(no subject)
Well, I'm not gonna lie. Last week was pretty rough for me. I was distracted and a little bitter, unable to accomplish very much at all. It really was good timing that I'd scheduled Thursday and Friday off for a trip to New York City. Yes, back again to one of my favorite places in the world.
I implemented a cloud-based CRM for the chorus last year that combined our systems for online ticketing and subscription management, mailing list/contacts, donations and e-mail marketing. It's called PatronManager and it is actually a series of customized packages running on top of Salesforce.com. I've been a fan of the vendor (Patron Technology) for a few years and so I was delighted to accept an invitation from them to join a handful of other clients (6 local, 5 from outside New York) for a two-day workshop on getting the most out of the product (with a travel stipend!) They picked those of us who did great implementations and who they thought really "got it."
So the trip? Yes, the trip. *le sigh* -- I mean, I really do love New York City and look for any chance to visit.
Theater
Without a doubt my favorite part of a trip. I saw Porgy And Bess on Friday, Priscilla Queen Of The Desert and Rock of Ages on Saturday. Porgy was ok. I only saw it because Audra McDonald was playing Bess, and she was breathtaking. The rest of the cast was great as well. Norm Lewis as Porgy was kind of "meh" up until the last scene, though it was worth the wait. Priscilla was wayyyy better than I expected, and exponentially more enjoyable for me than La Cage with Harvey Fierstein last year. mat_t scored us free tickets to Rock of Ages and I was really glad to see it again. It's one of those shows you know you're just going to have a great time at. And it reminded me of one of my favorite show-quotes-of-the-moment: "Sometimes the dreams you come in with may not be the dreams you leave with. But hey, they still rock!" Indeed.
Social Butterfly
I had a late dinner Thursday night with a friend in Long Island. Saturday morning I had brunch with an entrepreneur friend from college and his fiancee (they're getting married on Fire Island in May... dare I attend?). And Saturday night after a delicious and boozy dinner with mat_t, we met his friends for Rock of Ages and followed it up with a quick drink at the 9th Ave Saloon.
Shopping!
I was referred to Bonobos a few years ago by a Twitter friend and though their stuff is a little pricy, I love the look and fit of a lot of it. They do "fittings" in their showroom in Chelsea so I scheduled an appointment to try on a bunch of stuff while I was there. It felt sort of rushed but I had fun and I now have a birthday shopping list for myself!
I also visited the Nasty Pig headquarters looking for something to bring back for Justin. Sadly I felt a little out of place in my nice clothes from the workshop earlier, and was sort of ignored by the guys there in favor of the more traditional NastyPigMuscleGuys that were also in the store. I was totally Julia Roberts. Ah well.
I still found a store called Rainbow Connection that hooked me up ;)
Epilogue
The four-day whirlwind of 3am wake-ups on travel days, intense brain-loading with the software vendor, terrific food, a few rock star friends and some great theater was exactly what I needed to put things in perspective. I sat down and chatted with the director this morning, and I'm doing to do the same with the business manager soon, probably later this week, so I really make sure we are all on the same page and see if there is anything that can be done in the way of a salary adjustment. I'm not going to "officially" start looking until this summer, as there is a possibility that some funds may open up (in addition to my efforts this week) but will definitely be keeping my eyes open in the meantime. In the next six months though, I have a ton of ideas on things I want to get done that would position me very well should I need to start interviewing. I am SO very grateful to everyone who has shared their advice and thoughts with me online and offline. Y'all are the best!
I implemented a cloud-based CRM for the chorus last year that combined our systems for online ticketing and subscription management, mailing list/contacts, donations and e-mail marketing. It's called PatronManager and it is actually a series of customized packages running on top of Salesforce.com. I've been a fan of the vendor (Patron Technology) for a few years and so I was delighted to accept an invitation from them to join a handful of other clients (6 local, 5 from outside New York) for a two-day workshop on getting the most out of the product (with a travel stipend!) They picked those of us who did great implementations and who they thought really "got it."
So the trip? Yes, the trip. *le sigh* -- I mean, I really do love New York City and look for any chance to visit.
Theater
Without a doubt my favorite part of a trip. I saw Porgy And Bess on Friday, Priscilla Queen Of The Desert and Rock of Ages on Saturday. Porgy was ok. I only saw it because Audra McDonald was playing Bess, and she was breathtaking. The rest of the cast was great as well. Norm Lewis as Porgy was kind of "meh" up until the last scene, though it was worth the wait. Priscilla was wayyyy better than I expected, and exponentially more enjoyable for me than La Cage with Harvey Fierstein last year. mat_t scored us free tickets to Rock of Ages and I was really glad to see it again. It's one of those shows you know you're just going to have a great time at. And it reminded me of one of my favorite show-quotes-of-the-moment: "Sometimes the dreams you come in with may not be the dreams you leave with. But hey, they still rock!" Indeed.
Social Butterfly
I had a late dinner Thursday night with a friend in Long Island. Saturday morning I had brunch with an entrepreneur friend from college and his fiancee (they're getting married on Fire Island in May... dare I attend?). And Saturday night after a delicious and boozy dinner with mat_t, we met his friends for Rock of Ages and followed it up with a quick drink at the 9th Ave Saloon.
Shopping!
I was referred to Bonobos a few years ago by a Twitter friend and though their stuff is a little pricy, I love the look and fit of a lot of it. They do "fittings" in their showroom in Chelsea so I scheduled an appointment to try on a bunch of stuff while I was there. It felt sort of rushed but I had fun and I now have a birthday shopping list for myself!
I also visited the Nasty Pig headquarters looking for something to bring back for Justin. Sadly I felt a little out of place in my nice clothes from the workshop earlier, and was sort of ignored by the guys there in favor of the more traditional NastyPigMuscleGuys that were also in the store. I was totally Julia Roberts. Ah well.
I still found a store called Rainbow Connection that hooked me up ;)
Epilogue
The four-day whirlwind of 3am wake-ups on travel days, intense brain-loading with the software vendor, terrific food, a few rock star friends and some great theater was exactly what I needed to put things in perspective. I sat down and chatted with the director this morning, and I'm doing to do the same with the business manager soon, probably later this week, so I really make sure we are all on the same page and see if there is anything that can be done in the way of a salary adjustment. I'm not going to "officially" start looking until this summer, as there is a possibility that some funds may open up (in addition to my efforts this week) but will definitely be keeping my eyes open in the meantime. In the next six months though, I have a ton of ideas on things I want to get done that would position me very well should I need to start interviewing. I am SO very grateful to everyone who has shared their advice and thoughts with me online and offline. Y'all are the best!