OK, it's 6 months or so and I think I'm in the right frame of mind to start this again. The whole situation affected me quite a bit and a little bit more than I'd care to admit, but I've decided to just let it go. I'm tired of being an asshole and I'm just going to do my best to get back to being me. The full me. Not just the halfway, but sullen me; the real, likeable me. If that translates into any type of rewards/recognition at work, great! If not, who gives a shit? If they don't appreciate me, they can go jump in a lake for all I care. I'm done being negative and I'm going to make an effort to be more positive. Our six month "lock" was up in December and we can start posting for other positions within the firm again. I've already jumped on that chance and posted my resume for a technical writer position. Fingers crossed and all that jazz.
We started Jack in pre-school back in August. He's doing great and he loves it; he's made all sorts of little friends. this is him on his first day.
We're attempting to get Josh into Job Corps. School just isn't going all that well and this looks like a great opportunity for him. In addition to the vocational training, they assist participants getting either a GED or a high school diploma so that will be a great help for him as well. He has an orientation on Wednesday, so we'll see how it goes.
The holidays were good; did Thanksgiving at Mom's and Christmas at our house. Jack had a good Christmas. He was still a bit leery about Santa up until Christmas morning, then suddenly, he wasn't such a bad guy after all. Now Jack's been asking to go see Santa every day since then. It's a toss up for most popular gift: either the new Thomas the Tank Engine blanket or the Imaginext Batcave. He drags the blanket all over the place right after he wakes up, but just about every other waking moment, he's playing with the Batcave.
That pretty much covers it for now. Once again, I'm going to try to update this more regularly.
We've been going through a reorganization within IT in our firm for the last year. One of the director's pulled me into her office on Friday to inform me that the realignment has been a long and arduous process, she knows things are tense on the floor what with some people being laid off the day before, etc... "With the re-alignment, they only gave us a certain number of slots at [my level] and we're being held to that very rigidly..." At this point I have a pretty good idea of where she's going. "... and unfortunately, other people were considered to be better suited for that level. You'll be moved down a level, but there will be no salary impact."
Color me pissed.
Not losing any pay takes a little of the sting out, but it still REALLY sucks. I've worked my ass off around here and keep managing to get reviews that paint me above average, but not good enough to rate an annual bonus. Last year, the reviewer noted that I had "spiked" into 'exceptional', but I didn't live there. This year I tried to do even more and take on more side projects and I get demoted. WTF??
I'm viewing this as a catalyst; not to work even harder, but to work even harder at getting my ass out of tech support and into another IT group in the firm where my efforts will be more appreciated. My goal is to be out of the help desk by Christmas.
Well, looks like I'll be commuting by car for a few weeks. DOT is improving a major intersection along my route and the lane shift has made it too dangerous for me to ride through there. Unfortunately, the location of this section makes it impossible to go around without adding another 8 miles or so to my ride, so I'm screwed. It really sucks, what with gas prices being what they are now and having to deal with traffic on a regular basis again. I also haven't had a chance to try out the new bike rack at work either; it's kind of a bummer, especially since the property management company responded so quickly to my request to replace it. Hopefully, they can get whatever it is they're doing that forced them to shift the lanes completed pretty quickly and I can get back out on the bike again.
On the up-side; I'm getting some responses from people in my office to my post seeking runners to create a corporate team for the Ragnar Relay. I've only had 2 other people commit to it, but I've heard from a lot of people that are interested. The guy that somehow roped me into being the team captain says that it was a "slow burn" when he brought the race up to his running club. It started slow, but then took off; I'm hoping I'll see similar results here. The whole event looks like a lot of fun and I really want to be able to use the captain role in my annual appraisal next year. These kind of "extra-curricular" things always look good to the higher ups.
What is it with people that drive these gigantor SUVs, but slow down almost to a stop to go over a speed bump?? I was pulling into the garage this morning and got stuck behind someone in a Suburban who was taking the speed bumps at 5 mph. Seriously? If they're afraid to take it over a speed bump, why the hell did they buy the monstrosity? Are they compensating for big shortcomings elsewhere or do they enjoy taking out a home equity loan just to fill their gas tank? It boggles my mind.
I made a posting on our company forum looking for 11 other runners to help me form a team for this:
http://www.ragnarfl.com/
"This 191 mile adventure-fest will push you and 11 pals from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean. Starting in Clearwater and finishing in Daytona Beach this relay offers runners a unique opportunity to run across the state of Florida as it passes through the shoreline towns of Palm Harbor, Tarpon Springs, New Port Richey, and the horse country of the Ocala National Forest. The race (and your stamina) wraps up within earshot of the roaring engines of the Daytona 500 and the crashing waves of the Atlantic Ocean."
Within about 5 minutes, I get an instant message from the guy that coordinates our entries for the the Gasparilla Distance Classic every year and also sends out the informal running newsletter for the office. He was going to include it in the message he was going to send out on Friday and wanted to know if I wanted to be a team captain. At some point, I foolishly agreed to this. So, not only am I going to participate in a race that will see me running a relay across the state, I'm a team captain. Which means that I can't back out if I come to my senses at some point. Oh well; it looks to be quite the adventure and the team captain part will look good on my annual self appraisal next year. It will be a pretty good example of "team building".
TOKYO (AFP) - A Japanese man puzzled by food mysteriously disappearing from his refrigerator got a shock when he found out a woman had been living in his home for months without permission, police said Friday.
WTF??? How do you not notice something like this? What is it about Japan, why are they always the source of all the really weird stories?
Mainstreaming Terrorism to Sell Donuts - from www.littlegreenfootballs.com
"I didn’t believe this story when people first started emailing about it; but sure enough, it’s true. Dunkin Donuts, the venerable old fried dough seller, is the latest American firm to casually promote the symbol of Palestinian terrorism and the intifada, the kaffiyeh, via Rachael Ray"
Someone please tell me this is satire. People can't really be this stupid, can they?
We started Jack in pre-school back in August. He's doing great and he loves it; he's made all sorts of little friends. this is him on his first day.
