1. Work has been BANANAS. I'm back to a very full calendar. Here's a screen shot of my calendar this week. Red meetings are client meetings, so I have fewer of those than last spring when I could have 25+ client meetings in a week. But it's still a lot on top of other meetings plus I am trying to train my new hire at the same time. He's quickly seeing how busy I am and how desperate I have been for help! Some days I had to eat lunch at 10:15-10:30 because it was the only time I could squeeze it in before calls. Nearly all meetings are with camera on so I can't eat lunch during the meeting. I did discretely snack on some grapes during an afternoon call with colleagues as I really needed a snack. But eating grapes is a bit different than eating a salad!
2. Speaking of my new hire, he is AWESOME. He's super energetic, engaged and excited. I feel very very good about my hiring decision and hope and pray that he is as happy here as I have been and doesn't go anywhere! He's based in another city but was here Mon-Thur of this week and will be back the last week of the month. And then I will see him in late October and he'll probably come back in November. He's is happy to travel here if need be. Training someone in person versus over zoom is SO MUCH BETTER.
3. I'm traveling next week for the first time since the 3rd week of July! I'll be in New Jersey Tuesday through Thursday of next week. The sales person I was going to travel with had something come up at the last minute so I'll be traveling with someone different on Tues/Thur and will do the Wednesday meetings on my own, but it should be fine. I don't have a crazy number of meetings and it looks like the meetings are fairly close together geographically. My company is coming down hard on the in-office requirement. The target has been 3 days/week for the past year but I didn't have to "make up” days if I had to stay home for a doctor's appointment. But if I'm in 2 days in a week, I need to come in for 4 to make up for that shorter week. I'll be curious how my travel gets factored in, though; it sounds like the company can use my corporate credit card usage to figure out when I am traveling and bake that into my average. My boss has told me I'm marked as a traveler so my average is kind of irrelevant and supposedly isn't included when the company calculates the overall average for the firm. I just don't want them to change the in-office requirement to 4 or 5 days. I selfishly really need those 2 days at home to get workouts in! And I am probably even more productive at home than in the office so everybody wins!
4. Speaking of workouts, they've been pretty atrocious lately. I've been so busy with work and back-to-school so am just barely getting in 2-3 workouts each week. I'm reminding myself that this is a stage of life and eventually I'll get back to more consistent workouts.
5. Shifting to something fun, we have a great weekend on deck and I am hopeful the kids are adjusting to their new schools and are a bit less volatile?? Phil is golfing with my retired colleague and his wife tomorrow morning at a charity event and then the boys and I will meet them at the couple's house for lunch so they can see the boys. On Sunday morning I am going to yoga at a brewery with my friend and her husband where I imagine they will enjoy a post-yoga pint (I won’t because beer has gluten and I found it disgusting even before I found out about my gluten intolerance!!) Sunday afternoon, we are going to a birthday party for the daughter of one of Phil's college friends. The weekend weather forecast look awesome - lows in the 50s overnight, highs in the low 70s during the day. This is my kind of fall weather!!
Bonus Taco update/pics!
Taco is adjusting better to the new daycare. He doesn't cry at drop off anymore which is HUGE! He cried all summer at his old daycare once Paul moved to the public school program. I didn't think too much of it as change is hard but it's a good sign that he shifted to not crying in a matter of weeks at the new place! This daycare just opened in May and enrollment is slowly growing so it’s way quieter than our last place and he has fewer teachers to get to know. So overall it’s been a great change. He's still stoic when getting his picture taken, though.
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| He's very serious about going to the park. |
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| He figured out the scooter on day 2. He might be our athlete. He pushes the scooter with his left foot - maybe he will be left handed? |
How was your week?
14 comments:
It's so great things are going so well with your new hire! Fingers crossed he stays on for the long haul. I do hope your meeting schedule settles down though! Yikes. That looks rough.... And it's interesting about your work cracking down on the WFH policy. Do you think some people were sort of abusing it or something, or fudging their number of office days too often or something?
Your weekend sounds fun and busy, but the weather should be perfect it sounds like! Yesterday I was at a work event down on campus and it was just SUCH a beautiful day. It was fun to see all the students milling about, studying at the terrace, etc. Such a great time of year for them all with the exciting fresh start, pretty campus and all the newness. Made me long a little to go back and re-do those days!!
Keep in mind that 2-3 days a week IS a very consistent workout schedule for some people! You're doing great.
Hearing about your work is fascinating because it's so different from what I do. All the traveling, WFH options, your new hire is based in a different city... it's a different world.
I'm VERY envious of your weekend weather! The brewery yoga sounds fun- I do like beer, but maybe not on a Sunday morning. I hope it all turns out to be fun.
Your weekend sounds fun. Your travel time should count for office time as you are working or going someplace (flying) because of work. Otherwise, why go to New Jersey? It's worth a good argument if that doesn't pop up!
Your weekend sounds great. Have a good time! And so glad the new hire is a hit!
See, I feel better because I only have 61 meetings this week. it's gone up as high as 75 before. this company is very meeting-heavy!
that looks like a busy week! I don't think I can handle more than 3 meeting these days.
hope your trip goes well and congrats for getting a new help that you like.
Such a relief to know that Taco is adjusting well to the new daycare. at this age, it's tricky and it's not always guaranteed that he'll like it.
Oh goodness, all of those meetings! When do you find time to get your work done? It sounds like your new hire is a great fit, congratulations!
I heard the other day about companies wanting people to come back to the office. On thing they said was that in the early days of lockdown, it was current employees who knew how to do their jobs. Now it's new people as well, and as you said, the training isn't as good, etc. I hope you are able to keep working from home at least some of the time.
Amazing that your direct report is wonderful. I've never hired anyone but heard that hiring and firing can be be very challenging.
Will be waving from New Jersey to you this week, hope the week is smooth! Sounds like the weekend is also wonderful: can't wait to hear about the brewery yoga :)
PS. Taco is so cute!
Yay for Taco!
There's nothing wrong with 2-3 workouts a week, especially in your busy life!
I was wondering how your new hire was, and I am so glad to see this update!
The photo of him glaring down from the top of the slide! Precious! He'll be a model someday.
My work is also pushing days in the office. Even as much as employees who have bee work from home for 10 or more years have to be in The office two days a week to create a level playing field across departments. One of my normal office days is Monday, but with Labor Day a couple of weeks ago, had to change to make sure I had all my days in. It’s a little crazy, but then you also think that 3 years ago we were there 5 days a week.
Man, I am so glad that my company decided to go fully remote early into the pandemic. I was so nervous about giving up my full-time work-from-home gig! It might be nice to go in once or twice a week, just for a change of scenery and to be around people, but barely anyone goes into our coworking office and I feel like I get NOTHING done when I'm there!
You and Bri should compare calendars. She once showed me her weekly calendar and I was like, "I cannot FATHOM." I have 3 meetings today and I'm grumpy about it. HA. You probably wouldn't know what to do with yourself with just three meetings! I wish you could block off an hour (or even a half-hour!) for lunch, though. Having to shovel in food in a 15-minute block is ROUGH.
I am so THRILLED for you that the new hire is working out so well! That is awesome and a game changer!!! Oh my word your calendar!!!!! YIKES!!! We are currently waiting to see how things go for MH and his job, his company is in the purchase of a buy out and he has picked back up his search. The acquiring company requires in office attendance 5 days a week. I am incredibly fortunate that my company gives us the hybrid schedule, it is such a huge blessing and I too am WAY more productive when I work from home!!! Workouts will always be there for you! Sometimes life just means they take a back seat. So glad to hear that Taco is adjusting to the new day care so well!!!
Taco is SO DARN CUTE at the top of that slide. I also love love love his little man outfit. That's my favorite thing about boy clothes-- they can basically wear the same outfit forever.
I'm so excited for you that you have an assistant who will help take a load off your back. That is a LOT of meetings in a week.
I am already stressed out if I have more than two in a day LOL
I also hope you can keep some WFH flexibility because I agree that it benefits everyone in the end... I understand why companies want more in-person office days (they cracked down a bit at my office too), but many of us have such varied schedules (with travel and field work) that it's hard to implement a hardline schedule for everyone.
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