LadyGypsy.net – the blog of Kimberly Dowd of New Jersey

TNP is awesome, so far. In every way. But I do miss some things about the place I toiled at for 12 years. Like:

The way the office smelled every morning: newspapers and fresh brewed coffee. How can a workday be bad if it starts out smelling like a Sunday morning? (workday suck often triumphed over the pleasant aroma)

My plucky family of coworkers.

Proximity to shopping. There are no stores in lunchtime-walking-distance to TNP.

The patch of grass in the parking lot where I used to pitch my beach chair and read in the warm weather.

Admin privileges on my PC. Every day there is an Adobe update I can’t install. Drives me crazy.

The pride of working for the local newspaper. Love it or hate it, everyone knew of the Courier-Post. And we did good things. I believe if we weren’t owned by Gannett we’d have done even better things. But I used to see the trucks go by and smile because I was a part of that. It used to be really good.

…and that’s about it.

Just in time to rescue me from a writer’s block, it’s the Friday Five! Delivered to you on a Sunday because I had to highly edit an answer. I’ll let you guess which one…

This week’s theme is WINTER. Boo! Hiss!

1. Where have you been that could best be described as a winter wonderland?
We had a crap-ton of snow here last year, so… New Jersey!

2. In what way might you describe this as the winter of your discontent?

While the yoots blog away about the quarter-life crisis I’m careening toward the middle of my life and most certainly the middle of my working life. When I took my job in 1999, I wanted to innovate, to design, to cultivate and grow the company’s website. But as the years passed, all of the design decisions were taken over by the corporate office. Leaving us here with heaps of data entry, no design input and really precious little infrastructure input. And no marketing money to fight off the competition. While I don’t agree with those decisions I understand why they were made.

So I’m thinking: is this where I want to work the rest of my days? Do I toss away my desire to “make a difference” so I can stick with my 4 weeks vacation & 3 personal days per year? Don’t forget my unpaid furlough week to be taken in March.

Now, take a look at stories about the newspaper industry (or read between the lines of the furlough comment above) and you’ll understand that this decision on whether or not to continue here may not even end up being my decision to make! I could be out on the cold streets pounding the pavement with a flash drive full of nothing. Then won’t I be sorry?

Speaking of which, a large chunk of what I do now will be taken over by the corporate office in March. (nervous laugh)

Aren’t I a buzz-kill?

3. What was the last wintergreen-flavored thing you tasted?

Wint-O-green Lifesavers. Eat’em in front of the bathroom mirror with the lights out and they spark!

4. Is there anyone in your life who could be nicknamed Old Man Winter?

WM is quite fond of cold, snow, and the absence of sunlight.

5. Now that the holidays have passed, is there anything good about the winter that remains?

NOTHING! BRING ON THE SUMMER! I hate this crap! I HATE WINTER!

Hey! It’s Friday and time for the Friiiiday Five! This week’s subject is Bloom’s Taxonomy. Did I learn that once upon a time? Sounds familiar…

According to Wikipedia, Bloom’s Taxonomy is a classification of learning objectives within education. Ah…a teaching term. I’m the daughter of a teacher and the girlfriend of a teacher so it makes sense that the term is buried in my brain. Oh hey, here’s a list of verbs. Wonder what this has to do with these questions though…

1. What did you do this week? (knowledge)

This week I worked hard, mostly scheduling ads and trying to make sense of how our classifieds are displayed online (very poorly, imo). I attended an exercise class. I ate like absolute crap.

2. Why did things turn out the way they did this week? (comprehension)

I ate like crap because I worked hard and I quit biting my nails (again again again). Working hard stresses me out. Apparently I need to chew on things so if I can’t chew on my nails, I’m chewing on crackers and chips. Our classifieds are displayed poorly because I neglected the system for so long (it’s never been a priority) that categories have been added and deleted and the site hasn’t kept up. And it’s really dark.

3. How will this week’s events affect next week’s, both positively and negatively? (application)

Negatively: The scale, baby. Since the wedding I’ve been eating all the delights I missed out on this summer.
Postively: It might not be next week, but I’d love to see a better-designed classifieds section before year’s end. Like most of my projects, I can only work on this 10-20 minutes at a time.

4. What were this week’s pivotal moments where things might have happened differently and changed everything? (analysis? synthesis? Buh???)

Yesterday I decided to let a delivery truck have the right of way in our parking lot. He had the stop sign but chose to ignore it until he was halfway through the intersection. Since “Delivery Truck vs. Saturn” would end poorly for me, I decided to be smart and stop. That could have changed the week. Plus, I keep forgetting to buy the winning lottery ticket that’ll let me give a 2 week notice at work.

5. How was your week? (evaluation)

I’d say I completed the workweek with about an 90% proficiency. Then again, I’m writing this at 7:30am. We’ll what today brings.

***
Moment of cattiness: The Philadelphia Inquirer & Daily News have been re-re-auctioned to their creditors. There are 3 people there whom I’d love to see pouring me a latte at Starbucks if they get laid off. Wait, scratch that…that’s mean. I wouldn’t wish their incompetence on the good people of Starbucks.

Moment of clarity: People who didn’t vote for President Obama (hi!) aren’t all Tea Party members. We clear? Sheesh. I think you’re a hoot, Vice President Biden but you’re wrong. (Click that link for the best Biden “I’m sowwwwy” face ever.)