Annoying Voice

Today was a long day of meetings and conference calls. I literally had back to back meetings and calls all day long. Most of them went pretty well, but one of the calls - and of course it was the longest one - had someone on it whose voice drives me over the edge. She has one of those whiny, nails on a chalk board, kind of voices. The call was to discuss staff changes and about half way through the call I was ready to give her whatever she wanted just to make her be quiet. But by the end of the call I was so annoyed that she would not shut up, that I was no longer willing to negotiate. She normally gets what she wants because she is very confrontational and people don't want to deal with her. I am a pretty laid back and calm person most of the time, but I can tell I am really going to have to be on my toes when dealing with her.

How do you know?

I have a question that has been bugging me for a while and I have not been able to come up with the answer, so hopefully some of you can help me with the dilemma. Career wise, how does a person know they are doing what they are supposed to be doing? Some people say they just know and others say they feel lucky to be paid for what they are doing. But how did they know that was what they wanted to do? Did they always know or did they stumble in to it? Or perhaps they woke up one morning and decided that was what they were going to do.

Flying Husky

Riley is now 4 months old and has been having a difficult time learning how to jump. Abbie on the other hand is a phenomenal jumper. She mastered jumping at a very young age and we have found her on top of counters and tables that we never knew she could reach. Today Abbie and Riley were running and playing as normal while I was watching tv. I turned to look at them just in time to see Riley flying through the air and heading straight at me. I had just enough time to put up my arms to catch her. She had actually gotten enough lift on the jump that she was on target to land on top of my head. Twenty pounds of flying husky can make you respond a lot faster than you might think. Of course, she thought I was playing and insisted on trying to jump on me several more times. I'm glad she starts obedience class next week. She is going to be a large hand full and I don't want her to be one of those unruly dogs that everyone cringes when they see her coming.

A Perfect Fit

I did something yesterday that I had been putting off for a while. I went to be professionally fitted for a bra. I had been putting it off because I had convinced myself that the bras at this store must be very expensive; they weren't, they were normal price. I was surprised to find that I have been wearing the wrong size all these years. I had convinced myself that no bra was going to be comfortable and that readjusting and fidgeting were just part of normal everyday life. Boy was I wrong. After they measured me (clothes on for those that are wondering), they brought me a few to try on. Wow, what a difference the right size makes. First, the comfort level was unbelievable. I wasn't constantly aware of something pinching and pulling. Second, it made me look much smaller! If you have never been custom fitted for a bra before, I highly recommend it. I will never go back to just trying them on and living with one that is not comfortable.

Photo Phriday

Abbie, on the left, is sound asleep. With that smile, whatever she was dreaming about must have been really good. Riley, on the right, was getting very annoyed that I was interrupting her cartoons.

Maybe next week I will have time to venture outside of my office and take pictures of something other than my crazy "children".

Vegetarian Day 7

Well, I made it 6 days of eating no meat. This morning I woke up at 2:30, then tossed and turned until I finally climbed out of bed at 7:30. I was super tired and craving meat. I gave in and had meat with my breakfast - which I rarely do. I probably could have made it the full 7 days, but tiredness won out and I gave in to the craving. I plan to continue with a primarily vegetarian diet, but will include small portions of meat.

A Day of Mixed Emotions

The long awaited news of regionalization was finally announced on Friday. The day looked like it was going to start like any other and then our division president came asking for my boss bright and early that morning (neither are morning people). The tone of her voice and the look on her face told me today was not any other day. When my boss returned, all she said was that she had hoped she had been wrong this time. I instantly knew what that meant. She was being let go as a result of the regionalization. Unfortunately, there were more to come that day. A total of three members in our department and 4 others from within our division. It was very sad as we were all meeting and she was bringing us up to date on what had happened. At the same time, I needed to put my professional game face on and do what was needed as a member of the HR team. Having been through this routine before, you know what needs to be done and you just go on autopilot to get it taken care of. After all of that was done, the remainder of the day was spent on conference calls finding out what the new structure looks like going forward. Fortunately, for me, the new structure meant a promotion and a new supervisor. I was so busy making sure the rest of my team was okay (they were pretty upset with the news of losing 3 members of our team), that the realization of a promotion didn't really set in for me until about 5:30 this morning. Half asleep I got up to go to the bathroom and while taking care of nature's business it dawned on me - holy crap, I got promoted yesterday and it was a pretty big promotion. I am now a regional manager and have a much bigger team and more responsibilities. I now cover the whole state of Texas instead of just Central Texas and my team doubled in size. Then I started to laugh because it amused me that the stress had finally worn off enough and my brain chose to kick in while I am half asleep and sitting on the toilet!