Sigh...

I just spent the last eight days in all day meetings, and feel like I’m finally able to come up for air. A few random thoughts:

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You know you’re working late when the cleaning people come and turn the lights out on your floor of the office, leaving you to stumble through a maze of cubicles in the dark to turn them back on. What’s worse is when you don’t know where the light switches are for your floor of the office, and have to spend five minutes fumbling around the walls trying to find them.

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My Canadian clients have just notified me that people in Canada like to drink tomato juice mixed with beer.

My entire family is Canadian and I’ve spent plenty of time in Canada, but this is one thing I had never heard of, and I’m completely disgusted just imagining what this must taste like.

Now said clients are determined to get me to try this nasty concoction next time we end up at a happy hour together (note to self: don’t accept any happy hour invites from clients in next few weeks

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Sometimes engineers just don’t know when a joke shouldn’t be taken any further (as in, when it’s not very funny in the first place, and probably shouldn’t be continued).

I’ve been facilitating an eight-day meeting at work - it’s me and 10-15 other engineers every day, and of course I’m the only female and I’m at least 10 years younger than the youngest man in the room.

So, one morning we all show up and everyone gets situated at the big table in the conference room. Everyone’s all pumped up with coffee and ready to go.

Some engineer decides to break the ice with a bad joke – “Here we are again, the knights of the round table.”

(See – not so funny, eh?)

Everyone chuckles.

Then everyone turns to look at me at the head of the table.

Apparently it dawns on them that I’m female, and don’t resemble a knight.

Awkwardness ensues.

Finally, someone decides to save the moment with the following statement (drum roll please…):

“And Stacey’s Queen Guinevere.”

OMG.

Have you ever heard anything that made you want to cringe more? And I had to plaster a smile on my face and laugh. Seriously.

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It’s amazing how two extra hours can mean so much when your life has become out-of-control busy. I finished up a long meeting a couple or hours early today, and I feel like I’m in heaven. I just want to sit back in my chair and let out a huge sigh of relief. I’m going to leave the office on time for the first time in weeks, and I can’t wait to get home during daylight and go for a run. Yay - I’m excited just thinking about it!

Sometimes the stressful times make me appreciate my usual daily habits that much more…