March 08, 2007

A Reminder

"A Statistical Analysis Is Only as Good as Its Starting Assumptions."

Although a basic tenet, it's one that is not always followed by analysts & media types.

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November 17, 2006

It's Over!!!!!

I'm preparing my documents and materials for our after-event-debriefing scheduled to begin soon, so this will be a short post. I couldn't tell you what I was doing yesterday for security reasons. I still can't talk much about the conference, but what I can say is that we hosted 50 full bird Colonels and some of their spouses to amongst other things discuss Business Crisis and Strategic Planning pre & post 9/11. It was a very interesting, lively and educational discussion on all sides and by all accounts a complete success. There are 3 people who I need to thank for sharing their experience, and providing me with invaluable guidance and support. I will be thanking them personally later on today.

There were 3 men & their wives whom I just adored and really went out of my way to make them feel comfortable and assist during their stay in NYC. I was both honored and lucking to be asked to join them for part of dinner last night.
They were 2 Marines both with Iraqi combat experience and an Army Air Assault Helicopter Pilot w/Afghan and Iraqi experience. During dinner we were able to discuss NY history, military history, politics, NY culture & parenting. The wives were equally impressive. I unfortunately had to leave early to tuck my son in bed but they understood and were very kind about it when I initially accepted their invitation. Anyone else would have pressured me to stay.

Having had such an engaging dinner with like-minded people made me realize a few things. Chief among them is that it's not me who's not been able to make friends in NYC, it's just that I've not found the right kind of people that would make it worth while to extend myself in friendship.

Well, I've got a debriefing session to run to sooooo, see ya later. In the meantime, I'll leave you with another beautiful picture of Central Park. I took this one also with my now dead Treo 650. Enjoy!

the creek.JPG

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November 13, 2006

My Day Yesterday

In 12 hrs I had 14 mtgs, read 257 emails, responding to 89 of them and rescheduled 5 mtgs cancelled by others. I also produced 1 report and must finish & email another before midnight. I made calls to 2 people in London (former colleagues who were transferred there by the firm) to get insight and input on how their move impacted their families and about the British educational system. In addition to all that, I called my insurance agent, health/benefits Rep., company assigned financial advisor, mortgage co., and the Intl relocation team with lots of questions (and those were just the personal calls). These questions came up Sunday, after I read the 275 page book thatÂ’s given to potential international employees, so they can make informed decisions financial/benefits decisions when accepting an overseas position. The deadline to give my answer is 11/22, for a start date in London on 1/8/06. Tomorrow, I donÂ’t have as many meetings, but I do have just as many phone calls and emails. Boy, am I looking forward to Friday! ThatÂ’s when I hope to pick some bloggers brains about this IT offer. Hopefully theyÂ’ll help rather than confuse.

But enough about me, what do YOU think about me? LOLÂ… Just kidding! What I really want to know is how YOUR weekend was, and how your week is shaping up?

Since the rest of this week will be demanding I will be share here interesting articles over the next few days which might interest and amuse you, until my life returns to normal (if in fact it ever does).

First up, are some great tips from the ProBlogger on How to Drive More Traffic To Your Site During The Holidays. Link sent to me by someone who thinks I should make money on my blog. What he doesn't know is that I blog to write, not to make money. If I had to worry about making money while I write I'd neither write nor would make money as the pressure overwhelming.

Next up, are some incredible poems and stories hosted at the by the Tarheel TavernÂ’s Blogging Poet. ThereÂ’s something there for everyone, you just have to look. Here's was my favorite post of the round-up. [Hat tip to Ogre]

For those of you who want something a little ‘heavier’ to read, I give you John’s essay on the effects of feminism on literary study programs. I know exactly what he’s talking about, because I too was in the minority whenever I offered a balanced, contextual view of literature in my graduate classes.

Finally, a post from my blog-sis TammiÂ…. What she said!

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May 03, 2006

About time!

It's about time that I got the recognition and Six Figure Salary I deserve!

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October 21, 2005

Long Stressful Day/Week

My week has been filled with early appointments for preliminary interviews, networking breakfasts, lots of work deadlines, dealing with my son's school and navigating the issues of my new work duties. Today started with a 7:30am meeting with the head guidance counselor of my sonÂ’s school, and a few other individuals. My sonÂ’s teacher has been having a bit of a challenging time with my son adjusting to his new school environment. She was so dissatisfied with his independent and sometimes willful spirit that IÂ’ve been called to the school twice since September. On my 3rd visit this past Tuesday, she insisted so much there had to be something wrong with him, that I finally relented and agreed to have my son tested for ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder).

I did manage to get him tested by a private Dr. recommended by our pediatrician, rather than by their staff. Hey, this is my son theyÂ’re talking about, if heÂ’s going to get labeled from now to high school I want to be the one to choose who labels him and who gets access to his medical information.

Well, having arranged for the results to be communicated to all of us via teleconference (through my Treo plugged into a regular speaker), the Dr. informed us that my son didn’t have ADD (music to my ears) and was simply bored, unchallenged and frustrated by the school environment where he’s “made to sit for hours on end” (my son’s words not the doc's). According to the Doctor, he’s a very bright and advanced student whose knowledge base is that of a 3rd grader, who happens to be in 1st grade. The guidance counselor said he suspected as much because my son has been getting 95/100’s in all his tests (he gets 5pts off for forgetting to write his name on the tests). It seems to him the conflict here is the teacher’s rigidity for not allowing them to move freely about the classroom during various points of the day. [No kidding!] Anyway, we discussed possible solutions we (me, his teacher and the support team) could implement and I set up a timetable for them to be impemented systematically and not all at once (so we could measure the success of each), then we set up a follow up date for next month to check on my son’s progress. Sigh! I’m so glad I waited till I was much older to have a child!

The rest of my day was spent in having my “field demotion” and possible exit, addressed by the appropriate individuals within my firm. The first meeting took place at 8:30am with my department head. He was so upset when he learned of the situation that he immediately went up the ladder with the info. To my surprise, by 3:30pm the matter went all the way to the division head. I chose this week to address the issue because next Wednesday is our deadline for everyone’s performance and compensation review to be submitted to HR. Unbeknownst to me, she is well known for her intransigence, belligerence, and inflexibility. Man she had me fooled!

So I accomplished 3 things by bringing this to light:
1) to have her input on my review minimized or neutralized by the truth of the situation, giving me the opportunity to possibly remain or to have plenty of time to move on to something better;
2) it provides those who are reviewing “her/my boss” with the proof that she’s still "not able to play well with others".
3) it helped me see that there's nothing wrong with me as she's been trying to make me believe, because the high turnover rate indicates differently.

My last meeting of the day was an impromptu one. The head of the dept asked that I accompany him to take a tour of our possible new work space. Well, I went, I saw, and I liked! Ohhhh, itÂ’s sooooo prettyÂ… cream and black marble walls and floors with beech wood trim! I would still have a cube, but this one would be a much, much bigger one. One in which my chair doesn't hit the wall when I move my chair back to get out of my seat.

Since I didn’t think the men in my group wanted to hear the word “pretty” associated with the space they’ll be spending 8+ hrs a day in, I instead used lots of big positive real estate terms with adjectives that men love to hear like: big, strong, bold, and impressive! At this last one my boss perked up, smiled wide, turned to the Property Manager and said: “Great! We’ll take it!” And thus, a deal was consummated.

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October 14, 2005

My New Name

Behold, my new name in Chinese:

min li.bmp

It's Min Li which translates in English to smart and nimble jasmine flower.

I know where my colleagues got the smart and the jasmine part (I love jasmine leaves in all my teas). But where the heck did they get nimble from? Must investigate... excuse me while I send off a few text messages.

This. however, is not my first adopted name. When I taught English as a 2nd language in the Middle East, I was given a name that people could pronouce locally because otherwise I would have been known as Miss. The naming task fell squarely on the shoulders of the Village Chief where I lived just 100 miles outside of Cairo.

He gave me a very unusual sounding name, but one which I took too easily because everyone could pronounce it very well. Phonetically it was pronounced Neal-ba. I thought it was neat sounding name so I kept it and never asked what it meant. It was only later on, almost upon leaving really, that the translation of my arabic name was revealed to me, after much grinning ensued at the airport. It was Big Storm Amounting To Nothing. To this day I don't know what the Village Chief saw in me on that first day, as he stared into my eyes, to come up with such a name.

I guess I've moved up in the world since then, huh?

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October 13, 2005

It's a Beautiful Day!

Just had to blog because its such a great morning! Theres a steady heayv rain falling since Friday that had made everything that's green wet and lush. I love the rain almost as much as I love music. Because it's been raining so heavy lately the scent from the river, which is at high tide, is reaching farther inland than usual and the scent is magnificent. The river scent is so strong I almost feel like if I turn the corner I'll see the buoys a block away.

Anyway, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have stopped by and left comments. I also want to say thanks to those of you who have sent supportive emails and and text messages. And finally, to the select group of you who have called, thank you for making my day. You guys are ALL awesome!
more...

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October 10, 2005

Hit with a 2x4

That's how it feels right now! It started as an awful day and it went steadily downhill from there.

Essentially... I was demoted as a result of using false and/or incorrect info given to me by a 3rd party. I have no way of checking the info's veracity or accuracy, as that's the responsibility of others. Yet, because I published it unwittingly in today's reports, I'm the one that gets crucified this week.

I've also been put on 30 days notice.

Well using me as the scape goat enable the senior analyst in my dept to escape from censure and more for all the errors she's committed these past 2 weeks. Using those reasons also enables my boss to continue sleeping w/my Ex's uncle without a care or concern for my uncomfortability.

In fact, they kill 2 proverbial birds with one stoning.

So now I have to figure out if I let them fire me, or quickly begin looking for another job after being there for only 2 months. Or, try to do both simultaneously. I've never, ever, been demoted or fired. I've always had stellar reviews! So this is also a blow to my ego.

As Dax Montana would say: Damn! Just damn!

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September 20, 2005

My Health Alert

I was in a good mood this morning when I got into the office. I had been listening to my MP3 and did a little dance in my seat at seeing very few emails. Woohoo! So as I started to read emails while listening to Tom Petty I came across a subject that was rather alarming: HEALTH ALERT – PLEASE READ IMMEDIATELY

Apparently, there are 3 employees who have been diagnosed with Infectious Mononucleosis or Mono, and 2 more who are now exhibiting symptoms. 2 of the diagnosed individuals worked with me in the relocation of Gulf coast employees from the temporary working and living environments our firm had set up prior to Katrina to now more permanent locations further inland throughout the south. My assigned location was Virginia and thatÂ’s where all of those diagnosed were with me.

So the health dept. has been called and warnings issued and notices posted everywhere including the bathrooms. The essence: Wash Your Hands People! This is something IÂ’m fanatical about, but it seems that the microbes from this virus can survive for long periods of time on surfaces.

IÂ’m currently not feeling my usual great self as IÂ’m fighting off a bad sore throat (one of the symptoms) but so far thatÂ’s all. IÂ’ll be calling my doctor later today to see about the blood work I need in order to check. But must say, this absolutely friekinÂ’ sucks! Unfortunately, I have to now alert everyone IÂ’ve been in close contact with, whom I might have shaken hands with or kissed on the cheek.

Do you know how many people that is? With the French delegation alone I not only shook hands, I kissed them on both cheeksÂ….. hmmm. I guess this would be one trade export theyÂ’ll have no say so onÂ….heh, heh, heh!

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September 17, 2005

It's Over!

Yes, the work week was finally over for me when I stepped out of the Karaoke/Cyber Dating Bar at 9:30pm last night. The Tokyo office staff, having a penchant for these kind of places, were all a giggle to go back to the scene of the crime from the night before that had already claimed one amateur casualty. She being so hungover she couldn't work today. This meant that I was to be co-host to a group of guys from the EU and others from the Japanese Finance Ministry. Number crunching, post nubile men that were desperately seeking liquid oblivion and dreaming perhaps of carnal pleasures after an extremely long and stressful week.

As co-host I had to stick around for awhile, even though all I wanted to do was go home take off my 3.5 inch heels, get out of my clothes and slip into something infinitely more softer (like my 500 thread count cotton bed sheets) and hook up with something more familiar (like my beloved laptop named Bob).

But work demands continued, so I had to stick around. My role became a sort of voyeour, consultant, and Cyrano for a few of my colleagues who were floundering in their attempts to find "true love" [or temporary love for that matter]. You see this is a very unusual bar, where everyone sits in small groups at these booths or tables that have webcams and flat screens on them. With a push of a few buttons at the base of the screen you're able to look at or check out people sitting at their tables or booths through out the bar. In other words guys or gals no longer have to be shot down when they approach someone in person. Nope, now they can be shot down from the comfort of their barstool and at a distance and with humiliatingly lightening speed, just with the end of . Yes folks, that's urban dating in the 21st Century. more...

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July 26, 2005

Hello, hello...

I see you are one of those people who just cannot look away at the sight of an accident. So you've either returned out of morbid curiosity or to poke some fun at me, as I've often done with other's.

From your comments I can see that some of you are not above a little prurient reading. And a few of you, whom wrote to me directly, spotted my affinity for the Stones. I must confess, my overall preference is for classic rock of the late 60's through pop rock of the early 90's.

Well, as you can see, thereÂ’s been no major changes to the site in the last 48 hrs, but the night is still young, and I've been known to accomplish much in very little time. Although M [my pet name for Michele] gave me carte blanche with the site (quite trusting isnÂ’t she? I wonder if she's that way with everything?), I think IÂ’ll keep things as they are for awhile. The only thing IÂ’ll perhaps add is a few pints of Guinness, to give a little color to the place. I know she wonÂ’t mind.

I promised you 2 things, that I would tell you a bit about myself, and that I would tell an interesting story about Michele. more...

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June 25, 2005

My last days in Purgatory

My internment in Purgatory has ended! However, not without a warning from former boss that if they needed me they would call me. I informed my prison guard that I'll be in and out of training for the first few weeks, but that I would definitely return her calls as soon as I returned to the office (READ: NOT!!!!)

Her response: if she couldn't get me at the office she would call me at home. (Heh, I have caller ID Lady!) Under normal circumstances I'd cooperate and make the new person's transition smoother, but knowing that the new person was extended an offer before I even returned to work or found another position pissed me off.

What made me angrier? Knowing my replacement is getting less resposibilities, no projects and $15K more than I did. So for the week I smiled, I endured, and complied with her demands, being that she's the #4 woman in a global company of 60,000. For the remainder of the week I worked my old schedule of 13 to 18 hr days while enduring the meanest, most passive/aggressive behavior from some of my immediate coworkers. As far as I'm concerned, my loyalty ended when I left last night.

Since I believe in Karmic retribution I already know that she and the others will pay for how awfully I was treated these past 2 weeks. To start with I found out that not only is her secretary leaving at the end of next week, the person she hired to replace her Secy (and who'll absorb a few of my duties) doesn't now the Microsoft Outlook/Exchange Server programs. The person she hired to replace me has not used a PC in 5 years as she's been teaching art to little kids and using a Mac during that time. I know she's not prepared for the cutthroat, fast paced, demanding, "market-driven" pace of investment banking.

I can see the crashing and burning way into the future. The smoldering fires of what's to come when research has to be done on when, who and what were the last terms of a bifurcated swap. I would love to be a fly on the wall for that moment. If either woman lasts more than 3 months it will be a miracle. I did get an insult of an offer (as it would mean a demotion) if I wanted to stay; but as far as I'm concerned it's a little too little, and it comes way too late in the game. I had a football analogy of a 3rd down... but I'll spare you.

As for me, things started turning way around when I called a friend and spent over an hour lauging my head off and when I activated my new beloved Treo650. As of this morning, life has finally and definitely turned the corner!

Mellower, happier posts are soon to come.


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June 14, 2005

Hell, First Circle

Earlier today when I called a collegue to vent over having to deal with an extremely difficult temp (who took over my old job) and who was interfering with what I needed to do, she listened attentively and was amazed at my tale. Two hours later I received the following email.

Michele,
Wouldn't it be great if you could hire a professional limited liability service company that provides a professional smacker?

Imagine an ad for a company like that called.... Smacker, Wallop & Whacker, LLC. They are highly recommended, totally confidential and professional in all their wallops. All you have to do is tell them the location, person, and pay the smacker, and SMACK they go.

When they leave you have no liability, 'cause they'll never know what hit 'em.

Even though that came at 4:15pm it really made my day!!!

(Humor courtesy of blogless Oz)

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June 10, 2005

I'm so excited and I just can't hide it!!!!

Day 2 was even more exciting than the first. Darn, I wish I could write about the breakfast meeting. Had lots more training today on protocols and procedures. By 11:30am I was a bit tired and hungry and my attention span at a very low point so off I went to a farewell lunch w/my soon to be former collegue, who I'm replacing! I'm really going to miss her!

After returning to work I kept going non-stop absorbing, learning, reading, listening, contributing ideas until it was 3:00pm. Then my boss said: "you've done more than enough for one day, why don't you go out and have some fun." So I went to the bank to make a deposit and picked up a nice ice cold lemonade drink on my way back.

When I returned 15 min. later I wondered where everybody had gone. So I sat down to read some more briefings, when I was asked what I was still doing there. I must have had a look of confusion on my face, so a colleague pointed out that I was free leave. I tried playing it off by saying "Oh, he meant THAT kind of fun." That's when I was told that on Friday's in the summer, the staff usually starts leaving around 3:00pm.

Although I smiled and chatted for awhile, internally I was doing an incredible happy dance. So I got home early, picked up my son and spent extra playtime with him. I LOVE THIS JOB!

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Day 1

Started the new job today. It was interesting; especially getting the White House, Sentate, and House briefings faxed to me. Something I have to read on a daily basis. Woohoo! Also exciting was a last minute crisis before a legislative vote. Notice I'm not writing which state, there's a reason for that and that's the bad part.

The bad part of this job, (and believe me, I can live with it!) is that I'll have to be careful not to blog about certain items due to SEC, NASDAQ, European Union, and WTO Charter Agreements (just to name a few).

My first challenge today, which I'm still researching, is what personal information absolutely cannot be retained in our corporate files. In some states and countries, a spouse's name and identifying data, along with their personal affiliations and investments must be part of our permanent records, whereas in others, it's absolutely prohibited. So today I had to do some digging on this, that was the fun part. Once I find the answer, I have to communicate that in several directions before I can modify our policies and database.

Not bad for a first day's work! !

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June 04, 2005

Taming of the Beast

I've had to mediate my leavetaking and separation between two warring factions: my new [Zoe] and old employer [Belzebub]. I think it would be easier if they didn't know each other socially and in business, but at their level the circle is so small that everyone knows everyone else in NY.

So, the past 2 days have been spent with me going in for meetings to wrap things up, pass the baton, finalize reports, and to help my former boss manage her anger and anxiety. Anger w/me for leaving, anger with HR for letting me get away (so she says), anger w/the dept. OM for not managing things better, the list goes on. So after many phone calls between HR, Zoe and Belzebub, I decided to take over the mediation process from HR, as they were getting know where and instead I was being drawn into the fray as it descended into a playground scene of "she's mine".

more...

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November 09, 2004

Eeyore

Dealing with a flare up of Carpel Tunnel and colleagues so obnoxious they defy the norms of social behavior. So today my mood is reflective of the character Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh stories.

I'm hoping my mood improves and I'm able to see Bridget Jones/Colin Firth movie this weekend!

It just dawned on me that the only reason that quiz thought I was interesting was because I speak several languages and I've lived overseas half my life. That doesn't make me interesting! Those are aspects of my personality which make me worldly not interesting.

I was so drained by the antics of several petulant children at work, that when I went to meet a former co-worker for lunch, at one point I became amazed by the intelligent conversation we were having. We were discussing Christian monasticism and Indian mysticism's influence on Sufism. That really made my day.

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October 25, 2004

But can she cook?

In order to fight off a slight cold, I decided to stay home and rest up, choosing to seek my weekend entertainment and mental stimulation online. That's when I happen to come across Rammer's latest post entitled "Women's Work?" in which he brings to light a very sexist study.

The National Post, published an article yesterday on a recent study by scientists entitled "But can she cook? Women's education and housework productivity.”

The study “found that the greater a women's education, the lower her domestic productivity. In other words, a woman with a degree in engineering is likely to take more time to mop the floor than one who hasn't finished high school.”

I would I love to know what my blog sisters have to say about this!
more...

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September 19, 2004

Work Environment since 9/11

For some, life in NY has not changed much since 9/11/01. For others like me, who work for a firm that is still on terrorist lists, in a part of Manhattan that has been a target for extremists for some time, it is a life full of multi-layered security measures meant to protect.

Perhaps if I gave you a glimpse of what my morning was like today, you would get some idea what working in NYC is like these days.
more...

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