My right knee is stiff. I don't know why.
Last week's head cold lingers--mostly in the form of a slight cough and an intermittently drippy nose.
I don't know why I thought you'd want to know that.
I don't think I'm going to do much work today.
I mean, I've been here for almost three hours already and I haven't done any yet which is, I think, a pretty clear sign.
Mostly because it's right before the end of the month--I've created all the turmoil I can think of in the 'Nut accounts and am now awaiting, with baited breath, the outcome of all the activity.
The two new Corral accounts I mentioned last time aren't online yet--probably because I've been insufficiently "proactive" about nagging the people to get started. I should contact them today. Management has sent a demand that I contact one of them and I generally acquiesce to that kind of thing.
Yes. I might.
I might not. The amount of enthusiasm I can muster for taking on two more underfunded accounts with crappy websites that don't allow any kind of success tracking for me to optimize against is pretty limited.
The last Corral account I took on--those people call me every week to say they're getting nothing for their spend. I make polite noises and promise to "adjust things" but their webpage sucks and I could drive all the traffic in the world and they would still get nothing--a thing I'm not allowed to say.
Two new freelance accounts, though. One's online (last week) although I still have a major data analysis project underway for them. That's going to be a sizable one when I get it lined up and running--so complicated I was able to bid double my normal fee.
The other signed up just a couple of days ago and I'm still waiting for the client to tell me what day and time are good for him for me to call--to lay out the scope and timeline of all the projects he wants Gidget and I to handle. (I stacked the deck for Gidget on this one--the initial set of projects will be a $1,400 invoice, of which $1,200 will be for her.)
She and I are supposed to have lunch tomorrow--I'm going to demand that she tell me exactly what projects she's working on (she seems to have a lot that I'm not aware of) so that I can stop worrying that she's about to go bankrupt.
(She had an Offspring Crisis last week that wiped out her savings account, I know that for a fact. $20k at one stroke.) (I'm so glad to be childless.)
I--lack enthusiasm today. All the things I need to do can't be done because Corral websites don't support those things. I've done everything else I can think of and now, as already mentioned, have only to await results.
I'm bored of hanging out in the forum, answering people's question and anyhow Webstrainer finally started offering some customer service for newbies and there are a lot fewer questions than there were three or four moths ago.
I'm just blah.
It could be the cold, taking more out of me than I know, but this really wasn't a bad attack, as these things go, so it seems unlikely.
Yesterday, Amazon held a press conference to announce the long-awaited release of their tablet, Fire. They also announced the release of the touchscreen Kindle.
I was tempted and I fell--I placed a pre-order for Fire. I may yet reconsider--I have until November 15--but I might not. Lacking, as I do, a "smart" phone, I am woefully behind the curve on "apps" and "mobile browsing" technology. As these things become ever-more important to my job, I'm getting uncomfortable with my ignorance. (It's practically a business expense!)
After some consideration (at least 30 seconds), I decided that a tablet was a better investment than a smartphone, proper activation of which would entail doubling or maybe tripling my monthly phone bill. I don't quite understand how the tablet gets online except that I know that if I use it at home, I can use it through my already existing wireless network, so no extra charge. (Presumably I'd have to pay for access elsewhere.) (I really need to figure this out before Nov 15.)
I might reconsider. All the things people want a tablet to do--play games, listen to music, read books, check email, stream movies, watch television shows--these are not things I'm interested in or not things I'm needing a table to do.
I mean--I'm not going to have a sudden, desperate need to watch a movie while I'm out to lunch one day, you know? I don't have spare time to spend on computer games. I rarely listen to music--really, almost never--and if I did, I'd choose a better experience than a built-in computer speaker. I don't roam around town aimlessly, so I don't need GPS or Mapquest at my fingertips. I spend so much time working that the few hours I'm out, away from my computer on the weekends, are more of a welcome break from email access than a deprivation.
I strongly suspect that my life isn't complicated enough to justify having any new tech gadgets to help me manage it.
Maybe I'll eat breakfast.
_________________________
P.S. I ramble on sometimes and I never use cut tags. Is anyone seeing this through RSS and needing me to make cuts?
I really do - and I feel badly that I never have anything interesting to blog any more.
I could blog about the trip to Webstrainer but since the material was all protected under Non-Disclosure Agreements, I'd have to kill you.
My refusal to compromise said NDA by repeating all the sekrit things I learned along with my attempts to explain to NewerBoss Peter how I can't manage all the online marketing initiatives* (most of which he still has not defined for me) including the corporate relationships with the outside SEM and SEO agencies because I'm already doing more than a full-time job--well, let's say I'm not that popular with him at the moment.
My already full-time office workload of 25 accounts has expanded to 27 with at least two more on the near horizon.
I told Louie Louie two weeks ago that I needed to stop taking on new accounts for the next 30 days, to let me stabilize what I already have on my plate. He's added two accounts to the mix since then.
Sheesh.
There is only one of me.
On that same theme, there are a few things distracting me from getting Real Work done. A two-hour 'training' session (conference call) I should be scheduling for tomorrow The requirement that I help set up and host a meeting for the local chapter of Women In Businesses I Don't Care About next week. Preparing for a four-hour training session for new 'Nuts next month. Two new office mandates - one for a monthly "webinar" to discuss vague "topics of interest" and a second to start supporting the intranet user-to-user forums.
I'm thinking it's about time I set an exit date for this job.
Until the Corral came along, I was reasonably successful at fending off time-wasting distractions and responsibilities that took me away from doing my core work. Oh, sure, there were occasional failures, like my inability to get the 'NutNews off my desk in a permanent way, but for the most part I sat at my desk and did my job. Results kept improving and most people were pretty satisfied.
I'm having trouble with this new bunch, though. Since they work out of an office in CA, I can't get to them in the same way, to lay down my point of view. Turning down work your boss is pushing at you is, in my opinion, something much easier done in person. (As is explaining the true scope of the projects already living on your desk.)
At the same time, Webstrainer's continuing insistence on rolling out new stuff every two weeks means that my actual work is getting more complex all the time--needing more time and thought.
Between my boss's noticeable avoidance of me at the Conference, his snippy reception of the notes I wrote up and sent (by request) detailing the feedback I'd gotten from the 'Nuts et. al. at the conference, and his demand that I "add value" to what I already do for the company (as complained about in paragraph three above), and I'm really thinking it's time I started working out an exit strategy for myself.
Anyhow. Sorry I haven't been blogging.
Posted by AnneZook at 01:33 PM | Comments (2)Dear Bunny:
I saw you.
I came out to stand there and enjoy a minute of warm weather and there you were, sitting six inches from the spot I was headed for. You loped a lazy step sideways, then stopped to watch me to see if I was going to give you a wide berth but I, tired of--to mix a petting zoo of metaphors--being buffaloed by brazen bunnies, kept on coming.
So, you scooted under the bush and sat there, smugly certain you were hidden from the Dangerously Tall Creature.
I could still see you. You got your head under the bush but your butt was still sticking out. If I'd have been a hawk, you'd have been a dead rabbit.
Just sayin'. You want to live to be an Old, Gray Bunny, you need to learn to tuck your butt under.
Dear Residual Readership:
I am still alive. Working a lot--first to get caught up before the stupid conference I got back to the office on Aug 30 and was instantly reburied under the avalanche of things that had accumulated while I was gone and the projects I heard myself insanely volunteering to take on during the trip.
Also, end of month reporting last week and NewerBoss Peter has me on a deadline now--I have until the end of the workday on the 2nd to get it all done. That's not normally going to be a problem but having been out the week before meant I didn't get the preliminary reports done, so it was a scramble last week. I was doing EOM reports with one hand and checking on accounts with the other.
Next week I'm out again, all week this time, so this week I'm playing catch-up-in-advance again. Already. (Schedule-wise, I'm losing 30 minutes today to get my hair done--it needs it--and two hours tomorrow morning for a mandatory "post-conference staff meeting" that needs my attendance as much as the pre-conference staff meetings did, which is to say, not.
Four new accounts in the last couple of weeks--three freelance for Louie Louie and two for the Corral. Added to that workload is Webstrainer, rolling out new data views that not only give me appalling insight into what's going on but that each require about 15 minutes more management time (per client, per week), meaning that I'd have been tearing my hair out, even if I weren't leaving town again.
Still. Visiting Webstrainer should be fun. (I hope it's fun, since I'm using every minute of my accumulated vacation time on the trip.) Educational and interesting, which is more than the Corral conference promised (or delivered).
From all reports, they're going to have netbooks available for us all, too. What that means is that I might be able to travel without hauling my computer along! Only those of you who travel can understand what a luxury that would be.
There was a bunch of advance info and prep stuff they wanted--none of which I got around to doing. I feel badly about that but I learned today that the 25 accounts I handle for the Corral are, in the estimate of a bunch of agency managers, the maximum they think any one person can manage with any degree of success--so if you add the half-dozen freelance accounts to those--well, I'm not just whiny, I'm busy.
I had so many things to blog--random adventures, boring thoughts, passing complaints, even occasional triumphs. Sigh.
Posted by AnneZook at 02:36 PM | Comments (2)