Success!

Yesterday, my new website finally went live. One year and 3 months of my life, finally public. There are still some small bugs/missing pieces. And there are some HUGE pieces we'd wanted that had to be moved to Phase 2 because of time. But I'm pretty happy it's done. And happy that my days of working 14-16 hours a day 7 days a week paid off... and are over for a while. Being at work until 1am on a Saturday night was starting to depress me. I was also getting sick of Oreos because people kept brining me different packages (I have three packs on my desk still LOL). BUT I did get a lot of audio books read while doing spreadsheets and data entry. And the website looks beautiful.

Tuesday night around 11pm, I was at work cursing our consultants. I was a Giant Squid of Anger. One of my coworkers (without whom, I NEVER would have been able to get the website done) printed out a picture of the Giant Squid of Anger and posted it on the bulletin board at work with something like "That's the last time I'm designing a website for you!" LOL I was pretty short with the consultants in the morning, forcing him to finish certain parts before we could launch. But he got 'em done beautifully in time.

After it finally launched yesterday, I was called into the kitchen at work where there was a HUGE edible arrangements boquet that the Board of Directors sent in congratulations (yum yum yum fruit! Nature's candy!). All my coworkers signed a card for me telling me I was awesome. And we had champagne and iced tea for me (because I don't drink alcohol or things with bubbles). Then they all toasted me and I was sooo flattered and embarrassed at the same time. It was really wonderful and a moment I'm never going to forget. And then, later, one of my coworkers gave me another card with a note saying she'd donated $50 to BookCrossing in my name in honor of finishing the site. Awwww. Totally thoughtful. Launching the redesign was definitely its own reward (and the response has been great so far), but it was so neat to have everyone in the whole office come together and toast me & my hard work. Makes me want to work all that much harder from now on.

Boot Drive

Occasionally, the fire department near where I work has a Boot Drive. They park a truck at the intersection outside my building and walk around with their boots, asking for donations. Now, I'm a democrat and a big believer of paying lots and lots of taxes to support public services and government services. But I always give to the firefighters anyway.

Why? Well, because they're a volunteer department and need the funding, which goes without saying. But, more importantly, I donate because in my head, if I give them money, I won't die in a fire. I am TERRIFIED of dying in a fire. When I was growing up, in elementary school we used to have Fire Prevention Week every year. Every night that week I would wake up screaming and crying with nightmares of fiery deaths. I even made my parents purchase a roll-out fire escape ladder for the window of my bedroom, which was a townhouse bedrooms three floors up from the ground. I had nightmares for days after going on that stupid Backdraft ride at Universal Studios, even though I had my eyes closed during the whole darn thing.

But, in my weird head, if I donate money to the people who fight fires, it will keep the fires from getting to me. I know it doesn't make any sense at all. But it's a compulsion. I HAVE to give the firefighters money every time they have a drive, or I'll die in a fire. It's as simple as that. And, hey, if the fire does come at me, the department will have more money to fight it :-)