What I've been up to lately

Thanks for the emails and for letting me know I've been MIA on this blog for most of November. It's good to know that there are people out there that are occasionally interested in what I have to say. It's also been good for me to have a place to just write -- even if it is about my vapidly insipid life and interests -- (ir)regardless of whether anyone is listening. In case you were wondering, if a tree fell in the woods and no one was there to hear it, it makes no noise whatsoever.

Here's what I've been up to lately. I've tried to lump your questions together in a way that made sense. It was interesting to see how similar some of your questions were even though most of you don't know each other. If they were similar, I tried to write the question only once.

Did you join a cult?
Jeebus, is that you? Jeebus, are you speaking to me?

So, did you buy your farm yet?
No. I've decided to wait a while longer, but will continue keeping an eye out. Who knows when the right opportunity will present itself, but when it does, I''d like to be ready. If I don't spend my life savings on handbags first.

Have you forgotten about me?
No. I don't forget people who are important to me. Don't be a jackass face.

WHY HAVEN'T I HEARD FROM YOU???
Because I've been bloody tired lately and have needed more alone time than usual. I spent the first two weeks of November in training, where I learned about leadership, management, and the firm. It was a little exhausting because I had to make up some of my time out of the office by working after training, but it was worth it. The rest of November was spent catching up from two weeks out of the office and celebrating Thanksgiving (I'll post that separately).

Training was great because I got to meet and work with my counterparts from other parts of the firm that I would have never otherwise met. At one point, we broke up into teams and "ran" companies that competed against each other, and my team won. (yay!) I learned a lot about my communication and leadership preferences and have some things to think about in terms of how I can be more a more effective leader and communicator.

For one of my leadership and communication workshops, I completed a HDBI assessment and learned that while I have the ability to move into other quadrants at anytime without regard to preference, I prefer to use the upper and lower right quadrants of my brain to think, learn, comunicate and make decisions. In other words, I use my intuition and like having options, being creative and flexible when making decisions. I'm not as good at following process, gathering details or abiding by rules. I almost don't prefer to make decisions based on facts, data or logic.

Based on the assessment, I'm good at interpersonal stuff, non-verbal cues, engendering enthusiasm, persuading and conciliating, seeing 'the big picture', recognizing new possibilities and taking risks, integrating concepts, challenging established policies, synthesizing unlike elements into a new whole, inventing solutions to problems, and problem solving in intuitive ways. I'm less inclined to follow rules, structure, organization, attention to details, being methodical, analytical or quantitative. My responses under stress were consistent with my responses under normal circumstances, so I'm no different even when under stress.

People with my thought and decision making preferences are often teachers, facilitators, in the arts (writing, music, design) or in a 'helping' field (counselor, psychologist). Compared to the profiles of other individuals that have taken this assessment, my profile most closely matches those of social workers, people in sales or entrepreneurs. While I can see myself as a social worker, I doubt I'd be a successful salesperson or entreprenuer. I'm still trying to figure out my "special purpose," and when I do, I'll be sure to write home about it. Maybe I'll be a forest ranger when I grow up.

Is your blog the only way you'll communicate with friends?
You can't pick up the phone and call anyone anymore?
Unfortunately, yes. My email at work is strictly monitored (as in read by someone else) and recorded and should be used primarily for work purposes. I'm blocked from external messaging sites (e.g. hotmail, gmail, yahoo, IM) the 14+ hours I'm at work. This is my message in a bottle.

I'd be happy to give you a call whenever I get a chance as long as you don't mind if it's around midnight since that's when I know I'll definitely be home and have time to talk. Hope you'll be okay if I'm not particularly interesting or entertaining then, since I'll be all talked out, having spent a good 4-6 hours talking to clients or their lawyers. But, I'd love to listen to anything you have to say if you'd like to talk to me.

So, you got good news or what?
Well, now that I know how I communicate, I have a lot to think about in terms of being a better manager, a better leader and a better communicator. I'd say that was pretty good news, wouldn't you? Oh, and ADub told me I am going to have a "good year" whatever that means. Hopefully something good. Good enough for a farm or ranch or just a big ass pieces of land in the middle of nowhere someday... Or, a pony. I've always wanted a pony. Not that miniature miniature pony though. I might lose it. That would be almost as bad as Brian Fellow's comment that rabbits can't cut hair. Rabbits can too cut hair. Duh.

Are you seeing someone? I bet you are...you sneaky lady you.
So who's the new person you've been keeping a secret?
Are you dating?
Have you met someone?
Ok, I'm offended that more than one of you thought to ask this question. Seriously, do you think that if I started to see someone, I would stop keeping in touch (either via email, phone or this blog)? What kind of friend do you take me for???

You got time? Shall I detail my boy woes to you?
.........................

How's work? Are you swamped?
Let me guess! MONTH END!
Is it month end?
Month end!
I'm a little embarrassed that more than one of you wrote this to me. Is this really my rote answer when you call or email? Has it truly gotten so bad?

Wait, don't answer that. I know it's bad because Pookie has asked me if it's month-end even when he's called or emailed me mid-month. (Pookie, this is why you are annoying, and I HATE YOU. Other than that, I'll see you and Ann for Christmas. Love ya!)

Look, when your busiest periods at work are at the beginning and end of the month, suddenly, the one week in between those two bookends are consumed by other work-related things you let fall by the wayside during month-end. What can I say? I know I'm pretty focused at work; I want to get things done so I can leave at a decent hour. Seriously, people. I am so sorry. I am a jackass face.

If you've ever wondered why month-end is my busiest time of month, it's because there's a week before the beginning of the next month where clients that I haven't heard from all month (sometimes all year) will call or email and tell me that they need something done in time for the beginning of the next month. They usually think a week is enough time. It won't matter that I may have 62 other products that also need to be launched at the beginning of the month and up until that morning, I only knew about 40 of them. The thing is, if a client calls the day before the next month and tells me they need something done by tomorrow, I will do everything in my control to have it done even if it means being at work until 3am. Depending on how one looks at it, it could be good or bad that clients do this. Good because it means I'm doing my job and my clients think that I'm solely there to help them and no other client. Sucky because the end of the month is usually full of fire drills, and it's always a race to the finish line. Then again, it could also be because clients don't really care how much work I've got provided their stuff gets done. :-)

Frankly, the importance of the beginning of the next month has always baffled me. It shouldn't make a difference when a new product is launched provided it's a good product. However, everyone seems hung up on wanting to launch their products on the first of the month as opposed to any other day of the month. All those other days of the month are getting the shaft. They ought to get even. They ought to cancel New Year.