When Receptionists Fall Asleep

Yeah so this overtime is positively killing me. The next time I try to be helpful and agree to come into work early because the person who usually does up and quit this week, slap me. Slap me good and hard. And then slap me a few more times.

It really wouldn't be so bad since it's only an extra hour each day, but trust me. When you are sitting in the same place from 8:00am to 5:30pm without being able to get up at all and with nothing really to do (well other than a bunch of stuff I don't know how to do because it's not my job), it's hell. It would even be less of a problem if the extra hour was tacked on to the end of the day. But since it's an hour earlier and since that means I'm getting up before it's really light out, this is a problem.

We better get a temp in here...STAT! I'm not doing this for another week. Screw trying to be a team player to make myself look better for the promotion I'm up for. I do enough as it is. I also don't think my repeated close calls with being caught almost dozing off are really going to help my case any.

My Head

The floor above mine is doing a giant construction project. Apparently the offices that were below us when we were doing our office build-out complained about the noise. And we only allowed the work to take place early in the day. These people have been dropping what sounds like entire buildings on the floor above my head since 9am today. It's now 3:15 and they are still going. My whole desk shakes with every BOOM, which is happening about every 20 mins or so. My head is begging for mercy. Please call it a day before I call building management.

It's a Tuesday

I honestly dislike Tuesdays more than Mondays. I guess it could be that Mondays are usually slow and so seem like they last forever...or at least feel like another day. So by the time Tuesday rolls around I feel like it is Wednesday and when I realize it's not, well, it puts me in a mood.

Work is annoying today. It probably has something to do with the mood I'm in, but I'm not as quick as I usually am and I feel like I'm bugging people as much as they are bugging me so it's just not an environment conducive to productivity around here. And I've had to do a lot of waiting so far and we all know that is not something I'm good at. Yup, I'm ready for Tuesday to be over. Good thing it's not even lunchtime yet.

I'm also bummed because the Dixie Chicks tickets at the Staples Center are FINALLY onsale (well presale for us because my company has gets first right of refusal). I got the notice today and they are...$87 per ticket! Ouch! Oh and the show is the day after Thanksgiving and we were planning on traveling somewhere that weekend. I've been looking forward to entering the office lottery for these b/c our seats are good, but there's now way I can justify spending that much. How did concert tickets get so expensive?

When Is It Too Soon To Start Couples Counseling?

At lunch today my coworker told us about his friend who just started couples counseling...with his girlfriend of 2 years. Now, even before hearing the rest of the story, I and some of the other people agreed that the dating phase of a relationship is too soon to start counseling. If you have problems serious enough to warrant therapy this early on, you should probably reconsider if this is the right person for you. One or two others seemed to think it was a great idea to start counseling early on - before there are major problems. My final stance on the issue is going to seem like a bit of a cop out - it depends on the situation. I think this is one of those debates where this may be the only acceptable stance to take since people and their backgrounds and how they function in relationships can vary drastically. Personally, if it were me or someone close to me, though, I think the potential need for therapy would be a wake-up call.

And your reward for putting up with my rambling - the story that inspired the debate in the first place. Also, I should mention upfront that this story is not made up - it is 100% fact - other than the names I'm about to make up since I don't know the actual names of the people involved. We'll call the couple HeBob and SheBob. So HeBob and SheBob have been dating for two years. She is a successful writer and he...okay I forget what he does, but that's not really important. The point is she works hard and he does not. She realizes she would rather not spend her time with a lazy lump of...lazyiness. Yeah. She breaks up with HeBob and two weeks later finds out she is pregnant with his baby. She struggles with her options and even though she is pro-choice in theory, she's not sure abortion is the right decision for her. So she does decide to have the abortion, but also ends up getting back together with HeBob anyways.

I won't try to draw a moral from the story. I will, however, share a tidbit that adds just a little bit more verve to the tale. The story of how SheBob got pregnant. SheBob and HeBob participated in a clinical trial for a new contraceptive product.

Ignorance WOULD Have Been Bliss...

I'm not a huge fan of flying as it is. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to The Economist for making me think about all those things I tend to ignore when embarking on a trip so as to not freak out. I don't want to be one of those pill-popping, scared-to-the-point-of-panic-attacks flyers, but who knows after reading this little gem (note: only continue reading if you are not prone to a fear of flying) :

Welcome aboard
In-flight announcements are not entirely truthful. What might an honest one sound like?

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. We are delighted to welcome you aboard Veritas Airways, the airline that tells it like it is. Please ensure that your seat belt is fastened, your seat back is upright and your tray-table is stowed. At Veritas Airways, your safety is our first priority. Actually, that is not quite true: if it were, our seats would be rear-facing, like those in military aircraft, since they are safer in the evetn of an emergency landing. But then hardly anybody woudl buy our tickets and we would go bust.

The flight attendants are now pointing out the emergency exits. This is the part of the announcement that you might want to pay attention to. So stop your sudoku for a minute and listen: knowing in advance where the exits are makes a dramatic difference to your chances of survival if we have to evacuate the aircraft. Also, please keep your seat belt fastened when seated, even if the seat-belt light is not illuminated. This is to protect you from the risk of clear-air turbulence, a rare but extremely nasty form of disturbance that can cause severe injury. Imagine the heavy food trolleys jumping into the air and bashing into the overhead lockers, and you will have some idea how nasty it can be. We don't want to scare you. Still, keep that seat belt fastened all the same.

Your life-jacket can be found under your seat, but please do not remove it now. In fact, do not bother to look for it at all. In the event of a landing on water, an unprecedented miracle will have occured, because in the history of aviation the number of wide-bodied aircraft that have made successful landings on water is zero. This aircraft is equipped with inflatable slides that detach to form life rafts, not that it makes any difference. Please remove high-heeled shoes before using the slides. We might as well add that space helmets and anti-gravity belts should also be removed, since even to mention the use of the slides as rafts is to enter the realm of science fiction.

Please switch off all mobile phones, since they can interfere with the aircraft's navigation systems. At least, that's what you've always been told. The real reason to switch them off is because they interfere with mobile networks on the ground, but somehow that doesn't sound quite so good. On most flights a few mobile phones are left on by mistake, so if they were really dangerous, we would not allow them on board at all, if you think about it. We will have to come clean about this next year, when we introduce in-flight calling across the Veritas fleet. At that point the prospect of taking a cut of the sky-high calling charges will miraculously cause our safety concerns about mobile phones to evaporate.

On channel 11 of our in-flight entertainment system you will find a video consisting of abstract imagery and a new-age soundtrack, with a voice-over explaining some exercises you can do to reduce the risk of deep-vein thrombosis. We are aware that this video is tedious, but it is not meant to be fun. It is meant to limit our liability in the event of lawsuits.

Once we have reached cruising altitude you will be offered a light meal and a choice of beverages - word that sounds much better than just saying 'drinks', don't you think? The purpose of these refreshments is partly to keep you in your seats where you cannot do yourselfs or anyone else any harm. Please consume alcohol in moderate quantities so that you become mildly sedated but not rowdy. That said, we can always turn the cabin air-quality down a notch or two to help ensure that you are sufficiently drowsy.

After take-off, the most dangerous part of the flight, the captain will say a few words that will either be so quiet that you will not be able to hear them, or so loud that they could wake the dead. So please sit back, relax and enjoy the flight. We appreciate that you have a choice of airlines and we thank you for choosing Veritas, a member of an incomprehensible alliance of obscure foreign outfits, most of which you have never heard of. Cabin crew, please make sure we have remembered to close the doors. Sorry, I mean: 'Doors to automatic and cross-check'. Thank you for flying Veritas."

The Economist
September 9th-15th 2006
p.15

I've Paid My Dues

I have paid my dues. It's time for me to do something, anything, other than be a receptionist. I'm not sure how I got sucked into the pattern in the first place because I'm usually pretty picky and stubborn and I never wanted to be a receptionist, but if I had to guess, I'd say the reason I keep ending up here is desperation. I was desperate to not be jobless after college, so I took the first offer I got. I was slightly less desperate after moving to L.A., so I took the second offer I got. In my defense, I really did think both seemed like good opportunities (particularly for growth) at the time, but maybe my judgement was clouded. Who knows. In any case, the opportunity I've been waiting for since starting here has finally presented itself: an admin assistant opening. Woo, big deal, I know. But when you are dangerously close to being sucked into a life of settling for one unrewarding receptionist position after another, anything even remotely upward is a very good, exciting thing. Especially at a company like this with great benefits, job security, and the potential to transfer to one of many worldwide offices (my particular sights are set on the Boston office, obviously) down the road.

So after over a year at Beacon that felt more like 5 or 9 lifetimes and another year here, I do believe I have paid the necessary dues and deserve to move along and I wasted no time in letting my supervisor know that. So far, my supervisor thinks it's a great idea and her higher-up has said I can be considered for the position. The problem is, those weren't the challenging hurdles. We'll just have to see what happens I guess. For now, it's just a "wait and see" hold pattern. For those of you who have read "The Cider House Rules" you know how painfully frustrating that hold pattern can be.

Keep your fingers crossed that I can wait it out. I'm not exactly known for my patience....

I Have No Words

Can I have a do over?

If I was a different person when I made certain choices, do they still count? Can I have a do over? What about five?

I think I read that novel!

Only for serious procrastinators

First, if you are using any internet browser other than Firefox, stop right now and download it. Never open Internet Explorer again or a deadly curse will follow your entire bloodline. Excellent. Now download the StumbleUpond extension.

Now for the fun. Next time you are on the verge of exploding with boredom, click the lovely "Stumble" button and behold whatever random page Stumble finds for you to enjoy. Now you could specify a range of types of sites and even select only one of those at any time, but really, isn't it more fun to be completely surprised. I'll admit not everything that I StumbleUpon (yes this WILL become a verb) is not spectacular, but it's worth getting a few duds every once in awhile to get the amazing sites when they do appear. I've found everything from amazing photographs and artist's websites to great boredom-busting games to well, more than I can even tell you. Try it - you'll see what I mean.

The other great thing about it is that you get to rate pages that come up and indicate whether you like it or not so that Stumble can give you more of what you like and less of what you don't. Another advantage is that when you click, "I like it!" the page you liked is automatically saved in your StumbleUpon pages. This is good for many reasons - you can go back to it later without bookmarking the page AND you can access your collection of pages from any computer so if you find something while at work and want to look at it at home, it's just a click away!

Now I must warn you, StumbleUpon is EXTREMELY addictive, which is why I say it is only for those serious procrastinators who can procrastinate and still manage to get their work done. Happy Stumbling!

Too good to keep all to myself

Countdown

Less than 2 hours until happy hour and the start of a much-needed long weekend. WOOOO!

LA Has A Subway?

Yes! LA HAS A SUBWAY! To be fair, I said the same thing when someone first mentioned it to me, but I had just recently moved here at the time. I seriously get this reaction from people who have lived here for months and even years. I certainly noticed that more people "discovered" the existence of public transportation in LA when the gas prices started rising, but why did it even take that? Talking strictly about the subway (the buses are incredibly slow and crowded and are subject to traffic and so do not count as public transportation with great potential for this city), here is the problem: People say they don't take the subway because it doesn't cover enough of the city/doesn't go where they need to go, but Metro won't extend the subway to go to more places because people in LA do not and will not utilize the service.

Taking the subway to and from work in Downtown for the last five or six months has changed my life. Granted I'm not someone who particularly enjoys driving (TANGENT: I do actually LOVE driving - to the extent that I would invent errands just for the purpose of having a reason to drive, but only in Pensacola for some reason), but I'm infinitely happier not driving during my commute. It's actually quite funny because I thought that was something I was looking forward to about living in LA - getting my own personal space during my commute. That came from cramming myself onto the (probably 20-30 minutes late) T in Boston during rush hour for far too long - any rush hour T rider will tell you personal space (personal space is defined as not being wedged between a group of drunk Fenway-bound men and tall business man reading a Globe and flicking it into your head every time he turns the page while also not being close enough to a bar to hold on to so you're relying on said people to keep you from tumbling about the car), let alone a coveted seat, is nearly impossible to come by.

So it may be somewhat difficult to comprehend why I absolutely love taking the subway. But the answer is quite simple:
A. (I'll say this slowly as it is the KEY to a popular and efficient public transportation system) The. Subway. Runs. On. Schedule. - Always. Every 5 minutes during rush hour, every 10-11 minutes on weekends and during mid-day, and every 20 minutes in the evenings. Plain and simple. There are even numerous messages scrolling through electronic screens throughout every station that let you know if a given train will be running even 2 minutes behind schedule. Now that's service you can rely on.
B. This is tied in to Part A - The train is never overcrowded. Since it runs every 5 minutes, there is never a huge crowd waiting to get on. Again, so simple, but it means the difference between a miserable ride and a tolerable ride. Not everyone gets a seat, but everyone has sufficient personal space.
C. Honor system fare payment - You either have a ticket/pass or you don't. With the absence of fare collection at stations or on the train, the system runs quickly and efficiently since boarding is fast and smooth. Metro sheriffs who patrol the trains periodically check for valid fare and with the threat of a $250 dollar fine, this rarely poses a problem. If there is an issue, it can be dealt with without holding up service.

I think the solution to LA traffic is to extend the subway system. Their current rush-hour gridlock solution is to put traffic cops at 15 (ok I made that number up but it is an incredibly low number for the expanse of this city) gridlock-prone intersections in the metro LA area. Seriously?

Here is what they need to do:
1. Extend the subway further west, one line through Hollywood, West Hollywood, (skipping through Beverly Hills b/c I'm sure someone would pitch a fit about a subway station in 90210), Century City, Westwood, and out to Santa Monica and another line from Downtown out to Venice/Marina Del Rey. 2. Continue with the quick and efficient service
2. Consider extending the hours at night to help curb the rampant drunk driving (optional, but highly recommended)
3. Watch LA's traffic problems, highway overcrowding and dependency on cars just melt away.