Sweetpea’s Garden

Honestly, there are times I’m such a nerd that I surprise even myself. Take yesterday for example: at the end of my workday I was having so much fun with what I was working on that I didn’t want to leave. I actually wanted to stay at the office. What was I doing? (Here’s where the nerdy really comes into play.) I was compiling an assortment of departmental style guides into a spreadsheet with the ultimate goal of merging them into a comprehensive manual for the website.

Yes, folks, this is my idea of fun, at least when it comes to work. It’s a task that combines two things I enjoy a lot — playing with words and (ahem) making spreadsheets. The friends I confessed this to last night pointed out a third reason I was having such a good time: I am finally getting to exploit my secret desire to be the word police. And this is so, so true. I really have no idea what level of authority I will have to enforce this guide once it’s done, but the fact that I get to make the rules is immensely gratifying.

Serial commas for everyone!

I have no doubt that Snapdragon herself will weigh in on this later, but I just wanted to send out a quick follow-up to Monday’s post. She just called with the test results and it looks like she’s going to be OK. There will be some meds involved in taking care of the acute — though not especially serious — problem she’s having, but the underlying cause appears to be some kind of vitamin deficiency and not the dreaded thing she was being tested for. (And anyone who knows the major medical malady in my family will be able to do the math on that one.)

So, a big sigh of relief… And thanks to all for the good vibes and/or prayers.

Ever since I started in the New Office in February, one project has been looming darkly in the background: the complete re-development of the website. It is, in fact, a major reason my job was created in the first place. The original schedule had us launching this past March, but due to a couple of factors — the merger of our vendor with another company being the main one — we’re just finally getting into full swing.

It’s a funny thing… I’ve rarely felt like there wasn’t enough to this job to keep me busy. The stuff I’ve been working on: social marketing, blogging, and other web 2.0 strategies, isn’t really what’s in my job description, but it has been fun and interesting to work on — and time consuming. Now that I’m adding back in the content management (and the change management that goes hand-in-hand with it) I have got a lot on my plate. A lot.

So, if I appear like a gigantic ball of stress the next time you see me, this is why.