Shot in the arm

Having a boss who's positive and encouraging makes a huge difference. Lil Sis would probably agree...she's recently gone from truly shitty leadership to fair, if a little scattered leadership, and the difference in her emails alone attests to her relaxed state at work. I've been with my company so long, I can get really apathetic and cynical sometimes when it comes to the sphincters running the joint (case in point), but the manager they hired for my team last year has brought some much-needed intelligence and organization to our corner. Someone who actually encourages you to grow in your position...it's a bit of a rarity in cubicle world.

I've been not-really enjoying one of those weeks where one day runs into the next. I loathe when that happens, makes me feel like life is slipping past me and I'm not taking nearly enough time to accomplish excrement, smell roses, etc. Thanks, Dad...appreciate the life lesson.

Anyway, had a one-on-one with my manager about my performance and we get to talking about what else I'd like to be doing. We're currently in a dry spell, sales-wise, so it's a perfect time for extra training, polishing skills, etc. I get to talking about SEO, how search engines measure sites and how we can improve customer retention if all areas of Operations are kept up to date on the ever-changing methods of the browsers (i.e. Google, Yahoo, etc...I've already lost people, haven't I? This thing on?.....). She gives me free rein to run with the idea, researching what we are doing vs. what we should be doing and how we can cohesively maintain heightened education on the subject from a QC standpoint and hopefully across the floor in Operations, as well as the industry standards as a whole. No timeline, real work comes first, of course; but she's helping me educate myself to make myself more marketable down the road, in addition to attempting to increase company client retention. I'm a lucky gal, and suddenly, work ain't so dry.

In other news, I've been neglecting the plants a bit due to disappointment over my first failures, but I'm getting back on them this weekend. Luckily, it's been a Florida summer week here, with rain almost everyday, so what's out there has been holding on. I've been reading more than knitting again, but the latest batch of library books contained some real gems, so I'm not begrudging the time. Ashley English's books are goldmines! Can't wait to own 'em myself.