From the frying pan into the pizza oven

I got news today from another partner at Design Associates that we got a new project in which I was to be heavily involved. It's an MRI at a research facility that will be a pretty fast-paced project--the equipment has to be up and running by the end of 2010. The partner who involved me on this project, Will, is a delightful and charming and very talented fellow who looks much younger than his fifty-something. And I don't mean younger as in had-some-work-done or oh-that-devilish-look-in-his-eye or even hasn't-he-held-up-well; I mean he just looks barely 40. Anyway, Will asked me and another associate in the office to be involved in the sudden phone interview for this project, and evidently we did well enough that we've been given the project. Even better is that we snatched it away from a firm that's been snatching a lot of projects from us over the past couple of years. Boo-yah.

Will came up to me late this afternoon to give me the good news in person and to high-five me, which is always a nice reaction from a partner. Will adjusted his glasses and said, "Now, we need to get realistic about your workload. Your presence and involvement on this project is vital, and it's a very fast project, so it'll take a good chunk of your time. What else do you have going on?"

I explained that Gestalt's first floor project is a bit feast or famine--one day, there won't be much to do, and then the next I'll be eyeball-deep in RFIs and shop drawings. I also told him that I don't mind working more than 40 hrs a week, but I'm not able to do 60 hrs/week for four months straight. Been there, done that: I'm not productive at the volume anymore, as my mood of late has shown. Then, I got a lovely idea.

"You know what would help free up my time?" I asked. "If I could share the AIA seminar coordination duties with someone. You know, we just hired back Saralee this week, and she used to coordinate them, so maybe she and I could share--"

Will interrupted. "I think we should take that completely off your plate, Pixie. You've done a great job of revitalizing them, of getting them really organized and together, and I think it's time to pass that back to someone who will have the time to do it."

What's funny about this is that it was Will who asked me to start managing these back in February. I'm glad, though, that he can see what it takes to do the job right and that I'm just too damn busy to do it well anymore. We talked to Saralee briefly about it, but we'll have to talk it over with Norman, for whom she's working. On the one hand, it'll be nice to get rid of this godforsaken, thankless task...but I'm about to be crazy-ass busy, just at a time when I really need a break.