This week is TNP's annual conference which is being held online. It's a very ambitious program with a mix of live workshops and prerecorded sessions with live chat and as of this writing at lunchtime on the last day, everything's going well. So far I've worked on 3 live sessions, had two shifts at TNP's booth in the exhibit hall, and this afternoon I'll be moderating chat for 2 prerecorded sessions. We have Monday off to decompress from the whole thing, and I think we'll really need it. I play a ...
Back to the (Home) Office
I was on 'vacation' last week which basically means I was not online for work. I *was* online for an annual conference of a professional organization that *I'm* a member of. Background: I work for TNP, an association for medical professionals. Think the AMA, but not the AMA. I belong to ASAE, which is the association for people who work with associations. (so meta!) Last week was ASAE's annual conference and I spent 10am-5pm Monday-Wednesday watching presentations. I really, really love going to ...
It’s so nice to work from home…
Once a week, I get to work from home. I'm thankful for that opportunity because it makes it so much easier to have someone out to fix the latest broken thing in the house, or to sneak in a doctor appointment right before or after work. I get a lot of work done because I'm in my own quiet home instead of a cube farm. And I can do things like tackle some housework in the morning, and drop a spaniel off at the groomer before my workday starts. Which is what I did today. WM went to work. I ...
Las Vegas trip
This year Spring Business Trip took me to Las Vegas to exhibit at the AAPA meeting. And since Mom is now a retired lady with some free time on her hands, she came along for the ride! It was a relatively short trip. We flew in on a Tuesday morning to set up the booth. Exhibit days were Wednesday and Thursday, and on Friday morning we flew home. We stayed at Mandalay Bay which is just a phenomenally gorgeous hotel. On Tuesday we set up the booth and then had lunch at Mandalay Bay's ...
Work from home Mondays
TNP (which isn't new anymore but I'm too lazy to change pseudonyms) instituted a new policy where we are able to pick one day a week to work from home. We could pick Monday, Thursday, or Friday, which allows us to have 2 core days a week where everyone can be in the office and attend meetings all day to collaborate. I picked Mondays. Mostly because WWE pay per views are on Sunday nights and this allows me to watch them the full way and not be destroyed on Monday mornings. You might think I'm ...
Five years!
Today is my FIVE YEAR anniversary at TNP, which really isn't The New Place at all anymore. Not so shabby for someone who thought she'd be fired before her first year was done. It's a good place to work, and has allowed me to travel to new places and learn new things. I'm doing great things with Excel, and I'm even doing a bit of SQL work on our database! (I also received $300 in gift cards, which will be put aside for future travel.) In unrelated news, I'm 23 days through the Yoga with ...
Rabbit rabbit – back from National Harbor, MD
This post will fail my posting standards on two points: > There is no twee April Fool prank. When I was younger, I'd flip the site backward on April Fool's, but this year I basically forgot what day it was. > This is a about a trip I took, but I have no great photos. This is because Spring Business Trip 2015 was actually TNP's very own Annual Meeting for our members. ...
I'm trade-publication famous!
I try very hard to separate work from blog, but I'm very proud and can't let this go by without saying something... Last month, Associations Now magazine (official magazine of ASAE) interviewed my manager and me about how we manage data collection at TNP. The interview was published online last week and I think it turned out really well. You can read it here: Member-Data Collection: The Never-ending story. I love my job! ...
Promoted!
I spent my first year at TNP trying not to look stupid and get fired. My second year, I worked hard, stayed (mostly) quiet and flew under the radar. In my third year I started speaking up, sitting at the table and getting things done. Because of that third-year FOOLISHNESS, I was offered a promotion at TNP. And after a weekend of pros/cons lists, I accepted. Hooray! Even though my current title has "manager" in it, I didn't have anyone under me. I used to say I managed pixels instead of ...
Halloween: How to be Baby Spice when you're over 40
This year TNP decided that instead of an individual costume contest on Halloween, there would be departmental ones. The stakes, my friends, were upped. I was desperate for a first place win after last year's practically less-than-perfect second place, so I knew I'd be all in. We took a survey of how many in our department wanted to participate. Two coworkers had the day off already, and a third opted out. That left us with five. Four women and our male manager. Since costumes are all ...
Happy Halloween from the Spice Girls!
We had a department Halloween contest at TNP. Baby Spice was an age stretch for me, but I think I did okay. My boots are made of white duct tape and construction paper wrapped around black shoes. The dress was $7.99 at Ross. I made the BABY necklace (hidden from view) from Shrinky Dink paper and the wig was from a costume shop. Zig-a-zig-ahhhhh... ...
Working at the Philadelphia Zoo
TNP took us all to the Philadelphia Zoo for a team-building exercise. After a big ol' picnic/buffet lunch (hot dogs, hamburgers, barbeque chicken) in the Peacock Pavilion we divided up into four teams and went on a scavenger hunt. All of the clues were in the various exhibits, and there were bonus questions from non-exhibit signage. We did a lot of running around and although we *saw* a lot, we didn't get to *see* much of it because we were in a hurry. Even though my team came in LAST place ...
