From the Desk 8/14/2008

This morning things were a little slow to get started at work, but that pace didn't last too long. I was working on finalizing the new boxes design for a portion of the website and sending out proof to various people to gather their input. I met with Mike and we discussed an alternate solution to our problems working with our web-design company and their increasingly slow response to our needs. After that I began toying more with the data mapping program and calculating the remaining stats from the zip code transaction reports I printed the day before. I am hoping tomorrow to plot the zip codes on the map surrounding each store to determine what zip codes the majority of our sales are coming from for each store. I asked about lunch with the group and it appeared to be every man for himself today as we were all busy and weren't sure what time we could take a break. I was going to eat my lunch at around 11:30, but decided to go ahead and meet with Vickie. I went into our meeting expecting to talk about the final details of the Breast Cancer promotion coming up in September/October. I left feeling a little nervous as I was informed that Vickie just took the initiative to call the marketing meeting, but that I was the one to be leading it. After considering my title and my role in the overall marketing efforts of the company, I knew she was correct, but it still didn't calm my nerves. This would be the first "public" test of what I was made of professionally and creatively. I was glad that I found this out close to 3 weeks away from the meeting instead of the morning of. This was an opportunity for me to shine and I am going to spend the next 2 weeks preparing to make sure that I "dazzle with my creative oozing" (a phrase coined by Vickie about what I do each day).

I went to lunch, but was quickly distracted when Chris stopped by and we sat down to go over a new idea for a promo that she had. It was going to have to be put together in about 2 weeks from design to print and then mailed the first week of September. I'm not sure if this can be worked into the budget, but if not then it is something we can plan for next year. We also chose the product to appear on the front cover of the Holiday Toy catalog. Now all we had to do was to send the image to the company who is printing this for us so they can add the cover page and create a final proof. After that (around 2:00) I finally ate the rest of my lunch. I spent most of the afternoon thinking about meetings I'd been in and heard about and wondered what type of approach I was going to take. We all knew each other, but I imagine that we all have different focuses on what Marketing should do for the Box and how it should be done. I typed out several ideas that popped into my head for an opener to get things rolling and knew that I would be relying on Vickie and Mike to help direct a couple of parts of the meeting. I worked on that until 5:00 and then went home for the day.

Once I got home I ate some dinner and then it was off to Super Target to fill a very lengthy grocery list. I spent about an hour walking up and down the aisles searching for food on my list. I picked up supplies for the dinner I planned on cooking Christina on Friday night. Once I payed for my cart of food I returned to the apartment and relaxed a bit by playing Guitar Hero until Christina came over after work. I played a few songs while she ate some food she brought with her and then we watched re-runs of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice on ABC. I hadn't watched one of these episodes since the season finale in April and it got me very excited about the new season that begins on September 25th. After that it was time to say goodnight and I walked Christina to her car. We said goodnight and then I went back inside to go to sleep for the night.

Meditation for the day: 2 Corinthians 10:17-18 “But, "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord." For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.”