You are currently browsing the monthly archive for October, 2008.
I’m in the middle of the week before my next round of guest come and suddenly I realize, I might need to kid proof my apartment a bit. Linda & Mike will be here for the weekend with little Tyler, who I think is 2 1/2. I have all of my glass vases and other miscellaneous glass on my grandmother’s desk, which is a little wobbly to start with. HHHhhhmmmm…
How do you kid proof an apartment when you can’t figure out where to put the rest of the stuff??
Today, Oct. 26th, is my birthday, and as a birthday present a few friends flew in for the weekend to help me get my act together. As I have said before, they are here to save me from myself. Tammy is still here, David is back for stage 2 of the move, and Jody Z. is in from Florida as well (she has had some experience in the past helping me move).
Jody got in Friday night and we all crashed early, she had been up since 4am working OT. The next day Jody states the obvious to me—we’ll Meredith, you have all this metro shelving, why don’t we put some together to get stuff out of the way til you get some furniture. DUH! We got up and I cooked breakfast and we were just getting started when David called, his flight was 30 minutes early~ Like that EVER happens. As Jody very prophetically stated, once David gets here, he’ll have it whipped together in no time. That David is the King of Organization – LOL After a quick trip back to the container store, yet again, the whirlwind of activity ended around 6pm and I had a working Apartment. I can see the floor and the kitchen counter—It’s fabulous! Of course I might have to make a few conference calls to SC, NY & FL to find things, but that’s okay.
Then the slumber party started~ We decided to eat in and went to the grocery store and made salad, chili & cornbread, and we were all beat and in bed at 10:38pm. At least we were until the giggle fits started and the sudden chocolate ice cream orgy. LOL Yes, even in our 40’s we are still a bunch of kids and I have the pics to prove it! My friends are as goofy as I am. Did our parents ever do anything like that?!? 5 minutes laster and after a Walton’s goodnight we were all snoring.
We decided to do a birthday brunch on Sunday since both David and Jody were flying back home around 7pm. After careful consideration we decided on Perry’s in Adams Morgan (a neighborhood in DC) that has an infamous Drag Queen Brunch. Oh my! I laughed so hard, we made David get his picture with all of the “girls” and at the end they pulled Tammy up for some little risqué fun. It was a blast, we laughed so hard, AND the food was actually good. LOL
Afterwards, we walked around a bit and then came back to the apartment where we got into a massive pool tournament that probably took way longer than it should since we are all pool sharks. Well, Jody actually is one, the rest of us, not so much. All I could do was continually scratch on the eight ball. LOL
I could write lots about the weekend, but I think I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves…. LOL
Oh and by the way, my parents didn’t even CALL me on my birthday, what’s up with that? Hint hint.
Beautiful fall colors in DC
The fall is here and its filled with the sky with bright blue and the occasional fluffy cloud, the leaves are changing red, orange and gold. The city isn’t tall like NYC and you can walk down quaint tree-lined brick sidewalks with old row houses on your way to work. It just makes me happy walking into work.
I like that it is the size city that I like. Don’t get me wrong, I loved living in NYC, but a little bit smaller city is more to my liking. Seattle was a great sized city, fabulous neighborhoods, really a great place, if it just wasn’t so damn gray. (However, I will always maintain that when its sunny in Seattle, its flat out fabulous.) DC is like Seattle, not too big, great neighborhoods, but it also has alot of FREE museums and monuments and way more sunny weather.
This weekend is my birthday, and Tammy is sticking around, and David & Jody are coming into town to help with the celebration. The ultimate present is that they are all going to help me finalize the apartment, at least as final as it can get til I get some furniture in here. And of course Tammy has already done an amazing job here. She flat out amazed me when I walked into the apartment after work last night and could see a large part of the livingroom floor I had never seen before. Woohoo!!!
With the apartment in order, I’m hoping to start exploring everything the city has to offer, and catch up on everything Tammy saw this week while I was working. Cross your fingers the love affair with the city lasts for more than 2 weeks. =)
I was informed on Friday that I had to let one of my staff go. The projected revenue for next year was in and we just didn’t have the numbers to support the staff, and they were making a few cuts company wide. Great.
So here I am at the end of my first week, just getting to know the staff, telling them I’ve got their backs, and everything is going to get better now, and so sorry, but you have to go. That so sucks. I haven’t even gotten a chance to get to know these people, and we’ve been pretty slow this week and that didn’t help to get a sense of their work ethic. And now I have to rely upon others to suggest who should be the best person to let go without really being able to make an informed decision on my own. ARGH!!!!!
I do have to admit I trust the judgement of one of the people who gave input, and in the end I gave my blessing, so I will have to live with it. But that doesn’t mean I have to like it, and it put a damper on the whole “starting a new job” experience. Oh well, such is the life a manager.
On a bright note, Tammy & I decided to stay close to home for dinner and really got into unpacking the bedroom. We are about 90% done in there – woohoo! I’ve updated the photos for unpacking to check out.
Tammy Milligan Simmons came up from Myrtle Beach to spend the week with me and has now got me hooked on Facebook. Damn her!
I joined in January, probably because someone like Eddie Chan or Chuck Fletcher sent me a link to try it out. They are always instigating me to joining these things… Although I think this time it was Jen Nash. Didn’t do much, then popped on in July because Robert Cuzzone found me on it, and I hadn’t been back since really.
Last night Tammy showed me some of the things with it, and I found alot of people I knew and now we have been on the stupid thing alot. And apparently so is everyone else. I had tons of people accept my invitation the same night or the next morning. It must be the thing to do. HHhhhmmmm, so after years of working in interactive, I might finally be getting the hang of this social networking beyond IM.
Its interesting just to see the little post about people and comment. And funny how much conversation happens without actually hearing a persons voice. Just little side notes on your day, reaching out and touching people in so many different ways now.
So now I finally own an iPhone, a digital camera, and an updated Facebook page. What the heck is next?? I must say that I haven’t missed the TV at all! Too much else to do online and in the world. Probably the best decision I made was to leave that damn thing behind.
On a side note, Tammy got my butt in gear and we made some major headway on unpacking. =) And now for dinner its our second night of cheese, crackers, pears, almonds and grapes and a nice glass of wine—and a little Facebook time. What a perfect way to wind down the day. I could end every day this way and be happy. (Although I’ll pass on the stinky Stilton with apricots Tammy has somehow taken a fancy too…..)
Yep, I made it through my first week at the new job. So much fun-filled activities like meeting tons of people and promptly forgetting all of their names & sitting through HR orientations. Love it.
I guess you could say the first week went pretty well. I didn’t kill anyone and no one killed me. And I think they are happy to have me on board as opposed to the last person who was in charge. Apparently she just sat in a corner not doing anything except telling them how much they all sucked and she should just let them all go. She also hired a guy that didn’t even know inDesign and held him up as the perfect example of a production artist. Gotta love it.
So after dealing with her, I come in and tell them I’m a touchy-feely person who has a habit of coming up behind people and rubbing their shoulders, I commit several HR violations a day [any hr people, this is a joke =) - really], I can’t cut a straight line to save my life and have been banned from doing so, I tend to bake and bring in goodies, I want you to enjoy your job, and I have got your back and I will protect you as best I can from the crazy things in the agency. I just need you to take pride and ownership of your work and at the end of the meeting we will all be singing Kumbayah.
Come on – what’s not to love?
I took just a couple of pics from last night. Stopped to have drinks with the crew.
There was only one thing that really sucked this week, and will continue some through next week. I’ll fill you in Monday night as its still in flux at the moment.
I did take a picture of my desk today, isn’t it beautiful? LOL It will probably never be this clean again (Check out the pic of my old desk, in case ya’ll forgot what it looked like.) I have a window behind me that I can see trees and sunshine, and there is a door that opens to terrace.
Its so nice and clean. Wish it could stay that way.
I know what ya’ll are thinking. So Meredith, how is the new professional woman doing?
Well, as I mentioned, I was very smart in my red shirt and gray pants Monday, in which I wore high heels—all day—even when walking to and from the subway. Tuesday it was white shirt, brown pants, and high heels—and a blister. Wednesday I went for the trouser jean, purple shirt, and smaller kitten heel, and was hobbling home. Today, Thursday, I was in a nice shirt, jeans and what my feet really wanted—flip flops! LOL
I know, i know, not so professional. But my feet needed a break. No worries though, tomorrow I am back in professional attire, except wearing tennies to and from the office. I’ll have my heels in the bag. 
Hey~ I’m new to the game, give me a break. LOL
In Seattle are the Ballard locks. A great feat of engineering that was completed in 1917 (it is on the National Historic Registry). You can sit there on a sunny summer day and watch for hours as the boats come in and out while the locks continually fill up and out. When my parents came to visit me in 2006 we went by there and my dad was fascinated and tooks tons of pictures. They also have a fish ladder to help the salmon run. The fish ladder was updated in the 70s because the original locks had interrupted the migration of the salmon.
The reason I bring them up is that right beside my office in Georgetown is the C&O Canal. It is a 184.5 mile system of 74 locks from Cumberland, MD to Washington, DC, completed almost a hundred years earlier. Groundbreaking was in 1828 and it was used from 1836 to 1924. It is now a National Park and they do tours on part of the canal that still holds water starting beside my office. Most of the canal isn’t watered anymore, but the park is used for its trails as well. Its really neat to see them at work especially compared to the Ballard locks.
It was a beautiful day today so I sat outside and watched them for a while on my lunch break. You can check out some pics that I took and I also added some pics that my dad took at Ballard.
Woohoo! I finally got my cable modem installed today so I can blog at will from the comfort of my apartment living room filled with tons of boxes yet to be emptied. =)
I was having to go downstairs in the building where they have wireless to post from my computer. I could have used the iPhone, but I have yet to master the keyboard and it takes a while. Faster to type in word then take the elevator down, hit send and come back up – LOL
I have to say I haven’t missed the TV yet, although I have become mighty addicted to my iPhone and probably to my computer again now. HHMmmmm, I wonder when I will get to the rest of the boxes before Tammy arrives…. I did clear off the Kitchen counter. Impressive, I know.
Total segway – I had to fill out a survey for work today for some kind of “get to know your workmates” bingo game and it reminded me of something from the trip. They asked what my favorite movie of all time was – which is basically anything with Cary Grant in it. In case ya’ll didn’t know, I LOVE Cary Grant. So all the silly questions that came up from the conversation starter cards like, who’d you like to have dinner with, who’d you like to be stuck on a desert island with, what would be your perfect date, etc. all involved Cary Grant. And when we got to Mount Rushmore I looked at Ali and said, “I could be standing exactly where Cary Grant stood in North by Northwest!” Woohoo!
Just thought I’d share
I hate first days. Especially first days after being with Impact for 3 years, without a moment to breathe and constantly on the go. To have to sit here, and then go to a meeting, sit here, go to a meeting, sit here, sit here, sit here, go to a meeting. ARGH!!!!!! Put a bullet in my head now.
Luckily you only have one first day.
I did meet the team. I have a staff of 8, one of which is in Chicago. They all seem pretty nice so far – it is only day one you know. I haven’t had a chance to really talk to them yet, and I am having a hell of a time catching up with the creative services manager who has implemented a few policies before I got here that I need him to fill me in on. But he’s super busy and I understand.
So hopefully in the next 10-15 minutes we will finally get to chat for a bit. Tomorrow I’m in late because Comcast is stopping by in the morning to finally hook up my cable modem. Then I have a meeting, then finally I will be able to harass the team for a bit.
All in all it wasn’t a horrible first day. And everyone seems really nice, and I have actually remembered names! This is HUGE!
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