Who Am I and What Do I Do?

I rarely talk about work or the company I work for here. It doesn't seem appropriate for a personal blog. However, I have to admit that who I work for and what I do there is part of my identity. Probably a bigger part of my identity than I'm comfortable acknowledging.

Right now I'm in the midst of a career stall.

My company went through a big layoff last September and I truly, truly thought I would be let go. In fact, only two people survived my immediate team of 11, myself and a new hire who was not allowed to be fired since he had been there less than a year. Even my manager was laid off. The reason I was spared was that I had taken a risk in early 2007 to do something completely different from the rest of the team. Isn't that ironic?

Since then, I've plodded along as best I could in my newly chosen career path - internal employee communications. What I've discovered, however, is that communications is not what it seems.

Communications is different to different people. To me, initially, it meant writing articles for newsletters and imparting information to people who needed to know. I was happy to do this. I love learning about new stuff and talking to people about it. I'm generally a nosy person anyway so this fit right in with my personality. But I started to get requests for weird stuff, like "what's our marcomm plan for this project?" and "are you going to create the policy for documentation?" I would get the former from management and the latter from my co-workers. Then people started asking me, "Where are we going to put our information? On SharePoint or on the [enterprise] wiki?" Eeek! What happened to the writing? I'll tell you - everyone began asking me to write all of their mass communications: "Hey, I need you to write an announcement about the product X release and send it to everybody in IT."

David Byrne would say, "And you may ask yourself, well how did I get here?"

It was a bit of an epiphany: communications is no longer just writing and telling. It's marketing. It's content management. It's technology a la Web 2.0. When I tried to explain the situation to my manager, he said, "Well yeah." (My manager, who is a few years younger than me, is attitudinally Gen Y. I on the other hand, flit between an older Gen X and a very young Baby Boomer when the mood suits me.)

When people ask me who I am and what I do, I hesitate. To say I'm in communications seems inadequate and misleading. Yet what else do I call it?

Clapotis a Finis

My name is LynetteM and I am the 7,641st person on Ravelry to knit Clapotis.



This a beautiful, ingeniously simple pattern, one that I will never knit again. For too long this all-purpose scarf/wrap/makeshift throw/table runner lived in my dark and lonely WIP closet stuck in a "Section 3: Straight Rows" time warp.



The yarn came from Full Thread Ahead's booth in the Market at Stitches West a couple of years ago. Cherry Tree Hill Silk & Merino DK in "Foxy Lady." Three skeins were on sale for $45, a deal I couldn't pass up. I knew immediately what the yarn was meant to be. What I didn't anticipate was how long it would take to evolve.

Now that it's done I'm feeling spent, and somewhat at a loss. Clapotis is casually folded up on an end table not even blocked. It's coming with me to Vegas next month (along with my wicked platform sandals) but other than that I don't have plans for it.

Umm, so what's next? Clapotis took a lot out of me - I was so intent on finishing it. Time for Arwen? That's another Kate Gilbert pattern, maybe it's too soon. Cinnamon from Rowan Tweed? I can't decide. Perhaps I'll spend part of the evening swatching.

Ideas?

Random Things About Me and a Sea of Clapotis

Allison tagged me for a few tidbits about myself so I thought I've give it a go:

• My first name was Maria. It's a Filipino thing for daughters be named after saints. If that doesn't happen, the girls are given "Maria" as their first name but called by their second name.


• I became a naturalized citizen at age 22 and promptly dropped "Maria." As a side note, I've changed my name 4 times.


• I'm a left-handed golfer and my favorite club is my 7 wood.


• I drive a stick shift. So sporty, eh?


• Black and white film photography was my first love. After discovering the mysteries of the darkroom I was hooked.


• I used to read Tiger Beat! I had crushes on Leif Garrett and the Bay City Rollers.

OK, there are rules for these random things. First rule is share the rules! Link to the person who tagged you. Then right your six random bits of tid. Let the tagger know when you've responded. Tag 6 more people. Let them know you've tagged them by commenting on their blogs.

I don't read a whole bunch of blogs anymore so I'll only tag a few more people: Lori, Jen and Ruth. And of course anyone who wants to join in the fun, please do so. Just let me know, OK?

So I didn't finish sewing my tote bag. It's been a couple of weeks since I started it and my interest has waned considerably. I was in the middle of sewing the handles when the sewing machine needle broke! Karl fixed it but I really just need a heavier duty needle. I'm procrastinating.

This afternoon, after cursing my last skein of Cherry Tree Hill which was giving me a little trouble, I managed to spit-splice it to my Clapotis working yarn.


I must be one of the last knitters on earth who has not made this thing. I've got seven more repeats to go and then I'll be done. This yarn is CTH Silk & Merino DK that I picked up at Stitches West a few years ago. I love the color but do you notice where the dye didn't take and shows up as white? Nothing I can do about it now but it really stands out. It kinda bugs me.


This coming week is my birthday week. Not that I'm celebrating. I keep forgetting it. 41 is not exactly a milestone birthday that I want to remember, you know? But it's good excuse for cake and shoe-shopping. I picked up a pair of Michael Kors peep toe black patent leather platform sandals at Nordstrom's. Very Las Vegas. Wicked.