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This is how our little bird and C take naps together after church, only sometimes Kawi snuggles right up next to C's neck. He has to be pretty tired to tuck his little head under his wing like this, which is why I love this pic.

I worked out of both offices today. I had two meetings at nigh and three meetings at nether. During my nether meetings I was notified that I have been promoted! I know, you would think that I would be excited about the raise, but I must admit, I was really quite excited about the increased amount of vacation time I get. I now earn more than five and a half hours of leave per pay period. Also, my manager asked me to coordinate an important upcoming event (I am a workaholic, c'mon, I eat this stuff up!) and asked me to be the team presenter at the next major national conference. Kind of cool in a hollow, yet meaningful sort of way. Hollow because there are certainly more important things than national conferences, and meaningful because it always is nice to be in a position of trust.

Tomorrow I have a presentation at a training center for work, but lucky me, that means I get a day off next week. A little time on a Saturday for a day off? I am in. But seriously, I volunteered before I knew I could get a day off. Did I mention that I'm a workaholic?

Interesting translation on the Yiddish document. Apparently the Goim (Hebrew word for non-Jews) would feed the Jews who were hiding in the forest, and then chase them away. I left off when he arrived in a city, but I am still working on the location of that city. Hebrew and Yiddish contain no vowels, which means that you must have a pretty good imagination when it comes to interpreting. Good stuff. Unfortunately, I tend to be more valued for my technical skills nowadays than some of my other abilities, so I really appreciate a little opportunity now and then to sink my teeth into some language activities.

Yesterday I worked on a marketing message story for our upcoming major event. My mentor, a former VP at Novell, told me that I absolutely nailed it on my first attempt, and I don't think I have EVER heard those words from him. That was exciting. One of the major errors people make in creating anything in a work environment is becoming emotionally attached to what they create. This often blinds them from receiving the needed feedback and making changes to improve whatever they created. It happens with everyone. It's no different than a child who imprints on a blanky or a stuffed animal. The creation suddenly has an emotional aura to it.

I have worked hard to avoid imprinting, so I always go into a situation expecting to make changes, but three of the major players all took this story as-is. As for the tag lines, I will be doing some work on those this upcoming week. I learned the process for getting a tag-line from my mentors. It is the same process used to determine the name of a major drug by pharmaceutical companies. I always love doing field work as opposed to just sitting at a desk. There is so much more energy when working with people and learning to embrace a new perspective.

Sorry to bog you down with all of this work info, but here is more. I have been working on a few affiliate relationships for the past couple of years. Unfortunately, there is a lot of red tape that often slows down the process, so often things move so slow that these partners bow out because they don't see any progress being made. Well, one of these affiliates, a business associate of three years, finally took the first step today.

I was a bit protective over this first meeting, perhaps because this associate has had some bad experiences with trying to create partnerships in the past. I wanted him to know we are serious and interested in a partnership, and so while my superiors suggested adding other more aggressive individuals in this meeting, I pushed back hard. The meeting went quite well, I believe, and I am pleased to see things moving forward after such a long wait. Partnerships are such a critical part of the worldwide economy today, that you can never underestimate them if they are created correctly.

And there you are, more than an earful about my work, more than you ever hoped for!