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By Amber, on December 18, 2011, at 7:36 pm So we’re four days from the first day of winter, but better late than never!
There are some beautiful autumn colors on my drive to work, as well. We’ve had the odd 80-degree day here and there, but the weather has mostly been cool enough to enjoy long sleeves, tights and leather jackets. We got the car back from the body shop this past week, so now I’m ready for another arctic blast that will let me enjoy the seat heaters! Also, Enterprise gave me a substantial discount for the rental car being dirty and smelly, so hooray!
I can’t believe the holidays are just about here. My work days are as busy as ever, which I generally like, with the exception of staying 90 minutes later than usual this past Friday. I have a three-day week and a lot to try to accomplish, and then I’m off for the rest of the year. Mark and I are looking forward to seeing his side of the family for the first time in over a year.
I also have a Toastmasters speech to prepare — our last meeting of 2011 is this week. My topic is bad PowerPoint habits. I am starting to think that PowerPoint may be my life’s passion. What exactly does that say about me? I don’t want to think about it. I’m just going to go back to devouring these books.
By Amber, on November 13, 2011, at 10:00 pm I missed my post on Thursday because I was on my way home from my latest boondoggle. I was visiting some customers in Massachusetts and Maine to see what they need from one of my projects. I had a good time, but spending 14 straight hours a day with other people is very tiring for an introvert like me. I think I’m caught up on alone-time now, so I can show you where I went!
Boston was the first stop. I held my camera out the window and shot perpendicularly so I could show you Marriott’s definition of waterfront:
I would have shown you the actual view from my window, but all I could see of the tiny marina past the trees and parking lot was a few masts. My crazy coworkers then walked me what seemed like miles all over Boston’s brick sidewalks in stilettos (the best part was walking on my toes over the open grating on the Charlestown Bridge), but I have to admit that dinner at Bacco was so good it was worth the pain. The view of Boston’s tiny streets and sidewalks from upstairs is super charming! Try the gnocchi.
The next morning we brought a trunkload of pastries to a customer in Boston, provided some technical training, and moved on.
There were old trucks:
Recent snow:
Giant turbines:
Tiny pastries:
We also met a rather stoic moose at a rest stop in Maine. My coworker posed with one of our stations behind him:
Speaking of moose, when we got to our customer in Maine, we heard a little story about one of the managers going moose-hunting with a poorly adjusted scope and doing this to his pickup:
I did a little quick photoshopping so my coworker could award him ‘sportsman of the year’ that night at the fleet seminar:
Don’t worry, the honoree got a little prize for the cost of his pride!
I really liked the view of the Penobscot River from our hotel in Bangor:
And on our way back to Boston, of course we visited the moose again. I told him about the truck and I’m pretty sure he smiled.
All in all, a successful boondoggle. I got lots of good information from the customers and now I can really start my most exciting project in earnest. I think it could have me traveling a lot in 2012!
By Amber, on October 2, 2011, at 10:00 pm I had a colleague at my last job who used to refer to all business trips as ‘boondoggles’ and would tell me with a wink that we should never let it be known that we enjoy them. Of course, he got to go to meetings in places like England, the Netherlands, and France, and I got to shovel hot petroleum coke in the rain at 3 AM in Lake Charles, LA, so I have a feeling that his enjoyment was a level beyond mine.
I didn’t go anywhere glamorous this past week — just another Chicago exurb — but I have to say it was one of the more enjoyable business trips I’ve had. I met a bunch of very interesting people, got to better know some people I’ll be working with on a regular basis, and was so inundated with food that several days later I am still trying to remember what ‘hungry’ feels like. Not to mention the snacks I brought (I packed them in my shoes so they wouldn’t get crushed):
This particular trip was a seminar that we hold semiannually for sales and marketing folks, and now that the usual organizer is retired, it will be my responsibility (to some extent, anyway — I may have to go to the mat over some of the finer points, like location). Now I finally have a flavor of the massive scope of this undertaking, but to tell you the truth, I am pretty excited that my engineering job includes a segment which can best be described as event planning! Just more confirmation that changing jobs was the best thing I could have done.
And now I have a better idea of what my former colleague meant about not revealing how much fun one has had on such a trip. :)
By Amber, on September 25, 2011, at 10:00 pm My web host got hacked today and my site looked like this for a little while:
Fortunately, they fixed it. Not everyone was impressed by the hacker. I didn’t lose any data and I didn’t have to do anything to restore my site, but I’m making a mental note to back up my stuff more often. If I’d had to rely on my last manual backup, I’d have been in a world of hurt! Kudos to InMotion.
In unrelated news, I’m off to Chicago again tomorrow. Another going-to-Chicago-without-going-to-Chicago trip. My poor officemate, who just moved to Houston from Chicago, has to go there this week for the same seminar I’m attending, come back to Houston, and then go back the following week. I asked him, “Aren’t you glad you transferred to Houston so you don’t have to be in Chicago anymore?”
One of things about living in Houston is that, by September, you can’t really remember what temperatures below 90F feel like. It makes packing for other parts of the country tricky. I know I’ll be cold, so I should pack warm clothes. On the other hand, I know that 50s-60s aren’t really THAT cold. On the third hand, I know that what 50s-60s feels like to me is not what it feels like to most of the country. So after two days of a clothing merry-go-round, I finally made peace with the idea that I’ll be wearing a sweater and a jacket, and Chicagoans will be wearing shorts — and now my suitcase is ready to go.
Finally, I’m putting this here just so I can pull it up and enjoy it any time I need to this week:
I’ll probably be too busy to post this week — seminars all day, and then someone has to look out for the old guys who think they can out-drink the young bucks after dinner. Talk to you soon!
By Amber, on September 22, 2011, at 9:25 pm 
Tonight I had the opportunity to judge at another area’s humorous speech/table topics contest! The contestants were few, but excellent. It is always such fun to hear speakers from other clubs, because you never know when you are going to be blown away by somebody’s ability or perspective. I also find my social circle broadening a little with each event. Just tonight I got to talking with someone who is a member of a club that one of my fellow club members also belongs to (I’m sure she likes us best, of course!) and I seem to have invited him to come hear me speak in two weeks. Wait, did I really do that? See, Toastmasters will make you do crazy things.
This has been a rough but rewarding week. My boss has had me double- and triple-scheduled on several days in a row, and sometimes I wonder how I’ll get everything done, but the team is great and there is lots of support. Tonight on my way out of the building, I ran into someone from management who told me he liked something I had written about a new software tool that we’ll be using. I was confused because I had only sent it to my boss — I wanted him to review it so I could send it to the team. He told me that he had gotten it not from my boss, but from my boss’s boss, who wrote some very kind words about it. Let’s just say my last job wasn’t quite like that!
Oh, also, I feel like I am perpetually behind on posting my 365 Project photos, and according to the internet my photo count is behind by a day, AND I know for a fact that I missed yesterday, so right now I am really feeling the pain. For a couple months I have been casually mulling whether I will do this again next year, and I think the universe is trying to tell me no. Maybe the 52 Project would be better. I’m pretty sure I can remember to take a photo once a week. Failing that, I suppose I could move on to the 12 Project…
Have a great weekend! I know I’m ready for it. I think I can survive one more day in this whirlwind!
By Amber, on September 1, 2011, at 11:20 pm I have noticed, since starting my new job, that everyone seems to have an awful lot of logo stuff. Golf shirts in various colors, button-downs with various product line logos, pens, so many miniature cars and trucks you’d think we work for Hot Wheels, and on and on. After my new hire orientation, I now know why:
And that’s just the stuff I brought home! The water bottle is biodegradable, which is pretty cool. The padfolio I won by completing the intranet scavenger search first (finally — all that time I spend on the internet pays off!), and it is a substantial improvement over the ultra-basic model I’ve been using since 1999.
Anyway, it was a pretty good day — met some nice people, got to show off a little for my boss when the supervisors came down for a ‘team-building’ game, got fed, and not only am I done for the week, but I will be out of the office all of next week for a business trip that should be pretty enjoyable.
Have a great holiday weekend!
By Amber, on August 21, 2011, at 10:34 pm I’m a big nerd for office supplies. I don’t know why, but ever was it so. It’s probably due in part to the mystique of visiting my dad’s office as a child. What can I say, I really liked his magnetic paper clip holder. But I guess I always liked new school supplies, too.
On Saturday I was at Target, along with 3000 Houstonians who were buying their children school supplies during the tax-free weekend. I really only went for some mascara and a gift bag for my friend’s baby shower. Well, if you are anything like me, you know what happens when you think you are going to Target for just two things, and before I knew it I was sucked in by a pretty teal desk organizer. Because hey! I have a new desk! That and some matching magnets came home with me and the other dozen things that weren’t on my list.
When I got home, I began digging through some art and office supply boxes in the garage, looking for some markers I needed for a Toastmasters project. Suddenly it was like Christmas in my own moving boxes! In the art boxes I found some things I made that sort of went with the teal scheme, and decided I could use them to personalize my space a little. I don’t think an office should feel too much like home, but at my last job I got a fair bit of criticism for my impersonal approach to cubicle decoration. Please note that I left that company. However, this time I actually want to look like I’m staying. I think that’s a pretty good sign, don’t you?
By Amber, on August 18, 2011, at 9:31 pm I tend to overstuff my work handbags, so most of them have been to the shoe & purse hospital several times to have their straps re-sewn. I was recently considering that I should just get myself a preppy, New England-style canvas tote and call it a day. I was considering a Wm. J. Mills & Co. tote because they are classic, come in a zillion colors and last forever, but was waiting until my current bags had suffered further destruction. And then I spotted the following — on sale! With free shipping!
It feels pretty sturdy and is probably big enough to hold a weekend’s worth of clothing — I foresee this bag going a lot more places with me than just work. Don’t you love it when the universe delivers??
Speaking of work, I’ve finished my first week! We work extended hours and get every other Friday off. Tomorrow is mine. Anyway, my first week was good, but have you ever heard of a Power Point presentation with more than 100 slides? One hundred is probably on the low end for my new work group. I told my boss about some ideas I have to help the group end this ridiculous practice, and he told me to run with it. I’m going to summon my resources and all of my Toastmasters learnings, and see if I can get things turned around. The preservation of my sanity at an upcoming week-long training seminar may depend on it.
By Amber, on August 16, 2011, at 9:48 pm I’m back among the working!
The first two days have been a firehose of information, but I think I’m going to enjoy this job a lot. My last job was in a field that has an awfully large ‘black magic’ element to it, which is frustrating to a more practical person like me. So far, this new job actually makes sense!
ALSO, I am no longer living in a cube farm where ten other people can hear me breathing and can hear every phone call I make. I have an office! With a DOOR! The last time I had a door, I was a co-op student and my boss had put me there to stop the permanent people from fighting over the vacated office, so I felt like I could never close it. Anyway, this room is a decent size and I am sharing it with one other person who is close to my age and who is also new to this position (though not to the field), so it will be nice to have someone to learn with.
I got a laptop right before I left today, and my boss is working on getting me a Blackberry. My next free-time task will be looking up the internal Toastmasters club and the Spanish Over Coffee group!
By Amber, on August 14, 2011, at 11:00 pm Birch beer, that is.
Tonight Mark and I went to the home of one of his coworkers for deer tenders and deer burgers! I think I have had tiny pieces of venison at Rainbow Lodge, and I have had elk and antelope, but I consider this my first real venison experience. The hostess provided the burgers and a different coworker provided the tenders — I was the odd one out in the group as far as not being a hunter. I’m not interested in shooting anything myself, but I’m always glad to eat whatever someone else has shot! My contribution is dessert.
Anyway, the food was great and the company was great. It was a nice way to spend the last evening of my pretirement. I feel like I am going back to school tomorrow after summer vacation — I have met my ‘teacher’ once, but the school and all my classmates are new to me. Will the other kids like me? Will I be able to find the bathroom? Will anybody sit with me at lunch??
I’m actually not too anxious. The first week of a new job is usually a pretty good one, especially if you don’t know anything about the business you’re going into, because you get to start learning a bunch of new stuff, there is only so much actual work you can do, and if you’re lucky they take you to lunch the first day. Speaking of which, my new job is across the street from one of my favorite restaurants. That’s what we call efficiency!
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