It was a long, long week. Stuff at work was an uphill battle every day. Finally, after a full day Saturday, I felt like we'd begun to pull ahead. Following that, we congregated at the boss' house for beers, pizza and fellowship. Sue got to meet folks for the first time. It was a nice evening.
There hasn't been a lot of time for activities other than work lately. Hopefully, that will change now that we've slain a few dragons. Sue, Laura, and I will be attending the wedding of a young woman from our church next weekend. I have started a stool from cherry, but will have to work evenings this week to be finished on time.
It seems like there should be a million things to say, but I'm tired and the wisdom just won't make it's way to the keyboard this evening....perhaps another evening.
J
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Happens every time
Forgive me if I talk about work stuff this time a bit more than I like. We all spend a huge amount of time on our work, and it shapes who we are.
A few months back I was hired by a new company to help them put in a new system and to make it run in their day-to-day business in a manner that would improve the overall performance of the company. I've done this kind of thing before, so it was no surprise to me that we reached a point where the general attitude was, "OMG! What have we done?!"
This is actually perfectly normal....happens every time a new system is installed. Even knowing it's normal, though, it's still a huge bunch of work to get past the OMG phase. I think we've turned the corner. After working screwy hours and weekends, I'm actually going to take a day off (if nothing breaks) this week. Still stuff to fix, but becoming confident that when I fix it, it will stay fixed and I won't have to go back and re-fix it. We can now quit worrying about "does it work" and begin the work of convincing everyone else that "it is working".
Life at home is all good and normal. Both kids are self-supporting but still keep us included in their lives. Rob has new professional challenges but will survive and perhaps even prosper. Laura's work is good, and she even has a boyfriend. Sue is happily adapting to the role of Grandmother. I pretend that being a Grandfather hasn't phased me, but it sure is fun to play with the little scutter when I do get the chance.
So, I should end yet another insomniac entry. I have things to accomplish tomorrow so I'll be able to take Friday off.
A few months back I was hired by a new company to help them put in a new system and to make it run in their day-to-day business in a manner that would improve the overall performance of the company. I've done this kind of thing before, so it was no surprise to me that we reached a point where the general attitude was, "OMG! What have we done?!"
This is actually perfectly normal....happens every time a new system is installed. Even knowing it's normal, though, it's still a huge bunch of work to get past the OMG phase. I think we've turned the corner. After working screwy hours and weekends, I'm actually going to take a day off (if nothing breaks) this week. Still stuff to fix, but becoming confident that when I fix it, it will stay fixed and I won't have to go back and re-fix it. We can now quit worrying about "does it work" and begin the work of convincing everyone else that "it is working".
Life at home is all good and normal. Both kids are self-supporting but still keep us included in their lives. Rob has new professional challenges but will survive and perhaps even prosper. Laura's work is good, and she even has a boyfriend. Sue is happily adapting to the role of Grandmother. I pretend that being a Grandfather hasn't phased me, but it sure is fun to play with the little scutter when I do get the chance.
So, I should end yet another insomniac entry. I have things to accomplish tomorrow so I'll be able to take Friday off.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Just me and the cats
It's a nocturnal moment. Nobody stirring except me and the cats, and they aren't moving too fast. Fell asleep in my chair after a very long day at the end of a hard week. Woke with the need to go to the bathroom and then not ready to go back to sleep.
Amanda has started back to work this week. Sue will be watching Nathan on Fridays, when she has her regular weekly day off. Yesterday was his first day here, but I didn't get to see him since I left for work before he arrived and didn't get home until he was gone again.
It's supposed to be like August here this weekend..hot and humid. There have been only 3 days that hit 90 so far this summer, so we really can't kick.
Work has been a bit draining lately. As happens with system implementations, we've reached that point where's there's no return and our reaction is, "OMG! What have we done?!!!" We had an all day meeting with the software vendor and our key staff this Thursday and hammered out solutions for show stoppers. We'll get through this and be better for it, but I'm surely getting too old for this stuff. At least the long day Friday will mean I don't need to spend most of the weekend working.
We will be having contractors back at the house soon. The carpenters will be back to install venting for the kitchen vent fan (they couldn't go through the roof when there was snow on it). Then we will call the floor guy back in to have him refinish the back half of the house.
Sue and I will be taking vacation in October. The current plan is to go see Colonial Williamsburg. Plans are in the very early stages; no specifics just yet. We've thought about driving since we haven't seen much of the eastern part of the U.S. But, since it's a 14-hour drive each way, we also think it might be kind of dumb to take 4 days of seven just getting to and from our destination.
Amanda has started back to work this week. Sue will be watching Nathan on Fridays, when she has her regular weekly day off. Yesterday was his first day here, but I didn't get to see him since I left for work before he arrived and didn't get home until he was gone again.
It's supposed to be like August here this weekend..hot and humid. There have been only 3 days that hit 90 so far this summer, so we really can't kick.
Work has been a bit draining lately. As happens with system implementations, we've reached that point where's there's no return and our reaction is, "OMG! What have we done?!!!" We had an all day meeting with the software vendor and our key staff this Thursday and hammered out solutions for show stoppers. We'll get through this and be better for it, but I'm surely getting too old for this stuff. At least the long day Friday will mean I don't need to spend most of the weekend working.
We will be having contractors back at the house soon. The carpenters will be back to install venting for the kitchen vent fan (they couldn't go through the roof when there was snow on it). Then we will call the floor guy back in to have him refinish the back half of the house.
Sue and I will be taking vacation in October. The current plan is to go see Colonial Williamsburg. Plans are in the very early stages; no specifics just yet. We've thought about driving since we haven't seen much of the eastern part of the U.S. But, since it's a 14-hour drive each way, we also think it might be kind of dumb to take 4 days of seven just getting to and from our destination.
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