Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Good thing turkey is a lean protein

Yesterday afternoon, our CEO sent out an email announcing that the office would be closing early today, at three p.m., in honour of Thanksgiving. Which, in theory, is very nice. Except that, in practice, we still have to bill our 40 hours this week and he did not provide a billing code for those two to three missing hours. And apparently everyone in my hardworking department ignores such things, which means that if I leave early, I'll look like a slacker. And even if I do leave at three, it won't help us get on the road any earlier, because Torsten still has to work until at least five.

But still. It's a nice gesture. And I have plenty of stuff to do today anyway, including the very tedious task of filling out separate reimbursement requests for every single book that I ordered on the company dime--all twenty or so of them. See, another nice thing this company does is give you $500 a year to spend on books or publications relevant to your job. So, I went ahead and dropped $500 on Amazon, which made me very happy (and also got me a lot of editing staples that I had been frustrated not to have, like, I don't know, a dictionary, and also the Chicago Manual). And now I have to fill in, sign, and photocopy thousands of expense reports in order to be reimbursed.

But hey, don't look a gift horse in the mouth, right? Especially because now I have something useful to do between the hours of three and five today. Then we'll be getting on the road with my sister (and pretty much everyone else in the country) and seeing how long the normally four-hour drive will take us today. I think our Thanksgiving record is eight hours. We're hoping to avoid that monstrosity today, but we'll see.

I know a lot of you have already left for your various holiday destinations, but for those of you who are still here and reading: what are you doing for the holiday? And also, what do you WISH you were doing?

18 comments:

  1. I'm going to TB's sister's house which is like an hour away from here. It's the first time I'll be spending a Thanksgiving away from my own family and I'm glad I get to spend it with TB, but sad that I won't see my own family. So, I guess what I would rather be doing (or can I have this be what I would also like to do? like maybe split the day up and teleport myself 600 miles in a matter of seconds?) is be going home to my mom's house.

    Happy Thanksgiving! I hope the drive doesn't take you more than, say, five and a half hours. Max. :)

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  2. Going to the in-laws' tomorrow - about a 2 hour drive. WISH my husband would take the kids and let me sleep. ;) But that's coming from someone who's operating on about 4 hours today; I couldn't fall asleep last night until after 1:00 and sweet baby J woke me at 5:00 (she normally sleeps until around 7:00).

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  3. heading to erie after work. it's normally a four hour drive, god i hope it's not too much longer. ugh.

    have a great holiday jess!

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  4. I AM HERE. STILL. We are doing a Turkey Trot running race and then going out to eat.

    Happy Thanksgiving!

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  5. We'll be at my MIL's on Thursday, then I am cooking for real on Friday. A day full of food, booze and fun with my brother and SIL.

    Happy Thanksgiving! Have fun!!

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  6. We're going to my mom's for the first time in SIX years since we've been together (we've always gone to his family's) and I'm actually really, really excited. And I can't wait to eat. (But I sort of wish we were staying home in our pajamas all day so we could hang out with the dogs.) Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

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  7. My mom lives down the street, so I don't have to go far for turkey. Although I was a dumb ass and haven't yet gone to the grocery store for the vege side dish I'm bringing.

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  8. Uffda. Hope that drive goes well.

    I'm perfectly happy to be staying put and letting my parents come to ME tomorrow! They're flying in for a whole weekend of eating, shopping and tourist-ing. It will be fun, but hardly relaxing.

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  9. dude.. i so feel your travel pain. last year i left "early" for thanksgiving, at like 3p, and the 3 hour drive took me 7 and a half. it's lucky i don't have a gun in the car, because either me or several hundred of my closest highway neighbors would have bit it.

    tonight (LATE. TONIGHT.) karl and i are venturing up on 95 to spend the weekend w/my fam in nj. the only thing i wish could be different is that poor karl wouldn't be on crutches and broken the first time he came up to nj with me :-)

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  10. Dude, leave at 3 and bill it to 'marketing.' Then make up a big story about how you went marketing. You know, for turkey and stuffing and so on.

    Bad, bad joke.

    We'll be off to friends' houses for turkey day, then working all weekend because we're both horribly behind on our deadlines.

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  11. alice and I both said dude! And I did not read her post before posting my dude. That word, it is going to make its way BACK!

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  13. Shuffles sent out a memo (rather had someone send out a memo since, computers? not so much) that the office would close at 3PM today. He sent out this memo at noon. And then he called me into a pointless meeting at 2:47. I quite hate him.

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  14. whoo going to my Aunt's for the holiday. but I WISH I just found out I won the lottery so I could definately quit my job.

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  15. $500 for books from work!? What a great bonus.

    I took Wednesday off to fly home and have two Thanksgivings - the first at my dad's house on Thursday then another at my mom's today. Both were great in their own respect, but GOD I ate so much food. And I don't get to visit my gym again until Sunday.

    Good luck on your drive home!

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  16. That sucks that work ethic kept you from leaving early. I'm the same way. We had a half day at school and soon after that, the place was deserted except for me- staying to get ahead. I'm a glutton for punishment.

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  17. Hey! Happy Belated Thanksgiving! We had family come in to town and they are still here. In my house. Eating my food. Waking my kid up.

    Yay Holidays!

    Jamie

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  18. I really am behind. I thought you were still on vacation. Ack! Welcome home. :)

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