Behind the Scenes at ActiveRain

As I've said a couple times, my background is as an Executive Assistant to C-Level Execs, and so when I came here, naturally, that's the mantle I took on for the company (even though the About Page says Office Manager - EAs are managers in disguise, really!).  I'm pretty good at what I do, if I do say so myself *buffs nails*.

Every now and again, no matter how good you are at your job, you make a mistake.  Jon likes to make fun of me when I make mistakes because they are rare, and then when they're pointed out, I turn bright red (yes, think Christmas-bulbish) in embarassment.  As a perfectionist, I probably beat myself up so much worse than any boss ever could.

Today was one worth talking about, though.

Jon was running behind for his three o'clock meeting, so I called up and spoke to the other end's second-in-command to let them know.  Then, Jon was ready, so I called back and the other end's second-in-command couldn't find him!  So she said she would call back when she located him.

And thus, I went about my day.  Lala, cutting checks, sticking stamps on envelopes, cleaning up the to-do list.

Then a CALL comes in!  And the number looks JUST LIKE the one I called.  So I picked up the phone, all friendly-like, and the gentleman on the other end asked for Jon.  "No problem! Please hold!" I chirped and transferred over to Jon.

I scooped up my checks and went to set them on Jon's desk for signage and heard through the door as I approached, "No....who's this?"  Ruh roh, Shaggy!  So I poked my head in and gave Jon a curious look. As it turns out, coincidence be darned, the caller with a near-identical number to Jon's 3 o'clock was NOT the man who was scheduled to speak with Jon, but someone looking for a username change.

Whoopsie.

I feel like such a space-case today.  I can name multiple other positions that were Devil-Wears-Prada-esque where I would have gotten a severe browbeating and hated myself for the rest of the day.  Thank goodness Jon isn't mean!  *Ahem*

Mistake? What mistake?  Do te dooo...

One of the best things about blogging is that you have the interactive tools to not only hold a decent discussion with others who are interested in you and your life, but that you also can do it at the touch of a button.

I recall back when I hosted my first webpage; I had a template in a file called RMC and everytime I wanted to post an article, I pulled out ye olde template and cut and pasted my content into it, then uploaded it to my hosted space.

Thank goodness it's not that difficult now.

In response to the questions about the view out my window from this article, here is my photo of the St. James Cathedral.  Although not directly out my window, this was sure a pretty sight as I left my apartment on Sunday afternoon.  The sky was so blue and the sun was shining off the steeple's immaculate white exterior...  I'm not a religious girl, but yesterday was the perfect day for angels to sunbathe.

With all of the trees around the neighborhood turning shades of fall, soon they'll all be bare, and I'll get to take "Wintertime in Seattle" pictures.. they tend to be cold and beautiful.  I'm not much of a photographer, but now and again, a scene does strike me.

What is outside of YOUR windows that you so often overlook?  St. James rings their bells every Sunday, hour by hour, and to announce births, deaths, and weddings.  They also ring it in the evening as the sun goes down, as if to tell everyone to get indoors, that it's time to wind down for the day.  I love churchbells; having grown up in Spokane, to this day, the Clocktower's bells still make me smile when I'm in the vicinity.

One nice thing that the company does for the employees is buy lunch three days a week; what this has become is a sit-around-the-lunch-table-and-share-stuff sort of meal - whether the sharing be bits of lunch, thoughts about the site and agents, or things about our personal lives.  It not only gives us the opportunity to grow the business, but to grow ourselves and our relationships as coworkers.

Each day that the office buys lunch, I allow (read: pick on) someone to choose the venue from which I'll pick up food.  Today, Jorgen wanted sushi.  Those present for lunch were Jeff Corbett (our business guru), Mike Judge (our new developer), Jorgen (our development guru) and me (the redhead).

The conversation went something like this:

Jorgen: Does anyone want this piece of knuckly fish?  *He points and nudges a white piece of nigiri that is strangely bumpy, then looks at Mike, then Jeff*

Me: No, definitely not.

*Mike shakes his head - he's still a little quiet, being the new guy*

Jeff: Naw, I stick to the pieces that I know.

Jorgen: *sigh* But it looks so wonderful and pristine.

Jeff: Sorry, I practice safe sushi.

Entire table: *cracks up*

Me: *gets out pen and jots it on my palm*

Jorgen: What was that?

Me: Nothing. *smiles sweetly*

Jeff: Safe Sushi?

Me: Yep.

Jorgen: Going to blog about it?

Me: Yep.

Inquiring minds deserve to know what REALLY goes on at lunch ;) Bwahahaha. Remember: safe sushi is happy sushi!

So I'm just typing along today, saying 'ello to the Gents as they get to the office, and sending off emails left and right when WHAMMO!  A slew of canned messages (or automated replies, as the business gurus LOVE to call them) gets pulled off the server and dumped into my Thunderbird inbox.  Most of them say something like this:

"Hello! I'm sorry that I missed your message.  I'm away from my desk for fifteen seconds and can't be bothered to treat this email box like an email box.  Instead, I have to send you this automated message to let you know that I ran to go use the little boys' room after holding it for three hours.  But I got your message!  Email is remarkably efficient, don't you think?  I promise, promise, promise that I'll read your message just as soon as I remove the toilet paper sticking to the bottom of my shoe and remember to zip my fly back up. KTHXBAI."

Okay...deep breath...

I have a bone to pick with people who use automated replies on their email systems.  Here's the way I look at it... 

1.  I sent an email to begin with because I didn't want to deal with your voicemail or an automated receptionist.

2.  I sent this email because I have little to no intention of actually picking up the phone to call you.

3.  I sent this email as an email because it was just a quick FYI or a note that you might need.

4.  Email is exceptionally reliable.  I have not NOT received a message in years.  You got the message.  I know you did, because I sent it.  I don't need you to tell me that you got it.

5.  What happens when auto-replies start auto-replying to one another? If Bill and Susie both set their auto replies around the same time and Bill sends Susie one last email before he runs, do the auto-reply bots just keep telling one another that they got the message and are so pleased to hear from the other?

As an Executive Assistant, I've worked all my life supporting the big man on campus, and I can't tell you how unprofessional it makes a person look when you (A) get an automated reply that is so generic that you could buy it on the shelf at a commissary, (B) has typos and mispellings in it because you were too busy to run spellcheck before running off to wherever you are, and (C) tells me that if this is a REALLY important issue, I should just call you.

I hate them! It's like voicemail for your email system, and serves little purpose because very few people actually read your canned message after the third one they get back from you.  I just don't understand why people love these automated messages so much; it's like making a person sit on hold while the paid-for voice on the line tells them, "Your call is important to us.  So important, in fact, that we're going to keep you on hold for another 15 minutes!"

Seriously, if you have an auto reply for any reason other than you are on vacation, please, for the sake of all things sane and good in the world, remove it from your email box.  You're going to drive the tech-head and plugged-in generations utterly nuts!

It's Monday morning, and I'm sitting at my desk again in a very empty office.  Thankfully, pomegranate season gifted me with a nice little treat to toss in my bag this morning, so I'm busy nomming on that and thinking about how much it actually feels like Wednesday.  I got so much done this weekend that I feel as though I didn't have a weekend at all.

How messed up is that?  It all began on Friday.  Friday, here in the office, was definitely an interesting one.  Jon was out all day, Bob was in a meeting with some businesspeople outside of the office, Glin doesn't come in on Fridays, Rich decided to work from home, Jeff was (probably?) working from home and so for a large part of the day, it was just Jorgen and I.  And then, even he left around 1:30p to catch a flight!

So there I was...empty office...much like I am right now.  I love empty offices!  I plowed through my to-do list, accomplishing SO many items, and then got THE call about my car - woohoo! It was fixed!  So I jumped in my (awful, horrible, ugly) rental and zoomed to Shoreline for pickup.  Friday evening, I got a call from my sis asking me to play taxi because her boyfriend fractured his ankle in a scooter accident and needed a ride from the hospital.  So I picked up a pizza for them and drove to the rescue (Super Claire!).

Saturday was the flea-bomb-ination from heck.  This year, I moved into an apartment building with a TON of dogs in it -- a ton of dogs who apparently like giving me gifts of little bitey bugs.  My poor cats, who don't go outside, have already had two winds of this flea-capade, and like me, I think they're just about tired of it.  So I bagged up EVERYTHING fabric, tossed the bags in my car, kennelled the kitties, and set off not one, but two bombs in my 375 square foot apartment.  Overkill, maybe, but you try telling that to a redhead who gets itchy even thinking about bugs.

After dropping the kitties at the pet store for baths, it was off to the laundromat (with my sister) to do laundry in the humungous washers and dryers that they had there.  It took most of the morning.  I dropped my sister back at her bf's house and then ran to pick up the kitties...who then had to wait in the car until I had vacuumed and wiped off EVERYTHING in the house.

By the time the kitties were unkenneled and the house was clean, I was pooped.  So I indulged by watching a really bad sci-fi movie and doing my grocery list.

Sunday rolled around and at 3:30a, the Scandanavian Clog-Dancer who lives in the apartment over me was stomping around in her industrial studded clogs and yelling, "OWWWWWWWWW" like she kept running into something.  An hour later, eyes wide open, I threw on my robe and went up there to tell her to control her spawn (because surely, no self-respecting adult would be sitting up there stomping around and yelling to no one in particular, right?). 

She opened the door half-naked (the wrong half being the naked part...eesh) and clearly very, very drunk.  She said her hand hurt and that she couldn't get warm.  I rolled my eyes (I absolutely hate drunk people) and tucked her into bed after feeling for broken bones, told her to stay there and to get some rest.  Sunday was spent at the coffee shop working on the edits for my novel (ugh again), and then a sprint to the grocery store for some food (and pomegranates!).  By the time 8pm rolled around, I was so tired from being woken up too early that my head was pounding, so I decided to hit the sheets again.

Of course, the Clog Dancer and her beau were upstairs, stomping around.  Seriously, how hard is it to take off your shoes when you get home?  I pressed a pillow over my ears and shut my eyes.

Monday came up way too fast, and I woke up in that really comfy warm spot with two kitties happily curled up on top of me and half an hour to go before my alarm.  So early was I that I got in a shower, made breakfast, AND unloaded the dishwasher and ...still got to work early! WOOT WOOT.  So I'm celebrating with my favorite Christmas fruit ever.  Yes.

Happy Monday, everyone.  I'm already looking forward to next weekend ;)  Did anyone get as little weekend as I did these last few days?

It's been a long time coming, but I've been MEANING to video you guys a tour of the office since forever.  Here's a quiet-office tour for you (finally)!

This weekend, my nephew was in town visiting his mother, and I was going to take him to see the sharks at the Aquarium.  I've always had a fascination with sharks, and, thanks to the Chinook Book (a local coupon/entertainment guide), I had a buy-one-get-one coupon to get us both in at half the price.

He wanted to see the sharks too, but moreso kept asking if they had penguins and snakes.  I met him and his mama at IHOP after coming back from my boyfriend's house and picked them up, and, after dropping my sister off at her house, we went and parked in the back alley to unload the groceries from the previous day's run.

I put in "The Last Mimsy" for him while emptying bags, and suddenly...  CRASH! *SHATTER*

I live in Downtown Seattle; there's not a day that goes by that there isn't a car crash audible enough for me to hear in the streets.  For a moment, I just waved it off, thinking that it sounded a little odd...

...a little close...too close.  Telling my nephew I'd be right back, I headed out the door to check the back alley; someone could have been hurt.  But oh no, no...

Turns out that the car involved was...mine.  It looked like someone had simply shattered the back window.  The police think it was a hit-and-run because of the scuffmarks on the back (I think some jerkwad just broke it), and for insurance purposes, that'll do.  Fine, whatever.

Meanwhile, I'm off RIGHT NOW to AllState to get it fixed.  Hopefully, I won't be without a car for too long! 

In any case, this is a gentle reminder to buff up your savings accounts to at least your highest insurance deductible.  It's important that your family be able to absorb the damages caused by others or by accidents without having to worry whether you'll be able to put food on the table.

Have a happy Monday, everyone!

I realize that I don't have the most "normal" name on the face of the planet... I'm not a Becky or a Jennifer or a Megan.  I'm hardly a Cassie or a Christina.

But seriously, people, when staring at an email FROM me, why can't people spell my name properly?  There's only six letters! C-L-A-I-R-E.  I realize that the last E is a little tricky, but c'mon... if you're looking right at it, how does one manage to misspell?

Now, this is not a rant about our lovely members (who obviously know how to read and type) but some of the people that I randomly get emails from and respond to for normal business operations.  "Professionalism", in my opinion, is perhaps not being perfect, but at least being observant. I always feel sorry for Jon when he sees his name spelled "John" because that's -not- his name, and if people really wanted to work with him, those people should have taken the time to proofread what they typed and at very least ensured that his name is spelled properly.  It's a matter of respect.

I often check and recheck my emails to make sure I spelled a person's name correctly, even when it's something "normal" like James or Bill, because who knows?  I could have slipped while typing and stuck a D in with the S in James (making it Jamesd).  It's called proofreading, people!  For heaven's sake, if you want someone on the other end of your email to take you remotely seriously, check your "Dear..." lines for proper spelling.

This PSA brought to you by the Letter E and one irked redhead.

I was watching Star Wars: A New Hope this weekend with my boyfriend, and C3PO's perpetual "We're Doomed" got me thinking about our current economic situation.  Over the past few weeks, Jon and I have had several discussions about the economy and timing issues and errors by the government, the investors, and the consumers.

Unlike C3PO, however, I am not the sort of person to jump from, "I am a happy, sarcastic robot that speaks 30+ languages" to "We're Doomed".  I'm pretty young, and yes, I suppose in many ways, I'm idealistic about the human condition, but I believe that if the people stick together, help one another out, and learn from their mistakes, we will all be better for it.

There's a quote on my wall that I've kept near and dear to my heart for well over a year now.  Some of you may recognize this without me even telling you who said it to begin with:

"I am certain that my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the Presidency I will address them with a candor and a decision which the present situation of our Nation impels.  This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly.  Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today.  This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper.  So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing with have to fear is fear itself -- nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.  In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory.  I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days."

This was written by FDR as he took office in 1932.  Some might be surprised that I look to past leaders for inspiration and strength when looking to the future, especially with my young age and regard of others to see those around us in light and goodness.  Our nation has endured and will endure troubled times, but by offering a helping hand and an understanding soul, we will make it.  We are stronger than our problems. 

Another quote on my wall reads: Never forget: A window of opportunity sometimes involves a rock.  This quote is accompanied by a picture of a very large, shattered window.  Not quite as eloquent as the former Mr. President, but never-the-less succinct and true.  At this time, I wish for only a few things:

• For the people in my country to serve in any way capable; this does not necessarily need to be a military service, but perhaps by taking a moment to drop a few sacks off at the foodbank, we can help our social programs succeed.
• For everyone to look for the opportunity in a crisis.  The entrepreneurs and idea men of the day will be the ones who not only inspire, but lead into the next set of good times.
• For those I know and care for to be prepared for an emergency, should it happen.  Buff up your savings, pack up your first aid kit, store your food and water if necessary.  Take the proper precautions so that you and yours don't suffer.
• For my fellow countrymen to remember that we are a nation of people who came here to be free; to do that, we must learn to come together as a community, no matter how big or small, no matter how important or insignificant, we must learn that the walls that separate us from the outdoors and the fences that cut apart our lots are not divisions between human beings and the lives we lead.

We are all in this together, folks.  This is not a political message; I'm not going to get up here and tell you who to vote for or why you should give a crap about the election coming up in November.  This is a simple reminder that this is OUR country and WE are the ones who need to ensure OUR own success.  Step up to the challenge and make your world a better place, one community at a time, please!  Think to yourselves: what can I do in this difficult time to make someone smile?  How can I pay this forward?

Deep breaths, everyone.  We're not a couple of droids against the Empire and we're not incapable of caring about our fellow man.  We've got far more power as a people, as a determined entity of strong citizens, not to make it through this.

Update 12/9/08: This list represents everyone who followed directions and/or emailed me back with all the correct information to fulfill their request for their FREE Localism T-Shirt for sponsoring 5 or more communities.  Those listed requested a Short-Sleeved or a Long-Sleeved shirt.  Zip Jackets will be going out shortly to those who requested the jackets instead.

If you do not see yourself here...AND you requested a short sleeved tee or a long-sleeved "I survived the Localism Land Rush" shirt and you believe you filled out all the proper information for this request, please use the contact form to email me.

Are you on the list?  If not, don't despair! That just means that you'll be on one of the following rounds.  If you're here, shipping should take 2-3 days and will arrive by USPS.

Zeeeee List

Bailey, Lane

Carey, Katharine
Carter, Liz
Cooper, Courtney

DeRepentign, Michelle
Dowler, Jeff

Engel, Deborah

Faber, Gretchen
Ferretti, Rich
Frederick, Karen

Golden, Elizabeth

Heindel, Lisa
Hiatt, Spence
Hoyt, Scott

Jeantet, Maria
Joubran, Heather

Kulick, Elsa

Mabe, Pam
McCabe, Maureen
McKinley, Gina
McNinch, Gary
Meyer, Sondra

Netchaev, Irina

Peak, David
Perez, Diana
Plant, Tom

Ragonesi, Charlie
Romano, Pattie

Shockey, Denise
Smith, Yvette

Trinchitella, Michael

Weintraub, Elizabeth
Woltal, Gary

People with no last name

Anne c/o the Tucson Experts

Dave c/o Grady Tipton

This post will receive regular updates as more boxes are shipped.  Please be patient if your name is not yet on the list!

When you receive your shirt, snap a picture of you IN IT and send it to Claire@ActiveRain.com.  The best pictures will catch my attention, and then, who knows? Maybe you'll hear from me on another subject again soon!

Oh teh noes!  We don't have any 2XL or 3XL - sorry, folks!

Update: We are out of LARGE Short-Sleeved Tees.