In My Copious Free Time

How I am spending the spring

We're about to begin a serious burst of work for a client. I'm kind of proud of myself because I've basically pieced together the entire project plan. I wrote the proposal, my boss went there for a little dog-and-pony show in November (thinking they'd chose another firm), and then I supplied all the backup and answered questions. Imagine my surprise when they chose us. Since then I've been working like crazy to firm up the budget, the session designs (design = a detailed agenda of educational components that will create an experiential learning environment that will accomplish the session goals), and map out the timeline. It's going to be a burst because we're looking to deliver about 120 consultant days over 8 weeks since the work has to be completed by 31 May, the end of the client's fiscal year. I reconfigured 2 designs for shorter session time and different outcomes, and created the draft of an entirely new piece. Next task: begin working with the director of a theater-based education group to develop a script for educational vignettes for a session. Blah-blah-blah. Basically, it's the most involved I've ever been in creating what we do for a client -- the most anyone that wasn't the Client Lead or an officer of the company has ever been involved in the creation process.

But...the reason I was thinking about this...I just got an email from the person that is going to be leading one component of the delivery. She's terrific and I love working with her. In the email she said:
Tara, it's great to partner with you again. Yeah! Yippee! Que Bueno!  I'm a happy camper. Stuff like that makes a person feel pretty nice, ya know?

After penciling in a projected schedule, then putting in my vacation and a trip to Atlanta for a conference, I realized that I might have to dust off my side of the bed come the first of June. (cue look of dismay)

Thanks, Google

I realize that "o'hare depeaked schedule" is an unusual search to run. However, does Google really think I mean "o'hare debeaked schedule"??? Really?

*The process of reducing take-offs and landings during peak traffic times is called "depeaking." It is a subject of great concern at O'Hare which is not only one of the world's busiest airports, it also has one of the worst on-time records of any airport. Its impact on the US flight system is enormous. When O'Hare is backed up, everyone is backed up.

Careless Whisper

So, I'm in DC for this week-long workshop. One of the consultants on our staff arrived this afternoon after the session was underway. When she came in, she came over to me, said hi and I quietly caught her up on the day. We were whispering since the participants were having a discussion. Then I asked her if someone else had told her about our dinner plans. (This is what we talk about most of the time -- the source of our next meal.)

Me: Did Ilene tell you where we're going for dinner?
Monica: No, where?
Me: Jaleo, a tapas restaurant
Monica: (still whispering, but more stridently) What???
Me: A tapas restaurant
Monica: Whose idea was that???
(I'm thinking, sheesh, what does she have against tapas?)
Me: Well, someone on staff recommended it...and I've been there...
Monica: You've been there???
Me: Well, yeah.
Monica: Do we all have to go tapas?
(This conversation is getting a leetle bit weird now.)
Me: No, you can order an entree...
Monica: What?
Cue the light bulb in her head...

Monica: Oh! Tapas! I thought you were saying topless.

Now, I know that I have a bit of reputation, but really.

Work-life balance

The company I work for is big on work-life balance, to the point that Alex has traveled with me for work (at the company's expense) multiple times. He's been in client sessions with me. In fact, he crawled for the first time at a client event. I found this picture today -- Alex was with me at a weekend event for our firm, a sort of "think tank" that takes place each summer. Work and life, balanced right there on my hip.

Work update, abridged

People are amazing.
Groups are incredible.
I love my job.
I have a cubic buttload of work to do.

I think that covers it.

This isn't what Loverboy meant

...in "Working for the Weekend." I'm in the greater DC metro area this weekend, working at a leadership workshop. Extremely interesting stuff -- right now the participants are in a T-group, and it is just killing me that I can't be in there to hear what is going on. (Because of the nature of T-groups, there are no observers, only participants and facilitators, and I am neither.) I've gotten to talk a lot recently in other venues about how much I enjoy my job, and this is part of the reason. We do cool shit.

On a more basic level, I am bone tired. The one client I'm not supposed to work on (that prohibition is so that a few of us aren't sucked into it and can run the rest of the firm) has sucked up most of my time and energy this week. And because of this workshop I'm at now, I have no weekend this week. (I go home late Monday night.) Tired, tired, tired.

And at an even more basic level, there is some good shopping very nearby. :)

Things I have explained today

Today I have explained:

• Why you save things to the server and not your desktop
• Why the mindset of "I'll save it here now and then move it to the server when I'm done" is ultimately a folly
• Why it is not only unprofessional to not be prepared for a meeting with an outside contractor who charges by the hour, it is also cost-ineffective
• Why, when you print and send a budget to a client for a half-million dollars, it's important to do the little things, like make sure the columns are wide enough so that the text is not cut off
• Alternately, why wrapping text in columns in Excel is a good idea
• Why printing entire paragraphs in title case because "that's what Consultant X sent me" is not such a good idea

I can only hope I've explained these things for the last time. Sadly, I do not expect that is the case.

How Australia is ruining my life

Not the whole country, of course. Joe is going to Australia for 9 days to give a keynote at a conference and teach a short course. Great, proud of him, all that stuff. However, through no fault of his own, it's turning out to be a very inconvenient time for him to be gone.

Problem #1:
I have a business trip that I was supposed to take 8/28-8/30. Rather than flying down Sunday night with my boss, I'll be leaving mid-day on Friday and taking Alex with me. Instead of flying to the client's city, I'll be flying to Alabama and going to my sister's house. I'll leave Alex with her, then drive my rental car to the client on Sunday. I'll work Monday and Tuesday, then drive back to my sister's on Tuesday night and fly home on Wednesday morning.

Phew. The only trick will be whether or not the client will pick up the tab for both flights. Seeing as how I'm saving them almost $600 on the deal, I think they should. But they might not see it that way. Regardless, I'm not paying for it, so it will be a matter of whether or not we expense all of it or the company eats Alex's airfare. Bottom line is I have to be there and I have no one else to leave my child with.

Problem #2
Daycare is closed on 9/2. It's a cleaning and reorganizing day, which means that Alex's normal babysitters (who both work at daycare) can't babysit. So I have to take the day off.

Problem #3
The CEO and I have done a 2-hour session on diversity and inclusion for a local women's college freshman orientation weekend for the last three years. It's always on Labor Day weekend. This year, they want us to do it for BOTH campuses. So that's 2+ hours on Saturday and Sunday that I need a babysitter for. A babysitter that I haven't managed to locate, for the record.

Today's highlights

Well, there aren't many of them. But there are a few.

I had a very good talk with my boss today (at her kitchen table, where we do some of our best work) about a great many things, only some of which involved work.

I managed to sort through a bunch of marketing projects that I'm taking over while someone is on medical leave. I know I have a lot of skills, but I'm thinking that marketing isn't one of them. I'll muddle through somehow, but it makes me extremely nervous to be in a position where I'm doing something so far out of my skill set. 

I also wrote something today that I am supremely satisfied with (a rarity as I'm my own harshest critic). I'm looking forward to hearing how it will be received.

I finished a large chunk of research today that's been hanging over my head for far too long.

Tomorrow will bring more highlights, but they'll all be on my head. ;)

Strangeness and SOTD

For the first time in I don't know how long, I don't have to pack up my laptop and head to daycare to get Alex! (since he and Joe are in MA today) It is...strange.  The office is emptying out and here I sit, typing away, setting Outlook tasks for next week, taking more than 2 minutes to write my weekly update to my boss. I love my kiddo, but the afternoons usually fly by, and this sort of unrushed time feels strangely luxurious. (How dorky does that sound?)

And now for the Skirt of the Day (which I'm being totally lazy and not posting in Livejournal):
And it's not even pinkandgreen