Traveling Again

I am traveling for business again this week.  When I first started traveling, I really dreaded it. I wasn't comfortable with the airport routine, I was nervous about missing a connection, and in general just felt very anxious.  This is the first trip where I didn't feel the anxiety.  Perhaps I am finally getting used to the travel.  

I know I will travel at least 3 more times this year and maybe more depending on the projects I am assigned.  

Delegating Duties

Work is extremely busy for me right now.  My boss is out of the office for a while, so I am picking up a lot of additional duties.  For the past couple of weeks, I have been trying to handle it all myself and that has resulted in me working a crazy amount of hours.  Some days I would work a full day in the office and then come home and work until 11 or 11:30 at night.  It is beginning to take it's toll.  Because of this, I have finally come to the conclusion that I need to learn to delegate.  So, starting next week, I am going to delegate some of my day to day duties to my assistant.  It will be hard since we have very different styles, but I know we can make it work.

Weekly Wrap Up

For a short work week, it was really long.  Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty quiet and not much happened, but Thursday and Friday were NUTS.  I had a major report that had to be done by Friday and was supposed to be pretty simple - provide an analysis for two groups.  One group due this Friday and the next one due the following Friday.  Seemed pretty simple.  The our VP explained that he actually wanted it in more detail, so this one report turned in to 5 - oh and I don't have access to the data so I was at the mercy of someone else to provide me the info.  Well, the shorten the story, the person providing me the info, provided me bad data, not once but twice; so, I ended up doing the first report (all 5 of them) 3 times.  I was so glad the week ended.  Today, I am off to the Farmer's Market and to have a great, non-work filled, day.

Back to Work

Today I headed back to work.  Ho hum.  I was really enjoying the time away from the office and all of the issues.  But another way to look at it is that all of the drama and issues pay the bills.

Fantastic Team

I have a fantastic team that works for me.  Last week while I was working from home, one of the girls on my team came to my house everyday to bring paperwork that I needed and to take back the stuff I had completed the day before.  The on Friday, two of the ladies, came out to my house and had lunch with me.  Not only was it great to see them, they brought me homemade enchiladas, rice, and a salad.  They wouldn't even let me serve myself.  They made themselves at home, heated up the lunch, served me, and then washed the dishes.  They left all of the leftovers for us to have for dinner.  That was way above and beyond, and so very appreciated.  I know my team would do anything for me and I would do the same for them.  It is such a great feeling.  I head back to the office tomorrow and I am ready to get back to my normal routine.

Working from Home

I have been working from home all week and I admit it has been nice to work in my pajamas.  I know for a fact though, that I see my family less when I work from home versus when I work in the office.  Working from home, the laptop is constantly going and my focus is drawn to it instead of my family.

Although working from home is nice from time to time, I don't think working from home on a permanent basis would be for me.  I am not sure how those folks who do work from home permanently manage to get a good balance between work and family.

Whirlwind

The last two days seem like they have gone by in a whirlwind.  Tuesday was super busy at work.  It was so busy that I brought work home and by the time I finished my work and a couple of things that needed to be done around the house, it was already midnight. Yesterday was another long day.  I had an early morning doctors appointment and then headed to a meeting that lasted from 8-5 and resumed from 6-9 over dinner.  Today the meeting picks back up at 8:30 - ugh.

On a positive note, my cholesterol numbers were great so the doctor was super happy (the credit goes to hubby for coming up with a game plan and making me stick to it).  Also, it turns out the statistics software I need for my class that starts in a couple of weeks is actually free through the school - woo hoo!

Back to Work

The Monday after vacation is always hard.  It was really busy today and I had a hard time getting in to "work" mode.  I finally delegated more duties to my assistant, so that helped my work load a little.  Tomorrow should be easier, plus this is a short week due to the holiday.

Cool River

Our boss is taking the team out for our holiday lunch next week.  The team decided on Cool River as the place to go this year.  We pick the place partly because it is our bosses favorite place (and he is paying), but also because it is a nice place to do our gift exchange and has a quieter atmosphere than where we went last year.  Two weeks ago when I made the reservation, I sent out a calendar reminder to everyone so they would block that time on their calendar.  That same day my boss came over really excited that the team chose Cool River as the place for the lunch.  Last week, he came over and said he really wished that our lunch was that day, because he was super excited about going to the restaurant.  Today he pops over all excited and said "Only 8 more days until we go to Cool River."  He is so excited about our lunch he can barely contain himself.

Semester is Almost Over

Thank goodness the semester is almost over - only 4 more weeks to go. Unfortunately, with the semester ending soon and all of our work due combined with things heating up at work, is making for some busy days. This morning I woke up about 3-ish thinking about all of the things I had going on. I finally got out of bed shortly after 4 and worked on a paper that is due Friday. Thankfully I have 10 days of vacation planned over the next 2 months.

Hectic Day

Today is going to be somewhat of a hectic day. We have an all day meeting in our office with our new "big boss". I met her yesterday and she is a really sweet lady, but a very large portion of the people attending will be meeting her for the first time today. They all have to do a presentation, so it will be interesting to see what kind of show they put on for her. They like to do fancy power point presentations with a nice dog and pony show; however, I heard she does not like that, so it should be fun to watch. Normally on Thursday's I leave early to head to class, but today the meeting runs past the time I typically leave by an hour (if we stay on schedule). Running late to class would not be a big deal, but today I have to give a presentation in class. I already made the professor and my team mates aware I would be late, but late last night one of my team mates sent an email saying she had an emergency. She needs to present first and wants us to present early because she has to be back at her office by 6pm (class isn't over until 7). I am not sure how this is going to work, but we will see. I am ready for my presentation, I just don't want our team disfunction to affect our grades.

Out of Balance

Everything seems really out of balance right now. Home, work, school - all out of balance.

Exhausted

I worked pretty much all weekend trying to get somewhat caught up at work. I am hoping I have only 1 or 2 more hard weeks and then I can get back to a normal pace. With my assistant leaving, I have been working really hard to clear up the backlog of work that she was stashing without telling anyone. This weekend, I brought a ton of stuff home and managed to get 2/3 of it done. Yesterday, I got up and worked either doing stuff around the house or on my work stuff from 7:30am to 11:45pm; except for the couple of hours I paused to watch a movie, Death at a Funeral, which was hilarious. This morning, I hit the snooze button more times that I ever have. In fact, I even debated calling in to work late, but then I remembered I needed to tidy the yard for the landscapers and that woke me up. Thank goodness I only have a few meetings/conference calls for today; otherwise, I just might fall asleep while the talk.

Back Spasms

Wednesday night I went to bed feeling fine, but when I woke up Thursday morning I could barely move. My lower back was hurting and the spasms were so bad they took my breath away. It feels like I had pinched a nerve. But how? All I did was sleep. The muscle relaxer I took yesterday made it feel a little better, but I had not taken them in so long that it totally kicked my butt.

This morning it was one of the spasms that woke me up. They are not as bad as yesterday, but they are still really painful. The only thing that makes sense is that I slept wrong.

Thankfully, I have the option to work at home if needed. So yesterday and today I opted to work from home so I can relax my back as much as possible.

Time to Refocus

I have spent the past few years (since 2006) focusing primarily on my career and not so much on completing my master's degree. Well, it is time to refocus. I have a total of 10 classes left to complete my degree and I am enrolled in 1 of them now. If I really buckle down and take more than 1 class per semester (even if it means adjusting my degree plan), then I should be able to complete this in 1 to 1.5 years.

Time to refocus and put my education first. This will open up more opportunities for me and my family.

Charlotte, NC

I have been in Charlotte since Sunday night (7/25). I had meetings all day on Monday (7/26) and then had a pretty light day today with just a couple of meetings in the middle of the day. For the next two days, I will be in a training class and then headed back to Austin.

Ironically, the one thing I was looking forward to on this trip (vegging out on the sofa and watching TV), is not as much fun as I had imagined. I am by myself, so I want to talk to someone about the show and there is no one there. I am ready to go home and be with hubby and the doggies, so hopefully the next two days goes by quickly.

Packing

Today I am packing and getting ready for my trip to Charlotte. I leave tomorrow afternoon and will be there for business until Thursday evening. I am going with mixed feelings. This will be a really good trip for me career wise because I will be able to meet several of the corporate people who will have a hand in what happens to me during our reorganization. The fact that I have been asked to make the trip is good in itself. But, on a personal note, I am having to leave town on our 22nd anniversary. Even though we haven't always done anything special on our anniversary, we have always spent the day together. Hubby is being so supportive and knows this trip will be good in the long run. I am thankful to have such a supportive and understanding hubby.

TGIF

This has been a very long and exhausting week. I am soooooo glad it is Friday.

Off to Coppell

This morning I am off to Coppell for our quarterly regional meeting. After being on vacation for a week, it was really tough to roll out of bed at my normal time. Even the dogs looked at my like I had gone crazy when I woke them up 5am. Thankfully, someone else is driving today so maybe I can nap a bit on the way.

Vacation Countdown

My brother and nephew are coming next week and I have taken a few days off to visit with them. I am really excited to see them, but more importantly I am excited to just be away from work for a few days. This past month has been really busy and I am ready for a break.