09Jul
Way back when we were wee young things (as opposed to being old young things now), Chris and I lived with odd schedules. I worked a regular 8-5 job, but his schedule in college and grad school was always weird. But, we were wee young things and so we did what we had to do to work around it.
Have I ever told you about Chris’ job? He’s explained it once or twice in the Man Cave (remember that place, Chris?) but in case you missed it, I’ll recap it for you in layman’s terms. You know when you look at a stage and there’s all that scenery and stuff up there? Well, let me tell you how it got there. A person called a scene designer reads a play and then they draw a real pretty picture of what they want the stage to look like. That drawing is then given to the technical director who figures out how to make that drawing become real. This is what Chris did in college. He took pretty pictures and figured out how to make them real.
When he got to Yale, he learned how to take a picture of something that moves on stage – say a building that falls down or a car that flies over the audience – and build that. When you’re working with anything that moves, it’s called automation. So, Chris learned how to build automation for theater. But that was only half of his program. The other half of his program taught him how to manage the people who drew the pictures and built the scenery and made things move. That person who manages all of that is called the production manager, and that’s what Chris’ job is now.
Now, Chris sits in a big plushy office all day figuring out budgets and personnel issues and safety hazards and paychecks. But before all of that fancy stuff, he was a worker bee. He was the guy who actually put hammer to nail and built the sets. But building those sets comes with odd working hours because normally the technical folk don’t get access to the stage to build until everyone else has gone home.
Which means that technical folk in theater work some long, crazy, weird hours.
At Yale, they were called 10-outta-12′s. Meaning that if there are 12 working hours in the day, Chris would be working 10 of those. Usually, those long stretches of crazy hours came just in the week or two leading up to a production and Chris and I adjusted accordingly. Some of my most favorite memories of him being in grad school were of sitting on his dinner breaks in the back of a dark theater while actors rehearsed on stage and Chris and I whispered about our days. I wouldn’t have seen him since I left early that morning for work and I probably wouldn’t see him again until he rolled into bed around 2 or 3 in the morning once rehearsals were over.
It was a strange life, but we were wee young things who didn’t know any different.
When Chris graduated, he took a job working at one of the largest scene shops in the world. A scene shop is a place that mass produces scenery for people. So, say you wanted to produce a Broadway play. You would hire a scene shop to build your set for you. And that’s what Chris did. Only, he was specifically in the automation department so he built anything that moved on stage for Broadway. It was a great job because he worked in an office and managed things instead of building, which meant for the first time in our lives he worked the same hours as I did.
Which meant for the first time in our lives we got to have dinner together at an actual kitchen table at a normal dinner time.
And all was right with the world.
This morning I got an email from Chris. It was a rehearsal schedule for next week. And – surprise, surprise – it was practically a 10-outta-12 schedule.
Por que?
But I thought we were past all of this weird schedule crap?
I thought we were upper management. Office people. Water cooler talkers.
And Chris explained that being new to his job now, he can’t manage a theater if he doesn’t know how it functions. And so he’s going to these grueling rehearsals for a whole week so that he can get a feel for how the theater operates. He says it will make him a better manager because nobody likes a boss who doesn’t get his hands dirty.
As frustrating as it is to see these long hours come creeping back into our lives again, I can’t help but smile because I married a hard working person. A person who doesn’t hide from work. A person who will step up to the plate and be there for his team – both at work and at home – so that they can perform the absolute best. It’s a quality he has had since he was fifteen years old. And while sometimes that means he can’t always be home at 5:30 on the dot and sometimes he might have to be at the theater on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, he’ll kiss me goodbye and happily be on his way because he knows that he’s working to get the job done.
There are always things we’d like to change about our partners. I’m sure Chris would like it if I were neater or if I didn’t cry and moan and roll on the kitchen floor every time I have to do the dishes. And I would love it if Chris were not blind to the clothes hamper that sits on the floor right next to his pile of dirty laundry.
But, you know, Chris’ work ethic is something I would never change about him, even if it makes our lives a little difficult at times. I love that in him and I hope he teaches that to Bean as he gets older and has more responsibility. Because a person who is loyal and responsible in their jobs are more than likely loyal and responsible in their homes, too.
Besides, when he’s gone at night I get sole ownership of the remote. So, you know, there’s that.
05Mar
Today is my last day at work before we move to Florida. I was cleaning out my computer and I came across a folder of Photo Booth pictures I took on my Mac throughout the past three years. Most of these were taken to either email to my mom or to put on Twitter. I was going through them and some of them are pretty funny. And they tell the off-the-record stories of my time here. What a great way to reflect on this huge chapter of my life that is closing today…
My desk during the first week of work. What a whirlwind!
The, like, ONE DAY that I actually straightened my hair. Happens every five years.
A haircut I got that I didn't like. At all.
The first day I thought I actually looked pregnant.
An ultrasound I had of Bean. Chris couldn't come, so I emailed the picture to him when I got back to work.
My first day wearing maternity clothes to work.
The day I spent my last penny (literally) on a cupcake from the Cupcake Truck.
Getting bigger...
Too big! Just too damn big!
My happy face after the ladies in my office threw me a baby shower.
The flowers my sister sent me after I called her one night crying because my feet hurt. I think I was eight months pregnant.
Flowers Chris sent me after I wrote him a letter via the blog asking for them. I even faked my surprise really well when the delivery guy showed up.
GIANT mint cupcake from a co-worker
Trying to figure out how to tie a scarf around my neck...
Sleeves that kept getting caught in my desk drawers one day
My friend, Renata, bringing me some holiday cheer
I had to bring Bean to work with me one day because he had a fever and couldn't go to daycare. He went through three rolls of tape. It was the only way to keep him busy.
I found 2 bracelets in my jewelry box one morning that I thought I lost. Score!
One day I found a complete set of silverware in my purse. Weird, even for me.
One of my co-workers introduced me to Almond Joy M&M's. Holy cow.
Showing one of our faculty how to use the Photo Booth. He thought it was awesome.
Two weeks ago one of my co-workers surprised me with 2 cupcakes from the Cupcake Truck!
And so today, here I sit. In my office. Boxes packed. Purchasing card returned. Blackberry turned off. Phone lines forwarded. Email account deleted.
But I’m smiling because I know that when the Lord closes one door, its because he’s about to open an even bigger window.
March 5, 2010
03Mar
This is my last week of work and so I thought in honor of that bittersweet ending, I would take you on a tour of my little office. Its a pretty small office so the tour won’t take long. Please keep your arms and legs inside the tour bus at all times. Thank you for your cooperation.
This is my desk.
See those keys sitting there? Those are the keys that I lock in my office at least once a week. And then I have to call the one other person who has the master for my office to come let me in. And sometimes, she’s not on campus and so I have to sit in the lobby and read the newspaper until she gets to work. Seriously. Once a week.
And that lamp on the corner? The cord hangs off the back of my desk and I always catch the cord and knock the lamp on the floor. And every time the lampshade pops off and the light bulb breaks. I kept thinking that I should move that lamp, but its been three years and there it sits.
This is my pen holder. It is actually a big candle holder from Halloween. But it holds a LOT of pens and supplies and so I put it on my desk and turned it into a pen holder. Voila!
This is my computer. Where all the magic happens. And those are my post-it notes where I keep important things such as the phone number to the deli up the street. See that little pink box?  That is a cute little going away gift from one of our faculty. Inside are cake bites. I haven’t unwrapped them yet to find out what cake bites actually are because they are wrapped in beautiful gold paper and I don’t want to open them.
And underneath that expense report on my computer screen is a picture of Bean Man in a diaper, fat and giggly. Sometimes in the middle of a particularly busy workday, I’ll minimize everything on my computer screen and just take a peek at Bean’s belly. It makes me smile.
This is the other corner of my desk. That’s my inbox on the top. Its where I kept anything I was working on. Most of the time, my desk is fairly clean. I don’t work well surrounded by paper and so I like my space to be as clear as possible. That means that sometimes it looks like I have nothing going on. But in reality, there were a lot of things happening, they were just all piled in that inbox until I could get to them.
And see that notepad under that memo sitting there? That is my brain. Seriously. Anywhere I go during my workday, I have that notepad with me. Its where I write EVERYTHING. Between you and me, I have a really bad memory. Really, really bad. If I don’t write it on that notepad, chances are I’m not going to remember it.
This is the top drawer in my desk. It holds anything I use on a daily basis. Mostly, that’s post-it notes of all sizes. I love them. I couldn’t live without them. I need them. Also, that staple remover? I use that quite often because I like to staple things and my boss likes to paper clip things. So, I staple things until I have to give them to him and then I pull the staples out and throw a paper clip on them. Weird? Sure. But it worked and we were both happy.
And see that gray calculator? I use it to do simple math. Math that I really should be able to do myself. Math like if I have an invoice for $190 and $20 of that is deductible, how much is the balance?
(crickets, crickets, crickets)
Hang on, let me get my calculator.
This is the drawer below that other drawer and its where I hoard office supplies. And keys. I have a ton of keys that I have inherited over the past three years. Some of them – most of them – I don’t even know what they go to. I also randomly hoard highlighters. Which is weird because I don’t really use a lot of highlighters. And note cards. I bet I’ve used four note cards in my entire time in this job and yet I have, like, twelve packs of them in this drawer.
But this drawer is the mother load. This is my junk drawer with personal stuff in it.
Like these Life Saver mints, which I always forget that I have. But boy does it make my day when I remember they are in there!
And these instant oatmeal packets. Just add a little hot water from the water cooler and on a cold morning, you’re suddenly warm and toasty!
And these are my cough drops. Without them, I would sit in meetings and cough until I had properly infected every person in the room. Thanks to Bean Bean, I have become much more prone to sickness this year (that’s what you get when you birth a carrier monkey) and so I have just accepted my fate as one of those people who always smell like menthol.
And, of course, there are the sanitizing wipes. (See the previously reference carrier monkey)
This is my family wall under my window. I have two pictures of Bean Man. See that taller picture of him in the back? That’s his fall school picture. Isn’t that funny??? They took school pictures in his daycare. If you look closely, you can see the red rim around his lips where they yanked the binky out of his mouth right before they took the picture. I love that. And there’s a picture of me and Chris, a picture of Lucy Goosey on a beach, feeling the wind in her ears. And then there is this…
My BFF Emily made this for me a year or two ago. Its a salt shaker for happy thoughts. You just sprinkle them all over when you’re having a bad day. She got all crafty one Saturday and made this for me and I just love it. Who knew a little salt shaker, a little ribbon, and a couple sequins could brighten your day? Thanks, Em!
This is the art that I picked for my office in the first month or two. I work at a music school and I know NOTHING about music, so I was really intimidated about picking art for my walls. When I found these prints, I thought they were perfect. My abstract style, but in the right area. And I loved that they had jazz instruments because I am a big fan of jazz. But – guess what! WE DON’T HAVE A JAZZ PROGRAM AT OUR SCHOOL. So, here I am with jazz art on my walls and that is the one area we don’t instruct in. Perfect.
Along those same lines, one time in the first few months in my job, I was working with a group of staff on a concert that we were planning. Someone had the music selections listed on a piece of paper. Next to one of the sheets of music was the name of the composer, “Anon.” So, I snickered and said to the group, “Anon? What? Is that person too good for a first and last name? Like Madonna? Or Meatloaf?”
“No,” said one of my co-workers. “That stands for Anonymous.”
Sometimes I really wonder how I got this job and then how I survived in it!
This is probably my favorite part of my office. This is the poster from Yale’s 300th anniversary. It is a photograph taken of the bell tower on Yale’s campus. Students managed to hang a handmade flag of a smiley face on the tower. And it just so happened that streamers from the celebration drifted up to the bell tower this clear, fall afternoon and blew in the breeze just as the picture was taken. I think it is such a wonderful dichotomy: the old and the young, the traditional and the spontaneous. I love this picture.
So, that’s my office. That is my office. That was my office. That will be my office until Friday. And then I will box it all up and have it to take with me to my next professional home. And when I unpack these little trinkets and doodads, I’ll think about this office and the people who came and went through my office door every day and I’ll smile and remember how truly lucky I was to work at such a wonderful institution.
I have mentioned the Cupcake Truck on my blog before, but the mention of it yesterday stirred some new interest. When I posted on it the first time, it was almost two years ago and I have a lot of new readers now so maybe its time I introduce (and re-introduce) you to the lover in my life…
The Cupcake Truck.
The Cupcake Truck is a New Haven jewel. And it is exactly what the name implies. It is a truck that drives around selling cupcakes.
Go ahead and squeal. I’ll wait.
This brilliant concept is the brainchild of THIS MAN and his lovely, lovely wife.
He wouldn’t look at my camera because he said he wanted the cupcakes to do all the talking. And I said I didn’t care who did the talking so long as someone gave me a cupcake. And he did. And I was happy.
The truck is an old ice cream truck that they bought and turned into a little bakery on wheels. Though, they don’t actually bake in there. They bake all their cupcakes in the mornings and then hit the road around noon. They park in different places all over Yale’s campus and you can follow them on Twitter to find out where they’ll be.
Be prepared to wait. Word travels fast, but cupcakes disappear faster.
(SIDE NOTE: I dragged my friend, Tara, to the Cupcake Truck with me this week and it was all fun and games until I pulled out my camera. She was mortified to be standing next to this strange redhead taking pictures of cupcakes in public. She’s a good friend, that Tara. A good, good friend.)
When you get to the window to order, you choose your cupcake flavor and then your icing flavor off of their board. But, like I said, things go quickly. In the time it took us to stand in line for 15 minutes, 2 icing flavors and a cupcake flavor were taken down. It took all the self-control I had not to yell at the person in front of me in line, “ORDER FASTER, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! THE CUPCAKES ARE DISAPPEARING!! THE CUPCAKES ARE DISAPPEARING, YOU FOOL!”
But, thankfully, my cupcake of choice was still on the menu when I got up there. Red velvet cake with vanilla frosting. Makes ya slap yer momma.
Now, some people go straight for the white chocolate cream cheese frosting for the red velvet cake, but that would be the WRONG decision. I have found the white chocolate and the red velvet to be too rich of a combination. But put that white chocolate cream cheese on a chocolate cupcake and you’re singing my song…
This particular day I was feeling the red velvet though, so they poured on the vanilla icing. All nice and slowlike. So that I could learn to do it myself at home. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that the only thing baked I ate at home were Lays potato chips.
Tell me that you can see the vanilla specks in that icing. Just tell me you can see that. Oh my goodness it is delicious. And I could taste every single vanilla speck. Oh man. These pictures are like porn. Porn for people with a sweet tooth.
The greatest part about these cupcakes is that you can pay a little extra for a topping. And their toppings are just ri-di-du-lous. You can have a sugar rose. Or Oreo bits. Or FRESHLY toasted nuts. Or freaking edible GOLD, people. Edible gold. Edible gold on a cupcake served out of a truck.
Are you there, God? Its me, Katie.
I meant to take a picture of me eating the cupcake for you so you could fully appreciate the struggles that I go through to be your personal blogger.
But I ate the cupcake before I could get my camera ready. My stomach knows no patience.
Have you ever seen more happiness in a $2.00 purchase? I have not. And now, I shall have another cupcake in honor of all of you who cannot have them for yourselves. Or maybe I should have one for EACH of you who cannot have them for yourselves. Yes. That’s what I’ll do.
If you need me, I’ll be the girl sitting on the park bench for the next few hours, stuffing her face with cupcakes and frosting and mumbling about coconut flakes and candy roses.
I DO IT ALL FOR YOU, IMAGINARY FRIENDS!!!!
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