jaysaint Getting it all down on paper…

I’m rejecting the tyranny of the subject line. If one doesn’t spring to mind then I just won’t do it. I am the anti-Nike.

It’s early on a Saturday morning and Zoe has meowed me into wakefullness, as usual. And now that I’m up she’s content and has gone back to sleep. Jerk.

I finally pulled the trigger and resigned at work. It kicked of a little bit of a panic and hastily-planned counter offers. Which was not at all what I expected or intended. I don’t have the stomach to be any part of a bidding war.

But my title and start date are official now and I’m feeling great about that. On Dec. 19 I’ll become the Director of Redbook Online. I pitched the title and they went for it happily, which makes me feel like we’re off to a good start. I think it’s appropriately vague to cover whatever it is I wind up trying to do.

It’s fascinating how quickly AOL work began to wind down. I started handing things off right away so that I’m still here to answer questions if they arise. But between that and the fact that there’s some stuff I’ve simply stopped doing, I’m suddenly eating lunch anywhere but at my desk. Which is fun!

It’s 8am. I’ve been up for an hour. I wonder if it’s reasonable to take a nap now…

All in all, a lovely trip back to Ohio.

We started off with a bang by missing our 6:40am flight. I’ve complained about it enough that I felt extra stupid. We raced to the airport, even though we knew we couldn’t make it. We tried for standbys early in the day, and wound up finally catching a flight that connected in Cleveland. We had about six glamorous hours at Newark Airport. At first there was a lot of misery, but then I had a brainwave and gratefully spent $90 on day passes to the fancy pants lounge. This is not something I would normally do. But it was a holiday, and I wasn’t going to spend a big chunk of Thanksgiving sitting in the terminal. An internet connection and an open bar made the wait go much faster. I will remember this for the future: You don’t have to use the lounge of the airline you’re flying. We went to the President’s Club because we were on Continental. But we certainly had plenty of time to walk over to Delta, and past experiences tell me the Crown Room is better.

The family is, for the most part, in good shape. My cousin got her lumpectomy results while we were there and the doctor said things are looking as good as they possibly could. He said they got it all and she does not have cancer now. She’ll take Tamoxifan for five years, and have prophylactic radiation treatment. So that’s a huge relief.

Jerry had his heart surgery last week too, so we spent part of every day hanging out in cardiac intensive care. Another learning from the trip: If you’re going to have major surgery, do it over the holidays. There were almost no non-emergency surgeries happening so the nurses had much more time on their hands than they normally do. I’m sure they’d always take great care, but it was such a luxury that they were never in a hurry. I even went out and brought back ice cream for the whole shift on our last day and everyone came around for scoops. Nearly a week in CICU sounds like a terrible thing. But Jerry is the best patient in the world and it really paid off. He got in even better shape before the surgery and followed every doctor order to the letter. As a result, his recovery was fast and relatively painless. I was really proud of him.

On top of a week of medical happiness, I got to see my good friends, went to a high school friends dinner, got lots of quality time with mom and got to meet our new niece Audrey. And every single one of them went well.

So I had a lot to be grateful for this week.

And tomorrow morning I will quit my job. Anticipating this conversation makes my hands sweat, since I know my boss will be in a really bad position, and because I honestly like her. But I just keep reminding myself not to be an egomaniac. Everyone is replaceable.

The job offer was extended (and accepted!)! In just a few weeks I’ll be the new managing editor (actual title tbd) of Redbook online.

There was a lot of happy dancing going on in the apartment today.

Once again, I find myself on the brink of going out of town. This time it’s a 6am flight on Thanksgiving day that will take us to Cincinnati for a few days. I’m excited to see family and friends. But I really feel that I could use a few consecutive weeks at home. I know that’s collosally ungrateful since I just got back from Hawaii, not the salt mines. But it would be nice to let my tan lines fade before I see the inside of an airplane again. I think once we’re back I’m nailing my feet to the floor. I’m sure we’ll have the usual revolving door of visitors, but that’s somewhere between not bad and actually lots of fun. Most of our house guests do fine if they have to fend for themselves for a while in order to let us work/clean/rest.

This really is a great time of year if you play it right. There are several vacation days, and a general inclination to goof off. There’s not so much rest for the weary here at AOL, but there is more than usual. We had a meeting today with Star Jones (we’re going to shoot some video of her in early December) and I was hypnotized by her extra-long false eyelashes. But I was also impressed that when her husband walked into the room she had everyone’s names (there were three of us) and exactly what we do right at her fingertips for the introductions.

My potential new gig called for yet another chat. I called her back, but haven’t heard. So I have no idea what they could be hoping to hear that they haven’t already heard. The EIC did say that she likes to be very careful and detailed in her hiring so she knows the fit is just right. I also think there are some budget issues they’re dealing with. It’s weirdly comforting, because that’s something I can’t affect. They can either pay or they can’t. No hard decision making there.

1. Go into your livejournal archive
2. Find your 23rd post. (or for new lj’ers make it your 5th post – this shall be the new law and all shall obey it.)
3. Find your 5th sentence (or closest to it.)
4. Post the text of your sentence in this post along with these instructions.
5. Tag 5 people on your friend’s list.

My sentence is: Maybe telling the story of my birthday will make me feel better…

I’m supposed to tag 5 people on my friends list, but I’m not sure how to do tags. I’m sure the explanation can be found on LJ, but I’m on a dial up so I’m unwilling to go looking for it right now. If you’re reading this journal, then consider yourself tagged. But only if you want to be.