Fiftyseven - House Swap

We're tired of shelling money out for our house. I swear all we do is cut checks to everyone. Now we may actually sell it, and I feel like were giving it away. I don't have the energy to negotiate because I too tired of dealing with this as a liability. I don't know, if it is meant to be bought by this person, then it will happen, if not I don't want to sweat it.

Fiftysix - King of Tangents

My boss and my counterpart are kings of tangents. I had a meeting which was three hours which could have been one if they could just stay focused long enough to cover the topics which need to get covered. I don't know, it seems to be a bit ridiculous to explain everything and go on and on about BS. Hence I was on the phone until 7pm.

Fiftyfive - Running to stand still

I have been meaning to go for a run for a long time now, and it inevitably turns into lack of time, snow & ice on the ground, rain, too much work, etc. I am tired of it. I've given up too much of my lunch hours to work or cleaning up others messes when I should be de-stressing with a little bit of working out.

Fiftyfour - Werk, Part 2

So much of my time now is consumed with cleaning up other peoples messes. I feel like I am constantly following these people around at work with handfuls of toilet paper. I have come to the realization that some people do what they what and when forced to work on something which depends on them, they put forth the least amount of effort, cutting the shortest distance from point A to point B, and sweep it under the rug. Then when the issue rears its ugly head, and you need to ask these people what they have done, there is a dodge and flood tactic which causes you to chase them down until they respond. They then try to defer it to others, make up a story with several tangents, and then flood you with excessive information which is somehow not related to answering the issue you have raised, thereby creating more work for yourself so they can go about doing what they want to do, which, lets face it, amounts to very little and is non-participatory in getting the job done. I don't know how these people exist in companies, I am really curious.

Fiftythree - A Case of the Mondays

It's that time of the week again... The good thing today was that I could get a tram from my house direct to the train station, Nice! Other than that it was riddled with lengthy meetings and problems that should not have occurred. Then I came home and everything was great. Maybe Mondays are better spent at home.

Fiftytwo - Spring has Sprung

After all that snow we had, the little flowers have popped up through the grass and are in bloom! The days already seem a little longer, which means there is hope for warmth to come!

Fiftyone - Tram and Pram

We went to get on a tram yesterday with our stroller, and there were already 4 strollers crammed into the small space, and the last lady barely got on with an IKEA box. I gave up even before she managed to get on and backed away from the Tram. We had decided to take the next Tram which was about 4 minutes later. Somewhere, in the colostomy of Pram parents, it was decided to make room for us. I waved my hand several times to indicate "go on without us," but no avail. One of them wouldn't let go of the "hold the door" button, and the others kept shimming to make additional millimeters available to us. So we were forced to jump on, because now the entire Tram was watching us since we were holding up their precious timely Saturday cruise through the city. As we were boarding the Tram, the driver started to go. It was jump on or jump off, and since we were half on at the time, we jumped on. Total ridiculousness! I have never disapproved of my co-Tram riders than today, not to mention the Tram driver. The Tram driver is willing to fixate on a (insert spontaneous upset adjective here) schedule than the safety of children in strollers. Unbelievable.

Fifty - Toothification

Another trip to the dentist. This time my face was numb from my palate to my lower eyelid. I hate that feeling. Everyone looks at you because you talk funny, and one half of your upper lip and one nostril is immobile. I felt like one of the doctors in that one Twilight Zone episode where the lady was in an accident and they fix her face and when the bandages are removed her face is perfect and she screams but all the doctors and nurses all have distorted faces. Brush and floss more, eat less sugar crap, and it should be a better trip next time.

Fourtynine - WebEx

It seems like this is all the rage right now, people are using webex for everything. Yesterday I had two calls back to back on webex. The first I could see the benefit, because there were many people and there was a presentation. Makes sense, right? the second was a 2 hour conference call that could have been done using an intern extension. Instead we were asked to use webex dial in numbers, how ridiculous. We could have just burned cash.

Fourtyeight - Twentyfour

It has been more than 24 hours since my last post. This is mostly because I worked more than 12 hours yesterday. Quite ridiculous considering how much time that was spent in meetings or conference calls, 70%+. I guess work is a relative term.

Fourtyseven - TOMS

Train wrecks in Belgium, Death during Olympics, and countless other depressing and tragic things in the news, I thought I would dedicate this post to some outright positivity. My wife pointed out to me this small company with a simple plan: One to One. It means for every single pair of shoes you buy, one pair is donated to a child in a less fortunate area in third world countries. This is a beautiful message, which all businesses could learn from. You see, it puts people ahead of profit. It says, I don't need a bigger house, a faster car, or more of what I don't need. I says "I give a shit!" (NOT a direct quote from the company) It says, "I want to do good," and there is a way we can all benefit if we stick together.

Fourtysix - Meeting Attendance

We're convinced this guy on the other end of our phone conference is sporadically ditching the meetings. He (his voice) shows up, usually at the beginning of the meeting, asks a few questions, and by the end of the meeting he is gone. The next series of phone meetings we are planning to do a XYZ (insert his name here) Check. This would be a single pointed question towards him with an anticipated 'no response' or ' he had to go' from his colleagues. We'll have to see how this goes.

Fourtyfive - Zoo

Have you ever seen Hippos up close? These animals are huge! and we only saw a part of them. It was cold (hence all the previous posts about snow) so we when inside the hippo exhibit and saw them in there water area, grunting and honking. Wow, don't get too close to those guys...

Fourtyfour - Cornbread

My wife and I had experienced the best cornbread in the world when we were in college. There was this student cafe down the street where, when you had a few bucks, you could go, hang out, read, meet, and get a really good meal, cheep. They had the best cornbread there, and today we made our own from scratch in the spirit of this place in college, only this batch was mustered up from the finest in organic materials and came in the shape of muffins. We didn't have buttermilk like it called for, but none-the-less we used cream which came out fine. In fact, these were moist and golden brown with the course cornmeal and whole corn pieces just like we could remember. Slather on a piece of butter in the steamy center and these cornbread muffins were the best!

Fourtythree - Tardy

I was late with the last post, like I was late with this post. It seams this Diablog 365 is more of a challenge than a experiment. It is often difficult to come up with a topic during a busy week other than an overwhelming amount of snow which continues to fall. I will have to try to diversify and be more diligent about the posts.

Fourtytwo - Still Snowing

Yeap, more snow. It is falling more like powdered sugar than anything else. Not a ton, just constant.

Fourtyone - Guess what? More Snow

They say it will snow today and for the next two. We have unofficially been having snow on and off for the last 5-6 weeks. Unbelievable. I think this is the snowiest winter I can remember. Not to mention cold. It is expected to get down to 10-15 degrees F by Friday. yikes!

Fourty - First day of a short week

Since I was off on Monday (Yeah!) most of my meetings were today. I didn't really expect to get anything done. I felt like I actually did though, which is weird considering. I also think that since so many people are still in from out-of-town, that it may be impossible to get a long accomplished anyway. I try.

Thirtynine - Weather

It was completely sunny and cloudless this morning, and the sun had warmed up the mountain but not so much the snow. It seemed to crunch and squeak beneath our feet as we walked. Even though it was early and we could have stayed longer to enjoy the place we were at, we headed home. It went from warm at 5150 feet, to cold at the bottom of the mountain, to freezing when we got home. It is supposed to be 10-15 degree this week, so it will only get colder.

Thirtyeight - Quite Sunday

When we plan a three day weekend, I really like taking Mondays off. Most people take Friday off, and then when you stay somewhere, it is typically quiet on Sunday night. It makes it more relaxing and Mondays don't feel so down.

Thirtyseven - Mountains!

Whenever I go to the mountains, something happens. I just get lost in the intensity of them. I saw cold, giant, snow capped mountain against a really nice sunset, and it was quite relaxing, even though I lost my gloves and was freezing my ass off. Awesome!

Thirtysix - Another Friday

With all the melodrama coming to a close this week, I am quite please to be going away this weekend, and taking Monday off. Much needed time away.

Thirtyfive - Reorgs and Reviews

I swear this work week is longer than 5 days. Someone must have snuck another one in there while everyone wasn't looking...

Thirtyfour - What goes around, comes around

As much fun a personnel reviews wasn't, I had mine today. I would say it is pretty good and accurate, but it never fails that there is always something significant enough which is in disagreement. While adding fuel to the fire, despite my thorough and concise argument which would counter weight the point under normal circumstances, the fact is that the review is already submitted, signed off and approved. So what is the point in the review (i.e. the fuel)? This only overshadows all the good which was conveyed.

Thirtythree - Controlledchaos

There are so many people visiting at work this week its crazy. I really think somehow it is organized, but it still randomly out of control with above normal day-to-day activities which makes for quite a chaotic week. I am already looking forward to the weekend.

Thirtytwo - Musical Chairs

I guess the the thing which stood out the most today was another significant reorg only a few months after major reorg. Looks like the top people in our department are changing positions as well as where they sit in the world, and then one will leave all together a few months later. Now the politicking will begin. For the one that is leaving, I think they really has a strong influence on people, and for some in such a why that they could not see past the fact that this person drove them to be better at their job.