Fear of the Unknown

At work I get the feeling there is something up. And I don't get the feeling it is anything good. A big project got shut down last week--it had been my project for several years. I moved on and the guy who took my place got laid off in the shut down. I feel bad for him and a bit like I dodged a bullet. I've had a new boss since December and I've only talked with him one on one once since. I finally bit the bullet and asked for some of his time. I want to make sure what I am doing is what he expects. At first I enjoyed the freedom of doing my thing and not really checking in with anyone, now it has me a bit uneasy.

I've been giving a lot of thought lately to what else I might want to do. I've been there for almost 10 years after wandering in off the street as a temp. I've worked my way up into an interesting job with good perks, the flexibility needed for the Mom of two small kids, and a short commute. I feel kind of like the side benefits are too good to go out looking for something new. There is also comfort in the known. I like the people I work with, its the only "corporate" job I've had, and sometimes the devil you know is just easier to deal with.

I really think I need to polish up my resume and start looking at least casually. One never knows what might happen tomorrow. Oh I hate the thought of looking for a job though. Better to look while I have one though than wait until I don't.

Is this week over yet?

Work really sucks. There is a serious funk hanging over the place. Lots of whispering and closed doors. Wondering who will be the next to go. Then there are the circling vultures already lobbying for offices and trying to figure out how to get ahead. I hope that after the holiday next weeks things will feel more like normal, although I expect I am going to have to adjust my definition of normal.

I went back to the gynecologist today for my post-op check up. All of my insides look good, however the lining of my uterus is out of sync, there is new gunk and old gunk in there and that is why predicting my cycles is like spinning the damn roulette wheel. My choices--an IUD or the pill. I appreciated the fact that he said he wouldn't be surprised if I told him I wanted rid of it! Neither of them are high on my list, I picked the pill for now partially based on the IUD insertion horror stories I've heard. I've got my friend Wendy the Good Witch (and herbal guru) checking the alternative path to more hormones. Why is being a woman so damn difficult.

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I am thankful tomorrow is Friday, the weekend is coming and I have time to spend with my family.

Serious Brain Exhaustion

This week has been emotionally exhausting. The shake up at work has left everyone feeling uneasy. Add on top of that 9 hours of meetings today with no real check-in with the world and I am utterly exhausted. The meeting was actually fun and challenging but draining. Then tonight our normal fun women's club meeting was a little tense because we are re-doing the bylaws and there were some contentious issues. Add to that the United Way auction that I have going on in my "spare" time at work and I am on overload.

I did get in 24 minutes of running this morning. I have to say that I hate the treadmill and every minute of it was torturous but I did it. I love the fact that my lungs weren't burning and I never felt like I was going to throw up but I really, truly didn't enjoy it. I have decided running outside is definitely my preference, I have an easier time finding my zone and ignoring the time going by. I feel sorry for my group today, I swear I was still sweating a good half hour into our morning session--nothing that like metabolism carry over!

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I am thankful for my loving husband who has taken on a lot of the kid shuffling this week without complaint. He is pretty good at anticipating my breaking point and stopping before I go over the edge.

Boo!

Happy Halloween to you and yours. You know Gman couldn't let the holiday get away without a special picture. You can imagine my reaction when the girls came running into the house last night to tell me they'd been out with Daddy taking pictures in a graveyard.

Costumes to school-check
Cupcakes to PDQs school-check
Pretzels to Boobah's school-check
Time cleared to attend Halloween/Fall parades and parties-check
Camera-damn! Will I be able to find time in the day to run home to get it? If I do will it be at the expense of stopping for gas?

Should be a seriously frightening day. Nothing like opening the first e-mail at work and having it implore you to read and send comments to something prior to 9:30AM. I must go do so now!

Meme: 7 Random Things

Aimee over at Greeblemonkey tagged me for a 7 Random Things about Me meme. So here goes...

1. I started playing the flute in the fifth grade but ended up being a dud due to the large bow in my top lip. I changed to the perscussion session and since I could read music I spent a lot of time playing the xylophone. Its been a good 20 years since I've played anything other than a tambourine with the kids.
2. In graduate school my thesis was on Communication Styles of Women in Leadership. Later on I developed a presentation based on it and gave it to my colleagues at staff training and at professional organization conferences.
3. I am going to be an Aunt again in January. My sister is pregnant with her second little boy.
4. I really wanted to be an olympic swimmer when I was a kid. I was chubby and didn't swim all that well but I didn't let that stop my fantasies. Betsy Mitchell was an olympic swimming medal winner from my small Ohio hometown. They even named the street passing by the YMCA for her.
5. I had a miscarriage (Nov 9, 2003) between my two girls. The timing of the pregnancy was a surprise but I was pretty sure I wanted a second child. I had just gotten used to the idea when I miscarried. It was really hard but in my mind it clarified the fact that I really did want another baby.
6. I can tie a knot in a cherry stem with my tongue. (Thanks Mom & Dad for that private college education, bet you never imagined I would gain so much.)
7. I have worked for the same company for over 9 years after walking in as a temp for what I expected to be a very short period of time. I was working for VP who was saddled with Y2K work and when I offered to take care of some of the stuff she had on her plate she ended up creating a position for me. When Y2K was over I got a position in the Program Management group and have been here ever since.

I know I should now tag more people. If you haven't been tagged yet, consider yourself IT!

Missing the World from Suburbia

Last night I went to hear Dana Perino, the new White House Press Secretary and Ann Compton the ABC White House Correspondent speak at an industry event at the National Association of Broadcasters offices in Washington, DC. I am a bit embarrassed to say that when I got the invitation neither of the names immediately rang a bell. I knew that Tony Snow had colon cancer, I guess I missed his stepping down somewhere between Brownie Cookie Orders, soccer games, and working through the waiting list for before school care.

Of course I googled them both to find out a little more about them. My first thought when reading about Dana Perino was "WOW, she's only 35!" With the end of that thought being something along the lines of what the heck have I been doing with my life, I am pushing 40. She told the story of her career which was a lot about being in the right place at the right time. She talked to someone at a hockey game who happened to know that her Senator was looking for a new press secretary and he hired her soon after. She wanted to move back to Washington and through connections ended up in a press job at the DOJ. Then her elevation the White House Press Secretary came due to her boss' illness. I don't want to minimize her accomplishments in any way but I thought it illustrated the power of networking and being in the right place at the right time.



Ann Compton was amazing to me. She had 4 kids in 5 years while covering the White House. She proudly declared that she managed to have 2 kids in the 1980 election cycle! When asked about work/life balance she honestly said that her network salary made it a lot easier--she had a full-time housekeeper and a physician husband who didn't travel. That allowed her to travel with Presidents and know that there was a parent home in Washington.

I hadn't attended a professional event in many years, perhaps since I left Higher Education. I had been very active in groups for college housing professionals and college administrators but have never found (or really sought) that same kind of professional allegiance since landing in corporate America. First I feel kind of like the odd person out, I manage programs, not really projects and not in a very traditional way so I don't feel like I fit into the project manager group where people and money management rule the day. Last night I was again at the fringe of the group but it was interesting to mingle with other professional women in my adopted home.


The biggest ah-ha for me though was the losing touch with national and international events. I catch some of the Today Show in the morning, I read the local paper, catch the headlines on the MSN front page and I scan blogs from all over the country. I know who is running for president, who is winning the ALCS, that we are still at war in Iraq and that Facebook banned pictures of breastfeeding. I know the schedule of activities for my neighborhood and my school, I've attended school board meetings, I've written letters to keep the state from taxing health club memberships and I took on leadership for the United Way Campaign at work. Last night I wondered about whether my local focus has gone too far. Is my focus on work, family and my local community coming at the expense of understanding the world around me? I am sure my father the social studies teacher, watcher of the nightly news, reader of all the news magazines and champion of all trivia would be appalled at my lack of knowledge of what is happening in the world. I just can't figure out how I can fit one more piece of information into my head without something important sneaking out!



So, if you are on top of the world and national news--how do you do it?

Back to the grind

Today I went back to the office after being off for 6 days. It was really hard getting back into the swing of things. Of course the girls didn't want to get up today although yesterday they were up and ready before I was, go figure. I had a meeting first thing this morning and then a slew of them this afternoon where I needed to know what was going on and be able to speak intelligently and on topic. I think I did okay but thinking took a lot of work. I would so much rather have been at home in bed catching up on my sleep! Last night was better but it was far from a good night's sleep. GMan and his snoring are driving me nuts, he'll be lucky if I don't put a pillow over his head tonight (JK, love ya, mean it!).

I get to work from home tomorrow. The Verizon guy is coming (at least I assume its a guy, very sexist of me) to hook us up with FiOS TV. I'll admit it we are TV and gadget junkies. We've waited through a year of our DirectTV contract to get to this point--they have a bundle for the right price so we are going for it. For us the holy grail is the multi-room DVR. I can record in the living room and watch it in the bedroom. Yes, we are sick, sick TV junkies.

On Thursday my whole department is going to a training class on negotiations skills. My two fears, it is deathly boring OR the whole thing is role playing. I don't mind doing the role play with strangers but doing it with the people I work with makes me want to hurl. Yeah, stupid I know but me.

Okay, off to clean the TV shows off the current DVR before they disappear into never-never land!

It snot funny

Well, I guess it is now, but not at the time.

I have this annoying cough. I can sit at my desk and I cough occasionally but it snot so bad. Then I went to run a meeting this morning. We are about 15 minutes in and a coughing jag hits. Bad enough since I am trying to lead these people through a conversation on a rather complex topic. Then a particularly jarring cough hits and I can feel snot sneaking towards the end of my nose. If I can't get it under control I am going to blow snot bubbles. I can feel it. Add that on to the coughing jag and I am now turning bright red and getting blow snot on my colleagues--now there is some team building.

One of the guys asks if he can get me water. I give him the hand and tell them I'll be right back and go sprinting from the room. I get a cup of water which helps marginally. Then I head to the restroom for a serious nose blowing. Really, did I need this today?

The Wacky Working World

Wacky working world, really a www that I could live without. I sometimes think that I became a parent just to make me better tolerate the people I work with more easily. Don't get me wrong, I work with very bright people but some days common sense and communication skills seem to be lacking. This week a relatively benign request to share a limited resource got communicated up to the top of the organization as an "us against them" turf war. I was embarrassed that such a thing got raised to such levels, really they get paid a lot of money to deal with real problems. Thankfully though, my neck hasn't hurt too much, I've slept reasonably well, and I haven't lost it with anyone--yet.

This afternoon I had a meeting scheduled for a room at 1PM. At 1PM the previous meeting wasn't over, we gave them a few minutes. I checked to make sure I had it booked. Then I went in and started up my conference line. The people from the previous meeting continued to hang around and talk--really there is a hallway, other empty rooms, find one I was thinking to myself. Finally I said to the people on the phone, sorry we are late getting started, we are still waiting for the room to free up--or something like that. There were giggles around the table and one of my co-workers laughed and complimented me on my subtlety. Well, if that's what it takes for people to have a little decency and common sense I guess that's what I'll resort to.

If you'd like to hear more of my opinion, head over to Maven Says and check out my review of The 24-Hour Pharmacist. Good perspective on all the non-traditional ways to look at health and wellness alongside the more traditional path. The book is authored by Suzy Cohen known as America's Most Trusted Pharmacist. If you check it out and go leave a comment over on Parent Bloggers Network, they'll enter you in a drawing for a $50 CVS giftcard and a copy of the book. I know you love winning stuff so head on over. The mid-campaign review is this Friday, July 13.

The advantages of not sleeping

For those keeping score, I did sleep relatively well last night. I had trouble going to sleep but since I turned the lights an hour earlier than usual I got to sleep a few minutes after I'd normally turn out the lights. Boobah was up twice, thankfully Gman took care of her. As sleeping goes for me lately, it was a good night. So all should be well right?

When I'm not sleeping all I can focus on is getting the basics covered. Kids to the right places, feed kids, bathe kids, go to meetings, return important phone calls, write e-mails, and pray that nothing drops. When I acutally have some energy and the fog has lifted to engage the critical thinking skills the world changes. The political games that are work are back in full swing. One VIP told me I was doing a great job and that my name had been mentioned for bigger, better things. I was in a no sleep daze and didn't think much of it. Yesterday I get told that another VIP thinks he needs to bring in a penis to be the leader on a project that I've already done the spec work on and am ready to move forward on. He is a BS'er, he has ideas and gets other people to help him get them done if anything gets done at all. He's a nice guy and does valuable stuff but this is not it. What is it that I lack that he has? Why is it so highly valued and why doesn't the VIP into whom my group reports want to grow it her own people?

Some days its just easier to be in a sleepless haze and concentrate on the big stuff. The small stuff will drive you crazy if you let it.

No good deed goes unpunished

My friend and I at work took on "flower day" to raise money for the March of Dimes. Instead of begging people to sponsor us for the walk, we sold flowers throughout the company and today was delivery day. We sold over 2000 flowers--including the generous benefactor who made sure EVERYONE in our main offices got one. This is a blessing for the March of Dimes and the people who get surprised with a flower. It is a freaking curse for those of us in charge who then have to figure out where the heck all these people are.

We flagged people down as they walked in the door, I am amazed at the number of people who couldn't be bothered to PICK THEM UP as they walked by. A few of them are on my beyotch list anyway and this just cemented their position in the basement as people for whom I wouldn't do something if their life depended on it. Not smart, very, very not smart.

We got a list of people in the company to start with, we updated it with all the people hired since they ran it. The problem, there is the great cube roulette wheel that gets spun what seems like weekly and people move, from building to building and no one gets told so tracking the suckers down is not easy. Finally we gave up and sent an e-mail, we have your flowers, we can't find you, please come pick them up. One response--well I sit right near X but I guess I'll come pick it up anyway. Is that "you freaking moron" inferred or is it just me?

Anyway, its over again for another year. Now to track down the last of the slackers who haven't paid us.

On the funny kid note, PDQ has adopted the air quote as her new thing. Tonight we were eating dinner and she said this is air quote really good air quote. I had to laugh. I asked her where she learned that--TV, of course, should have known.

I'm Melting......

Yeah, not in the weight loss sense unfortunately. I had a high fever on Friday night, my cheeks were seriously flaming and I felt really horrible. Finally the fever broke and I ended up in a big sweaty puddle--yeah, don't you wish you shared the bed with me? I haven't had a fever since but my temperature control mechanism still isn't right. I've been too hot, I've been too cold but I haven't found just right yet. I actually stayed home from work both Friday and yesterday to try and make sure that I was in decent form this morning to face the executive staff of my company and review a project proposal with them.

So I got up this morning and went for acupuncture, might as well go in as well centered as I could be. It was the same way I started the day that I got sick and ran the meeting that precipitated this one. I have little doubt the stress of that hellish event contributed to being stricken by the plague. By the time I got to the presentation it was hot in their suite, they kept us waiting for 20 minutes and I was feeling a bit queasy. Finally I ran to the bathroom--wouldn't you know that while I was gone they summoned our little group--6 men and little old me. The others, all guys, all senior managers went in and took a seat. Thankfully my colleague grabbed chairs out of another room for the two of us while I handed out the presentation (only half of them in color because apparently they've now limited the number of copies you can send to the color printer unbeknownst to me until 2 minutes before the meeting). Finally I got a chance to sit down and two of the female execs pulled a chair up close to the big people table for me right between them. One of them was so close and kept looking at me intently every time I spoke--I wanted to tell her that her knew glasses were great, it was a bit disconcerting having such a great view of them for SO long!

They were ready to start, the exec in charge the project gave a long introduction while I sat there, he ended rather abruptly and I felt myself fall into the abyss--they expected me to start talking and what do you say to follow that introduction? I could feel my face flush, I could feel sweat forming on my forehead and under my arms, I took a deep breath and jumped in. There were a couple of times I looked at the slides that had occupied my weekend in bed and I swear there were words I'd never seen before! The hour went pretty quickly, thank goodness. The peanut gallery that came to meeting to field questions might have said a dozen sentences between them--from the good chairs. I feel like I escaped unscathed, I can't wait to hear the action items I got assigned after we were dismissed. I really did think for just a moment there wasn't going to be anything left of me but a puddle in that chair.

Blog Blast
Parent Bloggers Network is sponsoring its first blog blast in honor of Mother's Day and inspired by LightIris founder and dad Kevin who has been wearing a Preggo Suit all month long. Can he really actually be empathic to what moms go through? And is being a mom just about the actual having of the kids? or the raising of the kids? What is it that makes YOU a mom? Post anytime on Friday May 11 and e-mail a link to parentbloggers@gmail.com for the chance to be included and maybe even win $100 SPA FINDER gift card in a random drawing!

It’s Official, I am Losing My Mind

I’ve had a rough couple of weeks trying to keep track of things, my underwear, bra, shoe, school papers and this morning I forgot my ID badge and Boobah’s preschool bag. Yesterday I had a group of people show up for a meeting that I had forgotten about and had a really hard time articulating why we were there. Finally about half an hour in I found the right words and we got something done. I logged on to the computer three times this morning and never did remember what my intent was. It makes me wonder if the lack of sleep is finally catching up to me or maybe it is the change in routine with PDQs babysitter being out of commission for the next few weeks. I’ve been so good about exercise and my diet (other than the comfort food bonanza that was Easter). I hoped that sleep would finally follow suit, not yet.
I started seeing an acupuncturist last week in search of a good night’s sleep and an ability to better handle the stress in my life. Esmerelda has talked about her acupuncture experiences and swears that they’ve helped her fight off the strep that ran rampant in her house as well as deal with the stress of two kids, her mother and soon-to-be-ex-husband. I went for my first appointment, 2 hours long! The person I am seeing is a family friend who I’ve know for about 9 years. It was interesting to see him go back to school and train to be an acupuncturist. I was the benefactor of a massage during part of his training and many greetings where he looked deep into my eyes while checking my pulses. It was a little strange going to see someone you know so well in a new context, there were times when I had to suppress a giggle at something he said because it was off kilter with the way I know him. It wasn’t bad, just different. After the session I definitely felt calm and sleepy. I went home and vegged out on the couch with Gman and went to bed relatively early. I slept better than usual that night and generally just felt more calm. Tuesday I went for my second treatment, again I left feeling calm and sleepy, no surprise on the sleepy part since I was up most of the previous night. I had a relatively good night, it would have been better but Boobah came creeping in and climbed in bed. She made things too warm and too hard to try and contort around, I ended up carrying her back to her bed but the damage was done, I was up for more than an hour but I woke up yesterday morning for cycling class at the gym feeling pretty good and was tired by bedtime last night. Unfortunately sleep last night was more like a series of naps, again a night time visit from Boobah but thankfully Gman took care of her this go ‘round.

So, I’m not sleeping great yet. The sciatic pain from the rowing machine at my parents and then a 5.5 hour drive in the car is better as is my clicking jaw. I feel calmer as well, something everyone in my house will tell you is a good thing! I’m thinking that my energy shake-up has begun and with it maybe my multi-tasking prowess is being compromised. Makes me wonder if it is my body telling me that I should never have been doing it to the extent I have been in the first place. I guess time will tell. Thankfully I haven’t forgotten to pick up a kid anywhere or done anything really stupid at work. I feel like I’ve started an adventure to get to know myself better. I already feel like I am becoming more aware of my body, we’ll see if I can actually learn to listen to it. Hopefully my recent inability to remember anything not permanently attached to my body will clear as well.

Exercise & the Brain

While at home for Easter I caught up on Dad’s stack of Newsweek Magazine. I’ve been spending a lot of time at the gym and a series of articles on exercise and the brain caught my attention and I had my nose buried in it for a long time. They hit connections across the board—kids, the elderly, adults, depression. As a Mom, someone who has struggled with my weight and watching my Grandmother’s struggle to recover from a stroke the articles really spoke to me so I wanted to share them with you as well.

Blahhhhhhhhhhhhh

That is how I feel this morning. I was up several times during the night with the hope that a drink of water would make my throat feel better. While it helped a bit at the time this morning I woke up with a flaming sore throat (in the dark no less). Seems I managed to go all winter without a cold, flu or sinus problem but wham, the weather turns nice and I feel like crap. Maybe its the fact that stuff has started blooming?! Its supposed to be 70 here today!

Of course here at work I have a full day on tap, starting with an executive inquisition, er um meeting so there was no crawling back in bed for me. So I got up and downed some Vitamin I. Put on the new dress I bought at Kohl's last night (gotta love a 30% off everything coupon!), dug out some heels, wriggled into some hose and headed for the office. If I don't feel good maybe looking good will get me through the day. And the dress, it came from the regular sizes not the plus sizes--talk about non-scale victory. I also felt lighter this morning and sure enough, down 2 pounds from Friday--how the heck does that happen--do the little fat globs sneak out in the middle of the night? I guess I'll ride the loss and the new dress through the day and count my blessings that it is Tuesday and I get to leave early to pick Boobah up at preschool.

And today's challenge for Super Mom....Childcare Calculus

Will it never end? Today the new wrinkle in our scheduled to the moment lives--PDQs babysitter needs to have surgery and will be out for nearly a month. "Lucky" for us that one of those weeks is Spring Break and she can go to daycare with Boobah. After that, the assignment for Super Mom is to coordinate daycare before and after school.

Boobah's babysitter (BB) doesn't live on a bus route for PDQs school, she can watch her after school but getting her to BB creates some scheduling issues for Super Mom. BB might be able to pick her up at school but will need Super Mom's van to do so and needs cooperation of another child's parents as he arrives from preschool at the same time school ends.

PDQs babysitter (PB) has asked two neighbors to help out during that time. Its up to Super Mom to negotiate times and rates with these neighbors. PDQ knows one of the women marginally and dislikes her son, she doesn't know the other woman at all.

Grandma & Grandpa live 5 hours away, Grandma works Tuesday and Wednesday every week but maybe they could come provide some relief.

Boobah's school (BS) has an enrichment program one afternoon per week that Boobah attends as well as one of PDQs classmates. Can Super Mom negotiate a car pool with said classmate and get BS to allow her to attend for 2 afternoons?

Just considering the possibilities has given me a headache. I have a whole month to get everything negotiated and in place--thank goodness for small favors. I manage big projects for a living and sometimes I think arranging our lives is far, far more difficult!

Is it really only Thursday?

It has been one of those weeks, I have worked long hours on a ton of little things, there is no big deliverable I've been driving towards to get the big payoff of having accomplished something. I guess the big accomplishment of the week happened on Tuesday when a project got killed. We'd been working on something and I asked several times if it was the right thing, finally someone much higher up than I asked the same question, in the end I went back and put the information together, gave it to the financial whiz and got back the answer--bad idea, very expensive idea that might get us laughed at--that is pretty much the high point. That particular project killing got me a much more complicated business changing kind of project to replace. Fun to figure out but with everything else I have to do more than my brain can absord at the moment. I've been to 18 meetings in the last four days, most of them I ran, a few of them I even planned before I ran them. More than once I showed up having no idea what the topic was and winged it!

I have put together notes from none of them, followed up on none of them, I haven't had time to think about much of anything. When I get back to my desk I just sit down and turn into a pile of gelatinous ooze trying to figure out exactly what it is I should do first, I start something, think of something else, switch to that, go back to the first. I guess the report that multi-tasking is a loser was right. I do it pretty well but I think at the moment I've hit the wall. Hopefully tomorrow things slow down and I have time to actually get something done.

Despite the kind of week its been, it has been fun. There are big changes going on, the stuff I have been writing is making a difference, the people I work with are great, and it feels like some real change might actually happen. I have to say, the year I spent feeling crappy from my gallbaldder was really stupid. I feel so much better I know I am more productive. For awhile I was even sleeping better, now my mind is moving so fast that I wake up planning things or trying to figure out an important detail.

The girls and I had a great time last night, we played Candy Land, Chutes and Ladders and Dora Dominoes. Then we cuddled up in the bed with a new Cam Jansen book and the 20th reading of the Arthur in a Pickle book. Today I had conference with PDQ's teacher and all is well. Then I went off to visit another preschool for Boobah. I loved the place, its on the way to work and I am pretty sure we'll enroll her there next year. I was thinking last night, a year there will cost more than tuition, room and board my first year in college--and its not the most expensive place I've been to visit. Guess that's why I need to keep working!

Ambiguous bits

I just attempted to run a meeting with 8 men at my company. The solution to the problem one of them declared--is analyzing the ambiguous bits. I just about lost it, the rest of the meeting I had the song from the Ambigously Gay Duo running through my head, very, very bad for standing in front of a room. I listened to the description of the ambiguous bits, I still have absolutely NO iea what the heck they are though!

The week is off to a rip roarin' start

After weeks of fighting with the girls about getting out of bed and getting dressed in the morning we instituted a new rule. For every extra time Mommy has to ask you to get dressed, you go to bed five minutes earlier that night. For PDQ I think its totally appropriate, for Boobah at 3 I can cut her some slack. So this morning, I reminded them of THE NEW RULE, gave them their clothes and started us on our merry Monday morning way. So as to avoid the fight with Boobah I got her dressed, she wanted nothing of it. She wanted to leave on her Elmo jammies, I might have let her but she was already dressed! She screamed in my room, screamed naked on the toilet and finally I brokered a deal--if you stop screaming and put your clothes back on I will let you take your jammies with you. The screaming stopped, the teeth got brushed and we almost made it out the door when she remembered the jammies (which I had in hand). She went to the van, got the daycare bag and since the jammies hadn't magically transported themselves there we had more tears. That one was settled quickly and we were on our way--only 20 minutes behind schedule. So, my day with grown ups has to get better, right? RIGHT?

Maven?

My friend Esmerelda told me she'd been reading social networking theory (yeah, she works in HR) and that I was officially a maven and a connector and since we have kidded that I am the maven.

Here is the reference from Wikipedia--Malcolm Gladwell used it in his book The Tipping Point (Little Brown, 2000) to describe those who are intense gatherers of information and impressions, and so are often the first to pick up on new or nascent trends. The popularity of the work of Safire and Gladwell has made the word particularly widely used in their particular contexts. Gladwell also suggests that mavens may act most effectively when in collaboration with connectors - i.e.: those charismatic people who have wide network of casual acquaintances by whom they are trusted, often a network that crosses many social boundaries and groups. Connectors can thus easily and widely distribute the advice or insight of a maven.

I am a gatherer of information, there is no doubt, Ilisten to everything and file it away, it comes back to me at the oddest times--so many times it is minutia but occasionally it is something important! At work people are amazed that I put all those hallway conversations, meetings and things I read together. I don't know that it puts me on the cutting edge of a trend but it does keep my employed. I also don't see myself as charismatic but I do spend a lot of time maintaining relationships so I can do my job, its how I can be effective. Its like a constant game trying to figure out what will get whom to do what needs to be done-the joy of responsibility without any specific authority.

So, that is where the name comes from and I kind of like it--scanning the environment and taking in al kinds of information and sharing it with others.