Day Job

It is amazing to me that people get paid a lot of money to do what I do. Not that I am not good at it mind you, but a lot of the time, it's not that hard. I have no formal education for it, I keep getting paid more and more each time I make a move, and yet, it's never enough to make me feel like I am accomplishing anything.

What am I, you ask? Currently my title is Account Manager. In the past it has been Senior Manager, Account Executive, Project Manager, Packaging Specialist, and so on. I am a project manager. I try to help others help themselves and do their jobs. My ability to multi-task and schedule and remember more than one thing at a time makes me able to help clients, restaurant managers, creative folks and production people all get the information they need in a timely enough fashion that they can do their jobs. I am the one who is responsible for everything and nothing simultaneously.

I like what I do. I am good at it. I have learned over time that it's not personal (though some of you know I don't always practice what I preach). And truth be told, at the end of the day, most people like working with me because I help them get what they need ... even though most of the time, they don't know it : )

And today at work, I am just bored ... it always happens when I am new to a place because I just don't know what I don't know. I am trying to enjoy it because soon there will be days with no breaks from calls and no way to leave my desk. The best part about this new gig though, is that tomorrow, I work from home.

My friend Walter

He died a week ago today and his memorial service was yesterday. We were friends in the sense that when we saw each other we were happy to fall into a comfortable conversation about anything, but usually books and movies when we were on our own. He was older than me ... almost 20 years but still too young to die so soon though I do believe he is in a better place because I know he hadn't been himself for a while. Though I had known him almost 10 years, looking at the pictures that were around the room, I realized I barely knew him at all. When he first met his current wife, #3, (I met #1 yesterday and know #2 from Dedham), he looked like the Marlboro man! For the last few years, I mostly saw Walter walking his dog since I drive by his house

I think my biggest fear is that no one will come to my memorial service. And not because I don't believe I have friends and that I have affected their lives in one way or the other, but as the consumate project manager that I am, I fear that no one will find out the details and mostly because I don't know who will share the information ... whatever it may be. Looking at Walter's photos, I know that no one has that many photos of me, mostly because I never let my photo be taken in the old days, and often was the only photographer in the group, but also because my family, mostly my Mom, doesn't hold on to stuff that way.

I went to Legalzoom on Monday and started a will ... and haven't been back since. What makes it so difficult to make these arrangements? I am not worried I am dying tomorrow (though you never know about the big red bus) but I want to make sure that the details don't torture anyone else. Having been through it when my Dad died, I don't want Emma to have to deal with all that, but no one else either.

Don't know why I am even worried since I won't be here ...

Pumpkin Beer Addiction

It's really crazy how much I am enjoying the various types of pumpkin beers that are out right now. I am drinking a Shipyard Pumpkinhead right now which is delicious which could only be improved by being sipped out a chilled glass with a cinnamon-sugar rim, but that just seems excessive to do for one's self at home.

On the eve of yet another first day of a new job, I look back to the last week of vacation between jobs. What can I say? It was awesome. Packed a lot of fun and rest and all that good stuff. House is clean. Grocery shopping and laundry done and all I have to do is get up and go tomorrow.

Had a fun run with the TIR's today. It felt really good while I was doing it ... why don't I do it more on my own? I am hoping that the lack of soul-sucking from my day job will help me be more motivated about everything else I do. It's that busy time of year ... Emma's schedule and mine are conflicting but we'll figure it out.

Need to lose 5 pounds by Sunday morning ... MUST FOCUS and track! Practice what I preach and all that. PointsPlus2012 has a lot to offer. Glad I got a preview today. Try something new this week with the new job, the new commute and all that other new stuff.

Happy fall!

So Tired

Crazy couple of weeks after giving notice. I think I worked harder in the last two weeks than ever before, which of course isn't true, but I certainly didn't phone it in. Went out Friday night for only the 2nd time in the last year with work peeps ... it was fun and I hope I didn't say too much (that last pumpkin beer may have given me a loose tongue, but at that point, everyone else had had a few as well).

Today I ran the BAA 1/2 - in exactly the amount of time I thought it would take. I said 9 minute miles and they were 8:59's. Considering I did NO training for this, it was pretty damn good. The question is, why don't I want to run any more? When I am doing it, it's really fun and I am actually pretty good at it, but since I am not training for a marathon, I can pretty much do it when I feel like it and get away with it.

I think I need to re-focus on quantity of events maybe ... spend more time with TIR's. I did offer to be a captain of a team next year which means I will have to be motivational and lead by example ... hahahahaha.

But really, what is next? 2011 has been a very good year. A couple of 1/2 marathons and a full in April. A flash mob experience that I am not sure can be topped. A new job in a still-down economy. So what is next? How do I find something motivating but flexible enough to fit into my already busy life.

Maybe that's what I can do this week that I have off ... figure something out to do along with clean the house, long ride with Katie, lunch with the girls and Heather, a massage, a cross country meet and a trip to Sweet tomorrow. No wonder I am so tired.

Another new job

One of my old bosses posted on my FB page ... "what are you in the witness protection program?" It's true, I have changed jobs a lot in the last 6 years since I "went back to work".

The last year has been tough ... though I actually liked what I was doing and was pretty good at it, the place I worked is literally toxic, to quote Ms. Brittany Spears. The good news is, after almost 9 months, I got a job that I think will work. More money, working from home 1-2 days a week, and excellent benefits. I am soooo over looking for a job. I have deleted all my search lists, and even the folder of miscellaneous rejections, and plan on doing nothing but settling in once I start on the the 17th.

Between now and then, I have to finish some work. No, I am not one of those types who just checks out once giving notice - those of you who are friends from former places know that those last 2 weeks I try to make up for actually leaving. Then next Sunday I am running the BAA 1/2 ... going to be tough since I am barely running these days. Hope to spend some time with Emma, but her schedule is pretty busy so who knows ...

For all of you who are working at a job you are miserable at or even just unhappy, you too can make a change. There are jobs out there, it just takes time and determination. If I can get 6 jobs in the last 6 years - each time making more money and getting new skills from the last, you can make the change. I've learned a lot from all this ... hopefully something I can put to use in my new job : )

Where to begin ...

Such a great week off! Hard to say what the best part of it was.

Taking Emma to the Selena Gomez concert and experiencing that teeny bopper 1st concert sensation?

Or surprising her and confirming why I have a day job by flying to Orlando last minute and spending more money in 3 days at amusement parks than I have in the last 3 months?

Or perhaps, it was dancing in the middle of Hanover Street in the North End with Emma and 100+ of my new closest friends?

No matter how much I want to complain—and don't get me wrong, I find something almost every day—I am the luckiest person.

This last 10 days was amazing and as I sit here enjoying a Leinenkugel Sunset Wheat and sushi, things I never would have even tried 5 years ago, I thank God (or higher power or whatever), Weight Watchers (yes truly), and the power of determination that keeps me going.

What a way to end the summer ... sooooo much fun and I got to see my girls Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Monday ... what's better than that? Now, if I can only survive tomorrow ...

I swear I didn't lie

When I was in line yesterday waiting to pick up my number, I chatted with this lovely woman who had come from Albany to run with her fiance. She was probably a couple of years older than me and she told me she was in the grey corral. I said I was in orange, not knowing what that meant.

When I arrived in Woods Hole this morning, I had to ask after I realized the orange corral was the 2nd start time. Did that mean that they were giving the slow pokes a head start? I asked one of the officials, and she said "no, honey, that means you are fast."

What makes me fast? I can't remember which race time I used on the application but I am assuming it was Hyannis or James Joyce or the Marathon or something, none of which made me feel particularly fast at the time since there were many people ahead of me and I didn't even place in my age group at any of those.

I was particularly nervous going to Falmouth this weekend because a) I haven't been training at all ... maybe running once or twice a week, b) because it's freaking August and it's hot and humid all the time and I have been so slow this summer and c) I biked 50 miles (a distance I haven't even gotten close to this summer) with the TIR's on Friday so I wasn't sure how the legs would hold up.

Today was actually awesome. I ran into many people I know now through running - a Children's Hospital Team member, TIR's, friends of friends I have met at other events and I even saw Teddy Bruschi a number of times. The race was fun - cloudy, breezy and hilly and if I had been training and better prepared mentally, I could have rocked it, though I did achieve my goal which was to break an hour.

7.1 is a weird distance: when I hit the 10K marker and my Nike + was still at 5.5, I just laughed. I caught up to my friend Jimmy, who actually started in the wave 5 minutes behind me, at mile 6 and he said he was on pace and I should just keep going. I said I was "all over the place" and all over pace, so I ended up about 10 yards behind him for the rest of the race . Thank God he was there because I don't know how I would have finished without a rabbit - I had passed my first one on the last downhill : )

It was a great weekend. I exercised and ate tons - ice cream every day - and did some work and slept badly and just did it. I have to get out more ...