Posts Tagged ‘new job’

Last night was the first public meeting since the flash flood.  What is generally a quick public meeting where a few residents show up and the Borough business gets acted on in a timely fashion became a gathering of hurt, scared, and angry residents. 

Residents wanted answers to a long-term solution.  We don’t have those answers yet.

Residents also heard lots of rumors, many of which aren’t substantiated.

Residents wanted to put the blame on someone.  It quickly became evident that person was me.  Three women got up and publicly berated me.  I’ve gone through that process before with the delinquent sewage, but it was “easier” because, well, let’s face it, it was an unpaid bill.

This felt a little different.  This felt worse because I know I have been working hard to try to help these residents. 

Council, thankfully, realized what was going on.  I didn’t attempt to correct their lies, I just sat there and took it. 

It’s a tough balance for me, really, because this is one of those times that I really feel that all of the hard work I do for the Borough will never be good enough.

I can’t imagine their pain.  Nor have I experienced flooding myself—my dad always said to live on the high side.  I also can’t imagine what would have driven them to pit the blame on me like this.  I’m becoming increasingly resilient, though.  That is for sure.

It should also be noted that the three residents that seemed to “rally” the crowed in their accusations against me were women.  I’ve had dealings with two of these women in the past.  I don’t know if there is any correlation or comment to be made regarding women’s treatment of women, but I could gather that.

It’s not the hours that make this a tough position (though, I didn’t get home last night until well after 10:00 PM).  It’s not the limited budget.  It’s times like these, where historical problems cannot be solved over night.  It’s times like these where I realize how hard my position is.  And how the residents look to me to truly solve all of the problems. 

Work this week is going to be hectic, speaking of hours:

Monday: 7A-10:30 PM (public meeting)

Tuesday: 7A-8:00 PM (planning commission)

Wednesday: 7A-8:00 PM (interviews)

Thursday: 7A-6:00 PM (misc. catch-up)

Friday: Normal hours (hopefully)

Saturday: 8A-?? (LERTA meeting)

The week has been turning out crazy as expected!  Ahh!  I should have stayed in Harrisburg and got a massage

Here is where I am ending up with my time…

Monday will be spent actually easing into the work-week.  I don’t have anything planned tonight which is a relief.  After work, I ended up getting my mani and pedi.  Much to my surprise, the manicure hasn’t gotten too chipped . 

Tuesday I have to attend the Planning Commission meeting at night which will be interesting. 

Wednesday I have an eye appointment at my doctors which I am hoping to move up to Monday.  This way, I have time to get a manicure and pedicure. I am going to reschedule my eye appointment to Friday.  There’s no way around it!

Thursday some of the bridal party will be getting together with the bride and groom for dinner. 

Friday I am off work, and will be able to dedicate my time to whatever wedding activities of my sisters wishes.  The rehearsal dinner is Friday, too.  I have to pick up cupcakes from Robinson for the rehearsal dinner, Jared needs to get his tux, and I will need to get my eyes looked at. 

Saturday the wedding bells will ring.  So excited for my ses-ter.

Sunday we will spend time enjoying the wedding bliss with family.  There is a bunch scheduled as well as gift opening at my parents house.

Monday I am technically off, the office is closed, however, I will need to go in and submit payroll.  I will also be departing for a small personal business trip.

Tuesday I will be attending said small personal business trip and returning to Pittsburgh shortly there-after.

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My personal business trip.

I cannot keep too many secrets on the blog.  Trust that I reserve most of my work frustrations and channel them in other directions.  However, I have an interview clear across the state.  I’m shocked they are interviewing me.  Not because I don’t think I am qualified, one year of cleaning-up municipal government can qualify you, but because I have no network in eastern PA.  I am fortunate that I have been doing this type of work since grad-school which has allowed me to get a name established for myself.  I am fortunate that I understand many infrastructure issues as a result of my father working as a laborer (and hearing everything about road work as we drove through construction sites on our journey to vacations).  But I am still surprised they are interviewing me. 

It should also be noted that the direct colleague I would be working with was at the same conference as I was last week.  I didn’t bother introducing myself because, at that point, I had figured they picked someone so I didn’t want to waste my time.  It should also be noted that I met a lot of Eastern PA Managers at my conference so maybe that helped.

I am going to interview and hope for the best.  I haven’t decided yet what move I will make, if any.  In fact, I think an employment offer would help me leverage some higher skilled employees from the municipality.  Right now, I have nothing.  I work a lot because I don’t have (as my sister puts it) the office infrastructure to succeed.

 

What a crazy life I live.  I really do love Philly, regardless of what others say!

 

I will be back shortly, hopefully a little more adjusted than I am feeling now!

Bribe Spoil me with popcorn.

 

I blogged about Jared and I going on our annual trip to NYC to visit sister and future BIL.  I know I blogged about Garrett’s popcorn.  In fact, I think you can read about it here.  Anyways, we love Garrett’s popcorn.  It’s done “right”, as after we first tried it, we tried to find something similar here, but no luck.

Imagine how excited I was to open this…

 

How cute is this packaging, seriously??

Ahhh, I love my family so much.  I mean really.  This was such a great gift.  My sister got it for me because I have been laid up with mono…  going crazy and planning marathon dreams.

 

What she didn’t know was that I had the worst news at work today. 

No.  I didn’t lose my job.

No. The Borough didn’t flood.

 

I will be down another (2 of 2) admin assistants for the next few weeks.

They say you aren’t supposed to take your work home with you.  FIne, but I need a masseuse at home, then.  The good part of this is that we should be able to hire a college student for a few weeks while the second admin is gone to just help with general office tasks.  The bad part is that we will be replacing the first admin with a FT position at the same time.  Oh, and did I mention, I will be traveling the third week in May, I’ll be out of the office at least one day for the wedding, and in general, I am swamped?  Oh well…

When you don’t think you can run faster, run faster, right?

Last week was a bad week..  You can tell by my half-hearted attempts at blogging.  Furthermore, the politics of my job got a little crazy.  That’s all I am going to say.  It was rough, mentally, last week.  That being known, I still managed some good runs.

I think my new mantra is “make it yours”.  It seems to make sense for my life on a few levels…

Anyways..

This week, I was hoping for “peace and serenity”.  Little did I know that if I wanted a beverage out of the fridge, I would only have to walk to the dining room to get it.  I have been living off of microwaved burritos and cheese cubes all week.  Don’t get me wrong, they are perfect “late night meeting” dinners, but I have an entire bag of broccoli I want to roast!!

 

 

That being known, no work was done on the floor Monday night.  I had a Council meeting so I didn’t get home until 9:00 PM.  Tuesday night Jared and I started on the grouting of the kitchen floor.  Grout smells like raw fish.  So naturally, I helped a bit, got grossed out (and frustrated) and Jared finished the floor alone.  I feel bad, but I think its allowing him to be very proud of his work.

 

We still technically aren’t allowed on the floor.  The grout needs to set for 48 hours.  We then need to put some sort of “top coat” on the grout to ensure it is water tight.  There is still a “film” of grout on the tiles that picks up our sneaky footprints.  Oops!

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Learning to take your blessings (runs) as they come

I am one of those people that wears their heart on their sleeve.  I do everything with conviction and dedication.  I am one of those people that think your job should be connected to who you are.  I am one of those crazy people.  Short of making this ultra fabulous blog my full time job, I could not imagine my life without running (crazy) and working in a community like I do.  When I was in grad school, I interned in my “home town” (which, for people outside of the Burgh, all of these little municipalities have much identity).  With my current job, though I don’t live there, I feel deeply connected to it, its people, the culture, and the future it can hold.

I’ll stop myself before the rant begins.

I just have had some really good, hard runs lately.  Running at 5:30 am is truly a blessing in disguise.  While there are times I want more balance (good runs at 7:00 am instead of speedy runs at 5:30 am), I realize the past few months of this crazy work schedule have really paid off.  I have been able to strike my balance successfully. 

I am excited to plan groundbreakings in the Borough, work on planning around development, all of those good things.  I am excited to get faster running, and now spring fever is hitting me, I can’t wait to plan my next half marathon.