It's been a while since I've written. Frankly, I'm exhausted. I'm on this new project at work -because apparently the 3483098 projects I already had were insufficient. In the classic fashion of my employer, this is a fast-track project with target dates set by none other than IT, a department (well a conglomeration of departments) lucky enough to still have sufficient staff to put them on max 2 projects at once. Lucky. Needless to say, the dates are from another planet, leading us to average 10 meetings a week (easy) on this thing. Sigh.
If that weren't enough, this project is contingent on one of the limping along pathetic systems I support. (The project is to replace one of the others.) So I have spent my month-long tenure on this project being portrayed by almost everyone involved as Negative Nelly, because I keep telling them that the pathetic system (it's called Siebel - and probably most IT people have stumbled across this sad thing) was going to be the quick death of our project. I pissed off the business leaders and I frustrated the IT contacts so successfully that I got a special 4:30pm "I just wanted to understand where you're coming from" call about my "attitude".
I love it.
I have now been vindicated.
In one of the "breakout" sessions held for this thing to which I was not slated to attend, Siebel came up. AGAIN. It became somewhat apparent to the IT folks during this session that...hmm...perhaps WAS going to be a problem. REALLY?
"Andrea - Can you come up - we need your help on something. Just 10 minutes?"
Sure....
4 hours and a demo of Siebel later, the light bulb dinged above the heads of the IT analysts - and the business leaders.
I HAVE BEEN VINDICATED.
Now the fun begins. We clearly can't put the brakes on this project yet. We're throwing a whole heap of cash at is, so I get that. BUT, we (that would clearly be the "royal" we - ha ha ha) are presenting this "issue" to senior management on Tuesday.
Let the wild ride begin.
So needless to say, the endless stream of meetings has lead to long nights and missed time at the gym. This is excruciatingly frustrating to me - not because I don't love my job. For all I bitch about it - and I know I BITCH PLENTY - I love what I do. I love it.
It's that I teeter on the edge of being a workaholic - and I have to be very careful about that. When I get immersed in my job too much, I just WORK - and there goes the gym. I am very cautious to not sacrifice too much time with my kid, but I tend to slack the time I devote to myself, whether it be working out, spending time with friends, even getting to see my shrink. This is not good.
So I'm working on it.
Happily, I got to the gym a couple of times this week - I even lifted, God help me. I thought 2 trips plus a planned long walk tomorrow wasn't bad - not ideal, but not bad, especially when you consider the lovely late winter never-ending storm we had this week.
In other news...
...my "baby" has a computer in his room. Gotta love his indulgent, connected dad, who had our old desktop computer rebuilt for him.
I am lucky - my child is so considerate and non-sneaky when it comes to electronics. At nearly 8, he still won't turn on the TV without asking us first. Which is great EXCEPT at 6:40am when instead he feels the need to wander into our room and ask...sometimes after closing the cat's tail in the door (ok yes, that was today).
So I am ok with his computer being in his room. It's remarkable to me how computer literate he is. He's already loading music into iTunes on the machine. The first CD - AC/DC. The second CD - a classical mix. Diverse? I would say so.
It's moments like that which shake me, just a little bit. My child is very far removed from babyhood and toddlerhood. The person who resides in our 2nd bedroom is, in fact, a person. He's not an adult, but he's no baby. He's a tried and true kid. He has his whole, intricate, already complicated social network. (I love observing this - he went roller skating this afternoon and it's so funny to watch his little alpha self work a crowd.) He has a life I don't know and don't understand - and it's only going to grow.
He turns 8 in May. 8. I remember my mother telling me that once you have kids, life flies. I thought she was full of crap. I was absolutely wrong.
For as much as my child drives me nuts - and he DEFINITELY does - I mean, really, is a yoga pose and not one but TWO cartwheels really appropriate in the middle of a fast-paced soccer game?!?!? - watching him grow is a truly remarkable, awe-inspiring and, when I think about it too long - scary as hell endeavor.
I need to remember this when he gets out of bed 15 minutes after I send him in because his sea monkeys need to be fed, or when he refuses to speak to me because "I'm in a BAD MOOD MOM". The next step - his first cell phone, his first call to a girl, his first time stay home alone - it's looming up ahead, around the next corner.
Wow. I remember wishing his babyhood away (thanks PPD for that pleasure). I don't wish his stages away now - err, well, not usually.
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