Sixtyone - A Team, not The "A" Team

I had a discussion with one of my employees today who was concerned about the state of his project team. We were quite honest about team dynamics and what makes a team, a team. It was apparent that he wanted the team to be better, but it is not easy to work with some people, and let's face it, their not going to change unless they want to change. It is a shame really, because the project is quite interesting, but the work ethic of some, the spotty planning from others, and the time demands of the rest make the interest dissipate which is then replace by frustration and un-enthusiasm. Some things need to change.

Sixty - ?WTF?

I was going to Diablog about stupid people at work who try every excuse to not do work when they have been caught or proven to not have done what they were responsible for. Needless to say I just Diabloged about it. Anyway, what a waste of a post...

Fiftynine - Learning to Walk

There is much celebration in the little things and the big milestones in watching the learning and development of your own child. It is really awesome, because this weekend our son walked... 11 steps. Totally awesome. Now it seems like he needs to out do himself still by trying to pronounce everything we say, and he's still less than 15 months old! Total Rockstar this kid!

Fiftyeight - State of the Union

My wife and I began a discussion on the US today, and it became apparent that the mood was quite depressive. So we decided to change the topic, but the feeling and thoughts of the conversation stuck with me for a while.

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.