Daily

Parents' Vacation Update

Mom and Dad are on vacation. With all the Internet cafes around the world, my sisters and I occasionally get updates. Today's update was awesome.

We're spending the afternoon in Salerno, walking around, seeing sights. The cruise is going great, but we only came in 3rd in the dance contest last night. Personally, I think they favored the Italians and we should have come in Second.

I can't wait to hear the full story about the dance contest!

Comments

Sick

I'm sick. It sucks. I must have caught a stomach flu. Yesterday morning before work, my stomach was in all sorts of knots. After breakfast I felt a bit better. Later in the afternoon I started getting a backache. It progressed to chills and I decided to head home. When I finally got home, I was freezing despite it being 77 degrees inside and I was under three blankets. I immediately fell asleep for a couple hours. Last night I just laid around and took it slow. Today I'm not much better. I've got a lot of stomach cramping but the body aches aren't as bad as yesterday. I sure hope this passes quickly and I get back to normal. Health is so much better than sickness and something I definitely take forgranted.

Comments

Talking in the Elevator

The new job is going well. I really like the clients and the work I get to do with them. I enjoy working in downtown and riding the bus to work a couple days a week. However, this is something I'm unsure of.

It's the elevator. My office in on the 10th floor of the building so I ride the elevator. It's not a big deal except that sometimes people in the elevator want to talk. I am NOT one of these people. I'm uncomfortable sharing such a small space with total strangers. Plus, I'm bad at small talk and it's always small talk.

I wish I could take the stairs just to avoid these awkward conversations, but the stairs are for emergencies only and are locked. I guess I'd better find the elevator-talking mindset so I can come up with appropriate responses. I think elevator meditation is in my future.

Comments

Proud of my Little Corner of the Internet

I've always been proud of my blog. It's mine...all mine. But now I have something else on the Internet to be proud of. I'm really, really proud of ReadPhoenix.com. As of today, ReadPhoenix has 168 blogs listed. Some are personal, some professional, some company blogs, but all of them are related to Phoenix. This number has exceeded my expectations and definitely makes me proud of it. I feel like I filled a need. I hope I'm bringing the community together.

Of course none of this would be possible without the awesome coding & design skills of the Integrum team. They were able to quickly turn my dream into reality. They turned it into something that lots of people use! It's a testament to Integrum's investment in the Phoenix community that they would do this project. Thank you, Integrum!

A couple weekends ago, Chris and I went to a party. While there, a woman I hadn't met before recognized my name and said she was on my site. I immediately thought about EricaLucci.com and was confused. Then she explained she had recently added her blog to ReadPhoenix and that it was her favorite site of recent. I was so flattered and excited! I'm glad a little site like ReadPhoenix could make other people happy. I'm very proud of it.

Comments

Job Change

Friday, March 28th was my last day working at Integrum Technologies. It was just a little over a year ago that I started working there as a project manager.

There is a time and place for everything and it's now my time to leave. I'm moving to a slightly larger company of 70 people. The office is in downtown Phoenix, which will be an improved commute for me. My role will be "Client Services Project Manager" which is a fantastic fit considering my previous experience. Plus, the company focuses in an area that I've been interested in since graduate school. For the time-being the employer will remain unnamed on my site, but it's not a secret. I'm happy to share in a non-Google-able forum. Drop me an email or instant message me.

Making the decision to leave Integrum was very hard. Integrum is like a family to me. Every single person there is someone I hold in high regard due to their skill, creativity, and personality. I know our friendships will change now that we're not going to see each other five days a week, but they'll never go away. These are people who have challenged me and taught me and cared for me. Never before have I made these kinds of friendships with coworkers but through this experience I hope to always make these kinds of connections.

Working at Integrum gave me so many things, but the most important thing it gave me was perspective. The environment helped me realize that really, really good work can be done in a really, really, really fun space. It helped me redefine work and my new definition will always include fun.

Work is about people and relationships - both with coworkers and clients and even your competition. It's about doing your best while you're at work then turning off and changing focus when you're away. Work is about doing the right thing. It's about listening to others. It's about being open and honest. It's about improving constantly. It's about laughter.

I've never laughed as much as I have with my team at Integrum. And when I first started there, I really needed the laughter. All of that laughter and all the other experiences have made me into a better person, which makes me a better worker. I'm lucky to have gotten this perspective, especially so early in my professional career. I hope I'm able to carry it with me always. I owe the team at Integrum a lot for giving it to me.

Thank you, Jade, Heidmo, Lindsay, Gist, Curtis, Young, Josh, Curtis, Derek, and Irish.

Comments

Mini-Vacation to Texas

I've been off work the past week. (More explanation on that soon.) So I've been spending all this time off to work on the wedding and a few other odd things I needed to take care of.

On Monday, I sent out the bulk of the invitations. There were 134 envelopes! Chris and I still have twenty or thirty to finish as we're finishing collecting addresses from people. It feels good to hear from people that they received the invitation. We take a lot of pride in the invitations because Chris designed them as well as picked out the paper. I helped assemble and enjoyed thinking about our friends and family as I put them together. It's neat the little labors of love are getting into their hands! I've even been hearing lots of compliments on the design. My mother's friend said they were "the most inventive wedding invitations" she's seen.

On Tuesday, I went over and over my To Do lists. I was preparing for my trip. On Wednesday, I flew back to Texas where I've been for the rest of the week. My mother and I have spent all of our time preparing for the wedding weekend. We've done plenty of shopping, ordering, planning, meeting, and list-making. Plus, we had some social time with Chris's mom and hopefully filled her in on all the details. I'm confident that we did everything we needed to do* and we are prepared for the event!

It feels SO, SO, SO good to be prepared. Plus, I'm now able to get excited about the wedding rather than worry about it. I'm looking forward to seeing all the family, my friends, Chris's friends, my parents' friends, his parents' friends...! It's going to be fun and I'm going to feel relaxed. Which is the best wedding gift I could ask for!

Some of the highlights of my trip were meeting with a couple women who will provide their services for my wedding. First, I met with Emily who bakes cakes out of her home. Check out pictures of gorgeous and inventive cakes on her Flickr stream. I'm acquaintances with Emily's brother, Luke, which is how I learned of her skill. We chatted on the phone briefly before meeting, but once I met her, I knew she was perfect. Emily's style is much like my own and I totally trust her design. Plus, her prices fit nicely into our budget. I'm really looking forward to seeing and eating the neat things she bakes for me!

Second, I met with Ashley who is a photography student at University of Texas in Arlington. She was recommended by one of the photography professors. Meeting with her and her boyfriend, Ross, confirmed she's a perfect fit for the event. Ashley reminds me a lot of myself as a junior in college. She's ambitious and creative and curious and thoughtful. While she doesn't have much experience, I'm thrilled to give her a chance to get some experience. I look forward to her creativity and love that she "gets" the vision Chris and I have for our ceremony. Ashley and Ross are exactly the kind of people I would be friends with and I hope we can continue a friendship after this event.

The trip was very productive and fun. It was great getting to hang out with my parents too! I extended my stay a little bit in order to attend the memorial service for Zac. It was good to spend some time with his family and especially his brother, Ben. They're all handling things so well and even helped make me feel better. I got a little weepy and Ben was quick to remind me that Zac would kick me for crying. So I was able to smile and remember all the good times with him. I'm glad I could be there.

*OK, truth be told, I have one more thing that needs to be done. I need to order chairs. But I'm pretty sure that can be done over the phone any time in the next couple weeks.

Comments

SXSW 2008

I'm in Austin with the Integrum crew to attend SXSW interactive. We drove all the way from Phoenix in an RV yesterday. It was a long drive but a fun one. Now I'm looking forward to learning good stuff, seeing all my friends, and meeting new people.

Comments