The Problem with Promotions

I am usually pretty good about knowing my workload and what I can and can't handle.  If I don't have the time to do something, I will tell whoever is assigning it to me and go on with my day.  I never like seeing work that I'm supposed to do get assigned to somebody else, because it seems like I'm saying "no, I won't do the work that you're paying me to do."  But sometimes, that's just how it has to be.

Except for when you're up for a promotion, which I am now.

Out of the blue, my boss' boss' boss' boss (yes, that's 4 management levels above me) asked me if I would be willing to take over the coordination of a monthly newsletter.  I had no idea what goes into it, but it didn't matter.  It could involve me flying to Australia every weekend for the rest of the year and I'd still have agreed to do it.  Not really much of a choice when you're up for a promotion, and the man who asks you to do the work is also the one who ultimately decides whether or not you get the promotion.

This particular task is what I would call an extracurricular task, where it doesn't have anything to do with my actual job, but you can't advance in my workplace without doing some of these things.  In this case, it's coordinating a monthly newsletter.  I have no problems working on a newsletter - writing an article, doing some layout, editing, etc., but coordinating can be like pulling teeth.  Writing the articles, after all, is an extracurricular activity for the writers as well, which means it doesn't always rank high on their priority scale.

On a side note, I was already involved with this newsletter as an editor.  Simple copy editing stuff, but it's not as if I'm completely unfamiliar with the work that's involved.

I guess I should be happy that this is the only thing extra they've asked of me so far, because until I see that first bump in my paycheck, I will say yes to every single request they have.

New Happy Hour Site

Just started a side project with some friends called Five 2 Nine 365.  The idea is that we will post a happy hour place every day for a year until we have a comprehensive list of the entire Washington DC Metro happy hour scene.

One of my favorite (albeit, extremely inconvenient for me to get to ) places is Mad Fox Brewing, which we just wrote up, and now there is a Living Social deal for the place.  We were hoping to get some traffic from that, but since the site is so new, it hasn't started showing up in the search results yet.

It's pretty cool to be ahead of the game in terms of content, but it still sucks that the content most likely isn't going to be found until the deal of the day is long dead.

Marathon Training: Week 4 Postmortem

So this idea is apparently a failure.  Not because I couldn't keep up with the paltry workout schedule, but because my shin splints have come back in full force.  I thought if I started out running less than a mile a week, spread over 3 days, there would be no way for me to re-injure myself.  I thought using the Vibram Five Fingers would prevent me from smacking the pavement in that heel-toe movement that is supposedly so bad for runners. I thought the soccer games I was playing on turf fields would have no impact because of the inherent cushioning properties of the Astroturf.

But alas, here I am.  Only a month in to the workout, and already needing to take a break.  I don't like taking advice from infomercials, but I think this time I will actually consult my physician before starting back up again.  I'll let you know what I find out from the medical professionals, otherwise, this workout plan is indefinitely cancelled.