I had a great time over the holiday season telling people I was an elf when they asked what I did for a living. I always enjoyed the strange looks they would give me wondering if I was kidding or maybe a wee bit crazy. It got to the point that my friends would encourage people to ask me what I did for a living so they could laugh their reactions. Well I wasn’t kidding or crazy, I really was an elf. I wasn’t just your ordinary elf though. I was a special skating variety. It’s one of the many advantages of living in a touristy area. I auditioned and got a role as a skating elf at a local theme park in their daily parade.

After a few days of elf ‘charm school’, which is just my fancy way of saying rehearsals, I was ready for the main event. It was a blast and a real confidence booster to skate in front of hundreds of people and show off my mad skating skills. The best part of it was the adorable little kids and the excitement they would get just from high fiving me and the proud look on the parent’s face when I paid extra attention to one. At times I just couldn’t believe I was getting paid to do it since I love to skate and love to entertain. But at other times it was difficult since I had to leave my day job early and bring work home. Due to the time commitment and the added stress I’m actually glad the parade is over. But I have some great memories, extra confidence and some new co-worker friends. Will I audition again next year? At this point I really can’t decide. Besides, a lot can change in 10 months so we will just have to wait and see.


Rummy “The Oversized Elf” Runner (or should I say skater)

It’s like I’m 15 years old again.
I just received an instant message from a male coworker, that we refer to as "Capt Kirk" saying:
“I have your tool” – Capt Kirk sends over Instant Messenger
“You do?” – Immature Cosmo sends back (Trying to hold back all the dirty innuendos that could be said)
“Yeah, let me know when you can come & get it” – Capt Kirk Responds
“Do you mean Cum?” – Immature Cosmo Quickly types & then erases immediatly from the Instant message screen, so she doesn’t get fired.
“Your painting tool” – Capt Kirk quickly clarifies. (Apparently he understands my dirty immature mind”
“Oh… Sure thing” – Disappointed & immature Cosmo says.
Immature Cosmo (age 30, going on 15)

Fridays…
Today I’m totally dragging A**. I stayed up tooo late talking on the phone. Ya know how it goes; you start out with an innocent conversation. Then out of no where, the conversation starts to get intense and important. Suddenly you are talking about “Relationships” when you really wanted to just chat about laundry and then get off the phone…
Enough of my moaning.. I am starting my morning Friday routine. Which consists of doing the least amount of work possible. Looking at the news, shopping online, writing funny emails…everything except working. It is only 10am and I am already wish it was 5pm.
What do you do to pass the time of Friday? Are you like and begin your weekly “Motivate by socialization” around noon? (AKA Chat with everyone in the office, thus wasting two people’s time)
I think I need more coffee…..Sleepy (Lazy) Cosmo

My boss decided I needed some opportunity for growth and she suggested that I get some supervisory experience. Since I’m on the technical side of things there was only one person that was suitable and he was already being supervised by another engineer. So now we split the supervising duties which gives me the demanding task of supervising half a person. I’m not sure if I want the top half or the bottom half. If I get the bottom half I won’t have to worry about him mouthing back at me but there are worse bodily functions he could use. Maybe we could split him into the left half and the right half. But that brings to mind the old joke about the guy who got hit by a train and cut in half….he’s ALL right now. I’m not totally new to the world of supervising. I was a team lead and supervised three and a half people in my last job. What is with all these half people?

I’m not sure supervising is for me. I like to act silly and it can be hard to command respect and admiration when everyone considers you the ‘office clown’. But like everything else in life, I just look at it as a new experience and a challenge that will help me grow as a person. I hope I will be a good supervisor and his left half will be very happy!

Rummy “The Delegator” Runner

Today we are going to talk about LUST. LUST is dirty! LUST is bad! Now before you think I’m preaching to you, let me clarify what LUST is. It’s an acronym for Leaking Underground Storage Tanks and it’s what I do in my day job. I’m amazed at all the ways my coworkers and I have managed to make the seemingly dull world of underground petroleum cleanup silly and fun. My favorite is the site names that I have. Most sites are just named after the gas station where the spill occurred but somehow, as the only female engineer, I managed to get all the sites that seem to have a phallic reference….Mr. Dong’s Diner, Big Man Restaurant, Long fellow Supplies, Rod’s Imports and BJ’s Emporium. Suddenly I hear Beavis and Butthead in the background laughing…"ha ha she said BJ’s"…no wait that’s just me. I’d describe our attempts at work humor more but as an outsider you probably wouldn’t be too impressed so suffice to say that it makes the job more fun and its good team building to laugh together. I suppose if we can do this with the seemingly dull world of petroleum cleanup than you can do it with your job too. So start making the most of each day and laughing with your coworkers. No matter what you do I’m sure you can find humor in it somewhere!

Rummy “I LUST My Job” Runner

Yesterday I spent the afternoon checking traps for mice and other small mammals. There were no small mammals to be found but the traps did catch a spider and a lizard and I had the added fun of pulling two ticks off of me. You may wonder what this has to do with my chosen career as a petroleum cleanup engineer. The answer is absolutely positively nothing. I just heard of this opportunity and thought it might be a fun experience and a good chance to learn something new.

Stepping outside the box of my normal daily grind is not a new thing for me. I’ve always volunteered for extra curricular activities at work including demonstrating a 1½ million dollar prototype hydrogen fuel cell car, being a science fair judge and doing a controlled burn. A controlled burn would be a dream job for a pyromaniac since it involves purposely setting a forest on fire. What do you suppose Smokey the Bear would say about this? “Only you can cause forest fires, only you”! It doesn’t sound very environmental but I learned of the many benefits it has while I was choking on the thick black smoke.

So the idea of doing something outside my normal career path is not unusual for me. I recommend this approach to everyone. Next time you have the opportunity to try something different give it a chance. You never know what you will learn, who you will meet and what fun you will have. After all variety is the spice of life! The worst thing that can happen is you remove a few ticks, have a funny story to tell your friends and a little bit more knowledge to carry with you on your journey through life.

Rummy "eeks a mouse" Runner

My office allows me to work pretty much whatever hours and whatever days I want as long as I get 80 hours every two weeks. I’ve always just worked the standard five 8-hour days. I live close to work, I’m a social animal and my downtown apartment is just barely bigger than my office so the thought of working alone at home never really appealed to me. Until today that is. For some reason I started looking at it differently this morning. I decided that not having the 15 minute commute and being able to work in my PJs or even nekkid if I liked was appealing. After all, my birthday suit is 40 now so I want to get as much use out of it as I can before it gets too raggedy! Plus my office is located in the ghetto and since I’m not shopping for crack, guns or a new boyfriend I don’t really like being there. I find all the sirens and drive bys to be a little distracting too. So now I’m really looking forward to one day a week in beautiful downtown Orlando. I can work faster on my new high speed home computer and I will have so many options for lunch including working out at the gym, running around the lake and going out to lunch with my many friends who work downtown. I think this will be a nice little change in my weekly schedule and I’m proud of myself for rethinking the idea and giving it a chance. So I guess the moral of this story is to keep your options open and try it before you knock it. Unfortunately due to scheduling issues I still have to wait a month to start PJs Friday but I’ll keep you posted.

Rummy