1/2 an hour to go

The last hour of work never goes by quickly. NEVER. Well, unless I'm trapped in Boss' office pretending I don't care that it is 45 minutes after when I was supposed to leave because I'm still new enough that I just want to please. Anyway, here are some of my techniques for making the last half hour go by a little faster:
1) Get a glass of water. Preferably, from the water source farthest from your desk. That way, you kill some time walking over, filling the glass, and walking back. Plus, its like having a bottle of water on car trips to make the time go by faster---not sure why it works, but it just does.
2) Eye drop application. By the end of the day, my eyes are always dry and bloodshot from 8 hours of staring at my computer. Goldie the Gopher and Jesse the Owl, who sit under my computer screen, get even more glassy-eyed than is usual for stuffed animals just watching me squint at the screen. I don't even walk to the bathroom to do this. I mean, c'mon, who is going to tell you to get back to work when you're clearly involved in a self-health procedure.
3) Printer check. Inevitably, I print things throughout the day with the intention of picking them up later but later just never seems to come. So, I do a loop and check all of the printers for any of my random documents that might be laying about.
4) Write tomorrow's to-do list. Now clearly this will only work if you are a to-do lister in the first place (or maybe you should start just to help pass that last half hour), but not only is it a good way to kill time, it also makes me feel prepared for the next day. It also forces me to go over the to-do list from the day before and really, how good does it feel to grab a big black Sharpie and cross off the things you accomplished that day? SO good.
5)Check in with Boss. Now, this can be a dangerous one because if Boss has something he wants you to do by the end of the day, you have just suckered yourself into staying way more than the already close to fatal half an hour. One option is to pull the, "I was just wrapping up for the day and was wondering if you had anything that needed to be a priority for tomorrow." This should make it clear that you need to leave soon but still shows you want to help tomorrow. Gets you closer to 5:00 while scoring points with Boss man.
6) The classic bathroom break. If you walk as far as I do to your parking garage, you know that needing to "go" halfway there can be a killer. Too far to turn back to the office, but there isn't a bathroom in the ramp. Bummer.
7) Snack. Another dangerous one, but in a different way than Boss check in. With this one, it is just a question of if you're willing to acknowledge that a snack could put your jeans in danger of not buttoning next time you wash them.
8) Call Mom. You know she'll love to hear from you. Mine feels important when I call from the office. Actually, this could take up the entire half an hour right there.
9) Change shoes. Only relevant if you have walking shoes to get to your car versus office shoes to wear during the day like I do.
10) Blog.

More than just a job...

So tomorrow I start a new job. Not just "a" new job...THE new job. It feels like I'm starting my career and its more than a little intimidating. No more using the "I'm just an intern" excuse when it comes to things getting screwed up or not remembering someones name or any other number of things I did wrong in the past year at Toro. Now I'm a real, full blow, employee.
Official title: Associate Development Officer, Special Programs, University of Minnesota Foundation
Thats almost as much of a mouthful as when I had to memorize the heart condition they diagnosed me with in the 4th grade. "Supraventricular tachycardia" is not easy to say at 10 years old with a mouth full of braces.
Here I go. A real big kid job. A real title. Real responsibilities. And, of course, real benefits too :)