The Economy, Jobs & the Things...

The economy now has me officially concerned. Generally speaking, I don't know that my job has a whole lot to offer, however, when it comes to being an accurate and timely measure of the country's financial health, it does keep me relatively in the know.

As you may or may not have heard, as of last week, Linens 'n Things (aka the poor man's Bed, Bath & Beyond) is kaput-skies. They are liquidating all their stores and selling their stock for up to 30% off (which sure doesn't sound like enough to me, but whatever...). It's one of my accounts, and certainly not my favorite one, so I didn't cry about it. I did say, though, that I wish it had happened to Mervyns instead. Today, it appears as though I got my wish. If I believed at all in the power of the mind-- or rather, the power of my mind-- I might think it was my fault, what with the timing and all. What's super weird is nobody knows what the deal is here! Not my boss-- who only knew what I just told her--, not Client Services, and not even my boss' boss. Hopefully they can figure out things by this afternoon.

My Mervyns contact herself left me a voicemail saying they were surprised I even sent them the last preview notice because they were packing up their desks as she spoke (or is it spaketh? I like when words end with "-eth"...) and expected to vacate the office by the end of this week. Anyway, I know I should be happy because that account is THE DEVIL. They have these wackadoodle standards that have so many conditions... Ex. Enter titles all in caps, even if not so on the pdf, except for when gender is included at the end of the title, which should be in lowercase and Don't use the Price Qualifier field but put what would normally go there in the Sales Description field separated by two hard returns (one white space), unless the Original Deal is not for the main product but for the Shown item, in which case it should immediately follow the Shown item in the Sales Description and Never enter listings during a full moon unless it's during the vernal equinox or a year of the chicken.

I really feel badly for them, as people. I do not at all envy their position and wish them the best. I'm sure they were so uniquely anal only because their bosses put pressure on them to be so.

I haven't told my bosses yet, but about a month ago I was told that American Signature/Value City Furniture was also leaving us (also my account) at the end of this month. Not to mention that I noticed while doing my daily site checks the other day that Pruitt's has started posting their own ads rather than have us process them! So all told, we're talking about my personally losing 5 accounts in the past month! That's about 3/5 of my accounts! Plus many of my other accounts have significantly reduced the number of planned promotions.

I was only planning on staying at this job until next September, at which point I want to go to nursing school. With the way things are going though, I'm not confident I will be able to get a school loan. Sometimes hospitals will finance your schooling on a condition similar to that of an indentured servant, but nothing like that seems to exist in my area. I'll have to keep looking, though, and maybe we'll be able to swing community college at least. If it came down to it, we would be willing to move in with Chris' parents, but did anything good ever come out of moving in with your in-laws? For anyone involved? Of course I realize that very shortly we probably won't have an option what with their declining health, but another story for another blog for another day...

To Hyphenate or Not to Hyphenate... That Is the Question

I've started considering my options with the whole name change question. To me, it's not really the old-fashioned-patriachal-societal-remnant part that bothers me. Nor am I particularly attached to my estranged father's last name. I don't want to keep Heitz because it's just not practical. We'll be called "The Links" whether I change my name or not. We might as well keep it consistent and non-confusing. It's a gesture of solidarity that I feel good about.

However, people know me as Kirsten Heitz. I like how it sounds, and I don't want to seemingly disappear from the face of the earth. One of my biggest pet peeves with Facebook, for example, is when I try to look up an old girl friend, but can't find her because she's taken her husband's name.

This may seem terrible, but I'm not too impressed with how "Kirsten Link" sounds. Somewhat... clumsy. And If someone tried to say it when they have a cold, it'd be downright atrocious (Kirst-eh Leak?).

I don't want to hyphenate because Chris and I would still have different last names which is awkward and confusing. The way I'm leaning is to make my Heitz my middle name, but I want to keep my current middle name (Erika) because I've always really liked it. But then I'm dealing with four names which is about as pretentious as a hyphen. Well, it could also go the other way, which is into redneck territory (Bubba Bo Bobby Dean... Susie Beth Annabelle Lee... Kirsten Erika Heitz Link). Also, people would end up never even using it. "Erika" only gets included on formal documents.

I don't know-- the more I think about it, the crabbier I get!

Here's a good summary of the name-change issue:
http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/6-1-2006-98005.asp
I like it because it also includes the pros/cons for each solution.

Look at Me! I'm a Blogger! I'm Blogging!

Hey, this is exciting, eh?

I'm at work right now. I am an Operations Team Lead for an online marketing company in Chicago. We convert print flyers for web use. Right now is kinda stressful. Almost a quarter of the team is on vacay this week and those of us left behind have to pick up the slack. There are a lot of crazy deadlines and even crazier clients. It's not a career, but I have my own desk and if I lean forward in such a way, I have a nice view of Lake Michigan. When I go to the bathroom, I can see the Chicago River (on the way, I mean-- there aren't windows in the bathroom). We have free soda and a ping pong table, though I never play.

I am currently planning my wedding set for 05/24/2009 (Memorial Day weekend). I work Sundays and my fiance works Saturdays meaning it's almost impossible to get anything accomplished on the weekends, or meet up with friends. We got engaged over a year ago, so I've been working on it for awhile now. With less than a year to go, I'm not embarassed anymore when people ask when the big day is. When you tell someone "in two years", you get some funny looks. I don't know why! I suppose once we're married, people will ask when we'll start making babies. Then we'll answer, "when you realize what a rude, intrusive question that is."

Well, I guess I ought to get some work done. Plus who knows if anyone's even going to know this blog exists, in which case I'm totally wasting my time.