On Being Tagged

Tagging in the blogging world looks to be a far cry from KM, web design or even being a kid. Work-related tagging involves incredibly tedious but really important work to make sure people can find what they want to find on a website. Tagging when you're a kid presumes a level of fitness I haven't experienced in a very long time (although I'm getting there!). Tagging from a blogger seems to be a way of really introducing yourself to people who might actually read what you have to say. Forthwith, having been tagged by World Sojourner, here we go:

• Four jobs I've had in my life:
  Knowledge manager
  Information designer/technical writer
  Children's shoe store owner
  PR Manager
• Four movies I can watch over and over:
  Shrek
  The Fisher King
  The Philadelphia Story
  Star Trek II
• Four places I have lived:
  Charlotte, NC
  Olney, MD
  Richmond, VA
  Baltimore, MD
• Four TV shows I love to watch:
  Law and Order (any of them)
  Battlestar Galactica (the new one!)
  Monk
  The Simpsons
• Four places I have been on vacation:
  China
  Estonia
  England
  Duck, NC
• Four of my favourite dishes:
  Any coffee from Caribou (yeah I know, it's not food)
  Homemade lasagna
  California white pizza
  Spinach and artichoke dip
• Four websites I visit daily:
  Road Runner
  The Dilbert Blog
  The company intranet
  CNN
• Four places I would rather be right now:
  Visiting Al and Alissa in London
  Curled up with a good book and great coffee
  Stepping off a plane for my first visit to Italy
  Malibu (just to say I'd been there)
• Four bloggers I am tagging:
  hmm, I don't know any that haven't already been tagged, is that one of the rules?

Resolutions that stick

I never make New Year's resolutions... until this year at least. Mainly because I could never see the point in publicly proclaiming something that would last about a day and half. This year is different. I dreaded looking in the mirror, standing on the scale, the whole nine yards. So this year it was lose five pounds a month (a whole lot more reasonable than lose 5o or 60 pounds), quit smoking when I lose 30, and work out 4 times a week.

I'm really fortunate, I have a fabulous personal trainer, a workout buddy and a role model. Cheryl is the exact combination of push and encouragement that I need. Holly, of whom I can be terribly jealous is a great workout buddy, and Taylor, despite his broken rib from the mountain bike trails, is a great role model and supporter. And the results so far? 10 pounds and 5 workouts a week... Gotta get on that smoking thing...

Communications and Org Chart Heck

I work in a very unusual corporate culture. The last two employee surveys put improved communications at the top of the grunts' wish lists. Now the folks who work for me have the thankless job of updating organizational charts for our department. Yes Virginia ,there is a reporting structure, absolutely no one outside of senior management and my staff ever get to see exactly what that structure is. For some bizarre cultural reason that no one has ever been able to explain, our organizational charts are top secret. I'm often asked for a copy of an org chart so the requester can "figure out who to talk to so I can get this done." I get to tell them, "Sorry, if you want or need a copy, you have to request permission from the senior VP." An interesting communications quandary... and a symbol of the bizarre toxic environment many people get to spend their lives in. It's not as funny as Dilbert, and I still want to know if anyone else works for an organization where you have to guess who reports to who....

The Great Holiday Trek

I could tell you I love our American Thanksgiving holiday, and that would be true. However, traveling during that four days has about as much appeal as an emergency root canal. Case in point. The lovely I95/I85 stretch from Charlotte to Richmond. Heading north was no problem, especially since I waited until after 8 pm to start the journey. Southward on Sunday is another story altogether. a five hour trip lasted almost seven. From what I hear I81 was even worse, so I guess I should be thankful.

At least I got my fill of turkey and holiday movies....

It's about time!

Yes, my friends in the blogging world are no doubt thrilled to find out I've finally become a blogger. I'm asking myself the number one question of newbie bloggers everywhere-"Will anyone be interested in what I have to say?" Stay tuned...