Saturday, August 20, 2011

A Regular Employee

As I was driving home from picking up my latest textbooks from UNT I realized that with my next career I'm just going to be a regular employee.  No more will I have the inside information I'm usually privvy to in my role in HR.  It's an interesting concept.  Of my 15 years working since I left college, 12 of them have been in Human Resources.  My next job will likely be the last one before I give up HR altogether and become a librarian.  When you work in HR, you know things.  Always.  I interact with all levels of the company and since I do benefits and leaves of absence I KNOW things.  What I currently do impacts the company and the employees as a whole. When I'm a regular employee I won't have that anymore. And in all honesty, I'm looking forward to that. 

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

BlogHer - The good, the bad and the hmm...

I've been to BlogHer twice as an attendee and once as just a groupie hanging out and trying to crash parties. (I'd never been to Chicago, BlogHer provided me a way to hang out with my pals and visit ChiTown).
This year BlogHer was in San Diego.  Since it has been over 100 degrees here forevfuckingever that was the nicest thing possible.  When I landed in San Diego and stepped out at the airport I felt a wave of nostalgia. The air smelled like the ocean. (Not that Camarillo smelled like the ocean but it was very close to the ocean).  It made me miss California.  And Seattle. And anyplace that isn't Texas, but that's another story. 

I really liked hanging out with Michelle, Katey, Laura, Amy, Leslie and Karla.  It is good to hang out with people, some of whom I know and some of whom were new to me.  I really liked the food they served.  I was thrilled with clearly labelled gluten-free options.  It was AWESOME.  I liked the swag.  It is not hard to like swag. :) I liked the parties.  I like parties.  I liked the session I attended. Sadly I only attended one.

There wasn't anything really bad about the trip. I feel like the hotel is kind of pricey and since they didn't do room drops this year, I would have been okay going to a cheaper hotel. (Michelle probably wouldn't have been though).  I didn't like how spread out things were which required what felt like a long walk.  I wish there had been more sessions I was interested in, but I know they can't please everyone.  The ONE session I was interested in, I didn't make it to because I had to finish homework for my class.  (which I got a 12.5 out of 12.5 on by the way). 

The Hmm... The real hmm is do I go back?  Next year it is New York City again.  I feel like NYC was much more expensive than Chicago and San Diego.  I don't think the hotel was only $199/night.  And I'm just not sure.  I'm not sure what I get out of it besides free stuff (which if you add up hotel, airfare etc isn't actually free per se) and hanging out with my friends.  Now, it'll cost to have a girls weekend anyway and with BlogHer at least I get breakfast and lunch paid for as part of my ticket. :)  (as well as parties and drinking in the evening).  So far in two years I think I've attended MAYBE 3 sessions (I think only 2 actually and one Michelle was on the panel and the other I just went with Michelle).  I know if I don't go, I'll feel left out since many of the girls are going again next year. And I can go and hang with Katey who doesn't go to the sessions either.  We could do touristy things. (if she goes I think she's on the fence too).  I dunno. I can't think that far ahead.