I'd win the multi-tasking award, if there was one.

The wetland rules as I know them change on monday. So this week was spent manically trying to get as many wetland applications to the state before monday....that means everything has to be there friday. I got an epic 8 projects submitted this week. It was multi-tasking to the max. The most troublesome project was a very high profile project where everyone (client, engineer, lawyers, etc.) seemed apathetic to the deadline. I guess they thought we could snap our fingers and we didn't have any actual work to do nevermind copies to make. I sent more emails with the red exclamation point than ever.

I thought everything was done or completely under control until at 6:30 pm tonight I got a call from the head secretary. A hand delivery of application materials was supposed to be dropped off by 5:30 tonight. I had left at 5 pm and the package was not there yet. I left a message for my boss venting my frustration about broken promises. Then while cooking dinner (again the multi-tasking) I sent a mass email out basically saying "what the hell?". Thankfully, I got a response that they will be dropped off tomorrow morning. I'll believe it when it actually happens and I'm so done with broken promises.

In the midst of the late morning insanity, I knocked over a very full hole puncher. It burst open and deposited a zillion holes on the carpet. I said something like "I can't deal with that and besides we have cleaning people." The other secretaries agreed and couldn't be bothered since they were in my same boat of insanity. A few hours later I spotted my boss/senior vice president in front of the human resources person/president's secretary. She goes to me "you know there IS a vacuum in the ladies room." I go "Frankly I don't have time to vacuum." and my boss and I scurried away to discuss the latest crisis. He agreed that I should not waste time vacuuming and that the cleaning people would take care of it that night. I was going to direct any future vacuuming inquires to him since he's one of the big bosses. Later on, I saw one of the secretaries vacuuming and I felt bad and offered to take over. Together we sucked up the holes.

To top it off, I got a call from the Township Fire Department asking when I was getting my chimney swept. I told them in a couple weeks and they said that I should let the condo association know....i.e I've missed some sort of deadline. I'm guessing the condo association goofed on our deadline, which is December 31st. It was dryer vents which had to be cleaned by June 30th, which I did. The condo association certainly knows how to rile me up with their jerk behavior. I'm sure they are chomping at the bit to issues fines all around. Since I have the day off, I'll be sure to swing by and throw the couple of pieces of paper that shows that they are wrong. I'd hate to have people like me get unwarranted fines from the condo board. On top of that the Fire Company can issue hefty fines as well. Again, unwarranted since we have until December 31st to comply. I sort of knew this was coming from their horrible monthly newsletter that stated that the condo board was reporting any person who didn't comply with the fireplace/dryer vent to the Fire Department. I thought perhaps they meant people who didn't comply in 2006, which was the last chimney sweep.

You are probably wondering why I used the same photo so many times. That's because lovely blogger wouldn't provide any breaks between the paragraphs no matter how many lines I left in the compose window. Thanks blogger! Way to top off my week.

Non-naitch garden

I was in Philadelpia this weekend with BFF Patty and her BF. We went to see the King Tut exhibit at the Franklin Institute. We both hadn't been in Philly for over a decade (not counting the 76er's game a couple years back). The King Tut exhibit was cool and super jam packed. If there hadn't been an audio tour (which we did not partake in), I think it would have been much less crowded. Too many people just standing and doing nothing. Nevermind the children who were too young (Daddy when are we going on? repeat upon entry of each room) or not interested (facing opposite direction of exhibit item) and the strollers. Lots of amazingly inscribed very detailed golden objects from King Tut's tomb and his great grandparents? tombs. No King Tut himself (too fragile) or the stretched out horse/dragon? thing I always see in the old pictures.

We also learned that drivers have much less patience in Philly. Once the light immediately turns green, you must accelerate regardless of crossing peds or other obstructions. And those alley ways that are actual roads! Also, shortest yellow lights ever. We were also unaware that some roads were two lanes since the white lines were nearly invisible.


Afterwards we ventured to South Street, since it had been cool to us like 10 years ago. Took forever to find parking but we finally found a spot. Grabbed a bite to eat and ventured in a few shops. On a walk from the far parking spot, we found this garden of glass, mosaics, mirrors, and other objects. It's the Magic Garden . You have to pay a small entrance fee but it leads you to a maze that just seems to go on and on.