Been awhile since I have been on here!
Ever had one of those days where you just wanted to punch someone in the face? Well normally I don't, but today I was primed and ready to bash a nice little old lady's face in. I know it sounds just dreadful, I'm really not proud about how I dealt with my feelings today but sometimes they just have to run their course. I am technically considered a stay at home mom however, I still do work from home and I take that role very seriously as it effects our quality of life and our future. My absence from the office is defiantly felt each time we have a work function and I know fewer people, I don't know any of the gossip, and I don't have to pretend to care as much about all the day to day office politics. I get that since I'm not there on a regular basis it might be easy to forget all the things I used to do around there, especially when it comes to the administrative stuff that effects more people then just our immediate business. For example we (the executive assistants) are on a rotation to coordinate the financial presentations that run in our office every week amd every second Saturday. These presentations are critical to our business and when it's your turn to run the dog and pony show you best be doing a good job. Needless to say I take pride in my work, and have for the last seven years that I have been running these presentations for. There was a time and place where there wasn't a rotation it was me, myself and I coordinating it all week in and week out. It was nice that other people started to help out, it sure made it easy to transition out of that role and stepping back and being a mom.
What happened to me today was probably a combination of a few things, for the record I have to say that Mitch and I for the first time were going to pay someone from our office to help me facilitate running the show as my mom is gone for a month to South America and with her being gone so is our babysitter. I simply couldn't be there to do part of the job, and so we were going to pay one of the little old ladies that has been helping out with these type of duties. Our arrangement was going to be different then what she was used to, I was going to do all the scheduling, e-mailing, organizing ext and provide her with all the sheets, calenders, lists required. She just was going to be there in person for me where I simply couldn't be. I had told her that I already had all the schedules done for the month (March) and we would be touching base by Wednesday. She wrote me an e-mail back spouting out office propaganda verbatim from a guy I like to fondly call Captain Asshole regarding not being able to do that, as certain duties were only to be given to certain people that are "leaders" in the company. Mitch and I had already discussed this months ago, so I was aware of who could be on there in the first place, but the way that the e-mail was written (from a lady that I had shown the ropes) made my blood boil. I was seething with anger... I'm not proud and I'm glad that I didn't write this earlier because there would have been a lot more swears and the like. Bottom line is I'm very territorial about what I do and I really don't like being told on how to do it. Needless to say there was no little old ladies hurt today, but I'm glad that I didn't have to speak to her in person as I really didn't realize that I would react the way that I did today. Ladies and gentlemen this is not my first rodeo, please just step back and let me do my job...
L
Monday, February 28, 2011
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Climbing Mount Everest
No this isn't symbolism for anything challenging or demanding of me in my life at this point, I just finished my book club selection for tomorrow on the horrifying first hand account of the Mount Everest disaster, Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer.
First off I want to say that you really have got to have a few screws loose if you think that climbing Mt. Everest is a good idea, and if you have the notion that you want to attempt this feat at some point in your life (which I never have, and officially never will) you should really read this book. The whole book I kept telling myself "Why would you even want to do that" followed by a good head shake as Jon weaves a gripping story of one of the deadliest events to ever happen on the mountain. Nothing, and I mean nothing sounds appealing about the whole process of getting to the top, and once you are there you have to figure out how to survive the trip back down. I guess you can walk away (if you are lucky enough to live through the whole experience) with bragging rights that you indeed "knocked that bastard off". Maybe it's why the majority of people that have made the summit are mostly men, it just takes the right combination of ego, determination and sheer stupidity to want to take on such insurmountable odds for a little pat on the back. Maybe the reason that this book was written was to keep people safely at home in their pj's and steer them as faraway from attempting anything this foolish, but if that wasn't the message it sure hit home with me. The horror that occurs to the people on the expeditions is just excruciating to read, and all I could think about was that they did it to themselves.
I guess the most startling part for me was the harsh backlash the surviving members received after they recovered, being as only a few actually survived the disaster you would think that it was probably pretty bad. I for one have no idea what depriving your brain of oxygen, having my body in a constant state of near hypothermia, worry about HACE (high altitude cerebral edema), have totally frostbitten fingers and toes, suffer hours of sleep deprivation, disintegration of your muscles (due to lack of oxygen and food), and not eating for days will do to you, never mind your ability to rationally decide how to not only save yourself but others that are dying around you... Oh and throw in that a raging snow storm is whipping down the mountain and made the already terrible conditions that climbers suffer from during great weather conditions 100 times worse. I figure that if you decided to take that $60 000 (in 1996, so who knows how much now) hike up the mountain you are ultimately going to be responsible for yourself. Even at the lower elevations you would have passed by countless bodies before you were even considered to be in the "death zone" (Death zone... do you really want to be going somewhere that has a death zone! Please check yourself before you wreck yourself...) you know that it isn't going to be a cake walk to the top even with the most seasoned professionals.
I really enjoyed this one and encourage you to at least check out the article Jon wrote when he got back from the mountain. In the book he regretfully talks about some of the factual errors he made in the article when it was published, but I guess an oxygen deprived brain does some strange things to you when trying to remember intimate details.
All I have to say I guess is, girls and boys do not attempt this at home.
http://outsideonline.com/outside/destinations/199609/199609_into_thin_air_1.html0
L
First off I want to say that you really have got to have a few screws loose if you think that climbing Mt. Everest is a good idea, and if you have the notion that you want to attempt this feat at some point in your life (which I never have, and officially never will) you should really read this book. The whole book I kept telling myself "Why would you even want to do that" followed by a good head shake as Jon weaves a gripping story of one of the deadliest events to ever happen on the mountain. Nothing, and I mean nothing sounds appealing about the whole process of getting to the top, and once you are there you have to figure out how to survive the trip back down. I guess you can walk away (if you are lucky enough to live through the whole experience) with bragging rights that you indeed "knocked that bastard off". Maybe it's why the majority of people that have made the summit are mostly men, it just takes the right combination of ego, determination and sheer stupidity to want to take on such insurmountable odds for a little pat on the back. Maybe the reason that this book was written was to keep people safely at home in their pj's and steer them as faraway from attempting anything this foolish, but if that wasn't the message it sure hit home with me. The horror that occurs to the people on the expeditions is just excruciating to read, and all I could think about was that they did it to themselves.
I guess the most startling part for me was the harsh backlash the surviving members received after they recovered, being as only a few actually survived the disaster you would think that it was probably pretty bad. I for one have no idea what depriving your brain of oxygen, having my body in a constant state of near hypothermia, worry about HACE (high altitude cerebral edema), have totally frostbitten fingers and toes, suffer hours of sleep deprivation, disintegration of your muscles (due to lack of oxygen and food), and not eating for days will do to you, never mind your ability to rationally decide how to not only save yourself but others that are dying around you... Oh and throw in that a raging snow storm is whipping down the mountain and made the already terrible conditions that climbers suffer from during great weather conditions 100 times worse. I figure that if you decided to take that $60 000 (in 1996, so who knows how much now) hike up the mountain you are ultimately going to be responsible for yourself. Even at the lower elevations you would have passed by countless bodies before you were even considered to be in the "death zone" (Death zone... do you really want to be going somewhere that has a death zone! Please check yourself before you wreck yourself...) you know that it isn't going to be a cake walk to the top even with the most seasoned professionals.
I really enjoyed this one and encourage you to at least check out the article Jon wrote when he got back from the mountain. In the book he regretfully talks about some of the factual errors he made in the article when it was published, but I guess an oxygen deprived brain does some strange things to you when trying to remember intimate details.
All I have to say I guess is, girls and boys do not attempt this at home.
http://outsideonline.com/outside/destinations/199609/199609_into_thin_air_1.html0
L
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