Getting back to work
My back is still bothering me but I’m ready to beat it. For any of you out there who’ve had chronic back pain you know that it hurts. And it sucks! It really does! So I’ve been trying to get over it for two weeks now. I really should stop talking about it because it makes my back hurt more just thinking about it.
I have finally updated The Echelbergers family website with some new colors, new pictures, and a photo archives section so if you haven’t yet go look at my super-cute nephew! And don’t forget to scroll down on the front page and leave a comment for their awesome parents.
I finished updating Jeff Shaw’s website Photography, Texas. He is one of my very first clients. In fact, I did his site while I was still in school, and you can verify that by checking out his current site. I’ve sent him proposals on redesigning his site but he doesn’t have the money right now. Oh well.
I’m still waiting on pecans from Texas. I won’t go into the details about who I’m waiting for to send them or anything like that but let’s just say she doesn’t seem to give a hoot about my stomach’s needs! Anyway, I’ll be hosting a few new sites in the next couple of weeks for a very dear friend and past professor of mine. I bet you’re wondering why that’s in this paragraph. Aw, screw it! Candace, get me my pecans!
My dear old Mum has finally been called back to duty. She’s not in the military, although I wonder sometimes if she’s any safer working for American than blowing stuff up in the Middle East. American Airlines is one of the few major airlines that’s been in debt since World War II while having successfully avoided Chapter 11 bankruptcy. That should be their new slogan, “Fly American Airlines. After all, we haven’t stolen any of your tax dollars. (yet)”. That would work well for them. It’s like a threat and an Advert at the same time!
By the way, did I mention that I’m on my third beer now? Leave me alone mom I’m married now!
So, let’s see what else is going on this week. My wife bought me a brand new brown leather jacket today. Real leather is so nice. She also cleaned the house today, which I love even more.
At work I’ve been working on a little Seven Feathers, a little BLM, and a lot of The Venue Suites. The Venue Suites are a local client in downtown Roseburg that offers upscale living and office quarters for those who can afford it. Denise did the Graphic Design and Chris and I are working on the Web portion for the client.
What’s been interesting about this client has been working with Sherry. Sherry is our account manager at work and she handles a good bit of the clients that come through our doors. I’ve always been…well, quite honestly a bit afraid of working with Sherry due to her supreme grasp of the English language and fine set of communication skills. She not only brings in most of the external clients we work with but she also deals with them. She has a knack for communicating and problem solving with some of our most difficult clients. I would never want her job, let’s just put it that way. I love most of the people I work with at Creative Images and I have fun working with them and sharing knowledge with them on all levels.
Sherry has always been kind of a mystery to me. We have really never in the last one year and nine months that I’ve been working here worked together on anything. The Web Department tends to have it’s own system of working with clients as compared to the other major departments at Creative Images. This new client we have has decided that she does not want to work with any of us in the Web Department. At first we kind of took it as a personal attack, but now as the story unfolds it seems more like this client just likes to work with women, or more precisely with Sherry. When I first started working at Creative Images I, like most people would, began meeting and talking with my fellow employees to find out who I would get along with and who I may need to hold my tongue around. Within the first three or four weeks I knew that there were three people I needed to watch out for: John, Caroline, and Sherry. The first two are better left to another day and another weblog entry. Sherry gives off a very interesting vibe in that she is always on top of everything. She’s a strong finisher, a fierce competitor, and she’s a master of communication and a virtual yoda of the English language. Sherry and I are so different that I have often been intimidated by her presence. After today, however, I feel like we are starting to comunicate on a similiar level. I really do admire how much effort she puts into finding clients and making them happy time and time again. Sherry and I are very different personalities that would clash on numerous levels in our personal lives and in several professional situations. I am now begginning to see what an asset she is to our company and why Paul, our General Manager, depends on her for a variety of tasks. I think that I will learn much from her in the near future. I also hope to soon work with a variety of internal client representatives on a daily basis.
One of our largest internal clients is Seven Feathers Hotel and Casino Resort. I’ve worked with Danielle Fedder, the Marketing Manager at the Casino, in person and through email for several months now quite exclusively. It’s been great. We get along well and I admire her willingness to get the job done. She is kind of like Sherry in more ways than one. I think that I will also learn a lot from her while I’m here.
Another person I’m really glad to work with is Carl. Carl is the Video Department at work and he has also worked in many other fields including Graphic Design, Photography, Furniture Desingn, Lettering and Sign Making. Carl has a website that is not complete yet. I hope that the Developer working on it gets it done soon. Carl has agreed to take me under his wing and teach me all he knows about Video Production, editing, and Audio Production. I am very grateful for this. I am also grateful to Paul for allowing me to work with Carl when I have spare time. I’m already breaking a little ground in Final Cut Pro. Carl has three extremely talented children and they are Adam, Matthew, and Lauren. Adam is in one of the Armed Forces and is off protecting our country against God knows what. Matthew is, like his father, an extremely talnted artist and musician. I can’t say too much about Lauren because I don’t want to get my body parts rearraged, but she’s also a very talented artist and a total knockout of a girl. Anyway, Carl is the man and I really appreciate his love for Video and his mentoring skills. Carl also excels on an almost daily basis at being a total asshole! I think that’s why he works alone. Upstairs. In his own office. With very little human contact.
Anyway, that’s what’s going on right now in my life. I have to go in to work tomorrow because my back pain kept me at home on Tuesday.