AACK.

That's what my job makes me say. I am so overwhelmed, I don't even know where to start. I try to focus on one thing, but the 30 other things clamoring for my attention keep crowding in around the edges. If I were prone to hyperventilating, I'd have already done that. I can't pin down the ever-growing pile of work, and I'm finding it very difficult to take one little bite of the apple at a time. There's so much to do, I can't figure out how to think about only one thing until I get it finished.

Starting in 2005, we can all apply for one personal work day each quarter. What that means is that we can come in to work and essentially not be here as far as taking phone calls, going to meetings, etc. - we can come in and work that day and just catch up. We have to log in all the work we do, to show that we spent the time actually working and not goofing off. How bad is it when your work has to give you a "day off" in the office to try to get all your work done?!?! And this is supposed to take the place of our quarterly 2 hours off that we got this year. OK, that makes sense - let's take away the carrot/treat of 2 hours off without having to use leave time, and replace it with the stick/punishment of being given a regular work day without regular work day responsibilities, ostensibly to "catch up" on work, only to get behind on that day's work and still be playing catch-up the next day? I don't get it, but maybe I'm missing something.

At least it looks like the sun is coming out, and we get to leave at 3:00 tomorrow. I suppose I'll take the silver linings where I can find them.