I am on row 28 of the final 32 rows of the Lilac Leaf Shawl. It has been such a pleasure to knit.
So regardless of how bad work is tomorrow, I know I can finish 4 rows and put this baby aside until the weekend, when I can set aside a block of time to kitchener the two pieces together.
Something nice happened to me today. I entered my name for a chance to win an iPod Touch from a vendor who offered it as a way to get people to come look at their software.
I won!
I don't have it yet -- the vendor will bring it to me next Wednesday -- which gives me time to figure out what exactly an iPod Touch does. (I love my video iPod. Do you think I will like this?)
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
MO' PROGRESS
My pair of 7", size 4, stilletto-tipped, bell-capped Signature Arts needles have arrived.
There is nothing more tortuous that having a super-duper, extra-special, pretty, shiny, new toy and not being able to play with it.
But I have to finish the Lilac Leaf shawl first. Then, and only then, I can start a new project.
I am placing lifelines on the first row of every repeat now, so that eve if I drop a lace stitch, I only have to rip back so far and can only be set back one day. It's really, really busy at work right now, and I'm working late most nights, so I'm getting up early and staying up late to squeeze in some knitting time. If I knit 15 rows a day, I can finish the center panel in 7 days. Then I'll need at least a week to finish the lace border for the end, and then I'm going to need to find someone to give me the courage to Kitchener stitch them together. I'm already nervous. And THEN I will still need to block it. Which I think I can get done before April 29th.
I don't know if I've mentioned it, but this is another prayer shawl. My boss, of whom I am quite fond and to whom I feel great loyalty, has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and will have surgery on the 30th. I am making this shawl a prayerful experience, and I plan to give it to his wife before the surgery. It may sound weird, but I'm the kind of person who, in the absence of a positive way to focus my nervous energy, will give life to all kinds of horrible uglies.
Knitting and praying for health, happiness, and grandchildren seems far more positive and productive.
There is nothing more tortuous that having a super-duper, extra-special, pretty, shiny, new toy and not being able to play with it.
But I have to finish the Lilac Leaf shawl first. Then, and only then, I can start a new project.
I am placing lifelines on the first row of every repeat now, so that eve if I drop a lace stitch, I only have to rip back so far and can only be set back one day. It's really, really busy at work right now, and I'm working late most nights, so I'm getting up early and staying up late to squeeze in some knitting time. If I knit 15 rows a day, I can finish the center panel in 7 days. Then I'll need at least a week to finish the lace border for the end, and then I'm going to need to find someone to give me the courage to Kitchener stitch them together. I'm already nervous. And THEN I will still need to block it. Which I think I can get done before April 29th.
I don't know if I've mentioned it, but this is another prayer shawl. My boss, of whom I am quite fond and to whom I feel great loyalty, has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and will have surgery on the 30th. I am making this shawl a prayerful experience, and I plan to give it to his wife before the surgery. It may sound weird, but I'm the kind of person who, in the absence of a positive way to focus my nervous energy, will give life to all kinds of horrible uglies.
Knitting and praying for health, happiness, and grandchildren seems far more positive and productive.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
UNLOADING
I am tired. Exhausted. Stressed.
I've billed 185 hours this month. (I only work 90% time, so my target is 125.) And there are still 3 days left in the month for me to work.
I have managed to get a couple more repeats of the shawl knit. I'm pretty sure I made a mistake, but I'm actually -- and contrary to my usual nature -- ok with my mistake. No one but me will be able to see it, and I'm really knitting it because knitting helps to keep me sane when the lack of light starts playing the bongos with my mental health.
Like I said before -- I'm going to finish the scarf, block it, and if it looks good, I'm going to give it to my bosses daughter, who is getting married. If it doesn't look perfect, but still nice, I'm sure there are people in my life who will enjoy it.
I'm going to sleep now. And maybe when I wake I will feel less stressed.
BTW -- if you ever have the opportunity to buy a pack of Fox's BisQuits, BUY THEM! MOST YUMMY! My friend, Sinead, sent me a few packs, and I've already finished 2 of the three packs! I saved the chocolate for last!
Myfanwe, Norbert & I are leaving Mitzi with the house sitter and taking a long weekend to visit our god-daughter, Little Bird, in St. Louis this weekend. My wee Little Bird is turning a year old! We haven't seen her in 2 months, and I can't wait to see everything new she's doing! I'm making a batch of cinnamon rolls and freezing them so I can bake them off in St. Louis. Which means somehow I have to find time tomorrow night to form them and freeze them. Oi! Wish me luck!
I've billed 185 hours this month. (I only work 90% time, so my target is 125.) And there are still 3 days left in the month for me to work.
I have managed to get a couple more repeats of the shawl knit. I'm pretty sure I made a mistake, but I'm actually -- and contrary to my usual nature -- ok with my mistake. No one but me will be able to see it, and I'm really knitting it because knitting helps to keep me sane when the lack of light starts playing the bongos with my mental health.
Like I said before -- I'm going to finish the scarf, block it, and if it looks good, I'm going to give it to my bosses daughter, who is getting married. If it doesn't look perfect, but still nice, I'm sure there are people in my life who will enjoy it.
I'm going to sleep now. And maybe when I wake I will feel less stressed.
BTW -- if you ever have the opportunity to buy a pack of Fox's BisQuits, BUY THEM! MOST YUMMY! My friend, Sinead, sent me a few packs, and I've already finished 2 of the three packs! I saved the chocolate for last!
Myfanwe, Norbert & I are leaving Mitzi with the house sitter and taking a long weekend to visit our god-daughter, Little Bird, in St. Louis this weekend. My wee Little Bird is turning a year old! We haven't seen her in 2 months, and I can't wait to see everything new she's doing! I'm making a batch of cinnamon rolls and freezing them so I can bake them off in St. Louis. Which means somehow I have to find time tomorrow night to form them and freeze them. Oi! Wish me luck!
Sunday, December 30, 2007
YOU'RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME!
Oh, wait. Yes you are. My bad.
I have mentioned in these pages that I have a great boss. I do. I have the best. Without a doubt.
I'd like to give you evidence of his greatness.
At the end of 2001 I was working on a huge, pressured anti-trust case at a boutique firm -- one of those firms that prides itself at having a staff smaller that your average Baskin-Robbins but able to take on the behemoth cabbage-demons of the business world. One of the parters, I'll call him Leo, if you don't mind, had always been a little bit crazy, mean, and vindictive. The office story was that he always had to have one person who he hated. And I had become his bitch.
So, we are working this big case. I've been working it for a couple of years and feeling lucky to have a job after the economic and emotional downturn following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Yes, Leo did everything he could to make my life a living hell, but I had a family to support, and I could put up with anything from him.
Then, not unexpectedly, a month or so before trial (but not before I assembled the 10,000+ exhibits we expected to use at trial) all of the bad guys started to settle. The office did well. We negotiated settlements of over a billion dollars for our clients. And the firm received a percentage of that amount, so we are talking about a $100m year for the firm. Visions of Christmas Bonus' danced in my head. I had, after all, had a major role in staffing the case.
So imagine my disappointment when, a couple of days later, the managing partner, I'll call him "Sir", walks into my office and closes the door. He told me that the partners had held their year-end meeting, and that Leo had advocated vociferously for my dismissal.
Sir then said that he wouldn't let him do it -- that he thought I was a good worker and would be glad to have me work on more of his cases. He told me that, in a year where 5 figure bonuses were de rigeur, I would be receiving $1,000 -- and that he had to fight with Leo to get me that. In addition, Leo had insisted that I be moved out of my 32nd floor window office into what had always been (and still was) a file room. A file room not large enough to accommodate a desk, so I had a table. A table I had to climb over to get behind.
Sir told me that I had a choice to make -- I could be unhappy and look to leave, or I could work my way above Leo's enmity and continue with the firm. He said that he believed I could do it. And he hoped I would.
So, I made my decision. I stayed. I moved to the file room, I bore the indignity of Leo's constant hate. I worked for Sir, learning a whole new area of work and getting kinda good at it. We really developed into a team. One of our biggest cases resulted in Sir being out of town four or five days a week for several months at a time. He trusted me to keep the home fires burning, and when people half a world away who created the documents couldn't find them, he would call me and I'd have them to him in an instant. As I said, I got kinda good at what I do.
Then, last February, things kinda fell apart at work. Leo screwed his partners and brought down the firm. My guy, who wasn't one to cut his own deal and screw everyone else, advocated for finding a merger where all the attorneys could go without conflicts. Leo, who wasn't ever raised to think about anyone but himself, said "F**k you all."
The month that the firm was closing down, Leo wasn't around unless he has a meeting at his new firm. He did absolutely nothing to aid in closing up the shop. My guy? Well, my guy was going through his files and throwing out dumpsters of papers. And when he wasn't doing that he was hustling new jobs for his employees -- I could tell that it was eating him up, having people out of a job and not have solid things lined up.
I lined up another job in about 45 minutes. I have skills and they are marketable. But I was miserable. It wasn't going to be working with My Guy. It was a big hit to my psyche. I could hold things together for three or four hours, but then at lunch, rain or shine, I would walk up and down Michigan Avenue bawling like a baby. I must have looked like an absolutely lunatic. Then when the hour was over, I'd pull it together and go back to work, putting things in order for Sir.
When Sir called and told me he had firm offers lined up and asked if I would go with him, I was floored. It was the one thing that none of the other positions could offer me. (Oh, and they offered me a 10% higher salary for working only 90% time! Can you say "Heaven"?)
I just had my first of, I hope, many annual reviews at my new firm. 14% raise. (on top of the earlier increase), and a 13% bonus! And -- I kid you not -- the words "beloved by all" were included in my review. I still get a little teary-eyed when I think about it.
I know that there are a lot of people who don't believe that G-d is involved in our lives. Myfanwe constantly says "Well, G-d could spend a little less time helping Carleen find short-shorts on sale at TJMaxx and use the time to help all those people in Zimbabwe."
I don't know how to reconcile the disconnect, but I do believe G-d has helped me. G-d has been merciful to me. I am happier than I could ever have hoped to be. I have a great wife, a great boy, a lovely home, fine friends, and a job that makes me happy to get up and go to work in the morning.
It does make me feel a little guilty for all those nights I prayed for Leo Fried to choke on a ham sandwich while looking in the mirror. ( I know that sounds mean, but I thought it would be comforting for him to see the person he loved most in the world as he died.) Jerk.
I have mentioned in these pages that I have a great boss. I do. I have the best. Without a doubt.
I'd like to give you evidence of his greatness.
At the end of 2001 I was working on a huge, pressured anti-trust case at a boutique firm -- one of those firms that prides itself at having a staff smaller that your average Baskin-Robbins but able to take on the behemoth cabbage-demons of the business world. One of the parters, I'll call him Leo, if you don't mind, had always been a little bit crazy, mean, and vindictive. The office story was that he always had to have one person who he hated. And I had become his bitch.
So, we are working this big case. I've been working it for a couple of years and feeling lucky to have a job after the economic and emotional downturn following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Yes, Leo did everything he could to make my life a living hell, but I had a family to support, and I could put up with anything from him.
Then, not unexpectedly, a month or so before trial (but not before I assembled the 10,000+ exhibits we expected to use at trial) all of the bad guys started to settle. The office did well. We negotiated settlements of over a billion dollars for our clients. And the firm received a percentage of that amount, so we are talking about a $100m year for the firm. Visions of Christmas Bonus' danced in my head. I had, after all, had a major role in staffing the case.
So imagine my disappointment when, a couple of days later, the managing partner, I'll call him "Sir", walks into my office and closes the door. He told me that the partners had held their year-end meeting, and that Leo had advocated vociferously for my dismissal.
Sir then said that he wouldn't let him do it -- that he thought I was a good worker and would be glad to have me work on more of his cases. He told me that, in a year where 5 figure bonuses were de rigeur, I would be receiving $1,000 -- and that he had to fight with Leo to get me that. In addition, Leo had insisted that I be moved out of my 32nd floor window office into what had always been (and still was) a file room. A file room not large enough to accommodate a desk, so I had a table. A table I had to climb over to get behind.
Sir told me that I had a choice to make -- I could be unhappy and look to leave, or I could work my way above Leo's enmity and continue with the firm. He said that he believed I could do it. And he hoped I would.
So, I made my decision. I stayed. I moved to the file room, I bore the indignity of Leo's constant hate. I worked for Sir, learning a whole new area of work and getting kinda good at it. We really developed into a team. One of our biggest cases resulted in Sir being out of town four or five days a week for several months at a time. He trusted me to keep the home fires burning, and when people half a world away who created the documents couldn't find them, he would call me and I'd have them to him in an instant. As I said, I got kinda good at what I do.
Then, last February, things kinda fell apart at work. Leo screwed his partners and brought down the firm. My guy, who wasn't one to cut his own deal and screw everyone else, advocated for finding a merger where all the attorneys could go without conflicts. Leo, who wasn't ever raised to think about anyone but himself, said "F**k you all."
The month that the firm was closing down, Leo wasn't around unless he has a meeting at his new firm. He did absolutely nothing to aid in closing up the shop. My guy? Well, my guy was going through his files and throwing out dumpsters of papers. And when he wasn't doing that he was hustling new jobs for his employees -- I could tell that it was eating him up, having people out of a job and not have solid things lined up.
I lined up another job in about 45 minutes. I have skills and they are marketable. But I was miserable. It wasn't going to be working with My Guy. It was a big hit to my psyche. I could hold things together for three or four hours, but then at lunch, rain or shine, I would walk up and down Michigan Avenue bawling like a baby. I must have looked like an absolutely lunatic. Then when the hour was over, I'd pull it together and go back to work, putting things in order for Sir.
When Sir called and told me he had firm offers lined up and asked if I would go with him, I was floored. It was the one thing that none of the other positions could offer me. (Oh, and they offered me a 10% higher salary for working only 90% time! Can you say "Heaven"?)
I just had my first of, I hope, many annual reviews at my new firm. 14% raise. (on top of the earlier increase), and a 13% bonus! And -- I kid you not -- the words "beloved by all" were included in my review. I still get a little teary-eyed when I think about it.
I know that there are a lot of people who don't believe that G-d is involved in our lives. Myfanwe constantly says "Well, G-d could spend a little less time helping Carleen find short-shorts on sale at TJMaxx and use the time to help all those people in Zimbabwe."
I don't know how to reconcile the disconnect, but I do believe G-d has helped me. G-d has been merciful to me. I am happier than I could ever have hoped to be. I have a great wife, a great boy, a lovely home, fine friends, and a job that makes me happy to get up and go to work in the morning.
It does make me feel a little guilty for all those nights I prayed for Leo Fried to choke on a ham sandwich while looking in the mirror. ( I know that sounds mean, but I thought it would be comforting for him to see the person he loved most in the world as he died.) Jerk.
Sunday, November 04, 2007
I WILL NEVER FORSAKE YOU, MY PEOPLE!
I'm not abandoning you. I'm just working brutal overtime...and probably will continue doing so until Thanksgiving or after.
I try to get home in time to have a pot of tea and knit a couple of rows on the Swallowtail Shawl. Two rows is really all I get time for before falling into bed. I haven't had time to block the Luna Moth Shawl, but I plan to soon. Er, after Thanksgiving.
It's not as bad as it sounds. My boss is appreciative of my hard work, I am leading a big project, and we are producing thousands of documents a week -- we are actually making document productions Monday, Wednesday and Friday each week. (Any paralegals out there will recognize this as a brutal schedule!) I'm pretty good at what I do, and I like the opportunity to prove my worth once in a while.
I try to get home in time to have a pot of tea and knit a couple of rows on the Swallowtail Shawl. Two rows is really all I get time for before falling into bed. I haven't had time to block the Luna Moth Shawl, but I plan to soon. Er, after Thanksgiving.
It's not as bad as it sounds. My boss is appreciative of my hard work, I am leading a big project, and we are producing thousands of documents a week -- we are actually making document productions Monday, Wednesday and Friday each week. (Any paralegals out there will recognize this as a brutal schedule!) I'm pretty good at what I do, and I like the opportunity to prove my worth once in a while.
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