This week, my company "let" us work four 10-hr days, and take Friday off. It's the 2nd time they've done it, but I was on vacation the last time. So this week, I woke up at my normal time every morning, but instead of hitting snooze 18 times, I got up, stood in half-slumber in the kitchen while the coffee brewed, then either plugged in the laptop at home or headed to work for some early meetings. A few late evenings and working around the kids' after school activities, and I'm done on a Thursday night! All in all, probably worth it for an extra day off, but not something I'd love to do every week.
On Wednesday, I attended a lovely breakfast reception for the Utah chapter of Operation Smile, an organization with whom my company has recently partnered. Due to the early start (7:30 am), I did not brew my home coffee as usual but instead thought, "I'll just get the coffee there!"
[quiet inner voice] Well, the meeting is at the "Joseph Smith Memorial Building". Don't the Mormons reject coffee and most caffeinated products?
[louder inner voice] Yes, but this is not a church-related event. It's an opportunity for non-profits and corporations to come together and celebrate in perfect harmony! With coffee!
Needless to say, the event provided any breakfast lover's best choices (eggs benny, potatoes, fruit, pastries, juices) but NO java. My inner voices combined to drown out any and all speakers or musicians (Osmond, of course), repeating, "What? Really? Is that a carafe over there? How do I get coffee? Where am I going to get coffee? When is this over? Is there a coffee shop within 1 block of my location? Is that a headache I'm getting? Is this some cruel joke, orchestrated just for me to sit in disbelief and confusion? How do I get coffee?"
The potatoes helped shake me out of my funk, and I listened as my company's CEO told the cookie story and introduced our partnership. It really was a tremendous event. The local community is perfectly built for the Operation Smile charity: educated and well respected dentists and plastic surgeons, a strong volunteer base, and people comfortable with travelling globally (missionary influence). It's no wonder they are one of the strongest chapters of the global charity. The partnership has given our employees a shot in the arm, too, after a pretty morale-crushing past 12 months. We raised over $17,000 through employee fundraisers and vendor donations, and are building programs for our product lines to start contributing, too.
After a pretty packed week, I'm diggin' my day off tomorrow. Annie, being the really hard worker of the family, will be working and the kids are at Grandma's, so it's another day of freedom for me. I'm praying no major home emergencies arise between now and then, like the ceiling fan detaching and flying through the slider and killing a neighborhood cat. Actually, I wouldn't be totally devastated by that. If nothing else, it would give me something great to write about. The post would start something like:
"So yesterday, the ceiling fan detached and flew through the slider and killed a neighborhood cat! As expected, I wasn't totally devastated."
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