can't stop, addicted to the shindig

Today is my five-year anniversary with the Goog. While I'm quite happy that I'm here, I did have a moment tonight when I realized that, five years ago, I expected that I would be halfway through an English PhD by now. The PhD dream is pretty much dead at this point, and mostly unlamented, but sometimes I wonder what my life would have been like if I'd gone down that road. I would likely have a lot less stuff, given that I would have been on a stipend instead of on a salary, and I almost certainly would not have gotten to live the fancy expat lifestyle in two different countries. I also wouldn't have comprehensive health insurance or a 401(k) or time to work on my romance novel. All in all, it seems like I made the right decision, but maybe I'll have a midlife crisis someday and go back to school anyway.

I had meetings pretty much straight through from nine to five-thirty -- clearly I need to get control of my calendar, but it's v. difficult. Then, I left work promptly at five-thirty to meet Terry at Cafe Borrone in Menlo Park, where I duplicated last week's order and had one of their fantastic sandwiches (turkey and gouda with tomatoes, caramelized onions and garlic mayonnaise on foccacia) while we caught up on life. If I fail in my romance novel endeavors and she succeeds in her long-term entrepreneurial goals, I may be able to score a job through nepotism, which is exciting -- but if I want to keep eating for the next five years until that happens, I should probably go to bed soon so that I can get up in time to go to work tomorrow. I have to attend a meeting with my team's directors tomorrow, which doesn't really intimidate me at all, but I'm a little rusty since I still haven't done much hardcore presenting since getting back from leave -- I made one of the ugliest PowerPoint slides I've ever made tonight, because I've lost all my skillz. I may have spent the last half-decade making graphs and powerpoints, but apparently those skillz are rather fleeting. Sadness. And now, goodnight!