Day Three Hundred Eight

For a very long time now, there has been this weird thing where I seemingly know everyone. It's wild, particularly because I am so introverted as to be considered anti-social and basically, I don't like to go places or do things. And yet, a web search of random Pittsburgh people will often lead to a few degrees of separation.

For example, literally every person I've interviewed for a job in the past two years has been one or two degrees of separation from me. This person used to work with that person or so-and-so is friends with so-and-so. My favorite was the time I was interviewing someone for a position and he was a GIANT JACKASS, but I knew that before he got there because I had unfollowed him on Twitter years ago after he mansplained something to me even though I was legit an expert on the topic. He was so lost in his self-absorbed world during the interview that he never bothered to actually look at me and realize that we had met several times.

He didn't get the job, by the way. Don't be a sexist jerk on Twitter. It will come back to haunt you, especially if you continue your condescending ways when we're face-to-face.

I explain this whole thing with the fact that Pittsburgh is the smallest big city possible. It is nuts how very small Pittsburgh is, frankly. The topic recently came up at work because I have a few open positions to fill and the first two candidates sent my way were ... people I know. The candidates have no idea where I work and certainly had no clue that I'm the hiring manager, so it's pure coincidence wrapped in the smallness of Pittsburgh.

But my "Pittsburgh is such a small place" explanation wasn't quite enough for a few people. And, thus, I ended up thinking more about it and hahahahahahalol ... it's because of Twitter and blogging. THAT is how I know so many people. Forever and ever ago, when those things were new, the internet world was truly very small. All of the Pittsburgh Twitter and blogging people knew each other and talked to each other and even hung out together. It's completely different now, but back in the day? We were all connected.

And all of us had "day jobs."

There are certainly a few people who opted to go into social media as a full-time job, but those jobs didn't exist 15 years ago. And so we were nurses and lawyers, financial analysts and product managers, project managers and marketing professionals, restaurant owners and IT experts, entertainers and musicians ... the list goes on and on. Think of an industry or a major employer in Pittsburgh and I probably can name someone that matches and I met them years and years ago online.

But you know what I never managed to collect in my network? A friend who owns a boat. I'm still looking for that key piece of the puzzle. It needs to happen before the COVID cloud lifts because how great does a day floating around on the rivers with a bunch of friends sound?

I am on a mission.

Day Three Hundred Seven

Dear Alexis and Mila,

I am very sorry to be the one to tell you this, but there is one less opportunity on the table for you. It is now impossible for either of you to become the first ever female Vice President of the United States. That honor has already officially been bestowed upon Kamala Harris. She's incredibly qualified and will be a strong leader at a time when we badly need a strong leader, so don't hold it against her that she beat you to a lofty goal. Rather, you're going to have to dream bigger if you hope to smash through some of that glass ceiling.

If we're being honest, though, what I hope for most is that when you eventually read these words, that paragraph won't make sense. I hope that you don't encounter the glass ceiling that I have often found myself scraping. I hope the words "glass ceiling" alone are confusing and confounding. I hope that it sounds like a fairytale when I tell you about all of the times I couldn't get a word in edgewise during a meeting. I hope it baffles you when I tell you about how I often had to make an idea that was mine alone into an idea had by a man because otherwise it would have continued unheard.

I hope you don't believe me when I say that I didn't think I was at all qualified for the job I have now because men in my life told me I wasn't. I can tell you with certainty that they were very wrong, for what it's worth. I am more than qualified, a fact which I prove daily, and a fact which I'm glad a recruiter believed. "Do the job you want and eventually it will be yours," is absolutely the worst advice I've ever been given. "Get recognition for the job you do" is far better.

Take credit for what you do.

So, girls, I'm sorry that you can't be the first female Vice President of the United States, but all of those other possibilities that float through your mind? Yes. Yes, you can. You can do any of it.

Love,

The Lady Who Has Greatly Enjoyed Sweeping Up All That Broken Glass Lately

Day Three Hundred Six

Hey, so here's a crazy thought - we're either getting a new President tomorrow or we're getting a civil war. WHODATHUNKIT?

Me. I woulda thunk it.

ANYWAY.

I'm really looking forward to reading these sorts of things in many, many years and have the full depth of the chaos be appreciable. We're just too close to it right now, so it's hard to fully comprehend how very close we were to having democracy fall on January 6th. I don't think we're even able to appreciate how broken so many of our institutions are right now.

Here's to hoping Mila never fully figures out how bad it all was. Alexis knows, but Mila is young enough to be oblivious.

All of that is to say that Mila is completely clueless about all things political. That's what makes it super fun that SHE is obsessed with a little Kamala Harris action figure. She asked for it months ago and has pretty consistently played with it. She refers to soon-to-be Vice President Harris as "President Joe's Helper" which is a pretty good description if you ask me. It's all very adorable, though I suppose it requires an enjoyment of little girls playing with strong female leaders to truly appreciate it.

The best was about a week ago, though. Mila has taken a sudden interest in her bedroom, the room where she hasn't slept in years, because I've been using it as an office. The sudden interest has led her to drag every possible stuffed animal and toy up there, mostly so she has an excuse to "monitor" what I'm doing all day. She stops in the grab one thing and then another and then she leaves and comes back and it's all fine. Whatever. But ... she trashed the place. I was in danger of having the world see a half naked Supergirl doll standing on her head with the moon shining high because Mila had placed her inches from being in frame of my web camera.

So I asked Mila to clean it all up.

There was a bit of fussing and a general bit of arguing, but eventually Mila agreed that she would clean up her disaster zone. But first, "I have to go find Kamala to help. She's really good at cleaning up messes."

LET'S ALL HOPE THAT'S TRUE.