Tagged: thedayjob

23
May
2008

WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND

My plan, when I first moved to Sweden with my new husband, was to study Swedish for six months and then start looking for a job. Best-laid plans, and all that, and my discovery, 2 months after our arrival, that I was pregnant threw them right out the window. I studied Swedish anyway, but only for 4 months, taking an expensive class first at the Folkuniversitet and then, when I moved up to the front of the line, a second class at the free, government-sponsored Swedish for Immigrants. This second class sucked in comparison, but we couldn’t afford to turn...

24
Mar
2008

TAKING WHAT THEY GIVING

My brother and I are talking on the phone last week. It’s evening but I am working, as I have been doing every evening when I don’t have plans or previous commitments, for what seems like, and is, in fact, months. I’m grumpy with it and also with PMS and the fact that in the war against the inanimate, I am losing daily skirmishes—the windshield wipers on the car have, for instance, achieved strategic victories not once, but twice in the past several days. I can’t remember now what day it was that we talked, as every day has blurred...

09
Jan
2008

DOWN AND UP

I hate saying goodbye to my mom. No matter how long the visit is, it’s never long enough. *** We don’t have any more snow but it sure is cold here. It’s extra cold in my office and I’ve had to ask building maintenance to please come and take a look at the ventilation system, since despite the fact that I’ve turned the heat up as high as it will go, there are still arctic blasts of chill in the room. It feels as though my hands are feet are permanently frozen—from the inside-out. It gets worse all day as...

11
Sep
2007

DARE TO WIN

A long afternoon sitting in a too-small conference room with the entire new marketing organization, going through slide after slide of who we are and how we work together in the new flow chart of people and placement. After each section of the presentations, the 50+ people there took turns giving a 1-minute recitation on what their goals/methods/attitudes were doing to contribute to the overall growth of the company. Thinking outside the box Asking for forgiveness rather than permission Behaving professionally Seeking a good balance Finding solutions in various areas Working as a team Being better at what we do...

15
Mar
2007

LIKE A WHIRLPOOL IT NEVER ENDS

Whirly wheels of mind mechanics, my brain is spinning, it seems. This whole week has been crazy busy, punctuated by a one-two-three punch of anger/disappointment/resignation. I’ve worked late 2 days, tonight until 7 p.m.. With only 2 weeks left before I leave I’m feeling the pace start to increase and threaten to overwhelm. Today at work, I: finalized a 24-page product guide re-sized an ad layout re-sized and edited photos found things, sent things, uploaded things, transferred things, archived things, proofread things, showed people how to do things delegated 3 HTMLs, 4 datasheet layouts and a content extraction brainstormed about...

21
Feb
2007

THOSE WHO KNOW NOTHING OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES KNOW NOTHING OF THEIR OWN*

Translating isn’t that hard when you’re working with familiar or simple texts. I do it all the time at work (not to mention in my brain) and I do it on the fly at bedtime whenever one of the children brings me a Swedish book for a bedtime story. However, even when “fluent” in a second language and well-versed in word choice and use, turns of phrase and styling, translation work sounds a lot easier than it is. I handle a lot of translations during the course of my work every week. I don’t do them myself; we have an...

23
Jan
2007

HEY LADY, YOUR GRUMPBUCKET IS FULL

You know, it would be a lot more fun having the week off from my family if I had the week off from work as well. Working 10-hour days all week wasn’t really what I had in mind. *sigh* State of the Lizardek Updates (for those who care): Returned test results confirm birch allergy. Hyper-chronic year-round allergic reactions possibly a result of similar substances found in certain foods. List of such foods included from doctor, none of which I eat. Work 10 hours yesterday in front of a computer with no problem. Come home and start to work on PC...

17
Jan
2007

SENSES WORKING OVERTIME

1. Nasty aftertaste following every meal 2. Blurry eye syndrome 3. Disturbingly frequent need to blow nose 4. Slight, but encroaching, deafness in one ear 5. Unsettling inability to come up with, among other things, sought-after words, titles, names Every day is a dark dive through the winter hours. Seemingly ceaseless rain speckles the window. At work I bubble like a watched pot; people lining up outside the glass front of my office, pacing ’til their turn. One needs an article proofread, another an HTML created, the phone rings and it’s the creation of emergency animated web banners on the...

02
Nov
2006

WEATHERBEATEN

This work week is wringing me out like a washcloth, twisting just tight enough to make my shoulders cram up against the small bones where spine meets skull. It’s been a week of breathless galloping through projects, and then galloping back and forth over my tracks, reined in by the wishes of others. Still, I’m satisfied. I’m getting things done, although I’ve had to say no twice to people, something I hate having to do. No, I’m sorry, I can’t take your project although I know there isn’t anyone else that you can ask, there isn’t anyone else who can...

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