Week in Review

Another work week has come and gone. I completed interviews for one of my positions and after much agonizing between two canidates, picked the one I think will work best. I know, however, that my choice will cause a lot of waves since the one who didn't get the job has been temping in this position for a couple of months. We'll see in the next few months if my choice was wise.
We finally got some significant rain here in eastern N. Carolina. It was desperately needed though sad to say, desipite 3 straight days of rain, the extreme drought is still present. The down side to the switch in weather was the headache I've been walking around with for three days. It was strong enough to keep me from the weekly basketball game. I went to bed last night instead and awoke to Curious George chasing his own tail on top of me at 4 am. Despite almost 2 years of serious effort on his part, his tail is still firmly attached to his ass.
Life continues to shift and change all around me. I think for the better though sometimes the changes and realizations happen frighteningly fast. I just strap myself in with my trusty 5 point saftey harness and hold on for the ride.
THe headache is still twinging at the edges so I'm off to relax some more...more on the changes later.

more random things

This week has been as busy as ever. I'm slowly filling the holes in my two departments. It never ceases to amaze me how slow the corporate machine can run.
We're still playing catch up from the move. I anticipate getting all the bills up to speed by November just in time to start buying Christmas gifts...
I had a moment of insanity this week and signed up for NaNoWriMo this year. I've been writing for a long time, for pleasure, for work, for this for that, now I'm actually taking a shot at writing a novel. If you are interested in joining the insanity look it up at http://www.nanowrimo.org. 50,000 words, one month. Here's to one hell of a challenge.
I've discovered a way to feed my reading habit inexpensively. http://www.paperbackswap.com. The site allows you to list books you're willing to give away and swap them for other people's books. List 9 books, you get 3 credits to use. Every time you ship a book to someone, you gain another credit. Every time you request a book, you use a credit. So far I've gotten two books and given away one. I have 175 other books listed so if you are interested, go take a look. All you pay is the cost of shipping to get your books out to others.
Despite still playing catch up we splurged big time on the cats this weekend and bought them their very own Supreme Commander Kitty Tower. A carpeted monstrosity with a hiding hole and four platforms. It is a HUGE hit. Curious George, the lowest cat in the cat hierarchy claimed the top spot first and spends hours a day up there guarding his new domain.
If you are the praying type, please keep Tara's son, Robert in your prayers. He is on his second tour in Iraq right now on guard duty. 14 hour shifts and he is wearing down. He really wants to come home and we want him to stay safe and sane. Keep him in your prayers, his unit is there until May. He was due to be released from active service in the National Guard last year but the military used Stop Loss to keep him. He's a good guy with a great wife waiting here for him. We're putting together a care package for him. Apparently cookies and beef jerky are hugely popular items with his unit. So are calling cards. It is very expensive to call home. A 500 minute calling card will give him 60-90 minutes of talk time but the phone can be a life line.
On a totally different note, I joined a church basketball regular Thursday game. A few of my subordinates invited me and I surprised myself by actually keeping up. I've learned to stay out of the inside when the boys get rough but I'm not half bad at defense. I've even bought a pair of basketball shorts! I figure it's a good way to get some exercise and get out of the house during the week. Now if I could just make a basket under pressure I'd be doing really good. What's interesting is the cross section of people playing. I'm having a good time of it though.
Last but certainly not least, A huge Congratulations to my best friend Gary. He got promoted to training developer back in Erie, my old job. He'll make an excellent developer and should be a big help to the team there.

Random Thoughts

• Curious George has decided I need to be up at 5:30 am every morning for the express purpose of giving him attention and playing with him and his toy mouse on a string.
• My alarm does not go off until 6:30 (not including 2 snoozes I allot).
• Terminating someones employment never gets easier and unfortunately, as a manager of a training department, I'm going to have to do this more often when trainees don't meet goals.
• Hiring people is also not an easy task. I have open positions in my department and there are times in the course of interviews that I wish I had a real magic 8 ball to ask, "Will this person work well on my team?" Alas, I have to go with facts and instincts. I guess I'll find out over the upcoming months if those facts and instincts were right.
• Having carpeting in the new apartment is apparently a great thing for the cats. We now have a nightly Kitty NASCAR Race Circuit though the apartment (including over me in the bed) as the cats celebrate their ability to corner like a BMW.
• Neighbors in an apartment building are both a blessing and a curse. They will give you good things like a free beer as you walk to your apartment. They will play old school country music with a top notch stereo system providing a free vibrating foot massage for those who live above them (namingly me).
• Chic-Fil-A has the best chicken nuggets EVER.
• That's about all my brain can handle for now...