Giddyup

Things have been pretty crazy at work lately, and they're only going to get crazier.  I have quite a few projects that have deadlines in early April with still a ton of work to be done.  Now mix into the pot the fact that I'm going to be out of the office all next week and it's the perfect recipe for stress.  

Despite the stress of leaving for a week, I'm really looking forward to the trip I'm taking.  The first part of the week I will be going to Houston for a conference for work.  While conferences aren't always fun, this one deals with GIS (Geographic Information Systems), which is what I use on a daily basis at work and also what my undergraduate focus was on.  Plus I'm entering some maps I created for work into a map competition at the conference, so I'm really hoping I win.  Maybe I would get a bonus!

The conference lasts only from Monday to Wednesday, at which point the second part of my trip (my actual vacation) begins.  I'm so excited to be going to LA to visit one of my best friends (and her hubbie).  They bought a house not that long ago and I'm excited to see it.  I'm also excited to lie on the beach, hopefully in the warm sun with no clouds or rain.  And I'm going to be a geek and admit I'm excited to try and spot celebrities (even D-list ones).  I need to make sure and charge my camera so I don't go to take a picture of, say, Alyssa Milano, and get the low battery flash.

Friday-what-ous?

I like to think I'm a fairly intelligent person, and that I work with intelligent people. I also like to think that the people I come into contact with through work are intelligent as well; I mean, they hold a job, so they have to be a little smart. Well, today I found out that apparently that's all you have to be to hold a job...a little smart.

But a little background first. I have been doing work on Fort Lewis for the past two months or so. It's been very interesting work and I've really enjoyed it. What I haven't enjoyed is the circuitous communication that's required by this project's contract. Technically, the company I work for is a subconsultant to another firm (we'll call them Firm XYZ) who actually has the contract with the military. In order to ask questions or get any of the data we need, we have to ask Firm XYZ, who asks the contact at Fort Lewis, who gets the information, gives it to Firm XYZ, who then gives it to us. As you tell, this is quite the efficient way to do things (yeah right).

Anyway, the woman who I speak with at Firm XYZ to get the information is so peppy it kills me. I swear she came out of cheerleader bootcamp - she just oozes cheerfulness. I called her today because she was supposed to email the Fort Lewis contact with a letter attachment about a site visit I'm doing next week and cc me, but I didn't see the email. When I called her she said something along the lines of "Did I not cc you on the email? Oh my goodness, I'm such a boob! I'll forward you the email." Who uses the word "boob" at work? Especially when talking to someone who you barely know, who you have never met face to face? As if that wasn't enough to cause alarm, in the email she forwarded me, she wrote (and I'm paraphrasing here) "Sorry about the email! I must have Friday-idous!" Friday-what-ous? You mean, Friday-itis? As in arthritis? Appendicitis? Even senioritis? How did this woman get her job? More importantly, how does she keep it? I do not mean to be harsh, I'm just quite surprised - and a little sad at the state of our education system. In fact, it's giving me encephalitis (inflammation of the brain, for those of you not up on your itis-es).