live

Well, it has been done. It took me a year of hedging, searching, writing, rearranging, editing, redesigning, and proofing. But it is here.

My website has gone live. It lives and breathes on the word wide web.

RockstarYogaNYC.com

The finished html was sent to me months ago. Yet I did nothing because I felt so completely overwhelmed by the idea of how the Internet actually works. But as predicted my little bit of self-imposed work drama - coupled with a date who insisted that getting my site online would be incredibly simple - inspired me to jump in with both feet.

It was as promised simple to get my host and upload my site. Right on mr date.

What has surprised me is how quickly I am picking up the html code. Since posting I have already corrected seven link issues, rearranged some formats, and changed around some buttons.

Yes I still need to correct the "Contact Us" page so a form is there. But not to worry, it will be fixed.

Honestly I'm kind of surprised at how rewarding it has been to fiddle around with my site. Carbon and Hools had given me some layout suggestions that my wed designer couldn't really understand, so now I look forward to tooling around with them myself.

Also to come will be figuring out how to get my site to pop up on google searches. Because right now that ain't happenin.

So where do I go from here? Well besides the search engine debacle I get to find some neighborhood clients to start earning back the money I've invested in this business. Ideally just one or two a week to dip my toe into the whole thing. Thus I need to buy Adobe and start designing a direct mailing flyer.

Boy, it sure takes a lot more than just a yoga certification to start an instructor business these days.

decisions

Well, it came today.

"Congratulations BRIDGET COONEY!

You’re eligible for guaranteed entry to the race of a lifetime—the ING New York City Marathon on November 7, 2010. You must claim your guaranteed entry by March 15."

Okay, I totally know that I would tell someone else. Go ahead, sign up! You don't actually have to run it! You can train and then decide later to defer if you aren't feeling up to it this year!

Stupid me and my advice. If I don't take my own then I'm a total hypocrite. And those totally suck.

Dammit.

living in the uplink age

So far 2010 has not been a stellar year of dating for many of my friends. Quite a few people I know have gone through break ups over the past few weeks, it has happened so often lately that I'm really wondering what is in the water.

One of the hardest things these days for everyone to get through is handling the split...in the social network medium. Everyone knows ending relationships are difficult enough as is. Now there is the damn facebook phenomenon.

Changing the status from in a relationship to single - the biggest stress because you wish you could kind of keep it under the radar. Does everyone need to know right away dammit? Sympathy for being single again is easier taken in sips than gulps.

Staying 'friends' or not? Do you cyber stalk to see if they are dating again? Or just hide their updates so you can be the good guy and try to bury your head in the sand?

Mutual friends who comment on the ex's updates. You can hide your ex but if your buddies keep in touch, you painfully do too.

And of course these are the tip of the iceberg, just the obvious problems. We are so connected now that our Internet wires cross over and under and just don't fade away. What do you do? De-friend them and get your best friends to do the same? Is that even morally acceptable?

Yes, somehow we as a culture have made breaking up harder. Argh.

As luck would have it you can find all kinds of other online arenas to mess with romance. Let's take for example...hmmm...if you start dating someone from say OK Cupid, Match, or Eharmony. You go out for just over a couple weeks and things seem to be going pretty well. Lots of laughs, plenty of chemistry, good times all around.

And then you notice that the person has changed their primary photo in their online profile within the past couple of days.

Ouch.

Yeah, you don't do that if you want to keep seeing the same person. Nope, I can't think of one scenario where you would.

Thank you, online dating, for keeping it real. Actually you have to admit it is better to find out sooner than later that someone isn't feeling the vibe. You can't say the guy did anything wrong, a couple of weeks a commitment does not make. But call me crazy - I am looking for a guy who meets me and wants to give dating me a chance, possibly even forget about keeping his options open.

So am I the kind of person that can just chill out and enjoy the moment? Can I just date for fun knowing there is a shelf life? I'm not really sure yet. It has been a while since I've been here. So I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

the five stages

Things were moving along really well with my plans of world domination at the job...until the very end of the workday Friday. Then a HUGE wrench got thrown into the works. And my idea fell thru.

At first I was really disappointed. Sad. I was really getting stoked at the idea of taking on new challenges and a new role. Starting a new routine, learning a whole new job. How could they not want me? Am I actually not the best? Other people would be better than me? What did I do wrong? What if I had made my move sooner?

Then I got to the dinner party of the evening and stepped into denial. Oh well, such is life. It was worth a try but I'm no worse off.

After the party (which was quite fun) I fell headfirst into anger. What the frick is wrong with this company? Why don't they use my considerable talents instead of tossing them to the side? Even worse, why are they going to make things more difficult for me? The wrench in the works actually makes my life more pollitical and convolued. Argh.

Next of course came the bargaining. If I just wrote up a very detailed email listing exactly why they should let me take on the challenges the company will be better off. Lying in bed last night I couldn't sleep for thinking of all the things that will go wrong if they wouldn't follow my plan and why I should get my way.

Luckily I did fall asleep. And woke up with acceptance. This is the same company I got hired at three and a half years ago that is inefficient and mired down in red tape. My whole career there has been me fighting through the muck just so I can do the bare minimum, let alone really give it all I got. Which is why I have wanted for a while now to leave.

Shiny shiny had distracted me for a while. I'm really glad I tried to stretch my wings so I could see exactly how small the cage I'm in actually is.

That Kubler-Ross sure was a smart lady. Those stages really apply all over the place don't they? And of course I'm really lucky I have the high emotional metabolism to get through them so quickly. Onward and upward to something else!!

envelopes

This last week has been one for the record books as far as my job goes. In a good way.

On Monday I turned in my list of accomplishments for last year. They were impressive. My department instilled new processes and concepts that completely reinvented the way we dealt with titles that are difficult to produce. We significantly cut down on printing too soon (and therefore too much) and spending too much on the prints.

In order to do this it required us proving our reliability and gaining trust from the upper management. Which my staff was able to do with flying colors.

So I was already feeling good about my peeps. Next we had sales conference this week. The head of the division gave an opening speech to the entire Children's gang. Editorial, production, marketing, art...and so on.

While saying how well 2009 did after all he then gave a major shout out to me and my group. A big one.

That felt good, I won't lie. And having people come up later to congratulate me on the comment or agree with it also felt pretty darn nifty.

What do I do then? Why go onto salary.com of course. Obviously no good thing can come from doing that. And guess what? I'm underpaid. By a lot. And I mean a lot lot.

Great. Granted this is publishing, notorious for paying the low end of the scale. But my pay isn't even ON the bell curve, let alone the bottom of it.

Being me I wouldn't let that sit. So I gathered all my data and my accolades and marched into my boss' office, demanding a raise. And my biggest leverage to help justify the increase?

Ha. For this I may end up kicking myself later. I proposed I take on a whole slew of new responsibilities. Should I get this added workload every day will be a struggle. But the work needs to be done to prevent waste of money and time.

Of course I know I can do what needs to be done. And so does my boss.

Lord, what have I done? Oye. Guess we'll find out soon enough if people really do believe I'm a miracle worker. And if I'm worth paying a competitive salary.

Why couldn't I just take a compliment and revel in it? What in my nature makes me push the envelope? I really don't know.

Ha, at least it is a trait that pays well.

podcast love

Hello all - I just want to share my latest and greatest find. Over the last week I have discovered and become obsessed with the Nutrition Diva podcast.

From downloading about 20 different seven minute segments have resulted in myths being busted all over the place! For example I have learned that:

- dehydration is not as prevalent as we all think
- five eating tips to keep you feeling 30 when you reach 60
- top foods to buy organic because of pesticide residue
- drinking coffee is good for you, and is best if you have up to 3-4 cups a day
- your metabolism does not actually slow down when you eat less or fast
- vegetarianism is not as healthy as it used to be (hello processed foods)

And these are just off the top of my head!

Between This American Life, Stuff You Should Know, and the Bowery Boys my brain is getting filled with all kinds of random data. Bring on some trivial pursuit already!!

and for ne next caller

Never say I don't take requests. When I was home for the holidays my mother mentioned that she had been reading my blog. She said she liked it, but there is one thing she would like to change.

I braced myself.

"What?" I asked. Ready. Steel.

"Well," she replied, "That you change your picture. We miss your beautiful smile."

Ha. That one isn't so hard to fix. And heck, I did pay a pretty penny to white-ify my toothies.

So mom, this one's for you. *Look left*

dangers of small talk

As you well may know I tend to be fairly chatty at work. Or in general. If you at all look familiar (and sometimes even if you don't) I'll strike up a conversation if we are waiting around.

Earlier today when dashing into the elevator I recognized a co-worker entering at the same time. I immediately knew her to be a girl from my managing editorial department and recalled that she did not make it into work Monday because of travel delays.

Now I don't physically work with this girl very often. She attends a weekly meeting that I only join in about once every six months.

So we enter the elevator and I say "Hey! How are you? I heard you had some travel drama over the holidays?"

She tilted her head, wrinkled her brow, and hesitated.

"You were stuck at home Monday?" I prompted, "Couldn't make it into work?"

Then she smiled;

"No" she said "Holiday travels all went well! I was really lucky, no delays or anything!"

At which point I realize this is NOT the girl I know from managing editorial. And to top it off I therefore have absolutely no clue who this girl is.

So then I start to panic. Does she know who I am? Am I just some odd co-worker who asks personal questions to strangers? What if I really should know her but can't remember from where? Am I being overly friendly or am I failing as a fellow employee?

WHO IS THIS PERSON???

Of course this entire conversation and the whole panic in my head happened in the elevator traveling from the 4th floor to the ground floor. Not a long trip. But let me tell you it was hard keeping a jovial look on my face once I realized my mistake.

Now I'm a little paranoid. I'm actually considering wandering around my floor looking at faces and door tags to figure out who she is. Argh.

just a few stairs

Okay, I am compelled to point this out.

The annual New York Road Runners race up the stairs of the Empire State Building has filled to capacity.

That's 86 flights, a quarter mile of stairs. Which is a bitch in any form, now compile with the fact that you are running up in little circles up a narrow stairwell.

Seriously, it is full. It boggles the mind.

holiday 2009

Wow, that holiday went by in the blink of an eye.

Tell you what, only going to Michigan for four nights, working up until Christmas and then back to work again before new years really lessens the impact of the whole shebang. Last year's venture from Dtown to the Canaries seemed like forever - if only just the same week and a half.

Not that this holiday wasn't full of fun and games. Some highlights:

- Lots of family time. Spent time with the 'rents, was accosted two separate days by my five nieces and nephews. (Of whom only one maybe is old enough to remember me when I come back next year bearing gifts.) Also saw my godmother and her offspring with their offspring. Have officially had my fill of children for a score.

- Spent some hang time with Heath et al at the Oak Cafe. Got some of my Bell's fix in, delish. Why oh why won't they sell the stuff here??

- Sis and hubby got in a killer nerf gun fight. I got shot in the eye. Just like in the damn Christmas Story - only of course I don't wear glasses. Am doomed to get a red eye every holiday it seems.

- Got to spend some quality time at favorite Sidetracks for the fried dill pickles and was introduced to the Jolly Pumpkin Brewery in downtown A2. The beer is great, but don't try the pork special. I warn you because I care. Four o'clock in the morning I was unfortunate enough to experience it again the wrong way, so not worth that second time around. Stick with the truffle pizza and fries.

- Time with the 'marrieds'! Down to Paul, Julie, and Jen this year. Intimate but way great to see them. Maybe we should do a trip sometime this year?

- NYE in Queens with the Bonicas, Jules, and Jo Jo. Warm, dry, and fun. At least dry until I went to open some frozen champagne. Then it got messy.

- Somehow in there I was also able to squeeze in a couple of dates. One guy is out, but the other is holding on...will we make it to date three? He lives AND works in Jersey, so guess we'll see how that works. I'm a little skeptical about the idea. For gods' sake, that's an entire other state! With a whole river inbetween!! And a different transit system to get there!!!