(no subject)

Via the divine jaynefury -- Quite possibly the best Episode III Parody ever:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/evadne_noel/20062.html

Feeling Good

The day did not start out well. My scale has been fluctuating up and down between the same two pounds for the past three days, and it makes me depressed. I know that those fluctuations are natural, but I want to be a pound less than that, damn it! And then keep going down in a nice, steady, constant rate. I was tired this morning, despite having gone to bed on time, and when the scale performed the electronic equivalent of sticking its tongue out at me like that, my childish emotional response was: "Why bother with the workout when it's not going to do me any good?"

This, of course, is in total denial of how wonderful I have felt, physically, mentally and emotionally from getting a solid workout in nine days in a row. I look better. I feel better. I'm eating better. I can feel my muscles responding, getting strong again. The scale doesn't know what's really important.

So I let myself off from the workout, promising I'd do it tonight. And you know what: I just did, with increased weights, and I kicked butt. So I feel good.

I also felt good about my strong contributions to a project meeting today.

And I feel even better about the prospect of a new job. There is an analyst position opening up in the less-than-a-year-old transportation department at my company. (Handling all the freight between our distribution centers and our stores, as well as shipments too and from customers and all manner of other reasons.) It's not a job I would have considered if I had just seen it in a list, but Jeannie had talked with me about a month ago about my doing it half-time if she couldn't get approval to add a headcount. She did get the approval, and today a routine chat with the hiring manager turned into a serious discussion. The manager would love to have me in the position. I like her a lot, and this would be a great opportunity to get in at the ground level of a new but critical department in a very big company.

The analyst job would have amazing potential for growth, both in skills and in promotions and transfers. Unlike my current job. I would get to leave behind pretty much everything that annoys me about my current position. I don't like the idea of not working closely with Jeannie any more, because she is wonderful -- but she would still be there as a resource, and I'd almost certainly continue to interact with her, but on a different kind of level. I'd forfeit being an honorary member of "The Leadership Team" -- but I'd get rid of the headaches that go with it too.

The only question is whether or not the pay would be equal to what I'm getting now. This position is Analyst I, I'm in the middle of the payscale for the Executive Assistant level (which is the highest point on the admin ladder). I'd be willing to take a bit of a paycut in exchange for a job with growth potential, but I can't afford to take much of one. They are "comping" the job now. The hiring manager will tell me what the scale is when she finds out.

Jeannie is out of town right now, but I've requested an appointment with her Tuesday. I am certain that while she would hate to lose my support as an assistant, she wouldn't hesitate to encourage me to take advantage of the growth opportunity. Besides, I'm sure she'll agree that I have the potential add much more value in a position like this than the one I'm currently in. Right now, I'm an under-utilized resource.

Just the thought of a different job made me giddy this afternoon. It would be nice to have a job I felt really good about.

The sad fact is -- and I apologize in advance to anyone reading this who works in an administrative support position -- I am embarrassed when I have to tell people that my job is "executive assistant."