July 2004 Archives

9:15 Arrive at work.

9:20-9:45 Go through emails. Eat cereal. Read blogs.

9:45-10:00 Get into a political discussion with one of my co-workers. She thinks that Bush has done a bad job, but is probably going to vote for him again because she doesn’t think the Democrats have a plan either. And because she doesn’t think the Democrats have the right values. Hello? I have values! I consider myself to be an extremely ethical and moral person. And then we got into the Iraq War, a subject about which we already knew we had different opinions. All in all, it was a very frustrating conversation

10:00-10:20 Chat with two more co-workers. Discuss some work items, but mostly complain about workload and other co-workers who never appear to actually do any work.

10:20-11:40 Actually do some work myself.

11:40-11:50 Talk to beloved husband on phone. Learn that we have cable TV and modem again. Yes, we’re weak. But the cable company kept sending us special offers after we canceled. And we missed the cable modem so much! You can’t just get the modem, either. You have to get them both to get the special deal. And dial-up? Sucks.

11:50-12:00 Do a little more work.

12:00-12:25 Talk to my boss on the phone. I really like her, and not just because of the promotion and raise. Plus, I think this counts as work.

12:25-1:00 Go to see my pal Terri for samples. Somehow end up showing her the online listing for the apartment my friend Mary Pat is trying to buy in Manhattan. Spend half an hour looking at listings for $8,000,000 penthouses in TriBeCa and houses in the Hamptons that we will never, ever be able to afford. Have much fun mocking the photos of the real estate agents.

1:00 Realize I am starving and go out to get lunch.

1:22 Sit in car fuming, stuck behind a stupid dump truck going 25 mph in a 40 mph zone. Asshole. Realize they are playing INXS on the classic rock station. There is no way INXS is a classic rock band. Also, there is NO WAY a song that came out when I was in high school can qualify as classic rock. NO. WAY.

1:30-2:00 Get back to office. Am disappointed by my soup. Throw it out and eat the roll that came with it and two Fudge Hershey kisses instead. Love the Fudge Hershey kisses. Love them. I want to eat 50, but so far, I’ve contained myself to just two.

2:00-2:10 Waste 10 minutes trying to figure out the charge code to use to send samples to employee who is working from home on bed rest. I’ve worked here for four and half years. You’d think I’d know how to send a letter by now. Stupid charge codes.

2:10-3:15 Work a little more. I haven’t actually finished anything yet!

3:15 Funny, a roll and two Hershey kisses just didn’t fill me up. I’m really hungry. Remember that I have a cup of dehydrated soup in my desk. Make that.

3:20-3:25 Dehydrated soup is kind of lame, but now I’m not so picky.

3:25 Realize it is almost 3:30 and I have accomplished nothing. Which naturally means that now is the perfect time to write in my blog.

3:30-4:00 work on this post, interspersed with little work-related tasks so I don’t feel guilty.

And that's my Friday so far.

Yesterday was so nice.  I was just happy-smiley Hilldery from noon on.  But today I had to get back my usual work day.  No one here knows about the promotion yet, because it isn’t official until next week.  Unless there are work people other than Amalah who read my blog.  I don’t think there are.  But anyway, no one knows, so nothing about work has changed.

First, we had this freak rainstorm.  Naturally, I was out walking Seamus when it started to rain.  At least I had an umbrella, unlike last night, when I got completely soaked by an unexpected thunderstorm.  This morning it rained so hard that Seamus – who prefers being outside over anything else –  turned around and headed for home after a couple of minutes.  He actually had a “Fuck this!” expression on his cute little beagle face.

So traffic sucked after the monsoon hit.  And then I had to break up with the leading candidate for my assistant marketing manager position.  There is no second place candidate at this point, which meant that I spent my lunch reading resumes and composing a new ad to run.  I hate interviewing people.  Hate it.  It made for a crappy lunch.  I did sneak in some blog reading though.  Zoot's lunch sounded much more fun than mine.

Plus, I have a ton of work to do.  Oh – and there’s this woman who works here who doesn’t like me.  She never has, and I don’t know why, but I’m perfectly willing to not like her back.  Hmm…that’s not very compassionate of me, is it?  I should work on that.  But anyway, I need her to do her damn job, and she’s not, which is making my life difficult.  I’ve got plenty of my own work to do without having to leave multiple messages and try to chase this woman around to get her to take care of something I cannot do myself and which is her job!  Grrr.

Well, I have one project I must finish before I leave today or I’ll be holding up someone else who is depending on me to do my own damn job.  So, it's back to work for me.

Well, not really.  I still have all of the problems that were making me nuts yesterday…potential employees making ridiculous demands…a message that tanked…an insane amount of work to do…people not doing their jobs, making my life harder and pissing me off…and so on.

But today I do not care, because I just got a totally unexpected promotion!!  You can call me Marketing Director Hilldery.  And I got a raise.  Yay!

I thought today was going to suck even more than yesterday, because I had many, many meetings.  My boss doesn’t actually work here, so when she’s physically in the office she books meetings all day long.  And we did have plenty of meetings.  But one of them was so she could tell me about my promotion.  And take me out to lunch to celebrate.  Plus, my old boss was here with her 2 month old baby boy, so I got to play with a baby.  A sweet-smelling, snuggly, adorable little baby.

Tomorrow, it will be back to reality.  But today is fun.

...I've been at work for 15 minutes...and I'm already thinking I could really use a margarita.

Not a good omen for my day.

So last night, John and I watched the movie Underworld.  I liked it.  John thought it was merely ok.  I’m usually a total wuss who can’t watch anything scary, but I have an obsession with vampire movies.  Also anything that has to do with Jack the Ripper, for some reason.  That Johnny Depp movie, From Hell?  Loved it.  Anyway, I liked Underworld.  Lots of people skulking around in cool black outfits, loud music, fast paced action scenes etc…everything a vampire movie needs.  When I get all skinny and fit?  I want to look like Kate Beckinsale does in this movie.  Except with curly blonde hair. 

There is, however, one big  problem with this movie.

One of the leads, a character named Michael, looks just like the singer from Creed.  Oh how I loathe that guy.  For all I know, he is a wonderful person.  But I do not care for his music or his Eddie Vedder rip-off voice.  John hates him too.  This is not the household for a Creed fan.   We actually even have a psychic Creed-hating connection.  Here’s the conversation we had when I got home from work on the day Creed broke up.

 John: Did you hear the good news?
Me: What, that Creed broke up?
John: That’s amazing.  How did you know that’s what I was talking about?
Me:  Well, what else could it be?
John:  This is a glorious day for music (or something like that – I think there was some insulting of Creed as well.  John is very creative with his insults.)

And then here's last night's conversation:

John: This guy looks like Scott Stapp.  It's annoying.
Me: I know!  I was just thinking the same thing.  It’s kind of ruining the movie for me.

Luckily, Mr. Creed lookalike gets turned into a werewolf and a vampire, so he starts to look a little different towards the end of the movie.  And they totally left it open for a sequel, which I have to admit, I will watch.  As usual, I want to know what happens next.

First the good news: 
Two people have now told me I look like I’ve lost weight.  Totally unsolicited by me.  Woohoo!  I am sticking to my plan to not get on the scale until August, but it is nice to hear that all this self control is paying off.

This morning, my boss told me I’m going to do the business plan for 2005 for my pub.  Not help her do it.  Do it by myself.  Gulp.  That’s a little intimidating, but also exciting. 

Then the bad news:
I don’t think the person I want to hire for my assistant marketing manager position is going to work out.  I am so sick of the hiring process!!  I don’t want to interview any more people.  I don’t want to play little negotiation games.  I just want to hire someone.  And soon.

Also, it’s really humid out today (July + DC = humid) and my car smells swampy.  I hope that goes away.

I don't know why, but I've been exhausted for the last three days.  It's like the life has been sucked out of me and I've been so unenergetic and totally uncreative. 

I was really tired again this morning, but then I remembered this dream that I had.  It was so vivid it feels like I could turn it into a book or a movie.  It really perked me up for some reason.  I'm still tired, but all I can think about is how I could link the fragments of the dream together in a story.  That's a little distracting when what I'm supposed to be writing is "...blank Investing strategy has us perfectly positioned to cope with the current flat market."  But it is nice to be feeling inspired again.

My other favorite thing about Asheville? 

There's something called Bat Cave listed on all these signs on the highway.  I know it probably refers to a cave with bats that is a tourist attraction/natural wonder, but every time I saw it, I pictured the "real" Bat Cave, complete with Alfred, the Batmobile and a sophisticated crimelab. 

And then giggled to myself, because I'm such a grownup.

I had a lovely weekend visiting my brother.  The Asheville area is just gorgeous, and I liked the town quite a bit too.  I can see why my brother likes it there so much.  I miss him, though, so it was very nice to get to spend some quality time with him and my mom too. 
 
What I loved about my trip to Asheville:
•  got to see my brother for the first time since March.  He’s happy, and I’m glad, but I do miss having him around.
•  the place we went for dinner the first night.  Delicious food!  Good atmosphere!  And I got a free little pottery dish.
•  the folk art center on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Too bad all of the quilts were thousands of dollars out of my price range.  As a former park ranger, I always like to call attention to the great parks, historical sites and interpretive exhibits the park service has.
•  playing gin with my mom and brother while watching S.W.A.T. on HBO in the hotel room.  I won the card game, and Colin Farrell is my new celebrity crush.  S.W.A.T wasn’t what I would call a great movie, but it was fun to have on in the background.
•  the gardens at the Biltmore.  I thought the house was interesting, but over the top.  Very beautifully and meticulously preserved, but I didn’t care for the fact that you had to pay $39 per person to get in, and then even more money to go on any sort of guided tour of the house.  I really enjoyed the gardens though.  They had an Italian garden, and topiary, and a walled garden, and a rose garden and a conservatory.  There are other gardens too, but we were worn out by then.
•  visiting the Fire Department where my brother is a volunteer firefighter.  I got to meet some of the other firemen, the firehouse dog, and climb on the fire trucks.  They didn’t have a pole to slide down.  Apparently they took it out recently. So sad.  Here’s a great picture of my brother rappelling down a building.
•  the mountains and forests.  So beautiful.
• did I mention getting to see my brother?
 
What I didn’t love about my trip to Asheville:
• my mom’s driving.  You know how there are people who change lanes without signaling?  And the way they change lanes is more like swerving as opposed easing into the next lane.  And then, they sit in the left lane going 70 miles per hour, when the speed limit is 70 miles per hour?  Oh, and just for fun, they sometimes tap the brakes for no apparent reason? My mom is now that person.  She couldn’t understand why everyone was coming up so fast behind her and then passing on the right.  I tried, gently, to point out the problem, but I don’t think she understood that she needs to go faster or stay out of the left lane. 
• my mom’s snoring keeping me up most of the night Friday night, even with ear plugs.  I took care of that problem with a little Excedrin PM on Saturday and Sunday nights. 
• in a related item, my mom (who has literally known me my whole life) forgetting the cardinal rule of my mornings, which is, “Don’t fucking talk to me until after I’ve been up for at least 15 minutes.”  Seriously.  I’m a nice sweet person after those first 15 minutes or so.  But until then, I’m just not pleasant.  And I can’t control it.  Especially not after only getting 3 hours of sleep due to snore torture.
• the dead cow I saw tied to the back of a pickup truck.  At least, I assume it was a dead cow.  It would be even worse to transport a live cow that way.
• seeing my mom get so worn out from walking around the Biltmore.  Yes, there were a lot of stairs and a lot of walking, and she’s had bad knees since she was a teenager.  But it was scary to see her having to stop and rest so many times.  She’s not that old, dammit! 
•  the insanely conservative local news broadcast, which spent 10 minutes on Dale Earnhardt Junior’s car crash, and about 45 seconds on the war in Iraq, seven stories in to the news broadcast.  Oh, and which featured an editorial where the speaker came out against giving people on food stamps debit cards to use at the store instead (which they’ve been using here for years) because “sometimes it is good to humiliate people.  If we humiliate them, they’ll want to get off public assistance faster.  And why is the ‘Angry Left’ so upset about those prisoners getting humiliated in Iraq?  They’re just a bunch of terrorists, after all.”  I’m not exaggerating.  If anything, I’ve condensed what the guy said, and made it less offensive. 
• missing John and Seamus.  Next time, I’ll bring them with me.  I think they’d like the mountains.

I'm off to North Carolina to visit my brother for the weekend, so I don't know how much posting I'll be doing.  I'm not sure how much Internet access I'll have.  I will be going here and I think we'll probably go here.  The rest of the weekend is completely unplanned, and I'm really looking forward to it!  Hope everyone has a good weekend.

Or is that positivationism? I've had a strangely unmotivated, yet surprisingly productive day. It was also very envelope-centered. First, I wrote snappy copy to go on one envelope, and then I wrote copy for and redesigned a second envelope. We should be flooded with renewal orders once people get their hands on those babies. The notices will arrive in the mail, and they just won't be able to resist opening the envelopes and then, persuaded by the fabulous copy I wrote in the letters inside, they'll renew. mwah-ha-ha-ha....oh wait, that's a lame world domination plan, isn't it?

Anyway, I spend a lot of time (probably way too much) complaining about stuff in this blog. So, today, I thought I'd take a moment to note the little things that made me happy lately instead:

• My husband. I love him. Last night we were trying to decide if we'd seen the movie Star Trek:Nemesis, and I figured out that I had definitely not seen it. So he probably hadn't seen it either, unless he saw it with someone else. He then "confessed" that he had a secret geek girlfriend on the side, because there are times I'm just not geeky enough. Like that's possible. Later, when I got back from walking Seamus, John was listening to a song, and he said, "This song makes me think of you. It's called My Beloved Wife." which made me all mushy and happy. And then later we had a great conversation about karma and personal responsibility and well, I just love him.

• The fact that my friend Becky was happy to featured in one of my posts last week.

• My boss, who told me earlier in the week that she thinks she's getting credit for the work that I do and is looking for projects that will clearly show the rest of the company what I am capable of on my own. And then she came through with the first project idea today. Who wouldn't be happy with a boss like that?

• The fact that my friend Laila will be back in town in just 120 hours. Or something close to 120 hours. I didn't want to get all overly precise and geeky about it. We'll be taking the town by storm. As much as a single mom with a 15 month old (that's Laila) and a somewhat boring homebody (that's me) can storm anyway.

• Browsing for lip gloss on Sephora.com. All of my makeup is ancient, and thanks to Amalah, I'm itching to replace it. Seriously, I bought a new lipstick and lip liner for my wedding two years ago, and I haven't bought any new makeup since. I don't wear a lot of makeup, but I do like lip gloss. And mascara, because my eyelashes are very long, but light, so no one can see them.

I actually got to work on time today, which means I could be home right now if I weren't waiting for the broadcast team. Again. Grr. And what makes it worse is that I'm waiting around to approve a broadcast that isn't even supposed to be my responsibility anymore. Sadly, the person who should approve it leaves at 3, and they didn't have the tests ready before she was done for the day. So, until I get to go, here are a couple of the stories that I read about today that made me want to rant.

1. The Senate is debating a Constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. Why is the conservative answer always "amend the Constitution"? The Constitution is a big deal. Leave it alone!!! Also, why do people find gay marriage so threatening? I don't get it. My sister-in-law seems to think that a gay marriage just couldn't be as valid as a straight one and I don't see why. Love is love. Straight people don't have a monopoly on that. And why do they say "the institution of marriage is under attack"? Gay people place such a high value on marriage that they are clamoring for the right to get married themselves. That shows a lot more respect for the institution than, say, Britney Spears or Jennifer Lopez.

2. Homeland Security is floating the idea of postponing the election if there's another terrorist attack, saying al Queda wants to interfere with the US elections. There are so many flaws in that scenario that I don't even know where to begin, so let me just say this: The only possibility I can think of where I might find it acceptable to postpone an election would be if one of the candidates died right before the election. Otherwise, postponing an election feels a little too much like martial law. I sincerely hope that Americans will take to the streets in massive protests if the election is postponed. I can promise you I'll be there.

3. And now for an international rant. It's marching season again in Northern Ireland. I find this to be particularly stupid on all sides. (full bias disclosure: yes, my family came from Ireland -- a long, long time ago. And yes, they were Catholic, so I'm firmly in the Catholic camp, although I'm not actually Catholic myself.) The Orangemen (Protestants) march through the Catholic neighborhoods, celebrating a victory that ocurred in 1690. How about you just let that go already and maybe give your country a chance at peace? You oppressed the Catholics for hundreds of years and feel you must keep rubbing their noses in it? That's classy. And the Catholics? Why not just ignore the stupid bastards? They'll have a lot less fun if you just pretend they aren't having their silly, childish parades.

Ok, I'm done ranting now. I'm still waiting for the broadcast team, but now I'm going to go read other people's blogs.

That pretty much describes my whole weekend. Oh, but first, I want to congratulate my husband, who has lost 14 pounds since we started our getting fit program, and is on his 5th day without coffee. Yay, John! I’m progressing more slowly, but am feeling very motivated by the fact that he has lost so much more weight than me.

Now, on to the movies. We watched three very different movies, all of which I liked. Friday night we watch School of Rock, which I really liked. I don’t always think Jack Black is funny, but I thought School of Rock was sweet. John and I were joking about “raising the goblet of Rock” all weekend. The only drawback is that I’ve had the song Bonzo Goes to Bitburg stuck in my head since, and that’s not the movie’s fault.

Saturday was Kill Bill day – Volumes 1 and 2. No one would ever describe Kill Bill as sweet, but I liked it as well. It was violent, but the fight scenes were so improbable that they didn’t really bother me. I also love the way Quentin Tarantino uses music in his movies. I’m sure there’s some technical term for it, but I am always impressed by the way he finds the perfect songs to match what’s happening visually and in the plot.

And then Sunday we watched Lost In Translation. A couple of people had told me they thought this movie was slow and boring, but I disagree. I liked the pacing of the movie. And, actually, Sofia Coppola picked interesting music to set the mood of her movie too. And I loved the ending. Not too happy, not too sad, just right.

In between all of these movies, I managed to fit in some knitting. I’m making a baby blanket for my friend Christine, and I really need to get moving, since she’s due at the end of August. I’m nearing the end of one of the balls of yarn, and somehow it got all snarled up. I literally spent hours undoing all the knots on Saturday. Just went I was about to go lose it, John started playing a CD by this comedian, Mitch Hedberg. God, that guy is funny. It’s impossible to go insane from frustration when you’re laughing so hard you are crying.

All in all, a very satisfying weekend.

The universe is telling me to stop whining.

As soon as I finished my last post, I checked out a couple of other blogs that I read.

And then I went to this one, which made me cry and reminded me just how small my problems really are.

1. I got into work, and I had a message from Melissa. The person I want to hire? Yeah, she's looking forward to her phone interview with my boss, and she'll complete the background check paperwork, but she wants to make sure I know she's still interviewing. Doesn't anyone want to come be my assistant marketing manger? The pay is good. Seriously, the salary we're offering to people two years out of school? I worked for six or seven years before I got paid that much. The benefits are good -- medical, dental, vision, 401K, stock options. I'm a great boss. Really. And my team is fun. Ok, we've got one problem child, but she's ok. Plus, she's very good at her job.

2. The aforementioned problem child is having a bad day, which means I get to have a bad day, too. However, I am working on the whole practicing compassion thing, and trying very hard to understand where she's coming from. But, oh, the drama.

3. Work is not as much fun since my friend Becky left to start a new job. I miss her. I like many of the other people I work with, but they are not Becky.

4. I have a very complicated username and password project that has been on hold that my boss is suddenly all over. Ugh. I would like to put that one back on hold, please.

5. People just aren't getting my jokes today. And a couple of them were damn funny.

6. I am struggling with the whole healthy eating thing. My husband is doing great -- eating smaller portions, and not snacking. I, on the other hand, want to eat french fries, potato chips, chocolate and soda. I haven't. But I want to.

Only an hour and ten minutes until my weekend starts, though. That's something to look forward to.

This is a skill I need to develop.

It’s very easy to have compassion for people who are obviously struggling, like the refugees in Darfur. I also generally manage to have a fairly charitable attitude toward others when I’m in a good mood.

I think it is important to go beyond that, though. I worry that sometimes I’m careless with other people, particularly the ones I’m closest to, because I get wrapped up in myself and forget to look at them carefully, to really listen. My friends and loved ones deserve my compassion.

Or even with strangers. Maybe the guy who wouldn’t let me merge in traffic wasn’t being a dick. Maybe he’s worried about losing his job, or his kid is sick or he’s just having a lousy day. I need to remember to think about that instead of getting irritated.

Then there’s when I’m the one in a bad mood. That’s when I really need to learn to step outside of myself and look at other people with compassion and understanding.

Because really, my life is pretty good. I have frustrations, and events that make me sad, and, of course, stuff about my life I’d like to change. But I have a husband and a dog who I love...a healthy family...wonderful friends...a good job...a roof over my head...plenty to eat...and I should be grateful.

If I can just keep that in mind.

I keep reading these stories where people are saying that the new “summer-season” experiment is a failure.

Please, listen closely. As someone who recently gave up cable (sob) I can tell you that your problem is not that people don’t watch TV in the summer. It is that all of the new programs you put on suck.

Seriously. What a bunch of crap! Fox – you cancel a great show like Wonderfalls, and run Quintuplets (sorry, Andy Richter) and Method & Red? What the hell is wrong with you? And NBC – try showing something other than Fear Factor or Law & Order. I actually like Law & Order, but you’ve run it in to the ground.

That said, I am looking forward to watching the Amazing Race on CBS. I always skip the first couple of episodes while they pare the numbers down a bit, but I love watching the later ones.

Also, any network that would consider showing something other than sports on the weekend would be greatly appreciated. UPN and the WB – I’m looking in your direction here. Now is the time to get me hooked on your shows, so I’ll watch them in the fall.

I had a lovely three day weekend. I spent some time with my mom, helping her pick out eyeglasses and flowers to plant in her garden. I got to hang out with John and Seamus, who are my two favorite people. I read a book. I made homemade pizza, which was way easier than I thought it would be. I watched movies (Goldmember -- not as funny as the first two Austin Powers movies. The Ladykillers -- slow at times, but has a great ending.) I took naps. It was great...right up until I got food poisoning.

Curse you, IHOP! I didn't even want to eat there, either. We had to wait forever for a (nasty, sticky feeling) table. It was too loud, too hot and filled with screaming children. One of those children was my normally adorable nephew, who has decided that John and I are strangers, and he doesn't want anything to do with us. Plus my in-laws were a) extremely late and b)obsessed with making us move around. First, my mother-in-law had to switch seats with my husband. Then my sister-in-law had to move the high chair to the middle of the table and make us all slide down a seat. Later, we all had to move down a spot the other way so my brother-in-law could move to the other side of the table. John felt sick before we even left the restaurant, but my illness waited to sneak up on me and deprive me of sleep. I won't go into all the details -- I know no one wants that -- but I will say it was extremely unpleasant. And how do you get food poisoning from pancakes and hash browns? I thought being a vegetarian would save me from this sort of thing.

Today I have successfully eaten peppermint tea, applesauce, a cup of soup and a roll, so I think I'm on the road to recovery.

Boy, am I glad that's over.

There are a bunch of things I would have written about over the last week if I'd had just a wee bit more time. Here's a quick summary. I'll leave it up to you to decide if these topics would have been interesting in greater detail.

• Arnold Schwartzenegger withdrew his "kill the pets quicker" proposal after an outcry from just about everyone in the country. I've decided to chalk that one up to cultural differences -- Tuetonic efficiency clashes with the American love of animals. One of his aides really should have said something to him. But, Arnold, I'll never feel the same way about you again.

• A much longer Fahrenheit 9/11 post.

• Mysterious shower curtain malfunctions. Twice this week I've gotten out of the shower to discover that I have flooded my bathroom. And I mean flooded. I have no idea how I'm doing this.

• Some jerk threw a soda at my car while it was parked. I came out to find a straw stuck to the driver's side window and the whole side of the car sticky. Yuck.

• The co-worker who is spending $85 to get a short of cortisone in a zit that will go away on its own in just a few days.

• My problems with Hello, which is supposed to allow me to post photos, but which I cannot get to work.

• Comcast finally cancelled my cable. And I miss it so.

And there you have it. Next week should be much calmer, and I'll be back to my old blogging self again.

Note to bad drivers: bunny ears just might make your lives easier.

I just ran out to get some lunch, and on the way back I got stuck behind a very slow car. Normally, this would make me nuts -- I'm a bit of an impatient driver -- but for some reason the driver of this car was wearing bunny ears.

I was so busy laughing about the bunny ears and making up reasons why this person would be driving around wearing bunny ears (singing telegram...lost a bet...thinks he's part bunny?) that I wasn't even slightly annoyed, and did not drive aggressively at all.

So, if you know anyone who isn't a very good driver, you may want to consider suggesting that they drive around wearing bunny ears. They'll probably experience a noticeable drop in being tailgated, honked at and passed by irritated drivers.

I love blogging.

I think I may be addicted. I've been so busy this week that I just haven't been able to post as much as I like to do. In fact, I should be writing some copy for work right now.

But I couldn't wait any longer. I have been thinking about blog entries, (although I haven't actually written any,) reading other people's blogs, and talking about blogging. Just last night my husband was treated to a long speech about blogs that I enjoy and how I hope that having a blog will help me improve my writing skills so that I can write entries and stories that I think are up to the same standard. This led to a very interesting conversation about how good writing has to have soul, just like good music has to have soul. And it is so true. A good writer makes you feel. My husband, who is an amazing writer, once wrote a scrap of a story that made me cry off and on for two days because it was so sad. It was just an idea he had scribbled down real quick, but the picture he painted was so vivid that it is actually making me tear up right now when I think about it.

John, you should really have a blog of your own. And I'm not just saying that because I love you.

Oh, now I'm totally off topic. See, this probably wouldn't happen to a more experienced blogger. Anyway, I love blogging. I look forward to writing in my blog. I like the people I've "met" since I started reading blogs, and having a blog of my own. I now feel a need to comment on everything. I was actually irritated this morning when I read a story on CNN.com and there wasn't anyplace for me to leave a comment. Then I remembered that was a blogging thing, not an everywhere thing.

And I think it is already helping me be a better writer at work. Remember the much complained about book copy? I just brought that campaign to a very successful conclusion this week, due to two pieces I wrote without any input from my boss, who is on vacation. Plus, I just wrote a letter for another product that turned out really well. It was hard to write too, because the editor has a very different style than product I usually write for.

So yay for blogging!