Welcome To My World

For those of us who have full-time jobs, the workplace is a second home, complete with a second family. And, like families, there are different personalities. Fun people, serious people, lazy people, strange people, shy people, bossy people, stuck-up people. There are people dressed to the nines everyday and people who look like they slept in their clothes. People you like and people you don't. People you look forward to seeing and people you avoid like the plague. People you enjoy working with and people that make you bite your tongue when they're around.
My scheduled work hours are 8-5PM with an hour for lunch, Monday-Friday. I NEVER get out of the office before 5:30PM and rarely take a full hour for lunch. Often I eat at my desk or don't have lunch at all. I'm fortunate that my commute is easy, living 8.5 miles from the office, I never have to travel on any major highways.
Most people don't even have offices anymore; it's a world of cubicles, which offer absolutely NO privacy. In my company, only the very top executives have an office that actually has a door that can be closed.
I've tried to personalize my space a bit and I wonder what impression it gives to people who don't really know me. So here are a few pix of my second home:



My "office." I try to keep it neat, so I appear somewhat organized. I'm not always successful. Things to note:

My ever-present water bottle. I drink a ton of water, which I know is a good thing. However, it leads to an inordinate amount of bathroom time. If I'm not at my desk, the odds are I'm in the ladies' room.
My fan. Like every modern-day office building, the heat and a/c systems are horrible. Freezing in the summer, hot as hell in the winter. Or the temperature changes every few feet, literally. I just never know how to dress. I wish there was some way I could get a weather report for work every morning before dressing.
My new phone. Since the lay-offs, I've been given the additional responsibility of overseeing the phone team for our division. You know, the customer service reps we all love to speak with when we call with a question or problem with whatever. This new phone is supposed to allow me to see various phone stats, like how many calls are waiting, how long they've been waiting, who's on the phone and who isn't. The only problem is there was only one guy who knew how to set this up and he was one of the people laid off. For now, I'm just happy I can get and make calls on it.
My Mets teddy bear - a gift from the LSH.

On top of the file cabinet behind me, I have various mementos and photos of people and things important to me.



That handsome fellow in the picture is David Wright, 3rd baseman for my beloved Mets. Everyone that knows me well at work knows about my devotion to the Amazins' and my maternal thing for Mr. Wright. However, a woman from another department who I rarely have any interaction with, stopped by my cube to discuss something. I was on the phone, so I motioned to her to just take a seat. Now, that photo was taken in a prestigious men's store in Manhattan. As you can see, we're standing in front of a display of shirts and ties. After I hung up, she asked me who the young man was. Without any forethought, I said "That's my son, David." She said "My, he's very handsome." I thanked her and then added "He's in retail. We're so proud." The woman looked at a loss for words and then just said "Oh, that's nice." In the meantime, I could hear someone who had overheard me, laughing loudly and I lost it. The woman looked at me like I was crazy (you may be right, I may be crazy), and I admitted the truth to her. I don't think she appreciated my sense of humor. She told me whatever it was that made her stop by and quickly departed. BTW, she no longer works for the company.
A postscript - unbeknown to me, but the NY sports station, SNY, was there and filmed me speaking with David before the photo. A few weeks later, David & I showed up on the show "Mets Weekly."
The other photo is me and "the Girls" on my wedding day. The Girls and I have been friends since kindergarten or 1st grade (except for Candy, who we adopted junior year in high school when she transferred in. Actually, GF Kathy taught me how to tie my shoes.



Next there's a pic of me and the LSH, posing with one of the exotic birds at one of the ports on our cruise last December. Then we have my Billy Wagner bobblehead doll and my commemorative replica of Shea Stadium, both giveaways from games we attended last year. In the background is my boy, Bailey, the shaggy dog.



That's a photo of my previous sheepdog, Patrick, the LSH being captured by some pirates at some port while I stayed on board, hanging at the pool, being waited on by pool boys, sipping exotic drinks with tiny umbrellas, and me and the LSH on our wedding day.



That hand is actually what is known as a former, used to make gloves. (The company I work for makes surgical and exam gloves, among other things). And, yes, those are Mardi Gras beads and no, I'm not going to tell you how I got them! A girl needs to maintain SOME mysteries about herself.