Still alive

I realize it's been a little while since I've posted anything here--the truth is, it's been awhile since I've spent a significant amount of time online at all. My flakiness with respect to returning emails is bordering on egregious, I've fallen completely out of touch with pop culture and current events, and the only reason I'm even aware of what month it is is because of the scheduling I'm involved with at work. (We're getting behind schedule to mail something in November.)

So what do I have to say for myself? What enthralling experiences and neverending series of parties and elite cocktail receptions have I been attending? How far along am I in my marathon training? How many performances have I given locally and how many more are being scheduled for my nationwide tour? Because clearly I'm so busy that there's no way I could tear myself away to give my dear readers some idea of what they're missing, or a vicarious conversation or two with captains of industry or even a couple A-list entertainment personalities.

The sad truth of the matter is, there hasn't really been anything noteworthy enough to warrant a post. The details of my day-to-day life are mind-numbingly boring, and I can't really talk much about my job here, but not to worry--that's mind-numbingly boring, too.

Let's say I were to post here regularly: every so often I'd include some tidbit from the online marketing and advertising industry, because I've picked up reading about it again (I get about 20 daily emails in my inbox at work from various marketing sources)--I might mention a cool marketing ploy like the one at 7daysleft.com (click on the British flag), or talk about a new development in the search engine marketing (SEM) industry, like Google launching an instant messaging program. And once I've been reading these periodicals long enough, I might even be able to cough up an actual opinion now and again as to what's going on, how it fits into the grander scheme of things, what we can look forward to in the future, etc. etc.

But there's a reason why I don't have those opinions, why I don't read up on what's going on, and why I don't post it here: every day I get up and spend close to an hour driving to work, and spend the day there in something of a mad scramble to get things done and look responsible and stuff while I do it so I don't have to think about the fact 11 hours out of my day are dictated by my job (that's including my lunch hour, which you just can't really enjoy if you know you need to get back to work). And that when I get home I'm at a loss for what to do, because I'm too tired to really put much effort into anything. (Am really looking forward to the fall season starting on TV, that'll mix things up a little.) Particularly not doing stuff online, as I spend most of my day looking at a computer screen. What's different about today? I spent part of the day home sick; I left to go to a client meeting, so it's not like I had the day off, but I didn't put in 8 hours of making charts and sending emails and writing up change orders.

That's not to say that nothing's happened in the last couple months. Around mid-July, I was moved to a new account and a new manager at work: instead of working on 3-4 different accounts, all of them business-to-business, I'm now dedicated to working full-time on the agency's biggest account. Happily, this account is a well-known company that mails massive amounts to consumers every month, and we're tasked with coming up with new creative and new strategies every month, and my boss always allows me a chance to contribute if I want/am able to. Earlier this week she asked if I had any ideas for a contact strategy to reduce churn, so I wrote up a quick one for her. To me, this is very exciting. I have access to almost as much information as she does, and cannot tell you how much I have come to value the agency's overall attitude that information wants to be free. This is the first place I've ever worked where things have seemed so open.

Outside of work, there have been a couple of out-of-town jaunts to Vegas and San Francisco; I got myself a gym membership; I've joined a choral group called the West Coast Singers (1st rehearsal is September 12th); I had a particularly awesome weekend last weekend that involved partying till 5 am and then getting up the next day to go sailing, which has prompted plans to join the Women's Sailing Association of Santa Monica Bay on September 13th (and possibly attend Buccaneer Days at the end of September). My car now has only 2 (out of 6) working windows: thankfully, the a/c is fully functional and kicks ass.

That's about it in a nutshell; I will try to post proof of my continuing existence on a more regular basis.