Aug. 10

My #IceBucketChallenge #IndyAdventure

Well, I had given up on blogging until today. The obnoxious thing about having a blog is that you feel like you should be using it more than once every four weeks (oops!) but the good thing about it is this: it's a great place to voice your opinions and get people's attention. So here I go. I'm gonna count this as a true #IndyAdventure, because I am doing something, and I am in Indy.

As an avid social media user, I (like I'm sure most of you) have been bombarded with videos of people completing the #IceBucketChallenge to stomp out ALS. Personally, I thought the videos were cool! I enjoyed seeing who would be nominated next, and watching people willingly dump freezing water on themselves is hilarious. What I also began to see circulating on Facebook and Twitter were negative reactions to the "challenge," and honestly, I think those reactions were warranted. Many people who posted the videos failed to mention ALS at all, didn't offer any background as to why they were doing the challenge, and you have to wonder how many people posting even know what the disease is. But here's the thing: good or bad, those videos prompted me to type "ALS" into my search bar. This was the first link I came across, titled "What is ALS?" I thought that was a good start. Read this: http://www.alsa.org/about-als/what-is-als.html At the bottom of the page, I came across the link for the Walk to Defeat ALS, and I clicked. One zip code search later, I found a walk scheduled in Detroit for September. And now, here I am, starting a team. The #IceBucketChallenge might not have struck a chord with everybody, but for some reason it prompted me to take action, and now I'm ready to do my part to strike out ALS. My birthday is this week, and people keep asking me what I want. Here's what I want. Join my team and walk with me on Sept. 27th. If you can't do that, donate, or look for a walk in your own area to register for. You can do that here: http://web.alsa.org/site/PageServer?pagename=WLK_landing#.U-faTI1dU4s If you can't do that, spread the word and do what you can to bring hope to people with this awful disease. One click makes a difference. So does one search, and one dollar. My goal is to have a team that raises $1,750 in a little over a month, so any help you can give is greatly appreciated. If you're interested in walking with me, let me know! Let's do what we can, big and small, to give people with ALS hope and support! THANK YOU SO MUCH! Click here to visit my personal page

Monday, June 30

Monday, June 30th

Monday: Ahh, what a day. The first day of the week actually isn't too bad at USAF. I have lots of meetings, which I honestly don't mind at all, and they make the day go much faster. We had a pretty major meeting early in the morning about reorganizing some tasks and responsibilities within our team, and that's where I found out I am going to be a getting to work with social media publishing and optimization this month, which is really exciting. Learning the email marketing is great, but what I've become really passionate about in the past two years is using social platforms to engage with fans and increase following, and I couldn't be more excited to get a chance to do more of that. I also feel really good about my standing in the team, because I am being given more responsibility every week. I think they see my desire to learn and appreciate my work ethic, which feels really good. I'm now doing more work with the communications team, and I have creative control over what content we'll be posting each day. I have to have good reason for why I'm posting certain stories and videos at certain times, so all of the things I've been doing with Google Analytics will come in handy. A lot about this job really excites me, which kind of makes me feel like a dork, but I read this quote once about how you should never apologize for your enthusiasm about things so... I'm not sorry! Last story of this day: the window washers came today and freaked me out. Nothing like someone hanging outside, banging on the glass and watching you while they cheat death hanging 60 feet above cement. I swear, my heart was beating fast for them! But, it did make for some pretty funny photos. Thanks for reading! Enjoy the picture below of this perfect stranger's legs.

#IndyAdventures2014
-SBL

The BIG Weekend

June 28th & 29th:

All you're gonna get (and need) to understand what I did this weekend is in these two photos. Mrs. L and I are pretty damn proud. Oh, and we ate well! 

#IndyAdventures2014

-SBL 

Last Week in June

June 24-27
Tuesday: Tuesday was my first day back at work, and it was so nice to finally get in the groove at the office! Everyone was so nice, asking how I was doing and about the overall experience, but I was just glad to be given some more responsibility, considering I'd spent about a week in bed! After sitting in on my first content meeting in a few weeks, I got back into ExactTarget and started plugging through a list of email responsibilities Greg had lined up for me (which I was quite thankful for). I also did a little work with the Membership department, which was cool. I learned how to do some work with a program called 24Watch, which they usually have to do for the Marketing department. It felt good to learn something new and be given more responsibility, after being out for so long. Overall, it was a really great first day back, but I was more than exhausted when I got home! Needless to say, I didn't do much between getting home and going to bed... but hey? That's what a good day of work looks like, right? 

Wednesday: Hump day was a BIG email day. We have these big Protection Tour events coming up in a few different cities, and Greg and I have been working together to craft the email template for a few weeks. We had a lot of design tweaks that needed to be done, and though they're not that difficult, the ExactTarget system requires some tedious work. It's constantly logging itself out, ignoring my coding changes, overriding certain instructions I add and honestly doing whatever it can to make me work for longer (not to mention piss me off...)! But, the feeling of accomplishment when I'm able to finish and send out an email is totally worth all the frustration. Believe it or not, those emails took up the majority of my work day - though, our room of interns did get distracted by Pinterest boards by the last half hour of the work day... what can I say? We're a small room of 4 girls... when one starts talking, we have a hard time focusing again.

Thursday: Thursday was also prepped to be an email day, but hey, sometimes it turns out to be a little more fun than expected! We did work in the morning, but Thursday was, if you recall, the USMNT game, and it happened to be at noon (thanks FIFA). A bunch of people from the office went down a few blocks to the Tin Roof, which is this music bar that's pretty popular downtown. It was full of people in their skirts and suits, getting away from work to support their country. Patriotism is a beautiful thing. The food was really good, though I am biased... It was the most flavorful thing I'd eaten since I'd had surgery, but even so, I'll probably head back there for another sandwich this summer. The game was pretty exciting, and even though we lost, it was a fun bonding experience with coworkers. Sentences like that make me feel really old. Anyway, after a nice two hour lunch break, we came back to a surprise at the office. The server had completely shut down. No phones, no internet - we couldn't even log into our computers. After a half hour of chatting and waiting for the word from the IT guys, we got out early! I call that a pretty nice day, though I knew I'd pay for those hours on Friday.

Friday: The last day of this week was brutal. I definitely paid for those hours on Thursday. Greg was out, but I had three big email projects to work on that all had deadlines. I'm happy to say I got everything out to subscribers by 5pm, but I was exhausted by that time. I had to wait for Mrs. L for a little bit, so I sat backed and watched some Hulu at work after everyone left. It was a good way to unwind. The week was great, and I was so happy to be back, but man was I excited for a break! 

Thanks for reading! You guys are super cool if you made it this far (especially since there aren't any pictures!). 

#IndyAdventures2014
-SBL 

Day ????

So, I haven't written on this blog in two weeks... shows how good I am at all this! I am not going to go day by day, because who wants to read that?! Two weeks ago, I spent the entire week at work creating emails and getting VERY acquainted with Google Analytics. That's pretty much all there was to the week that I can remember, so forgive me! 

So, now I'll get to the story that most of you at least know about - the appendicitis fiasco.  

Last Sunday, I was having a lot of stomach pain that eventually became centralized on the lower right side of my abdomen. Mrs L and I decided around 9pm that it might be a great idea to get checked out, so we went searching for 24 hour urgent care places in Indianapolis. Well, there weren't any... just our luck. We found one about 30 minutes away that was open until 11pm, and figured it might make more sense to wait until the next morning to get checked out, but then decided we'd both be too worried to sleep. So we got on the road. 

Well, just our luck, the urgent care place we found had closed early on that Sunday night (and failed to post about it), but it was in a big hospital complex, so we figured the next best bet was the ER.

I have to say, that visit to the ER was the most efficient one I've ever had. Everyone was friendly, it was quiet, testing was quick, results came back fast, and I had some really great nurses. One was wearing 'Grey's Anatomy' scrubs... I got a kick out of that. Well, around 3am, the doc came back with CAT Scan results, and it was appendicitis! Woohoo!  Here I am, in a new city with no family, being told I need to have emergency surgery. Usually I'm not very good in high-pressure situations, but I felt really at ease (like I said, great nurses). I spent some time trying to get a hold of my family, and since I had eaten a few hours beforehand, the doctor wanted to wait to do the surgery until the morning.

So, at this point it's about 3:30. Mrs. L and I moved up to my overnight hospital room, which was private and might as well been a hotel room! It was super nice, which made us both feel better. After we got settled, and my vitals had been tested, she left to head home and sleep a little, and I talked to some other nurses before I fell asleep around 4:30. About one hour later, a different nurse came running in saying it was time to go down for surgery. I immediately freaked out because I wanted Mrs. L to be back before I went in (I mean, I was a little nervous!) and called her right away. That poor woman barely got an hour of sleep before she had to truck back to the hospital - she's a saint. She made it before I went under, which was great, and I knew my mom and sister were on the way to Indy, which made it easier too! 

Being wheeled into that room for surgery was pretty scary. You know what it will look like from TV shows and stuff, but it's much creepier when it's actually you. Luckily, I was out in about 4 seconds. I don't even remember my eyes closing, though I guess that means the anesthesia worked well... the next thing I remember is waking up in my room, and then quickly falling back to sleep. Those pain meds are exhausting! 

A few hours after I got out of surgery, my mom and Molly arrived, which was wonderful. Having them there just made me feel at ease. After a few tests, walking around a bit, and finishing my antibiotics, they got me discharged! Laparoscopic surgery is pretty crazy - they got me out of the hospital just hours after I was on the operating table. I got to ride back with mom, and got the best surprise when I got in the car - she had brought my mattress to Indy, so that I could sleep as comfortably as possible. My mother is also a saint, and I'm so thankful she was able to come down and spend a few days with me. 

The rest of the week kind of blurred together, since I was sleeping a lot and pretty much staying put. Mom, Mrs. L and Molly waited on me hand and foot, and I didn't have to worry about a thing. I felt pretty good, and was starting to act like myself again. Mom and Molly went back to Michigan on Thursday, and though I was sad to see them go, I was happy that I was finally able to take care of myself a bit! 

Everyone I know was so understanding and caring - my coworkers, my friends and my family. If you're reading this, thank you so much for your thoughts, prayers, cards, gifts, and messages! It really lifted my spirits and helped me heal quickly! 

Saturday was awesome - I got out of the house for a few hours for Symphony on the Prairie and so enjoyed it. The music was fabulous, and the environment was great... Nothing is better than outdoor concerts! But who knew that sitting at a table for a few hours would be so exhausting? I had apparently underestimated the amount of time it would take me to feel 100% better, and I paid for it on Sunday. I developed some mouth ulcers (which are a side effect of my pain meds) and I was pretty miserable throughout the day. Mrs. L helped me find some home remedies, which helped a little, but I was hoping to see the doctor to get some real relief. 

It's Monday night now. I had a doctor's appointment at 3pm, which Mrs. L's mom was nice enough to take me to, and I got great news! Looks like I've done very well and won't have to come back. My incisions should heal up soon, I got some medication for my sores (which has already made a HUGE difference) and I was able to start eating normally again. I'm cleaned up and ready to go back to work tomorrow. I'm so excited to get back in a routine and be more normal again. 

Again, I can't thank you all enough for your thoughts and prayers! I will do my best to be more consistent with my blog posts! I think this may have been the biggest #IndyAdventure yet :) 

- SBL 

Day 13 & 14: 

Sunday: I did much of nothing on Sunday morning and afternoon, which was great, and went back to St. Joan of Arc for church. It was a beautiful night to walk through the neighborhoods, and I really enjoyed the service again. I like the 5:30 Mass - it's just a nice way to end one week and a great way to start the next. Mrs. L got back from her trip with the girls, and we decided to watch the Tony Awards together. It was awesome! We both have a major appreciation for the theatre and music, and we really enjoyed the show. I reminisced about my music days, and even told her about my "I'm gonna be on Broadway phase" when I took voice lessons and convinced my mom to let me get professional head shots. Things have definitely changed since then, but I will always be drawn by the artistry and rawness of theatre. And it reminded me of yet another reason I'd like to eventually move to NYC - Broadway whenever I want! 



Monday: Today was a good start to my week. The morning was pretty standard - creating emails, transferring lists to Excel, looking over Google Analytics numbers - trust me, it's pretty much as exciting as I just made it sound. But, I am really getting to know the interns and other people in the office, and it's nice to take a break every once and a while and just chat. A bunch of us ate lunch together, and watched/complained about SportsCenter's overwhelming and unnecessary obsession with LeBron James. I only wish I was exaggerating. Monday's are always kind of fun because my bosses and I have a meeting at 2PM with a firm that handles some of our data analysis, and then we debrief for an hour or so. The debrief is always cool because it turns into a discussion of goals, ideas, campaigns, etc. The organization really has a lot it plans to accomplish, and I think it's a really exciting time to be a part of the company. I also work with some very smart, creative and talented people, and I know it sounds cheesy, but I am just learning so much so quickly. I couldn't be happier. 
After our debrief, I actually had the chance to sit in on a phone interview for a possible new member of our department, and that was really eye-opening for me. I got to hear what people in this industry are looking for in possible employees, and understand more about what makes a good interview. After work, I had a nice relaxing night, watching more Parks and Rec with Mrs. L (I'm using her not seeing the show as an excuse, but I could watch these episodes on repeat all day... I may have a slight addiction). I'm really looking forward to the rest of the week! Thanks for reading!

#IndyAdventures
- SBL

Days 11 & 12: 

Friday: Dude, last day of the work week was quick. I won't go into detail about work, because it was pretty techy, but it was a very successful, very productive day. After work, Mrs. L and I conquered the Post Office together, and I really appreciated her help. For those of you who don't know, I have a weird phobia associated with the USPS. I guess technically (according to Google), there isn't a name for that fear, but it is a real thing. TRUST ME. Anyway, we sent what we needed to send. Mission accomplished. I spent the night shopping in Castleton with the girls, and it was quite an ordeal. Alley in particular knows how to get it done. It was like watching a chef going into the supermarket and pick all the ingredients he/she needed - quick, precise and thought out. I wish I had those skills. After a few hours in the mall, We finished the night with some delicious Thai food, and I was worn out by the time we got home (which seems to be a recurring theme), so I passed out...

Saturday: and slept until 11am... oh, the joys of the weekend. I was planning to spend the day reading and sunbathing and doing nothing else, but I was presently surprised to get an invitation to go on the Meridian-Kessler Home Tour with Mrs. L's family (her mom, two sisters, and niece). The girls left for Detroit this weekend, so I've got the place to myself for a few days. The quiet is nice, but it was good to get out of the house and explore today! We saw some very historic houses in town, and some that have recently been renovated. I think we saw seven or eight houses in total, and we literally put on little medical booties and walked through every inch of these people's homes. It's a big tradition around here, so it was really cool to participate. Afterwards, we went to Aristocrats Pub for a few appetizers, and then I went home to spend a quiet evening on my own. I started reading a new book about Ernest Hemingway, enjoyed the beautiful weather, and listened to some of my favorite music. As much as I love being surrounded by people, it's always nice to take some time with myself every once and a while. Looking forward to the coming week! Thanks for reading!

 http://www.mkhometour.com/

#IndyAdventures2014
- SBL