I'm really tired.

But the laundry is done, the fridge is full, and Sophie's butt has been addressed.  $135 dollars later (or as I told her, a new light fixture for the breakfast area) she had to endure yet another butt lancing (a superficial one that didn't require anesthesia) and we're back to warm compresses and such. It looks FINE now. Just like it did the LAST time.  For now, I'm going to calendar monthly vet visits/butt squeezing.  We had been dismissed from monthly to bi-monthly, and were just due for another when this happened. If it happens again, we're going to have to talk surgery.

And I do love my job.  I called the vet on Friday morning to see if they could see Sophie. They know her and love her, and said just bring her in, go to work, we'll call you - yes, I have earned my own parking space there.  So I emailed my boss to tell him I'd be in a bit late, had to take the dog to the vet. Mind you I've been on this job a little over three weeks.  His response: "No problem."

I dropped Sophie, they did what they had to do, and they called me around noon to tell me she was done and I could pick her up.

Told boss I had to go retrieve the dog from the vet.  He pretended surprise that I needed to GET the dog, and said, "Can't she drive herself home?"  I said she's a Boston and not tall enough to see over the steering wheel, but she would if she could.  He cracked up.  I went to pick up my dog.  I'm still getting used to this world.  No HR department tracking my hours - if shit is getting done, he's cool.  Oh, and apparently I am going to be the de facto HR department for the executive team.  No shit.  In this world, if you are in, you are in to your eyeballs.  The non-development learning curve is steep. The development one is starting to feel very comfy.

The other day my boss called me into a conference call on the fly - sit in on a thing with the engineers and the lawyer and the surveyor, discussing site issues with a really cool project, an hour before a meeting with the city and county and state and God and Everybody.  I listened, looked at the survey, took notes in my chicken scratch - I've never been a secretary responsible for taking notes for the group, and have only my personal meeting note taking skills.  (I'm working on that.) He asked me to whip up a quick and dirty agenda for his meeting with God and Everybody, he was leaving in half an hour, and I did - quick and dirty, bullet points of discussion topics, nothing fancy.  But I do have the development knowledge to pick the issues from the chatter in the meeting, and assembling a list of shit they needed to talk about was fairly easy.

He told me on Friday that he walked into that meeting and asked if there was an agenda, and everybody gave him a blank look. He whipped out my quick and dirty bullet points, and they went from that.  He was able to take charge and run the meeting, and he gave me credit for sitting in on a conference call, seeing what was going on and knowing what mattered.

I am pinching myself.  I like where I am, what I do, what the company does, and while it's not easy (I am going to be taking extra training to get certified in what we do) it's such a crazy, quirky, relaxed environment, I am still adjusting.  Adjusting to being appreciated.  Adjusting to a whole new set of responsibilities.  Adjusting to being treated like a competent, talented, valued member of the team, instead of employee number 658342.  Waiting for the other shoe to drop. After 30 years in Corporate America, I have major trust issues.  No, it's not perfect and I'm not in a dreamy haze - I am eyeball deep in issues already - but the vibe is so non-corporate, I have to adjust.

And now I'm off to put warm compresses on Sophie's butt. Because it's Saturday Night, and we do know how to party.