Third Week of my New Role at Work

Three weeks ago several members of the account I work on were asked to switch roles with each other. I was one of 6 or 7 asked to move to a different role, a move I welcomed. Several of us have questioned why management decided to do this switch but after talking to a few of the team I think I know why.

One of the people who switched had expressed an interest in project management. The role he was doing is very process oriented and they asked me to fill it.

I was not happy in my current role and to be honest, it was not a good fit for me. It required a degree of network knowledge that I did not possess and that made things awkward on a team that was already very short staffed.

They backfilled the role I was performing with someone who had done the role many years ago and had the skill set to fit in better with the team. He seemed indifferent about the switch, but he does not seem disappointed about it.

His role is being back filled with a guy who used to assist the person whom I am replacing. Like many people on the account, we do a hodge podge of functions and handing them all over to one person usually is a little chaotic. So what has happened is that some of the functions are being moved to the logical person. The problem with that is that the logical person is me and now I am doing a new role plus parts of other people's roles as well. It makes for a hectic day. They work is not hard (I still ask a lot of "Where do I find ..." questions) but the volume over the past 2 weeks has been insane. I am getting about 150 e-mails a day, most all of which need research. Delegating any of it is difficult because the person who did this before me liked to be involved with everything. I guess he wanted to make sure that everything was done correctly, but it had a price. He got very little sleep and his health is somewhat frail. He did manage to do a super job of documenting things and that has been a big help.

As for the other people, I am not sure how they all fit into the puzzle, although one of them has been asking me do things for him that he can do on his own (following up with on site people regarding asset management) but after talking to him he is okay with doing those talks himself now.

The funny thing is that what my boss wants me to do, what I do, and what others think I do are three different things. I actually could use an assistant (Yes I am that busy) but I am not sure how that would all work. We have one I could leverage, I am sure since she is not overly busy but I am not sure how my boss would like that.

Something to think about.

Animal Issues

First up, "The Wabbits".

My wife decided that having them in the yard was just too much of a temptation for our curious senior dogs (who love to chase bunnies) so she scooped the half dozen babies and took them to animal control. My wife then proceeded to fill the hole with fresh dirt. The mother came by that night and looked for them. We knew this because the hole had been emptied. Momma misses her babies, I guess.

Next up, our newest Golden mix (the Irish Setter / Golden Retriever that I call my Golden Irish) has melanoma (Skin Cancer). We rescued her from a shelter and do not know her exact age. She is at least eight but I think she is closer to 10 due to the amount of grey she is getting around her face. We took her to the vet who removed one of the masses (she has a couple that w have found) and had the pathology done. While he did not think it was cancer when he saw it, the report shows otherwise. The mass was on her left front paw and was causing great pain when she tried to walk on it. The wound is healing now (we had to take her back to get staples put on the incision because the glue/stitches did not hold) but if the mass comes back, the vet has to be more aggressive, meaning My Golden Irish will lose a big part of one of her paw pads.

The Golden Irish is relatively new to our family...about a year or so and I have grown really attached to her due to her sweet disposition. She does not have the stamina to hang with me on geocaching hikes (she can go about 2 miles before tuckering out and I tend to go 5+ when I am out), so I am not sure how much fun she would be on those. That was one thing I wanted to be able to do with our next dog, geocache.

I am hoping the surgery will take care of the melanoma on her (both grows are on her paw pads, the second one has not grown any). God can do anything but I also know that he uses every situation to teach us something that we need to learn.

The pic is of The Golden Irish wearing my boonie hat while we vacationed at the beach. Her paw was really beginning to bother her so we had to walk her on the softer sand when possible.

Wabbits!

My wife and I discovered a small nest of six rabbits in the back yard. The dogs were at first afraid of them but now that they know what they are, they won't leave them alone. We have only seen the momma once and that was at night. Not sure what to do about them. Call me a wuss but I just don't want to kill them outright but they will become a nuisance later on.

Back from Vacation

My wife and I, along with our two Golden mixes got back from our yearly vacation in Florida last night. It is about a 15 hour drive (not counting stops) so we broke it up over two days to make it a little less painless. We had a great time and we both were able to relax a bit.

The realization that I had to go back to work hit me on the way back and I was dreading what I would see when I got back. I had only 253 new e-mails from work...not bad really since that is only about 40 mails a day. I am not looking forward to playing catch-up but I am not going to stress about it.

The beach house we rented was pretty nice overall. It was older and the beds were not very comfortable at all but it had wireless internet, new appliances, a washer/dryer and was closer to the beach than the place we normally rented. Our newest dog had trouble with the stairs and she also has a problem with her foot that is keeping her from walking properly (some weird growth is on her paw...the vet will look at it this week)

I have my work cut out for me this week since I have three lawns to cut before it rains again. I need to start them tonight. Hopefully I can knock out two of the three lawns this evening. The grass is not overly high, but it is very thick which can be harder to cut than tall grass.

Attached is a sand castle that someone built. It is small but interesting.


Wiki articles on where we stayed:

St. George Island
St. George Island Bridge
St. George Island Home Page

Why?

Why is it that when you are trying to wrap things up so you can take some time off that more and more things get thrown at you? In the past four days I have had more project managers come to me literally demanding that I my team work on things for them, even though the team is stretched very thin. Most of these are projects that are due in less than 30 days (the PM's have known about them for months) and just the standard process to complete these projects (with all the checks and balances) will take longer than 30 days.

Crazy.

Work

I had an interesting thing happen at work a few days ago.

My boss and I went up to the visitors area to greet two visiting employees from Sweden (on male, one female). When we spotted each other, we said hello ("Hej" in Swedish) and exchanged pleasantries. Then the during out greeting, the female comes over and hugs me. That threw me for a loop. She never hugged my boss, she just said hello to him. Oddly enough he never really paid attention that this woman whom we just me for the first time, gave me a hug but not him. Not sure if I am the hug-able type or I reminder her of he grandfather. I have been dealing with the Swedes for over 15 years and have never had one hug me, male or female.

Anyway, I just had to tell my wife so she could get a laugh out of it.

The Downside to Lifetime Warranties

I replaced the kitchen sink and faucet in our home 7.5 years ago at the request of my wife who was tired at looking at the stock "contractor grade" faucet and sink that was in the house when we bought it. The house was only 3 years old when we bought it but the previous owners did not take many (if any) upgrades when they had it built. But I digress.

When I replaced the sink and faucet (a real challenge for me) my wife had chosen a decent mid grade El-Kay sink and Delta faucet. Unbeknown to me at the time, it had a lifetime warranty.

Fast forward to last week. I am working from home and my comes rushing into my office and tells me she needs me to come into the kitchen, ASAP. I get there and she shows me a leaking faucet. Now the model that she picked out and I installed is one of those where the sprayer hose is built in to the neck of the faucet. The sprayer is the neck and the hose is inside the rest of the neck. If you get a leak there, you really cannot use the faucet until you get it replaced.

I drove over to Lowes to see about getting the replacement hose and when I got there the guy in plumbing told me about the lifetime warranty. "All you have to do is call them up and they will get you another one, free of charge.", he said. Armed with that information, I headed home to order the part.

I got home and went to Delta's web site and found the contact number for support and after a few keypunches later, I had a live person. I related my story to her and after confirming the part number I needed, she told me all she needed was proof of purchase. Hmmm...I had no idea the thing had a lifetime warranty until an hour ago but a good geek always saves the manuals until the item is in the trash. I wondered if that would do. My phone rep told me that if I took a pictured of the faucet with the manual beside it and e-mailed it to her, she could get my part ordered. She gave me the e-mail address and I got busy.

Two business days later I got a confirmation e-mail that my information had been received and that the part had been ordered. It was expected within 10-12 days. Argh.

So that is the downside to lifetime warranties. The part is free but there is a lot of time wasted.

BTW, had the part not been free, it was $85 from Delta...specialty part.

"It's Too Expensive"

I was out with a friend of mine on Saturday after a successful morning of geocaching (yeah, I still do that on Saturdays) when we stopped at Steak and Shake for a quick bite. He owed me lunch so I let him pick the place. We sat down and we gave our drink orders to the server. I ordered sweet tea and my buddy ordered a water. "Why water? Are you on a special diet?", I asked.

"No," he replied "Tea is just too expensive to order when we eat out."

"DW, didn't you just spend $300 on a new iPhone 4 from AT&T?"

"Yes I did."

"And didn't you spend $200 a couple of years earlier on an iPhone 3GS?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Your wife has an iPhone, right?"

"Yes, she does, an iPhone 3GS we bought last year."

"And she also wants an iPad, right?"

"Yes."

"And SWEET TEA is too expensive?"

How High Can We Go?

Every day since our Texas Ice Age started, I have been desiring warmer temps. Every day we get a predicted high and a predicted low presented to us and every day the weather geeks have been wrong. I find that amusing.

It was predicted (as late as yesterday evening) that today's high would be in the low 40's. Well, it looks like this morning view into the crystal ball known as weather forecasting states it will be in the upper 30's. So it looks like the emergence from our frozen shell will not be as soon as hoped. Oh yes, it will be above freezing, but it would be nice to see the main roads clear of ice before summer hits.

The next 10 days or so show slowly warming until midweek when another cold snap comes through. My guess? This mess will be around a while.

LISTEN to me, please!

Time Warner Cable called the other day, offering us a "special" deal on their bundle. We are TWC customers, primarily for the internet service. It ain't cheap, but it is fast and mostly dependable. We also have the absolute minimum analogue cable television service we could get to carry the internet service that we have. We are not big TV people and what we watch we can usually get free or low cost from the web.

Anyhoo, when TWC calls they offered me a "great deal" on their bundle which includes TV, internet and digital phone service for $99.99 a month for a year. While I can appreciate bundles to save money, we have no need for landline phone service...my wife and I both carry mobile phones, plus I have a company provided mobile phone on a separate carrier. We are covered for telecoms without paying $40-50 a month for a dedicated landline.

I tell the kind woman on the phone that while I appreciate her offer, I have no need for landline and she goes through a litany of reasons why I need their service. Each reason I politely but firmly shoot down. I tell her that to be honest, if I could find fast, dependable, cheaper internet service, I would drop TWC in a heartbeat. This scares her and asks me how long I have been a TWC customer. I then have to go into the story of how we signed up for AT&T cable services until Comcast bought them out, then TWC bought out Comcast's interest in this area. So in all we have been cable customers for 10 years. She then offers to get me to a supervisor to cut me a deal to stay with them. I am not really amused, but I give them a shot. A few minutes later, the rep comes back on the line to make me a counter offer, which includes...you guessed it, home phone service.

Was she not listening to me? Does my hillbilly accent confuse her?

Politely, but firmly I explain again that even if the service was offered free, I would not accept it...we have no need for it with three mobile phones in the house.

I ask her if she can make me a deal on internet and TV for a good price, since I am such a loyal customer and all but alas, she is unable. Only bundles with phone service are offered. Gee, I wonder why?

I am not up with current landline pricing but I bet 33.33 is not all that much of a bargain. I know that 4+ years ago, we paid a base of $30 a month for landline service and that included caller ID and 50 minutes of long distance.

I am happy with mobile only service in our home. While it did bother my wife (for a couple of weeks) not having a landline, she does not miss it now at all. I personally cannot see why anyone who does not have kids living at home even bothers with landline service.

Just a wee bit cold

North Central Texas normally has rather mild winters. While we have been known to get some snow in the winter, it normally melts the same day or the day after it arrives. Every now and then we get snow or cold weather that lasts for more than a couple of days, but it is pretty rare.

On Monday evening we started getting some rain. Early Tuesday morning, a frigid cold front moved in and turned the DFW are into an icy wonderland. Anywhere from .5 to 2 inches of ice covered the streets, alleys, sidewalks and cars in the area. The temps got down to about 10 degrees or so and have not gotten above 20 since. It is currently 16 degrees (we are talking Farenheit here, not Celsius) but it is supposed to get up to 26. Still below freezing and the roads are still covered in ice.

Why are the roads still covered in ice? With the lack of severe weather in this area, the county/city does not have the equipment to to treat the roads and since salt is corrosive, they will not put that down to aid in the melting of the ice.

Needless to say I have been working from home all week long and don't plan making it into the office until at least Monday.

Oh, the added twist to all this is that since the grid has been pushed to the limits, we had "rolling bloackouts" yesterday, all day long in this area. We lost power for 15-20 minutes at a time every 60-90 minutes. It made work a tad difficult, especially conference calls that were using "virtual meeting rooms" hosted online. So far we have stayed stable in regards to power. I hope it stays that way.

Outsourced Funnies

No secret...my company outsources/offshores a lot of the support that we use/supply. Because I am in a situation to work with some of these resources, I get to read some pretty funny notes in e-mails and tickets. Two that I saw the other day were (edited and paraphrased):

"...engineers are still investigating the issue and are working to determine what is borken..." ("borken" is a term some geeks use around other geeks when things are really screwed up. Here it was just some fat fingering on the keyboard)

"...during the meeting the engineers stated that they needed to get clean cash before the situation will be resolved..." (I have never heard anyone admitting to money laundering before...especially an engineer!)

I am not picking on anyone who speaks English as a second language when I post these. I admire anyone who is bi, tri, or multi-lingual...because I am not!

Me and my Pre

I stated a while back that I would give an update on the Palm Pre Plus that my wife and I upgrade to a few months ago. After using the device for over three months, I can safely say that I think the OS (operating system) on the phone (HP WebOS) is rock solid. While the hardware is a little weak, it still is a fine little phone.

I hope HP will continue producing phones with HP WebOS on them. I have always been a fan of Palm and since HP purchased Palm some time back I have been dying to see what the two of them can do together.

As I type this, it is rumored that HP will release two "pad" computing devices akin to the iPad. I doubt that HP will be able to unseat Apple but I am looking forward to the rivalry when HP releases there mobile computing device.

Amusing

The past few weeks I have been catching up on past episodes of "Top Chef". While it is a reality show, I like it not for the drama, but for the crazy challenges the chefs have to compete in.

I also like it because I get to learn about various cooking techniques and being someone who likes to eat, I figured I should enjoy the process of cooking as well.

In one earlier episode (not sure which season), the chefs had to cook for some fancy party and one of male chefs created an "amuse bouche". One of the female guests tasted it and when asked her opinion, she replied with a bit of a sly grin, "My bouche was amused."

Well, I thought it was amusing.