I've had people ask me "what ever happened to..." about two of my posts, making me feel a little bad that I just left it hanging...

The first wrap up is about the snake at work.

Unfortunately I'll be unable to wrap this one up with a nice pretty bow because I'm still feeling off balance in regard to this guy. I had another run in with him yesterday. I met with one of my clients and they told me that they had met with him yesterday, adding that "he was really helpful in explaining how their web should be laid out." They also showed me his communication plan which clearly showed that he was AGAIN creating jobs for me and timeframes without consulting me.

I only took one note in this meeting: Talk to [snake] about his discussion with [the client].

I drafted an email to him reminding him of our responsibilities, told him that he was yet again painting me into a corner (but I phrased it very professionally), and asked him to please suggest something to keep this from continuing to happen. I sent the email to my manager to review prior to sending to him because I wanted to make sure that there wasn't a hint of emotions or unprofessionalism in the email. He said it was perfect.

While waiting for my manager's response, I received an email from the snake. He was replying to a request I had for him to review some introductory text that was going on one of my sites. You see, this is HIS job. He's an editor and he's in charge of helping departments with their communication pieces. In his reply, he thanked me for 'spearheading' the web site project. He added that "we" have a lot of work ahead of us on "x" site and "x" site.

I could feel my face go red and I was certain that my head would explode that very minute.

His email did provide a good segue into the email I had already written. So, I just copied and pasted my original email and placed it in a reply to him. I added a sentence to my original email reminding him that there was no need to thank me for 'spearheading' the web initiative because it was my job to do it.

His reply was very quick and very long. Me thinks he protesteth too loudly. I especially loved this sentence, "I totally said [blah blah blah]...."

Who, besides a 12 year old says "I TOTALLY" anything? Oh, I guess it would be the same person who writes "kewl!". He infuriates me. I was so angry yesterday that I almost told him if he wants my job so badly, he could have it. I'm not that nice though. I have the best job on the planet and I'd never hand it over to such a jackass.

So, I'm afraid this is and probably will be an ongoing struggle. I am trying very hard to figure out what the lesson is that I am supposed to learn from this. I want to figure it out quickly so I can send the teacher down the road.

The second wrap up is in regard to the challenge laid before me at work.

I'm happy to say that I can proudly wear the lotus flower (thanks Muzikdude for the idea) because I did pull it off. In fact, I pulled it off ahead of schedule. I learned Lotus Notes, I learned the tracking system that was created in Lotus Notes, and I created a 42 page training piece (including animated graphics and the trainer's script) which will later become a self study using a voiceover and streaming video. And, if that isn't enough I also converted an 88 page manual to web-based.

I did all of this in one week.