Streak to be Broken

Events of Thursday and possibly Friday will more than likely prevent my posting for a couple of days thereby breaking my daily posting streak (oh well). I start the long drive home Thursday morning and am hoping for clear roads and no frozen precipitation or the 16-18 hour drive will end up longer. Assuming no issues, my plan is to make it to somewhere around either Omaha or Lincoln on Thursday (Google maps says 10 hours and 4 minutes to Lincoln) so I can have a shorter day driving on Friday and get home at a decent hour.

Here’s hoping for a clean drive, a lack of sleepy eyes, and decent radio stations……..

Late Post Today

I got distracted after work today, not on anything special, just distracted, so finally getting to the blog.

I am hopeful I did not come off too "know it all" in an around the desk gathering at work today. At a nearby desk I overheard part of a conversation, and being interested, I got up, scooted around the cube farm walls, and joined the conversation. I didn't jump right in, I listened, learned, etc. then technical lead of the box I am working with looked at me and asked, "Do you have any experience with X?" X being the subject of discussion, yet not really important for this story so we'll leave it an undefined variable.

My response, "Yes." Then we started discussing the issue at hand, and the problems they were having. I jumped right in with talk of solution A, followed shortly by solution 2 and idea IV. (Yes, just dummy variables again. It's all really technical, so you wouldn't understand)  :-P

I didn't run away with the conversation, and we batted around the ideas and settled quickly on a couple I had presented since they made sense, were easy to implement, and I had data to share of how well they have worked in the past in my experience.

These are the ends of work days that make me realize how much of this stuff I really do know, and how good I really am at what I do. And, I will add, that as I have said to many for years, as an engineer, I am also a salesman, selling my ideas and getting them to buy my solutions. The art of communication in a technical field is far to often dismissed. I believe differently and feel real good about how my communication skills were able to help the team come up with some solutions today that will save money, reduce risk and are easily implemented.

Yeah, I did good............and I am not too humble to occasionally say that I am really good at this.

Well

Okay, back to the weather........but not because it is so cold. Today, we have a 50+ degree F swing from yesterday. Today it was an almost balmy 26F. Yesterday, I think I saw -30F. What a difference a day makes, and how warm does 26F feel after that. Wow! Not quite warm enough to not wear the jacket, but boy did things get slushy on the roads. I can't wait to wear t-shirt and shorts in Colorado while it is in the 40s  :-)

Sunday

Just a nice relaxing Sunday here. Nothing I have to do, just a lazy day.

Short and Sweet

Just a short and sweet post today.

I have cried......giant tears flowing down my face.....I am hurting and can only imagine what the kids of Arapahoe High School are feeling. I pray for the girl who was shot, and for her family as they go through this unreal tragedy. I pray the kids and parents will take the time to talk about these events instead of keeping them bottled up. But mostly I pray that each one of the kids is getting extra hugs from a loving family.

Things like this should not happen, but they do. Now we, as Arapahoe High School Warrior parents, students, teachers and alumni will come together and take care of each other. We will weep together and grow stronger through it.

A special note of thanks to the teachers and staff who care for our children and love them almost as much as we do. The job of a teacher has become so much more as we include protector in the long list of things they do for us and our children. Thank-you!

Warriors always take care of each other!

I love my sons!!!!!

Another shooting in a Colorado High School today. Danny and Josh are both home safe with Linda. I have no idea how close or far they were from the incident as it occurred. One thing this brings out to me is how short life is, and how precious our time with our children is. I cried today knowing they were close to this, and that I am so very far away and not able to be there to hold them, laugh with them, and beat the living shit out of anyone who harms them. I love having a job and love what I do, but I need to be nearer to them. Being this far away at times like this hurts the most.

I love you Danny and Josh and am sorry I can't be with you there today and am sorry that you had to have this happen.

Oops!!

Making myself some dinner tonight, cooking up the cheese stuffed pasta, warming up precooked chicken, and warming up a nice alfredo sauce to bring it all together. Yum!!!

Taking the alfredo from the microwave, hmmmm, to hot to hold, put it on this and move it to the counter. Then, OOPS! The container with a lid not really seated, fell, about 4 and a half feet, to the floor.....alfredo sauce EVERYWHERE except where I wanted it, on the pasta. DAMN!

Oh well, backup plan, Olive oil and some spices, after a LARGE hot wet cleanup in the kitchen.

Soon

It is just over a week from now that I will get to head back to Colorado for another trip home. I am so ready. Not looking forward to the drive, but plan to make it a two day event heading home, so not quite as painful, but I am a little concerned about being able to maintain a good speed this time of year.

In other news...........there is absolutely nothing else going on here. Work, eat and sleep mostly.

Um....Ya...

Yes, it’s cold here, but I have done more than enough posts on the weather here in Winnipeg for now, so let’s move on.

It’s time to revisit one of my old stand-by gripes in the work place. All I should have to say is, “It’s not that hard!” or “Really?!?!” generally uttered only in my head, or under my breath, but occasionally, as I drive away, I fear I will shatter a window or two with my bellows of incredulity.

Most of the people I work with are engineers. To be an engineer requires an education, and not an easy one at that. Usually we engineers are problem or puzzle solvers, and somewhat precise (read: OCD). So how is it that this one engineer I work with, who shall remain vague in reference, can’t figure out how to get two separate time card systems to agree? The first month was a learning experience for us all, but I did not find it difficult. BUT, this second month should have been a breeze after working out the kinks last month.

The powers that be back home spent 2 hours on the phone with this engineer, trying to get the two systems to reconcile so they could bill the company here. TWO HOURS!!!!!! OMG!!!! And now, we “get” to have a meeting with us here and those back there to make sure we get it right for next month. WTF?!?! I looked this person square in the eye and said, “Hmm, I didn’t get any calls for issues. It didn’t seem all that hard.” I’m not sure he really got what I was implying, oh well. His email to those of us that will meet was that the system here breaks down to tenths of an hour (6 min intervals) where the one for our company back home only to quarter hours (15 minute intervals) so he says they will never be the same. Uhhhhh, what?!?! It is your JOB to make them the same! If you need to “give” a few minutes or, oh no, work a little longer, to get them there, then DO IT. The MOST we are talking about is 24 minutes.

I have now spent more time writing this blog than I have needed in the last 2 months to get my time inputs correct such that there are NEVER any questions or issues. I’m really not that smart folks, I just listen, learn, and apply it. WOW!!!! How did you get this far as an engineer, and how in the world did you get this job? I hate to think of your competition for the position.

Okay, Judgmental Stu is going back into his box now.

Wow!!!

Listening to the radio on the way to work this morning........"currently -29, feels like -40." Yep, that's right, -40. On what scale you ask? BOTH. That spot is the one place where Fahrenheit and Celsius are the same, -40. I will just say that I never in my life expected to have to feel -40, and now that I have, I'm good, don't need to do it again. But, it looks like we should be there for a while now.......ugh.

Not Sure

I stopped telling Facebook that I posted, so I'm not sure if anyone is actually reading these or not. Oh well, won't stop me from writing them.

The big news is temperature, bitter cold here and back home in Denver. Bitter bitter bitter cold. I am not as tough as I once thought I was, so I stayed inside most of the weekend. But, I did get out a bit today for groceries, etc. and yes, it was frikking cold out there. my truck thermometer said -14F when it struggled to turn over, but did. My cold induced asthma said, get the heck back inside, quick, wheeze wheeze wheeze.

Here's hoping the battery will support a start of the truck tomorrow morning in the bitterness of the cold.

Coffee or Tea?

I posted recently about my love of a good cup of coffee, and I still stand by that. However, especially in this frozen space and time, I am finding a GOOD cup of tea is quite nice. My belated birthday present to myself this year, purchased after work yesterday, is a good tea mug, infuser, and three very very nice loose leaf teas. I am steeping a mug as I type, and have found a new pleasure.

Yes, I still have COFFEE first thing in the morning, I'm not sure if that will every change. BUT, I've got a couple caffeinated and one bed-time brew of tea that I am loving. So my answer to the Title question is: YES, Please.

Have a great day, and stay warm, inside and out.

Part Deaux

Whew! That was close, another 75 minutes and I would have broken my streak of a post each day.

I just got home from my second time Curling. Yet again, a great time. I ended up as a spare (read: substitute) on the team playing against the team I played on last time, with folks from work here. Well, I would like to think it isn't me, but the work team won their first match of the season against me/us. Good fun was had by all!

BUT, actually butt.....yes, this time I actually hit a slick spot while sweeping and ended up flat on mine. I will have a bruise on my right cheek, but the pride wasn't even hurt too badly. I felt even better when a sweeper on the opposing team almost did the same thing in the same spot a few minutes later. Most importantly, I did not hit the stone with my broom or feet or head or anything else when I fell, so the shot was still legit.

Now for an evening cup of tea as I wind down from the day and try to get warm.

Sometimes……

Sometimes you’re the cheetah, sometimes you’re the Ostrich and other times you’re the photographer watching it all pass you by. Which one are you today?