56 posts tagged “heike” (page 3)

Wednesday is Adminstrative Appreciation Day (formerly known as Secretary's Day).  I mentioned something to my boss on Friday so we could coordinate a small gift.  She works in another office, so it needs to be a little bit more planned that if we were sitting next to one another.  Realizing that the Men/Analysts in my office were unlikley to do anything for their Admin I mentioned something to the two Analysts that I really like.  I figure its not fair to the Admin that they have clueless bosses.  While I was at it, I decided to clue in the Director of my department, since the past the department has usually treated the Admin to lunch. 

How do I get rewarded for clueing in the Director?  By being responsible for ordering the Admin their lunch!!!! 

Twice in the last week (in a business setting), I have had to tell someone my name (when leaving a message for another person) and their answer has been "Really?, That's your name?"  It's beyond annoying.   Yes, this is my stupid name!  Way to be professional!  Shouldn't these problems with my name have ended once I got out of middle school!!!!!  ARGH!!!

Ugh.  I got home from work today at 8:30pm - on a Friday... no happy hour!  Luckily, Adam came and picked me up after he had dinner with his folks.  I realize that we only live a block away, so this may sound ridiculous, but I seriously would not have made it back to the apartment without falling on my face - there's at least 4inches of unplowed snow on the ground and I was wearing very cute, very high heels today.

It's been a long week.  We had the conference on Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday was the calm before the storm and the last two days have been a zoo.  Yesterday, I worked until 7pm, came home, dealt with house crap, and then worked until 11:30pm.  I got up this morning and was in the office before 7am, and I didn't get home until after 8pm!  Ugh.

Yesterday was our big conference in NYC.  I think things went pretty well.  Unfortunately, I missed last year's conference, it was during my "hiatus" when I was working at that NYC firm.  It was a little hard for me not having been to one previously, when everyone else at the firm had participated last year.  To explain how it felt being there, I have been comparing it to how I felt the day of my wedding.... I was busy running around all day, barely had time to get some food in me, I was nervous all morning (because of my looming public speaking debute) and since everyone wanted to talk to me, I was sick of talking by the end of the day and my feet hurt....  But, just like my wedding, I really enjoyed myself as well.  Going forward, the conference is definitely something I will look forward to.

I didn't end up finding a ballgown to wear at the dinner on Monday evening.  I was really happy with what I ended up, and the fact that it came out of my closet and didn't require any last minute purchases.... I wore a nice bright-blue blouse that really stood out from all of the mens's suits and a black skirt with just a hint of frill at my knees.  Professional yet feminine, I thought I struck the perfect balance.  My boss was wearing a red/orange blazer with a very colorful long dress.  She looked great in it, but I could never pull off an outfit like that.  I look forward to dressing up a bit more than normal next year, but I don't expect myself to ever reach her "ball-gown" level. 

I was moderating a panel and in addition to my responsiblities of introducing my panel (3 CEOs) and handling the Q&A, I was tasked with spending 10minutes talking about the industry, so the panel doesn't waste their limited time explaining the greater industry themes that have impacted them.  Typically, company presentations will run be individually done and run anywhere from 25-40min.  Our conference, which focuses more on industry themes puts 3-5 industry execs on the same panel by theme.  Each compay quickly talks about their specific company and then we open it up to Q&A.  Investors are big fans of our format, since none of  our competitors provide the opportunity to have questions answered in this matter.

So, my panel was supposed to be an hour long.  I was supposed to talk for 5-10mins, each of the three execs speaks for 10-12, and then we leave the extra time for Q&A.  Well, I spent 10min, my first CEO spent 18min, the next one, who I was most worried about was done in 15, and the last guy went on for 20 min.... if you do the math, you will see that we had ZERO time for Q&A.  So, that was frustrating.  I had tons of great questions prepared in case the crowd got quiet, and there seemed to lots of audience interest in discussing further as wel....  we were the panel before lunch, so, you can't really drag on -- everyone is hungry and the food is sitting out already....

Things that I wish had gone better:

  1) I think I was talking too fast... I always do this, especially when I'm nervous.  2) I gave my panel too hard of a time about staying on time, to the point that I had them overly worried.  This wouldn't have been as bad, BUT 3) My 3 CEOs/Panelist each went over their time allotment, by quite a lot, and I should have found a way to either speed them up or give them a clue that they were over.  4) I need to remember that 5 years of covering these stocks means that I Know What I Am Talking About -- I need to carry myself that way. I should have been more visible with clients.  This is unusual, because I'm not normally lacking in self-confidence.  5) I didn't find a good balance between helping the Admin with the administrative stuff and remembering that I am "above" worrying about that (I swear, I don't mean that in a snobby way).  I should have been listening to more of the panel discussion, and worrying less about the coordinating stuff.

Things that I'm pleased with: 1) I did a good job of referencing back to my former boss in my comments, keeping his spirit alive (He was in the sector for 20+years, everyone knew him!) without dwelling on it too much.  2) I was pretty thorough in my comments without rambling on forever.  My panel was able to reference back to comments I made, without getting bogged down in explaining larger industry trends.   3) I didn't fall on my face or do anything too clutzy or embarassing (well, until the very end when I nearly walked into a microphone, but by then most people had already left).  4) This may sound stupid, but I'm glad that I was able to monitor my alcohol intake during the evening dinner.... its easy to drink too much at those things when you have an hour cocktail hour, a sitdown dinner, with waiters constantly refilling your glass, and then the event continues at the bar for another couple of hours. 

 

As I was getting out of the cab and dragging myself through the door of my building (after a long two days at the conference), an older man who lives in my building asked me my ethnicity - not normally a question I get very often since I don't have a very unique heritage.  When I replied "What?" (translation: are you kidding me?).  He asked if I was Turkish.  Extermely random!   When I replied, my back already to him, that I was German, he switched to speaking to me in German,  An odd way to end a very long day... 

I don't remember who it was, but someone suggested I start watching Alias.  I have never fully recovered from losing Xfiles and have been missing a not-too-sci-fi show to fill that void.  I was distracted for quite awhile by 8 Seasons of West Wing, but have still felt like something was missing.

So, I was introduced to Alias.  Jennifer Garner, big fan.  Girl-power spy show - what's not to love?

Well, I only made it 5 episodes in before I couldn't take it anymore.  If she and her partner are such good spies, why do they have to constanly fight their way out of situations?  And why, do they have nothing more than a couple of scrapes on them afterwards?  If she's an undercover agent and her friends don't know who she works for, how can she explain all these business trips that come at the drop of a hat?  In one episode, spanning about a week, she's in Malaga, in Eastern Asia, and New York, all from her homebase in LA.  And if SD6 is such a global bad-guy network, why don't they send someone from the Asian branch to Hong Kong and the European branch to Malaga -- why is she doing all this travel from LA if they are this huge operations? 

Listen, I'm not saying that X-files is exactly grounded in reality either.  These things just bothered me enough (and I'm not very vested in the show) that I am walking away.  Also, I'm not a big fan of violence and the fight scenes were too often and too noisy. 

Next up, I'm going to try The 4400 - I've been recommended this by a true X-files fan, my old watching buddy, my uncle.  I LOVE NETFLIX!!!

People who know me well know that I LOVE Gilmore Girls.  I especially love the banter between Lorelei (Lauren Graham) and Rori (can't remember her name).  So, I was so excited to see that Lauren Graham is staring in a movie with Diane Keaton and Mandy Moore.  Adam and I aren't big "go to the movies" people, actually, I think the last movie we saw in the theater was Elf, and that was only because my pre-teen cousin was visiting us in Philly and we were looking for something to do with him.... I digress... so, I was really looking forward to this movie, maybe I would even find a gal-pal and GO to the movies for a change.... but, over the past two days I have read three brutual reviews on this movie (wall street journal, slate and nytimes), and am SO bummed!!!  Looks like its not worth spending $20 on for a night out when I can just wait and rent it on NetFlix. 

In contrast, I saw "the Devil Wears Prada" last night, Thank You Netflix, and loved it.  Meryl Streep was phenomenal, Anne Hathaway was a great fit as Andie, and the cute guy from Entourage was pretty to look at as Andie's boyfriend.... I loved the book and was concerned that they wouldn't be able to translate it into a movie well.  I thought they did a fabulous job of balancing out Meryl's character (in the book she was all mean) and it was fun to see the different parts of NYC that they used for filming....  big fan!

Over a week ago I saw RENT (I love Netflix!).  For those that don't know, RENT is a broadway musical that got remade into a movie.  I love the soundtrack (it was big hit with the drama kids in college) and really enjoyed the musical, so I was excited to see the movie version... Adam, of course, scrambled out of the family room as quickly as he could and hid in the bedroom until all of the singing was over.

My problem is that it is stuck in my head.  Not just one or two songs, but a bunch of them, I feel like every day I have a different one stuck in my head.  Very odd!

I LOVE Clinique products!!!  I bought this last weekend and think its fabulous.  I was originally looking for a light foundation -- I don't need much, just something to even out occasional blotchiness on my cheeks -- and bought this based on the saleswoman's recommendation.  I hate heavy foundation and anything that looks too obviously like you painted your face, so I have a real tough time finding anything and end up not using any foundation/powder.  This stuff has just a hint of color and it does exactly what I need.  It evens out the little bit of redness/blotchiness I have on my cheeks (ah, winter weather) and doesn't look like I am wearing anything.  Just thought I'd share.

One of the biggest reasons my mom was looking forward to me visiting was so I could help her figure out all of the electronics in the house... while I was there we figured out the control panel for the heat, reviewed how to work her cable box, played with my digital camera, futzed with the fan, and figured out how to connect to her new internet email address..... I was playing second fiddle to Adam, the electronic wizard, but managed to hold my own.  Here are some photos of my mom playing up the occasion...