Checking in

Hello. Yes, I am still here. Still having a problem focusing. It's been a busy few weeks at work, and when I get home all I want to do is goof off.

I got thrown for a loop this past Wednesday. I was talking to my team mate, glanced up, and saw my supervisor headed down the aisle looking right at me. She gave me the universal signal for "come here" (index finger: bend/straighten/repeat).

"Uh-oh," I said to Bess. "I'm getting The Finger. Gotta go."

We went to her office, she shut the door (uh-oh again), and then she told me the project I've been working on for about 2 1/2 years has just been expanded, and I'm going to have three part-time folks to help me. Here's the kicker -- I'm supervising them! She gave me the applications (I knew there was a call going out for help with this project, but I didn't know it had been expanded), told me to pick some, interview 'em, and hire three. She's going to get me set up for the program that we use to keep track of the part-timers' hours, and we're going to start as soon as possible.

Oh, and over the summer? She wants a "whole crew," whatever that means. So I have three people to supervise to start with and then I'm getting more.

Don't mind me, I'll just be over here in the corner having a panic attack.

I don't want to supervise. I don't mind training people, I just don't wanna be The Boss Lady. I have no choice, though, so after a couple hours of what I've been calling "booga-booga freak-out" mode, I sat down and came up with a plan of attack. Since then I've been interviewing, hiring, writing up instructions, gathering supplies, setting up a work space (more of a pick-up and drop-off center), giving people gentle nudges to get me the things I need so that I actually have something for these three to do when they show up for work.

I told my Mom, she's thrilled. And I heard from my sister who, after three weeks in her new position, has been drafted as a trainer to help out with something. Three weeks, and she's made enough of an impression on them that they want her to teach other people. My Mom is so proud of her kids right now, she could burst.

So could I, but not from pride. Part of the reason I've never sought a management position is that I'm afraid of what I'd do if given power. The little rational voice in the back of my head says I'd be a good supervisor precisely because I'm afraid of turning into a tyrant. And goodness knows, I've seen plenty of those to know how not to behave. I hope.

In life list news, I don't know if you noticed the new gadget on the sidebar. it's from LibraryThing. In an effort to get through #4 (Read every book I own) I've started to catalog them. (Ugh. Library people. Go on. Roll your eyes. It's OK.) Can't know if I've read everything if I don't know what I have, right? Right.

Until just about 1/2 an hour ago, the book in my "Currently reading" box was Zombies of the Gene Pool, by Sharyn McCrumb. It's a murder mystery that happens at a science fiction writers' reunion party. Next up: Fox Evil, by Minette Walters. Then maybe I'll read the one about Eleanor of Aquitaine. Or something by Garrison Keillor. Or maybe I'll finally read Slaves of New York, which I've had so long that I don't remember where I got it.

Or maybe I'll try to figure out how to use the camera on my new phone. I bought a BlackBerry, gang. Yup. With a touchscreen. The fella who helped me at the Verizon store yesterday looked up my account and said, "Wow! You've been eligible for an upgrade since 2005!" Yeah, well, it ain't broke so...but now it is. Poor old thing is dying. Can't pull down a signal without using most of the battery. I've been using it as my alarm clock for two years now (because I can't find where I packed the alarm clock. It's in here somewhere!), and that's really about all it's good for any more. So I adjusted my voice and text plan (I very rarely talk on my cell. Last month I used one minute, and that was to check a voicemail. And I think that's the first time I used it to call anyone all year so far), added on the data package, and I'm only paying about $10 more a month than I used to.

And? I have a fancy-schmancy phone. With wi-fi. And email. Squeee! And a camera! I've been feeling a bit lost without my camera. Only two more weeks until I can collect it from my folks.

Added two more things to the life list:

56. View the Perseid Meteor Shower from a really good vantage point. (Arizona desert? Pennsylvania's Black Forest (a night sky preserve)? Not sure yet.)
57. Go kite-flying.

And I refined #54 a bit:

54. See 1000 independent/foreign/art-house films.

Because the other was just too easy. Already seen one: 24-Hour Party People, about the music scene in Manchester in the 1980s. Very interesting to see where the songs I grew up with in the 80s came from. One movie down, 999 to go!

Psst. Bunny alert! Nibbling on the grass outside the window in the computer lab where I am right now. Look!



Thank you, BlackBerry!