Welcome to the Consulting Company! Yes, do be impressed with our opulence. Yes, those are real flowers in that giant vase. Yes, they're replaced on a regular basis.

I woke up this morning with the a horrible case of cottonmouth. No matter how much water I drank, I couldn't keep my mouth from being terribly, terribly dry. I also felt like I'd been run over by a truck. I think it was the phone ringing that did it. I was all set to wake up at 9am (having stayed up far too late once again), but the phone rang at 8:00, which immediately rendered me awake.

I stumbled downstairs and mumbled something inarticulate to Mom. I tried to shake this feeling of lethargy. I had some more water and some prunes dried plums, but still felt pretty yucky. I briefly flirted with the idea of calling in sick, but it was a fleeting thought. I realized that I have a lot of PTO time saved up (I haven't taken any so far, and I carried over a full week from last year), and I'm not about to waste it on feeling kind of crummy.

I helped Mom bring in the groceries, shaved, and grabbed my gym bag, both computers (I was planning to work on Chris' website if it was slow) and headed out the door. I stopped by the optician's (swooning over the brief moment I got to see Al) to pick up my contact lenses, and then drove to work.

We here at the Consulting Company have a thing for oddly-placed chairs. On the top, you'll find the chairs by the elevator on the second floor. Comfy, stylish. On the bottom, the fourth floor elevator chairs. Not quite as comfy, but somewhat more stylish. We have chairs everywhere, especially in places where you'd never want to sit.

I got into work, where Tamra was waiting for me so she could tell me she'd scheduled one thing while two other things had come in. I put my personal laptop under my desk, figuring that I wouldn't need it for at least the next few hours. Sunny, our contractor who works from New Jersey, had sent in a long data-intensive document that she worked on last night, so I started with that.

Laurie and Stephanie arrived shortly after that, and each got their own documents. Stephanie was stuck with the "Russian pair" that we get every once in awhile, where a consultant in Moscow sends in two copies of the exact same document; one in English and one in Russian. I told Steph to clean up the English one first, have it proofed by me, and then she could drop the Russian text into the English template.

I got mixed up with what Laurie was working on, and sort of snapped at her. She sort of snapped back at me, and Tamra snapped at the both of us. (Stephanie stayed out of it, like the wise young woman she is.) I realized that I still felt like crap, and that was most likely affecting my mood. I sent an IM to Laurie telling her I was in a "mood," and we jollied each other up a bit.

After finishing my own document, it was proofing time! Tamra gave me one document to proof, and before I was finished with that, Stephanie gave me hers for proofing. (Stephanie is getting really quick at documents, I've noticed.) I did both of them, handed them back, and it was time to proofread Laurie's document. My red pen hadn't gotten so much use in a very long time.

By the time I was through with Laurie's document, Tamra had finished the other document she was working on. It turned out to be a bad hand-off (the person working on it last night didn't do such a great job), so I marked it up all over the place, then scanned it to a pdf and sent the employee a mail about not rushing through things, since this document wasn't due until end-of-shift on Sunday.

I finished that (it took awhile), had a light lunch, and realized that half the day had gone by. By this time, Laurie had a second document which was a pain (in that the consultant who requested it had made a lot of mistakes, and Laurie had to keep calling her back for clarification), so I IMed her and asked if she needed any help. She gave me the back quarter of the document, and I got to work.

Just one of the glaring inconsitencies in the Consulting Company. Our software folks have bright blue walls, lots of decorations, and keep their area as funky as possible. We, being designers, decide to keep the office as beige and disinteresting as an office space can be. Beige walls, beige cubicles, and the pallor of fluorescent lights.

We are, however, the only department in the entire office building with a fish. His name is Chuckie. Laurie and I have tried to keep his tank as clean as possible, but he keeps messing it up. He's like a teenager in his own room.

Laurie's document wasn't difficult, but it was a bit time-consuming. I spent about an hour and fifteen minutes on it, and continued to feel really tired and icky. I decided that what would be best for me would be a brisk run (I don't know where that insane idea ever came from), so I headed down to the gym, where Tamra had already begun her workout.

Stephanie, who is suffering from strep throat, didn't join us this time.

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