The Office over the stairs AND the editorial department...

This is me. Stuck upstairs at Portland Magazine because one of the photography interns that doesn't need to be downstairs for regular editorial assignments has decided to sit downstairs in what I lovingly refer to as "The Cave". BUT!  The Cave is shouting distance from the ad director, the editor/publisher, the ad department and, naturally ... the assistant editor herself.
The downside to being upstairs (and I feel a little like Harry Potter in the cupboard under the stairs)?
1) No air conditioning, and today in Maine: it's humid as hell and I'll I've really got is a fan. Blowing hot sticky air at yourself doesn't do much for the "cooling off" process.
2) Crappy workspace with chairs that are way too low for the executive desk
3) A bunch of busted old Macs, scanners, and PC hard drives ... so in addition to Harry Potter's Cupboard Under The Stairs -- It's also a little like an elephant graveyard.
4) Really shotty Internet, and I'm not exactly a patient person. We live in a digital age with lightning-fast connection speeds, damn it.

I've also found that just about every publication is the same when it comes to reaching the impossible people: they all think they're the cats meow and hell, why shouldn't person "X" want to speak with them? Naturally, PortlandMag feels it's too good for the media inquiries box and of course, wants me to find contact information for a founder/CEO that absolutely doesn't have his information public, has trained all of his staff to not release contact information and defer all media to the media inquiries box ...

I kinda feel like I'm chasing my tail here, but apparently, research and fact checking is my speciality. Just for the record, this is exactly why I enjoyed being an editor. ;) I could defer this boring and tedious crap to reporters.

In other news: it's trash day in the city of Portland. Portland sits right on the waterfront, so in addition to the overwhelming odor of day-old seafood that's been cooking in the summer sun ... we also have the smell of garbage. I stepped out of my car this morning and wrinkled my nose and immediately wanted to get the hell out of here. I think it's quite possible this town is decomposing.