Busy

It's another gorgeous spring day here in Philly and I am busy at work getting everything organized for the hopefully smooth transition of my work to my colleagues.

I never realized how much responsibility I had here until I had to start putting things in binders for my coworkers. I have to make sure that all my notes, phone calls, emails and any other correspondence was organized in a way that someone other than myself could understand it.

I am not saying I am unorganized, I *AM* a Virgo for crying out loud...but organized to me (with my color codes and post it notes) isn't the way that everyone else does it (mostly because I am a woman and EVERY other person I work with is a man).

I follow 11 contractors for this jobsite. That means I am in charge of their contract, any financial changes to their contract, any PENDING financial changes to their contract (so we can forecast where our budget is) and their procurement and installation schedules as well as approving their 'shop' drawings and any materials that they want to use in the field. The project I am working on is going to be certified LEED Gold, so we have to track every single piece of new material as well as materials that go in the trash and recycling and lots of other fun details.

The field staff (superintendents) take care of the work actually being done, and then we get together to discuss the financial implications of any changes made to details, elevations or plans while in the field or via the architect or owner. If there are changes to a detail or a room or a door or anything like that, it is my job to coordinate that change with the subcontractor it affects and anyone else who's work is congruent to it (if we change a door I need to talk to the door guy AND the carpenter since the door guy gives the door to the carpenter to install, making changing a door pretty darn expensive!)

So, with 11 subcontractors, that is 11 binders with approximately 8-10 tabs for each depending on what work they do. (The earthwork sub is practically finished, where as the signage subcontractor is just getting started). It is a LOT of tabs and a LOT of organizing, but now that I am actually doing it, I realize I should have had it this well organized the whole time!!

Hopefully my coworkers won't be cursing me when I am not here and I'm really hoping my phone doesn't ring between May and July...but I have a feeling Little Pit will have a good sense of Mommy's job pretty soon after coming home!

Hope all the East coasters have a chance to get out and enjoy this lovely weather, looks like today will be the last nice day for a bit, so enjoy it if you can!

See you tomorrow for Furry Friday!!

xo Mrs. Pit

It's always sunny in Philadelphia

So, last night wasn't half as bad as I thought, and I was on my couch watching Grey's with Lil' Pup before I knew it.

The state of my company isn't great (I don't know who's business is thriving at the moment, but I hope there are folks out there) and it doesn't look good until the market turns around and the economy gets on track. Since my company is in very large commercial construction the money has really frozen up, we have had to stop projects mid-stride, which really really hurts. We have to wait until the money starts to flow again to get our big projects back out on the table. Until that happens we have to continue trimming expenses any way we can, including more layoffs.
As I said before, I think I am relatively safe based on what I do and how I do it (well, if I do say so myself) but you never know. What I do is not unique in my unit, nor am I the most experienced, so there is always a fear in the back of my head...but all I can do is do my job the best I can and keep my chin up.

After last nights meeting there was food and an open bar (I think they knew it would be a rough meeting) and I stayed until 7:30 chatting with friends that don't work in the office and then headed home with a ride with my friend R.

Today is really busy at work with a really big bid for a really big client that is due at 3. Then I have to finish up other work, head home to shower and then we have a big pasta dinner at the club tonight with friends.

Then tomorrow I am doing the altar decorations at church for Sunday's service, and then I think we'll head out to Valley Forge for a long walk with Lil' Pup on his 50 foot lead. That way he can wander and chase things while we stay on the path and he doesn't run away. Lil' Pup is good at a lot of things, but staying with us on a walk is not one of them. Prone to run after (away) anything that moves, he can't be off a leash ever. Not the best situation ever, but one that we have learned to deal with over time. Otherwise he's a great dog and I can't fault him for being poorly trained as a puppy, as we don't even know where he was prior to being rescued by Main Line Animal Rescue in 2006.

Anyways, stay tuned for Furry Friday!

Have a great weekend!
xoxo Mrs. Pit

Stainless Steel Appliances and the Misguided Masses

Watching my one of my favorite shows last night (House Hunters on HGTV) I was again astounded at the reasons people give for not liking a house, and in the end use to justify NOT buying the otherwise perfectly nice affordable home. Paint colors can be changed, rugs re-done, just about anything non-structural can happen in a matter of days or weeks prior to move in. People, these items should NOT be a deal breaker!

But, here's the most annoying thing about these shows, and since I'm IN the construction industry, I especially get to be annoyed.

Stainless steel appliances are NOT better than other appliances.

Behind that shiny facade is the same freaking machine as you had before, only now its harder to clean! Have you ever gotten finger prints from a toddler or a nose mark from a dog on a stainless steel anything? If not, try it and good luck making your dishwasher look like new. EVERY time you clean the stainless steel surface you put minuscule scratches into it and then from far away you can see the little circular scrub marks no matter how lightly you scrub or with which fancy towel the sales people sold you on that 'won't hurt the surface' HA! You got duped. You got talked into a mid-range appliance for a high-range price for nothing else than a shiny front.

They are all the rage now, and you don't see any 'renovated' home without them...but seriously, take a quick look at ANY online appliance store (Sears, Lowe's, even Costco) and the stainless steel version of every appliance is $100-$300 higher than its same sister model in black or white.

If you think that you HAVE to have stainless steel when you move into your new home, think again about the maintenance of the front (you want it to look shiny all the time?, don't touch it!) and the fact that you are paying that much more for what it looks like as opposed to how it runs. Ever had a refrigerator punk out on you in the middle of summer? NOT FUN. Check consumers reports and buy the best brand with the best reliability you can and if it happens to come in stainless steel and you can afford it, good for you. If not, buy it in black and it will still look like a bad-ass kitchen.

That's the daily morning rant for you all. I have a busy day in front of me with a big project due today at work. So enjoy the sunny weather on the East Coast and think twice before buying stainless steel appliances.