The toxic slowdown
I’m on my next-to-last day of vacation, and I must say that this went by much faster than the one I took in August. On Sunday, I shopped for my Monday day trip. On Monday, I stayed on a bus for six hours and managed to not make a complete fool of myself the rest of the day. Tuesday was spent in recovery and Wednesday was of birthday celebration for my mom.
Thursday has been the roughest. The harsh reality of returning to a normal routine was in place, and I stated checking my office e-mail. So much happens when you’re away, and it makes the return even more stressful.
Honestly, I shouldn’t spend my remaining free time worrying about those things. After all, I have a day trip tomorrow to worry about.
permalink | Comment | occupational | 10/10/2008
What Thursdays mean to me
Thursdays were my favorite day of the week at work. I could find myself doing different sections of the paper at any week. Honestly, I like variety and having something different to do at my desk.
Well, now my Thursdays are to be spent at home. When I started this job, I had Thursdays off. Returning to them now feels weird, but I have to look at all the bright sides:
- I don’t have to wait in long lines at the grocery store, unlike on Fridays. I can find what I want, purchase it and bag in under 20 minutes. That’s better than the 40+ minutes I use per trip on Fridays.
- More opponents to play against on XBox Live. It makes Rock Band even more enjoyable.
- Great time for baking and napping, the Garfield philosophy of life.
- Thinking of how normal people have normal weekends.
permalink | Comment [1] | occupational | 05/17/2008
Life complicates everything
Reunion in Washington, D.C., in 2005
It’s that time of the year again when my college friends and I plan our annual reunion. It’s always a great time to be had to spend with the Lovelies each summer. It’s also the time I remember that working for a newspaper is a 365-day job whereas most people have things called “weekends” which occur on days like Saturday and Sunday.
At my old job, I would have to sacrifice overtime and two to three vacation days in order to get the weekend off to go. I’d return to work with disgruntle co-workers who don’t like to work the weekends and get ticked for working on two of them in a year, whereas I did this 50 weeks a year.
But now with my Pennsylvania job, I’m adjusting to having an extra vacation week, but my weeks have to be taken during certain months of the year. Plus, there are more employees to compete with for time. So I have to juggle which shift someone is taking time off and when it will happen, who will fill in for that person’s spot and how would the desk look like.
It’s almost as though I must put something into an equation and get a result. I also realize how much we take weekends and holidays for granted. I mean, no one doesn’t want to get their newspaper delivered just because it’s Independence Day or something in that fashion. Nevertheless it’s a bit more flexible now and less back-breaking here.
What’s funny this year is that I’m taking that week off to visit every family member with the 400 or so miles I will travel. I just hope that they will be home. They have to tendency to go on vacation and not tell anyone.
permalink | Comment [1] | occupational | 05/04/2008
Oh, politico
Yesterday, former President Bill Clinton delivered a speech in support of Hillary’s presidential campaign. It just so happened that it was across the street from my job. Imagine the chaos that awaited me.
Here’s my cartophobic entry from the event and my flickr set of outside the event. Too bad that I couldn’t attend the rally; I gotta make sure I can afford to live with the present economy.
permalink | Comment | out and about | 03/20/2008
Not so bad
There are my off days. My Page 1 design days. There are times when I don’t have much to work with and I have to be ultra-creative with what I can do in a certain amount of time. And there are days that I don’t fully understand the content.
That just happened earlier this week. I scavenged whatever I could grab on to and made something out it. At the end of the day, I was wiped out and didn’t what to see my design.
When I returned to work, I had a sinking feeling in my stomach, my head was hanging low and I wasn’t into anything. As it so happened, everyone liked the design. Really, really liked it. It was even on the 11 p.m. news. That made my week.
