I didn't want to go back to the office this afternoon after lunch, but I had a proposal to write. I've been working for the past two days on the statistical analysis of site traffic, which I've never really done before professionally, but have done enough (obsessively so, might I add) with w-w.net that I felt prepared.

Still, I'm finding it more than a little arduous. I used to work for a market research company in Seattle where I sometimes lent a hand during deadlines, read and edited some of their client reports. I also had a month-long stint managing a company-wide technology survey early in my tenure at the big, evil advertising agency. Ultimately I had write a really long report about the results, which was boring as hell (to read and to write), but did relieve me from the other option: the dreaded invoice-related tasks. (It's fair to say there any tasks involving invoices, from filing to processing, are always boring, without exception. In fact, I defy you to prove otherwise. And no, burning a whole bunch of invoices in the middle of a midwestern field and dancing around it in a crazed, triumphant, drunken circle does not count, although it does sound like an excellent weekend activity.) So I guess I'm relatively familiar with the language, the logic, and the method.

I did it then so that my boss didn't have to, and I'm doing it now so my boss doesn't have to, and you know, nothing makes your boss more grateful than when you take tedious but necessary tasks off their plate. I'd do anything my boss asks, anyway. She's the best boss I've ever had.

And it makes sense for me to do it, I know. I own this project, inside and out, and while a few people have been following the growth of the site regularly, no one can match my acquired knowledge. (Of course, if anyone could do it, my boss would be the one. She's insanely bright, more creative than she gives herself credit for, and teaches me something new, or at least challenges me to think differently, practically every time I walk into her office.) So it's been me and graphs for two days, when I haven't been interrupted with production tasks, and let me say this: Graphs - 1, Jami - 0.

I mean, I finished it, all eleven pages of that section of the proposal. I didn't want to do it, but it was a special request, which was part of the problem. It's sometimes hard for me to do something that wasn't my idea first and isn't within my traditional repertoire. This isn't about thinking out of the box or anything like that, it's about what I do and don't do for a living.

Apparently, now I do graphs. Did. Done. Phew.

And now I'm on to the intriguing part of the proposal. After assessing which content was popular, and which content was just wasting (cyber)space, and which promotional efforts increased traffic to the site, and, in general, how much traffic grew from launch until this week (quite a bit, in case you were wondering), I now have to propose what I want to do with the site in the future. This too, is a difficult task, but if I'm not excited about it, and I can't do it exceptionally well, I should find a new job. This is content development; this is web programming; this is the purest realization of my objective statement on my resume: To make cool stuff for the web.

I know I've been a bit elusive in my writing lately about my job, but I thought it was best not to write about any of the negotiation process, except to say that I hated it and could not get through it fast enough, which I'm pretty sure I communicated. But this part I feel comfortable discussing, because this part is about thinking and strategy and pushing myself creatively. It's not about the specifics; it's about the process. That's where the lesson is learned. The output is almost always secondary to me, though I don't know if I can say the same of response.

And even though I love my office with windows, I'm working out of my apartment for the next two days. I'm going to consume myself with this project in a way I can only do in the comfort of my home. I'm hoping I can come up with something that will make everyone happy. I'm always shooting for happiness.

And before this, there was more...

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