dianaschnuth

Work was surprisingly pleasant today, really. No one felt like being terribly productive, so we were all chatty and friendly and social instead of being isolated and, well, productive. And the boss was on vacation this week, so he wasn’t around to scatter us back to work, like he tends to do. That always makes for an enjoyable Friday.

Also, I guess I inadvertently advertised my birthday at this week’s department meeting. Usually, our department holds a monthly potluck in celebration of all the birthdays in that month. I haven’t been participating lately, though, due to my diet, and I had assumed that the person who usually organizes the potlucks had taken notice of that, and was intentionally skipping April for my benefit. At the department meeting, though, she said that she’s organizing a building-wide potluck for Relay For Life instead. I piped up and mentioned that I’d thought maybe it was because I was the only April birthday. 🙂

So, today, a few people came into my cube bearing chips and salsa and cheese dip and 2-liters of pop — oh, yeah, and an African violet. (Very pretty pale silky flowers, BTW, in contrast to my dark velvety-flowered one at home.) On top of that, Scott made Twinkie tiramisu for my birthday, for a second year in a row. Mmm, so good!

Of course, since my cube was where the food was, everybody in the department (almost) made it into my corner of the world for some chatter. I learned some interesting facts about my co-workers and their backgrounds, and got more comfortable with some of them that I don’t usually talk with. That made for an unusually talkative day for me, and a very relaxing day-before-my-birthday at work.

I ended up bringing a good deal of Twinkie-misu home with me, with Scott’s blessing, and even brought home the rest of the chips and dips for good measure. Twinkie-misu gets me so high… Twinkies (soaked in espresso) and coffee ice cream and whipped cream and fudge sauce… yummy, but wow.   o.O

We’ll see what happens tomorrow. I’m still trying to downplay it… but I know that at least one other person is involved, from what Aaron let slip. So, something’s happening, at some point. I’ll be pleased with whatever it is, I’m sure.

Sheryl asked me this week whatever happened to that guy who signed me up as an independent contractor for new media design work.

You know, now that I think about it, that was really kind of a turning point for me.

At the time, I was in the midst of the LSM redesign, so I didn’t immediately contact him to ask for work. Once I got done with the LSM site, I was glad to have time for my own projects again, so I still didn’t call. After a while, I realized that I enjoyed having time in the evenings to do my own personal projects, and that being asked to sign up for contract work was enough of an ego boost to keep me going for some time.

I’d still like to get away from the bank gig eventually, of course, but it’s no longer a major priority for me. Maybe someday, after we pop out a little Schnuthie Junior, I can take on one of those part-time web design gigs like I used to pass up in favor of paying rent (or, these days, the mortgage payment).

Until then, I at least know that I’m good enough, I’m smart enough — and doggone it, at least *one* design company out there likes me.

I should not be so thoroughly annoyed by something so simple, but…

I keep a bottle of water at my desk at work. I buy Dasani out of the machine on Monday, then continue to refill the bottle with tap water throughout the week. Sometimes, at the end of the day, I’ll put the bottle in the freezer with two inches of water in the bottom, to make ice for myself. Sometimes, if I don’t want to take the time to swing past the break room, I’ll just leave the empty bottle on my desk instead.

Every single day this week, my water bottle and the napkin on which it sits have gone missing. Presumably, the cleaning people have been throwing it away. Yesterday, I got so annoyed that I wrote on the napkin, “This is not trash. Thanks.”

When I came in this morning, both bottle and napkin were gone. Again.

It’s a small annoyance in the grand scheme of things, but even so, it’s still annoying.

Today I got a styrofoam coffee cup and filled it with ice water. Hopefully I don’t spill the whole damn thing on my desk or anything.

My day job doesn’t suck. In fact, my day job is really quite cushy. Eight-to-five, sitting at a desk, fixing people’s loans.

Still, this is the last place I want to be right now.

First off, I have about a zillion creative ideas running around in my head, and more keep popping up as the day goes on. I have to get the laundry done tonight, since I’ll be gone out of town with LSM this weekend, and I also have to practice my mellophone in preparation for that. There are also some other chores around the house that I’d wanted to tackle (mainly as a gesture of goodwill toward my loving husband who usually does all the housework).

I really can’t get excited about being here today. Not that anyone is ever really *excited* about their day job… but some days go faster than others. Today is just dragging like a mofo.

I don’t have much time left before I meet the carpool tomorrow to head out to DeKalb. I have so much to do.