What. A. Week.

In a word, last week was brutal. Like I mentioned last week, one of the products I support invests heavily in the banking sector, and that sector was under major stress after 2 banks failed last weekend. 

I anticipated a rough week but it was worse than I expected. I think I did about 40 client calls. One day I did 10 calls. It was really hard to keep up with all of the news that was coming out as the situation evolved. Besides the stress in the US system, a Swiss Bank was under stress as well. As I was on these calls, I was watching all these IMs coming in plus all the emails with requests for talking points and gah. It was rough. My coworker and I did a great job of dividing and conquering as I handled most of the calls and she stayed on top of emails.

As if that wasn't enough, I was nauseated all day on Monday and wasn't able to eat for most of the day. Phil wondered if it was a side effect of stress but I think it was some sort of bug. Then Paul came down with a fever on Wednesday morning. He had high fevers of around 103 for several days. I stayed home with him Wednesday when I had a lighter day of calls and Phil took care of Thursday and Friday. We had his well child 5y appointment on Friday morning so we held off on getting him to the doctor since we had an appointment so soon. I was sure it was strep since it's been going around his daycare recently and he had stomach pains and high fevers which are symptoms of strep. Sure enough, his strep test was positive. He HATES swallowing meds so we opted to get the penicillin shot. It's a very, very painful shot but better than trying to coerce him to take oral meds... I'm thinking we need to see if we can teach him to swallow pills but we'll cross that bridge another time. Luckily he started feeling better within 24 hours. 

And then the week ended with a series of layoffs, some within my team at work. I had a feeling they were coming as 2022 was an epically bad year for financial services, but I was hoping that my team wouldn't be too impacted. Some really wonderful people that I enjoyed working with were let go which makes me really sad. 

So that's where I'm at... I have no positive spin to put on last week except to say that I am glad I still have a job. This just goes to show why I emphasize how fickle my industry is. It's why people in my industry are well-compensated - the pay is high but the volatility is very high, too. 

This week I travel to NJ/NY to do in-person client meetings with some sales reps. I fly out this morning and come back on Thursday. Usually work travel is extra exhausting for me since I'm not an extrovert, but I think this week will sort of be easier than last week. I mean at least we'll have walks/car drives between meetings for me to catch my breath! Last week, I would go from 30 minute zoom to 30 minute zoom - sometimes I had 4 hours of meetings in a row without a single break. I had to dial in 1-2 minutes late a couple of times so I could use the bathroom in between. 

I am woefully behind on commenting. I try to be a diligent commenter because I so value the comments I receive on my blog... but I'm going to have to "call uncle" and skip commenting on posts for awhile until I've dug out of the hole I'm buried in!

To close on a higher note, here are some pictures!

The geese have new costumes! A reindeer and a cardinal! Why a reindeer in March? Well it's feeling wintery here as we continue to get snow and had sub-zero wind chills over the weekend.

Chef Taco would like to take your order.

Sad, sick Paul. Lots of screen time was had last week.

Even though the feels like temp was -8F on Sunday morning, I got out for a run. YakTraks continue to be necessary. The south side of the lake path was pure ice.

I'll (hopefully) be back to more cheery content next week! In the meantime, tell me something good!!