging out for
months now, and I think he's starting to get a bad feeling about them...even though the companies have assured him that they like him. So I don't know.

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

This is Tuesday's Post

So, last night I went to bed around 9. I didn't plan to. I didn't even feel tired. I just lay down and never got up. Of course that means that I didn't get anything done last night, and there were things that needed to be done, but I suppose I'll get to them tonight. BUT that means that I didn't post my blog entry for last night, and I apologize for that. I did write it. I just didn't post it. So there are two today. I did manage to sign up for the gym at work and cancel a credit card that I forgot I had until they sent me a new card (oops). I also remembered to call to check on the status of my monthly parking pass, which is key because the price of daily parking just increased by a dollar a day, which means that the difference between daily parking and monthly parking costs is roughly the same as my new gym membership. I've been told that you suddenly get your parking pass after you call them, so we'll see...

And then, just because Matt was being so sweet about taking my car for her check-up...I forgot to take his car this morning. I got to work, and I thought...hmmmm...I was supposed to do something this morning...then I called Matt and apologized, but he had already rescheduled Emmie's appointment. (My car's name is Emmie, in case you didn't catch that the first time.) So now I really can't forget to take Matt's car on Friday or he will kick me in the head.

In other exciting news, I got 7...yes 7...new assignments today. 5 of them are exactly the same flyer with one image changed, but oh well. It was exciting to get that little flurry of email.

This is Wednesday's Post

Did anyone notice the new xerox logo? It's all lower case and has a cute red ball with a white X on it (obviously, this part of the logo is also a tchochke). In other words, the complete opposite of the previous all caps logo. I don't think it's a bad logo...I just think it's wrong for Xerox.

I see where they were going - I mean, they kind of beat you over the head with it - but if there was ever a brand that doesn't need to be cute and cuddly, it's Xerox. Also, if you were a company that made copying machines, wouldn't you want the logo with the cleanest lines? The one that would still look good when it had been copied a million times? Or would you go with the cute/cuddly lower case letters that are two copies away from being mushety-gook?

In other news, I am so annoyed at people not following their own procedures. Yesterday, I signed up for the gym at work. You sign up through the intranet, and then you're supposed to call them and set up a time for orientation. They give you an extension to call for this. Well, I signed up late yesterday, so I didn't call until this morning. In the meantime, the head of the gym sent out an email to me and 4-5 people who work in the gym. No text, just the confirmation that I joined the gym. I have no idea what that was about or why I was copied on that email. So I called the extension listed on the intranet. No one answered the phone, so I left a voicemail. A
half hour later, I got a call from the head of the gym saying that I have to call a different extension and talk to the girl who schedules things. Ok...because you can't put that extension on your own web page or give her the message to call me back? But, fine. So I call the other extension, the girl talks to me on speaker phone, which is seriously annoying, and she tells me that she's going to send out an email and I have to reply to that email to set up the appointment. This is fine. I have no problem with that. I actually would have preferred to handle the entire process over email, or, even better, from the same form I used to sign up. Since all new members have to go through orientation, it would seem like a good idea to have some kind of calendar function on the form, right? Even if it's just pick three days/times (monday morning, tuesday afternoon, wednesday lunch, etc...) but no.

So now I am annoyed that these people can't follow their own procedures and can't accomodate me when I make the effort to follow their procedures. I mean, I'm sorry, but I don't really want to call you. I don't want to talk to you. I just want you to leave me alone while I use this machine over here.

This is Monday's Post...

Well, the chair has arrived, and it's actually pretty good. I don't think I'll be sitting in it any time soon, or possibly ever, but the cats love love love it, and it's nice to have a seat by another outlet. (Our couch blocks one of the outlets in our living room, so when Matt wants to work
from home - which is often - he has to sit at the far end of the couch by the window. It gets kind of cold.) It's still leather, which is kind of eww, and it's really soft, which I don't like. I feel like I'm going to fall out of it. But, it's much smaller than anticipated, so that is good. It's not taking up the whole living room. And it's versatile enough. I mean, it matches ok with our living room furniture, but we could move it to
the office or a rec room if we had the room for it.

I was actually in a pretty good mood this morning - even though Tiki woke us up at 5 and I forgot my badge, which is kind of an awful process. Unlike Covance, I can't just sign myself in and get a visitor's badge. Here, I have to stand by the front desk while they take my picture, which they print onto this sticker that I guess I'm supposed to wear, and then I have to get someone to come down and get me. I'm supposed to get a manager from my department to do that, but they're not always in when I get here, so that means that I just call the people who get in early. Luckily, today Karen saw me on her way in, so she got me. It's so stupid. I mean, once I have the stupid sticker, I can just walk through the gate. I show them ID and tell them my supervisor's name and mail stop to go on the sticker, so I don't know why I can't just get on the elevator myself. Oh well. I've only forgotten my badge twice, so it's not like this is constantly annoying me. Nevertheless, I am in a good mood today, and that counts for a lot.

The company sponsored a free coffee day today, so I am now enjoying my free coffee, which I would have bought anyway since Monday is usually 50 cent coffee day. So that is nice. They also have a hat/glove vendor downstairs, so I'm thinking about getting some gloves. We'll see. The gloves I have to go with my warmest coat are angora, and it's just not practical. I mean, I have the greatest chance of needing to clear off my car when I'm wearing that coat, so those gloves see the most wet work. I need something a little more substantial. I also can't find the gloves that go with my dress coat. I may have thrown them out and forgotten about them. My grandma gave them to me for my birthday, and they were chenille, so you can imagine how well they held up. I know I went through two pairs of them last year (coincidentally? Grandma gave my mother an identical pair for Christmas, so when mine got a hole, she gave me hers.)

This week will go by quickly, and I'm not sure if that's a good thing. I don't have much to do at work, but I'm hoping to start on the next issue of the women's health magazine this week (I need to wait for the disease management team to approve article topics, which should happen tomorrow or Wednesday). We have an in-service day Thursday, so I know I'll be busy all that day. Matt is leaving for CA on Sunday, which is not so nice. He has interviews on Monday and Tuesday, so that's good for him, but it's still rough. I'm used to having him here. And I'm really not looking forward to driving him to the airport at 5 a.m. on Sunday. I'm thinking maybe I shouldn't even go to bed Saturday night. (Who am I kidding? That can only lead to disaster.) But that will probably make the weekend fly by.