Being a manager, January and February are absolutely insane months. Especially January, but the first half of this month is also no joke. Performance reviews, setting goals for the next year, accounting for what happened last year, meeting with the boss and the boss's boss (that one's not every year, but it was this year,) etc. Not to mention I'm the spreadsheet guy for the region, meaning I put together all the new spreadsheets to track stats, attendance, marketing, and everything else for all the Indiana centers and pretty much for anyone else who likes to use them.
And the problem is that most of my New Year's Resolutions have to do with dedicating time to things. So I always pledge to do things - get in the habit of doing things - that take time. So by the time things die down at work, the resolutions are gone from my mind. But this year I'm not forgetting. It's been a couple of weeks (like I said - the end of January is ridiculous), but I'm back. It may not be much of a post, but a post it is. My bigger writing problem is that I can't dedicate a lot of time to writing columns at MMATorch. I enjoy doing it, but it takes a good couple of hours of solid thought research and writing. And if I don't do it all at once, it makes things a lot tougher. But right now I'm working at work, then bringing my work laptop home and working some more after the kids go to bed. Or falling asleep - whichever comes first. Oh, and that's not even including the fact that it's the season for 24, Lost, and American Idol, among others. So this is not an interesting post, but it's here to make sure I don't stop posting before I forget.
Remember how we were going to drive to Delaware if the Eagles made the Super Bowl? Well, we went anyway. Last week was the visit with my boss's boss, and it went really well, but there was so much preparation involved, not to mention everything else that was going on, so I just wanted to get out of town for a few days. We conducted an experiment on the way out, making the 12-hour drive overnight on Thursday night. It actually went much better than I had expected. I'm a late driver and Jessica is an early driver, so I drove till about midnight and then she took over till about 5am. And the kids slept for most of the ride, so that made it even better.
The trip was nice; blissfully uneventful one might say. Some shopping, some hanging out, and watching the Super Bowl, followed by the second 12-hour drive in four days. That one wasn't actually too bad either. Really they were better than two drives of that length with two kids should be. So no complaints here. The other nice thing was that when I got back, it felt like I'd been gone for way longer than I actually had, so I was only backed up a couple of days, but it felt like a longer vacation. Good times.
Now, speaking of the Super Bowl. A lot of people talked right afterward about how great the game was, but I thought the first three quarters were horrible, followed by a great fourth. It was poorly officiated and poorly coached. Also, the Cardinals were robbed by the touchdown at the end of the first half. Harrison didn't get the ball across the goal line. I'm just sayin.
3 years ago
4 comments:
I request a more detailed explanation for why the word "really" is italicized...in an e-mail, if you prefer.
Well, you know how these things go. It was kind of tense at first, then we got to know each other a bit, and he loosened up, and I loosened up, and finally we made out.
But I kid! No, it was basically good because '08 was a rough year for the center, and usually he'll really get on center managers when they're having a tough time. But when I showed him everything we've been doing, and all the preparations we've been making, and how we're absolutely in a better position than we've been in before, he never questioned anything that we did, and actually made it sound like he was going to be an advocate for us with the VP, which is sorely needed until our numbers reflect our work. Janet said it's the best visit she's been to. He usually really grills the team, but never even came close to doing that with us. I was really dreading it, not because I didn't think I had answers for when the interrogation started, but because I was nervous that he wouldn't see the philosophy behind all the moves I've made. Luckily it worked out. Really well.
Ha! All this business talk that I don't get.
I disagree about that Harrison goal, though. And actually I thought the game as a whole was pretty good--especially the fourth quarter, but the whole thing, really.
Two well-matched teams pounding each other. I like.
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