Can someone straighten me out?

I'm not super into politics and know very little about the U.N. and international affairs, but all this talk about the U.N. calling for a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah isn't connecting for me. So the U.N. says, "Cease-fire, guys!" and Israel says, "O.K." but...Hezbollah is a terrorist organization who couldn't give two cents about what the U.N. wants, so they'll just keep on attacking whoever they want. How does that solve anything? Maybe someone more knowledgeable on foreign affairs can shed some light on this for me. Seriously, I really wanna know.

Hope no one kicks my butt for agreeing with this...

What a day.

It's been one of those days around the office. Actually, it's been one of those weeks. I haven't taken a real lunch break yet and haven't left the office on time, other than yesterday. Right now I'm jsut sitting at my desk, listening to piano music and trying to unwind with a nice blog entry.

See, the thing is, I keep getting all the projects that no one else can seem to get ahold of. Sometimes it's because they don't have the right tools (i.e. the postcard one of our support staff members was trying to design on Microsoft Word. I whipped out the InDesign on that biatch and sent her to press yesterday, after two straight days of sweet-talking my Mac.) and sometimes it's because they're just too busy to get it done themselves.

The latter was my problem today. The boss and his next-in-charge are both out of town and put me in charge of following up with PR regarding our immediate publication needs. I thought the words "Prepare the final text" were self-explanatory, but the boss just cobbled together some notes and general preferences ("More bullets, not so much straight text.") and sent me over to the wolves. Guess who ended up editing and revamping 20 pages of text for our most major publication? This girl. Right here. In one day. AND I sent my VP home with all of it, practically begging for her approval by the end of tomorrow. I never thought Admissions would be this much work. I'm not complaining, really, just wishing I didn't have to keep picking up a ball that's been dropped. Throw it to me, that's fine, but don't drop it and walk away.

The flattering news: my wonderful VP (and I really do like her a ton) started talking to me about MBA progams today and admitted to "unabashedly trying to convince me to stay around." It feels good when someone at such a high level sees potential in you.

Real quick...

I have had zero time to post, and since I'm supposedly on a lunch break (ha!) I'll dash together a quick update. Since last time:

-Going to the Silver Lake Sand Dunes (aka my redneck weekend) was awesome. It was super hot, so we didn't really drive around the dunes much. Sitting on the beach, though, gave me one heck of a sunburn!

-FESTIVUS! Mitch got rugburn on his forehead from the Feats of Strength and most everyone agreed, in the Airing of Grievances, that his farts really stink.

-Work is kicking my butt every day. I have a ton of projects and more are added daily. The boss is out of town for a week so (this is horrible) more should get done since I don't have to wait for his approval on most everything. He's really a great boss, but he's so busy that he has a hard time getting everything done in a timely manner.

-Bruce is coming home! We're planning a belated birthdya aprty for him next weekend up here, so if anyone is reading this who a forgot to email, just ask me about it. Sorry Tim, Anna, Grant, Robin, and all other out-of-staters - I didn't write you because I didn't hear of any upcoming visits to Michigan in your plans. :)

OK, I'm cracking the whip on my own back and returning to work. I may complain, but I honestly like these busier days. It makes me feel like I'm in college again.

Mac Mac Mac

I just like typing on the Mac I get to use every once in awhile at work. I also like being the only one in my office that can do fun things like convert documents to PDF files, scour the network for photos, manipulate said photos and play with Adobe products.

There's no point to this entry - just the chance for me to caress the keyboard of this lovely machine!

Is this week over yet?

After the holiday last week, this week just won't end! Here are the high-(and low)-lights so far:

Dinner with Minda and Derek - Note to self: if shrimp has the shell on, it must be deveined before cooking. If not, you'll throw away the whole meal and go to The Cabin for pizza and Long Islands. Then you'll get tipsy with your family and tell funny stories all night long. Waking up the morning will be difficult.

Office Drama - Our new associate director quit after three weeks on the job. He had some family issues (who tries to commute from Detroit to Alma, really?) and, in my opinion, was disappointed to discover he wasn't the "magic man" who would come in and whip us into shape without encountering any resistance. We're back in a crappy situation because we (again) don't have a full staff going into fall planning, but the tension that's been plaguing us for the past few weeks has lessened substantially.

Volleyball - True Scots won against one team but lost to the other. Don't know what happened in the second game, but we haven't been playing much and probably just didn't have the stamina to keep up a high level of play.

PIRATES! - Tonight Mitch and I are going to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean with Kristy, Ray and probably Gabe. Good times will be had by all.

Redneck Weekend - It's time for the first of two Redneck Weekends at the Silver Lake Sand Dunes! We'll be tooling around the dunes in Dave's Blazer, watching people and their crazy machines, and hopefully swimming a bit since it's going to be hottttttt this weekend.

Remembering

"It is terrible how much has been forgotten, which is why, I suppose, remembering seems a holy thing."
-Anita Diamant, The Red Tent

Work on a Saturday?!?!

Yup, I'm at work. Just for another hour, which I plan to kill online and with a good book.

I just gave a presentation to a group of students. Great kids, great questions...honestly, I don't mind being here if I get to work with a good group. One question, though I knew it was coming, always throws me for a loop:

From the group's advisor (a white woman): "What kind of support services do you have for multicultural students?"

Part of me always wants to answer by telling her these kids are just like every other kid who leaves home for the first time and finds him or herself in a new place, meeting new people and encountering new challenges. Does a different skin tone really make leaving home any harder? So we don't discriminate by offering support systems to specific groups, but rather to our campus community as a whole.

Oh, and an African-American themed dorm, lady? Isn't segregation wrong, and wouldn't that completely conflict with the whole idea of a campus community?

At what point are you lending someone a helping hand, and at what point are you convincing them they can't overcome hurdles without your help?

Argh.

We lost at volleyball last night. It's so frustrating. Tim, when we come visit you, I hope we can get a game together...

Bruce wrote a great post on the concept of home, and that's something that's always in the back of my mind. Where is home, for me? Is it South Lyon, the place I grew up and still label "home" in conversations? It was Alma, for a wonderful period of time, but it sure wasn't Cadillac. (The first time I referred to returning to Alma as going home, I thought my mom was going to cry.) Is it Mt. Pleasant, where Mitch and I have friends and are putting down some roots, all the while knowing we will probably leave in a year?

For me, I guess I've come to the conlcusion that, like Bruce says, home is the people holding you up. I can have more than one physical home; being surrounded by friends and family, no matter where my feet are planted, feels like home.

Independence Day!

I feel like this holiday has stretched out a very long time, because we celebrated in two parts:

Part I: A weekend in Bayview with Grandpa, Uncle Jack (Grandpa's brother), my parents and (for a little bit) Aunt Linda. We biked along Little Traverse Bay, canoed down the Sturgeon River, enjoyed some tasty margaritas at Red Mesa, and just had a good time in general.

Part II: 24 hours in South Lyon. We both had to work on Monday, so after we got done we hopped in the car and sped down to SL to hang out with Bobby and complete Mitch's Fourth of July checklist:

-Mountain biking
-Drinking beer on the pontoon boat (and watching fireworks around the lake)
-Finding a new watch
-Going for a motorcycle ride
-Swimming

All accomplished!

A quick word about the mountain biking: I found out that a group of women rides together at 6:30 pm every Monday at Island Lake, so I went out with them this time. The first loop (6 miles) was fast because I led most of the way and let one of the women chase me. Then I fell. Oops. The second loop was bascially a chance for me to talk for nine miles, because I wasn't leading and we were going so slow. One of the ladies is a distance biker and will do 30 miles on a trail and not blink an eye, so she just kind of plods along. The other one doesn't have much experience (I don't think) and the third, the fast one who chased me, left after the first loop. Bottom line: it was a good experience but I think I like riding with the guys better because they push me harder.

Now I'm back at work, and while it feels like Monday, I'm so excited that it's Wednesday already! Woo-hoo!