I'm Going To Need You to Come In On Columbus Day...

So yesterday when the rest of DC slumbered blissfully in their beds, recovering from the effects of non-stop three day weekend partying, I found myself in Maryland at 8:30 am for a day-long company planning session. When I think company planning, I think discussions about specific projects, goals, revenue projections, deliverables, benchmarks, TPS reports, and the like. I do not think crazy pie in the sky brainstorming, group projects wherein somebody has to give a silly speech, conversations about flying cars and magic dryer shamies really fit into the general purpose of corporate planning. I left the meeting with absolutely no clue what the direction of the company is, other than "different" and "exciting." Um, yeah.

Highlights of the Day:

No trust falls--always a plus.
God awful potato salad--is potato salad supposed to taste fizzy? no? then why did this?
One co-worker donning a bald cap to illustrate the potentially negative effects of hair product chemicals
Um, did I mention no trust falls?

As much as I complain about work, I really love my company, mainly because I work with a lot of brilliant, irreverent 20 and 30-somethings with finely honed BS meters and an unbending enthusiasm for happy hour. They make work interesting, there's always someone to chat with should I need a break from an article for le trade publication du jour, and management truly believes that it values the input of all of its employees. I can't say that really happens on my specific team, but I am told that if I have a brilliant new business idea for the company, I shouldn't be shy about presenting it to our CEO. And that's great. But...such claims do little to help the every day frustrations like stagnating responsibilities, communication issues, boredom and all the other little earthquakes that threaten the rupture the surface of our professional lives. I think it's great that management is open to hearing about an idea that may bring in new revenue, but what is it doing for those of us who are simply trying to put up with the basics of what we've been given? Rather than bigger and better, shouldn't we be concentrating on fixing what already plagues us?


Later on, I watched the Ravens/Broncos game with Sailor and was shocked to discover that I sort of understood what was going on, and I wasn't dead bored. In fact, I sort of liked it. At one point I turned to Sailor and remarked that the teams were playing rather cordially with few of the knock down tackles I associate with football, and that Denver was pulling off some nice interceptions.

Ah, the pride in his eyes.