June 7 - Ten Things in These Foolish Things

Ten things on a Friday:

1. Here’s another thing that I love about PB: Regarding my RAD entry yesterday, I got enough information from my notes from y’all to convince myself to just try getting on the Signal messaging app and checking it out. I did it and I sent a message to Klaus. He seemed pleased (not overly, mind you, just pleased) and we’ve shared a couple of messages. Fine. No biggie. I’m still annoyed by the number of messaging apps I have on my phone, but I suppose there are worse things.

2. I haven’t written about the Bentonville trip to see [Athena] yet because I almost feel like it’s not my story to tell. Here is a little note about MY part in this story: I had an amazing time with [Athena] exploring the town, taking in the scenery, kayaking on a beautiful lake, walking all over the place, going to museums a couple times over and generally loving being with my friend. And here are some things that I didn’t do: (A) I did NOT get hit by a tornado and have two trees fall into the airbnb where I was staying in the middle of the night, (B) I did NOT get bit by a tick and have to take antibiotics as a precaution to not get freaking Lyme Disease, and ( C), I did NOT get Covid. I AM very happy I went.

3. Though [Athena]’s case of Covid was mild and discovered essentially on the night before the last day we were together, we both masked up and stayed fairly separated. I’m so grateful that she didn’t get too sick (she thought it was allergies and I could tell she had a stuffy nose). We were having an AMAZING dinner at a restaurant called The Preacher’s Son located in a restored old church, and when the first course was served, A. noted that she couldn’t taste anything! Oh noooo…. But she soldiered on and we went to the Jewel exhibit at Crystal Bridges and saw the rest of this AMAZING exhibit called Exquisite Creatures. I think this was the highlight of our trip. But the main thing I wanted to get across in this bullet is that I believe I am either now a Novid, a person who’s never gotten Covid, or I am an asymptomatic carrier or something. Knock on wood, I haven’t been affected by this fucker of a disease. Other things, sure! Remind me to tell you about my autoimmune disease and my skin cancer. But Covid? Fuck you, motherfucker!!

4. Got home in time to have minor surgery on my two spots of skin cancer. I think I wrote about this already? Yes. I was still a little hopped up when I wrote. But today I finally got the guts to take the bandage off my leg incision (my back is no biggie since it was a simple scrape and burn - just looks like a bad burn spot, like someone burned me with a cigar, ha!), but the leg was gross and crusty blood when I took the bandage off. Luckly, all the crust came off in the shower, and I washed the wound ever so carefully with sensitive skin glycerine soap and it felt soooo goooooddd! I was surprised by how good it looked. There was some bruising - about a 3” diameter of the approx 4.5” incision, but nothing about it was painful or even that gross. I’m so happy that the doc used special stitches to close it up. You can’t even really see them! It’s going to be just fine. Now I hope I can keep these spots from popping up!

5. As for my little alopecia bald spot, the doc took a quick look at the top of my head after he sutured up my leg. I do still have that little hairless area that I can cover up by moving my part over slightly, but I asked [Athena] when we were together if she thought the spot had gotten any bigger and she said no. She was there when I discovered the spot in February…it was shocking to me! And she even said she’d noticed it earlier…before I even did, wahhhh! But she is also pretty much the only person I’ve shown and I immediately shifted my hair around. It’s still a small-ish spot, about the size of a nickel right in the middle of the top of my head. But doc said he either saw a little hair growth or a little loss…it was hard for him to tell without taking a closer look, and we were there for the cancer spots anyway. So we decided to let it go for now and look closely when I’m back in July. I’m just relieved that I haven’t seen this bald spot get bigger or discovered any more spots! Ugh. Keeping up with my epidermis is a full time job!

6. I did a little light workout this morning. For the last two days I’d only been using my dog walks and other walking as my form of exercise, but today I felt ready to do a little bit more. I took it VERY easy because I didn’t want to bust a stitch and I didn’t use any weight-bearing techniques except for a plank a couple of times. It felt good. I’m so, so happy with my health right now (with the exception of the skin and hair stuff, of course)

7. Things at work are getting really interesting. My boss, the Inbox Nazi, seems like he may be falling from the CEO’s graces. He doesn’t understand the business at all and I think the only reason he was hired full time is because he’s such an organized person to the point of being super anal about it. All of that is fine and good, but MAN, people do not like this guy. He ONLY cares about whether or not you’re doing your work in this new CRM system that he initiated. And the thing doesn’t work for what we’re trying to do anyway. Ha! What we need is a PLM system. He doesn’t get it. But he insists we do this and try to jam a square peg into a round hole. Fine.

8. But where it really gets interesting is the fact that I am working more directly with the CEO and cutting Inbox Nazi out of the picture (because, again, he doesn’t get it). A few weeks ago, I volunteered to help the founder with something that I know how to do. It’s outside of my direct area of responsibility (according to Inbox Nazi, who doesn’t know anything), but it’s VERY closely adjacent, and again, I know how to do it. I don’t necessarily LOVE to do it because it’s a lot of numbers analysis, but I still volunteered to help with it because somebody in the company needs to take a closer look at the business. So the founder brought the idea up with the CEO and told her that he was impressed that I volunteered, so she asked me for help. SURE!! And off I went. Yesterday, as we were meeting on this project, CEO asked me to think about where I want to “go” with the company. As in, she wants me to take on a more leadership role. As in, the next level for me would likely be on the Executive Team. As in VICE PRESIDENT…maybe? I don’t know if they’s go for that title, but that’s kind of where I’m going with it. It’s a LOT to consider since I’m frustrated with this company, but it could be very interesting and I need to list it all out and make a case for what I’m worth.

9. Do you know about the Gallup CliftonStrengths? Essentially, it’s a questionnaire that can help you determine what your talents and strengths are so that you can focus on your strengths and use them to the advantage of your work and personal life. A lot of companies now require their teams to take this “test” to help them understand how to work better together and how to understand each other better. These strengths are divided into 34 themes and those themes are categorized into 4 domains that show your general way of working (you’re either an Executor, an Innovator, a Relator, or a Strategic Thinker) Inbox Nazi actually requires us to add our Top 5 Strengths to our Zoom screens so that everyone can see “what” each other is. My last company (before Cutie Pie - they don’t count!) required the Strengthsfinder as well, so when I joined Cool Cat, I just gave them my old report, saying that I probably haven’t changed since these are pretty core to who we are as people. But when [Athena] and I were together last week, we were both working during the day and the topic of Strengthsfinder came up because her company also uses it, and I got to thinking that since I’ve been going through so much PTG (Post Traumatic Growth) this year, and I’ve had so many changes in my life over the last 10 years (the last time I took the test), that it would be interesting to see my results now. So I asked CEO and Inbox Nazi if I could take the test again and they said yes, and I took it yesterday. And lo and behold, my results show that I have gone through a transformation - my main domain, or way of functioning, has shifted from Innovator to Strategic Thinker! I agree with this 100% and am actually very excited about what that means. I honestly think that this might be a game changer as it relates to my career anyway…at least with this company. My CEO looks at me as a leader. And I think my boss is feeling a little threatened. Gonna get wild, people! Im ready for it! I think.

10. I just heard back from Klaus on Signal (of course, ha!). He wants to know when we will see each other again. He definitely deserves another look-see. Let’s figure this one out!

Xo,
GS