Me’n’George (Speed Mentoring)

Here I am with one of my favorite singers (George Strait); a co-worker nabbed him from her daughter’s room.



I photographed her with him on her cell phone. We had to do a retake, because she’s an inch or two shorter than I am, and it looked as if he was letting his fingers do the walking...



Two shots of the breakfast buffet. I had another one, but it showed the keynote speaker’s name and c.v.



Somebody sprang for that good Odwalla orange juice. Yum! Next, we have some handy phrases for the next time you visit the Lone Star State.



Tan asked about speed mentoring. It’s a little like speed dating, only work-related. My law firm is house counsel for a major insurance company; all we do is insurance defense for our policyholders. I came into this office in a lateral transfer from the Arlington claims office, and I have completed about half of my CPCU designation, so I have a good basic grasp about the company as a whole. Many of my co-workers have only ever worked in law, so they don’t necessarily know how the claims process works, or what underwriting does, or Ad. Services and/or Tech Services. And we are one of roughly two dozen offices like this in the US and Canada (eh).

Speed mentoring was a corporate initiative from the legal beagles who supervise our offices; every one of the offices did this activity yesterday morning. We brought in people from the Dallas Operations Center and other offices in the state, people from Ad Svcs, Public Relations, HR, a diversity/inclusion guru, a mentoring expert, etc. We had a keynote speaker and seven guests who manned a cubicle or one of the conference rooms, and everybody in our office went from station to station, getting 15 minutes to visit with the experts on just what it is that they do. And because this is Texas, we put our own unique spin on everything, hence the cowboy hat. When a 15-minute session was over, one of my co-workers walked the office ringing a cowbell.

It was fun. It was interesting. I did some networking. They fed us breakfast and lunch. I got paid for a day and a half to cut, color, and paste. And the managing attorney was so pleased with how well it all went, that everybody got to go home an hour early. I went in at 7:30 and was expecting to get off work at 4:00, but I left a hair after 3:00. Plus, I scored half an hour of OT on Thursday night when I helped with the decorations.

I drove to Brother Sushi’s by way of JoAnn’s, where I picked up a quarter yard of blush pink silk dupioni and another spool of silk thread to make a blouse for Jessica, who will be paid off next Friday and quite possibly here the following week. And then I stopped in at Borders and located a book that one of my attorneys has recommended.

Brother Sushi and I had dinner at Rockfish, where we had a little adventure with the jalapeno cream soup. I was happily spooning away at mine, when he took a bite of his and got a funny look on his face. He had found a shrimp. There is no shrimp in that soup. I am allergic to shrimp. We called our server over, and he brought over the manager, who apologized profusely and offered me a different soup. So I got to try the crab bisque, which is excellent. Brother Sushi and I sat there for a good two hours, solving the problems of the world if not necessarily the conundrums of our respective lives. I took him back to his house, drove home, and was in bed by 8:30. Which meant, of course, that I woke up at 2:16 this morning, but I think I am ready for a small nap as soon as breakfast settles.

I’ll leave you with a little more of my handiwork.