Single Speed Stella

...when you get discharged from the emergency room, thought you were dying, and all you can think is "when can I go back to work?"

I'm seriously pissed that I've missed four consecutive days of work, (well, I worked from home when the medication wore off enough to open my eyes) and I feel terrible. I miss my cubicle, I miss the engineers, I miss the other designer, hell, I miss my boss. I really, really *heart* my job. This may be pathological.

My husband helped me walk the entire block to 7-11, which is the first time I left the house in FIVE DAYS, and we walked right by my workplace, and I was like, "ooooOOOoooooOOOohhh, my cube is right on the other side of that window!!!. I look forward to Mondays. My worst day at work is like my best day at any other job i've had. I'm not even joking. I wish they made company hoodies, because I would rock that everyday.

...i'm pretty protective of my little slice 'o work heaven...

...here's why I tell people not to get me anything...

People may say it's crazy, but I really have everything I want...and it all has to do with work.

This is the Gods honest truth...my job rocks!

We had a heatwave, which wasn't really all that bad, and now the mornings are getting overcast and, dare I say it...cold.

If you work in an office environment this may have happened to you...the air conditioning is still on in the morning.

It gets nice and warm in the afternoon...but mornings...mornings are polar bear time!

Today was the first day in a very long time i've overslept...

Mondays just kinda happen and you've got to roll with it....

It was one of those days where i've got lots on my mind, but nothing I want to share. Or that I think anyone really wants to know about.

Oh well, it can't be all excitement, all the time...

Worried abut the bowel movements and what-not...but it seems like i'm sorted out now...

It's good to be back a work, back into the swing of things...My cubicle is my little warm nest of comfort. I had this fear that I would return from Scotland only to find i'd been relegated somewhere else, somewhere...not a cubicle. That would have been horrible. Seriously, i'm not even joking. Those who don't live in the Silicon Valley may think i'm trying to be ironic, but i'm not. Cubicle=Happiness.

I'm territorial about it...that's all...

But I dig Fridays...

This Friday rocks on so many levels, first, i've got a lot of work done this week, second, there will be tasty beverages had after work with some rad peeps from work, and third

Last.Day.Of.Phones.

Or as I lovingly call it, my "phone-doody." It's Friday, and while I only got hives once, i've broken out just like I was in High School again. Seriously. This morning I woke up and wanted to punch out that pimply teenager staring back at me from the mirror...i'm wearing enough foundation to support the Empire State building today...

Ahhhhhhhh! Joy!

It seems like no matter how much I cram into the weekend, when Monday comes around, there's still a bunch of stuff on my plate I never got around to.

There's so much still to do around the house, and just in general, ugh...
I had also planned to get a head start on a couple of work projects, yeah...that didn't happen either. That, and there was no real chance for a nice, long ride this weekend. Stella got a couple-few miles in , but that was all running errands. Sigh.

Today also starts my "phone week." Three hours a day, 15 hours this week...I already feel the hives. Irregardless, I'm holding forth hope that this week will slowly coalesce into a thing of radness, I've got no time for being bummed...

Phones are the bane of my existence - Some people do really, really well with telephones. I'm not one of those people. Oh yeah, I mean, I can talk on the phone when necessary, but I need fair warning.

I used to work in "Customer Support" as a phone-support person, and it was hell on earth. I literally broke out in hives everyday. I am shocked and appalled when I have to deal with rude/crazy/mean people. It takes a lot to get me angry - and I do mean a lot - but it was like living in a perpetual state of blinding rage. I'm a live-and-let-live kinda gal, and there's some kind of irrational thing that switches off in my brain when a phone rings...

I have a week to get through...a week of a ringing telephone. I've already done the breaking-out-in hives thing after one day. I only have a three hour shift each day for the next week, so think nice thoughts for me, would ya?

...or two or three, usually clears the mind quite well...

I've been a little out of it lately, spacey and what-not, but walking a few miles for pizza and beer for a Thursday night treat certainly helped...

This week has been a confuckulation of stuff and things that I have no interest in rehashing, I just know that Nate is my rock of radness, pizza is tasty, and beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy...

...more on that later, I need to gather some pictures...he is a work in progress indeed!

While cleaning, I came across not one, but two, dayplanners, and thought about the empire of "organization" that Franklin Covey has now built.

Respectfully, I say F*** that.

I got through undergrad andgrad school with all A's, three jobs, and no late assignments without the use of a dayplanner, no daily list, no checkboxes, no prioritizing...I just did what needed to get done in a timely manner...good times.

But you know, i'll give anything a try, and it was suggested to me to try it at one point, and there are three things it did;
It made me really neurotic.
It wasted a ton of time with all the list making and checking and prioritizing and planning.
It made me bitter and resentful. Oh wait, I already was that..okay, it increased it,

It also made me realize that if people need to schedule and prioritize every second of every day, they're probably working too much. At least when I was in grad school, I didn't have a dayplanner so I didn't actually see a list of what I did everyday, or I would have realized I was working too much and started to freak out.

I've been much happier without a dayplanner.

There are a couple of, I dunno, lets say paradigm shifts that I realized have happened to me as I get more into the "i'm an adult - therefore boring and responsible" years....

First, work is my life....no, not just work...let me clarify, I have finally fallen into the niche I like, I like my job....lots. I plan on being the tenacious barnacle at my company of employment...and I realized that when I get asked what I do for fun...is work. Which is a good thing, actually. I get in waaaay less trouble.

I also realized that what I like and what my body like are two different things..

I like Taco Bravo

My body doesn't like Taco Bravo quite so much...in a myriad of ways...

The other paradigm shift is my attention span has gone all to shit...oh look! A puppy!

Yep, that's my dog, I have visitation rights....

It's hot out, and I had a crapload of conspiracy theories about the government and the uptick in consumerism amidst a recession...but you know? Saturday is upon us, Stella is going to get the ride of her life, and i'm too old and boring to get into it right now! Also, yes, my drawers are fantastically clean...

Go outside! Get rad!

Summer is good times because the warm weather means more parties, bbq's, outdoors-y type fun, all that good stuff...

This also means I get into cleaning frenzy mode, and for two years i've had this goal of being uber-organized - like, not one drawer that was messy, not one shelf in disarray...but it always seems so...daunting.

I have, however, found the perfect solution, here's how it's worked so far...everyday I pick one thing i'm going to clean, and one thing i'm going to organize. When I get home from work, that's what I do, and I don't go all overboard, I just do those two things and then relax . In a couple-few weeks, I think our casa del trailer will be spotless - oh joy of joys!

Going through grad school and working to make ends meet here in Silicon Valley, i've had lots of jobs - part-time, full-time, contract - you name it...i've never thought i'd find the one you know, the job you love, the job you want to settle in at, the one that you're stoked to get up every morning and go to...BUT I DID!

...it's true, I love my job. And the thing is, it's not just the job duties, yes, they kick-ass, but it's the overall kick-assness of it, perhaps better shown in pictures....

First, I really like all my co-workers

The one who runs the place is pretty chill,

This is the sum total of my commute, (no, really, this is my commute...)

I have enough time in the morning to enjoy a tasty breakfast

There's always someone around to lend an ear when faced with a particularly perplexing problem

There's still time for family at the end of the day....