.: angilou and tucker too :.

3 cities, 4 days, all under 40 degrees

just finshed a whirlwind work week, going to three cities in four days.  the semi-pleasant part was the high in all cities was below 40 degrees - i even got some snow!!  after 5 years in austin, i have to admit it was refreshing to be in the cold, but all my other work colleagues thought i was nuts.

arrived back in austin on thursday afternoon, sunny and 60's.  it truly felt like i had arrived for some kind of tropical vacation.

it's all over

today my corporate blackberry arrived.  i have secretly wanted one, but didn't ask for it and now they went and got one for me.  now, i too will be mobile enabled!  watch out, world...

my goal is to not be visibly addicted, just a casual user.  but in between meetings i will be fiendishly typing and surfing...

a moment of silence

so, at work i had applied for another internal role.  it's kind of a high profile, rotational gig, and i really wanted it.  he told me it was down to me and this other girl, and that is was a really hard decision for him, but that he chose the other person.  i didn't get it.  i think it's the first time since college i haven't gotten a job i interviewed for, so i do feel taken down a notch or two.

rat race

So, I rarely post about work, because I am trying to learn a lesson and not get dooced, but sometimes you just gotta bitch about work. I guess it's the same at all large corporate places, but there seems to be a list of people who are "in", which is mildly/very subjective. There is one woman at work who keeps a list of "hi-po" (high potential) people, and recommends them as the folks to tap when there is an event, or college recruiting or something like that. And unfortunately, I don't have the best relationship with this woman. It's not bad, but it's not great, and I feel like I'll be on the outs with her until someone takes over her job. So, I feel like she is the big rat with the cheese, sitting in the middle of a maze, and I'm a little mouse scurrying around, trying to get to the cheese, and the powers that be look down on us and laugh heartily, "Aww, look at that little mouse trying to get to the cheese - isn't it cute?"

back to work

maternity leave is over!  i go back to work tomorrow; i figured going back on a friday would be a nice way to ease back into work.  my manager did warn me that he had a lot of work piled up for me...

the dilbert life

you know you're living the corporate cubicle life when you get excited about a new cafeteria vendor.  Displays are definitely more appealing. They kept the sushi, and they added this special salad station. A lot more snacks, which is nice. Funny story: they had a tray of rice krispy treats, near where the entrée station used to be. There were like 10 there, I took 3. People kept staring at me because they didn't have a tray, and I was trying to balance my soup on top of a salad, along with a drink and 3 treats. I kept dropping them. Anyways, got to my desk and ate one fo the treats: not as good as sodexho. I think they put too much marshmallow in it. 

afternoon snack

so, the cafeteria downstairs makes a darn good rice krispy treat.  i was at some hr leadership lunch and they were joking about how the vp of hr loves the rice krispy treats.  there was a big ole plate of 'em, and normally i wouldn't have been tempted, but i had to see what the fuss was about.  and well, they were pretty darn good, like how you would make them at home.  besides having one at the lunch, i took an extra back with me to my desk.

at the checkout stand, the cafeteria has a little rack where they have cookies, chips, etc. and rice krispy treats.  however, i find they make them only sporadically.  so, now when they make them, i stock up.  i look a little ridiculous in the mornings because i've got my omlette, large drink and 3 or 4 rice krispy treats.  they also are horribly inconsistent in sizing, so i always root around for the largest ones.  i know people may be staring, but i don't care - a girl's gotta have her snacks.  the 3 or 4 will last me a couple of days, depending on if i hide them right away or leave them in plain view, which makes them hard to resist.

also, to try to supplement the cafeteria's sporadic supply, i decided to go buy a box of official rice krispy treats.  they had a variety pack with original, rainbow (mini fake m&m's), fudge stix (bottom half dipped in "fudge" and double chocolately chunk.  they were all gross, with just the original being mildly acceptable.  i felt like i was eating a hunk of sugar covered in preservatives.

parking idiot

for those of you who know me, you know that i am really lazy, esp when it comes to parking.  i will happily drive around the lot for a couple of more minutes if it will gain me 10 ft closer to the entrance.  at work, parking has gotten horrendous.  the buildings are at/over capacity, so the parking lots can no longer accomodate people.  it's worse at our building, because the building next to ours has limited spots, so people from the next building over park in our lot, and our spots get all sucked up.  it's so bad, they've created "overflow" parking in lots in other buildings that are across campus, and run shuttles back and forth.

on principle, i refuse to park in the overflow parking, so usually, i try to get here before 8a, and that usually ensures a spot within short walking distance to the building. it starts to get tight around 8:45, and if you get here after 9:30, well, get ready to wait.  people either take the drive around approach, or the poach approach.

i'm usually pretty successful with the poach approach, although i have "lost out" a couple of times to a competing poacher.  i've heard of another poacher technique where you wait by the door until someone comes out, then offer them a ride to their car.  i haven't resorted to that yet.

today i have to come in later, and get in at 9:45a.  after driving/poaching unsuccessfully for 15 minutes, i decide to go run errands and come back later.  i come back at 10:45a, which is good because some early lunchers should be leaving.  i find a decent spot, and then i spy someone leaving about 15 spots ahead.  i get back in my car and wait until they start backing out, and then i back out too.  as i head to the new spot, someone else turns the corner and slips into it, and as i'm backing up to my old spot, someone takes that!!!!  here i had a perfectly good spot, but because of my greed, i am back to square one.

lesson learned: don't get greedy with your parking and just suck it up - walk the extra couple of feet.

corporate bathroom ettiquette

People, is it asking too much to turn and look to see if your flush was successful?  Twice today I have gone into the loo, to find the person who last used the stall left a little “gift”. I have to believe they did a flush and run, where they flushed, but didn’t bother to look back and the plumbing system decided to send some back, or not take all of it.

This can be easily remedied by a quick “turn-back”. Flush, get yourself together, and before you exit the stall, turn back and check to see that everything has been taken care of. If not, flush again.  Repeat.

personal life +, work life -

so, i've been in training this week, stuff on quality.  the instructor isn't bad, but the content is pretty dry: a lot of statistics, etc.  anyways, this week started off with a bang, when i went with our intern, anne-marie, to go see bob at the saxon pub.  i think of it as a must-do austin activity.  anyways, she fell in love with him, and was sorely disappointed when she found out he was married.  anyways, it was a great show; i thoroughly enjoyed it.  at the last minute, i had asked two other girls at work, kristin and tracy, to go, and they did!  which was a pleasant surprise, because you know how it is when you try to get people together to go out: people tend to get tired and bail.

so, during the show, bob said we could purchase cd's of the recorded show, and he also talked about the leather cuff he and his keyboard player were wearing, and put a plug in for crow, the guy who was selling them.  we found crow outside after the show, selling his wares from the back of his motorcycle, and i am now the proud owner of a crow original.

the training is pretty informative, although very dry.  there is one person at the table who somehow manages to push all my buttons - we are pretty much have opposing opinions on pretty much every topic we've discussed.

other things of note this week: shirley's back in town, after relaxing for 3+ weeks in new mexico.  she can't wait to see cal; it'll be interesting to see what she thinks, because cal has learned sooo many words since she's been gone. 

finally, i got a trainer this week.  desperate times call for desperate measures - i have a very distinct spare tire that is becoming more and more pronounced, and way low energy.  so, i had my first training session on tuesday at 6:00am (yes, after i had been out until almost midnight the night before).  the first session was easy - mostly paperwork and talking.  we'll see how i'm doing after my next session on thurs.