Colleague Misses Me Already

A co-worker / client, also known as my birthday buddy, said the funniest thing at lunch today.  He said he would miss me the most if I left and is not quite sure what he would do if I were to go elsewhere.

This came out of the blue, and seemingly for no reason at all.  Sort of.  My boss is leaving and he will him and said as much.  He also said he would miss me more.

I was shocked and could only think to stammer, "Thank you."

It makes me a little sad that this would upset him so much, knowing that it would likely, deeply trouble this person.

At the same time, it is good to hear that at least one person cares that much.

Be That Person

I saw this sign on someone's desk today and the profoundness of this statement, in relation to current activities almost made me laugh.  That problem child I am constantly dealing with needs this reminder.

In other news, I only just learned that I will be passed up for a role that I had my sights on. That rejection is easy enough to deal with.  It is an internal position.  What is not easy to deal with is the fact that the hiring manager has let two other people know, but that I have not been officially told.

There is nothing worse than learning this kind of thing second hand.

I need to leave.

This is all so disappointing.

To Teach or Not to Teach

That is the question ...

"Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles

And by opposing end them”

- William Shakespeare

I am continually confronted by my own thoughts, "I was happy teaching.   I enjoyed doing what I was doing.  I was proud of what I was doing.  I had no drama.  I was motivated to go to work every day.  I looked forward to going to work every day, even when expecting the worst day, or after the worst day.  When I was asked, "what do you do," I typically responded enthusiastically, "I am a teacher!"

Let's review where I am.

Am I happy doing what I do now?

It is a job.  There is a level of solitude and associated indifference.  I am a cog in a machine.

Do I enjoy doing what I am doing?

It passes the time and pays the bills.  It is not rewarding. I am a cog in a machine.

Am I proud of what I do?  

There is a level of personal pride in accomplishment, but no longer with my role in the organization, society, or what I am contributing to the bigger picture.  It is not something where I proudly state my role.   I am a cog in a machine.

Is there drama?  

There was not, until two new people from a former sweat shop (Cerner) joined the organization.  Now we have drama.  Now we have politics.  Now we have gaslighting.  Now we have finger-pointing.  Now we have blame.  Now we have people minimizing the efforts of others to make their own efforts look more appealing.

Am I motivated to go to work every day?  

Only because I feel personally responsible.  It is becoming increasingly difficult to wake up every day.  This is a sure sign, for me, that this is no longer a fit.

Do I look forward to going to work every day?  

Yes, in that I can complete tasks and enjoy the company of some of those that I work with.  No, in that I do not enjoy the recent drama, politics, etc.  I also do not enjoy communicating and teaching those that refuse to learn for themselves, or generating analysis that mostly only serves to find fault with others.   Expecting the worst day, I would rather sleep in.  After the worst day, I would rather sleep forever.

When asked, "what do you do," now I respond that I am simply a bean counter and nothing more.

Some of the decision comes down to money and retirement.  Teacher compensation is awful.  However, my current compensation is not a whole lot better.  It does afford a higher level of existence. Or does it?  Is it really worth trading personal happiness for a few tens of thousands of dollars?

Add to all of this, I noted this morning that they again posted a role that I had hoped to take on, which was nearly promised to me in the beginning.  It has become increasingly apparent that I am not needed or wanted in such a role.  It is the same as ever.  Stay where you are and do what you do.  That is sufficient to their needs.  It is not sufficient to my own.

Talent Card Results

Documentation for a career opportunity sent me down a path to complete an assessment that was only supposed to take about 20 minutes, and ended up taking about 45.  It really was no matter though, as it is a fantastic chance to return to the GIS world.

I usually abhor these things, as they are not particularly accurate in their evaluation or the results they produce.  This turned out to be one of the few times that something like this was on point.

Offered by Talent+

CEO 20, Staff 0

How can a CEO justify a 20% raise for themselves and nothing for their staff?  It seems rather selfish and contradictory to the stated and intended culture.  I saw this happen right on time for a CEO in October, while staff continued wonder in December if and when it would come to pass.  Sad.

Follow-Up with Gaslighting

Greeting me this morning, an email from VQ, attempting to gaslight me.  I am including the original text here for anyone that may be looking for just the right example of what this looks like in the workplace.

The email ...

I am not sure what I said to cause that reaction earlier today, but that was not my intention.  While you were showing me the [report], it came to mind that we needed to change the criteria on the [other displays] to match our compliance rules.  I know that report was originally requested by VHT early 2023 and I really didn’t know much about [the report] at that time and we hadn’t set the compliance rules.  My comments today were just an update that I’d be sending a request to change the report to match the compliance rules. 

The change I mentioned today and the request [my minion] sent for the [other] report (per the request of the STeam and report owners) have both caused negative reactions that I wasn’t expecting or intending.  I was told to always send our requests to you, but if there is a different process we should follow, please let me know.  The compliance rules and reporting to support our quality measures is an on-going evolution and changes will continue to be needed as things evolve.  I would like us to be partners on these changes.  Let me know how you’d like to receive these requests in the future.

I forwarded this message along to my direct report, with a simple comment, "For the record, this is gaslighting and equally as unwelcome as her bullying."

I do not have to put up with this kind of thing out of anyone.  I absolutely hated working at DST, and ultimately left that place, because it was a morass of this sort of behavior.

Even when I was teaching, I was not subjected to this sort of nonsense.

Rude and Condescending Bullying

She did it again. VQ and I were discussing some recent changes to the Appointments report, as they related to the new effort, and she lost her mind.

As usual, there were no witnesses.  Those nearby were engaged in loud conversation.  The one that would have heard every word had just left.

I need to start recording every interaction with this individual.

I should probably start seeking a new path.

As usual, it started off normal enough.

She was nearby talking with another, and I asked if she had a spare minute.

The conversation was amicable enough.

I was showing her the recent changes to the new HTeam A Summary report, where it showed up in the dashboard view, and how it all fit together.

She suddenly said that it was inaccurate and that the whole report was to have been changed to the new filtered view.

I explained that we had only discussed adding the Summary page, and we would need to discuss changes to the remainder of the report pages with the HTeam since they are the owner of the report.

She replied that report was requested by a previous RN and that person had no idea what she was doing.

I calmly replied that I understood, but it had been setup for the HTeam based on certain requirements, that they are the report owner, and we would need to discuss the changes with them.

She suddenly exclaimed that she did not understand why I "had to be this way."

Calmly, I replied that I did not understand why this was suddenly escalating.

She nearly shouted, "I'm tired of you always doing this.  You always do this. You always...."

I cut her off, stating, "I can't do this right now," and stood up and began to walk away.

She called after me, "You are the one that asked to talk to me.  I did not ask to talk to you."

I kept walking away and said nothing.

Walking over to my new C, we discussed this incident in detail.  I explained that I had never felt more assaulted than I had just now.  Nobody here has every treated me or anyone that way.  This has to stop, or I need to find someplace else to be.  She assured me that I was not alone in this and she would speak with her.

I am not sur that I have a high degree of confidence this will be addressed.

Kudos from MS

Todd expresses the character traits of Responsibility and Accountability as he works to help make it easier for me in doing my billing review each week with the work he put in on the Power Bi report for CSO! He helps me keep the billing accurate, but also allows me to review at a quick glance the documentation that has taken place to make sure it is appropriate and accurate. He has been willing to make multiple changes to it to make sure the information I needed was included, and always with a positive "can do" attitude!

New or Used or New Used Car Shopping

It is all that annoying and confusing at the same time.  New or used?  Used certified is relatively good as new.

Currently exploring, in no particular order, each have their own cost benefits (and fans), new or within the last couple of years.  Subarus give up gas mileage to get to the same equipment level of the Compass.  Subs are AWD, while the Jeep is 4WD.  All are automatic.

Subaru Crosstrek

Subaru Outback

Jeep Compass Trailhawk 

In-Person Powers

One co-worker just does not get it, constantly sends emails when all she has to do is talk to folks in person.  I believe that you could be sitting right next to her, and she would rather send an email than talk to you.  Making matters even worse, she feels as though she has some sort of power to issue commandments to people.

Thankfully, I am not too close to this person.  I am just upstairs though, and our organization is not that big.  There are probably 50 people in our building.

I keep thinking that it is easier to simply ignore her emails and respond to her in person, hoping (apparently, against hope) that she will someday get it.  Unfortunately, she just sends another email asking the very question that was just answered.

It is probably not entirely her fault, more so her career upbringing in an over bloated corporate environment where nobody really talks to each other.

Interviewing this person, I suspected she would have a difficult time working in a small business environment.  I even communicated that to the one hiring her.  

She didn't seem to care.  Now she has about 50 people that do not care for this person.

Some folks really need training in appropriate channels for interpersonal communication.

Here are a couple of relevant stories.

Cisco: The Power of In-Person Meetings

13 Times In-Person Communication Is Better Than Electronic Exchanges

My Pro Tip:  Get out from behind your technology and actually talk to people.  You will be surprised at the results and speed at which you get a response.

Storms from West Kansas

Another addition to the 500px collection shows off storms rolling in across the west Kansas prairie around harvest time.

Rabbitbrush Excerpt

One of the latest additions to the collection over on 500px, Rabbitbrush Swirl.  Testing out a different sort of macro lens on a typical shot.

Kudos from VB

Todd helped out with this year's Employee Awards. He took photos of the event and photos of award recipients. Thank you so much Todd for helping to make this year's event a success!

Kudos from AA

This is a long overdue thank you for volunteering for HOTM 2024! Thanks so much, Todd! It truly means a lot that you took time out from your packed schedule to represent <the firm> to our guests and help make the event successful by taking awesome candid photos.

Google Finance Fail

Google Finance has joined the ranks of other applications they have produced, which used to work perfectly fine and now are a completely useless mess.

Checking up on the value of some stocks lately, I noticed that some were losing as much as 60%.

I almost fell out of my chair.

It seems that Google no longer makes adjustments for things like stock splits.

That was the case in this instance, at least.

Shares of SCHD originally purchased on 1/24/2023 @ 76.30 were showing a share price of $29 today.

SCHD had split 3 for 1 back on 10/10/2024.

In the past, Google Finance made the necessary adjustments for calculations to appear accurately.

Some update of theirs in this past year has ruined all that.

This used to work just fine, like many of their other applications.

It has joined the ranks of worthless now.

Every time they make an "improvement," they invariably damage core functionality.

Arkansas Intermission

A super short weekend in Arkansas found them ready for the Christmas season.  The Stone County courthouse lawn stood fully decked out in an array of lights all around on the one and only night out and about.

The journey south was fraught with delays.  Multiple accidents in multiple locations necessitated multiple detours.  Some were more equipped to handle these scenarios, but they were not the type of situation I wanted to be involved with, given recent circumstances.  Add to that, steady rain south of Harrison, and the anticipated 7-hour trip took 9 hours.

Rain persisted throughout much of the following day.  Forecasters insisted it would stop by around 1:00 PM.  It did not and just about the time I hit the trail, it picked up again.  According to others, the downpour proved significant.  The remains of the canopy above Mossy Bluff Trail offered decent protection from a complete drenching though.  

It was actually quite a bit more peaceful than usual.  Water rushed all around, cascading down the streams intersecting the area, falling steadily over the the small falls that usually display little more more than a dribble, hushing all other sound invasions. Temperatures lingered near 18 °C a good portion of the day too, so it was not too uncomfortable. 

The return trip stood in stark contrast with the rest of the weekend.  Clear blue skies and 20 °C welcomed the ride homeward.  While our radar was tuned in to finding any potential oddity, nothing of significance appeared.  All houses seemed in good order, propped up against potential threats, with goat chicken defenses in place.

Pausing to reflect for a moment at Busiek State Forest and Wildlife Area found the place overrun with tourists.  The parking lot appeared full and it proved nearly impossible to get a moment alone with your own thoughts on the trail.  We ultimately abandoned the effort, content to continue the journey under the sun with windows down, until northern breezes forced us to abandon that cause as well.

A Cause of the Trump Win

A lot of folks are already asking themselves why President Trump won, when they were so certain of a Kamala Harris win.

This map and election maps before tell the story of a rural versus urban divide, but it goes only a little deeper than that.  A candidate cannot continually talk down to voters, disparaging their support of the other candidate, without some sort of backlash.

President Trump rarely, if ever, talked badly about those supporting Democratic candidates. He only talked about the DNC and their candidates.

When Senator Clinton lost the election to Donald Trump, she had continually characterized his supporters as "deplorable" and "uneducated."  Her followers did the same.

When President Biden won the election in 2020, he did not stoop so low as to talk negatively about those supporting President Trump.  He instead tried his best to win them over.

Vice President Harris followed the example set by Senator Clinton, continually talking about those supporting President Trump as if they were ignorant.  Additionally, the entire Democratic political machine followed suit, as well as all of her followers.   This is, of course, aside from the fact that she never really discussed any issues and constantly blamed President Trump for everything.

This is how you turn off a voter.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

Watch it happen again and again in every election.

1977 Chevrolet Scottsdale for Sale

1977 Chevrolet Scottsdale - 350 4-barrel - 54,000 miles (odometer may have rolled over, but not certain) - runs perfectly well, driven about 5 miles a week.  Truck is a victim of a few break-ins by imbeciles. Broken leaf on driver side, passenger door window missing and associated internal mechanics of the door need repair or full replacement.  There are no cabin air controls.  gas tank replaced recently.  Gas gauge not working.  

Serious offers only ... leave a comment and I will get back to you.

If you are seeing this page.  The truck is still available.

Smashed Focus

Heading home for lunch to let the dog out for the afternoon ended in disaster.  An individual failed to yield, turned immediately in front of me and utterly destroyed the front of my vehicle, as well as that of another innocent driver that was simply waiting on a red light.

I had just left another intersection and had accelerated to the speed limit as I approached another intersection.  Another individual launched his car front of me, obviously attempting to squeeze through and smash!    

I had less than a second to react, having only enough time to slam my feet down on the clutch and brakes, while thinking "this is going to hurt."  It was not enough time.  My vehicle slammed into the side of this, throwing his against the over vehicle.

My air bags deployed, and I am pretty sure I lost consciousness for a moment. I could hear someone yelling if I were OK way off in the distance.  I opened my eyes and could hear the hissing of air and steam all around me, along with the fog of air bag dust in the air choking off my oxygen. My car was attempting to dial 911 and I tried to stop it, unsuccessfully.  My brain did a quick assessment and decided nothing was too damaged. I attempted to stop the car from dialing 911 three or four times before finally giving up and just opening the window so I could breathe.

I could still hear a person asking I were OK, but they sound much clearer.  I could see her now and responded, "I think so." I needed to get ahold of someone though, so called my comrade and told her that I was going to need some assistance.

Getting out of my car, I truly wanted to choke the individual in the other car but remained calm and simply asked if one person was the driver of the car I hit.  He confirmed that he was and I only asked if he was OK.  On confirmation, I turned to attempt contact with the insurance folks.  Someone said they had already called the police.

The police eventually arrived to sort things out.  Nobody got a ticket, but it was clearly the fault of the other driver.   He indicated that he thought he had a green light, and I believe that he did.  However, so did I and underneath his green light, a sign read, "Left Turn Yield on Green."

The remainder of the afternoon was spent in the ER, after beginning the trek home and starting to discover all sorts of odd little ailments.  Nearly everything on left side ached in one way or another.  My sight felt unaligned as well, and dizziness came and went. 

The ER checked and found I might have had a mild concussion and sent me home with  instructions on self-care.

Home finally arrived about 1830 hours.  It had not been a pleasant Halloween.

Praise from SB

Todd always takes any wild idea and creates a great process for it. He's always open to working with me and assisting me with anything I might need. Thanks, Todd!

Teams for Two

Recently, a few folks have asked about creating a Microsoft Teams for themselves and one other individual.  They say that they need a Team to share documents and conversations back and forth, exclusively between one another.

There is nothing to do here. 

Quite literally, it is already done! 

Microsoft read your mind.

Using the Chat feature within Microsoft Teams makes this happen.

The moment you begin a chat with another individual, you are creating a Team in which only you and that individual are included.

Obviously, the conversation is only accessible to you and the other individual.

In addition, documents you share in that chat are only accessible to you and the other individual.

Access any of the documents and links you have shared through that chat at any time by clicking the “Shared” link that appears next to “Chat” at the top of the chat with that person.

Upload and collaborate on documents with that individual here too!

Nearly anything that you can do within a Team created for multiple individuals can be done in Chat too, even adding Apps to your chat (just click the “+” next to “Shared” at the top.

But wait, there’s more … You can even have a Team with yourself!  What?  Sure!  Just click your name at the top of the chat and make notes, upload files, or just test out how things work in the chat space.

Crazy, huh?