Tuesday Picks & Pans
yup, here we go again...
PICKS
The EAGLES-- ok sorry just have to give one more shout out here. then I'm done for a little while, especially because I really do feel bad about the Steelers after being near Pittsburgh for two years and still having friends there. here's to another great football town! anyway, I am SOOO excited to actually be watching a Superbowl this year that I care about! I am all ready-- I still have my McNabb jersey, and now I have Eagles wallpaper on my computer and their fight song on my phone. lol. hey if I can't be in Philly to be a part of Eaglemania then I'm creating my own in Virginia Beach. :( But anyway, one team, one city, one dream, baby! Let's go boys! and if you have a sec, check out the intro on their website-- it is so cute! :)
blogshares.com-- I randomly came across this site when I saw a bunch of people being referred from it. Well, I didn't get it at first-- actually it kind of freaked me out, but then I realized it's all one big game. It's a blog stockmarket! People buy shares of your blog stock and it gives all these stats and stuff. it totally cracks me up. check your blog's value if you have one-- you'll be surprised!
my mother-- every now and then she says stuff that has me in stitches, and she doesn't even mean to be funny! last night I was telling her how I hate being back in class and how the people sometimes get on my nerves. No offense meant to anyone in the class, I just hate the few people that feel the need to talk out loud about EVERYTHING until it clicks to them instead of just doing their work on their own papers like everyone else. well, when telling my mother this, she said, "well, Lisa, you're in the South! people there are slower. They're not like us." I almost died laughing!!!! When I asked her to clarify, she backpeddled a little and tried to say it's just a slower-paced way of life, but it was too late. and if you know my mother you know she would never hurt a fly, much less say anything mean to one, so these little slips are always hilarious. ***disclaimer: I in no way am trying to say the intellect of the South in general really is any different from that of the North, so please don't take offense...
John Grogan-- I'm sure you don't know who he is, but he is one of my favorite Philadelphia Inquirer columnists. And this morning's column definitely made me smile. he was talking about how now that Philly fans finally are winners, we need to start acting like it. yes, I know it's odd that we actually seem to take pride in the fact that we aren't afraid to boo everyone and that we throw batteries at those who have scorned us and we were even mean to Santa Claus, but we really do regret the Michael Irvin incident... you'd have to be Philadelphian to understand. but anyway, I liked this from his column especially:
"Let us show the world the new and improved Eagles fans - a little more sober, a little more gracious, a touch less rude. And let us start by how we treat the enemy. I'm not looking for miracles here. Let me give an example.
Old, boorish Eagles fan: 'Yo, Boston! Go bleep yourself!'
New, kinder and gentler Eagles fan: 'Yo, Boston! Have a nice bleepin' day!'
Now that wasn't so hard, was it?" :)
the return of American Idol-- yes, I know it's cheesy reality TV, but the audition rounds are soooo funny!!!! what great TV. did everyone else see the girl with all the different voices?! cracked me up!!!
SoapNet-- Is it sad that I'm starting to get addicted to Dynasty and Dallas even though they haven't been on for like 20 years? yeah I guess I really don't want an answer to that. but thank god at least for some real free days off. but, like every week, back to work again tomorrow...
PANS
random odd phone calls-- I seem to be a target for these, from the old Boston one requesting a drug deal to the latest blocked number talking about insurance. weird.
Accounting-- yes, I HATE being back in class. I'm trying to remember that this is good for me and that it'll be worth it when I want to finally go for my MBA and have to have this as a prereq. And even though I loved my history degree, I'm starting to wish I'd have figured out I wanted to be in the business world sooner so I wouldn't have to be catching up now. I am just so unmotivated right now. oh well.
taekwondo night classes-- now that I have my black belt, I kind of have to go to night classes to get what I need to learn, but I really really hate them. It sucks too, because I actually liked going when I went to all day classes, and now I'll probably give it up before my second degree just because I remember now why I dislike this school so much. I almost feel like I'm quitting, and I never quit. But I never had any lifelong commitment to it anyway-- it was just something to fill the activity void in my life of sports after college softball was over. not sure what to do here.
politics at work-- yes, I think the whole Spongebob Squarepants thing is as ridiculous as the next person, but I HATE when people feel the need to talk politics at work! they just don't belong there. there's no need to offend people, and you never know who you may be offending. to me it's just kind of inconsiderate. there's one peron in particular that just always feels the need to try and convert everyone in the office to her way of thinking and it's so annoying. at the bar, fine, at the mall, okay, but don't bother me at work!!!
the Virginian-Pilot-- the local paper has not said one positive thing about the Eagles all season, even the day after they won the conference! everything they wrote the next day was about how they'll lose to the Patriots! grrrrrrrrr. give them some credit! they didn't pick them to win in either of their playoff games either. I really hate this paper, and not just over the Eagles stuff. I wish there was another big one around to read.
on one last note, there have been all sorts of random people surfing in lately, so if that happens to be you, say hi and tell us where you came from, okay? anyway, I have to go do some accounting work so I'm off for now. booooo. later all.
posted at 3:15 PM
6 Comments:
I work in the finance dept of a pretty good sized corporation. And I was talking to my boss (the manager) and his boss (the site controller) and we thought we'd give you the benefit of our collective experience and advice:
RUN GIRL! It's too late for us but SAVE YOURSELF!!!
7:02 PM
hey thanks for the advice-- believe me I rethink my job choice a lot anyway... even without the financial aspect, the corporate world is just an insane one, especially in the management ranks. I thought I was signing up for a nice paycheck and found out later I also signed up for all the BS that goes with it. anyone else out there in the same boat? maybe I'll still follow through on that childhood marrying rich dream... :Þ
9:05 PM
I'll be serious for a moment. I've worked for a bunch of companies. A couple were good. Some were just awful. Most are moderately screwed up. The nice thing about having an MBA (which I don't, but I'm changing careers anyway) is that the MBA types are usually the ones who determine which of the non-MBA types get laid off.
Your mileage can and will vary. In any job at almost any company you'll find someone who is miserable and someone who thrives. I wish you the best of luck in finding jobs where you thrive, wherever they are.
But please, don't drink the management-book Kool-Aid.
12:33 AM
k James I know you were kidding at first (at least in part anyway) and I am ruining it with the work funk I've been in, but this all does raise a question for everyone that I want the answer to: Is it really possible to be happy in your job? or is work really inherently just that: work?
I mean, don't get me wrong-- I work for a great company, I do very well considering my age and tenure, and I love my team and a lot of my peers... but it's still hard not to wonder if the grass is greener in other pastures. like, should you just deal with work BS and take it as part of life, or is it worth it to see what else is out there and honestly think about moving? I have only worked for one company, so it's hard for me to know if where I work really is the great place that everyone says it is. and I know I (as well as certain other unnammed company friends) sometimes go through times where I'm like okay I'm done b/c this is all just not worth it. is that normal? or does that mean I'm in the wrong place? I have had it so ingrained in my head to never quit that I sometimes wonder if I put up with more than I should.
sorry to spread my work funk around, but if anyone has any thoughts, especially the older and wiser, please share!
6:45 PM
I haven't forgotten. I'll write something this weekend when I have time to come up with a concise answer.
5:58 PM
Okay, finally. I'm sure you know all this but advice is free and easy.
It's a matter of your personality and how and where you fit. Every job, even a dream job, will have distasteful parts. Every job, even a dream job, will have bad days. We all accept that; it happens. It's life.
The question is proportion. If you have a job where 90% of what you do is great and 10% sucks, you're probably thrilled. If it's 50/50 then you're probably dreaming of greener pastures.
But everyone likes different things. A few years back I had a job I hated for a company I thought was being run into the ground (though oddly, I feel the same about my current job), but one of my coworkers loved it and was happy as a clam. It was a perfect fit for her. It was a terrible fit for me.
It took me a very long time before I finally started identifying the things I wanted out of my professional life, the things that I thought would be fulfilling and enjoyable--above and beyond a steady paycheck. And now I'm working at trying to reach that goal of getting the job that I think I'd enjoy, rather than one that'll just pay the rent. But I should have done that fifteen years ago and saved myself a lot of misery.
So you may be the one who loves being in a big corporation. Or you may love working in a tiny little startup. Or you may love having your own name on the door. That's up to you. But I can't overemphisize this enough (and I have friends who'll agree wholeheartedly). Try and figure out what you want NOW, or experiment and find out what you want NOW, before you get older, get married, get kids and bills and responsibilities, and get trapped.
I'm lucky in this regard: I'm single and I rent. So if I feel like it, I can pick up and relocate without massive upheaval. A close friend of mine who's the same age is married to a woman who runs a business, has kids, a mortgage, car payments, bills, etc. He's trapped. It's infinitely harder for him to change his career than for me. And it's hard enough for me already.
You might want to read the Barbara Sher books on happiness and doing what you want with your life. It makes you think. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0440505003/ She doesn't necessarily advocate quitting your job and becomming a buddist monk; she often suggests working your day job for $ and then pursing a fulfilling avocation for happiness. But regardless, it helped me focus and work on what I wanted out of life. No magic wand, no guarantees, and who knows what will happen. But I feel better now about my professional future than I did 3 years ago, and that's worth something.
9:25 PM
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