just a quick'un

seriously gotta get in bed. leaving way early in the morning for a girl's weekend in NYC. we will be doing a Sex and the City bus tour tomorrow afternoon, seeing a show tomorrow night, perhaps going to the top of the Empire State Building to see the city lit up at night, and coming back on Sunday. I will hopefully *fingers crossed* have some good pictures to post! TJ says I had better take some good deodorant--forecast expects 90 degree temps! yikes!

and speaking of pictures, part of the reason I've posted no photos lately is b/c all the ones I've taken have been with my small point and shoot. for reasons beyond my realm of knowledge, this camera is apparently retarded and takes a type of memory card that my portable card reader does not recognize (it takes every other memory/flash card known to man, except this one). the other part of the reason is that I've been a crappy picture taker.

school is kickin my booty. but I'm loving my classes and learning and am genuinely interested in the stuff I'm doing. definitely helps.

today I had a business lunch with two "clients" from foxwoods/mgm grand. I had never met these people before (Director of Casino Operations and the Director of Luxury Retail Operations)...so I was initially a bit nervous, but it went exceptionally well. in fact, I was paid a huge compliment. they both said, more than once, what a great addition I would be to their team. I'm definitely keeping that one in mind--because a specific job described to me by the Director of Casino Operations sounded very cool. it involved the hosting of VIP clients. I plan to form strong alliances with these two ;)

okay, that is all for now. I blog for no apparent reason but to keep myself busy. goodnight!

friday funnies (on saturday)

the title of this post makes no sense I'm sure! I just couldn't think of anything witty...so let's pretend I wrote it yesterday! ;)

tomorrow (sunday) is my 25th birthday. this morning, I went to the mailbox on lilly's walk, because I didn't check it yesterday. inside I had two envelopes--one from my grandparents (pink and obviously a birthday card), and one from my mom (smaller and white; I assumed maybe she got me a gift card since I didn't give much of a suggestion).

I get inside, open my birthday card from my nanny & papaw. it was a really nice card and had two pictures they'd had taken for their 50th anniversary (coming up this fall). it was sweet. then I go to open the envelope from my mom. I rip into it, and inside is....are you ready for this?? six coupons for a free chicken biscuit at mcdonald's!!! I called her this afternoon and said "I know who loves me more!" as I started to tell her she starts laughing because she knew what I'd gotten. in her defense, when she told me about the coupons a week or two ago, I said "yeah mom, by the time you actually send them to me, they'll be expired!!" guess she proved me wrong!! ha! I do actually have a card and present she just hasn't mailed it yet!

earlier in the week, I was at panera bread. I'd had some meetings in the morning (off-site), and between meetings figured it wouldn't make sense for me to go back to the office given the short period. I went to panera, got online, checked into my office email, etc. when I go to leave, I use the restroom. in the other stall is a mom and little boy (he sounded about 3) and based on what she was saying I could tell she was trying to get him to go. a minute or so passes and he says, "Mommy? I have angry poopy. Why is my poopy angry?? Do you ever have angry poopy?" OMG it took all my willpower NOT to laugh out loud at this kid!!

fast forward to friday, and I am in fact, very angry towards poopy!! every morning before I leave for work, I walk lilly. leave it to me to step in a pile of fresh dog crap!! I was so mad! it wasn't even hers! brr! my shoes are out on the patio, and I am considering throwing them in the trash. probably not but they smell awful. what a great start to the day huh?!

I'm pretty behind on some reading for school, so that is all for now!

throw her under the bus

so, I promised a new blog! first I want to tell you what I said I'd do in the "organizational dilemma." Here is what I said...

I would ask "my friend" to
consider our friendship and decline the opportunity.  If she is worried
it will jeopardize her job, I'd point out to her that she doesn't
necessarily have to reveal at this point that she will be leaving the
company (even though I don't necessarily think that is the right way to
go). Maybe she will value our friendship and do the right thing, but
maybe she will not care.

In that case, I would approach my supervisor, making it known that I
had tried to work this out with my "friend" first. My main point would
not be that pulling my friend from the training provides me with an
open seat. Rather, my selling point would be that by providing her with
this training the company is aiding their top competitor, providing
skills and techniques for this person that will be later used as
ammunition against us. In this instance, it is most important to
protect human capital. In doing so, I feel it is also protecting social
capital—consider how the supervisor would react if she found out I knew
about my friends plans, and did not share that information. Failing to
share the information could be a potential deal-breaker for future
opportunities, and could lessen their opinion of me in terms of trust,
integrity, and loyalty.

anyways, I think I had a decent answer! I was one of very few people who said they'd go to the boss. I am not one to screw people over, but in this case I don't really see how it would be that, ya know? anyway!

I'm not gonna post the pictures right this minute, because I'm kind of pressed for time. I have to get up early tomorrow--I have a meeting at 7:45 and I need to get there at 7:30--ugh! no good! campaign season is officially here.

however--I would like to discuss the bachelorette. I think I am in love with Jason. please do not tell my husband. I have a major tv crush ;) when these types of shows come on, and they always say the person's occupation, I like to "interpret" what that really means. for example, Twilley is a "Debt Manager." Okay, dude. You and I both know that is another term for Collection Agent. It's like sometimes when girls have the job title, "Retail Promotions." Come on, Retail Sales Clerk, same thing.

this weekend is my birthday, and I will be 25 on Sunday. I would like to have some friends over on friday or saturday, but I think it would be tacky and seem like I was having my own birthday party. oh well. NYC for a sex and the city weekend at the end of the month ;)

its coming!

new blog post coming soon, I promise! I'll share with you what my views were on the organizational dilemma (since soooo many of you shared your views! boo! thanks becca and lori!), as well as some {very} random pictures, and my friday afternoon shopping excursion!

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there, even though I know my dad doesn't read my blog and I'm pretty sure no men do at all! haha  

organizational dilemma

so each week in my new management class, we are presented with an organizational dilemma. I thought I'd share it here because I'm really interested in hearing what you guys would do!

ok. here goes:

You work as an upper-level
manager in the headquarters of a successful company. Your best friend,
who you have known since college, is one of your co-workers and is also
an upper-level manager with you, overseeing a different division of the
organization. This week, your boss told you that she was not going to
enroll you in a specific training program you need in order to get
promoted because there were only a limited number of spaces in the
program and they decided to give the spot to your best friend. He tells
you, "Maybe next year we can get you into the program." Meanwhile, your
best friend told you that she plans on quitting the company in 3 months
to start a new job (which she has already been guaranteed) at one of
your company's competitors. She asks you to keep this a secret,
however, because she does not want the company to know she is leaving
yet and she wants to go through the training program in your company so
that she can enter her new job already trained and ahead of other
managers there.

Now you do not know what to do! You want to
respect your best friend's request to keep her secret -- you do not
want to get her into trouble in your company and you want to see her
succeed in her new job (to keep your social capital strong with her).
But, you also know that she is going to be getting the training you
need (which would enhance your human capital) and then leaving the
company. You also do not like the idea of your company paying for her
training if she is going to use her newly acquired skills at a
competing company.

What would you do? Consider
how would you respond to your friend -- would you tell your boss she is
leaving? Why or why not? Is what your friend doing OK? What is more
important here – protecting your human capital or your social capital?

so based on the responses of my other classmates, I've decided either I am a) a total bitch, or b) just a really honest person! ha! next post I will share with you my response, and you can decide for yourself if I'm a biotch ;) but please, leave me a comment! tell me what you'd do!

today is june 4--when did that happen?

so, my apologies for the previous debbie downer blog post! I am just getting so sick and tired of the neck issues. sunday and monday were not good days. on the bright side, today I had a dr's appt and he gave me a referral to a physiatrist (sp?) in addition to prescriptions for valium and tylenol with codene. fear not, I am not on my way to becoming a druggie. the other good thing about the dr's appt was that he said my cholesterol was "awesome"...always a plus ;)

this evening I had a massage. it was quite nice. the odd part was that it was a guy massage therapist--never experienced that before. it was okay though, nothing weird. he def'ly had a different style than anyone I'd ever been to in the past, and got down pretty deep in my neck/shoulders, so I hope I'm not hurting tomorrow.

as of Monday, MBA summer classes are in full swing. yep, I said classes! I'd previously only registered for one, but I let my friend Ann talk me into taking another course with her. sooo, I have a management course on Organizational Behavior, and another course on CRM [Customer Relationship Mgmt]. need to finish this blog and read a chapter!

you may remember my list from a few weeks ago. just to re-cap, we'll post below. I was fairly successful, I think!
1.    organize digital photos in chronological order on dvd(s)
2.    print digital photos from insanely long period of time
however, I still need to pick the photos up from walgreens, oops--didn't quite pan out like I'd hoped
3.    put said photos in photo albums because we all know that i'm never gonna scrapbook ALL those photos!! I like these albums from Target.
did not happen as I'd planned, argh
4. 
  purge things from my house--namely from the garage, guest bedroom, my
closet & drawers, etc. do so utilizing freecycle.org. Don't you
like how I am the spokesperson for this site? haha :)
even sold something on craigslist for the first time--easiest $40 ever!
5.    hang out with lauren, whom I have not seen in weeks now! I'm in withdrawals man!
6.    read a book for pleasure
emily giffin's "love the one you're with"...yay! pretty sure I read another book or two, but can't remember the names.

so, that will be all for now I think. it is time to read and get smart!
oh, I turn 25 in 18 days. when did that happen? yikes!

today I feel depressed

2:30 pm. I am at work.

my neck has been hurting since yesterday. when it hurts like this I would do anything to make it stop.

I cannot go home -even tho I feel sh*T*y- because I have a meeting at 3pm. with my boss. where I ask him to approve my plans. and I charge forward.

I did not have lunch today. instead I've had non-stop jolly ranchers for about the past hour. I'm sure that is healthy.

no one reads my blog anymore.

boohoo. hopefully tomorrow I will feel better.