Background: My swim coach’s philosophy on being sick was unless you had a 102+ degree fever AND you were puking you should be at practice. That philosophy has been ingrained into me and I’ve always applied it to everything I do, including showing up to work. With that in mind and having been on vacation the last five days, I came into work early today.
Morning Scene: The side effects from the medication I’m on made me so dizzy and shaky that I could barely answer emails, let alone move from my chair. Apparently, I also looked like death warmed over. So much in fact, that Office Boyfriend insisted on literally carrying me to his car, driving me home and putting me to bed. Upon leaving the office we ran into the BDA. AKA the BDA knows that I am truly sick and clearly will not be working today.
Mid-morning Scene: BDA has now sent me fifteen emails. Yes, fifteen. BDA has copied my boss on all of them as if to say, “Look we’re awesome and doing our due diligence. It is clearly your Director that is not doing her job.”
The Kicker: The boss didn’t respond to a single email except for #15. With that he replies [slightly paraphrased], “Please stop emailing my Director. She is very sick today. You yourself saw that firsthand. She is not in the office nor do I want her checking email. She needs to get better. Blah Blah Blah… Please do not send another email to her or me until she explicitly says to do so.”
Yea, that was pretty much the best part of this being sick thing.
I’m currently cranky from having a terrible, stupid cough for almost two weeks. Of course, it also came right when I decided to go on vacation, so I didn’t get to do everything I was looking forward to. Anyway, in “honor” of it, below are ten pet peeves and/or things I hate.
People who don’t turn off their cell phones in meetings. You are not that important. There is no reason to leave the ringer on. There’s also no reason to put it on vibrate and then leave it on the table so it can buzz away every time you get an email. We all get a crap load of email. Yours is no more important than anyone else’s.
Slow people who walk in a giant group or stand in the middle of a major walkaway. Do you really not realize you’re blocking the entire walkaway? If you’re standing around chit chatting, move to the side for godsake’s. Not everyone is a tourist. Not everyone is completely lost. We have places to go and things to do. Be respectful of that.
People who send massive amounts of emails with attachments when they know you’re on vacation. I told you days in advance that I was taking a PERSONAL vacation and that I would not be checking email. Was it really necessary to send ten (no joke… that’s an average of two per day) “urgent” emails? No, it was not. You were (a) being a prick and (b) didn’t do your job properly in the first place. Thanks for ruining my vacation asshole.
Being guilt tripped about how much alcohol I have in my condo. Yes, I drink. Yes, I enjoy drinking. Yes, I drink beer, wine and hard alcohol and yes, I keep all three in my condo at all times. And no, that does not mean I have a drinking problem. Leave me alone.
Being guilt tripped about how I live my life. My parents were in town this week. It took all of three hours before my mom started in- I don’t eat enough, I workout too much, I stay at the office too late, when and for what holidays am I coming home for, why don’t you move your couches farther apart, why don’t you take any relationships seriously enough to introduce us, and on and on and on.
People who go around your back. You’re a moron. You know my boss is going to cc me in because he’s cool like that. He’s also going to allow me to decide on the course of action. All you accomplished by doing this was pissing me off.
So called friends. You know, the ones you thought were your best friends and haven’t spoken to you since you said, “No, I’m sick. I’m going home early and will not join you for the 3am trip to the Strip Club.” Apparently, saying, “No” once in five years makes you “not fun”.
People who talk during movies or my favorite TV shows. Enough said. I’m one of “those” people.
Gristedes Supermarket in NYC. They were the only place that would ship the yogurt I like. For some reason, they stopped shipping groceries. It sucks. I suppose I hate Johanna Foods for only selling their yogurt on the East Coast. Expand already, damnit!
The Beauty of Pirate Ships by Chris Brogan is a great, well written piece. I for one, am excited to see people throw away excuses, get down to business and get things done.
While the piece is a great analogy, you shouldn’t need to get hungry. You should always be hungry. The moment you need to “get” hungry is the moment you’ve lost it. It’s the moment you’ve burned out. And more importantly, it’s the moment you’ve stopped fighting.
If your goal doesn’t make you hungry, then it’s worthless. You’ve chosen the wrong one. Whatever goal you pick, you should be willing to claw your way inch by inch towards it. As Brogan says, “Set your goal on FIRE. Make it a blazing beacon that guides you.”
If you’re not hungry, if your goal isn’t on fire, you’re going to lose to the person who is hungry. For that person, losing is never an option.
God, I love Entourage. I love it (and Ari Gold) so much that I’m actually posting a video that’s longer than a minute and a half. Even more surprising, I actually watched all nine minutes of some favorite lines and scenes by the infamous Ari Gold.
Memories are a funny thing. Sometimes, you fight to hold onto them. And sometimes, you fight to let them go. I’m not sure which scenario is harder to accomplish.
For a long time, I was so scared of losing certain memories that I clung on with everything I had. I was so scared of what would happen if I let them go; if I allowed myself to forget. Then one day, despite my best efforts, the memories faded. And surprisingly, I’m okay with that. I finally learned that the memories, although faded, always come back with the pictures, the cards, the toys, etc. And while I’ve lost a lot of the “little details,” the “big picture” will always be there.
I wish it was this easy to turn the frogs into princes, but alas… at least the chase is fun.
Whatever “prince” you’re chasing, never give up. Ever. Whether it’s a boy (or girl), a job, a promotion, faster times, a World Championship, etc., it’s out there waiting for you… just keep chasing and kissing.
I’m really looking forward to taking two weeks of vacation. Okay, okay, it’s not two solid weeks. But, it’s close and it’s the longest vacation I’ve taken in well, a long time. In honor of it, I thought I’d make a list of a few of my favorite things:
Hammocks. When I was a baby, the only way my dad could get me to fall asleep was by rocking me in a hammock. Wonder if that’s why I love them so much.
Afternoon swims. I have an intense love/hate relationship with the white “X” on my back. With this whole 9-5 thing it’s faded a lot. I’m looking forward to having it come back in full force.
Lazy mornings. The 9-5 thing ruins this too. Love getting up, going running and coming back to two cups of coffee, the newspaper and cuddling on the couch. Yuck! I can’t believe I just admitted to liking to cuddle.
Afternoon naps. Nap time was the greatest invention in the whole world. When I run my own office, we’re having nap time. Right after snack time. Make sure to bring your favorite blanket!
Books. I like audio books and I like reading digital versions, but I LOVE the “old fashion” print and ink. I currently have about six that are in various stages of being done. I plan on finishing all of them.
Road trips. If I had the time, I’d take driving over flying any day. Week two definitely involves an East Coast Road Trip. Just haven’t decided on the route yet. I’m sure I won’t until the day of
Spa days. Need I say more?
Playgrounds! Swings, slides, monkey bars, merry-go-rounds. How can you not love the park/playground?
Black and white photography. I finally decided on artwork for the new place. Hopefully, I’ll get the shots needed to make it work.
Don’t call me a bitch. Shockingly, I’m not on the rag everyday. I just know what I want and am willing to go to any length to get it. If that means putting you in your place, oh well.
Don’t assume I’m domineering 100% of the time. I find this one funny. Typically, those that are aggressive at work are submissive in the bedroom and vice versa. If you don’t know that one, you need to start having more sex.
Don’t ask me to wear a skirt. I have to admit, I play to this one. To me, it’s counter intuitive, but on the days I wear a skirt, men take my opinions more seriously.
Don’t tell me, “Men do all the real work.” Trust me, to do the amount and quality of work I do, you’d have to hire two men.
Don’t call me frigid. From experience, the guys who talk the most shit about their sexual prowess and how big their dick is? Yea, they’re the ones to stay far, far away from. In reality, they suck in bed and have tiny penises.
Don’t discount me. My March Madness picks are amazing. In fact, I think you pretend to ignore me because you know my picks are going to kick your picks’ asses.
Don’t give/take something from me based on my gender alone. Don’t tell me I got or didn’t get the job/assignment/promotion because I’m a woman. You don’t say that to a guy or a Hispanic or a Jew or an African American, so don’t say it to me. Come up with some other reason; it can’t possibly be that difficult.
One of my guilty pleasures is random, useless trivia. Ask me the capital of Nevada. No idea. Ask me who designed the Mr. Peanut logo. A 14 year old boy who won $5 in a logo contest. Combine my guilty pleasure with my anal organization and you get 27 word documents filled with cool quotes and random trivia that I’ve collected over the years.
Anyway, as I was pulling out some trivia that pertained to the internet, I ran across this one:
In 2003, besides the “usuals” (i.e. ‘porn’), ‘Kazaa’, ‘Brittany Spears’, ‘Dragonball’ and ‘Kobe Bryant’ were some of the most searched for terms.
It got me thinking. I did a quick search and, thus far, in 2008, ‘Brittany Spears’ and ‘Dragonball’ still rank in the Top 10 of most searched for terms. That’s a five year span. Five years later, thousands of new products, hundreds of new celebrities, tons of technological advancements and yet, people are still interested in and searching for the same damn things.
Yes, this whole internet thing changes every six months. But, who does it effect? Who cares? Who jumps on board? Clearly, not the mainstream. God knows how many years behind they are. That’s why the AOL pay-for-internet model still works. People still don’t realize you can have a free email account or access the internet through anything but the AOL portal (or they’re too afraid of change)!
On a whim, I flew to the opposite side of the United States to remember childhood dreams. I could have gone to California or Mexico, but noooo; I always like taking things to the extreme.
Besides the water color and diving, by favorite part about the Bahamas and more specifically, Scotland Key, is my brightly colored beach house and the lighthouse across the way. I spent the weekend lying on the beach, climbing the light tower and of course, swimming and diving.
While the Bahamas isn’t my favorite place, it does remind me of carefree days. It also makes me yearn to pack a duffel bag, jump on the next sailboat out and travel the Caribbean, picking up work here and there only when needed. Maybe it’ll happen sooner rather than later
Comments (0) 
Themocracy
