dianaschnuth

Nearly everyone at work was throwing a hairy conniption about the impending snowstorm tonight. “What if it’s a Level 3 snow emergency in Wood County, but not here in Lucas County?” “If I get a ticket for driving in a snow emergency, will Sky pay for it?” “What if I can’t make it in, but I don’t have any more personal days left?” And on and on. Our department, and eventually the entire company, had to send out an e-mail about weather-related procedures and what to do in the event of an actual emergency.

The part of me that remembers growing up in or around the snowbelt just shrugs and is vaguely pleased about having a white Christmas. Leave a little early for work in the morning, since our neighborhood is at the bottom of the plow-me list. Take some pictures of snowy Christmas lights tomorrow night. No reason to be all freaked out.

So, we’ll see how many people show up late to work tomorrow, how many people call in, and how many complaints I hear about the snowy commute from Bowling Green to Maumee. My vote is that the Toledo/Maumee area will get maybe four inches, and that the salt crews will be on the ball to clear the roads early. We’ll see.

Here’s a revolution in technology: Not-Really-Realtime Blogging. This bleeding-edge technique allows for employees in a network-monitored work environment to write blog entries during the day, and post them with a backdated timestamp as soon as they return home to a blog-safe network.

It’s called e-mail. 😛

So, here I sit, at the reception desk, taking my required turn manning the desk. Sure, I still have my normal work to do (loan changes this week), but it gets awful boring out here with no music to listen to and no conversations to eavesdrop on. So, while no one is walking past the desk, I’m taking a few moments to blog to myself, for posting when I get home.

I decided to go on Induction this week, to jump-start myself back into losing weight. I haven’t gained any weight recently—in fact, I lost half a pound after Thanksgiving weekend. How I managed that, I’m not entirely sure, as I ate like… well, like normal, like everybody else. Sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes and stuffing and pie and ice cream and cupcakes… I was so full. Ugh. I couldn’t eat like that all the time. Not anymore.

Anyway, I’m currently at an even 200 lbs, in case you’ve been jonesing for a weight-loss update. I think my lowest point was 199.5, and that was about three months ago. I’ve been steady at 200.5 ever since. I’ve been fairly content up until recently, since my new weight felt so much more normal than fifty pounds ago. Now, though, I’m feeling frumpy again, and realizing that I still have another 20 or 25 pounds to go before I’ll feel REALLY normal.

Well, people are starting to trickle out of the building, and I should really get some more work done before I go in another hour. This wasn’t too bad of an afternoon out at the reception desk, though… chatting with myself (and with James, who covered my break) really helped to pass the time.

Wouldn’t want to do it every day, though.

I’ve submitted a resume in print to Designski. (Oops—I hadn’t told you who they were yet, had I? Well, now you know.)

I printed out my two-page resume and a sheet of web design portfolio samples on my matte photo paper. I also composed a cover letter and printed it on normal paper, and designed return address labels. All of these things match my portfolio website—I’ve gotten compliments on my personal branding before, so I figure I may as well run with it. Uncle Frank liked it well enough… although he also liked the fact that I hand-cut my resume paper so it was half an inch narrower and two inches longer than the rest.

Yeah, it looks like Thread (formerly Image Source) is looking for an Interactive Designer. Too bad I don’t know Flash. One of these weekends, I should really go take one of the NISDM workshops while I still can. One never knows when they’ll decide to revoke the alumni discount… or when the organization will fold entirely.

I need some more “real” work under my belt. Sheryl, Dan, anyone else, if you have a web or design project you’d like to collaborate on, paid or no, let me know and maybe we can jive together and do some freelancing. I’m not confident enough to seek out freelance gigs on my own, but I’d be happy to do one with a buddy. The buddy system rocks.

Today was my two-year anniversary of being a full-fledged Sky employee. I didn’t mention it to anyone, and HR certainly didn’t throw me a party. No Sky Financial candy dish, no extra weeks of vacation (yet). I am, however, 40% vested in my ESOP and profit-sharing money now, so my happy 401(k) doesn’t look quite so drastically different between the money that’s mine and not-mine-yet.

I know this is my cue to start my usual woe-is-me crap, but I just don’t feel like that today. I mean, I’m not thrilled to be working for Sky, and I certainly haven’t given up hope of finding something different and/or better, but I’m not unhappy, either. If I stick with Sky, I still have room to move up within the company. If I find something else, I have 2+ years of valuable financial/corporate experience.

It’s just my job. It’s not my life. I’m genuinely happy with my life, and only moderately ambivalent about my job.

Yeah, I’m doing OK. We’re doing OK.

Thank you, Sky Bank, for all the toys you bought me with my $500 gift certificate to Amazon.com.

Thank you for the Epson Stylus Photo R200 printer and the Epson Matte paper and the Kodak Glossy paper. I’ve had lots of fun playing with my new printer, printing on the free 4×6 glossy paper included with the printer and the 8? x 11 matte paper, too. The printer’s nice and quiet, and prints a 4×6 color print in about two minutes. Later tonight, I plan on making a new driving mix CD (or maybe a third 90’s mix) and printing art on the disc, using the free printable CD-R included with the printer.

Thank you, also, for the new Carlo Robelli electric-acoustic guitar that arrived today after the printer. I tuned it this afternoon, and played with it some, but it needs time for the strings to stretch and adjust, being BRAND FREAKING NEW. I’ve never owned a brand new guitar before, and it’s pretty cool. Sure, I can tell that this is an inexpensive guitar (one might even say “cheap”), but I don’t mind. I’d actually feel silly if I’d blown my whole wad on a nicer guitar that I’d only play a couple times a week in my own basement, alone. Oh, and thanks also for the Musician’s Friend guitar stand, and the guitar strap I ordered today.

I’d also like to thank you for the Hauppauge WinTV-PVR 250 video capture card. That’s going to go into Aaron’s computer on Sunday sometime, since Saturday is devoted to visiting the grandparents in Lakewood, and I don’t want to try installing anything in his computer without him here. Of course, now he’ll probably have to spend some cash himself on a second hard drive for all this video media…

I think that’s it for now. Next week, though, I’ll be thanking you for the remainder of my toys: the guitar strap I mentioned above, the replacement black ink cartridge for the new printer (just thinking ahead), the printable CD-Rs and DVD-Rs, and two Best of the Muppet Show DVDs. The one with Mark Hamill I barely remember, being a Star Wars nerd at a young age, but I don’t remember much about the ones with Steve Martin or Gilda Radner. I’m looking forward to those.

Thank you again, Sky Bank, for giving me lots of cool stuff. Your benefits rock balls sometimes.