A month later…

OK, it's been longer than a month since I have written, but it's been a month since we left Georgia and moved to the land of sunshine (and HOT). I have to admit, the transition once we got here was pretty easy. Getting here? Whole other story that I don't want to relive… yet.


I miss Jen, Terry and Brian more than I thought I would. I'm really excited that Brian is coming to see us next week, and Jen, Terry and Baby Z will be here in November for Thanksgiving. Mom is coming to visit in September and I have yet to schedule my in-laws (we're waiting on Gale to heal enough to travel) for a visit. I'm really excited to show them the small town we have moved to. It's quaint, adorable and did I mention HOT??? Yeah, I know, what did I think? Florida, middle of July = HOTTER than HOT. I'll be doing the Irish jig in November when it's in the 70's here and 50's in GA. So, I'll take it.


Work has been teaching me things that I had forgotten. You know the whole, Management = no trust earned, the friggin' carpets have ears – so don't say anything you don't want anyone else to know and finally, it's cool to have some other people to talk to during the day. After working from home for almost 7 years, it is a different change to get used to. You get to hear more though, about stuff going on just in the local area, much less with other people's lives, what they believe, agree with, don't agree with, criticize on a regular basis and just general chatter.


I've learned that I have a co-worker who is all about the organic foods and health. I found out another co-worker likes to record and mix his own music. There are a couple of gamers and many of them have families. I have also learned that not many of them stick around past 6pm as the place was completely deserted when I left tonight at 10 after 7. (it was a crappy day all around). I have learned that in 15 years, that I have had a fantastic manager for 10 of those years and that should anything happen to that manager, that I'll be right back where I started when I started in the Conversion group 15 years ago (yeah, do the math - I have them convinced at work that I started working when I was in kindergarten J).


I can't nor will I complain about my job, I like what I do, for the most part. On occasion there's the "brilliant user" who takes up most of the day with crazy issues on how to build a report in the tool, but, if it weren't for her, I wouldn't learn new ways of thinking about reports or try to figure out better ways to do things. The part that I dislike is the management by fear factor. I realize that a lot of people are driven by the fear of losing their jobs or, like me 10 years ago, they are naïve enough to believe that this is the way that it should be. Listen, I have a bad self-esteem as it is which will probably never recover, but I don't need help beating myself down when I screw up at work. I do that part of my job well enough on my own. My current manager has been battling that demon in me for 10 years. I have a couple of co-workers still on my Facebook and still in the company that know about what I deem the "Hitler" ruling and they are just as scarred, if not more than, me.


So for those managers that are friends with me on FB, please, read a book called Please Understand Me. You'll see that in work – not all of the time, but a good majority of it, if you provide positive feedback you'll go a lot further than screaming and beating them down and telling them HOW bad their work is. I believe the saying is, "You'll catch more flies with honey…"


It's really late and I have to get up early to drive to work, now I really get to say TGIF! I miss working from home just by the fact that I don't get to vent out as much on FB or by blogging, but… I did miss the people interaction of the office atmosphere… So, until later, HELLO FLORIDA thank you for the WARM, no HOT Welcome to your beloved state, I am glad to be here!

 
Until then…

 
Kel