Bringin' Back the Band-Aid Style

Some of you may remember a time when I wore band-aids for fun.

Some of you might think that with five band-aids (actually four currently) on my hand, that I might be trying to bring back the old trend.

But I'm not.

On my way to a final on Friday morning, the concrete rose up and thrust me down snapping and biting at my hand and knee. It was a brutal victory, but I left only mildly bloody. The poor concrete is still broken. I think we can all tell who won that battle. . . That'll teach the sidewalk to go after me!

But seriously, my hand was really bloody. I walked to my final holding my own right hand as if I were offering it as a sacrifice.

I was very proud of myself for not fainting. Usually, I can't handle my own blood. But I think I was more concerned about my (written) final.

Which I did well on, I think. . . without bleeding on it.

* * *
I started this post a couple days ago, but got very busy.
My hand is healing, but is still a little sore.

I'm off to my hardest and last final, which I do not expect to do very well on. . . Then home for a nap (which I will do VERY well on!).

Wish me creativity!

Waiting for inspiration to strike. . .

I wonder if the chances of getting hit with inspiration are as astronomical as the chances of getting hit by lightning.

Or if at this point, I have a better chance of getting struck by lightning?

I'm working on my LAST term paper for the semester, after which I'll have only three midterms until I'll be DONE!

Wish me lots of extra luck!

I really get what Dilbert must have been feeling. . .

So, let me tell you all a little about what it is that I do at work. . .

I really have a good time, and am SUPER excited to stay there over the summer.

So, my boss, Brad, is a Business Operations Director, and he is in charge of LOTS of things. I don't even know what all that he does. I do know that he is a key player in lots of business decisions, and has been with the company for at least 11 years.

So, there is a website which Novell has created to keep track of resources. And if things aren't in that system correctly, it reflects badly on Brad.

This is where I come in. I have been cleaning up this system and putting new information in. In order to do this, though, I have to contact a TON of people, all over the world. For example, the website, called Clarity, tracks what projects people are allocated to. And it also tracks how much allocation an employee is assigned. They are supposed to be allocated between 90-100% to various projects. Every month, there is a big meeting where this stuff (and a lot of other stuff) has really high visibility.

So I go in and clean it up. But I can't make any changes that I don't know about. For example, if an employee is at 180% allocation, this is a problem. Obviously their max capacity of working on different things is 100%, and lots of managers don't quite understand how this works, so I've been emailing and calling, trying to get a hold of various people to tell me how to adjust the employee's allocation if the manager won't go and do it.

But, these managers are BUSY. They are more concerned about shipping products or lots of other things. So although I've contacted probably 30 or so managers, I've heard back from about 10 0f them? Not many.

So when Brad came in to my office to show me this comic, I immediately understood the corporate humor. It hit SO close to home. We both printed out copies for our offices. Take a look:



SO TRUE!!

I found out the BEST news today!!

So, guess what?!

My Aunt Mar is coming to my wedding! I am SO excited. In the beginning, it just didn't look like it would work out for her to come, and somehow, it has worked out that she can! Oh! I am SO glad!!

AND

Surprise of surprises... my GREAT-Grandmother is coming, too!! Isn't that the coolest thing that you have ever heard?! I never in a million years thought she could come. BUT SHE IS!!

Both of these women have been such strong influences in my life. Aunt Mar has been someone that I have always looked up to and wanted to be like. She is always so happy and cheerful. She can find the good in ANY situation. No matter how many lemons life has handed her, Aunt Mar has always been able to make the sweetest lemonade.

And my Great-Grandmother--! I am so amazed by her. She is (I think) 93 years old and as lively as ever. She is bright, and clear, and TOUGH! When she sets her mind to something, she goes for it! All the way.

My uncle Newel is coming, too! When I saw him/met him a couple months ago, he told me that if I sent him an invitation, he'd come. And he is!

I am so blessed!

I love this picture.....

on the side of my blog!





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I have a summer job!!!

At NOVELL! They are going to keep me! This was probably the best news I have heard in a while. I am haveing so much fun at Novell; I would hate to leave.

Finals and homework are stressing me out to the limit. I am so grateful that I am not doing any wedding planning (Thanks, Mom, Jill, Erin, and Jay!), or else I would die. Yes, die.
Or all of my hair would turn gray prematurely.

I have no idea how my finals and papers are all going to turn out. I keep reminding myself that I just need to actually make it to finals, then my life will be easy. My actual final tests should be pretty stress-free. But for the next week or two. . .

All I can say is that I know I can do it:
1. Because Tyler gave me a blessing earlier in the semester and the Lord told me I could.
2. Because I have to do it.
3. Because I want to do it. (The stress part comes from wanting to do everything perfectly, but not even having enough time to do everything well. )

Wish me luck!

Sick on a Friday

You know that you aren't having the best morning when you wake up with the desire to . . . let go of all your stomach contents (which may or may not exist). For some of us around here, that's what this morning was like.
Unfortunately, I had an early work meeting, so I couldn't go back to sleep.

But by the time Tyler came to pick me up, my body had already decided to project all of my woes into the toilet, via my mouth.

Now, on Fridays, I use the car so that Tyler and I can both get to work. I drop him off at the MTC, then after work, I drop his car off at his house, then walk to campus from there.

So, after dropping Tyler off, I drove to Novell. I kept wondering what the best way to throw up while driving would be. I wondered if I'd have time to pull over, or where I could pull over, or if I could tough it out. . .

I made it to work, but as I stepped out of the car, I knew there was going to be a problem.

I tried to hurry inside, but Novell has some security measures that I was afraid would be a problem.

Get to work before 7:30, and you have to scan your badge at the (very slowly) revolving door, then scan your badge at the front desk. Then you wait for the security system to process and let you through.

This really only adds about thrity to forty-five seconds to the journey inside. But today, it was enough.

As soon as I made it through, I bolted to the bathroom. . . where I almost made it.
I brought my hand up to my mouth so as not to make a mess, and shared a little stomach acid with my sleeve.

Then, I cleaned myself up and went to my meeting.

I made it in time to the meeting, and was able to take notes, but not very well. I was shaking and trying to act like nothing was wrong.

But I failed. Brad, my boss, noticed something was wrong.

I tried for about a half hour more after the meeting to tough it out, but after I had to -- literally run to the bathroom again-- I decided I should try not to be so tough.

(This was the worst part-- I got to the bathroom, and someone was in there! I just couldn't let myself play the throwing up game while someone else was there. So I stood in my stall, and waited. I took slow, deep breaths. Bent down, held on to the railings (I had run into one of the handicapped stalls) and hoped the other lady would hurry. After she finally left, I relaxed, and let my body do its thing. I felt better, so I headed back to my office to get some work done.)

But, when that familiar feeling returned, I knew it was time to leave. So, I IMed my boss, and asked him if I could leave early after all.

As soon as I got home, I threw on some PJ's (admit it, you were worried for a sec) and went to bed. I proceeded to sleep for a couple of hours.

Then, Tyler brought me some chicken noodle soup and orange juice.
Both were so good.I was really pleased when everything stayed down.
Tyler has been taking such good care of me-- I don't even know what I would be doing without him. Probably dying in bed. But I am very blessed to have him looking out for me. (Thanks, sweet.)

Then, after Tyler left, I slept for about four more hours.

Since then, I've been resting, and feeling a little better.

Hopefully I'll be better by tomorrow. I have two papers that I need to write before Sunday.

Anyway, things are looking up. I mean, it's not even snowing right now! So, things are bound to get better.

I also hope that your Friday was better than mine.