Getting it done

I'm a big believer in the Christmas season, rather than treating it as just one day.  So for me, the Christmas season finally ended yesterday, when the 12 Days of Christmas were over. 


Tree is still up, but now unplugged, and will come down this weekend. 


And with the end of that season, and of course the start of the new year, I'm trying to do some clearing out and organizing.  In addition to a few little things, I've also been tackling some things that have been on my list for waaaaay too long.  Among other things:


1.  I attacked one messy case at work that has needed attention desperately for over two months.  It only took two dedicated days, but I felt so good when it was done.  Well, technically, I felt so good after the second day working on it -- it was totally done assuming the one remaining question I'd posed via email and VM was answered the way I expected it would be (otherwise, I was going to be back at square 1).  The next morning, I got the answer I expected and shipped that correspondence off my desk and onto my boss's desk!  That leaves only one "stale and urgent" priority project on my desk -- and as soon as that one is done (which is going to take more like 40 hours), my backlog will officially be less than 2 months! 


2.  I finally called the airline we flew to and from Europe this fall to try to sort out while the miles hadn't posted to our accounts yet.  I'd sent email requests, and responded to the airline's request for more information -- and I'd even resent copies of those boarding passes and ticket receipts 3 more times.  But the "should post within 30 days" window had closed repeatedly.  So frustrating!  So I actually called, dealt with all the touch menus, the talking menus, the holding, and got a person (goodness, I'm glad I have status and get to call the priority number, I can't even begin to imagine how much more painful it would have been otherwise!).  It took him about 20 minutes, but he was able to sort it all out, and by the time we go to sleep tonight, we should have the miles posted.  I was so pleased with myself for getting this done, and so pleased with the service rep I got for resolving it, that I went the extra "mile" (oh, I slay me!) and filled in all my info on the airline website to post a compliment about the customer service rep doing such a good job!


3.  I've made plans.  Registered for two races before New Orleans (just a local 10k and a local half), made dinner or "other" plans with friends for upcoming weekends, picked this weekend's recipes, made to do lists, etc.


4.  We've made more progress on our guest room.  We picked out the new dresser we want (planning to call to buy it today), made arrangements to borrow a friend's truck to pick it up this weekend, spent about 30 hours longer than anyone would guess trying to find a new desk chair that had to meet very particular size requirements (specifically, regarding the height of the chair base, which seems to be information never included in any product specs), and will hopefully have the whole room done in the next week or two (though we may have to get outside help to figure out how to connect the new TV...). 
5.  I'm finally back to running regularly and am now up to over 6 miles without any ankle pain.  And I am finally starting to see some progress in terms of paces.  The last couple weeks have been a struggle, falling behind my friends, heartrate that made me think I'd die before I finished, etc.  And while I'm still struggling and falling behind, I am able to hang for the warm-up, and today I even managed to do the two pace miles on the schedule!  Of course, my effort level was higher than it should have been for those miles, and as a result, my cool-down miles were crazy slow and exhausting, but it's progress, and I'll gladly take it!