25...

It is finally Friday!!! It's been a productive week, long, but good...

I haven't had much time to Blip or comment, wow, I guess some take it personally...I lost 2 subscribers ;) With me...I only unsubscribe if you havent posted anything for a month...

Had my performance review this morning at work - it was great. My manager had lots of great feedback for me - absolutely no suggestions for improvement. He's not too good at that, come on, I'm not that perfect ;) Just reflecting back on the past year - I've really done a lot. It's a high level program and has great visibility within the company. Im very happy with my performance, but I don't like to get comfortable in a job role...I like to be challenged. I don't know what the new year will bring - might move on to a new project...might not...we'll see.

Talking about work - I somehow got appointed as a leader to a communications process improvement team. Apparently there are people who feel the office has communication problems. I'm in a different role - so I'm not involved w/ the day to day activities with everyone. Hosted my first meeting today with my team - from what it sounds like, there is a problem. Essentially its two things - email communication (lack of email etiquette) and inconsistent communication between departments. So we'll come up w/ a guideline or a cheat sheet for when to use what form of communication - when to email / call someone / or have a face-to-face time. To me its common sense - but I can see how things can get out of control.

Email is important to me - I've actually even read books on how to email - it's so time consuming if you don't control it. I don't send out a lot of email - the less you send, the less you receive. I know my audience - some people I email, some I call, some I just get up and visit. I pay attention to subject lines - make them clear...if the email requires action, I will put "Action Required" in the subject line. I CC/BCC with caution - I must admit, people at work tend to send emails out to everyone and anyone - hoping someone will answer their question. And my boss for example - he replies to emails when he shouldn't. When you CC someone, they do not need to reply - CC means FYI. I'm just very selfish about my time when it comes to work. OK, rant over ;)

Randomness...

Lunch was GREAT today...my friend Tera and I escaped downtown for Indian. New place...food was great, drink sucked...it was tea bag Chai...horrible.

We have the brightest moon of the year tonight...moon is close to the earth... too bad its cloudy :(

It's so cold out there...18 degrees. Yeah, Im over it.

My timeshare in Stamford NY (Catskills) has found an owner...they close late December, so we'll see what sort of check I'll get from that property. They went bankrupt. Not good. I really love the Catskills Mountains.

Talking about the economy - the bailout restructuring plan for automakers failed. Pres is looking for money anywhere he can find it - its just enough money to hold them over to next year...11 billion is needed for GM to pay the bills at the end of the month. Chrysler will need 3 billion. Ford is not asking for a loan. Job losses will be between 2.5 to 3.5 million. Wow. That's a lot of jobs.

12 days left for Christmas - I haven't even started shopping, for anyone. Haven't even written cards. Just not feeling very festive this year. Very unlike me...the Holidays have always been important to me. I just turn five years old all over again! It's been a rough few weeks, thats still with me, so it's probably that.

Heading out tonight for drinks w/a friend and checking out that gallery show that I got invited to, should be fun.

Worked on a few Arizona pictures last night. I should have been doing more important things, but I just felt like being lazy ;) Enjoy...