Man, today was a bear. I was busy from the moment I got here until just a few minutes ago when Mr. BIL left for an off-site meeting. I didn’t even take lunch until 2:30 p.m. today, and only for 30 minutes at that. The good news? Got a LOT cleared off my desk.
I’ve mentioned before about how Mr. BIL is NOT organized – we’ve tried written lists, using Outlook task bar, using emails – nothing has worked to keep him on top of the many cases he works on. However, a few weeks ago I had our facilities guy put up a dry-erase white board on one wall in Mr. BIL’s office. That thing is the best thing I’ve done in this job yet. Not only is it keeping Mr. BIL apprised of all his outstanding tasks, but even he admits that he likes seeing things get cleared off the board because it’s confirmation that things ARE getting done in a timely manner. WOO HOOO!!! I won’t say we’re over the hurdle completely, but we’ve had a couple good practice jumps and think this may be it. The key will be if he CONTINUES to use the board for the next few weeks – if he does, then we have a winner.
Tonight I have book club – I haven’t read the book recently (I read it about 10 years ago), so I’m totally going to wing it. But I have a feeling no one will notice if I just sit there and say, “Oh I agree!” or “I never thought of that idea,” during the book discussion. I figure since I’ve only attended three book clubs meetings out of the past 7, it’s time I step up and be more involved. I AM looking forward to the next book – something called “The Last Widow of the South” or something like that. It looked like an interesting book.
Other plans for the week – not much. Thursday I have my medical appointment for that weight loss study. Again, I REALLY hope I don’t get the placebo. L-Train asked me if I thought I’d know if I was on real drugs, and I told her absolutely I would know. Unless they put something wonky in the placebo that gives the same physical FEELING of a real drug. But yes, I’m confident that I’ll know whether I’m taking a placebo or not. So I’d better not be!! What’s cool? If they count February 14 as my start date in the program? Then that means I’ll be due a $200 payment on May 14 – just before Disney!! That’s awesome!!!
Speaking of Disney, right now we have about $1,500 saved up so far. Between current PPP outstanding payments, my contact database freelance project, the medical study, and overtime currently due, I’ve already got another $650 due to go into that account over the next 30 days. I’ve heard that Google’s next “blog search” to smack down PPP people will be in March, which means I’ve got about 3-4 more weeks of aggressive posting at my other website to maximize money earned before the trip. Once I get smacked over there I won’t be able to do as many posts at EITHER site. But with any luck I can earn an average of $7-15 per day on that site, resulting in anywhere from $215 to $450 earned from today through mid-March and paid out by mid-April. At that point I’ll send the check to my parents to pay for our family’s park tickets, and we’ll still be left with over $1,500 to pay for all travel expenses, special events and miscellaneous spending while we’re there. I would LOVE IT if we brought home unspent money after that trip. And I can’t believe that ticker at the top of the page now reads only 102 day left until the trip!
Your story about organizing Mr. BIL is hilarious. I used to work for a high-powered executive who used his very expensive laptop as desktop decor – didn’t even know how to turn it on. The whiteboard idea would have been fabulous for him!
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