Monday afternoon, before leaving home to attend a New Year’s party, I checked my mailbox. There was nothing of importance. Nothing, that is, but a letter from my apartment managers. The news that my rent was going up wasn’t a complete surprise — it’s gone up all but one year since I’ve lived here — … Continue reading An Unwelcome Notice
Tag: Work
Today is my coworker Lance’s birthday. Had I known, I’d have picked him up a cake on my way into the office. Though we don’t have a “birthday club” in Marketing, no one would say no to a birthday cake. And when I told Lance that he should have told me that today was his … Continue reading A Mandela Moment
It took two hours to get home last night. One of my coworkers insisted I should leave early, at five, since it was a Friday and a three-day weekend, but I was in the middle of a project I wanted to finish, which I did, and I left at 5:30. The trip home was pleasant… … Continue reading Adventures in a Mudslide
Wednesday marked my tenth anniversary at Diamond Comic Distributors. Part of Diamond’s culture revolves around the daily “Service Anniversaries” e-mail. HR sends out an e-mail to the entire company acknowledging those employees who are celebrating an anniversary, and then people throughout the company, some you’ll know, some you won’t, will send you congratulations. Suffice it … Continue reading Reflections on Ten Years
With 2016 drawing to a close and 2017 about to begin, I decided to take a look back at 2016 and spotlight the best (or most significant) blog post of each month. Some months — July, quite notably — were more difficult that others; there were a few months, like March and August, where I … Continue reading On the Year that Was
As the company has done for a number of years, a Christmas tree was put up in the lobby and, a few days after Thanksgiving, Angel Tree stockings were hung. I had decided long ago to participate in the Angel Tree program this year and, when I was passing by the lobby area on other … Continue reading An Angel Tree Package for the Office
Yesterday work passed in a haze of malaise and gloom. I can chalk that up, in part, to the catalog section I was working on. Sixty-four pages of catalog copy. Around page 10 it felt endless. At page 30 it felt impossible. At page 45 it felt interminable. The word “orrery,” used precisely, is in … Continue reading An Eeyore Day at the Office
Last week was… not the best. I should clarify. It wasn’t bad. It was simply stressful. And hectic. And tense. And all of the things that a week that where the catalog and orders go to press usually is. Thankfully, the week ended with the Nerd Prom — the Employee Appreciation Party (or the Christmas … Continue reading This Year’s Angel Tree Package
About a year ago I had to edit some copy a colleague had written for the catalog. It was a thoughtful, well-written piece, and it also happened to run over five hundred words, which was about two and a half times the number of words that would fit into the space we had on the … Continue reading The Semi-Colon Is Never Not Stylish
Where does the time go? Don’t answer that. It’s a rhetorical question. Life has been busy. There have been writing deadlines, both work-related and personal-related. There has been some personal stuff occupying my time — and driving me half-mental. And there has been working on WordPress code for the new website. Let’s take these in … Continue reading On a Life Round-Up
I have an account at DailyKos, the progressive online community, though I’ve very rarely used it in the past six or seven years. Maybe I’ll post a diary once a year, maybe I’ll log in and make a comment on a post that interests me. Maybe. This morning I saw a diary entitled “Confessions of … Continue reading On Retail Experiences
I applied for a new job several days ago. Last week, a news organization posted on opening for an editor in their Washington, DC offices. At first, I was intrigued. Then, I thought it would be cool to apply. Then I thought I wasn’t qualified. Then I thought I shouldn’t bother to apply. Why was … Continue reading On Applying for a New Job