Penguin unearthed

Work Life Balance

One of the things I love about my current role is that I'm senior enough to manage my work life balance in a reasonable way. When I need to, I leave the office at 5 - forward my phone to my mobile, and log onto the office (completely seamlessly) from home. Mostly, my clients are more impressed than annoyed to hear the kids in the background on the (rare) occasions when I need to take a call when I'm looking after them without my husband.

So when a colleague in a related part of the business set up a weekly meeting at 5pm on Mondays (one day in the week when I must leave the office at 5 on the dot), I protested. Vigorously. The meeting is still there, and I'm not attending.

The more I think about it, the more important it is that I stick to my guns. It's not just about me and my family life (important though that might be), its about showing people junior to me that it is worth aspiring to a senior role in this organisation. Being senior doesn't necessarily have to mean that you spend your waking hours at work; it can mean that you spend 40 hours a week in the office. And one of the great things about being a consultant is that as long as you give the client good service, the client doesn't care where you are while you do that.

posted by Jennifer @ 10:00 pm 0 comments

City to Surf

I did the city to surf today. I just managed to avoid doing a new personal worst time (although it was pretty close). I was reminded again what a great event it is. From the very beginning - getting on the train to town filled with people in their daggiest running gear (so they could throw away their warm clothes when they started running) to the cameraderie of waiting for half an hour at the start, to the echoing shouts of Aussie Aussie Aussi oi! oi! oi! going through the William St tunnel, the jazz bands in Dover Heights and then sitting on the sand at bondi in the blazing sun with a cool drink, it was a great day.

I'm sunburnt (in the middle of winter!) and I'll probably be struggling to walk tomorrow, but it was worth it.

posted by Jennifer @ 8:28 pm 0 comments

Superficial - yes that's me

I went for a run this morning, (one of my very few training runs for the city to surf), and jogged straight past John Howard on his morning power walk twice. I've been running around North Sydney since he was elected, and he has been doing his morning power walk (when in town) all that time. That's the first time I've actually seen him.

I'm sufficiently thrilled by celebrity that my first reaction was mild excitement, rather than wanting to take him to task for (take your pick from the various readers of this blog) asylum seekers, civil liberties or the republic.

posted by Jennifer @ 11:00 pm 0 comments