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

Friday Five: How?

Pushing me ever closer to my goal of 30 blog posts in 30 days, it’s the Friday Five!

1. How’s your health?
Fantastic. I’m blessed. The worst I’m dealing with is chapped lips. Three days of real winter weather and they’re chapped already. Where’s my Blistex?

2. How was your day?
It’s 8am, so I don’t know. But I’ll predict it. I’ll make some coffee and head to work. There, I’ll sit there torturing myself with thoughts like, “Hey, this is the last Friday that some of these people will be here!” and “Oh sweet mother of GOD I KNOW they know who they’re laying off…why not do it right now?” Phones will ring all day and sales reps will holler at each other over my head, which will make it difficult to do my job. There will be good times, too. Like helping readers navigate the site and laughing with CoWorker S over various events of the day. Tonight I’ll get home, have some dinner, and collapse in front of the computer, where I’ll play a bit of World of Warcraft before bed. With any luck, I’ll be awake enough to cuddle with WM.

3. How’s the weather?
Cold and gray with millions of tiny snowflakes falling.

4. How do you expect to get anywhere in life with an attitude like that?
I know, I know…I’m sorry. It’s just…our industry is at trouble. And there is one department who can try to turn it around. But it doesn’t even look like they try anymore. It’s really really frustrating. Add to that my worrying about people I know who are in job trouble too, and you have my attitude. Frustrated.

5. How many people made you smile today?
WM leaves for work before my facial muscles start moving. I’m going to predict 12 people today.

Come on, that’s your cue, world! Make me smile!

Happy birthday to my 2 cousins, one on each side of my family!

Posted at: 8:05 am in Family/Friends, Home and Garden, Play, Work | Permanent Link | 3 Comments - add yours! »
Tags: friday five, Work

Friday Five: Hacked!

Happy Friday! I’m off today so you get a special mid-morning blog post!

Here’s this week’s Friday Five: HACKED!

1. When did someone last break something of yours?
On Labor Day, in the Peddler’s village parking lot, someone backed into my car. He scratched the heck out of my driver’s side rear panel, but left a note with his name/phone number. I was a bonehead and decided to do the “right” thing and go through GEICO. They were happy to pursue, and since I pay them heaps of cash each year, I was happy to let them. So I sat back and waited for them to tell me what to do next.

Unfortunately, the guy won’t deal with them at all, preferring to pay me out of pocket. So now I have to call this guy and go through heaps of extra inconvenience. If I go outside of GEICO, I don’t get the rental car coverage or anything that I, you know, pay for. If I deal with him out of pocket and go through GEICO, he’s going to have to pony up at least my $500 deductible and my rates will go up anyway, right?

Not to mention, he probably hates my guts for going to my insurance company in the first place. And I hate confrontation. So bleah.

2. When did you last play hackysack, if ever?
Never!

3. What was your most dramatic haircut like?
Back in college I had it really short, to the point where it was wedgy-looking in the back, and the stylist actually had to take clippers to the back of my neck for strays. I wore a baseball cap for months.

4. Hacking is basically breaking through the security that protects a computer or a website. What’s the closest you’ve come to doing something similar in real life?
Somebody here in my building never changed their default wireless router settings. So the network name is linksys and the password is admin. So I use their wireless connection from time to time.

5. In the world of stand-up comedy, a hack is a comic who steals jokes from other comics. Have you ever known a hack in your own field?
I’m a web designer! We’re all hacks! We always go online for snippets of code to solve problems, or for free javascript to do neat things.

~~~
Did you know that next week is October? Even after my planned days off — 2 for Boston/Blogher*, 3 for trip to see WM’s family in Michigan, 1 for Black Friday — I still have 5 days left. Our vacation days don’t roll over (and really, who knows if we’ll all be employed by December anyway?) so I decided to take today off. As usual, it’s crappy out. But I’m headed out to lunch with a friend, and will swing by Target afterward. So I’ll get my puttering in.

~~~
This Sunday, weather permitting, we’ll be at the Pennsauken Fall Festival (PDF). It promises the three “Cs” of a successful outdoor event, crafts, classic cars, and carny food. Okay, that’s four.

Have a wonderful weekend!

*I’m terrified about this. I won’t know anybody there, and I get very shy around people I don’t know. I feel like I need to be there though.

Posted at: 10:25 am in Family/Friends, General, Play, Work | Permanent Link | 1 Comment - add yours! »
Tags: blogher, blogher boston, friday five, fun, Work

We survived!

Layoffs started at the opening of business this morning. I’m okay, Coworker S is okay, Boss is okay. But I saw a lot of really great people go, and that was heartbreaking.

By the power of Suze, I swear I’m going to work hard to beef up my savings to get at least 6 months’ worth of expenses in there. Because I think this is only the beginning of things.

I’m so sleepy. I haven’t slept well since the memo came out last Thursday.

Posted at: 1:37 pm in General, Work | Permanent Link | 4 Comments - add yours! »
Tags: layoffs, survivor guilt, Work