Monday, March 10, 2008

Life is like a Vlookup command...

Had one of those days in the office today. The one where you spend the entire afternoon redoing everything you did in the morning because of bad data. Well, maybe this was partially my fault because I knew the data was bad when I started working with it but I didn’t expect it to magically fix itself while I wasn’t looking. As a result I got to spend even more of my day than usual manipulating spreadsheets and playing around with data. I know that I actually enjoy that but running the same stuff over and over again does get a little tiring.

It did dawn on me that I did a ton of work today without really talking to anyone. A phone call here or there but otherwise it was working with my headphones on for eight hours. This makes me wonder about one of my biggest fears about gainful unemployment: the possibilities of going days without actually talking to anyone. Truth be told, I sometimes do that now so I guess I shouldn’t consider it that much of a concern. Well, obviously it is a concern but at least I should not consider it a new experience. It’s not good in any way but at least I am aware of it. Plus, soon I won’t have to attempt to make half hearted attempts at conversation in elevators anymore. That has to be a plus.

I know I’m talking about work now but I figure that I’m so close to the end that it isn’t worth the effort to try to edit myself anymore. This way I get to complain about being added to an 8 AM meeting tomorrow to discuss the job I’m leaving. Yeah, I am so looking forward to that one. I had a hard enough getting inspired to get into the office by eight when I actually thought about the future. Now I just tend to sneak in the side door so Lumberg doesn’t notice.

Another interesting question that has been asked of me recently: will I tell new employers about my blog. Specifically, would I bring this up in an interview? For some reason I have the same answer as I do about telling someone I’m dating about it; I don’t bring it up but will discuss it if the situation arises. It’s a bit of a Catch-22. If I tell a girl that I run a vaguely successful blog I give the impression that I am creative and artistic. The problem is if she actually reads the site then she finds out more things about me than she would really need to know. Companies would be the same way. It’s a lot of “wow, this guy has a lot of talent along with an apparent Lindsay Lohan obsession.” Makes for a tough call.

Last note for the night and the best example of good news / bad news in a long while. Good news is next Monday we celebrate the return of The Big Bang Theory and the sitcom version of my life in How I Met Your Mother. Bad news is that in order to raise ratings and save the show Brittney Spears is going to guest star on How I Met Your Mother. I am not making any part of that last sentence up. The show that I described as being a brilliant retelling of being young and single has decided to add Brit to the cast for a show. Guess I can’t consider the show to be based on my life anymore. Not unless things have gotten even weirder than they’ve usually been.

1 comment:

Foodie said...

I am going to reiterate here that you better hope I do have a job by the time that you don't - or that I don't get your cell number because you won't be going for days or even a day without talking to anyone. You will be called by me and coerced into all kinds of TROUBLE. Yes, I seem shy. I am not.