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.

I’m so happy it’s Sunday because this past week was one of the worst ones I’ve had since 2006. Let’s have a crazy week in review…

1) Sunday: Father’s Day. Talk to Dad & learn that he’s having some nonbloggable (but not health) issues. Ugh.

2) Monday: Calm, which is good because I needed it for Tuesday…

3) Tuesday: More layoffs at the Courier-Post. We lost 13 that day including my manager, whose position was eliminated. This means more work for all of us. I don’t know how many times I can go through watching my friends and coworkers leave HR with teary eyes and an envelope.

Also, Tuesday was Mom’s first follow up post ankle break. She was told that the bones were healing wrong and she had to have surgery to pin it together. Plus, this resets her recuperation calendar. Grand!

4) Wednesday: Mom gets the call that her surgery will be Thursday. John* and Kristen take Mom to Jefferson in Philly for five hours of pre-admission testing.

Meanwhile, I get an email saying that I didn’t get a job I was hoping to get. I’ve been working that prospect for over 2 months. I made it through 2 interviews and didn’t get the job because I don’t know Drupal. Feh. I should really learn Drupal, I guess.

5) Thursday: Mom’s surgery. I take the day off. John and I leave her place at 5:15am and I don’t get home ’til after 8pm. Luckily, sugery goes very well and now the offending ankle is pinned and plated together. She’s back to “stay off your feet as much as you can for 2 weeks” meaning we’re all still going back and forth to make sure she’s fed and her dog is taken care of.

6) Friday: Back to work. The day is piles of crazy, because we’re all trying to adjust to being shorthanded again. It’s just a stinking sad day.

7) Saturday: WM (remember him? He’s awesome and wonderful because he’s been keeping my home fires burning and our dogs fed and happy while I’m running around like a nut. Everyone should have a WM.) and I go to the Celtic Fling at the PA Ren Faire site. We have a GREAT time until I’m felled by the Vile Goddess Menstrua. Now seriously…it’s been YEARS since I had cramps so bad that I’ve had to mention her. Plus I’m remotely trying to fix some advertising problems that I have no control over anymore.

Along the way, I gnawed off all of my fingernails, hemorrhaged cash, exceeded my text message allotment and was hit with a round of stress-induced rosacea.

But today’s a new week. Right now I’m off to Mom’s to take care of the lunch & dinner duties. Tomorrow I’ll go to work and try to juggle some more responsibilities.

*John’s week was worse than mine – he took last week off entirely to just chill at home. Worst. Vacation. Ever.

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!