| I kick some AcronymCo butt, yes I do. Today I lead a meeting with the high up muckety mucks of my division. It's to update them on the progress of a team I lead, whose efforts and the results they achieve will be audited in Q3 (somewhere between July and September, that'd be). The success of that audit will pretty much determine my future employment at AcronymCo, I'm sure. Any "findings" get copied to the CEO of the company. The CEO, folks. Of a company which employs 85,000 worldwide. I don't know about anybody else, but I don't want said CEO to even know I work at AcronymCo. I'd much rather just lead my quiet little life in my quiet little job (hah), hide in my cubicle and pretend I don't have any huge responsibilities in this place. Or visibility. I'm beginning to think that visibility is bad. When an AcronymCo VP knows you by name, that's not good, IMO. And he does. He's in today's meeting. He passes me in the hall and says "Hello, Laura," and I want to run like a scared bunny. Or cut my hair and sport a false beard and mustache. Change my name. Something. Of course, it could be *good* if you do good deeds. But once visible, the pressure is on you to continue to do good deeds. And the bad deeds are blown out of proportion. I may or may not be doomed. That is yet to be determined. I did do some good deeds last week. Thursday in particular kicked some pretty good booty. I participated in one team meeting in which a particular problem was fraught for a resolution. Nobody was coming up with any ideas, they were just kind of looking around at each other. So I offered a suggestion. Enthusiasm ensued. Then further silence. So I offered another recommendation. Ooh's and Aah's, and "Good idea, Laura!"'s abounded. A third idea was required to round out the "top three recommendations" required for any proposal. So I came up with *another* idea. And it was accepted. And the three were listed in the proposal to management. Wile E. Laura, Super Genius. The same thing happened in a later meeting, in which a *different* team for a *different* problem was trying to come up with a management method for a system which has been broken for a very, very long time. I swept in, made several suggestions, was met with dawning looks of "Why didn't we think of that in the first place?", and left the meeting feeling that good deeds were done and good things were accomplished. Laura Charon, Hero Extraordinaire. My boss was interviewing several candidates for an open position in our department, last Friday. Everybody bailed on him at the last second, so I jumped in, rearranged the interview schedule to better accommodate the out-of-town candidates, met with them and gave them breakfast and a tour until the first interview was scheduled, and found folks to entertain the candidates during the free time they had while waiting for their session. This morning my boss gave me a book of free movie passes as a thank-you. Meet Laura, Corporate Citizen Supreme. And this morning I received a plaque in recognition of my participation in AcronymCo's Junior Achievement program. Laura Charon, spreading the joy to elementary students Arizona-wide. I *so* deserve the promotion I was passed up for during the last ranking and rating session. They know not what jewel they have in their possession. I'm only a little bit full of hooey. ******************** I only got on the computer once this weekend, on Sunday for about twenty minutes. The rest of my time was spent recharging myself with Calvin's presence. The poor baby is sick, though. He started coming down with a sinus/congestion thing on the way home from Chicago, and come yesterday morning it was a bona fide illness. He's got the full gambit of sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, and fever. He hasn't been sleeping well, which translates into *me* not sleeping well. So I went into full-blown mother hen mode yesterday, and petted him and scratched his back and fed him medicine and vitamins. He lay his head in my lap while I did the tea therapy thing for his sinuses. Seriously, this works very well for sinus illnesses. Brew a hot cup of tea, double strength with two tea bags. Peppermint works excellently. Get plenty of cotton balls, a warm face cloth, and some dry towels. Rest the suffering person's head in your lap. Dip the cotton balls into the tea (carefully, and blow on 'em if they're too hot) and arrange on the subjects face, on the sinus cavities under the eyes and along the nose. Dribble hot tea on the warmly moistened face cloth and arrange it on the person's forehead. Stroke hair and face, and replace cooled cotton/cloth regularly. Calvin is staying home from "school" today, and it was so hard for me to leave him. There's nothing worse than having to drag your butt out of bed when it's so warm and comfy and you know the other person is going to indulge in it for hours yet. Wah. But I had to be a good Corporate Citizen today (see above), and do my song and dance for the muckety mucks. ******************** Friday night saw us at Copper Canyon for munchies and beer (beer beer beer! and shots! yeah, shots!). I was on my way already, when Calvin's flight arrived. I indulged in a vodka tonic and a shot while waiting at the airport bar. We dropped off his stuff at home and got some food, and then Marie required some shuttling from the ice arena. We went to "bed" early. Saturday morning I had a perm refresher appointment, and then in the afternoon Calvin, Marie and I went out for some great Mexican food. Those kind of cravings just cannot be satisfied by any other type of cuisine. I had Portabello Mushroom fajitas which were absolutely *to die for*. And the good thing is that any leftovers survive in the fridge because everyone else in the family is icked out by vegetarian dishes. Heh. We rented some movies ("Coyote Ugly" - grade: B+; "Hollow Man" - grade: B (what I saw of it - I fell asleep); "Anna and the King" - grade: A (I finally broke down and rented it)). Marie required additional shuttling from the ice arena. Oh, and her toilet broke, which made it necessary to make a trip to the gods-be-damned-hell-that-is-Lowe's to buy a replacement. It put Calvin in a fine snit, since he was already feeling ill, it was raining, and he's had to mess with the toilets in the house so damned much he's ready to just turn the water off to the entire house and pee in the backyard. Okay, not really. But he's darned frustrated. Sunday we did pretty much nothing. Oh, except watched the Super Bowl. Which was "ih". "Our" team wasn't playing (and probably will never make it to the Super Bowl in our lifetimes), so for lack of anything better to do, Calvin rooted for Baltimore. I didn't care, really, either way. Marie was off *again*, this time to the mall, and Michael was at a friend's Super Bowl party, so we had the place to ourselves. We drank and ate chips and bean dip, laughed at the commercials and hollered (and in Calvin's case, coughed) at the TV. I had to go get Marie and her friends at the mall, so I missed the halftime show. Darn. I'm soooo disappointed that I didn't get to see N*Sync and Britney Spears (that's sarcasm right there). And it makes me sick that Ray Lewis got MVP. There is no sense of justice or balance in the world (though I bet Ray's family thinks so). Oh, and in case you're interested: Laura's Really Fabulous Refried Bean Dip1 32 oz can of refried beans (or two 16 oz cans! Woo! I am a Math Goddess!)1 4 oz can chopped green chilies 1 1/2 cups salsa 1/2 lb prepared taco meat (browned hamburger with taco seasoning) jalapeno slices to taste (I usually put about 8 in) 3 tbsp. of the jalapeno "juice" from the jar two big handfuls of shredded cheddar cheese, or a jack/cheddar combo 1/2 cup water salt and pepper Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Heat in microwave until warm (about 5 minutes on High, stir halfway). Serve with tortilla chips, beer, and a football game or sporting event of choice. The beer is very important. Sporting event optional. ******************** And on a final note, may I just point out that I am very much the luckiest woman alive. There are not many men out there that will shed tears while trying to express to you how much you mean to him. And I have no words to express how that makes me feel. Wow. |
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Your Mission, should you choose to accept it...
Send a friend or family member a "just because" card. It doesn't have to be a holiday or somebody's birthday to have a Hallmark moment. Because you care enough to send the very best. Of course you do!
Results From Yesterday's Mission Huh. We had plenty of time this weekend to play a game of some sort, but it never got thought of. Perhaps some evening this week. Except that Ally's on tonight, and Buffy's on tomorrow, and I've got school on Wednesday... Thursday, maybe? I grabbed the design idea for the box thingy from Anna.
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