Post by YesterdayOnceMore on Mar 11, 2008 10:43:43 GMT -5
Told you I was going to try and start some new threads here in Tim's corner - hopefully that will get everyone interacting here as well as on the main forum. (Lots going on there still, eh?)
So here's the first of several, I hope. This one bodes the question - what is a typical day for you like?
This is about the weekdays, mostly - a typical weekday. I'll describe mine, and then hopelly you'll follow suit. Another thread will follow about weekends......
Hmmm....typical??? Okay then. I begin my day usually around 6 a.m. I go downstairs and make the coffee at that time. Yes, I'm a big coffee drinker - I drink it all day long. Sometimes I take a cup up to bed with me at night. I drink coffee like it's my JOB.
Anyway, then it's the Today Show for me (it used to be American Morning, but when CNN ripped Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien off the air suddenly...well, they lost Ann and I as viewers, that's for sure) anyway- I enjoy getting caught-up on the stories of the day, but then sometimes it gets really old listening to the same old headlines, don't you think? I mean, it's sort of the same thing - different day. It can get old quick.
Then it's off to work. As you know by now, I'm the Director of Human Resources for a small company with offices in 12 states. The corporate office is here in Springfield, MO - and we contract with BNSF. So, ya know those BNSF intermodal operations that go on out there where you are, Rick -in LA - and the port at Long Beach - well, we have offices there. Actually, the biggest office is in Commerce, CA. where I have around 200+ employees. Intermodal transportation is where the container comes off the chassis of the 18 wheelers, and is hoisted up onto a train. The train then moves hundreds of containers from one locale to another. Sometimes these containers come into the port via the water, and are then hoisted from the ship onto the trains, and moved that way. It's a HUGE operation.
The other half of our business, we are growing now, is the PEO side - if you are unfamiliar with a PEO, what we do is hire the employees for a firm, then lease those employees back to that firm. We do that because, since these are our employees, we do all of the Human Resources business, payroll, taxes, hiring, etc., leaving the business leader free to concentrate on his/her business, and not the hiring and disciplining of their employees, or the payroll headaches that come along with a staff of folks. PEO's target typically small to mid-sized companies.
During a typical day, I talk on the phone a lot . It's not my favorite thing, but yeah, it has to be done. I also do a lot of writing - disciplinary letters, advertisements, policies, job descriptions, etc. I do a lot of computer work, working with several different databases. I do strategic planning, and read a lot of material on labor laws, and other such things, as well. I'm involved with the Springfield Chamber, and attend meetings throughout the month that they put on for us. (Interestingly, Brad Pitt's brother, Doug, is the Springfield Chamber President this year.....) Anyway, I attempt to get out at lunch, especially on these gorgeous days like we're starting to have again - and just get away from my desk and my work.
The afternoon proves much the same as the morning in terms of my work. Sometimes I travel to one of our other offices - I was, for example, recently in Chicago in order to hire an Administrative Assistant. I went to each of our offices here in the Chicago area. And, I got to spend some time with my son in the evening - the perks of going where you know someone. One of these days, I'm going to get back to LA, and I hope Rick and I can have lunch or dinner together when that happens.
I'm usually out of here between 5:30 and 6 p.m. Sometimes I will meet friends after work, but mostly I'm headed straight for home. Evenings are fun - I write for this forum, or the Musical World of Palma Pascale. I typically spend an hour at least on the computer. I try and spend another two hours doing music, one way or another - making new tracks and therefore doing arrangements - or making vocal tracks, or sometimes just listening a lot. I have also had to work-in the business of being the Durable Power of Attorney for my Aunt, who is now in an assisted care facility, as I think I've mentioned. So, there are bills to pay, and checks to write, and taxes to figure, and, and, and......it's amazing how much time that takes up. Except for the time in the music room, my pup Scruffy is by my side, or in my lap (well, afterall, he's just doing his job - he IS a lapdog!
) He just doesn't like the shrillness of the noises in the music room, so he avoids me whenever I'm in there.Sometimes I can get some news in (CNN's Anderson Cooper and Keith Olberman's MSNBC show of COUNTDOWN are my two favorites). Other times I've played into the 11:00 hour, so I miss Olberman. I do like to watch something and relax a bit before bed, so if it's not the news, then it's a DVD perhaps of an old Northern Exposure episode, or the Gilmore Girls. Oh, that Lorelai Gilmore! Lauren Graham plays Lorelai, and I find her to be just outstanding in that role - along with the daughter Rory, played by Alexis Bledel. But that's another thread soon to come!
I'm typically headed off to bed around midnight - only to wake around 6 and start the whole thing over again.
So - I'm hoping we get to hear about YOUR typical day. How do we seem to cram so much into a single day? It's beyond me. But I know that we do, and can. Anxious to hear about YOU, now!
Here we go!
I wish you all the best from here in my corner,
Tim
