work

School dazed

It was uncomfortably cold in the office today, so it’s just as well that I spent most of the day off-site, wandering the halls of Hunter College with my boss, talking to professors (and a helpful employee at the bookstore) about the books they’re using in class, trends they’re seeing among students, etc. This sort of fact-finding mission, developmental research, is actually quite common among the group. We’re meeting next week in Connecticut with an author I’m working with, and then I’ll be responsible for going out on my own several times a semester.

I’m actually kind of looking forward to pretty normal day at the office tomorrow, though. Actually, right now, I’m just kind of looking forward to going to sleep.

Home work

I tried taking my computer with me and working in the backyard again today, but I wasn’t fooling anybody. One of the first things I did this morning was turn the heat in the house back on, which leads me to suspect that, at this point, April is just toying with us. (Cruelest month indeed! Weather-wise, it’s just kind of a dick.)

I spent most of the day indoors, looking up reviewers for a book I’m working on and sitting through a training session (via web and phone — thank you, technology!) for a purchasing card I’m supposed to be getting at work, to cover mostly travel expenses. (I have a meeting next week with an author in Danubry, Connecticut, for instance.) It wasn’t freezing or anything, but it was definitely nothing like last Tuesday, when I spent the whole day out in the yard and even got a little sunburned.

It’s back to the office tomorrow, though.

April showers

It was a cold and rainy day here, a far cry from what it was just a week ago.

But my boss baked me cookies. Ostensibly, they were a belated gift for my birthday, something she does for everyone in the group, but I think she just enjoys baking. The cookies were actually really good, and I shared them with the rest of the group, my fellow development editors.

I’m home again tomorrow, which is nice, although I have a training session I need to attend (via phone and web) around 10. So there shall be no slacking off, even if the weather improves.

Scavengers assemble!

Today was our company’s second annual New York City scavenger hunt. Like last year, it was a lot of running around midtown Manhattan for charity, teamed up with employees from other subdivisions of our parent company, and all of us clad in very bright yellow shirts with cartoon bananas on them. It was also a lot of fun. It’s ten bucks to charity and you get to leave the office at two o’clock on a sunny afternoon, and if you win the scavenger hunt, the company buys your team a round of drinks.

My team didn’t win — and in fact, I didn’t contribute a whole lot beyond running after the other five guys — but it was, like I said, all in good fun, and for a good cause. This year’s hunt was a lot harder, taking us back and forth — from Dag Hammarskjold Plaza to Rockefeller Center to Grand Central to Times Square to Bryant Park — and less open to interpretation and creativity than last year. This year’s was less scavenger hunt and more Amazing Race. (Or so I assume. I’ve never actually seen it.)

Anyway, it was fun, even if I had to buy my own drink at the end. The cold and rainy weather that moved in yesterday moved out well before we went outside. Which is great, because otherwise I might not have had a chance to wear that stylish T-shirt you see up above.

Wednesday

I went back to the office today, but it was colder and overcast, turning to rain by the evening, so it’s probably all for the best. I wouldn’t have spent much of today out in the backyard.

The official announcement about my new position at work, which has been tied up for a couple of reasons even though I’ve ostensibly had the new job for over a month, went out finally by e-mail today. It’s weird to be praised for my “calm and affable nature,” but it is nice to be officially welcomed into the new group. (That affable calm thing, though? It’s all an act.)

Today was a day of meetings, or at least two meetings, sandwiched around a brown bag lunch. Our speaker was Tere Stouffer, best know as the author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the World of Harry Potter. She detailed her experience writing that book, which J.K. Rowling has cited as the good kind of scholarly guide to her wizarding world, and in publishing in general. And there were free sandwiches for lunch, so I’m not going to complain.

And that was my Wednesday.