Every morning my team and I go down for coffee together. I'm not a regular coffee drinker so I keep a stash of tea in my desk, pick out the flavour du jour, and take it down with me in my cup to fill up from the Hot Water carafe. A real tea drinker knows that her beverage should be steeped in water that came from a whistling kettle, not just steamy water from an over-sized Thermos or tap attached to a coffee machine. I make do.
Today I drained the carafe dry but did not fill my cup. I turned to the woman standing behind the counter of the coffee/pita/oatmeal establishment and asked for hot water. I waited for her to pick up my mug and take it to the hot water tap behind her, but instead she punched something on the till.
"Twenty-eight cents, please," she said.
"For just water?" I asked.
She nodded.
"Oh, no, no, I'm sorry. I didn't know, and I don't have any cash on me," I picked up my mug and walked away. I felt so embarrassed! For the last seven years I've had free hot and cold water at work. Hey, at the Cardboard Box Factory they even supplied the coffee, hot chocolate and iced tea mix. I didn't consider for a moment that someone would put a jug of hot water out on a counter and value it at 25 cents plus tax per unit. But then, as one of my colleagues pointed out when I relayed the story, who ever thought that we'd buy water out of a vending machine for a buck and a half a bottle?
So anyway, I've been thieving hot water from the Brodie Centre for almost a month now. I figure I've consumed $4.76 in un-paid-for water. Tomorrow I either pack dimes or a kettle.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
I get a Round
Round round get around
I get a round
Yeah
Get around round round I get around
The Beach Boys--I Get Around
Today I went to a talk on treatments for heart failure, including transplantation. This afternoon I went to a rounds meeting for my department. It was so cool! Rounds is like the status meetings I used to have at my old communications department jobs, but instead of everyone giving updates like this project is with the designer, this project is with client or that project is currently stalled until we can get some answers from so-and-so, the "projects" are patients and their statuses are where they are at in getting or giving an organ like a kidney. I was sitting at a table with four docs, a social worker, a project engineer and four transplant coordinator nurses. One of them asked me if I was going to be in the OR tomorrow (apparently someone is getting something). Not this time, but soon I hope!
I get a round
Yeah
Get around round round I get around
The Beach Boys--I Get Around
Today I went to a talk on treatments for heart failure, including transplantation. This afternoon I went to a rounds meeting for my department. It was so cool! Rounds is like the status meetings I used to have at my old communications department jobs, but instead of everyone giving updates like this project is with the designer, this project is with client or that project is currently stalled until we can get some answers from so-and-so, the "projects" are patients and their statuses are where they are at in getting or giving an organ like a kidney. I was sitting at a table with four docs, a social worker, a project engineer and four transplant coordinator nurses. One of them asked me if I was going to be in the OR tomorrow (apparently someone is getting something). Not this time, but soon I hope!
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Craptastic
"Crap," my dad said, looking at my toilet.
"What's the matter?" I asked.
"It's going to be a bigger job than I thought. Needs a new part. I'll have to get my tools," he said.
"Mm." I went back to eating my cottage cheese and blueberries.
"Mom and I were supposed to go out this afternoon."
"But you'll fix it today, right? I mean, I don't need it now, but I will by the end of the day."
"We'll see," he said. "You'll still be able to flush, you'll just have to pour water into the bowl." I rolled my eyes and got up to put away my empty dish.
"Crap!" I said looking at the back of my chair that had a small, white, grey and yellow swirled blob of bird crap on it. Ever since Wednesday I've been randomly spotting the stuff around the house--on the window sills, on the floor, on the walls, on the doors, on an empty cup (ewww) my boots, my scarf. Lemme rewind.
On Wednesday I got home from work to find a lovely little shamrock plant on my table with a yellow Post-it Note from my mom attached that read: "We had to let your 'pet' free. It was kinda crapping all over the place. I cleaned that up for you."
The 'pet' she was referring to, apparently, was a little sparrow that some how found its way into my house God knows when. I didn't know anything about it. I had noticed some white stuff on the floor but thought it was from me stepping in paint and tracking it around the house. I was spot testing a colour in my kitchen and had no recollection of spilling it but I have a lot of memory black outs these days so it really didn't seem like a stretch.
When my mom explained this all to me over the phone I gasped because I remembered that a bird in the house was supposed to be some kind of bad omen. I Googled it and confirmed that yes, there is an old wives' tale that says a bird in the house means a death is imminent. My parents went to a funeral that day so I'm hoping that is all taken care of. So far so good.
Later that day, toilet fixed, Judy dropped by to return some mugs I'd left in her car. I was telling her about my kitchen painting project and decided then and there to try out the other colour I'd chosen for the walls. I slapped a few strokes on the wall beside the light switch. Judy ooh'd with delight, I just ew'd. The colour is a greeny yellow and I was brushing it over plain white. I couldn't help but think it looked just like...crap. Avian crap. Hopefully the second coat will improve things, and hopefully I've found all the messes my special visitor left. I can't believe it got my boots! Thank God it wasn't on the Betseys!
"What's the matter?" I asked.
"It's going to be a bigger job than I thought. Needs a new part. I'll have to get my tools," he said.
"Mm." I went back to eating my cottage cheese and blueberries.
"Mom and I were supposed to go out this afternoon."
"But you'll fix it today, right? I mean, I don't need it now, but I will by the end of the day."
"We'll see," he said. "You'll still be able to flush, you'll just have to pour water into the bowl." I rolled my eyes and got up to put away my empty dish.
"Crap!" I said looking at the back of my chair that had a small, white, grey and yellow swirled blob of bird crap on it. Ever since Wednesday I've been randomly spotting the stuff around the house--on the window sills, on the floor, on the walls, on the doors, on an empty cup (ewww) my boots, my scarf. Lemme rewind.
On Wednesday I got home from work to find a lovely little shamrock plant on my table with a yellow Post-it Note from my mom attached that read: "We had to let your 'pet' free. It was kinda crapping all over the place. I cleaned that up for you."
The 'pet' she was referring to, apparently, was a little sparrow that some how found its way into my house God knows when. I didn't know anything about it. I had noticed some white stuff on the floor but thought it was from me stepping in paint and tracking it around the house. I was spot testing a colour in my kitchen and had no recollection of spilling it but I have a lot of memory black outs these days so it really didn't seem like a stretch.
When my mom explained this all to me over the phone I gasped because I remembered that a bird in the house was supposed to be some kind of bad omen. I Googled it and confirmed that yes, there is an old wives' tale that says a bird in the house means a death is imminent. My parents went to a funeral that day so I'm hoping that is all taken care of. So far so good.
Later that day, toilet fixed, Judy dropped by to return some mugs I'd left in her car. I was telling her about my kitchen painting project and decided then and there to try out the other colour I'd chosen for the walls. I slapped a few strokes on the wall beside the light switch. Judy ooh'd with delight, I just ew'd. The colour is a greeny yellow and I was brushing it over plain white. I couldn't help but think it looked just like...crap. Avian crap. Hopefully the second coat will improve things, and hopefully I've found all the messes my special visitor left. I can't believe it got my boots! Thank God it wasn't on the Betseys!
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Day Five and Still Alive
Day Five and Still Alive was what I had written on my Hoops and Yoyo wipe-off board that I'd hung at my desk space (not really a cubicle, not at all an office, kind of like a section of a tiny loft). One of my co-workers got a chuckle out of it.
It had been quite the week. Day One I came home absolutely exhausted. Perhaps that was the start to my troubles for the rest of the week. On Day 2 I fretted over some important work papers I had misplaced. I tore my house apart that morning trying to find them. I even went so far as to check in the freezer since it was a place I had gone into. I relayed this to my parents in an email. My dad stopped by my house and found the papers not in the deep freezer, but on the shelf behind it. On day three I had forgotten my wallet. Day four I thought I'd misplaced my new office keys, but later found them at the bottom of my purse. Finally by Day 5 I managed to make it in with all my belongings.
Never mind the self-inflicted stress though, I had people calling me to book public appearances/speaking engagements for next month, a spring campaign to book media for and a special event to coordinate which was behind schedule by a month or so. On Day 4 I was taken to a meeting about something very important and asked to do a communications plan with budget for an amount a bit less than what I paid for my home.
On Day 5 I found myself talking to a vendor about this project in the most descriptive of vague terms I could manage since I had been instructed to maintain the project's confidential status.
"Let me give you my story," I told the vendor. "This is Day 5 for me."
The vendor laughed and I laughed, which was better than the exchange I had with the lady who was hoping to book me to do a talk.
I'm hoping that by Day 60 I'll be writing "Feeling Nifty". I also hope that I will have figured out how to work the voicemail on my phone by then.
The frazzled stress that comes from me losing/not being able to find things is draining, but the stress that comes with jumping in feet first to this new role is invigorating, like a good run.
It had been quite the week. Day One I came home absolutely exhausted. Perhaps that was the start to my troubles for the rest of the week. On Day 2 I fretted over some important work papers I had misplaced. I tore my house apart that morning trying to find them. I even went so far as to check in the freezer since it was a place I had gone into. I relayed this to my parents in an email. My dad stopped by my house and found the papers not in the deep freezer, but on the shelf behind it. On day three I had forgotten my wallet. Day four I thought I'd misplaced my new office keys, but later found them at the bottom of my purse. Finally by Day 5 I managed to make it in with all my belongings.
Never mind the self-inflicted stress though, I had people calling me to book public appearances/speaking engagements for next month, a spring campaign to book media for and a special event to coordinate which was behind schedule by a month or so. On Day 4 I was taken to a meeting about something very important and asked to do a communications plan with budget for an amount a bit less than what I paid for my home.
On Day 5 I found myself talking to a vendor about this project in the most descriptive of vague terms I could manage since I had been instructed to maintain the project's confidential status.
"Let me give you my story," I told the vendor. "This is Day 5 for me."
The vendor laughed and I laughed, which was better than the exchange I had with the lady who was hoping to book me to do a talk.
I'm hoping that by Day 60 I'll be writing "Feeling Nifty". I also hope that I will have figured out how to work the voicemail on my phone by then.
The frazzled stress that comes from me losing/not being able to find things is draining, but the stress that comes with jumping in feet first to this new role is invigorating, like a good run.
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
Another New Day
I wore a fuchsia, belted shift dress and black blazer for my first day at my new job. Because I was wearing my dress I also sported my black wool/polyester blend dress coat and dress gloves. My legs were bare except for nylons and my black boots that covered most of my calves. It was minus 26 Celsius, minus 31 with the windchill and I was bussing it. That was a high price I paid to look good.
My impressions so far:
I caved and bought a parking pass today. I don't like the concept of driving to work but I'm going to need a vehicle from time to time and it will be nice not having to fret about missing a bus home if I stay late to work on something.
My neighbour saw me today as I was leaving for the gym. I told him about my new job.
"You look so much happier," he said. "Like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders." Yup, even in this craziness of being new and busy, I am much, much happier.
My impressions so far:
The world of transplant and organ donation is fascinating but I need to do some studying and research. There is so much to know.My head is swimming right now. One of the coordinators at coffee this morning told me she heard on the radio that CTV was doing a story on organ donation tonight so head's up, I could get media calls tomorrow. I have schools who want me to come out and do talks to grade eight classrooms. I have an event to organize for May 9 and a spring awareness campaign to do a media buy for.
My team is a group of passionate, hard-working and knowledgeable people. I'm so grateful that they are eager to take me in, teach and help me. I also love hearing their stories. A few of them have worked up north and in the ER. They've seen a lot of beautiful and ugly things.
Working in a hosptial is cool business. It really does feel like Grey's or ER.
I caved and bought a parking pass today. I don't like the concept of driving to work but I'm going to need a vehicle from time to time and it will be nice not having to fret about missing a bus home if I stay late to work on something.
My neighbour saw me today as I was leaving for the gym. I told him about my new job.
"You look so much happier," he said. "Like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders." Yup, even in this craziness of being new and busy, I am much, much happier.
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