Weekly Update - Feedback and Folgers

Hello all!

I have to say that I have never received as much feedback as I did from my update last week. I really appreciate all of your suggestions on paint and sharing your painting stories, it seems as though everybody has one. I do feel compelled to share one story in particular. This week a friend (name withheld to save any embarrassment caused by sharing this story) called to tell me that it is really hard to pick out paint and said, "At least you only painted a small square and not the entire room before you realized you hated it!" I had forgotten but my poor friend did just that painted the entire room and then realized that she truly despised the color. I have not progressed on the painting project at all this week, except to think about which color area I would like to pursue next. I will keep you all updated on my progress, and when it is all done, you will get pictures!

Work is great! It is getting easier and easier to speak and deal with customers. I have only been in a few situations where I wish I knew the talking points just a little bit better, so I continue to study up on everything. I am also adjusting to working in a cubicle. I was extremely nervous about working in a cubicle, because I tend to be a bit loud (don't laugh) and I wouldn't want to sit next to me in a cubicle. But I brought this up with my co-workers the first week and we made a pact to tell each other when we are annoying and not take it personally. Fortunately, or not, my entire area is marketing types, so we are all loud and all tell each other to quiet down from time to time, so it works.

One things that is really annoying me at work is the coffee situation. First of all, we have a housekeeping rule about coffee, if there is less than 3 cups in the pot after you get your coffee you must make a new pot. Well it seems that every single time that I go to get a cup of coffee there is less than 3 cups there. I think that people purposely avoid taking any coffee so that they don't have to make a new pot. I don't know for sure how many pots of coffee I made last week, but it was a lot. The other point about coffee is that I think that Mr. Coffee and Folgers are in cahoots together. It is impossible to pour a cup of coffee from the coffee maker carafe without dribbling a large amount of coffee on the counter, hence wasting coffee, hence increasing Folgers profits...... The point in sharing this all is that I now realized how spoiled I was to have a coffee cart in the lobby at St. Mark's and never be forced to make a pot of coffee myself.

It rained all weekend here and it was wonderful. A perfect weekend to stay inside and work on projects. I am nearly all settled, just the office remains, and that project is being held up by the search for a desk. I know what I want, but cannot seem to find anything like it, ugh! I promised to send pictures once it is all settled and done.

I hope that you all had a wonderful St. Patrick's Day holiday. I know that my family (especially my mother) makes a bigger deal of this holiday than most, but I was very disappointed by the lack of participation in the holiday this year. There were only two of us at work that were dressed in green and almost everyone had FORGOTTEN! I can't believe it! I did my best to spread the holiday cheer dressed in green and drinking green beer (after work of course!) it was great!

Hope you all have a wonderful week! And, HAPPY EASTER!

Weekly Update - Challenged by picking out paint!

Hello all!

What a week it has been, crazy, productive, busy, scary and fun. I am going to have to pick and choose what to include in my update this week....'cause there is just so much to chose from, here are the highlights.

Work continues to be challenging and fun. I found out on Tuesday that I would be "going live" with customers on Wednesday, which was one week earlier than planned. Needless to say, I was a wreck on Wednesday morning. But, I made is successfully through my first call and the subsequent calls and by the end of the week, I was much less nervous. My greatest fear was being asked a question that I didn't know the answer to, but the fact is that our customers don't know everything and that is why they need us! I continue to work on some special projects including a redesign of the company web page and re-branding efforts.

My apartment is getting more and more settled everyday. We have mandatory recycling in Seattle, which is fine, I am certainly willing to participate, however, for over a week all of the recycling receptacles have been over-flowing and the wrapping paper from my fragile items continues to sit in my apartment waiting for the bins to be emptied. I have now been staring at them for over a week and am getting a bit tired of it.

I still think that one of the best parts about my new home is the view from the deck. I am now able to tell the temperature outside (roughly, of course) by the color of the water in the lake. The more grey it is, the colder it is outside and the more blue it is, the warmer it is. And, watching the activities on the lake is equally fun including sea planes and boats.

My bathroom on the other hand is an entirely different story. When I moved in there was a LOVERLY "under the sea" mural painted on the bathr oom wall. I have included a picture for you, so that you can truly experience it. The super gave me the option of leaving it there (ah, no!), having them paint the bathroom white or painting the bathroom myself, any color that I like. So, I opted for painting the bathroom myself, any color I like. I have decorated this bathroom in the "angel" motif, just like my last several bathrooms and decided to got with a very light taupe brown color. I spend nearly a hour in the paint section at Home Depot and came home with a handful of samples and a "tester" of the color that I had narrowed down to my favorite. I painted the sample color on the walls in three spots in the bathroom and it is horrible. I thought that it would grow on me, but each and every day I just hate it a bit more and I have come to realize that I really suck at picking out paint. So back to square one on that project, I will keep you posted.

One of my co-workers, Barb, invited me out with "the girls" on Friday night. We met at her friend Wendy's home for appetizers and wine and then walked to the Sunset Tavern to see a band called "Weather." Turns out that the band actually started in SLC and moved to the Northwest to work with their new producer who is a friend of Barb's. Their album comes out on April 5th. You can check them out at http://thebandweather.com/ I had a great time, and made some new friends, which just made the night even sweeter.

Saturday I was forced to be home the entire afternoon awaiting the arrival of the Comcast cable installer. Without sharing every detail of this horrible experience with Comcast, I will just leave it to say that I HATE THEM! I will be calling them today to let them know exactly what I think of them and demand satisfaction. I will keep you posted!

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous here, very little rain, lots of sun and mild temps. Unfortunately there are consequences including our Governor declaring an official drought last week and the talk of restrictions on water usage. But while it's beautiful I am going to spend lots of time exploring Seattle. Yesterday I took a long walk and soaked up the sun.

Well enough for now. Hope you all have a GREAT week!

Weekly Update - Spring in Seattle

Hello all!

It's been unseasonably warm here in Seattle, and not much rain for my first week, although we desperately need it. Spring is here! I am looking out the window at daffodils in full bloom, and the trees outside my bedroom window are alive with pink blossoms, CRAZY!

Everything is good, actually everything is VERY GOOD! My first week in Seattle was exhilarating, joyous and exhausting. Here are some of the highlights.

I love my new job! I survived my first week without ending up completely overwhelmed, which is a miracle considering that everything is new to me! I am learning a lot about the company, the products and have jumped into a project for branding the company name/image with both feet. There are only 23 employees including me, so I knew everyone by the end of the 2nd day! It's a big change from St. Mark's, but refreshing. I will continue in training mode for another week or so and then begin my regular duties.

My commute is better than I anticipated it being. It takes me about 25 - 30 minutes, but I travel at an
average speed of 50 - 60 mph. I made a few wrong turns early in the week, but by week's end it was smooth sailing.

I stayed with Dave and Kristen through Tuesday and got to experience a commute via ferry, which was fun but made for very long days. I signed my lease on Tuesday evening and the movers moved everything in on Wednesday afternoon. Once again, my couch tried to be difficult to maneuver around the turns and up the stairs, but I was not going to take it and we managed to squeeze it in! All of my furniture fits well and looks great. My friend Don helped me get the bed, dresser and couches set up on Wednesday night. I have worked hard to get the unpacking done and I am very, very close, I only have a few office boxes left and then it is all done! I promised to send pics in a
future message when everything is put away.

I spent the weekend unpacking and getting settled it. I explored a bit on Sunday and ventured out to Jiffy Lube, Home Depot, Target and the grocery store. I ended up a few places that I didn't plan on, but in the process discovered a few fun places. Last night I took a walk up to the top of Queen Anne hill just in time to see the sun set over the Puget Sound, it was beautiful!

Hope this finds you all well!