More Questions & Some Answers

I'm glad you all liked my gasoline conspiracy theory. I have others that I will share a later time.

In the foreground of my existence, I have much, MUCH bigger worries now. Well, not worries. Just more stuff I have to do, with firm deadlines, about which people will be watching me and continuing the yearlong tally of my overarching worth to the organization.

I'm not dramatic. Nope, not at all!

Anyway, I had an off-the-cuff phone conversation with Elvis on Friday (and learned the phone extension that rings through to his private line). I called him to see if I needed to attend the blessing and dedication of a Muppet hospital in Indiana. It would be great to witness, I argued, but it was going to take a whole work day away from me. He echoed my sentiments and agreed that I should stay back at Fozzie's.

I prepared to hang up the phone. He cleared his throat and said, "Dorrian, I need to put you on the spot about something."

"Yes?" I answered. I immediately felt flush, quickly flipping through the mental card catalog of my actions to see if something I did was illegal or unethical.

He answered, "I need you to speak to a group of people."

Relieved that it was an opportunity and not a verbal lashing, I exhaled, already thinking of which powerpoint background I could employ in my presentation. Then I heard the rest of his sentence:

"I need you to speak to a group of people...who will number about 100, are mostly physicians, at the Four Seasons downtown. You're speaking at the Medical Executive retreat in early February."

Hmmm. Well, that certainly complicates things. I'm a good public speaker. Not a great one. I'm not really nervous about this, just hopeful I will prepare well enough. I'm trying to view this as an opportunity to practice and improve. I feel very...fortunate to receive an invitation to such a prestigious hospital event.

So after I agreed and promised to "rock the gig," I took the opportunity to ask him a few other things. First, there's a conference I want to attend in March, through American College of Healthcare Execs. I offered to pay and he quickly dismissed that notion as Muppet Corporate would gladly pay for that. I mentioned that my continued progress in ACHE was part the career development plan and matrix I created for myself.

His response was, "Yeah, I heard about that matrix you created; EVOO filled me in." He then asked, "And when are you sharing these documents with me?" I promised him that we'd talk next week and his response was something like, "Good, because we've been talking about where to use you."

And yes, all these quotes are verbatim. I burned them into my brain's hardwiring for future reflection. When Jack and I talk about my (our) future, we just need to know two things...will I have a great job with Muppet and in which city will I work? If we can establish those two pieces of the puzzle, we can set many other things into motion...such as looking for a condo/townhome wherever I will work, preparing current home for selling, not having to worry about preparing our current home for selling, saving every penny we can, moving me and my Chicagoland belongings to wherever (or moving them back), and keeping our sanity in tact while all this transpires. I had to take a deep breath while writing this.

Even though Elvis and EVOO have communicated Muppet's interest in me, long-term, I still do not know where I'm going to be stationed. Sigh. In my strengths and weaknesses that I plotted out in my career matrix, I stated impatience to be my biggest weakness!