"Poised for growth" is another way of saying "you're not going anywhere"

Sometimes I think it's easier to get acknowledged when something goes wrong at work than when the corporate machine is chugging along on all cylinders. When I'm just doing things right and there are no problems, I have very minimal interaction with my boss. I have to assume he prefers that, since he's never taken action to initiate more meetings. I try to stay a step ahead of him sometimes by trying to pick up on conversations around the workplace that might indicate what kinds of information he could need. This is certainly not an easy task...especially when we don't meet regularly - I'm constantly relying on rumormilling and third-party information to gauge the direction my data needs to be adjusted. I recently took a coworker's assumptions about a project at face value, and something got really screwed up. I'm left holding the bag and looking foolish, like I don't know what I'm doing, and if I were more ruthlessly ambitious and lacking personal ethics, that coworker would feel the immense pressure of the grinding wheels of the proverbial bus I would have thrown her under. But I don't do that. I accepted misinformation without a secondary confirmation, so I will take the brunt of the responsibility for this error. Hopefully, it can be fixed. Of course, this same coworker is applying for other jobs within the company (which is in direct contrast to what she says about not having an ambition above her current position). She's not being very smart about it, seeing as she left an internal application in the shared printer this week. Ooops. Again - if I were a different person, the boss would be aware that she doesn't appreciate the job she has (which she was given as an alternative to a layoff), since it bothers me when people attempt to be sneaky about things like this. She's the boss's assistant, so I think she owes it to him to be upfront about her intentions, although her staying or going would have very little affect on me.

The rumor is making the rounds that there's a restructure happening upstairs, and that I am not a part of it. Which, at this point, after all of the jerking around I feel has taken place, and doing the "networking" my boss suggested and hearing the things I have about the administrative unit...I think I'm okay with it, in all honesty. I just have to button up, not make careless and costly errors, and continue to make the case for the importance of my position and what I personally bring to the company. The honest way will take longer than the deceptive, climb-the-ladder-at-all-costs method, but I'll be able to sleep at night - even if I don't have as much disposable income. Shopping therapy will just have to be put on hold for a while.

All of my coworkers are acting super flakey lately. I had one call me - on speakerphone, which I hate with the firey passion of the enflamed Halls of Hades!! - and apparently forget she had even dialed my number, because I could hear her carrying on a conversation with someone sitting across the room. I listened to a lot of nothing for a good five minutes (while riffling through papers and typing on my keyboard really loudly to see if she'd realize I was still on the line) before getting bored and hanging up. The sound of the dial tone probably made her pee her pants. I had another coworker end a phone conversation today with "That's the name of that tuna". I hung up the phone and sat there a little baffled about what credit card charges had to do with the chicken of the sea before realizing that he was putting what he must've thought was a cute little spin on the phrase "That's the name of that tune". Wackos. The whole lot of 'em...

I have nothing of any relevance to say about the VP debate last night that isn't already being trumpeted from the four corners of the internets today (thanks Almost-President Al Gore, for our blessed internets!):

So, instead of insightful and thoughtful commentary, here are some visual aids. Go, ahead - LOL. While you still can!

And, for the sake of nostalgia...what we'll *hopefully* be "missing" - and I use that word in the most sarcastic and insincere sense possible - come this time next year (ohpleasedeargodmakeitso):