I'd love to say I've been busy and swept up in the holiday spirit, but it's more like I've been busy at work and tired. That and I just couldn't come up with anything interesting to say. I'll probably make up for that today though...
Let's see... last week was somewhat interesting. My friend Bill and my boss were out at a customer site all week; well, they left Monday afternoon actually. That was both good and bad. I hear lots of good did come out of their meetings, but bad because we could really have used them in the office.
Our biggest competitor is apparently not content to steal a lot of our talent; they want our customers as well. They set up a call with our steering committee members. (Gee... I wonder how they got that list of people...) A lot of them are now regretting that they attended the call. It's just a slimy thing they're doing and it only gets worse. Well, the competitor sent out something about a thing they're holding just for our customers. And they made it sound like we were in on it and approved. To be blunt, there's no way in hell that we'd ever even consider such a thing. That's OK. We're hoping this costs them an arm and a leg. I mean, in this market, I don't know of too many big customers that have a couple million to rip out their existing software and replace it before April. Sure, we may loose a few people, but they're probably our problem children and we'd loose them sooner or later anyhow. So, yes, we're seeing this as a huge opportunity to call them to the carpet and call them on what they're doing. Lawyers are already involved and no, you're not going to get any more information out of me. The one person who I know occasionally reads this blog that will know what I'm talking about will already have all the information. It's just heartening to see the business leadership playing hardball with this, not rolling over and taking it and moaning and whining that this happened.
Anyhow, enough about that little interesting bit. Well, the one big interesting thing to come out of the drama other than the drama itself is the fact that the business manager himself told me that training is my priority, service tickets are secondary. Now, I just have to make sure I keep my butt in gear and make sure that the training really is the best that it can be, not play at it. I've been neglecting it way too much the past 6 months and it needs a major dose of elbow grease and a nose firmly planted against the grind stone (ow!). I've got to get it back in the best shape that it's ever been. I can't let this guy down. That goes above and beyond just letting the customers down. This guy has put a lot of faith and trust in me to do it and do it right. Therefore, I've got to; I have no choice. I just hope I can get my boss to agree and get a few of the things assigned to me assigned elsewhere before the customers get too cranky...
Like I've said before, the whole attitude of this office has changed a lot over the course of the year. At the beginning of the year when we were between business managers, it really felt like rats leaving a sinking ship. This summer and the chaos that it held put a lot of people on edge. But now, the service department, or at least those of us who work on reporting requests, is really feeling like a team again. Of course, it helps that we've got people who like each other and will all pull their weight involved. The rest of the building is coming together as a team again too. It's quite refreshing.
Another neat thing is how involved the activities committee is now. It doesn't hurt that our business leader is on the committee. We had a really good picnic. Dave thought it wasn't so good, but that was completely out of his con troll. He did everything he could to have a great picnic, even if the weather didn't cooperate. The dinner cruise holiday party seemed to be a hit as well. And, for the first time in the 8 years I've been there, we had a holiday family for the kids. Yep, that's right. There was a holiday party held for the kids. It was Saturday at a local bowling alley. It started around noon. Boo and I got there around 12:30. The business leader dressed up as Santa and there were presents for every single child there, including Boo. There were about 24 kids there all told. Yes, this is another case of the camera not being where I was. I'd even put it in my jacket pocket so I wouldn't forget, but I wore the other jacket. At first I wasn't going to take Boo, since he's only 6-months old after all. But then, I decided it would be fun to hang out with some of the other people from work and their families. I was right. It was a good time and a lot of fun was had by all involved. It was a well planned and fun activity. I hope we do more family friendly things in the future. Maybe on a Saturday afternoon instead of noon time.
Friday was Zoe's Christmas Program at School. Gak and Boo didn't go because Boo has come down with a bit of a chest cold or something and has an icky chest cough. (He's got a doctor's appointment tomorrow and he's not running a fever so I wasn't too worried...) It was cute. I do have a picture but it's bad. I was too far away and there are too many heads in the way. Oh well.
Today was spent with me taking Boo on a BJ's run. I spent more than I planned, but when I think about how much I won't be spending at the local grocery store on things for the next month or more, it isn't that bad. I think it's just the spending it all at once thing that's a little painful. While I was out doing that, Gak was waging war against the slime in the shower. It seems like overnight (although it was much longer *blush*) the black slime that tends to appear in the one corner of the shower went from just barely a stain to "it's trying to take over the world" huge. After 45 minutes of scrubbing, the shower is again presentable. I am so indebted to that man. (Especially when you figure how big he is and how small the shower is....)
Anyhow, that was the excitement of the weekend. I know some other people got pictures from the bowling party. I'll try and steal one to post. I also promised you one of the pictures that Josi sent me the other week. Well, here you go.
This was taken on the playground at our elementary school, Earhart Environmental Complex or EEC for short (yes, I've been a liberal tree-hugger from the start I guess... or at least a tree-hugger...) I'm trying to remember the name of the girl on the left, but it escapes me. She looks familiar though. I'm the little wisp of a girl in the middle and Josi is on the right. No, that's not a real fur coat. That's a faux-fur that Mom made for me. It made her swear off fake fur even more than real fur. Of course, she's helped me make several fleece/fuzzy animals for the kids of the "family" since then. I'm not sure she (or I) liked some of the fleece that we've chosen over the years... a raspberry cat comes to mind....
Well, I've got to finish weaving in ends of my second to last (I think) Christmas project. Aww, who am I kidding... I'll probably try and get 7 more things done in the next 10 days...
Peace to all and may your weeks be good and your parties fun.
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