Today was a strange day at work.  Right now I am tasked with coordinating a remote team and making sure they work effectively, design and unit test reviewing for two teams in our local office, and providing technical guidance for a fairly important part of our application.  This causes me to have many cycles taken up with coordinating, scheduling, and emailing while at the same time having to keep my finger on the technical pulse of the group.  I really enjoy it when team members proactively seek my input after attempting to do a good job, and I’m happy to say that happened today.

However, there’s also the flipside: projects that are coming up to a deadline and more care must be spent to make sure testing and validation is done properly otherwise “it’s my ass on the line.”  I’m fine with taking on these tasks, but I don’t like it when I’m made to do this work after effectively delegating the implementation to others.  Most people on our team are trustworthy good workers, but their resolve can flag when a deadline is looming.

Over the next three weeks I get to fill this role, and hopefully I can do it without going crazy.  I am a fairly good multitasker, so long as I have people around me that help to complete and finish projects as my attention is needed elsewhere.  I believe my largest challenge comes when I’m made to context-switch, moving from high level team coordination to low level testing and validation frequently throughout the day.  My hardest days are ones that have elements of high and low level tasks that ebb and flow as the day progresses.  There’s a certain amount of mental “churn” that occurs and I find that often when I have missed things it is during the time between high level work and low level detail.

I’m sure there is a lot I can do to improve the way I handle these situations, but consider this blog post a statement of what I perceive as fact.  All I can do over the next three weeks is to be diligent until things calm down again.  Hopefully acknowledging this situation will help me recognize and deal with it.

More non-work related stuff tomorrow, including karate!

Today was a very productive day at the office.  It was punctuated nicely with questions to help other team members along, breaking up at roughly two hour increments all day which granted me enough time to actually get something done for a change.  Hopefully this trend will continue as the week draws to a close.

Tonight was my first of two sessions running a D&D game at our local game shop.  The session went really well, and you can read all about it over at my roleplaying blog, StupidRanger.com.  I was pretty nervous going into the game since I haven’t really gamed with a new group since we moved out to Colorado, and this was the first time I’ve ever gamed in an actual gaming shop (I know, weird).  I’m pleased to report that things went swimmingly and the group ended up in a prime location to set up next week’s game, which is going to take things entirely to a more grand level.  It is fun doing short campaign cycles, it affords one the opportunity to affect the overall campaign in a meaningful way while having just enough time to do something interesting.

We’re starting to get snow here in Colorado, and I have had three coworkers warn me that I need to replace my tires.  They are 100% correct, they have been semi-bald for awhile but I have just continued to put it off.  Tasha’s going to call the tire place and get me some brand new all-weather tires just in time for the snowfall to begin.  This weekend appears to be the first opportunity for real accumulating snow, so it will be interesting to watch it all unfold.

That’s all for me right now!

What a long day… the workday seemed to stretch out into infinity, we got our first snowfall of the year in the city, and after work Java Joe needed to go to the vet for a checkup.  He came out of it needing two additional antibiotics to treat an eye infection.  He’s gaining weight though, which is a good thing.  The vet’s office also gave us a nice sympathy card in memory of The Cheat, which was really nice.

After that, we grabbed a quick dinner at Olive Garden and then hit up the grocery store for the first time in a few months.  We saved $136.09 thanks to Tasha’s amazing couponing skills, and we just now finished putting the groceries away.  Now I’m playing the baby some Beatles music before it is time to turn in for the night for the three of us.  (Yes, the baby is supposed to be able to hear things in there at this point!)

That’s all for me for now!

I decided to go over to the other wing of our office to grab a soda from the vending machine.  As I walked there, I noticed an average-looking office worker looking intently out the window with a paper cup of coffee.

He was still there when I came back from the vending machine, and he was joined by an equally average-looking cohort.

Then I overheard him say, in classic Lumberg style:

Yeeeeah… that squirrel is going to jump into that dumpster.

I had to stifle a laugh as I quickly made my way out into the hallway.  How random.

Today Tasha and I went to church (Saint Mark’s Catholic Church) which we think might work as a permanent church while we’re here in Colorado.  They have a nice congregation and a Mass that feels a lot like Saint Joseph’s in Pekin, which is nice.  After that, I ate the deep fried gutbuster at Denny’s to fuel me up for a day of doing chores.

Here’s the chores I got done today:

• Cleaned out my car for the first time in several years.  The steering wheel was GROSS.
• Cleaned the windows in Tasha’s car.
• Mowed the lawn, which took longer because of all the leaves.
• Grilled dinner (not a chore, but still took some time).
• Cleaned out The Cheat’s cage.
• Set up Joe’s new run.

Not bad for one day!  Cleaning out The Cheat’s cage for the last time was pretty sad, but I was able to transplant one of the wheels from the cage onto Joe’s cage so it doesn’t wobble.  I plan to wash two levels of The Cheat’s cage and move them into Joe’s cage to replace the ones that broke last year.  It did feel good to accomplish so many chores today, hopefully that will allow me to relax a little more this week when I need it.

That’s all for now!

Thanks to close proximity of houses in our subdivision, this afternoon Tasha and I overheard the neighbor lady say the following:

I’ve seen my Dad’s junk twice.  And I have to say, as an adult, I’m pretty impressed with my Dad’s junk in the grand scheme of things.

There was more, but by this point Tasha and I were laughing so hard we could not hear any more details.  You can thank the warm weather and open windows for that little tidbit!

For the record, these are also the neighbors that wander past the window that faces our house naked and sometimes experience afternoon delight.  You know the one I mean.  If you don’t, follow that link and Tasha will tell you all about it.

What a zoo!  Today was another LONG day full of design meetings and hand-off for next week (I’m filling in for a coworker).  By the end of the day, between difficult technical problems and staring at a computer screen all day I had a really bad headache.  I came home late to find that Tasha had made lasagna, some food and Tylenol improved my condition considerably.

Around 8:30 pm, the baby demanded a Blizzard so we went out for some dessert.  Tasha popped in Pirates of the Caribbean on Blu-Ray and we had ourselves a cozy relaxing night in.

That’s all from me for now!

Today was my last full vacation day in Illinois, and I spent it by eating a ton of food. First, it was Olive Garden with Trent (and family), Eric, and Matt. I ate myself stupid and talked some shop with the guys.

After that it was a quick trip to the bank and then another Italian dinner at Avanti’s with my family and Tasha’s mom, who was visiting from Lincoln. Now I am wrapping up the evening by watching TV with the parents.

Tomorrow brings a trip to Saint Louis and a flight back to CO! It will be good to be home!

Today Tasha and I went down to Goofy Ridge to visit her family. While we were sitting around, Tasha’s dad mentioned that he got a new crossbow and he asked if I would like to fire it.

Of course I would!

After some struggle drawing the 175 lb string, my first shot was slightly off-center and then I put the next four shots right in the center of the target. My brother-in-law described them as kill shots, so that made me feel good.

After the trip home and a nap, we whiled away the evening with Matt and Sarah. It was great catching up with them both and we got to see Sam!! Now I am watching some TV with the folks before bed. It is good being home.

I am happy to report that my cousin’s wedding went very well, and now our family is happily bigger. Everything went along very smoothly, the weather was great, and much fun was had by all.

I had the honor of being John’s best man, however I had a significantly harder time writing the speech this time around. I usually get myself a set of talking points and let the speech build up from there, but I was having a hard time extracting out a few suitable foundations to speak about this time. In the end, I focused on the dynamics of their relationship and how I saw that John was serious about his new bride.

Tomorrow is our visits with my in-laws and the Dukeses, looking forward to both! More soon!!