hmm...

Liana: The new job title is "Regional Manager of the Midwest States." It means people come to me with questions I can't possibly hope to answer. More money, yes, but less of a life. I'm giving it until August, then the 13-hour days and weekend work have to stop. I got the job because of my organizational skills and because I'm nice to people. I follow up. I even keep a candy dish on the ugly retro-80's credenza in my office (something I'm thinking of disbandoning, since people I've never met keep popping in and stealing Tootsie Rolls and Dum Dum Suckers while I'm on the phone...it's strangely disruptive). It's VERY scary, really, doing all this. I'm the youngest manager the company has and I'm feeling every last bit of it. They all seem to know so much; I feel like an idiot. During uppity-up visits from home office I talk too much, or realize my shirt's untucked, or giggle at inappropriate times. Also I've had to fire several people, not my biggest strength. I feel like a roaring Lilliputian in an arena of corporate giants. And I miss my old office: All that comraderie I took for granted. I'm trying to build a similar culture in my new office but so far I've been met with blank stares by people who would rather I take the next Greyhound back to Denver. It's awful. The other day I took all the inside reps to lunch because they'd gotten their pending below 1000 (industry talk for "they were doing their jobs"), and I went to make a toast. Only, they were all so busy stuffing their faces with the novelty of a free lunch that no one listened. I put my glass on the table and thought, "You've come a long way, baby, and you've got a long, long way to go." All I get, day in and day out, are complaints about workload and the unfairness of it all. It's all I can do not to become the corporate fool and fire everybody in a knee-jerk reaction of hubris and quasi-power. I wouldn't do that, of course, but it is so, so tempting. I'll persevere, I guess. I've been here 2 1/2 months and I've seen downtown Chicago three times. Pathetic. If this is my whole new world of opportunity, somebody left out the fun part. Still, it IS Chicago. I'll get around to seeing it, loving it (I hope), and embracing it. I like big cities and usually manage to navigate my way around, even if it means learning how to hale a cab from the curb. Ach.

Hello Allen. I visited Chicago 16 years ago and enjoyed it a great deal, stayed in an apartment on Lake Shore Drive with someone I'd met backpacking. I have some close friends there, one an author (Barth Landor - 'A Week In Winter' - published last year), his wife a poet and another friend who is a social worker with homeless women in downtown Chicago. I intend to go back sometime before too long to see them all. The Art Institute is really something. I also experienced some great blues (Taj Mahal at Cotton Chicago and Valerie Wellington at the Moosehead Bar). Yes they love sport, and in my week's visit I went to not one but two baseball games (Socks). I stuffed every day with as much as I could, there was so much to do. (Frank Lloyd Wright's neighbourhood was particularly good stuff too). Keep us posted - I'm interested in your experiences. Emma

Hi, Emma. And thanks...I need to remember that this is a city with some culture...soon I'll break free and get to enjoy it. I did the Frank Lloyd Wright tour and came away very envious of all those angles and the green paint. People here emulate Wright in so many ways, from books to their requisite green rooms. And I may have come away from the tour very envious of it all, but I had a lot of new ideas (the house I bought has four green rooms...which means less work for me...). Let me know if you're visiting (allen.banks@ocas.com). I'll have two guest bedrooms and the house is five blocks from the train. (You know you're in a "real" city when you can talk about "the train." Strangely exciting...).

Glad to wake up and see you Allen. (there's a sentence you thought you'd ever heard from me) Missed you. Settlle in well, congrats on the house etc. What's the new job then?

Nice to see you're still around Allen.