Funemployment, Day One Hundred Fifty Eight: Managing to Manage

so i know i complain about how my marketing classes are getting in the way of my carefree funemployment but really, they're not the worst thing in the world. i guess i just expected a different benefit than i got yesterday when one my group projects kicked my ass into overdrive and i remembered how good it felt to flex my managerial muscles.

all five of us had been plugging away on our own sections of a brand analysis of red bull, the first part of which was due yesterday. our group of five women have all been very polite and diplomatic but no one had really taken the lead so i offered to compile everyone's sections into one document. (you can take the girl out of the weekly competitive report but you can't take the weekly competitive report out of the girl!)

a little cutting and pasting, and we'd be on our way, i thought. yeah...not so much. as the other pieces trickled in i thanked god i'd spent most of my career as an editor and project manager. one section contradicted the other section which contradicted the other section, and with an hour to go we were still missing one member's opening section AND and intro and summary. so i chugged a diet dew (ironically, there wasn't a red bull to be found) and started herding cats by phone and email.

in my best non-panicked, pleading, girlie voice, i suggested revisions, assigned the intro and summary, and hunted down our missing contributor. with 15 minutes to go we had our intro and an opening section that i hoped our professor would think was written by someone with english as a second language. with 5 minutes to go, i pulled a summary out of my ass, slapped a coat of editorial paint and a red bull logo on the report and sent it off to the other group member who really stepped it up for printing.

i was stressed, exasperated, and hadn't felt that good in a long time. 6 months, to be exact, when i was putting out fires for a living. i'd forgotten the exhilaration of taking the wheel of a car out of control, the thrill of problem solving, and the pride and sense of accomplishment when the day is saved.

and thankfully, i think everyone in our group realized this isn't the best way to go about part two of our project so we're already a few steps ahead. but i think i'll stock up on the red bull just in case...

Look at all these people

Look at all these people in the gym locker room getting ready for work. Ah, I used to be one of them. Sigh...oh well, off to the beach!

I've noticed that i'm tanner

I've noticed that i'm tanner than normal this time of year & realized that the sun is a much more effective method than bad fluorescent lighting!

Funemployment, Day One Hundred Fifty Five: Too Much of a Good (Free) Thing

apologies for being away from funemployment for so long, but i've been inhumanly busy lately with classes, job hunting, and unexpectedly, collecting free food. seriously, apparently my last post was just the beginning of a free food juggernaut that the fast food chains' marketing departments are embracing more passionately than a 300-lb repeat customer.

i passed on the free kfc (sorry, i'm not *that* hard up yet) but loved the el pollo loco! the free sit-down two-course meal at cafe was turned into a 3-hour dining experience. and my free coffee bean iced coffee tasted extra jolt-y with money left in my pocket. sadly, i didn't get organized early enough to claim free mother's day brunch or coldstone creamery (helllloooo...my friends get free babysitting and i get free food. it's a win-win!) and now comes tomorrow's free haagen-dazs!
http://www.haagen-dazs.com/shops/shopLocator.aspx

now, far be it from me to complain about free anything, much less food, but i'm wondering why the healthy food joints can't jump on the freebie bandwagon as quickly as the fast food chains. for god's sake, they should at least be in better bandwagon-jumping shape!. i mean, i would have loved to get my free ben and jerry's scoop and haagen-dazs and krispy kreme, but as someone whose budget barely sustains a gym membership, a new "missy" wardrobe with elastic waistbands is out of the question.

come on, it can't cost *that* much to give away a few thousand smoothies, sandwiches, or a salad, right? i know, funemployed beggars can't be choosers, but there are plenty of healthy eaters whose wallets could use a break too! and personally i'm in no hurry to go back to my post-college job hunting days in NYC when i lived for a solid month on $1 mcdonald's quarterpounders (with cheese!). *shudder*

so thank you, haagen-dazs. while i appreciate the offer, i think i'll go shell out the money for some fro-yo or fruit or something. hell, i just got another unemployment check so maybe i'll splurge and get the large pinkberry with double fruity pebbles!