Things that I have let go in the last 5 weeks

My eyebrows: I can’t find my tweezers. Have I mentioned that since I hit 36 some eyebrow hairs grow straight out from my head instead of laying to the side like its peers? Cosmo magazine has not adequately prepared me for my mid-30s.

My face: I had a very nice Proactiv/Hope in a Jar regimen going twice a day. Now my zits and rosacea have come back with a vengeance. Must nip that in the bud.

My diet: Wawa sandwiches for breakfast? Sure! Frosting as a side dish? Totally! Pizza? Make that pizzas, plural.

Christmas: I should have lights and the tree up by now. We did get a new addition to our Christmas village, though. I’ll show you that later.

Baking: I need to find easy cookie recipes, where I can refrigerate dough in advance and bake over the weekends or two.

Fun plans for the future: I went the whole of 2009 without traveling (sans BlogHer). WM wants to go to Disney in spring. Mom wants to take a cruise in summer. And I still haven’t been down to see Dad’s place in FL.

Car: On 2 occasions now, about 10 days apart, it didn’t start. I tried again, and it didn’t start. I tried again and it almost started. I let it rest for 5 minutes, tried again, and it started just fine. It last did this Black Friday. It’s been running fine since. Any ideas on this?

Posted at: 2:00 pm in General | Permanent Link | 2 Comments - add yours! »
Tags: layoffs

Word of the day: pyrrhic

I have a lame word of the day calendar. I say lame because I want insane polysyllabic words that’ll make me sound smarter, and on November 13, the word of the day was actually “weird.”

Today’s word:
Pyrrhic: adj \ achieved at excessive cost; also: costly to the point of negating or outweighing expected benefits.

Example sentence: My keeping my job was a pyrrhic victory, because Coworker S lost hers in my place.

When the dust finally settled today I still had my job. Sadly, and I totally mean that, Coworker S was among the 30+ talented people who lost hers. It’s like they made a list of all of the awesome, hard workers and laid half of them off. (And added one complete buffoon to the mix just so we’d have something to cheer, but that victory belongs to another department.)

I hired her years ago when I was a hotshot manager. She’s funny, creative, talented and helped me pick up the pieces when BvP and I split up. We took walks to the 7-11 across the street, had numerous pizza lunches, and even more happy hour drinks together. She was my work best friend. We sat next to each other for years. And now that seat is empty. And although she’ll always be my friend (we’re going to see Twilight sometime this weekend) it’s going to be damn lonely.

I’m not even processing the fact that I have to do 2x the work yet. I don’t care. What gets done, gets done. I could rage about the “Hey…I thought Online was our future?” issue, but the powers that be are sitting in an ostentatious building in Virginia, and out of the range of my voice. And, you know…whatever. It’s not my company to run, thank God. I just can’t get past the fact that when push came to shove, they sacked the single mom and let the higher-paid one stay. It makes no sense, not morally, and not fiscally.

I have a raging headache and feel sick to my stomach. So I’m off to bed. Tomorrow I’ll load up my iPod with crap and try to forget that 99% of the people I loved working with are gone.

Posted at: 10:45 pm in Family/Friends, Work | Permanent Link | 2 Comments - add yours! »
Tags: grief, layoffs

And so…the end of November

And the and the end of National Blog Posting Month, which I completed with flying colors. Huzzah! Thirty days of blog posts! Thirty days of … well, navel-gazing and such.

I know I was to finish up the Black Friday wrap up tonight, but this coming week is layoff week at work. It may happen tomorrow. It may happen Tuesday. Or Wednesday. Or if I’m lucky, not at all this time. I’m out of my mind with worry and just can’t think straight.

I took all of my personal effects from my workspace on Wednesday night so if they let me go, I don’t have to put up with any packing. Just say my goodbyes and head out. Updates as necessary through my twitter.

So if you have a chance this week, send a good thought to me and Coworker S.

On a happier note, tomorrow is my brother’s birthday, and if I still have my job, I’m off on Friday. So there.

Posted at: 10:25 pm in Work | Permanent Link | 5 Comments - add yours! »
Tags: layoffs, nablopomo, Work

Depressing work post ahead! Be ye warned!

My nine year anniversary at the newspaper was yesterday.

I begin work at 9am. Most of the rest of the non-news folks start at 8:30am. I’m not even sure why I’m a 9:00 start, but I cherish the extra sleep. Take a look at the map below, which compares where I had to park at 9am 4 years ago, versus today.

Depressing, isn’t it?

In late October we were informed that Gannett would be culling 10% of payroll (or positions, still not completely sure yet) the first week of December. With three weeks behind us and two weeks ahead of us, morale is quickly fading. Do you blame us?

And I’m getting paranoid. I’m reading into things I shouldn’t. Like…

Two major projects that I have a part in. One has to be done now now now! And the other has to be done by December 1. And even though I can tell you that December 1 is the first day of the month on Gannett’s fiscal calendar, I can’t help but think it’s because I’ll be gone by the end of the week.

Or the big department move to a much quieter corner of the room. (Yes, I am still coding in the middle of a noisy sales floor with phones constantly ringing and sales reps yelling over my head.) It was going to be a month ago. Then the project was suddenly stopped in favor of another project. My stuff has been in boxes since before Halloween. When will our move be complete? I’m told mid-December.

And objectively, it’s November. In November, projects are likely to be done in December. The impending layoffs are finally starting to get to me.

Everyone tells me that I’ll be fine because I’m online and online’s the future. But I have to disagree. Salespeople will always be cherished most of all because they bring in money. My position is support staff, I produce things, I don’t sell them or bill them. What I do can be done by someone right out of college for far less money than what I’m making now. The creative stuff can be easily outsourced, too.

I don’t think anyone is safe this time around. Either way, I just want it to be over.

Posted at: 11:49 pm in Work | Permanent Link | 3 Comments - add yours! »
Tags: layoffs, newspapers