i hate mondays

The day started out just like any other...except for the fact that I got to work at 6am. True, it's just an hour earlier than I usually make it in to the office, but at that time of day, it's pretty damn hard, let me tell you! I was proud of myself for making it and thought of rewarding myself with some doughnuts from Timmy's for me and the gang, but I was running a few minutes late, and with Katija and Sharri waiting for me to open the doors for them, I decided that my treat could wait.

Walked into my office, turned on the lights, hung up my messenger bag, and kissed my new computer, telling her how much I missed her over the weekend. Moved some cables and such so that I could finish hooking everything up and make it all be ready for the technician to come in and work his magic.

the taping
My visitors arrived promptly to videotape me for the video project that I wrote about previously. Went fairly well, I think, except for my tendency to stare a little to closely at the camera and my all too often utterances of the words "ummm..." "ah..." and "hmmm..." followed by blank stares and hysteric giggles. I have a newfound respect for reality TV contestants who face the cameras day-in and day-out, looking all natural and everything.

here's where the fun starts...
After my taping, I weeded through my e-mail to read the ones that interested me and delete the ones that bored me. Found out that a project that I had been working on was for the Toronto market only, so I decided to farm it back out to those folks to take care of instead. Felt bad for passing the buck, but it only makes sense, right? Then opened one from j, who was sick as a dog, but wrote in to tell us that he wouldn't be able to make it in and to see if I could tackle the ads that he was supposed to be working on. Have I mentioned how much I love organized, thoughtful people like him? Well, I do.

Anyway, so I track down Em, PR girl extraordinaire, to get the creative brief and specs. Turns out the deadline was noon-ish or slightly thereafter. Oy! So, I got my butt in gear to whip together a series of three different ads for the summer sale. I should insert here my distaste for sale-themed ads, especially at the big blue. Essentially, this is the time to get rid of all the crap that nobody really wants and has consequently been really hard to get rid of, which is why most of it is discontinued.

But since we have whackloads of it in the warehouse, it is our job to make people think they need all of this crap, or at least that it's too good a deal to pass up. The result is often something that looks reminiscent of a Rorschach test, only messier and - essentially, a dog's breakfast. And not the breakfast of those frou-frou designer dogs, mind you. The mushy, sloppy breakfast of big dogs that will devour anything set in front of them. Needless to say, it's not really portfolio material. It's soul-sucking work, but someone has to do it!

meanwhile...
As I'm trying to get the ads designed and approved, my Technician comes in to set everything up and get my system networked properly, yadda, yadda. I leave him to it, occasionally fetching disks and supplying passwords for him as he does his work. I leave him be and continue on my merry way...

Ad done and sent off for approval, I entertain thoughts of having lunch to placate my grumbling belly. "It's two in the afternoon and I need sustenance!" it said in a not-so-coherent, but remotely decipherable groan. But then I get panicked calls from Em saying that there are ads from Toronto that we need to emulate because one of the big cheeses likes the mess of having even more products crammed into the ad. That said, the ads featured some products that we couldn't support, either with stock, or with pricing, so we needed to go back to the drawing board with product selection. Great! I shushed my stomach, and madly tried to track down the creative from Toronto, but ended up playing a never-ending game of phone tag, so re-created the new ad on my own to save time and try to beat the submission deadline.

Also got roped into a 'why is Toronto getting their ads paid for by Service Office and getting them produced by the ad agency when we have to book our own ads and do our own creative in Vancouver while the fine folks at Service Office take all the credit?' bitchfest with Em, which was therapeutic for the both of us, but probably didn't solve anything. At least we got it off our chests!

Anyway, back-and-forth, back-and-forth... The ad is still not done or approved, and I still have to steal some files from the external agency. I got Em to contact the paper to see if we could get a later deadline, and working her charms, she was able to. So after twelve hours of ping-ponging in my brain, I decided to pack it up and head home, with just enough time to speed over and cast my vote in the federal election.

the silver lining
Despite the insanity, there were a few things that made me happy today. My internet finally works properly and I finally have a laser printer to send my documents to.

Also, phase two of my 'Office Soup-up' is near completion. Here's a re-cap:

Office Soup-up v.1 (swanking-up)
- reconfigure desks and add new components, including rolling storage
- define work area and studio space with floating storage cabinets
- uninstall section of cabinetry to make more space for plotter
- reconfigure storage by changing uprights and shelves
- patch and paint walls

Office Soup-up v.2 (teching-up)
- purchase G5 and Apple Cinema Display
- purchase bad-ass external hard drive
- purchase laser printer
- purchase Adobe Creative Suite and other snazzy new software
- purchase and install new UV ink system in plotter

The next phase includes:
- learning how to use all my fancy new toys
- hiring an additional lackey to fetch drinks and goodies to satisfy my sweet tooth
- scrapping the hub and acquiring a less archaic one

glass half-empty again
My candidate of choice has been defeated by the wife of an incumbent candidate in another riding. She simply reads prepared statements from the Conservative party and doesn't seem to have a mind of her own. I'm convinced that she only wants to be in politics so that she can travel for free to Ottawa with her husband. The rest of my family voted for her simply because she's a Conservative and they are in love with the Conservative agenda. They don't care what her platform is (she doesn't have one) and what she stands for (who the hell knows?). The fact that she's a Conservative is good enough for them. I'm pouty and have decided to give them the silent treatment for at least another hour.

two degrees of separation (and union)
In other news, Sharri attended a wedding this weekend and met Michael Buble's girlfriend. She didn't actually meet him, because he wasn't there, but still, I'm so jealous. I'll take my celebrity through association, no matter how diluted!