Saturday, February 17, 2007

It's Saturday night and I ain't got nobody....

Actually, it's Saturday afternoon, and the cats and I are supposed to be housecleaning. Those buggers are off sleeping somewhere, so I have been pea'ing and playing with my blogger. I have a bunch of stuff to take out to the barn (I am banishing all the tools and flowerpots back to their rightful places in the barn again) and it is actually warm enough to make the trek back and forth, so I can't use that as an excuse. But all I want to do is play in my scrapbook room!

And it has to be cleaned. UGH. If my family didn't visit once or twice a year I would probably never straighten up, so for this I am grateful. I need to get my carpets stretched, but I really don't want to pay the $200. It just galls me to have to pay that kind of $$ for something so simple...but I just don't want to do it. I have until tomorrow night to get it done, ot I am going to call the guy. SO THERE! :) I guess I told me.

OK, I promise I'll go do something soon, just one more can of diet coke first...
:)
a

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Yahoo! Mail - moshera@yahoo.com


This is a set of layouts I did for a circle journal, It was entitled "Amazing Hero".

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Can women get along at work?

This has always been a huge thing for me, as a woman in construction. Women in my field tend to be tough, no-nonsense people who are used to getting things their own way, they have fought to get where they are and they'll fight you if you cross them. But, I guess I am that way also!

My troubles with women at work have always been with women in supporting roles, it is normal for more than one project manager (me) to share a project coordinator (all women in my experiences). Just today one of my PC's was telling me that she spends nine hours a day on "Tom", another PM, and one hour a day on me. I have walked into her cube when she was doing stuff for him that I would never dream of asking her to do, from financials to warranty calls. Does that bother me? A little. But, I am the only female PM at this firm, and I am also the only one in a cubicle like the PC's instead of an office. That bothers me more!

The Director's assistant does all of the "guys" expense reports - and yet when I asked her to download my AMEX bill (when she was doing another PM's) she told me she'd be happy to show me how. It is almost like I am more capable in their minds so they expect me to do my own. That's good in a way - but I have oodles of other things I need to be doing that I can't delegate.

But I digress. I worked with a woman at one firm who is still an awesome friend to this day, she is also a PM, but she has an accounting degree. While I am functional in accounting, I am an engineer, and I excel at negotiating scopes with no gaps. She has less experince with that, so we would trade off tasks - I would review her scopes and negotiate her contracts, and she would process my invoices. It was a dream team. I'll admit I was scared of her at first, though. She left the firm to go to a larger developer, since there were some pretty major management issues at our firm, and I left not long after.

She is a shining example of a good PM and a good woman. I think people are who they are, and that comes out in their work. If you stand back and listen to the personal stories in the lunchroom, the same people with the huge family dramas have the huge work dramas. One of the ladies at work has not spoken to another one of the ladies at work for two weeks, because lady A bought at $179 labelmaker and lady B thought it ws too expensive but the boss approved it. What's up with that? I refer to them in my mind now as "Supply Cabinet Nazi" and "Labelgirl". :P When one person complains about another person in front of me, I usually just look at them intently and say "Where's the love?" I don't know if it makes them think, but they tend not to include me in much of that anymore, Thank goodness.

I think work is the hardest thing I have ever had to do...and I don't mean the job description part of it. Knowing how to manage others (Below and above me) takes a lot of study, and a lot of work. One thing Maite was talking about with the "I worked 80 hours a week so you should have to" - that attitude is very prevalent in my work. There are people who let their physical and mental health and their families fall apart. I say, if you can't do it in 40 hours (ok, sometimes 50!), you are doing something wrong. I thank God for the women that worked 80 hour weeks and proved themself in the industry, and now I am taking it a step further for the next generation. We need to work smarter, and give our employer our best - and then go home! Save a little of the best for tomorrow, too! It is easy to confuse long hours with productivity, and I try not to fall into that trap.

Life balance is more important, and when push comes to shove, ain't none of those people gonna be standing over my casket spilling any tears. God, Me, Family, Work. If I don't take care of things in that order, I won't be able to take care of anything. And if you made it all the way to the end of this long and boring post, you deserve a RAK. :)
Ande

Saturday, February 03, 2007

mo' as in motivation

Let's talk motivation. Of which I tend to have none.

Wikipedia says "...In psychology, motivation refers to the initiation, direction, intensity and persistence of behavior (Geen, 1995). Motivation is a temporal and dynamic state that should not be confused with personality or emotion. Motivation is having the desire and willingness to do something..."

Desire and willingness. Well, I have those, right? But then it goes on to talk about self contril, and organization. Oh well, it was worth a shot. I think I'll just get up off my butt and see what I can get done by wandering around aimlessly! LOL

Have a fun day today, I am going to!
a

JOY walks here... PEACE follows... COMFORT saves...

This is where life should be lived