Macy's

Since when does Macy's not have toys?!  I thought all department stores had toy departments. My perfectly laid holiday plans are starting to unravel. Ugh!  I'll just keep repeating my mantra, "it's the thought that counts, it's the thought that counts..."

Reality TV

There's an element of reality TV that I like - the sociological study of cultures it can provide.  As a kid I remember being fascinated with the show Cops. It was the first glimpse of a whole other world completely outside my little circle and likely not one I would have ever come across.  Over the years, with the popularity of reality shows, it's a big hit or miss with a lot of "scripted" reality shows.  I feel like the reality shows have gone downhill and just when I thought it was fizzling out, I come across a new flavor.  Watching people watch TV. It doesn't sound that good and at first I was dubious but now I'm hooked!  

I came across the BBC Gogglebox this week.  It looks like it's in it's second season but I could only find two episodes on youtube.  But I'm hooked.  Some of the audience I didn't like at first but after a short period, even the drunk posh people started to grow on me.  

As I was looking for more episodes I stumbled upon The People's Couch, the American spinoff. As is usually the case, it's not as good, but after a few clips I warmed up to the show and am hooked on this one too.  It looks like everyone is just from LA, so not such a big cross section, but even still, they're funny. It's on HBO for those of you who have cable.

Of course, I can't help notice that all the shows the people are watching run the gambit from X-Factor to the Long Island Medium, but the BBC version at least had the people watching some stuff that was educational, like the news or some science shows.  It does seem to show that although both british and Americans watch a lot of TV, at least the british watch some stuff that is a little bit better.

Be forewarned, I watched one clip with the british watching the first episode of Downtown Abby, which I don't think has aired over here yet.  Not too much given away.  And then watched the Americans watching the season premiere of the Walking Dead, which I hadn't seen yet - doh.

Thanksgiving

As a way to try to keep the work/life balance I decided to take some days off around Thanksgiving.  Grand plans to work on all these projects and I think I got one done (plus helped out Cece with one of hers - organizing the craft/guest bedroom/soon to be kids play room).  Ended up just recharging and fending off the cold.  Had a nice Thanksgiving up in Vermont at dads.  Catherine and Barry came up without Tyler - so it was adults only.  I'm still getting used to driving up with Nick now.  I didn't realize how much I enjoyed the nice drive on my own - not that I don't like to catch up with Nick too.

Ended up bringing back four big boxes of legos.  I was so excited but now I realize I need to set up a place to dump them out and organize (aka play) with them that is not in the middle of the living room floor. 

I was gearing up for coming back into work today and just imagining what work had in store for me.  I'm critical but it's not like everything falls apart when I'm gone for a few days, or does it....

This is what greeted me on my commute into the office - an 8 alarm fire.  Luckily, not our building, and noone was harmed.  But it was a strange welcome back to work.

Work Travel

Just finished at work and checked in to my hotel. I was hopping I'd be in a room on the "pretty" side. And I was!  Check out my view. Just put the tv on and Goonies movie just started - all time favorite. 

Guess where I am this time!

LEGO!

Last weekend, I had a weekend with Cece and the kids.  I met up with Cece them at the public library and while she went off to drop off the groceries at home, the kids and I enjoyed a live reading of Toto the Hurricane Kitten.  And we got to meet him too.  It was amazing how well trained he was.  Almost like a dog - very strange.  In the afternoon, I took Cameron to the Lego store to pick out a birthday present.  Growing up Nick and I enjoyed endless hours playing with Lego.  Back then there weren’t as many different lines of Lego - we had a lot of the town Lego and just regular-let-your-imagination-build Lego.  I couldn’t believe they had a store just for Lego!  It had a really fun vibe and Cameron and I checked out all the sets and in the end he picked out a space set.  As we were driving to the store, I announced that I was going to buy some Lego for me too.  I wasn’t sure what I would like, but half way around to store, guess what I found - their Architecture line!  I splurged and bought myself the Empire State Building set.  I couldn’t wait to get home to build it.  I figured it's a good work toy to have on my desk next to my Vermont rock monster the kids made.

 

On our way out of the mall, we swung by American Girl and picked up a birthday present for Maggie.  Again, I remember pouring over the American Girl catalog when I was a little girl.  I loved reading about the back stories for the four girls they had.  Never actually got anything since it was all so expensive.  Of course, now they have tons more and they were super nice and helpful at the store.  I think this triggered a nostalgic weekend for me.  I started remembering what it was like being a kid, and then moved onto remembering when Cam and Maggie were younger and how fast they’re growing up!

And nothing like giving the birthday present to a (almost) four year old.  The feeding chair I picked up was just what Maggie wanted (granted her mom gave me a hint).  It was like I was giving her the moon!  She was so overjoyed with the gift and couldn’t wait to start playing with it.  We ended up spending the rest of the afternoon playing on the dining room table, making the Lego sets and playing dolls.  The kids were great at the Lego, Maggie really wanting to help and being good at mirroring stuff - I’d put in one side and she’d copy it for the other side.  Cameron was good at following the directions once he figured out the order of the pictures.  And then after dinner (and early Birthday cake) I enjoyed putting together my Lego set.  It was super fast compared to the Space and Ninja sets we were working on. 

After the kids went to bed, Cece and I stayed up watching Call of the Midwife and catching up.  Well, that was the plan except I was so dead tired I ended up falling asleep during the show and went to bed early.  Sunday, went to church with the kids and Cece and then around noon Aaron came home.  I left super happy, not just for spending a great weekend with great people, but as a bonus, Aaron fixed my car key fob.  Luckily, Cece had a similar issue earlier so they had all the stuff needed on hand.  It just made my day!

TGIF?

First, I have to say that I've been good about keeping work/life separate.  Most of my colleagues are on their email 24/7 including weekends and vacations.  I learned that I need that time to recharge and balance things out.  And I've been relatively good, up until now.  I have a massive project deadline that has myself and my group working long hours.  By 2 PM Friday afternoon I kept thinking TGIF and then laughing at myself  because there weren't enough hours between now and Monday morning client meeting.  

And I started realizing everything I had to cram into a finite weekend.  I had committed to spending a weekend with Cece and the kids and know she's shared with them the news.  Canceling on a friend is one thing but canceling on kids is a completely different thing.  For the project there is an inordinate amount of work we must get done, or else not a happy client - and it's all come up in the last couple of days. In the past I could complain about my boss over-promising or being unreasonable and now I find myself being that boss.  I'm the one with the client relationships who is held accountable.  It's a good thing but not when I haven't got the right resources.  Still working on that and fingers crossed I have something that might be falling into place next month to help. Very cryptic but don't want to jinx things.

So last night after marathon meetings internally working with my team and making sure we were all working through theis use for next weeks was realizing there was no way I could just get everything done staying late.  At about 9:30 I recognized I was loosing steam and called it quits for the night.  I have been stressed lately and part of it is that it's lonely as you move up, more is on your shoulders and less people to share your burdens with - it can weigh heavily.  But last night, even though this is the most I've ever faced I'm in better spirits than previous weeks/months because I'm not alone.  Working with my team and getting them focused they rallied and are behind me 100%+   They are having to scramble to squeeze in time this weekend too.

When we walked out the door around 10 last night I felt like it's these kind of things that bring the group closer.  Because of morning meeting I had my car and ended up giving folks a ride home. I didn't get home until after 11 and just woke up early to crank through as much as I can this morning before I meet up with Cece and the kids.  I'm going to have to cut my visit short tomorrow - would love to stay the entire afternoon but at least I'm not completely swallowed up by work.  And I'm trusting that the break will only energize me for round two of next week.

The good thing is that I can take the lessons learned from this experience on this project and change what we commit to on future projects so this is not repeated.  I'm happy that I am my own boss and not stuck with these situations on an endless basis.  I only wish there were a few extra days and tomorrow was Friday and not yesterday.  Hopefully this will be the only time and all future Fridays are TGIFs!

Work Trip

This morning was another wild dash to the airport to catch an early morning flight. You'd think I'd have this down with all the trips I've been doing. 

Just finished with our meeting and checked into the Hotel. And it's a nice one. The room is strange - a huge cut through between the room and bathroom. Strange. I guess so you can sit in the tub and enjoy the view.  A storm is brewing so I feel like I'm at the beginning of a movie. And I'm getting ready to go out for a night on the town with the head honchos. 

Check out my view!  Guess where I am!