A Week in Review

Hello all. I have not talked to you for a whole week! Maybe I’m mad at you. Are you wondering why? Well, in true female fashion I’m going to say that if you don’t know why then I’m not going to tell you. Let’s do A Week in Review.

Television
I watched the season finales of my favorite shows last night. I’m not much for cliffhangers. I simply do not have the patience for them. Three months is WAY too long to have to wait to know what happens to someone or something. I usually force myself to not care anymore so that I don’t have to deal with the anxiety. Luckily The Office and 30 Rock didn’t have nerve-racking cliffhangers, so I’m feeling fine today. Well, a little bit sad about not having anything new for a while, but fine. I’m hoping that Mad Men will be back soon. It’s a great show, and their season is off of the usual season, so that gives me something to watch during the summer months. That and So You Think You Can Dance. I know, it’s a cheesy competition reality show, but I love it. I really do.

Do you remember the cliffhangers on Friends? What a trial.

Regeneration
I started a new book called “Regeneration” by Pat Barker. It’s the first in a three part series set during World War I. I learned about the series from Entertainment Weekly’s best books list. So far it is very good. A bit sobering because the characters experience some awful war-related stuff. I’m only about 50 pages into it, but am already interested in the story. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Telephones
We got a brand new, entirely different phone system here at the COB this week, and it’s caused pandemonium. You know that adage about teaching old dogs new tricks, well these dogs are old. Actually, to be fair, they’ve picked it up much better than I was expecting. We have one guy who’s very…enthusiastic about things. He’s done a great job diving in and learning how to do conference calls and transfers and all of the other stuff that they need to do, and then he runs around the floor letting all of us know what he just figured out. But there’s been so much hollering all day, “How do I do this?” “Now what just happened here?” “Why when I hit this button does it…?” I feel like they’re asking me these questions (sometimes they are talking directly to me), and since I haven’t had the phones any longer than they have, I don’t know how they work any better than anyone else, which is frustrating because I don’t know what to tell them. Bah. By the end of the day Wednesday I was so sick of talking about phones I could hardly stand it. But with each day it gets a little better. Yesterday I typed up a cheat sheet with step-by-step instructions on how to work the basic functions, and that seemed to help. Of course, it also made everyone think that I’m the expert, and the one to go to with all of their questions, comments and concerns, and really I’m not that smart.

Just now, while writing this, one of the guys stopped by my desk to talk to me about some weird thing that happened with a conference call. I have no response to that, other than a blank look and, “I don’t know.” Very helpful.

Washington
I learned something from one of my new dvd documentaries. Well, I’ve learned lots of things, but will bore you with only one. George Washington’s horse was named Nelson. What a great name! I might use it someday, if I ever have a pet. Washington liked to look regal. When visiting a city, he would ride in a carriage to the edge of town, and then get on Nelson, in full uniform (Washington was in uniform, not the horse), and ride in like a true general. Interesting, huh?

Well, that’s it for this week. Other than the phone system, it’s been pretty uneventful.
Thanks, as always, for your constant greatness.
You are loved.