I’m glad that it is February because I’m really starting to
hate January. Yeah, maybe that sounds
weird to hate a month but what does it have to offer anyway? First of all, it’s freaking cold! 32 should be
my number of choices at the ice cream parlor, not the temperature outside. I don’t know why I used to like cold weather
when I was younger. Okay, scarves are
fun to wear, for about 15 minutes, and then they just get itchy and annoying
but you have to leave them on because it is still 32 freaking degrees
outside.
Also, you are probably looking at two or three months of
snow tease. Between December and
February, every time someone forecasts snow, people get all worried and start
wondering about closing the office, staying home, canceling school. At work, one person in particular always asks
“What’s our emergency plan for tomorrow?”
Well, the plan is to first see if it even snows! Then you can follow the same plan we’ve had
in place for the last five years. Here’s
my secret though- I really do want us to be closed. In the last few years, I think there were
only three instances of us closing the office for any length of time and two of
them were during Snowmaggedon a couple of years ago. I appreciate snow days just as much now as I
did when I was in school and I’m hoping we get three feet of snow. Nope.
Instead we just get a sprinkling of frost and all the heavy snow hits
Boston and New York and I still have to go in to work. Usually getting there late because I didn’t
think about the fact that the car windows would be iced over. Usually after my boss called me way before my
alarm clock went off so she could tell me today is a normal day. Always wishing that the stupid weather guy
had been right. Sigh. Just hurry up and get to April so at least it
will be warm when I trudge off to another day of work.
Another reason I dislike January- I don’t get stuff done. The end of December is wonderful! Everyone is on vacation so no new tasks come
in. No one asks you for anything so I
can catch up on all those things I wanted to do but set aside because they
weren’t a priority. When January rolls
around though, everyone thinks “It’s a new year! I better set the tone and get things off on
the right foot.” Then comes lots of
silly new ideas and procedures to implement.
Well, the job is the same as it was last month so why all the frenzy
just because the date changed? You were
gone in December and things didn’t fall apart then. Worst of all, everyone starts gearing up for
reviews.
This year in January, we had about two weeks to decide what
performance score to give our direct reports and decide how much of a raise
they should get from our 2.75 percent of payroll allotment. Once that finally was out of the way and I’d
finished haggling with my boss over who deserves what, I now have a leisurely
six weeks or so to actually write the reviews, to put in words that match the
scores, and then present them to people.
Here’s the biggest irony though- we’ve already decided what people will
get for their 2012 performance but we haven’t even gotten the official year end
reports. December data hadn’t been
finalized by the time the scores were due.
I don’t even know if I made my 2012 4th quarter bonus but my
boss has already decided on my review score.
As part of the big push at the beginning of the year, we’ve
been having several travel sales events.
Five Saturdays ago, I was at the Holiday Inn near my Alexandria office
for our Disney presentation. There was a
good crowd and we got some sales but that took up most of my day since I worked
at the office beforehand. A week later I
was at my Brandywine office for their Disney in-office event which had a few
people in attendance and a few sales. A
week after that I was back in Brandywine for the Royal Caribbean cruise line
presentation. Had a nice crowd of about 20 people, even though only 6 that had RSVP’d,
and had a few more sales. Monday night,
I was at a Thai restaurant in Alexandria along with three of my associates and
6 customers for a presentation on a trip to China. None of the attendees are likely to book the
trip though but at least we all got a nice meal out of it. They will probably book something else later
but not China, not the thing featured during this presentation.
Then last night I was in my Alexandria office for a
presentation by Celebrity Cruise line.
We had 12 people RSVP and 18 showed up.
Luckily I always buy extra refreshments so the staff has some leftovers
to enjoy the next day or two. Chips and
cookies and cheese and crackers make us happy.
An employee can walk into the office in a bad mood and once they see
doughnuts on the kitchen table, they have a complete turn-around. Last night wrapped up around 9:30 PM so when
I got home I watched TV for a bit to unwind and then went to sleep. Since I had today off, I woke up today around
1:00 PM. Yeah, eleven hours of sleep and
it felt fantastic. So between work and
events, things have been non-stop for the new year. At least there was cake though. For the Disney events, Disney provided a 4ft
by 2ft sheet cake for the guests and there were a lot of leftovers for the
employees. That’s the only thing we look
forward to in January- a big-ass cake!
Between normal work and the events, I don’t have enough time
to get things done. Do you know I have
yet to file my state taxes? No, I mean
my 2012 state taxes. I’m hoping I get a
refund because otherwise I’ll have to pay late fees. My 2012 federal tax got me a refund so I
should be okay but you never know. Maybe
the IRS is looking for me for tax evasion and I’m actually a felon right
now. Sometime in the next couple weeks I
need to do that though because now it is time for 2013 taxes. I also haven’t done my list of my favorite
movies, books and music from 2012. I
usually write a little blog post about what I liked from the previous year but
this year I think I may just have make a “Top 20” list and be done with
it. As for books, it is really
easy. I looked at my preliminary list
from last year and was horrified to realize that I had only read three
books. Three! I felt my brain shrink three sizes that
moment. No wonder I felt thick-headed. My brain hadn’t gotten any nourishment last
year. Of those three books, two of them
I read because they were written by a friend of mine. I don’t know if I mentioned this to you
before but I’ll say it anyways because I get a kick out of it every time. I’m a character in one of the books! Of course I had to read that book and find
out what happens to me, if I’m the killer or the victim or the hero of the
story. (Spoiler alert- I wasn’t the hero
but on the other two possibilities, hmmm….)
Still, three books is an all-time low.
It’s like that year I went to one concert. I rectified that the next year so this year I
need to make sure I take some time for myself and do some things I enjoy, like
reading.
Here’s another few reasons I now hate January. There are no official holidays for months. After Christmas and New Year’s I now have
wait until Memorial Day in May for an “office closed” holiday. Those are better than just taking a day off
because nothing can happen on an “office closed day” since no one is
working. Also, January is when all the
bad movies come out. Good stuff was
released in December for the holidays and to qualify for Academy Awards and
those things are still playing in theatres so crap comes out in January. Cheapo horror movies, action movies that
aren’t good enough for summer (but I was interested in seeing the new Stallone
and Swarzeneggar movies, even though they must be bad if they came out last
month), un-funny comedies like Movie 43 and A Haunted House . You know what I hate the most about January
though? It takes too many letters to
spell! May, June, April. Those are much better months for lots of
reasons, especially because they are easier to type. Four or five letters, bam, done. What’s with all the vowels in January? I’m gonna start calling it Janry.
So what does all that have to do with your latest letter to
me? Absolutely nothing except to let you
know what I’ve been up to. I’ve always
liked talking to you because you are willing to listen, even if it bores you to
tears. I felt like going off on that
tangent rant and now I can refocus on you.
Hi! Happy V-Day! Just in case there aren’t enough people
telling you this today, you should know that you are a beautiful woman with a
keen intellect, great sense of humor and engaging personality. I think everyone
should be appreciated on Valentine’s Day so I’m doing my part to make that
happen amongst my unmarried friends. The holiday shouldn't be just for those
cloyingly love-besotted couples. (If you
happen to be part of a cloyingly love-besotted couple, then what I really meant
was "You two are so cute together! Have a great VDay!") On the plus
side, tomorrow means 50% off giant cardboard hearts filled with chocolate
covered caramels (yeah!) and truffles (boo!)
(I’m now skipping/removing several parts that aren’t meant
for general sharing and I’ll resume with…)
That’s cool about the bike riding thing. I remember when my grandfather taught me to
ride. I just adored him for that and it
also made me feel like a grown-up. I can
ride a bike, on my own! I had a little
of that same connection down in Florida with my nephew. It was fun spending some time together. I would keep an eye on him while my sister
and brother-in-law went on rides he wouldn’t have liked. Conversely, I was slightly hurt when he got a
new toy for Christmas because when I tried to play with him while he was
playing with the car-carrier truck, he said “Not right now, Uncle Richard,” and
ignored me. He liked his truck better
than me! Kids can fill you with joy or
crush you without even trying. At least
when we were leaving, he asked me when I was coming back and I don’t think he
asked that of anyone else.
I know what you are saying about too many abbreviations
being used to replace actual words. That,
along with poor spelling and the complete indifference about it, makes me
wonder about people. If I was a printer
and spelled things wrong words on a wedding invitation or stated that guests are
to “B Thare @ 8”, would those same people pitch a fit or would they not even notice? Either one of those outcomes would be
troubling. Most abbreviations I don’t do
but I will admit to liking “WTF” because I can say what I’m thinking about
something without actually cursing. You
just have to face it- LOL now means laughing out loud. If you mean to say Lots Of Love then you’ll actually
have to say the words Lots Of Love if you want people to know that’s what you
are saying. For instance, any husband
that says “LOL” to his wife today is going to get in trouble. She’ll wonder why he is laughing at her on
Valentine’s Day.
Well, I better go look for dinner now and see if I have any
other friends to compliment on Valentine’s Day.
Thank goodness it is February now instead of Janry. Yeah, February is even tougher to spell and
it contains Valentine’s Day, a day of sadness for the unattached, but it also
has Lincoln’s Birthday and Groundhog’s Day and it is warmer and it only has 28
days except for every four years when it magically becomes 29 days (Why aren’t
all months either 30 or 31 days? Who did
February piss off?). So hope you have a
great evening and weekend. Talk to you
soon!
