My first quilt project

This assumes that there will be another one.

This Thanksgiving I am in Charlotte at my roommate's aunt and uncle's house.  We were here last year and her aunt gave me one of her beautiful quilts that she had made.  She is an amazing quilter.  The quilt she gave me last year is hanging on the wall in my living room.  I wanted to learn how to quilt because I thought I would really like it.  But of course I don't have anything that you need to do it.

So her aunt asked me if I wanted to learn how to use the sewing machine and of course I said yes.  When we got upstairs to do what she calls "commit fabric" I had no idea that I was actually picking out fabric to make an entire quilt.  But make a quilt we did.  I cut, sewed, cut, pieced together and sewed almost all of the quilt above.  We don't have time to finish it up while I am here so she is going to finish it up for me.

I love it.

Unplugged

So I finally switched to an iPhone.  I know - I am a little late to that party and it cost me a small fortune.  I got the 4s because why get the older one when it costs almost as much as the new one.  Work won't support iPhones or allow us to have our work email on an iPhone so we are stuck using blackberries.  I have resisted getting an iPhone for the simple reason that I didn't want to carry two devices around.  In the 24 hour window while I waited for my new blackberry to arrive from the Chicago office on Friday, I had no blackberry access to my email.  I found this to be mildly distressing - not being able to know exactly what was happening in my inbox at all times.  The first thing I do in the morning when I get up is check my blackberry to find out what I am walking into for the day.  Friday though, I had to wait until I got to the office to find out.

The thing about having your phone be your work email and your work email be your phone is that every time you pick the phone up you inevitably check your work email.  I feel constantly connected, constantly available.  This past weekend I found that I was able to leave my work email behind.  I just didn't even bring that particular device with me wherever I went.  I don't care so much that I am not available on a whim for them.  Whenever I feel overly important at work I just remind myself that if I get hit by a bus, they will figure it out.  In fact, they are having to figure it out because they know I am leaving.  I am no longer the "it" person and that feels pretty great.  I am in the shadows now, slowly transitioning things for my eventual departure and doing more small projects rather than managing large ones.  I am being phased out.  Now let's just hope I find another job before they don't need me for anything anymore.  I might still be a valuable part of the team but that's not going to last forever.

Things haven't been going great for me anyway at work.  Projects have gotten out of hand, things have gone wrong - it's just time to move on.  And part of moving on is not being so damned attached to my email.  I am feeling unplugged. 

Tick tock

I am taking a calculated risk.  

As of this morning, the clock starts ticking.  The partner didn't say there is an expiration date on my job, but I suspect there might be.  He said that the goal should be to find me the right job by 6 months from now because that is the end of the billable year, and that if we run into next year's evaluation time, questions will be raised as to why I did nothing towards partnership.  I don't disagree with that assessment, I think he is right.  Questions will be raised if I am not out of there within six months.   I am not that confident though that I will be.  Not much in the way of hiring happens during the holidays so I am thinking there won't be any progress until after January 1st.  That only leaves me 4 months.  Eek.  I don't actually know if I will be laid off in 6 months for not having a job.  It is very possible that I won't be but I am basically afraid to ask.  Although I should.  Duh.  The partner thinks this process isn't going to take nearly as long as I do.  

I weighed the risks and benefits of being honest about my intentions and decided that the risk was worth having the help of the partner in finding a job.  I hope I was right.