Wait to form your own opinions regarding your co-workers and management staff members.  Your trainer or cubicle neighbors may have their own opinions regarding some members of your group, but it's best to watch and not get involved in office politics right off the bat.

Being asked, "WHY don't you know where so-and-so is!!?" and having to bite my tongue to keep from replying, "It's not my week to watch him(her)."

Since my home page is Yahoo, I use Yahoo's search engine.  I can usually find anything I want.

I am in Las Vegas, and we are in a world of hurt in this town.  My background is in construction/engineering/architecture, and there has never been a problem before in getting a job in that field, but things are different now.  The project my company is working on is "on hold" until things ease up, and my boss does not see that happening until 2010 at the earliest.  The good news is that we had cut-backs in my office and I thought I would go because of my higher salary, but I'm still here!  Fingers crossed that we make it through this mess and business picks up again.  I have faith in my city!!

The HR Director found me on Monster.com.

My boss was at our main office the week of April 23rd, but he paid for me and our senior project manager to go to my IAAP Chapter's Administrative Professionals Day Luncheon.  He also approved to pay for my registration, hotel room and other expenses to attend our IAAP Division Meeting at the end of May, which also means a day and a half out of the office as well.  I also got a healthy raise (8%) at my review a couple of weeks ago, so I can't complain about much these days.

!.   CSI (the original - love William Petersen)
2.  CSI New York
3.  Criminal Minds
4.  Studio 60 (new show - just premiered - it's great!)
5.  Roseanne re-runs
6.  American Justice, City Confidential, Cold Case Files (all on A&E channel)
7.  What my sweetie and I refer to as "the British comedies" - reruns of "As Time Goes By", "Keeping Up Appearances", "Are You Being Served", and "Waiting for God".  We get these on PBS and sometimes on BBC America.  Wish I could afford to buy the DVD's of all of these so I could watch them any time I want!
8.  Without a Trace
9.  Jeopardy
10. History IQ

I use shorthand to take my own notes when I don't have a keyboard in front of me (I can type faster than I can take shorthand).  

I haven't actually "taken" dictation in over 1o years, but I keep my hand in it (no pun intended) so I don't forget.

It's useful at seminars/conferences, and I've also used it in meetings where I wanted to write down some thoughts but did not want my neighbors to see what I was writing.

Also, welcome to the Forums.

1.  Wedding - if you were invited to the wedding, the reception or a shower, then a gift would be appropriate.  If not (unless you really really really like the son and know him well), then don't worry about it.  

2.  Bosses Day - a simple card would be enough if he is not into recognition for other occasions.  And if you don't even want to give him the card, that's fine, too.  It all depends on how much you respect him.  Use that as a gauge.

Geez Louise!! A new way to waste time!  Let's play "boarding pass poker" and see who the admin likes the most and least.  

Well, at least you know that you have SOME influence.  :-)    Sort of a twist on the old "Mom always liked you best" whiners.

When I get these at home, I generally use the "I'm sorry, but you've interrupted our evening prayer meeting."  Don't mean to be disrespectful, but it shuts them up and they don't keep trying to talk to you.  :-)

Raindance,

Did you take Latin in high school?  And, if so, did your teacher make your class wander around the halls of the school at Christmastime, singing Christmas carols in Latin?  Oh, the horror.  I had not thought about that horrible experience in years, and it all just came flooding back to me!!

"None of these positions have fully utilized the skills I have, and despite discussions since my hire, none of the plans to expand this position have come to fruition."

This sounds negative and would be a turn-off for me as a hiring manager.  My suggestion is to re-word your sentence to something that does not throw the blame at your employers since 2004.  

Something like, "In the positions I have held recently, I do not feel that my skills have been fully utilized.  I would like to obtain a position that gives me the opportunity to use those skills while continuing to learn and grow in my professional development."

It's Curriculum Vitae.  See the link.

http://jobsearch.about.com/od/curriculumvitae/

yc1:

Hewlett Packard offers a number of free on-line courses, and one of them is Adobe Photoshop.

Check them out at:  http://h30187.www3.hp.com/