The first week of 2012 is over and now there are 51 more weeks to go. Don’t get me wrong I am not one to wish the weeks away – besides at my age they go by fast enough. I just think this week ended up surprising me.
By Monday I was: what day is it, when do I go back to work, I don’t have anything else to do at home. I was one of those people overjoyed to go back into the office on Tuesday and for the holidays to have ended. But, Tuesday was slow and I was itching to go home; and, at least be able to read a book – but, with a meeting scheduled for late in the day that wasn’t going to be feasible.
Then Wednesday became a whirlwind and that is the way it stayed for the remainder of the week. I worked from home on Wednesday and I defy anyone who doesn’t feel that they are more productive at home than in the office. I sat down at 7AM and did not stop working and responding to email messages until 6:30. I never stepped out of my house except to throw out the garbage and collect my mail from the mailbox.
All my projects are coming to a head at once. I spent my time red lining an SOW (Scope of Work) and sending the changes to my vendor; I was reading a second contract and SOW; and, lastly I contacted all the facilitators of our video sites to see when they could have their equipment checked out by my vendor. AND, Wednesday was my nephew’s second anniversary and Ryan’s 10th birthday. Both which had me calling to each of them to say Hello and congratulate them. But, I felt extremely accomplished and overjoyed when my facilitators were each getting back to me immediately. Wow – looks like the site surveys and equipment discovery will be successful. I also took down the last of Christmas by putting away the candles that are in each window and the Christmas lights that flank the windows in the living, dining rooms and kitchen. YEAH!!! Back to normal.
Thursday things continued to be busy with vendor meetings and a site survey at our new facilities which we are supposed to move into by February 1st. For our department 2012 is going to be an extremely productive and aggressive year with most of my projects due to be implemented and running by the end of the first quarter. NOW, you can understand my heightened anxiety. What is great is that my customers/clients are clamoring for the services – I don’t have to convince them that it is good for them. The difficult part is the legal/procurement process – I can’t have any of these items get stuck there and I will need to be creative, cajoling and all those other words to work through the minutiae.
I was also due to have the boys on Friday night into Saturday. Since I would have Ryan I volunteered to have the family over to celebrate his birthday. In our family it is tradition that the person celebrating their birthday chose what they would like for dinner; Ryan’s choice was pork chops, mashed potatoes, corn and apple sauce – I offered to make that for him on Friday since Matt (my niece’s husband) isn’t necessarily fond of pork. Having settled that then what would he like for dinner with the family on Saturday – he chose Mexican. Now I could make my grocery shopping list.
Friday morning found me at the gym for my training session with Jennifer, then heading to the grocery store to pick up dinner items for Friday and Saturday and all the other things I have in the house for the boys. Even with my list I picked up some things Ryan likes (watermelon, goat cheese); but, ended up forgetting the black & white cookies. Oh well. Home with everything in the refrigerator and cabinets. Now to log on.
Darn!!! A fire that I need to respond to within the next hour. On the telephone for 45 minutes trying to understand how I can provide three (3) options to our Executives for video conferencing in our new offices in mid-town Manhattan. I needed to see how we could re-configure the rooms and/or what equipment (second monitor, less microphones, etc.) I could remove. I managed to get that done and off to my boss – we then discussed it before it went on to our CTO. Now time to write that message to our legal department and explain the costs of the contract and services I need them to review and sign off on by January 20th. Okay I will tell you right now – that date is NOT happening.
I need to start cooking as my nephew just called and said that he and the boys are leaving; BUT, call from my boss. Unfortunately, that call went on until a little after 5 and Gerard with the boys arrived. I had their toys out so no big deal they were able to entertain themselves while I got dinner going.
I can tell you that Ryan enjoyed his dinner both evenings – if you were wondering Mexican in my house consists of guacamole (homemade), chips, salsa and Nachos (also homemade); then a dish I call Mexican lasagna, chicken and shrimp fajitas. He told me that I was the best cook – now I won’t disagree with him; but, I know he is wrong because I have eaten what some of you have cooked and you are phenomenal cooks. But, I will TAKE it.
I am afraid that the next few weeks will be the same spurts of being busy and reacting and then some lull time. That is what is wonderful about work – being able to manage the deliverables, my time and balance it with home life.
Remember: New Year = Balance.
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