Snow day? Not quite.

Rise at 6:00 to newly fallen snow, and a reminder of why I never watch local news broadcasts. Apparently there were "horrendous conditions" in Hartford, if I were to believe the banner across the bottom of the screen. In other words, some snow & slush with a 90% chance of local news trying to make an ordinary snow storm seem newsworthy.

Log in to check on the weekend runs, and coordinate a bit with one of the customers on a failed job. Grab some breakfast and head out to clear the driveway. While using the snow-blower, a crack and loud bang as a tree up the street loses a branch and crosses the power lines. Power goes out on the street, but by the time I've completed clearing the driveway and back stairs, a police car, fire emergency vehicle, town maintenance and power company truck have all been by and power is restored. It's good to live in this part of town.

Out to work, cleaning up some items and working with the BA on comparing QA and Production, in order to make sure we are ready for the next phase of development. Lunch, and then working on the agenda for tomorrow's group meeting. Ah, the exciting life of an office drone.

New, slightly menial, work arises in the afternoon. Going through the file systems on the servers to see where we are chewing up space (about 3TB in use). Amazing how much we have available to us, and we immediately fill it. Even 10 years ago, volumes like this were unheard of (at least in business).

Home, dinner of leftovers, and practicing Intergalactic Boogie Express. Some good progress and quality work, though tempo and maintaining the triplet feel are still areas that need a whole lot of work.

To bed relatively early (10:00), feeling more tired than I thought I would.

How do you know they can do what they tell you they can?

Rise slowly again this morning - alarm at 6:00 rise at 6:20. I neglected the preparations from last night, so in addition to the normal morning routine I have to put together breakfast and lunch. (As a result, as I cast my thoughts back to the beginning of the day, I forgot to take my vitamins.)

In to the office by 7:30, a quick review of e-mail (I'm still new enough that e-mail doesn't take up a ridiculous amount of time), then discuss the morning's meeting agenda with Peggy. A bit of time on arranging the day, then to the meeting.

My first real meeting coordinating the Hedging agenda; a few bumps, but not too bad. Back after the meeting to another impromptu scheduling meeting for one of the higher priority projects in the queue, and some good results there. Lunch, and updating documentation and project plans. Uncover some process discrepancies as I go through this, and spend some time with the BA to work them out.

More work in the afternoon updating project plans. I think I'm going cross-eyed, but the upshot of this, in connection with some reading I'm doing, I believe I have a good way to show evidence of the work that I am doing, and how this could be leveraged for this and other opportunities. The genesis of this comes for DeMarco & Lister's Peopleware, in a chapter called 'Hiring a Juggler'. Basically, they describe a hiring interview with a juggler - he says he can do all the things the manager asks. At the end of the interview the juggler asks if the manager would like to see him juggle, and the manager says "I never thought of that." Having evidence that we can do the work speaks volumes. Now, I'm looking at what would constitute meaningful evidence for a Project Manager, and how I can develop and carry that with me (whether I pursue other work internally or decide to move on).

Find the steady state

Alarms at 5:15 and 6:00, rise at 6:30. Morning routine, and a kiss on the forehead for my sick wife. I really feel for her, as these lingering stomach issues can be a real bear. Out the door about 30 minutes later than usual, so correspondingly later in to work.

On my own today, and mostly following up on open items (the local manager works 4 long days and has Fridays "off" - I say "off" because I've heard from her several times today). Meeting agendas and some calls out to get status updates. So far, everyone has been generous with their time and information. A refreshing change.

A brief meeting with my former Bayer colleague. He's the manager for the other half of the team I'll be dealing with regularly, and a friend. We discussed the team personalities for his resources and mine. I'm building a personal reference that I could share at some point, if anyone has to work with these folks, or even if I have to work with them at a later date and I need a refresher about communications preferences and like. One hazard of this process is that it can have the taint of judgment. Our immediate experience can ultimately color our dealings and relationships. What I'm looking to glean from this conversation (and I intend to have others with most of the individuals) is a set of guidelines I can use when working with people, to make sure that they get the right information in the right way at the right time. It's a delicate balance.

Feeling less scattered today (though I have to temper that statement by saying I've missed most of the limb rotations). A lighter lunch comes as the result of an observation about how I get my food: I tend to fill whatever size container I have (basically, a food version of Parkinson's Law). I realized I should do two things at the salad bar to better manage the amount of food I consume: first, pay attention to how much I'm taking (duh) by resisting the urge to fill the container I have; second, use a smaller container, effectively allowing me to take less while still getting the feeling I've filled the thing up. I began this last night when I chose a smaller container for the bits that I bring to work (rather than pay for the weight of the salad bar).

Thursday - Am I Really Here

Rise with the 6:00 alarm. Dragging a bit this morning - I think I'm still adjusting to being at work again and I still have an odd sleep schedule from the holidays. Feeling a bit less distracted this morning, though the drive in was a bit vacant. In to the office, get set up and have breakfast (bagel, cream cheese & raspberry white tea).

Begin the day preparing for meetings, the first to review the month's release schedule with the IT team, and then to bring that to the client manager to verify that this is, in fact, what they need and when. Some priority items, and an unusual experience: being able to set direction. We seem to have the flexibility to limit what goes through the system, rather than the customer forcing everything at once. They actually expect and rely on the IT people to make sound judgments as to what can go when, and when we recommend something to avoid a conflict, they actually listen.

Good morning, and I had the deceptive feeling that I am beginning to understand some of the things going on. I know better.

Lunch, still figuring out how to moderate a bit more. Some raw spinach, cucumber, tofu, fresh mozzarella, kalamata olives and ranch dressing. Slightly less volume than yesterday, but I believe I need to adjust down again - I could probably do with about half the tofu & mozz I had today.

Completing meeting minutes in the afternoon and checking up on a monthly procedure and its results. So far, so good.

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Home to a still-sick wife. She's been sick off-and-on since before Christmas, with her stomach being the main culprit. Not a happy thing. Some minor cleanup and readying for the morning, then some light computing and to bed.

Wednesday - And Back to Work

Grudgingly rise with the 6:00 alarm, sit shower and collect my things for work. Getting the hard-boiled egg ready, it turns out that I didn't cook them nearly long enough, so I'll have to address that tonight. Out on the road and in to work at 7:15.

Begin the new year with a number of issues. I'm beginning to get a sense of the scale of work here, but I have a feeling I have another few weeks of assimilating the information about the environment and business before I can make truly independent (and quality) decisions about then work that needs to happen. Many items on the docket for the year already, so I'll be jumping straight into the fire. I have to be careful - I have a tendency to rush headlong into these things without considering repercussions. This is definitely an environment that requires more careful consideration. The more I look at it, this is a necessary environment for me.

I must still be detoxing from my Bayer experience. Had a dream/nightmare last night where I was still working for my last manager, though I think the dream was really about communication. Also had confirmation on New Year's eve that my declining another offer was the right thing to do. That environment was definitely not the right one for me. Still so much more to work through.

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Afternoon is much better - a mea culpa or two, and reassuring the local manager after watching her twitch during the morning's events. Some final meetings and review of a new item, and now to head home.

Tuesday - Another Year

A very late and leisurely rise this morning. Not too crazy on the festivities last night, though it was the first time in a very long time that we have gone and stayed out for New Year's. A good time at our friends Don and Jean's house, with a few other folks. One person there was a former Bayer person as well, though from a time before I arrived. We still knew many people and were able to share updates.

Begin the day in the limbs in a new configuration, per Victor's request. A little different, but I'm sensing that I can make the adjustment easier now that this exercise has been going on for a while. Still, it's good to intentionally shake things up on occasion.

A tough day staying focused. I've always had issues focusing, but lately I'm like a magpie in a field of costume jewelry. I begin one thing, only to uncover another and drift on to that, and so on. If I manage to stay focused on the thing I began, I completely lose the other and never come back to it. I'm also irritable and cranky. I have a sense of some of the reason why this is, but the person I need help from is essentially unavailable.

The house struck again today, twice. First, I went to replace the occasionally leaky kitchen faucet. As it turns out, the unit is plumbed with 3/8" copper directly to the assembly. The current faucet has inlets set at the sides of the unit, and the new one has both inlets in the center. I can either cut the copper, re-cap the lines and put in flexi-hose, or return the current faucet and see if I can find a faucet (naturally more expensive) that has the wide set. So much for a quick fix. Second, there was a strong smell of fuel in the entryway. We have natural gas heat, so it wasn't fuel oil, and you could only smell it at the bottom of the stairs near the half-bath that is rarely used. In a rare flash of insight, I went into the bathroom (where the smell was stronger) and flushed the toilet. About 30 minutes later, all better. Your lesson for the day: make sure that you periodically flush all the toilets, lest the sewer gases find their way into your home. (And these things in addition to the pinhole leak I found at random on the furnace water intake. I still need to permanently fix that.)

Shopping in the afternoon (two trips, due to more inattentiveness), and pick up stocks of food for the week. The vacuum sealer is getting more of a workout now that we've got the freezer downstairs. Make up some salmon for the week to try cooking sous vide (one olive oil and spices, one lemon pepper), hard boil some eggs, and prep some tofu for lunch this week.