Office Chronicles: the medicine cabinet

I burned my finger last night while making dinner for myself. My thumb slipped off of the potholder and onto the searing hot cookie sheet. Fortunately, the stove in my tiny apartment is right next to the sink, so I quickly turned the faucet on and ran the seared surface of my right thumb under cold water. (My co-worker Katie tells me that she learned in chemistry "back in the day" that one should actually put a burn in lukewarm water, and gradually turn it to cold. Oh well...)

While I have the appearance of making important decisions by weighing all of the factors involved (it's true, I am a contemplator...), I actually make my decisions based on the most random details. Prime example: church shopping. My parents took my opinion into consideration when choosing the church that we have attended since we moved to Michigan in 1992. I still haven't told them that I actually picked it for the Sunday School snacks... Next example: first job out of college.

The day of my interview at the formerly known as Thomson Tax & Accounting, I was given the usual tour of the facility. I will admit, I was wowed by what I saw - kitchens galore, an ice cream machine, massage chair, exercise room... but I think what did it for me was the medicine cabinet.

I'm actually not kidding. It's a large white metal case mounted on a wall right between the restrooms near my department. My tour guide's exact words while talking about the medicine cabinet: "We don't want you to be sick - we want you to feel better!" (While I counted it as genuine, I now realize it's because they need us to work...work, work!)

I've opened the medicine cabinet a few times prior to today. My eyes hurt from staring at a computer screen for 7.5 hours a day, so I went in search of eye drops one day - and lo and behold they were there, in tiny one-use portions. I'm also starting to develop a dependency on coffee since starting work - so every now and then when my caffeine-deprivation headaches kick in, I run to get a packet of Ibuprofen.

I am currently typing with my right thumb swathed in "Cool & Soothe - the aqua dressing that cools and heals" gauze. While trying to find the appropriate adhesive tape with which to wrap my finger, I scanned the rest of the cabinet for interesting finds. The names/products I found worth mentioning are as follows: Insta-cool Cold Spray, Super-Stop Blood Clotter, Cramp Relief, q-tips, cough drops, and blue bandaids (latex-free). I have never considered marketing as a viable career path prior to reading some of those product names (sounds like they need help in the pharmaceutical marketing industry...) Maybe that'll be the next bend in the road after this one! (I'm kidding).

So it's Thanksgiving Eve and I'm itching to drive home to Kalamazoo - but I'm sitting anticipating incoming calls for another hour. The cues are quiet after a crazy day, so I got the chance to take pictures and post this blessed object of my affections...

The casualty

Tanksliving

Rain showers today in Ann Arbor. It's 37 °F outside, but feels like 27 °F. Although Turkey Day is a little less than two weeks away, Christmas songs made their premature debut on the radio at the beginning of the month. Looks like we're approaching that time of year again - "'Tis the season to be... consumerist - fa la la la la, la la la la." Let's certainly hope so - especially with buzzwords like "recession" and "depression" being thrown around.

Within the world of retail decor, the fourth Thursday of November has gotten the shaft. (Not to mention the fact that the day after the fourth Thursday of November is the biggest shopping day of the year...) In fact, in August, I had lunch with my adopted grandparents at Cracker Barrel, and was shocked and amazed to find juxtaposed two trees - one filled with Halloween decorations, and the other laden with Christmas ornaments. That said, it's easy to forget Thanksgiving, or even a lifestyle of thankfulness.

Cornucopias, pilgrim hats, and shopping sprees aside, "In 1623 a day of fasting and prayer during a period of drought was changed to one of thanksgiving because the rain came during the prayers. Gradually the custom prevailed in New England of annually celebrating thanksgiving after the harvest." (Thank you, History Channel: http://www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=Minisite_Generic&content_type_id=874&display_order=2&mini_id=1083)

As the Little Drummer Boy pa-rum-pum-pum-pums you towards Christmas, think on things that you can be thankful for as we anticipate the Thanksgiving holiday. Here's a taste of what I'm looking forward to driving home to soon...

Thinking at an ungodly hour of the night; or, losing my marbles

I woke up at 2:30 am (thank you, sleep cycle) and also happened to remember that I needed to move my car. And now I am wide awake, thinking about how different my life is now from a year ago.

A year ago, sometime between the hours of November 10 and November 11, I slept a fitful sleep after having just broken up with my boyfriend of two years. I remember opening my eyes to the gray dawn streaming into my room. I actually wanted to go back to sleep, to forget. But I knew I would just wake up once more to feeling snapped in two. I'm pretty sure I woke up with my arms in the air, grasping for something in front of my face, which actually ended up being nothing.

The rest of the day was a blur. I don't sing in the shower (often...), but I managed to squeak out a few notes that morning because the pain in my heart was excruciating:
In the chaos, in confusion, I know you're sovereign still...
(here is a better version of it, if you're not familiar with the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axqXMuW8x1U)
And at the end of the day, my comforter served as the largest kleenex in the world as I laid in it wrapped up, an ashen and tangled heap.

But here I am a year later, having more than survived to write about it. This breakup has been one of my most significant defining moments thus far in my young life - and I'm certain that there will be more. A year ago, I felt like a bomb had detonated somewhere close to me - and if you saw me walking around a year ago today, I literally looked shellshocked. I don't mean to keep looking back - but I do, because for every ounce of pain that I experienced on the inside, that kind of broken was, and is, beautiful.

It's November 11, I have been single for exactly one year, and I have no frame of reference anymore in terms of life experiences. Everything is new - and everyday, I am more confident that God engineers our circumstances perfectly. In fact, I found myself being reminded of this fact through an illustration I heard at a tiny church service I found at the airport during my three hour layover in Atlanta on Sunday.

It was about a little boy running around with marbles clenched in his tiny fist. His father knew that the marbles were dangerous because (1) the child might swallow them or (2) the child might drop the marbles while running and slip and fall on them. In order to lure the boy away from the marbles, the parent produced a new and better toy - an airplane - for which the boy would have to let go of the marbles in order to grasp at the better thing.

Without remorse, I think it would be appropriate to say that I have lost my marbles...

a day in the life of a customer service intern

(Writing this at the close of the day, while watching the last U.S. presidential debate - so forgive me if I'm spacey...also, I like how the diagonal stripes on the Senator from Illinois and the Senator from Arizona's ties are slanted in the same direction. And that's all the political talk that you'll be getting from the girl who got a BA in Political Science...)

Since moving to Ann Arbor and starting my new job, I haven't really sat down to write about the nitty gritty of the day and have written emo-colored posts. Still in training because it's only week two, but things are starting to become more regular at work in terms of schedule. I work for the company formerly known as Creative Solutions, which was acquired by Thomson in 1979, which merged with Reuters on April 17 earlier this year. It's located in the Avis Farms corporate park where State Street turns into State Road, south of I-94. My commute ranges from 9-12 minutes depending on traffic in the mornings, during which I listen to NPR on 91.7.

Upon approaching the two sets of floor-to-ceiling double doors, one can see a tiny sticker strategically placed on the left door of each set: PLEASE USE THE OTHER DOOR. Week two, and I still forget this, sometimes. Once inside, I show my makeshift badge (because the interns haven't gotten the sweet new ones with Thomson Reuters orange) at the front desk and veer to the left towards the Customer Service Department and make my way over to home sweet cube #402 to check my schedule for the day.

Once the clock strikes 8:30 am EST, one of two things happen - either a half an hour meeting, or starting straight to work. Most mornings, like today, start with general meetings (some of which get me started in the day with a deer-in-headlights look, just based on all of the new information. Now picture me looking like that through most of the training sessions, every day!) When the meeting concludes, everyone is released to their work. Every now and then I hear laughter throughout our small department. And even though we have a real water cooler, we have an imaginary one where people gather and talk on the way to actually getting water. My favorite is the hot water, tea, and coffee area - which greatly aids in keeping me awake for meetings! And now for the good stuff...

Today, the interns started on a calling campaign, to check in with firms about product renewals for the professional software that Thomson Reuters sells. Today was also the deadline for businesses to file their 1040s, which makes for very stressed CPAs. Correction: which makes for very stressed CPAs at some of the firms that the interns were calling about product renewals today because according to our electronic schedules, that was the task at hand. Bad idea.

Having made some of these calls yesterday, I was feeling relatively confident about the task for the morning. I had no expectations when I made my first phone call, in which I ended up getting put through to a CPA at a small accounting firm. "It's 1040 deadline day, so this better be important," the voice on the other end of the phone warned me. Within moments, what should have been a short conversation became very escalated, with the client taking his frustrations regarding today out on me, his sales representative, the products, the company...I can't remember how I ended it, but I'm pretty sure my fingers were shaking as I finished typing up notes from the call. Probably something like, "I'm very sorry sir, have a great day..."

Okay so actually (and fortunately), not all calls are like that. But after hanging up with Mr. "I become unreasonable sometimes" (he said that, true story), I have to admit, I was shaken. Acknowledged: it was a bad day to call about something minor, like a product renewal. It was also not a good day for this overly emotional and hormonal girl to hear the words "if you're calling today, then you're weird" on the other end of the line. (So I took a walk and cried for a little bit - definitely the hormones, leave me alone!)

The rest of the workday went on uneventfully - except for getting lots of genuine apologies for what had happened on that campaign call, and reassurances from my new colleagues. I work with the nicest people - but that's to be expected with customer service. (I think...) And tomorrow? Different from today because I get to sleep in a tiny bit.

While walking towards home today, I reflected on a few things after having been on the other end of the line where the customer is always right. For instance, when you're really steamed about something and you have the opportunity to call some 800 number and complain, don't take it out on the little person. That voice on the other end of the line - whether calling from an election phone bank or some telemarketing center in India, regardless of the thickness of their skin - is someone's child, spouse, relative friend...a valuable person. Hearing that CPA react under pressure made me think about my crummy treatment of telemarketers, who are just doing their job; made me think about how I react and how I treat others when I am stressed out. I'm not a telemarketer. But today made me think about how I only think about things like this when I myself have experienced it. Naturally. But I wish that I could care more about things without necessarily having experienced them myself.

I'll post more on life at the office as I get to know it better...

Looking forward, looking back: one month to a year

If you worked with me, then you'd know that I stole the first part of the title of this post from our monthly department meetings, abbreviated as "LFLB." They are reflective meetings (I mean, as reflective as one can be at 8:30 am), in which statistics from the past month are observed and improvement from the previous month recognized. And then the cycle begins again: after looking back, time to look forward.

So for those of you who are wondering what the second part of this post's title means, I will clarify for you. I have one month until my one year anniversary. Anniversary, you ask? Even though anniversaries are merely celebrations of epochs in peoples' lives, I think that anniversary is widely connoted with marking milestones in an interpersonal relationship. So am I dating anyone currently? No, not at present. And I haven't been for almost one year - and that year will be completed in a month.

It's bittersweet to think about, actually. While I was in a relationship, I was one of those girlfriends who observed those seemingly nonsensical anniversaries on the 10th of every month, without fail. Even if no actual celebration or dinner took place, that day was supposed to be special for me, because it reminded me of when something new started from love. Interestingly enough, that particular relationship ended two years from its start date, on the very next day. After the break up, it was hard getting out of the habit of always looking forward to the 10th because it reminded me of what had happened on the 11th five months ago, six months ago, seven months ago...

Technically, it's the 12th - but since I haven't gone to sleep yet, it is still the 11th to me. Perhaps it's foolish to keep looking back. It's been a long and difficult process regaining my bearings after losing something so precious to me. And it was very easy to remember how disoriented I felt in the process of breaking (up). The continual looking back eventually became a crutch, an excuse for not having direction and purpose after graduation. At the suggestion of a long-time acquaintance/newly-found friend, I discontinued contact with my former better half. It helped with the pain - a lot. But unfortunately, I am the girl who remembers everything that everyone else forgets. And even though I was trying to forget, to be okay, memories - good and bad - would come back to haunt me in the form of flashbacks. Sometimes, I wish I had a sea of forgetfulness.

But actually, I'm glad that I don't - because when I look back, I see how much I learned in that relationship and after. Even though it didn't end up the way that I wanted it to, I learned some important and painful lessons about love. That it's not all about butterflies and romance and being "in love..." but that it's a choice, to will the highest good for the other person - regardless of the relationship: friendship, familial, romantic... and that's only scratching the surface. (Disclaimer: I am not an expert at neither love nor "personal relationships," as my social psychology book described romantic relationships).

This isn't meant to be an entry with a sad violin playing in the background (even though I will admit that I cried today for the first time in what has been a long time, when someone asked me if I was "okay," as in "okay post-him"). I am thankful for the times that the plans I had for myself didn't work out - because they always worked out better than I thought they were going to. Weeping may endure for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. It's a month to a brand new year (if you haven't noticed, I love new years...) - not that the newness hasn't started already. One month to a year, and someday I'll probably forget that I ever had to mark the 11th as an anniversary for myself. But for the time being, I am looking forward to yet another opportunity to celebrate starting afresh.

p.s. I am stealing Alex Lee's shoutouts:
shout out to Alex for becoming my friend and sharing advice with me like a good friend would
shout out to Rachael Baby for reading my blog (and for having an awesome face)

Chasing dust bunnies and conveying sushi

As I sit down to write this, I haven't been home since 7:55 am when I walked out the door to day 2 of work this morning. To be quite honest, I was dreading it last night when I had lain (yes - it is "lain," if you don't believe me http://www.karenleefield.com/blog/laid-lain-lay-lie.html. Running through my head: 'Oh my gosh, a blog about language!!!') down to sleep. Fortunately, God knows exactly how we are feeling and exactly what we need - and He provides perfectly. I thought that today was spectacularly blog-worthy for illustrating the previous sentence.

If you are reading this and you are/were (1) my parents and sister Ariele; (2) on South Quad Resstaff 07-08; (3) my multiple dates to the 2008 BBA Formal, then you are sitting smiling up at me on my desk. This is because I determined to chase the dust bunnies away so I could place the said framed photographs on my desk, and so I could put up the lovely "The Path" calendar from my dear cousin-in-law Matt Green (very appropriately given to the author of this blog) and also place my very fancy-shmancy Vera Bradley post-it notes holder (with matching post-its) courtesy of my fashionista cousin Marie on my desk, without fear of the said dust bunnies dirtying everything. (And now that they're gone, I can put up more pictures of the faces I love!)

Between chasing away the dust bunnies (which I thought was a clever way to describe my day - but actually was a minor part of what made it so wonderful), I learned a lot more about what I'll be doing starting tomorrow (Eeek!) and a lot more about the people that I'll be working with. Found out that most of them are between the ages of 22 and 25, so I was thrilled to find myself in the company of people with experiences comparatively similar to mine. And, being customer service interns, everyone is tremendously nice (including the actual customer service representatives), so I'm looking forward to making lots of friends (I hope...) and learning a lot.

On the way out of work, I realized that my phone was off. When I went to turn it on, I found that my battery was basically zilch, along with a text message from my dear friend Gina, asking me if I wanted to have dinner with her. (Would I ever!) I prayed that my phone would hold out long enough to tell her that I would, and that I would stop at her house on the way home from work - which, incidentally, is very close to my new workplace. My battery died as soon as I hung up. We were in the parking lot at Cherry Blossom, the sushi restaurant off of State Street (which used to be Chi Chi's Mexican Restaurant, and if you know what those buildings look like, it makes for a humorous architectural combination). Gina hadn't even turned the car off when she got a phone call about someone whose car was towed, and could she pick him up at the corner of Hoover and Sybil?

Of course, we turned the car around and headed north to campus to pick up Zach Morairty, whose car had been towed while he was swimming at the Intramural Sports Building, or the IM Building. Gina actually didn't know where the intersection that Zach was waiting at was located - but the person sitting in the passenger seat (ahem, yours truly) had lived one street east of the said intersection. Now for a crash course in what to do when your car gets towed in Ann Arbor, if ever you find yourself in that unfortunate predicament...

We retrieved "Dr. Z," as he refers to himself sometimes, who informed us that we needed to take him first to the Police Station downtown (on the corner of 5th and Huron, for Ann Arborites) to pay some fee (to support the city of Ann Arbor, indubitably). There, he was directed to the tow truck company's headquarters, which was located southeast on Packard Street the other side of town. Once there, he was directed to where his car was actually located (just past the intersection of Carpenter and Ellsworth, again for Ann Arborites). We actually just missed the person who was supposed to release Zach's car to him by seconds, and watched him drive in the opposite direction from us in his yellow tow truck.

Fortunately, on the way to our final destination, we spotted a sushi restaurant tucked into the little strip mall while waiting at a stop light at the intersection of Carpenter and Ellsworth. Convinced Zach to join us for dinner instead of waiting for the tow truck man to come back. Found, to our delight and surprise, a neon sign that indicated to us even before setting foot in the restaurant that it would be "conveying sushi" to us. I'm pretty dense sometimes, so I thought that the restaurant was trying to be witty about how it would present sushi to us. I mean, I don't know how much clearer you can get with sushi. And then I saw it - the conveyer belt! (I feel sheepish as I write this, because I have already experienced the wonder of conveying sushi in my young life!)

The three of us sat next to the conveyer belt which, I might add, was very distracting with small plates of mouth watering sushi passing us by. Some of my favorite descriptions of the sushi and its ingredients included "snow sauce" (and that is made of...?), "Dark Knight" (had some BBQ eel in it, unfortunately didn't try it this time), and "Lion King" (also a must try for next time!) Apparently it's the first conveying sushi restaurant in Michigan - so if you're reading this somewhere in this pleasant peninsula (either one - taking into consideration my yupers, one in particular who is a Babe and likes sushi too...I know she's thinking this comment is "awkward"), check out Sushi Nara (unfortunately, I can't seem to find a website. If they have one, someone tell me!) Oh, crucial - almost forgot to mention our dessert: fruit tempura! I have never experienced fruit tempura before tonight, and it was breaded and confectionary-sugared goodness. You must try it at some point in your life.

Post-dessert and successful retrieval of Zach's car (which happened immediately after dinner), we drove to a small prayer gathering, for the working-people Bible study at my church. To describe it to people who aren't familiar with the church that I have attended for the past four years, we break church down into what are now called "life groups," or small groups of people who gather together to pray and worship together, and to discuss God, the Bible, and anything else once a week. The life groups divide according to "life stages": children, high school, undergrad, post-undergrad/graduate, working/young adult, and married. (This is just a very general breakdown, and of course, there are the inevitable overlaps). My life stage is working/young adult, and it was very refreshing to gather with people who share similar experiences.

So far, especially after my first day of work, it's been really easy to be homesick and lonely. Also, I am a "rank sentimentalist," as Humphrey Bogart's character Rick is described in the movie "Casablanca." Tonight, we gathered together and prayed with one another, to speak truth into one another's lives - about God's character and who He can be to us. (I know some of you disagree about what "truth" is - this is not the issue at hand. We can discuss that another time though, if you like!) What really encouraged me was that these people were praying specific things for me that were so relevant to my life, without having prior knowledge about how my life has been these past few days and weeks. I am not trying to be mystical, but I was comforted to know that in prayer, the Holy Spirit was conveying (sushi - no, not actually) to these people what to pray for, based on God's perfect knowledge of needs in my life (again, I'm sure some reading might say that this is to be debated). Regardless of your feelings about God, I felt assured of the fact that He knows exactly what's going on in my life - even to the smallest details, like the fact that Gina's text was actually the pick-me-up that this newly working girl needed! And sitting in the car with Gina, giving her directions about how to pick up Zach. And that even though Zach was probably stressed out about the towing ordeal, we all got to know one another better over a dinner that probably wouldn't have happened if his car hadn't been towed.

More and more, I am convinced that God uses everything - even detours, towing ordeals, and bends in the road. And if you finished this, you deserve a star (we give them out in the customer service department! But I will write about that another time...)

A day of firsts, and then some...

It's official - I'm in the workforce outside of school for the first time. First drive to first job orientation in Dexter, MI this morning- while accumulating miles on the first car I co-signed for. First time meeting the six other interns that were hired. First lunch party with the interns at the Ann Arbor site. First round of meetings that I had to fight to keep my eyes open for (including one about information security, which made me want to come home and change all of my passwords for everything - and did!) First cubicle. And for the first time in a while, feeling very humbled by the fact that while I've always prided myself on picking up things quickly, I felt almost completely overwhelmed by the new challenges presented by a first job. While I was driving home during my first 5:00 pm rush hour, I was almost certain that I'd want to write about my entire day play-by-play in even more detail than I have just shared now. But now that I'm home (oh yes, that too - first working-life domicile: 443 S. Division, #1; Ann Arbor, MI 48104. p.s. I love mail...) and half-watching Heroes with the roomie and her adorable little yorkie, Maximus, I don't really feel like doing that (due to the fact that my brain is fried from all the information thrown at me today!) I will say though, that towards the end of orientation, I was pretty sure that I was in love - with my new first post-undergrad place of employment, Thomson Reuters. (I actually loved Reuters, the news source, first - for their "Oddly Enough" news...but that another day. In in the meantime, check it out: http://www.reuters.com/news/oddlyEnough)

Now for the "and then some..." I actually wanted to post on Sunday evening, after driving back to Ann Arbor from Kalamazoo - in which I did a lot of thinking and planning for an amazing post full of plugs and favorites (obviously, I didn't write it...) I made a spontaneous trip home this weekend in order to retrieve some things for work that I'd left at home. The fact that my cousin Marie flew in from Orlando on Friday for a wedding and to spend time with baby Emerson also gave me a reason to go home. Picked her up in Detroit, tried getting dim sum with her and Christine Freires (but we got to the restaurant just after 3:00 pm, just after they had stopped serving it. I envy my darlings in Hong Kong who have access to it at any time!), and then made the drive home to Kalamazoo. Okay, now I start random plugs.

Got home in time to go to a CD release concert with my sister. The artist releasing the CD was a Western Michigan University bass professor and husband of a violin professor my sister takes lessons from sometimes. I didn't make the trip home intentionally to attend the concert, but I'm glad I was able to attend it. If fit into a specific genre, the repertoire for the night could fall into the category "jazz" (and the discussion on "jazz" later...) I love jazz because it's music that I can think to. Listening to the music that night made me think about how much I miss music, and how, even though it has been such a huge part of who I am, I haven't invested into it in the past four years. (Oh, and I almost forgot why I mentioned this in the first place. The CD's out, check it - http://www.tomknific.com/)

The night before I actually moved to Ann Arbor (which was last Wednesday - if I didn't tell you already, now you know because you're reading this), I watched a movie with my parents called "Music Within." It's about the man who played an integral role in drafting the Americans with Disabilities Act. I can't remember who said the quote that the main character poignantly shared at the beginning of the movie - or the quote itself, but it had to do with finding the music within us. At first, I was a little bit disappointed at the end of the movie because it didn't actually have anything to do with actual music. After some more thinking, the movie has grown on me because it had to do with finding those things that make us run - and not just the functioning kind of run. (http://www.musicwithinmovie.com/ in the event that you were interested...) (And if you know me, I have a strange way of linking things to one another. Tom Knific's concert inspired me to give my little friend Kate a voice lesson the next day. So there's what little I've done so far with my music minor).

Okay, so I mentioned those things because today was my first day on the job - at my customer service internship, which also has nothing to do with music. But, I guess it's my way of trying to find that music within me. Hope that on day two, my brain is less like mush while trying to absorb everything!