Taking one for the team

Let me start with “Happy Birthday Jennifer!!”  (you know who you are.)  Hope you had a fun filled day at work on your b-day, but most importantly, hope you got to enjoy a nice evening with the family.

I had 8 miles on my training schedule today, but after all of my socializing and eating (and drinking!), I really had no interest in getting up before the crack of dawn.  I woke up with a Capri Sun straw wrapper in my ear.  That’s how you know it was a good party!!  The culprit was actually my kids who watched a movie in my bed while the party was going on.  Since I have to move my long run back a day, I’ll just move today’s workout to tomorrow.  Easy peasy.

It was so nice to see all of my friends last night at bunco.  We are supposed to get together every month, with each of us sharing the hostess duty, but last year we only played bunco twice, and got together for drinks/chatting probably 8 other times.    A few months never came together and we didn’t see each other at all.  When we originally started bunco our kids were all babies/toddlers/preschoolers and it was a great way to get out and socialize.  It’s still a great social occasion but we now have tweens & teenagers and more and more activities that keep us busy.  Here’s to keeping on schedule this year and seeing my friends more often!

Speaking of that purple Boston jacket, I ordered mine last night!  Most people buy theirs at the race expo, but I had a coupon code for 20% off, and at $110 for the jacket, that is a serious savings.  I don’t think I even paid $110 for my ski jacket, and that’s usually my big coat expenditure!

I did get a cool new pair of shoes this week.  They are Newton Boco AT‘s.  These came highly recommended from my husband, who loves his pair.  I love my Newtons, but they are far too lightweight to run in the snow, and they slip like crazy on surfaces like snow and ice.  So that makes room for these beauties.  The soles are full of grippies and the material is much thicker to keep the snow out.  I can’t wait to try them out this weekend!

A question came up of what my job is…  My business cards say “Vice President of Technology”, but really that is a fancy title because I am the only IT person at my company!  Which also makes me in charge of anything with a plug on it.  Computers, fax machines, servers, modems, electric pencil sharpeners… you get the picture.  My primary role is as a programmer, which is what I went to college for.  I’ve had to take on the job as network administrator, and repair tech.  I write the software which runs our business – bank couriers.  Recently though my job has changed into an interesting arrangement.  I work 4 days a week, and 2 of those days are as a contractor at another company 5 mins down the road from my office.  My commute is nice.  I am spoiled to work only 10 minutes away from my house.  My schedule is a bit odd – Monday is a full day as a contractor, Tuesday is split between both jobs, Weds is a full day at my company, and Thursday is another split day.

Here I am this morning at my company.  On the left is my desktop computer, and to the right of me is a group of computers which are either test PCs, or PCs I am setting up, or computers I need to get rid of!  I have a lot of crap in my office!  Bummer part about my job at my company?  The courier drivers are all retired guys and I have to troubleshoot a lot of tech calls about a ink jet printer that is not working, and is located in some other state.  Most of them do not have internet access.  Have you ever tried walking your Dad through a printer set up over the phone?  Yep, it’s just like that some days.

Here I am after lunch as a contractor.  Looks vaguely familiar, no?  My job as a contractor came about because I wrote the software they use.  It’s a bank, and I used to work with my “bank boss” a long time ago at another bank.  So we go back a long way.  I have written MANY programs that the bank uses for it’s daily operations.  I was supposed to work at the help desk at the bank, but no one ever calls me so I pretty much just do programing.  I am totally fine with that!  It makes for a nice quiet work day.

Two slight bummers for working at the bank.  1)  I have to dress professional!  My company is a relaxed environment and I have gone back to wearing nylons and heels for 3 days a week due to the split days.  2) See that space behind me?  That’s where my coworker sits.  So yes, he looks at the back of my head all day, and he can see my computer monitors!  I don’t like that much.  But, I don’t think he can see my phone, so I do get a break now and then! 🙂

Random fact, I normally just wear a white layering t-shirt with my sweaters, but today I had this button up on (which I don’t like nearly as much as a t-shirt) and my husband said I looked nice!!  It’s a keeper, I’m wearing it for my fancy days!  Overall I enjoy my jobs.  They are very different environments, but the people are pretty cool that I work with.

Q:  What is your work environment like?  Do you travel for your job??

A: No travel for me!