changes

So many changes coming at me so fast. This is the last week of my maternity leave. I'm trying hard to stay positive and upbeat, but I'm also trying to be realistic. Next Monday (and the days following) are going to be very difficult, and I just need to be prepared for that.

Big changes at work. As of our new fiscal year (which started yesterday), I'm now on the brand development team. That means new boss, new office and some different responsibilities. It's a move that makes sense given what I do, and I like and know the person I'll be reporting to (our VP of brand development). I've seen my new office - so much more space! And I'll no longer be doing pagination of the catalog. I won't miss that at all - the process was very political and often stressful. It makes much more sense for one of our graphic designers to do it, and that's who is now handling it. Yeah!!

But bigger than those changes is the fact that several of my good friends are no longer employed at FCS. Eight positions were eliminated on Friday in a cost-savings effort (we had a not-so-good 2007 and a bad Christmas). Two of those positions belonged to people I was closest to at work. It's going to be weird not having them there. We haven't had a round of lay-offs like that in several years. That's a good thing, because they used to be a more regular occurence, but it came as quite a surprise. So I'm not the only one dealing with a new reality and lots of changes - and while some of my changes are difficult, their changes are much more so.

Oh - as a continuation of my last post...last night was the broadcast of Mansfield Park on Masterpiece Theatre. It was pretty awful. The basic storyline of the book was there, but that's about it.