My Life Could Be a Country Song

There's a lot of steel guitar in this one, and a seriously tinny, nasally voice involved as well. Oh, and grammar has been appropriately crucified for the occasion.

I'm sick - sinus infection got me down;

My kid's sick - fevers and tummy aches is goin' round;

My cat's sick - stopped eating for no reason and lost 3 pounds;

My husband whines - don't want to get sick.

My brother's hurt - he's ankle's twisted;

My dad's morose - job's gone all wicked;

My other brother's freaked - work's not going as intended;

My cousin's in shock about her new babies' health.

And my damn property taxes went up AGAIN.


I didn't say it was any GOOD, just genre appropriate. I'm thinking I'll start walking around backwards and see if things improve.


P.S. Even though things could be going better right now, I am still thankful, especially at this time of year, for my family and all that is going right. Happy Thanksgiving, y'all.

Halloween Hijinx

We took a very reluctant pirate to a local mall to trick-or-treat on Halloween. The Little Man got into his costume and underlying garb with a minimum of tears. He flat-out refused to wear the hat for most of the evening, though. So much so that I have only a series of ten blurry, uncentered photos to commemmorate the occasion. He didn't really get the concept of trick-or-treat - when one nice lady handed him the candy instead of plunking it in his pumpkin, he tried to hide it in a CD rack. He did, however, understand the end result because he begged us all the way home for Tootsie Rolls.

(I finally did catch him with the hat, but only from the side)

The Little Pirate

Work 'N' Stuff

Housekeeping item: It seems that my blog is a bitch in heat to the comment spammer dogs of the world. Grrr. I hate those guys. I hate them A LOT. I'm seriously considering taking comments off entirely. Anyone else with this problem? Does it help to actually have a Typepad account? Anybody?

Now that that's off my chest, on to work-related news. The "big change" in the air a couple of weeks ago was the purchase of my small, beloved 18-person new media shop by a gargantuan 300-person Ad Agency. We attended seminars the first couple of days at the new joint that drove home to me that all of a suddon I'm now an Ad Man. I actually changed majors in college because I didn't want to be That Guy - the Ad Man. And yet, by default, here I am. I've been working for dot-bomb startups for 6 years, so my self-view is full of scrappy and underdog-ish images. And now I feel like I'm really working for The Man. Philosophically, this is a BIG shift.

It's not that the Big Bad Ad Agency is really that bad, or that big for that matter. They have taken on all of our staff in the purchase, including me at my part-time status, and at the same salaries. They are able to afford things like company retreats and have an actual pub on premesis. They have FIVE DEPARTMENTS of people who split out the job I have been doing. I'll be able to do better, cooler things, I'm sure.

But, I'm stuck in the I-don't-wanna phase. I've tried the head-in-the-sand-and-maybe-it'll-go-away tactic. No dice. I've also clicked my ruby slippers. Kansas has yet to appear. Yet every time I try to pull myself into a happy frame of mind about the change, something happens to cause backsliding. I guess the best thing is that it IS happening. Like a black hole coming inexorably closer. I just have to stick around, get sucked in, and see where it goes.

Besides, it might be refreshing to work for a company that could still be in business when I might eventually leave. The last five - yes five - companies that I've worked for are no longer around. For a variety of reasons. Really! It's not just me. I swear.