1 Year Work Anniversary

I have made it 1 year working at my law firm!  Hurray! 

Other good news... Scotty is home!

No Snow Day....

Going to sleep last night I was really hoping for a snow day.  Especially considering that I could hardly sleep because of the noisy snow plows scraping the roads, it sounded worse than nails on a chalkboard.  For those of you in Utah, I know nothing closes because of snow.  Here in New York it's a little different.  When there is significant snow my work closes. Not today though... there was a lot of snow, but I still had to go to work...

Oh well, on the plus side, Scott comes home Saturday-Sunday!

Creak...Creak...

I'm at work and it is so windy today that I'm afraid this is what I'll be hearing all day---creak....creak...  It kind of makes you feel like you are on a ship getting seasick.  You can't really feel the building move, but the sound tricks you into thinking you can.  I think this is going to drive me a little crazy but I guess that's what you get when you work in a tall building.

6 Month Review Nightmare

I'm supposed to be having my 6 month review sometime this week for work. Last night I had a nightmare about the whole thing. This is what happened:

I'm sitting at my desk at work, and I get a phone call letting me know that my review will be in about 10 minutes. I go up to the reception area to wait for my appointment. I look down and I'm wearing jeans. I freak out that I am wearing jeans to work because I'm not supposed to. I decide that I need to change. Conveniently I remember that my freshman roommate Linsey Spriggs (now Walker) lives in the building that I work in. (Crazy how in my dream that made sense). I rushed to her apartment to ask her if she has a skirt I can borrow. She said that I could, and as she handed me a skirt (thanks Lins!) I look down and notice that I was already wearing a skirt, my jeans were gone. I find a few more pieces to finish the outfit, and am happy with what I am wearing. I rush back to make it to my review, which ended up taking a long time to get back for some reason, and I had missed my scheduled time. They tell me to hurry and find my supervisor to see if I can still do it. I find her and am unable to have my review....

I woke up after this dream at about 4:15 am stressed out. Luckily I was able to get back to sleep. When I got dressed this morning, I paid special attention to what I picked out, just in case they decide last minute to do my review.

I don't want to be a career woman...

Last night I worked overtime for an attorney that had a deposition today. I ended up staying until 9:30 pm, and I started work at 9:30 am= total 12 hour work day. The good thing about overtime is I get paid time and a half, if I stay past 7:30 I get dinner paid for, and past 8 I get a car to take me home. I decided that I didn't even have time to eat dinner so I just opted to get money which is nice and ate snacks in my bag. Then when I went home I didn't have to take the subway and it took 20 minutes to get driven home. One thing I realized is that I haven't been in a car since we were home before Christmas. It felt so different to ride in a car other than the subway or bus. Weird to say you haven't been in a car for 3 months...different life.

Working a long day made me realize more than ever that I do not want to be a career woman. In fact, I never have. I'm just working to pay the bills so we can take out less student loans for now. That's not so bad to say is it?

Real Life Verizon Advertisement

An attorney that I work for was on vacation in Aruba the other week and he told me that he wasn't receiving e-mails on his BlackBerry, not getting service. I called our tech department and told them the problem. I received an e-mail today saying that the issue was resolved and this is what it said:

Ticket Information:

Call Type: Hardware
Description: User is not receiving e-mails on his BlackBerry. User is traveling abroad. User has T-Mobile.
Resolution: User switched to Verizon

Resolved: 2010-03-11

Citigroup Building: The Building I Work In

It's the silver one with the slanted roof. I work on the 37th floor.

There are a total of 59 floors.

Does anyone write in cursive anymore?

When asked to sign a document for my attorney I realized that I never write in cursive. I'm pretty good at signing my name but when it comes to writing something else I am terrible. It just got me thinking why we spent so much time learning it in elementary school and no one just writes in cursive anymore. I decided today to try to only write cursive to practice but my handwriting is so bad that way. Maybe I should relearn this lost art:)

P.S. I was told that I should learn to do shorthand (by one of my attorneys that's old school and in his 60's). I had no idea what shorthand was so I googled it. It looked crazy and I don't even know how that can save time! To solve this dilemma I asked for a voice recorder so now I can just record when he talks and type it up from there. Do you know anyone that uses shorthand in this day and age? I am more of a technology girl. When I asked for a voice recorder I assumed that I would be given a digital recorder. This recorder that they gave me at work is the old kind with a tape. Do you know how long it's been since i've seen a cassette tape? I couldn't even remember how to put it in right, it took me a while. Now I have to remember how to use a tape recorder...

I think I'm still in the Utah state of mind when it comes to weather...

To me when I hear it's going to snow a lot I just think, "better bundle up to get to work." I don't even think in my mind that work may be cancelled because of the snow. On Friday, I trudged to work and it took me maybe 15 minutes longer than it usually takes me. I got to work and there was a voicemail left on my desk phone. I listened to it and was surprised to find out that the office was closed. I instant messaged my manager because I could see that she logged on. (yes, we use instant messenger within the firm, easy way to communicate). I said, "the office is closed?" she said, "yes, but if you stay you get overtime and money for lunch." So I said, "okay I'll stay." I thought I might as well since I trudged through all the snow to get there. I stayed for a few hours with nothing to do, and they sent me home. It took me about an hour to get home. I commuted for about 2 hours total and worked for 3. At least I worked a little longer than riding the subway. Next time it snows I'm going to call the office before I even leave:) I've lived in New York and have already had 2 snow days. In Utah, I cannot even remember having snow days.

Work Update and Other Ashley Ramblings

I have almost been working at my job for 1 month--can you believe it? I went through 2 weeks of training and am almost done with my 2nd week of after training life. I should be a pro now right? Wrong, I think I will feel very comfortable with my job after I have been here for a few months. New things come my way every day which I really like. The job is not usually boring.

I realized that I didn't go into detail of what my job really is here at Kirkland & Ellis. My job title is a practice assistant which is basically equivalent to a legal secretary anywhere else. I assist 3 attorneys. One is a share partner in the company and the other two are associates. Their title is like their ranking I guess in the law firm. So my job is to assist them by answering their phone, managing calendar, printing things, making copies, proofreading, editing documents, arranging travel, managing expenses, etc. The list goes on and on. There are a lot of different things that they have us do every day. I assist them in whatever they need assisting.

To some, this may seem like a boring job... but I love it! I love working in an office and doing secretarial stuff. I don't know why but I get excited doing document work in word or making a spreadsheet in excel. I have always had a love for office supplies, when I was younger I would love going to Office Max and being able to buy some new pens or something. There's my little secret. (Ask my family, they know what I’m talking about).

I feel accomplished with what I do. When I do something hard in the day that I figure out how to do it right I feel like I can do anything. There is a rush when trying to help an attorney reach a deadline. I like to help people and I get to do that everyday. People are very friendly at our law firm. I feel like I enter a different world that is separate from New York City. The office is very clean, and people don't try to intimidate. It's a good feeling coming to work in a nice building everyday.

This job has been a blessing for me and Scott. I am much happier and so is Scott knowing we have a steady paycheck and that I enjoy my job. There have been so many pieces to the puzzle of living in New York. My employment seems to be one of the last pieces of the puzzle to put in place. The are still a few tiny pieces to add, but the main picture is in place. We are being well taken care of in this city. I never would have seen our life like this last summer. Moving to New York seemed like the death of me, but now everyday I have to remind myself that this is where we really live and that we are doing it successfully.

Training is Finished!

I finished my job training on Friday. I took my skills tests and hopefully I passed them. I didn't mention it before, but to get a permanent placement at a desk we had to interview with attorneys. If you don't get a permanent placement right away you'll float around where needed until they find a spot for you. I interviewed with one and got a spot! Only 2 out of 6 of us got spots right away. So starting monday I will have my own desk and space and will start working for reals. I'm excited to get started!

First Day at Kirkland & Ellis LLP!

Here's a picture Scott took of me on my first day of work. I felt like I was taking the traditional first day of school picture. I didn't have to leave for work until 8:30 am. It was so nice to be able to get up and take my time getting ready. I got to work and there were 5 other women starting training today. I of course was the youngest one and the one with zero legal experience so at first I was a little intimidated. I realized though that I will have an advantage with computer skills since the others have never worked with Microsoft Office 2007 and I have used it for a while. There were ooo's and ahhhh's over the company switching over which is funny to me because it's 2010 now.... Training went well today. It's a lot of information all at first, but it'll all come. I have 2 weeks of training which is pretty extensive. I'll keep you updated on my progress.

Side note: Check out my older bro's website. He does play reviews and posts them as well as other people's reviews. It's pretty cool and I am super proud! http://www.utahtheaterbloggers.com/

Oh by the way... there is a bomb threat for 2:00...

Today was my 2nd to last day of work and this is what I heard when I went to work this morning. The first thought I had was great, I'm never going to be able to escape this building, I am going to die in this building...Why did I go to work today? Apparently they also don't warn the people at the desk unless it is a serious threat which made me feel so much better:( Throughout the entire day this threat was lurking in the back of my mind. I texted Scott telling him about the threat and he told me if I heard explosions to start running:) Thanks Scott! People were kind of joking about it to release some of the tension at the desk. We were all kind of jumpy and very alert and cautious about everyone coming into the building. When we heard that another building had a threat and was evacuated it kind of freaked us all out. Anyways...2:00 came and went and nothing happened, which I am very happy about. Security was up the whole day and there were police around the building on the inside and outside. Still it was kind of a scary thing to experience. I hope I never have to go through something like that again. I'm glad I'm going to be working at a building that is less of a target.

Good News....

I got a new job! My last day at the Empire State Building will be on Friday. I have worked 4 weeks at that job and it was definitely an experience. I will be starting work on monday at...

It's a big kid job with a salary, benefits, vacation days, etc. I am super excited to start! It is a nice office on the east side. I'll keep you updated on my training and experience there.

Welcome to the Empire State Building...Where are you going today?....Can I see your ID?

These are the words I say at work about a billion times a day working at the Visitor Desk. For those of you who don't know I work in the Empire State Building. I haven't blogged about it yet as I am trying to catch up with blogging. I work at what's called the "Visitor Reception Desk." It is in the part of the building where the offices are and we check in the people coming for appointments. If a person wants to visit an office in the building the people in that office are supposed to put their name into the computer so we know they are approved to go. If they are registered in the system then we just print out the pass and they go up. If they aren't in the system then we have to call up to the office and ask them to approve the person to come up. If they do then we make a pass and send them up. If not, then we have to tell them they are not allowed to go up and send them away. If they give us problems then sometimes we have to involve security. Not too often, but if it gets out of hand. The job is very easy and you just do the same thing over and over. It is better than not having a job because now we have an income. It does get monotonous after a while though.

"You look like you are 14!"

I am so tired of hearing this! I know I am young and look even younger! I know that it is shocking to some that I am married! Why do you have to keep pointing it out to me? This is what I wonder to myself each and every day at work.

I have a few examples to share. My first day of work one of my coworkers called me "raggedy ann" because I looked so young with my curly red hair. I have gotten called young lady, kiddo, hon, sweetie, etc. by everyone I help. I used to pass for 12-13, but now I'm able to pass for 14-15 which is good news getting up there:)

A lot of people I meet notice that I'm married and feel very negatively about it and feel the need to point it out. I've had a lady tell me, "well I hope he's the right one!" All I said in response was, "he is!"

The most recent story is a guy that came in like last week. This is how the conversation went:

Mr. ?: What are you doing here?!
Ashley:Um... working
Mr. ?: You shouldn't be working in a place like this!
Ashley:Okay...
Mr. ?: Where are you from?
Ashley: Utah, near Salt Lake
Mr. ?: Utah? You never want to go back to Utah with all those Polygamists and Mormons!!!!
Ashley: Actually, polygamy is not practiced by the mormons anymore, and by the way I am mormon.
Mr. ?: (looking at my wedding ring) You look too young to be engaged to be married!
Ashley: Actually I have been married for 1 1/2 years and I am about to turn 23.
Mr. ?: You look like you are 14! You have made a big mistake!
Ashley: Here's your pass... have a great day sir! Goodbye.

People say that I will "love it when I'm older." But until then....I hate all the comments...

Here's to my 23rd birthday in March! Then people will be even more shocked when I tell them my real age:)