Thursday Highlights - July 12, 2007

Well, the old “get up and exercise, fatty” alarm went off at 6:05 this morning…and I don’t even remember turning it off. The next thing I knew it was a quarter to seven and little boy was hollering for some attention. But before you judge, let me at least try to win some points by telling you that I had already gotten up and exercised the 3…yes 3…mornings previous! Yes, I have finally reached critical mass (and I do mean mass) on my need to get back in shape. I’m very sick of the majority of my clothes still being tight. So, no more excuses! My strangling waist-bands tremble in fear! My straining zippers are ducking for cover! The 2/3 of my closet that I dare not venture into because it’s too depressing are crooking their fingers and beckoning. Soon, my old friends…soon we will be reunited!

Ok, that paragraph exhausted me.

Back to the day. Well, I scrambled around getting some stuff done around the house before I left, because the Bible study BBQ is back on….at our house tonight. So, I squeezed in some light dusting, put away some toys, put light bulbs in the paper lanterns I will be dramatically strewing throughout the branches that hang over our patio, and put some tea lights in the votive holders I hauled up from the basement to twinkle on the tabletops. I can’t help it…I just love parties…and any excuse to strew and twinkle! Poor Jeff spent all last evening creating his ka-bob “experience.” I call it an experience because in my world you cut up the vegetables and drizzle with some lemon juice and olive oil, you cut up the chicken and marinate it in some soy sauce and vinegar and call it good. That is not Jeff’s way. First there was brining the chicken. Then he had to mix up this special Greek marinade with all kinds of pestling of spices, careful measuring of fresh squeezed juices, then all the pounding and slicing and smelling and sieving….maybe that’s why I’m on “decoration” duty.

Then it was breakfast with our beat writer from the Press. It turns out that after 7 years covering Steelcase he has quit his job to go and work for an on-line industry rag, the Monday Morning Quarterback! This is the publication that has been the thorn in my side every since I’ve worked here. The publisher has this major hatred for the CEO and does really juvenile things like posting pictures of his cottage, photoshops pictures of our company sign with the words changed to say something pathetic, etc. So, I was actually kind of happy to hear that this guy was joining that publication. He really wants to mend fences and knows that it’s not professional for the publisher to be doing stuff like this. Plus, he said that he doesn’t want to ruin the relationships here that he has built at Steelcase over the years. So, I’m hoping that this will make my life easier in the future.

Blah, blah, blah…work, work, work…and then it was off to Forest Hills Foods to get some dessert for tonight (again…if Jeff had been in charge of this portion of the meal he would still be hand-shaving chocolate) and some lunch for myself. Delicious purchase by the way. I got this spicy 7-grain salad that was totally delish. I had to get some lunch because I had to go to a noon-three meeting – that asked us to bring a sack lunch! What kind of person schedules a lunch meeting, at the Learning Center (where you can oh so easily provide a meal ticket for your guests) and tells you to brown bag it? So, I did. But, when I got to the meeting he was all chagrined, because I guess someone had informed him of his gaff, so he did give us all meal tickets. Since I already had my lunch with me I just pocketed the old “bon appetit” card for use on a rainy day.

The meeting was on the company’s launch process. I had not originally been on the invite list for this gathering but my boss’ boss found out about the meeting and inserted me. I don’t really know why. I don’t believe that I added anything more than the one or two forced “yes, I’m not just a bump on a log, I am adding this modicum of value” comments. But, since it was on a topic I know nothing about it was actually a good learning experience.

Then I got back to my desk (after the meeting went nearly an hour long) to find an email from the IT group telling me that my new Blackberry would soon be ready for me. New Blackberry, you say? What of this? Well, I have been having trouble with my pancake-sized, early model BB – it occasionally refuses to dial into voicemail. Much like when your car is making a funny noise, of course it would never refuse to work when I was showing it to our tech group. Well, when I noticed it was doing it again I ran down to the IT department to show them. There I ran into the VP of the department. We’ve always been friendly – when we’ve been in meetings together I’m usually the one who is asking him some important question like how to turn on the “back light” on my device or how to change the font on my email. Anyhow, I ran into him and when he asked, I described the problem. So, he tries to fix it…trying a number of different things…I’m saying, Bob, you shouldn’t be wasting your time on this…you have more important things to do! Finally, he relents and I go back to the tech department where I’m told that it’s just some bizarre quirk with Nextel and that even Nextel doesn’t know why or what to do about it. OK. So, I just take out the SIM card and move on. On my way out to the grocery store I run into Bob! He asks about the BB. I give him the short answer. And he says, can I ask why you’re using such an old BB? I say that it’s really not that old – it’s less than a year old – it’s just the only one that the company allows you to order. He says that’s ridiculous and I need a “cooler” model. I tell him this one’s fine and that it’s no big deal…but he says he’s going to do something about it. Of course I don’t believe him. But there it is! I will be getting a cooler one! Bob came through for me! And, as my friend Sherry says, now the people in the tech department know that when I have trouble the VP comes down from on high to fix it. I love it!!!

So, now I wait for 5:00 when I will go pick up my sweet mop top from daycare. Lately, he’s been all the time doing this very exuberant “gasp.” Like all the time. When I bring him his anti-biotic he gasps with joy. When I put him in his high-chair he gasps with joy. When he sees me opening the applesauce he gasps with joy. It’s super cute. I hope that he continues to see this much excitement in all the little things in life.