Movers and Shakers

I have such a load of smart and ambitious friends! I just received word in the past 24 hours of two close friends that have been accepted to their #1 choices for grad school. How amazing is that! :) It must be so rewarding to go through the long and tedious application process and to end up on top of the world!

Also, last week, received word from a friend that he has made a drastic move to pursue his dream. Props to him for having the guts to rip himself from the cradle of comfort into an ambiguous and unfamiliar space.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Blow

Today started out like any other work day: I came into work, went up the elevator, walked to my cube and proceeded to check my email. My cubicle-mate walks in...

He: Hi, how are ya doin'?
Me: Good! *smile*
He walks up to my chair.
He: You haven't heard, have you?
Me: *confused smile* uh...nope.
He: People have been laid off.
Me: Do what?!? In our group???
He nods.

Then my boss's boss calls me into his office...duh duh DUH.

Yup, first experience of a corporate layoff. Not pretty. Totally no warning that it was going to happen. So my new boss just left. I was in pretty big shock because I didn't realize that a) they were going to be laying off people from our group and b) they would lay off some really great (and long-time) employees. So the morning was filled with gloom. Everyone clustered around different cubes, whispering and discussing in hushed tones about who and why. The initial shock actually killed my appetite this morning <- big shocker - I'm always up for food!

So, now I'll be reporting to yet another boss. I've reported to three different bosses in the past month!

Personal Time??

Here's another little rant about my new set of bosses - they have absolutely NO respect for personal time outside of work.

Yesterday, boss's boss sent an email telling me to attend an 11pm meeting that night. Man, people have plans outside of work you know! Heck, some people are asleep by 11pm!!

My internal head reply: Ya [expletive] no-life pricks!
My actual reply: I will not be able to attend the meeting tonight.

Yesterday, I also had to convince my boss that we did not need an early morning meeting with India because we already had a dinner-time meeting with them two days ago. Here's how the exchange went -

Me: Hey [boss's name], I'm going to cancel tomorrow's team meeting unless you have something important to tell them.
Boss: You don't have anything to tell them?
Me: No, we talked two days ago with them so they all know their assignments.
Boss: Ok, we should just talk to them for a few minutes.
Me: Is it important? *pause* You realize that it is their late night when we call them, right?
Boss: It's only 9:30pm for them.
Me: Yes, but it is their personal time and it is late. If we don't have anything important to discuss, I think we should cancel it.
Boss: Ok, ok.

Freak! I would agree to late night meetings only if a) I get a huge promotion (i.e., to my boss's level) and b) I get a fat pay raise as well. When you're at the bottom of the hierarchy, you really shouldn't have to put in that much time outside of 9-6. These bosses have absolutely NO life outside of work. When they get off of work, they just go home, eat dinner, and get back on the phones for a conference call. Such is the sad life of corporate management.

Cultural vs Hygiene

I've recently transferred bosses (both immediate boss and boss's boss) because my old boss left the company. And I'm sensing some big cultural differences between the two sets of bosses. They might even be hygienic differences, I'm not sure. You decide...

1) Boss comes in and stands really close to my chair. Strange because most people hang around the perimeters of the cube when talking to me. No concept of personal space.

2) Boss comes in, discusses project, then proceeds to pick his nose and use my markers.

3) In boss's boss's office, discussing project. He begins to bite his nails and then handles the documents.

So now I have a bottle of instant anti-bacterial hand gel at my desk.

Resolve

So...since I'll be flying out to Miami for a bachelorette party later this year, it's the perfect reason to kick my butt into shape. Since my foot problems arose last summer, I have not been exercising at all. Slowly turning into a pile of loose flesh, now is the time to tone up and bring back the muscle I once had back in my days as a gym rat.

Got a friend who just recently got engaged and he has the resolution of losing weight for his wedding. So, to make myself accountable, I've joined him for part of his regimen. Two times a week at the gym. (Gotta start slow, right?)

Plus, to reward myself, I'm going to get a bikini for the trip! :) Of course I can't compete with the super-gorgeous long-legged 2% body fat women of South Beach but you're only young once! Might as well take the plunge now than when I'm 50 and hankering to wear a micro two-piece. You definitely see women like that on cruises and Hawaiian beaches but I will not scar the younger generation by giving into the urge while I'm still <30. :) When I'm 50, I'll be wearing conservative one piece suits under my track pants and t-shirt. haha!

Now that I've confessed this, please keep tabs on me! Thanks!!!

Thunder?!

Bad weather 1:
Yesterday night, I was suddenly woken up by an incredibly loud sound of thunder. So strange! It never thunders that loudly here!! Anyway, quite frightening...

Bad weather 2:
When I went out for lunch yesterday, it was very sunny and breezy outside. Then, after hibernating in my cube for 5 hours, I go downstairs and look outside...it's raining! Not even a light drizzling, it was windy and raining. Yuck! How quickly the weather changes. *sigh*

When will it end?!

Fast hybrid??

As I was driving today, a Prius suddenly zoomed in front of me!

I can't believe that a Prius would go 80+! So atypical of Prius drivers who usually hang in the right lane maximizing their gas mileage.

New Year's Recap

Last week, work was awesome - left early everyday! There was really no one around so it was pretty quiet. On Thursday night, we were to go to a New Year's Eve's Eve party but due to the rain and worsening of my cold, we decided to stay in. This year for Christmas, I got my DH Final Fantasy X for his PS2. He's played it before but wanted to own the game. So, I end up playing the game. :p I've burned so many hours on this game this past New Year's weekend...hehehe.

We also started cleaning the house as we were hosting a potsticker making party on the night of the Eve. It's always nice to have a clean house...it only lasted like a day. Potsticker making was interesting, people got really creative with them. Mainly because it's hard to roll a round piece of dough for the skin so we ended up with weird amoeba-shaped dough skin. We had bought 8 pounds of ground meat from the market but I guess we should've accounted for the fact that there were mostly girls. oops. But we finished everything and had a LOT of potstickers leftover. Thank goodness my DH has a huge appetite, especially for food that he likes.

Saturday night was a mystery dinner hosted by a good friend. All I have to say is a) accents are hard and b) it's not fun being accused. But the food was good! :)

Sunday was bridesmaid dress shopping. Spent time picking out dresses, trying them on, and deciding on length and material. Our saleslady suggested a dress she said looked bad on the rack but good on the person - and she was right! I thought that was pretty cool. By the time we headed out of the shop, it had begun to downpour. And of course, we did not have an umbrella. So we ran through the rain to the car. I haven't done that since junior high! :D It was actually rather enjoyable although I wish I had rattier clothes on. Totally reminded me of being a kid again - boy, I feel old sometimes.