Standing in line, marking time, waiting for the project dime

Yesterday and part of Tuesday, I was able to help one of the partners do a very rough program and square footage allotment for a possible new MOB for a client.  He had the meeting today to present the program to the owner, which left me working on transcribing my notes from the past couple of intern seminars until Winston the Befuddled met with me to pass on some redlines.  Perfect--I'd be helping his team today through Friday afternoon, making me billable for most of the week.  Winston and I were supposed to meet at 11am, but his morning meeting ran long, and I didn't find him until right after lunch.  With that continually slightly-mixed-up look on his face, he said he needed to print some things first and that the redlines would only really take me this afternoon.  Damn.  45 minutes later, Winston comes to my desk to tell me that a member of his project team was freed up sooner than they expected and they wouldn't be needing me at all, but thanks.  Double damn.

So, it's back to typing up my notes.  I racked my brain: should I check with Howie first? Jann?  I finally decided to give Howie first dibs on my help.  I mentioned to him what happened with Winston, then told him what I'd been doing with my intern seminar notes and that I'd been helping Jann sort and file her stuff and could do that unless he had something else.  Howie said to continue helping Jann clean off her desk (and y'all, we've barely made a dent in her disaster of a desk), and then he turned fully around from his computer (which is something he rarely does) and spoke in slightly hushed tones.

"And, y'know, Alex, and Gregg, and Jann, and Skylar and I all," [gestured with a circular motion] "talk on a regular basis about what everyone's doing, and it sucks, because you're a star and we don't have anything for you right now, y'know?  And I--we really appreciate you trying to keep yourself busy, even though really, that's our job, to keep you busy . Just...hang in there.  The project we just did the master plan for may not do anything for at least six months, that's just how those little projects are."

"No sweat," I replied.  "I hate bothering you, but I just want you to know I'm not trying to rest on my laurels over there, I wanna be helpful."

"I know, I know," Howie said with a smile.  "Just hang in there.  Did that master plan with Sven ever go anywhere?"

"He called me right before lunch actually," I replied, just remembering a phone call from the partner I'd helped yesterday.  "He said that the master plan might be a go any where from tomorrow to a few weeks from now, so we've both got our fingers crossed."

"Oh, good!" Howie said.  "That's good news.  Just keep doin' what you're doin' and hang in there.  We're all trying hard going after a lot of work."

Howie's discussion with me today felt like he was trying to reassure me that I wasn't next on the chopping block and that I was still valued.  So, I spent the rest of the afternoon transcribing my notes and feeling slightly less twitchy about the economy and the near future.  But man, I wish somebody would hire DA to build a hospital or clinic or som'n.  Shorty needs to get her architecture on.