Work Files

January and February are big work months for me - lots of projects, events and demands on my time. Throw into the mix a co-worker on maternity leave and school closures due to bitter weather, and I'm having one heck of an interesting time over here.

I thought I minus-well share work stuff with you all here - if I'm thinking about it, why not write about it? So here are some tidbits that might be interesting to others outside my office:

1.) Excel is saving my life. I've used it before, but never loved it until now. I use it to make task lists - for everything, including what to do every month of the year (my job is pretty cyclical). I learned today that you can freeze frame the top row and first column to make HUGE spreadsheets really readable (did everyone already know this?). And it works really well with data from different apps I use like Surveymonkey and google forms. Excel, you get the slow clap of the week.

2.) I'm all for sustainability, but sometimes I think "green" efforts get out of hand. This week, building services announced they would be taking away all of our office trashcans. We will only have recycle bins in our offices, and if we have a piece of trash we must walk it down the hall to a communal trashcan. People are hot. There's going to be riots, I tell you . . .

3.) I really should update my resume - and Matt needs to write his! So I pinned this list of resume hot words. I like "conceptualized" and "built" - gotta work those in.

4.) Did you know LinkedIn now lets you upload projects? I added some recent graphic design work to my profile, and linked all of my Bly articles, too. Never know what people might look for!

5.) This isn't exactly work-related, but I'm still loving my morning workouts. I'm a little sweaty and and hot when I get to work, but man, am I awake and ready to start the day! I've also been trying (mostly in vain) to get up to 10,000 steps a day on my fitbit, and I've resorted to mind tricks: the hallway from my office to the bathroom, surprisingly, only goes one-way. To get back, I have to go downstairs and take the basement hall. It about doubles my steps for one trip. Sneaky, right?

6.) This dream is back, and worse than ever. Need to relax, much?

Nightmares

I have a reoccurring nightmare. In it, I'm doing something normal - or normal for dream-time, at least - and then all of a sudden, I notice that I have a loose tooth. I wiggle the tooth a bit, like a kid eager for the tooth fairy, only I'm not eager. I'm terrified - I'm an adult here, I shouldn't have loose teeth - what's wrong with me? Eventually, the tooth is not only loose, it's hanging on by a thread. And, as luck would have it, it's right in the front of my mouth so I just know I'm going to be walking around like a gap-tooth. Finally, the tooth falls out and I'm am just a wreck. As I despair, I realize something else --- the rest of my teeth are loose too! And then I wake up (thank goodness).

here

Isn't that the weirdest dream? It have it fairly regularly, with all kinds of variations and scenarios. Last night, something had happened to damage my mouth - I had fallen or been hit, so my face was puffy and hurt before the teeth started falling out.

But you want to know the weirdest part? This is a really common dream. According to Dr. Oz, it's one of the five most common reoccurring dreams. So while my nightmares might not be very original, they are at least very well analyzed on the internet.

Clearly, with all the scientific (hah) dream analysis out there, you can find a lot of interpretations for the "Teeth Falling Out" dream. Find my analysis of these theories, below.

• Age: I could be worrying about age. Teeth, and losing teeth, are very associated with the aging process. Valid? Maybe. I have found 3 grey hairs this month, with was very distressing. 
• Communication: I could be worried about something I've said - lies I've told, gossip I've spread, just plain bitchy things I've said. Valid? Eh, not really. I don't lie much - have never been any good at it. I don't feel bad about gossip - it's human nature, right? And I've actually been a pretty nice girl this week :). 
• Dealing with issues: Am I refusing to deal with an issue, or in contrast, working too hard to resolve issues? Valid? Maybe - I have a lot of decisions to make (wedding, grad school, work, etc.) so maybe I am feel a bit overworked and overwhelmed by those.
• Survival: Teeth are necessary for eating and defending oneself, so I may be feeling like I'm not taking care of my body. Valid? Nope, I've been a nutrition and fitness goddess lately, so I'm not worried about that.

So, conclusion? I think it's stress. That's the medical answer for about every physical and mental ailment these days, right? It might just be the idea of trying on a bunch of big, poofy, white dresses this weekend ....

But at least there was a silver lining in last night's dream - one I never remember having before. When my tooth fell out, a found a shiny, brand new tooth in it's place ...