I really, really enjoyed my 3.5 days off with AB and Leif. We really made every effort this past weekend to do something fun with Leif everyday. I want him to think back and (like me) remember his summer childhood experiences fondly. Ok, so he isn’t quite to that point of remembering his experiences yet I suppose. But how can you argue with grins and giggles?
So the next day off is Labor Day? How unfair is that? I think I am going to make the suggestion to AB that we head to the coast before mid-August for a long weekend. We plan to go either for Labor Day or the first weekend in October for Oysterfest. I would like to get one other trip in there at some point.
Work is fine. I ran into my old post-doc mentor this afternoon. Wow is he getting grey, in a very short time frame. We chatted politely about my trip to Reno last week. (He also went to grad school in Reno.) Then we parted ways, quickly.
I am having admin issues… not really “Issues” per se, just trying to figure out how to deal professionally and personally with one of the admin. That sentence sounds bad, but it really isn’t. My problem is that I adore Amy, she is about my age with a 2 and 5 year old. She wears cute clothes, likes to shop and I could so see us becoming good friends and enjoying hanging out. Her husband is a scientist hired into one of the groups here and she was a “trailing spouse” hired on as admin this past year. (double standards… but I won’t dwell…)
Anyways, my problem is that I like her, so I am finding it hard to push her on things that need to get done. Like 2 big boxes that were supposed to go out FedEx last Friday. She procrastinated them until this afternoon (missing today’s FedEx cutoff time). I bugged her a little about them, e-mail on Friday offering to help her get them to the warehouse… A phone call on Monday reminding her… nope. They went out today. I just have a horrible time getting “rude” with her.
And by “rude” I have to remind myself we are talking about “NM’s rude level”. I think I am being horribly mean, and typically speaking the other person sees a quivering young woman ending her sentences in “if you don’t mind of course”. Spine? Mine is missing… call if you see it.
I want Amy as a friend and part of me (the insecure 75% of me) says that if I start breaking her balls (figuratively of course) and requesting that she meet my level of perfectionism in the work that she does for me, that she won’t want to be my friend. I mean who would?
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I worked with my friend C this afternoon in the lab. It was fun, it has been ages since I have worked in a lab it seems. We chatted about a variety of topics including books.
Books… We have amazingly never talked about books before, except when she declined my invitation to join our book club and I just made the assumption that she doesn’t read for pleasure. So it came as a surprise to me today when she talked about reading the 5th Harry Potter book and then chastised me when I admitted that I have not read HP. I know, sacrilege and yes, I do consider myself well read. I asked her what other types of books she reads and was surprised to find her a romance novel aficionado. Here is one of the brightest young nuclear engineers I know… and she likes romance novels? ;-)
Yes, I have a stigma… I admit it. How am I ever going to take her seriously again?? Ok, I am just kidding. I admitted to her that I have never, to my knowledge, read a romance novel. She gives me the name of her favorite that I *have* to check out. She would even loan it to me. I pulled it up on Amazon and couldn’t even finish reading the description without giggles and “give me a break” sneaking out of my lips. Oh my!
I know… to each her own. This will in no way affect the way I see C in our professional lives… no way at all… ok, maybe just a teensy bit, but it will all be giggling. Side story here… my mom and I always share books and make recommendations to each other. My grandmother, apparently feeling left out, brought a book to loan my mom to read. My mom was skeptical to start, but started in on the book. The next day she called me saying “Grandma reads ROMANCE novels!” We giggled and giggled about it.
Another class of books I don’t care to read? Murders. I am having a real Issue with the August book of the month, In Cold Blood by Capote. My Issue? I haven’t started it and don’t think I can. I want to go to book club this month, we have a rule that everyone should come even if they didn’t finish the book. But what if you can’t even start it? Frankly, if it were my choice I wouldn’t be thrilled if someone didn't even try the book, just assumed they wouldn't like it. Ahh, what to do. I am nearly halfway through Ada Blackjack and I can put My Antonia on the backburner and at least pick up In Cold Blood. Or I can just ignore its existence all together. Such decisions.
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