For hotels, if it's someplace that I can go myself then I will go and ask for a site visit to walk the hotel. It may be out of my price range to stay there, but I can walk the property with their manager any time. Whenever I travel someplace new, I check out a few of the local hotels to add to my list. If it's someplace that I'm not familiar with and can't go myself, I call someone who is local and ask for their recommendation and ensure that they understand the standard I'm looking for.

Over the years, I've compiled a listing of hotels in every major city in the US (my boss doesn't travel Internationally often) along with notes about each (close to the airport, good restaurant on-site, 7th floor is for business travelers, etc.).

For restaurants, Yelp is my best friend. My boss recently went to Canada so I looked up each of the restaurants that he would be going to and was able to give him tips such as the seafood tower being legendary at one of the locations. Upon his return, the VP from Canada that he was visiting sent him a note to say he will be sure to Yelp any future restaurants he goes to!

There is a free webinar from the American Management Association that you may find helpful, it's called 'Mastering the Art of Working for Multiple Bosses'. Even if you're not working for multiple bosses, there are good resources included in there for improving time management. Not sure if I'm allowed to post the link here, but you can find it easily by looking up the name on AMA's website.

The one I found most helpful is the one that charts tasks in 4 categories:
High urgency, high importance (firedrills - we know these happen!)
Low urgency, high importance (proactive work, training, etc.)
High urgency, low importance (phone calls, last-minute copy requests, etc.)
Low urgency, low importance (chatting with co-workers, and other unproductive things)

Yes, I have bilaterial tendinitis though the left is worse than the right. Also have golfer's elbow in the left arm (I don't even play golf!). My chiropractor also recommended, as previously mentioned, wearing the band on my elbow to help with that.

From experience - best advice I can give is be aware of your posture while working at your desk (sit up straight) and take breaks often. Also, be aware that you aren't bending your wrists while sleeping, sometimes wearing a brace will help keep your wrists straight.

How long have you been in the position you are in now?
Almost 4 years in the current role, 7 years with my boss, 15 years with the company

How did you find it?   
Dropped off a dozen applications to various places and this is where I got a call back... when I was a junior in high school. The supervisor had previously worked with my dad so he recognized my name.

Were you promoted from within the company?
Yes

There is already a Senior EA job title as well...

My current thought is Executive Administrative Sr. Analyst - how does that sound?

Marieh - I'd love to hear your thoughts on the online study group for CAP as I'll be starting one as well in preparation for the May exam. Our current thoughts have it being a weekly WebEx meeting, possibly also using our SharePoint site's discussion board for any questions mid-week. Participants will be located across the U.S.

I understand Gee, and I don't have a problem with a simple job title. The reason for the change is so that it can be differentiated and set at the proper pay grade. There is already an Executive Assistant job code with a pay grade, the work that I'm doing is several levels above that.

Good idea jennika, but they've asked me to create one cohesive title. It may not work though, I may need use your method.

My boss and I have known that my job responsibilities far exceed my current job description and he's now given his approval for me to create a proposal of what a more accurate job description would look like. I know what work I've been doing, and can write that up with little difficulty, but summarizing it into a single job title is proving challenging.

In addition to standard Executive Assistant responsibilities (my boss is a Senior Vice President), I also function as his HR Analyst, HR Generalist and Finance Analyst. I'm also unique in that I work remotely, essentially as a virtual admin. I generally only see him 1-2 times per month.

My current job title is Executive Assistant II. I can't use Senior Executive Assistant as that is an existing job role and I need one that is differentiated. Help?

I didn't post the days to my boss's calendar when we first started working together, it just felt awkward like I was saying "Reminder: Buy me a gift".  Then we talked about it and he felt awful when he missed my birthday, he told me to put the dates on his calendar because he has so much going on, that if something isn't on his calendar then it doesn't exist. For Admin Day he usually sends flowers (or, should I say, his wife sends flowers), birthday is a gift card.  Christmas is when we exchange bigger gifts.

It depends on my relationship with the hotel.  For properties I use often, I have a direct contact that I make reservations through, either through e-mail or phone. I always, always, always require an e-mail confirmation and typically also follow up with the front desk on the day of the reservation to confirm the room type/specifications.

In a position several years ago, my office was directly next to the copy room. I had to fix the copy machine so often that the Xerox repair technician gave me a training on fixing the most common errors (besides the simple paper jam) and how to replace parts on the machine.  I don't miss those days.

Now I work in the back of the office, we have a small copier that is only used by a couple of us so I don't have a problem anymore.

Sounds like I'm the odd one here, I travel frequently for my job.  In fact, I have offices in two states (California and Minnesota).  Have also traveled to Seattle, San Francisco, Sacramento, San Diego, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Boston and Dallas to name a few.  There are times when I'm traveling 2 weeks out of the month, though since the economy dropped they've cut down on travel dramatically.

I enjoy the travel, it's fun to see different locations and meet the people who work there.  The toughest travels are when I go two weeks with being in a different city each day (has happened several times).

No, there was nothing lucky about it, I keep all records on file. I have every travel itinerary I've ever booked for my boss and I've worked with him almost 5 years.  This Director I've worked with for about 3 years.  I keep everything, you just never know when you'll need it.

Anyway, as to the 'why', he happened to get into a car accident on the way to the airport that day and is still dealing with a mess of a lawsuit.  For some reason the lawyers wanted to see his flight itinerary.

One of my Directors called me on Saturday, he needed a copy of a flight itinerary for a trip he took about 2 years ago (long story).  He called the airline and spent an hour talking to people only to discover that they can't provide any information from more than one year ago.

He finally got fed up with them and called me, I pulled up my files and forwarded him the itinerary ... took me about 30 seconds.

He's called me twice this week to tell me thank you and how he couldn't believe how quickly I was able to find the itin!  It's moments like these that make this job fun.

I have not heard of flex time before, as I am also in the US.  Very interesting...