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.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
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.
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.
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.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Marathon Plan: Week 1 Postmortem
After a little over a week, everything is happening exactly like I expected it to. I guess in my old age I'm getting good at figuring out how I think.
The short distance has been both a blessing and a curse. It's been a blessing because running conditions are generally bad: it's cold, there's snow all over the sidewalks, and it gets dark early. Keeping the runs short keeps me from making excuses from running. "It's just 10 minutes" I tell myself. And I change into my Vibram Five Fingers, put on a running jacket and some pants, and I do it.
I'm hoping that doing all of these early short runs now will create a habit of running for me, which will be important when I'm running longer distances.
Of course, the short distance has also been a curse. Just yesterday I had to consciously stop myself from running when I hit my set distance. I really wanted to keep going. Especially since if I don't plan out the run appropriately, I can have a long walk home. It's also frustrating getting all dressed up to go running, and then going for such a short distance. My warm-up (5 min) is longer than my actual run.
I've been using RunKeeper to track my runs. It's a great free app (for iPhone and Android) that is perfect for running. You can even use an optional Bluetooth heart rate sensor. And of course, after each run, all of the information (distance, pace, heart rate, elevation) is beamed to the internet where it is overlaid onto Google Maps and you can see exactly what your pace/elevation/heart rate was at any point along your run. It then takes the information for every run you've done and gives you the aggregate and trend information. Very cool nerdy stuff.
I've set up RunKeeper to give me 5 minutes of brisk walking for my warmup, at which point it notifies me that the next segment of my workout should begin. I have that section set to a distance, which is what I am running for that particular week. After it announces (only a couple of minutes later) that I have reached my desired distance, I immediately stop running and start walking home.
Of course, it tracks all of my information for the warm up and cool down sections, which makes it look like I am running longer distances than I actually am, but on the website it gives the option split out the results for each section. Again, a very good utility for this exact sort of thing.
The short distance has been both a blessing and a curse. It's been a blessing because running conditions are generally bad: it's cold, there's snow all over the sidewalks, and it gets dark early. Keeping the runs short keeps me from making excuses from running. "It's just 10 minutes" I tell myself. And I change into my Vibram Five Fingers, put on a running jacket and some pants, and I do it.
I'm hoping that doing all of these early short runs now will create a habit of running for me, which will be important when I'm running longer distances.
Of course, the short distance has also been a curse. Just yesterday I had to consciously stop myself from running when I hit my set distance. I really wanted to keep going. Especially since if I don't plan out the run appropriately, I can have a long walk home. It's also frustrating getting all dressed up to go running, and then going for such a short distance. My warm-up (5 min) is longer than my actual run.
I've been using RunKeeper to track my runs. It's a great free app (for iPhone and Android) that is perfect for running. You can even use an optional Bluetooth heart rate sensor. And of course, after each run, all of the information (distance, pace, heart rate, elevation) is beamed to the internet where it is overlaid onto Google Maps and you can see exactly what your pace/elevation/heart rate was at any point along your run. It then takes the information for every run you've done and gives you the aggregate and trend information. Very cool nerdy stuff.
I've set up RunKeeper to give me 5 minutes of brisk walking for my warmup, at which point it notifies me that the next segment of my workout should begin. I have that section set to a distance, which is what I am running for that particular week. After it announces (only a couple of minutes later) that I have reached my desired distance, I immediately stop running and start walking home.
Of course, it tracks all of my information for the warm up and cool down sections, which makes it look like I am running longer distances than I actually am, but on the website it gives the option split out the results for each section. Again, a very good utility for this exact sort of thing.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Marathon Plan
I love running, probably a little too much. I went through a half marathon phase several years ago, wanting to eventually run a full marathon. However, during my training, in which I purchased the entire Nike+ system, including brand new Nike+ shoes, the Nike+ transmitter and iPod receiver, as well as a new iPod. I was excited, motivated, and feeling great about it. I was running every day, which is not surprising because this is when I lived with my grandma and I really wanted to get out of the house.
That year I actually ran three half marathons, but before I ran my first half marathon, the furthest I had ever run was 6 miles. My plan was obviously to go further than that, but I got overzealous and got some heinous shin splints. At first I thought I could just power through them, and I did, but it literally got to the point where it was painful to even walk up stairs. I had to completely halt my training, which is one of the most frustrating things I've ever done.
I ran all three half marathons that year without any more real training because every time I tried to start up again, I would get those nasty shin splints.
I've been trying to run ever since then unsuccessfully. Every time the shin splints come back as if they never left. Of course, it's always minor pain, something I could easily run through, but I know how that worked out before.
I've bought new shoes, I've tried ramping up my work out, I've tried specific stretching, but nothing seems to work.
Of course, a large reason for that is because my version of "ramping up" is going from sporadic elliptical training at the gym, to running three miles.
Last year I bought Vibram Five Fingers. They are in the minimalist category of shoes. The idea is that you do a mid-foot strike instead of the heel-toe that is encouraged by all running shoes. This reduces the stress on your joints (as well as reducing shin splints).
Running in these shoes is a whole new experience and one that frustrated me a great deal, especially since I couldn't keep up with my wife, who claims she is a terrible runner (though she's not!). Just like every other ramping up period, I didn't give the shoes a fair shake, so I've decided to truly ramp up.
I want to be able to run a marathon by this time next year without worrying about shin splints, and I have a very simple method for doing it.
I am literally going to start out running 1/4 mile three days a week for a week, and then bump that up 10% every week until I am able to run 26 miles. It will take me exactly 50 weeks. It sounds kind of silly to say, but I am determined not to run more than a quarter mile for the first week. In fact, it's going to take me 16 weeks just to get up to a mile and another 12 weeks after that to get to a 5k. This will probably be an extremely difficult regimen for me - not because the distances are too large, but because of how slow of a ramp up it is.
However, I plan on reminding myself at the end of my 4 minute workout that this workout isn't for cardio; it's to get my muscles in shape after such a long period of inactivity.
We'll see how it goes this time. I plan on starting today.
That year I actually ran three half marathons, but before I ran my first half marathon, the furthest I had ever run was 6 miles. My plan was obviously to go further than that, but I got overzealous and got some heinous shin splints. At first I thought I could just power through them, and I did, but it literally got to the point where it was painful to even walk up stairs. I had to completely halt my training, which is one of the most frustrating things I've ever done.
I ran all three half marathons that year without any more real training because every time I tried to start up again, I would get those nasty shin splints.
I've been trying to run ever since then unsuccessfully. Every time the shin splints come back as if they never left. Of course, it's always minor pain, something I could easily run through, but I know how that worked out before.
I've bought new shoes, I've tried ramping up my work out, I've tried specific stretching, but nothing seems to work.
Of course, a large reason for that is because my version of "ramping up" is going from sporadic elliptical training at the gym, to running three miles.
Last year I bought Vibram Five Fingers. They are in the minimalist category of shoes. The idea is that you do a mid-foot strike instead of the heel-toe that is encouraged by all running shoes. This reduces the stress on your joints (as well as reducing shin splints).
Running in these shoes is a whole new experience and one that frustrated me a great deal, especially since I couldn't keep up with my wife, who claims she is a terrible runner (though she's not!). Just like every other ramping up period, I didn't give the shoes a fair shake, so I've decided to truly ramp up.
I want to be able to run a marathon by this time next year without worrying about shin splints, and I have a very simple method for doing it.
I am literally going to start out running 1/4 mile three days a week for a week, and then bump that up 10% every week until I am able to run 26 miles. It will take me exactly 50 weeks. It sounds kind of silly to say, but I am determined not to run more than a quarter mile for the first week. In fact, it's going to take me 16 weeks just to get up to a mile and another 12 weeks after that to get to a 5k. This will probably be an extremely difficult regimen for me - not because the distances are too large, but because of how slow of a ramp up it is.
However, I plan on reminding myself at the end of my 4 minute workout that this workout isn't for cardio; it's to get my muscles in shape after such a long period of inactivity.
We'll see how it goes this time. I plan on starting today.
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
America's Got [Everything]
In this particular case, America's Got Stories. I'll spare you the buzz words and get down to brass tacks. This is a contest where you write a short story in a particular theme (in this case, supernatural is the word of the hour) in order to win wonderful prizes.
You write your story: if you win, your story gets published in a compilation book; and if you are the grand prize winner, you get an iPad.
I was actually kind of bummed out when I was asked to be a judge for this contest because I had what I thought to be a unique take on the theme. In fact, my short was going to be a Sci Fi piece with technology ripped from the headlines in a "what could be" story.
I may still write that story, because it seems interesting in my mind, but I'm really curious to see what other submissions we get.
Everybody's got a story - what's yours?
You write your story: if you win, your story gets published in a compilation book; and if you are the grand prize winner, you get an iPad.
I was actually kind of bummed out when I was asked to be a judge for this contest because I had what I thought to be a unique take on the theme. In fact, my short was going to be a Sci Fi piece with technology ripped from the headlines in a "what could be" story.
I may still write that story, because it seems interesting in my mind, but I'm really curious to see what other submissions we get.
Everybody's got a story - what's yours?
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
TDB Redux
I thought my days of The Drunken Blog were behind me. I thought that since I've graduated from college, since I bought a house, since I got married that the days of drunken debauchery were behind me. I never would have expected those days to come crashing back during a holiday work party.
Every year my company throws a holiday party for the department in which I work. Heavy hors d'oeuvres, wine, beer, and a whole lot of awkward work-based social interactions. What could be more fun? Since my wife was working the night shift that night, there was nothing more fun for me on my agenda, so I attended the party.
I'll start off by saying 9pm is a pretty early time to end a party that involves alcohol, but when it starts at 5 and is open bar, you're doing pretty good. I mean, the reception for my wedding was only an hour longer (please don't get the impression that this work function in any way compared to my wedding, because it didn't).
Of course, I am one to show up fashionably late slash I had work that I had to finish. Luckily the bar was within walking distance of the office. I showed up at about 6pm and helped myself to a beer, since the bartender was apparently taking a break. My conversation went something like this:
Beer one topic: Work related (professional)
Beer two topic: Non-work related
Beer three topic: Work related (casual)
Beer four topic: Work related (trashing coworkers)
Beer five topic: Non-work related (but definitely coworker related)
The flow shouldn't be that surprising to anybody. With your first drink you don't have anything to talk about other than work related stuff. You're still basically in the office except you have a drink in your hand.
By the second drink you've finally figured out something else to talk about - probably the weather or sports.
By the third drink you've run out of non-work related things about which to relate, so you go back to work topics, although this time you're just shooting the breeze as if you were at the water cooler, if your office actually had a water cooler.
By the fourth drink your conversation degrades into talking trash about other coworkers.
By the fifth drink, you're talking about that drunk person at the party.
The fifth drink is where my story really starts. Now, this isn't my fifth drink, mind you, but it is somebody's, and she can't handle her alcohol.
I don't want to give any sort of distinguishing features because I promised her I wouldn't tell anybody about this, but suffice it to say she is very high ranking at the organization for which I work in my company. And she was plastered.
She kept hugging people, slurring her speech, and just generally being a genial drunk person. You know exactly the type of person I'm talking about - she'll yell at everybody to shut up, put up her hand and point, as if she is going to make some profound statement, and then just sort of sputter some gibberish.
I hate leaving parties earlier, so I stayed with some friends from work and kept an eye on this woman. I was really curious about how she would get home. As other people were saying goodbye to her as they were leaving, they also asked how she would get home, and despite the fact that she didn't give a coherent answer, she did give an answer, and that seemed to put them at ease.
After the tab was closed, I continued to hang around because now I was really curious about what was going to happen. There were only five of us left at this point, and we needed to make sure that this woman got home safely. She was at that super dangerous drunk point where she thought she was sober enough to drive, though she couldn't even form a complete sentence.
Some coworkers that had left previously decided they were going to go to Jackson's, a bar within walking distance, and this woman also wanted to go to Jackson's to continue her drinking. The five of us were guiding her away from Jackson's because she clearly didn't need anymore.
Well, that's not entirely true. One of the group, somebody with whom I work closely on a daily basis, as we were trying to sneak her by Jackson's said, "Hey, aren't you going to Jackson's?!" I don't think he has quite honed is social interaction skills yet and I gave him the dirtiest look I could muster, which was probably not very intimidating, so I just gave him a head nod to get the point across. Our group was now down to four.
Luckily, she didn't really understand what was going on and we managed to walk her back to the parking garage where her car was. The sober woman in our group, who is actually a subordinate of the drunk one, was kind enough to offer to drive her home. Drunky lived close by and Sober didn't mind.
How naive we were. Drunky had a huge issue with the fact that one of her subordinates was going to drive her home in such a state and would take no part in it. She wouldn't even show us where her car was until Sober pretended like she left.
After about 30 minutes we managed to find Drunky's car, but Sober got so frustrated that she left - with our blessing. So it was just me and Knight left to get Drunky home. We had another fifteen minute conversation in which Drunky flagged down an elderly man as he was driving away because she thought he was Sober.
I think the problem we had was the fact that we tried to reason with Drunky when she was so obviously beyond that point. After a few more pleas from Drunky to just let her drive herself home, I simply took Drunky's keys from her and gave them to Knight so that he could drive Drunky's car, and I could follow him so I could drive him back to his car.
I ran down in the garage and got my car. The one flaw in our plan was the fact that Drunky didn't know how to get home. Or rather, she could not articulate it to Knight, so we ended up in an apartment complex about 2 miles away from where she actually lived, which is pretty impressive since she only lives 2 miles away from the office.
I managed to get an address from Drunky to plug into my GPS by convincing her that Knight had to urinate something awful. She took pity on him, and after three tries, we got the right address. So this time I lead the way and we eventually made it to her house.
Of course, it wasn't that easy. The last house on the block was a number short of her house number, and around the corner they started a number above her house. We had to use the good old pee trick in order to get her to show us that her house was around back (whoever number those houses had issues).
We didn't bother to make sure she got in bed. You can call us bad guys, but after this hour long ordeal to get Drunky the 2 miles from the bar to her house, and with each of us having a 30 minute drive in front of us to get to our houses, we split.
It's pretty weird seeing somebody in such a position of authority act like a drunk 18 year-old freshman, but the one nice thing about it is that I think I have a few bonus dollars coming my way in the near future.
Every year my company throws a holiday party for the department in which I work. Heavy hors d'oeuvres, wine, beer, and a whole lot of awkward work-based social interactions. What could be more fun? Since my wife was working the night shift that night, there was nothing more fun for me on my agenda, so I attended the party.
I'll start off by saying 9pm is a pretty early time to end a party that involves alcohol, but when it starts at 5 and is open bar, you're doing pretty good. I mean, the reception for my wedding was only an hour longer (please don't get the impression that this work function in any way compared to my wedding, because it didn't).
Of course, I am one to show up fashionably late slash I had work that I had to finish. Luckily the bar was within walking distance of the office. I showed up at about 6pm and helped myself to a beer, since the bartender was apparently taking a break. My conversation went something like this:
Beer one topic: Work related (professional)
Beer two topic: Non-work related
Beer three topic: Work related (casual)
Beer four topic: Work related (trashing coworkers)
Beer five topic: Non-work related (but definitely coworker related)
The flow shouldn't be that surprising to anybody. With your first drink you don't have anything to talk about other than work related stuff. You're still basically in the office except you have a drink in your hand.
By the second drink you've finally figured out something else to talk about - probably the weather or sports.
By the third drink you've run out of non-work related things about which to relate, so you go back to work topics, although this time you're just shooting the breeze as if you were at the water cooler, if your office actually had a water cooler.
By the fourth drink your conversation degrades into talking trash about other coworkers.
By the fifth drink, you're talking about that drunk person at the party.
The fifth drink is where my story really starts. Now, this isn't my fifth drink, mind you, but it is somebody's, and she can't handle her alcohol.
I don't want to give any sort of distinguishing features because I promised her I wouldn't tell anybody about this, but suffice it to say she is very high ranking at the organization for which I work in my company. And she was plastered.
She kept hugging people, slurring her speech, and just generally being a genial drunk person. You know exactly the type of person I'm talking about - she'll yell at everybody to shut up, put up her hand and point, as if she is going to make some profound statement, and then just sort of sputter some gibberish.
I hate leaving parties earlier, so I stayed with some friends from work and kept an eye on this woman. I was really curious about how she would get home. As other people were saying goodbye to her as they were leaving, they also asked how she would get home, and despite the fact that she didn't give a coherent answer, she did give an answer, and that seemed to put them at ease.
After the tab was closed, I continued to hang around because now I was really curious about what was going to happen. There were only five of us left at this point, and we needed to make sure that this woman got home safely. She was at that super dangerous drunk point where she thought she was sober enough to drive, though she couldn't even form a complete sentence.
Some coworkers that had left previously decided they were going to go to Jackson's, a bar within walking distance, and this woman also wanted to go to Jackson's to continue her drinking. The five of us were guiding her away from Jackson's because she clearly didn't need anymore.
Well, that's not entirely true. One of the group, somebody with whom I work closely on a daily basis, as we were trying to sneak her by Jackson's said, "Hey, aren't you going to Jackson's?!" I don't think he has quite honed is social interaction skills yet and I gave him the dirtiest look I could muster, which was probably not very intimidating, so I just gave him a head nod to get the point across. Our group was now down to four.
Luckily, she didn't really understand what was going on and we managed to walk her back to the parking garage where her car was. The sober woman in our group, who is actually a subordinate of the drunk one, was kind enough to offer to drive her home. Drunky lived close by and Sober didn't mind.
How naive we were. Drunky had a huge issue with the fact that one of her subordinates was going to drive her home in such a state and would take no part in it. She wouldn't even show us where her car was until Sober pretended like she left.
After about 30 minutes we managed to find Drunky's car, but Sober got so frustrated that she left - with our blessing. So it was just me and Knight left to get Drunky home. We had another fifteen minute conversation in which Drunky flagged down an elderly man as he was driving away because she thought he was Sober.
I think the problem we had was the fact that we tried to reason with Drunky when she was so obviously beyond that point. After a few more pleas from Drunky to just let her drive herself home, I simply took Drunky's keys from her and gave them to Knight so that he could drive Drunky's car, and I could follow him so I could drive him back to his car.
I ran down in the garage and got my car. The one flaw in our plan was the fact that Drunky didn't know how to get home. Or rather, she could not articulate it to Knight, so we ended up in an apartment complex about 2 miles away from where she actually lived, which is pretty impressive since she only lives 2 miles away from the office.
I managed to get an address from Drunky to plug into my GPS by convincing her that Knight had to urinate something awful. She took pity on him, and after three tries, we got the right address. So this time I lead the way and we eventually made it to her house.
Of course, it wasn't that easy. The last house on the block was a number short of her house number, and around the corner they started a number above her house. We had to use the good old pee trick in order to get her to show us that her house was around back (whoever number those houses had issues).
We didn't bother to make sure she got in bed. You can call us bad guys, but after this hour long ordeal to get Drunky the 2 miles from the bar to her house, and with each of us having a 30 minute drive in front of us to get to our houses, we split.
It's pretty weird seeing somebody in such a position of authority act like a drunk 18 year-old freshman, but the one nice thing about it is that I think I have a few bonus dollars coming my way in the near future.
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