Pool Chair

Oh, how I wish the term pool chair meant what everyone in the world thought when they heard the term "pool chair"! I didn't spend nearly enough time this summer by the pool. Actually now that I think about it, I spent next to no time by the pool. Thus the reason I am pasty white. Every time I look at the picture of the pool chair, it reminds me that I'd rather be sitting in that chair reading a book and soaking in the sun (except that in reality I don't really soak up rays, they pretty much burn me every time.)

The term "pool chair" I'm referring to is my title for the next three months. Every three months, one network is in charge of organizing the pool for the five networks. Basically, it is kind of like being the manager, lifeguard, and the snack bar operator all wrapped up into one. My network became pool chair starting today and I am the lucky one who gets the honor of filling the role.

So far, I have jumped right into the middle of planning a trip this weekend that in all likelihood will end up getting cancelled because of the bailout/economy situation. But in the meantime, we're planning a trip to Crawford and Ohio (the Nevada part of the trip has already been cancelled.) So I'm basically the liaison between the WH and the five networks. From what I can tell, it's going to be a bit of a headache. So far, I've had to deal with issues such as cancelled stops of trips, the cargo holds of certain planes, schedules that change every five minutes and an estimated additional 500 e-mails a day. At one point someone asked if I could take the dimensions of everyone's gear and suitcases and see if it would fit into the cargo hold of the small plane. I told everyone that as much as I love playing theoretical Tetris in my head, my higher math skills are lacking a bit to figure that out in reality.

So this means that I will have more work to do for the exact same pay but in the end I'll have the general satisfaction of doing a job well done come December. Or at least I'm telling myself that!