Catching Up

Well, my absence on here was purely unintentional. But if it makes you feel any better, this blog is not the only thing that has been neglected in the past two weeks. My laundry is piled high and overflowing in my closet. I'm not exactly sure when I last went grocery shopping. And I have over 200 unopened emails in my two email accounts. So I think it's safe to say that I'm a little behind right now.

Two weeks ago, I spent a full week training my replacement at my former office. I talked all day and sent her home cross-eyed by the end of the night. But we made it through training and I can guarantee she'll be wonderful - not because I trained her but just because she has a wonderful smile, a wonderful personality, and she has teenagers at home. She'll know EXACTLY how to handle those five psychotic salesguys I worked with on a daily basis.

Then, last week, I started my new job. I spent my first day in training with the Temporary Services department, walked all over Vanderbilt's campus to get my name badge, get my parking assignment and discovered that my new parking spot was a mile away from my office. I'd like to say I'm exaggerating that a little. But sadly, for once in my life, I'm not exaggerating. And the sore muscles in my legs prove it. I went and bought very low heeled shoes that same night.

Each day last week, I talked to all the people in my department and got to know exactly what my job was and how I'd be interacting with all of them. And I discovered that a Program Coordinator is basically an Event Planner. And that's just delightful to me because that's always been a dream job to me.

But I've also made a few discoveries about my new employer and the massive corporate world I've entered. I've always worked in small businesses before and never knew some of this stuff. But getting a parking spot a mile away really opened my eyes to a new world. I discovered that this company is the 2nd largest employer in the entire state, employing about 22,000 people there. That's massive. I've always known the names of every single one of my coworkers before. I think those days are now gone - despite my elephant memory for names.

The other thing I've discovered? Corporate America spends A LOT of time in meetings. I had meetings scheduled for every single day last week. And it was a week where I was only getting my feet wet. My schedule is quickly filling up for the month as well. I'm starting to wonder how Corporate America actually accomplishes WORK sometimes.

But beyond that, I've discovered that I love my job. And I'm tired. Walking 2 miles a day can do that to you. And I spent every night last week searching for low-heeled brown shoes (plus a few other errands). So I haven't been home a single night since I started working at my new job. Between the meetings, the walking, and the running errands late at night, I was too tired to even turn on a computer last week.

So beyond that, let me catch you up on kids. Will is a mess. But when isn't he a mess? He's a wonderful sweet boy. And he misses his Sissy very much tonight. Why is that? Because his sweet Sissy is on Spring Break this week. So that means a trip north to stay with her grandparents for the week. Correction: that means a trip north to be SPOILED and LOVED ON by her grandparents for a week. I'm sure she's eating that up. She doesn't miss us and didn't cry one bit when we left. Why should she? She gets constant attention and lots of fun adventures on a daily basis without worrying about sharing it with her little brother. Can't say that I blame her excitement over this week.