Tummy Trouble Again

Lately, I've been trying this fermented milk (it has the consistency of yogurt and the smell of burnt rubber) containing some probiotic cultures (a billion of them in a small plastic bottle) for my tummy. It was doing okay until today when I didn't drink a bottle because I ran out of them last night.

I've been to the washroom four times almost every two hours today: two at home and two at work. I was forced to take two Imodium tablets because of this. I'm doing okay now.

There's not much work again for the third straight day.

He Saved the Day!

Seeing a job bag waiting for me first thing was a good sign that there would be work for me. Or was it? Two hours into the day and, so far, I did only one more and it required only minor changes. By 12 noon, one more job bag came, but it was for a resized ad (same text, new size).

Judging by the looks of it, these would be my workload for the day. I should have taken the day off. I thought wrong, however.

Rob dropped by with three printer proofs of DM collateral. Since they were only reprints, I wanted not to check them thoroughly. But my conscience was telling me otherwise. After painstakingly proofreading for an hour, I found a pre-existing and glaring typo.

I showed this to Deb, who was very surprised to see this because of two reasons:

1. The client has approved this and never noticed this error.
2. This error has been repeated in print thousands of times earlier.

In the end, everyone was thankful that the mistake was caught in the proofing stage. God saved the day!

A Slow Start for the Week

I thought I was going to be busy today because I had some leftover work from last Friday. It appeared that they were the only ones that I'd be doing for the entire day, plus the new print ad that was no bigger than a postcard. However, I had some personal stuff that needed editing; so, I spent the rest of the day doing it.

By the way, our sister company moved in today. There were free coffee and bagels, which I didn't partake because I was cutting down on my coffee intake. And I was not a big fan of the doughnut-shaped bread. Besides, I brought my favourite banana bread and Deb her home-baked coffee cake.

A Free Scone from Starbucks

On our way home yesterday, Rob said that today's going to be miserable. I didn't know what he meant by that, but it was awfully quiet today. It was a good thing I saved a job folder from yesterday for proofreading today; otherwise, I wouldn't have done anything that was client related this instant — even if it's only for 15 minutes (and that was around 9 a.m.).

Jamie the I.T. guy stopped by my work area to ask me if I wanted a cranberry-lemon scone from Starbucks. He bought two and was able to only finish one. No wonder because these baked goodies were as long as my hand but thicker! Anyway, I said yes because I was still feeling hungry even after eating two chocolate-chunk cookies earlier. However, I only got to chow down half of it because, as I have mentioned, these things were huge.

All's Good Today

It seemed that some people in Client Services liked my new spot and wanted to be here, too. I couldn’t blame them because my pod was in a cozy spot. But I had to reconfigure the place because the afternoon sun was hurting my eyes. Now, everything’s all good.

I didn’t think that today was going to be busy. So, I thought of updating the copy decks from yesterday’s work. Over two hours into the task when Rob and Brooke dropped by with job dockets. I was busy for the next three hours that I had to eat my lunch a quarter past two. I couldn’t complain because they made the time fly fast.

Digging My New Digs?

I finally settled in my new work station, which I affectionately called the playpen. It looked much better and bigger in the architectural blueprints. Unfortunately, the drawings in the design weren’t according to scale.

So, my new digs are actually ⅓ the size of my first office. Plus, the partitions, which act as walls, are so short that they offer me no privacy. The table provides little room to lay out my stuff.

It also appeared that no one was happy with their new pods. Would you be, especially if you had your own office for years and have been relegated to a cubicle?

Doug advised me yesterday that once the dust had settled, I should reconfigure my work station to adapt to my work needs. So, that’s why I did. I sequestered another table and connected it with mine, instantly doubling my work area. Now, my bigger and better digs were almost half the size of my original office.

Am I happy with it now? Not quite. But when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. And in our case, we’ll need lots of straws.

Office Assembly

Two hours into the day and not much was still going on that’s client related. So far, I only proofread a shortened copy of a client’s brochure.

Some workers were here to assemble our new digs. It’s something to look forward to today. I even got a new chair to go with my new station. Cool!

They started building the pods a little after 1 p.m. I couldn’t wait to regain my privacy. Actually, I couldn’t wait for everything in the office to go back to normal.

Clients

I just couldn’t understand clients. One day, they agreed with my corrections; the next, they didn’t. I guess they simply didn’t want their copy revised, even if these revisions involved commas and em dashes only. They were very adamant about it even though some of my amendments got through to them.

Perhaps I should stop my copy editing and stick with proofreading instead. Maybe I should learn to let go and turn a blind eye on their minor grammatical infractions.

I don’t know anymore.

Jawahar

Thirty minutes into the day and I got this e-mail from Jawahar, a suit based in our office in Toronto, complaining that we (or was it I?) arbitrarily changed his client’s copy. First of all, that copy deck in question came from him. Second, I simply follow what’s on it.

After almost an hour of exchanging e-mails and phone conversations with Deb and me, he finally admitted that the revisions came from the client and he never checked it. Apologizing afterwards, Jawahar should have checked his e-mails first before sending a scathing e-mail, which was cc’d to every suit in Toronto. He’s probably regretting what he said.

But, at least, he got me pumped up for the day. I needed it because there were new projects needing my nitpicking skills. And today was the day I worked most this week: five hours of billable time.

Free Coffee

Doug bought coffee for everyone, which was very kind of him. My cappuccino gave me that caffeine boost I urgently needed to make it through the morning. (I slept at 12 midnight and woke up at 4:30 a.m. today.) And with all that bitter alkaloid in my system, I guessed I’d be fueled up throughout the day.

The caffeine helped because I didn’t feel sleepy when I did some major proofreading on a brochure. It took me more than two hours for that project.

Tummy update: I wasn’t able to do some paperwork at home and found it a bit of a challenge. Pushing the issue was time consuming. So, I opted to do it at work instead when I felt like it. I was done in five. (That’s what I call pulling — or was it pushing? — a fast one.)

Gloom

Today looked like a slow one and the rain wasn’t helping either. The gloomy weather made me even sleepier. This morning, I woke up 45 minutes early from my usual 4:30 a.m. wake-up call to bake mini croissants for breakfast.

I tried to keep myself awake by walking from time to time to the other side of the floor to the copier room, where our makeshift kitchen was, and make some green tea (the office kitchen was undergoing repair, too).

I tried to be productive as much as possible, but there was not much to do actually. Rob handed me two dockets for minor proofing but that was about it. Deb also gave one, too, which involved talking to Manu regarding page breaks in the DM letter he wrote.

By the way, my stomach’s doing fine so far. My troublesome tummy was very cooperative and didn’t quite bother me. However, it did growl after I ate yesterday’s lunch.

Tummy Trouble

I had to go to the washroom for a quickie. I guess my tuna spread and cheddar cheese sandwich for breakfast didn’t go down well. But a mug of hot orange pekoe tea did my tummy good — for a couple of hours though.

Then my tummy started to begin feeling queasy again. So, I had to make another mug of tea to make it settle down again. Otherwise, I’d be forced to take drastic measures and take three Imodium tablets like always. (I hope not because if I did, I’d be constipated the next day or two like always. I’ll wait and see what my packed lunch, baked salmon in lemon dill sauce, will do to my belly. But I decided not to have one today just to be safe.)

It’s busy today, unlike yesterday. I spent three hours proofing English and French versions of a website, and almost two hours on marketing materials. Not bad work in spite of my stomachache.

Where Am I?

I felt like a puppy staring at its new food dish; I was looking forward to sitting in my new work station today (which was formerly scheduled for Thursday this week and moved to next Tuesday). Instead, I was temporarily relocated in the middle of our new office space along with three laser printers and a colour copier/printer (thereby increasing my chances of getting sterile). I hope I get to work in my new station soon because I feel so exposed here.

I spent most of the morning setting up my PC and looking for my misplaced notes (especially the personal ones). Around 11 a.m., Brooke handed me two print ads that were resized because they used the wrong ad size. Anyway, both needed minor proofing only. It looked like these were the only ones I’d be checking today.

This would definitely look bad in my timesheet.

I felt like a puppy staring at its new food dish; I was looking forward to sitting in my new work station today (which was formerly scheduled for Thursday this week and moved to next Tuesday). Instead, I was temporarily relocated in the middle of our new office space along with three laser printers and a colour copier/printer (thereby increasing my chances of getting sterile). I hope I get to work in my new station soon because I feel so exposed here.

I spent most of the morning setting up my PC and looking for my misplaced notes (especially the personal ones). Around 11 a.m., Brooke handed me two print ads that were resized because they used the wrong ad size. Anyway, both needed minor proofing only. It looked like these were the only ones I’d be checking today.

This would definitely look bad in my timesheet.

Moving Day Again

I wasn't feeling well again. Stupid tummy ache. Plus, I felt sleepy, too, because I came home past 11 p.m. from an André Rieu concert.

Today was the final moving day. I stored again all my stuff in blue MOVEX bins and recycled old newspapers and laser-printed materials. I was still unsure where my cubicle was. When I looked at the floor plan again, I was stuck in some corner and my "pod" looked like it had windows. Anyway, I would definitely know next week.

There's not much going on in the line of work. The most was for a final tweaking of a website's registration page.

We also took Jen out for lunch today at Westin Bayshore since it's her last day with the company. "There goes another kookie Asian," I said in her going-away card. And with no one from admin coming with us, people began airing out their dirty laundry regarding management — and they were many!

What's Next

I managed to keep myself busy somehow. Brooke brought some laser proofs from the printers for me to check (they were all good); Rob, an old job bag for a brochure requiring a new cover. Deb also gave me another brochure to check, albeit an old one but needing revisions.

From the looks of today's workload, it appears that tomorrow would be a slow day unless, of course, something new comes along.

Also, Tom, the new freelance Art Director, came in for the first time. He's British like Amanda, Jim and Vanessa.

A Long One for a Long Day

On my way to work, I smelled a familiar aroma like fried dried squid. On a cold, rainy day, pusit, as it is called in the Philippines, served with garlic fried rice makes a great breakfast. Yummy!

As expected, today looked like one of the quiet ones that marked my early days here in the company.

Sharon, my predecessor, dropped by to say hi to everyone. Apparently, it was quiet on her side, too, as a freelance proofreader; so, she decided to pay us a visit and drop off some old client files. She regretted giving up her spot here in the company now that she didn’t have any contract work. (No wonder she sounded happy when I said that I plan to take some time off before or right after the Christmas holidays; she would get to cover for me when I’m away.)

One hour before closing time, I decided to take a break from my all-day surfing and grab some apple juice. I caught up with Rob, who was checking out the renovations on the other side of the floor. Like the rest of the creative team, he couldn’t believe my new work station was far away from them. Me neither.

I guess whoever wanted me to be there thought that I needed the quiet to proofread — right by the copier/printer and the fire exit. My new work area is a far cry from my temporary offices. All three had views; this one didn’t even have a window!

And wonder of wonders! As I was preparing myself for my sleepy ride home, I received an e-mail from Charlene to proofread a client’s microsite. I like proofreading, but proofreading something online is difficult and labour intensive: I have to do some screen captures, indicate the corrections by PowerPoint, convert the slides to JPEG format and insert them in Word, where I put my revisions in writing. Of course, this was a rush job and I had to stay an extra hour just to finish everything.

A Sign?

Not much was happening again. The bulk of today’s workload came from proofing a DM letter and online banners.

Today’s billable hours: 4½ hours. I believe this was a sign that work would soon grind to a halt again.

... To Blog

... That’s how busy I was.

Today was Vanessa’s last day. She’s joining Blast Radius. We had drinks at the reception area since the office is currently undergoing renovations.

We’re also having a four-day long weekend (the usual Friday off, Saturday, Sunday and Thanksgiving Monday).

Too Busy ...

I was too busy to blog ...

Jen's Announcement

Finally, after more than two weeks of crazy-busyness, work was trickling in. I didn’t get to do much today. Of course, there were still the usual printed ads and printer proofs to check.

I managed to catch an error in the French version of a DM kit. A word was missing. It was my fault actually. The correction I made was missing that particular word in question. It’s better that I caught it now and had it printed and get yelled by the client later.

By the way, Jen announced that she is leaving the company. Her last day is on Oct. 12.

I Thought Wrong

I thought today was going to be an easy one, but I thought wrong.

First, Wendy told me that the outside envelopes for a DM kit were missing an indicia and a return address. Judging by the disappointed look on her face, this was a big blunder.

Second, there were lots of rush ads — and they kept on coming!

Third, Wendy came back wondering about the copy decks for the same DM kit. Of course, I had to make one from scratch right away. Honestly, I didn’t know I was supposed to do this.

Fourth, I had to check the printer’s proofs. It’s no mean feat; unfortunately, the text on the copy deck I was using to check the text on the proofs was different. Obviously, the finalized text was different from the one I had, but I had no idea that it was revised.

Fifth, I had to proof five French animated banner ads online. This task was a lot tougher than proofing text on paper. I had to make screenshots of each and every frame to catch errors like inconsistencies and typos.

In the end, I did everything that was asked of me and had 30 minutes to spare before closing time. Though there were still some ads that need proofing, they could wait the next day. So, I took the downtime to send e-mails and calm my nerves.