Super busy week - full of meetings during the day as well as meetings at night. The highlights are below.
health
worse than the week before. only did monday, tuesday, wednesday and saturday. i'm about 7 hours or 11 miles behind my goal. if i run two miles every night this week, along with the usual four miles in the morning, i should be able to make up the 7 hours. thankfully, the weather is nice this week.
leadership development
the big item was getting out the questionnaire survey to my co-workers. unfortunately, out of the five people i sent it to, only two have responded. the goal is to get the book read over the next month to two months.
work efficiencies
the biggest work task i have going on now is this little proposal of mine to save the company about $500K. i've talked to one other manager about this, as it impacts her group as well. she confided in me that she had similar thoughts as i had described, so this validated what i've been thinking. i then gave my manager an update on this initiative and have set up a meeting for the first week of may to fully discuss this. she has a follow-up with another supervisor, before meeting, to ensure we are all on the same page.
air conditioning unit
we're going to get the upstairs system a new set of coils as the old ones have rusted quite a bit. the company wanted us to replace the whole system, but that would have ran us about $10K. instead, i opted to go with the simple coil replacement which is about $3K.
Showing posts with label WIR. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WIR. Show all posts
Friday, April 18, 2014
Friday, April 11, 2014
WIR 2014 4.7-11
pretty normal week - not much exciting happened.
air conditioning units
I guess the biggest item this past week was the visit from the A/C techs. They told me exactly what I knew they were going to tell me - that I need a new system; that the Freon we have now is out-lawed and that it will cost $100/lb as if we need to add more. The upstairs system is really in need of replacement - there is a major leak in the coils. so next week, I'm expecting another visit to discuss options and how much it will cost. the home repairs never end.
health
it was an ok week. I did some exercising, but we had a couple of weak cold fronts move in and it made it difficult to get up an exercise. But we did it anyway. I just didn't get in some extra evening miles (2-mile runs).
work / leadership development
My old boss invited me to lunch on Tuesday. We were both really busy, so we only had time for a quick bite at the local cafeteria. We talked a lot about future assignments for me. I explained to him where I see myself going and what types of assignments I need to get there and he was able to give me some good advice about what I need to do.
Then he asked me if I wanted to go down the technical / professional track or the management track. I told him I'm focusing on the management track. Then he asked me how I'm doing on developing my leadership skills. I honestly have not thought about this much. I've done tons of leadership training, but then never was in a position to really use it, so I've kind of abandoned the whole leadership mindset for the last 5 years. So, he suggested I start focusing on developing my leadership skills (not my management skills). He suggested I begin by reading The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. After lunch, I found some on-line presentations about the book and read through those. I then decided to go ahead and order the book. There seems to be a lot of interesting content and ideas in the book. I may be blogging more about learning leadership and developing my own leadership skills; so stay tuned.
That is about all for the week's highlights. The weekend should be nice and enjoyable.
air conditioning units
I guess the biggest item this past week was the visit from the A/C techs. They told me exactly what I knew they were going to tell me - that I need a new system; that the Freon we have now is out-lawed and that it will cost $100/lb as if we need to add more. The upstairs system is really in need of replacement - there is a major leak in the coils. so next week, I'm expecting another visit to discuss options and how much it will cost. the home repairs never end.
health
it was an ok week. I did some exercising, but we had a couple of weak cold fronts move in and it made it difficult to get up an exercise. But we did it anyway. I just didn't get in some extra evening miles (2-mile runs).
work / leadership development
My old boss invited me to lunch on Tuesday. We were both really busy, so we only had time for a quick bite at the local cafeteria. We talked a lot about future assignments for me. I explained to him where I see myself going and what types of assignments I need to get there and he was able to give me some good advice about what I need to do.
Then he asked me if I wanted to go down the technical / professional track or the management track. I told him I'm focusing on the management track. Then he asked me how I'm doing on developing my leadership skills. I honestly have not thought about this much. I've done tons of leadership training, but then never was in a position to really use it, so I've kind of abandoned the whole leadership mindset for the last 5 years. So, he suggested I start focusing on developing my leadership skills (not my management skills). He suggested I begin by reading The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. After lunch, I found some on-line presentations about the book and read through those. I then decided to go ahead and order the book. There seems to be a lot of interesting content and ideas in the book. I may be blogging more about learning leadership and developing my own leadership skills; so stay tuned.
That is about all for the week's highlights. The weekend should be nice and enjoyable.
Friday, April 4, 2014
WIR 2014 3.31-4.4
Work
It was a great week - the highlight was my one-on-one with my boss. I had this idea to save our company some money - to make it more efficient. The idea had been floating in my head the last few days and by the time Thursday rolled around, I still didn't have it solidified. So I go into the one-on-one, I report out on the main things going on. Then I just jumped feet-first into the suggestion. I told my boss that the idea wasn't fully baked, but I knew they were looking for efficiencies. After I dumped the idea, my boss reacted quite well - they liked it! They told me to keep working on it; to work with a few other people and that by the time my new assignment rolls around (in June or July), it should be off to a great start. By my calculations, the savings gained will be around $500K.
Health
Another idea I've had floating around in my head is this motto of 6:1:4.
6 - six miles of walking or running
1 - one meal
4 - four days a week
I kind of did this last week. It might have been 3 days instead of 4 days. Anyway - I did a pretty good job. My weight went from around 217 down to 210 over the course of the week. So, I'm trying to drill that motto in my mind 6:1:4
NCAA Tournament
I won my family's bracket challenge. This was the 11th year of our family doing this, and I finally won!
It was a great week - the highlight was my one-on-one with my boss. I had this idea to save our company some money - to make it more efficient. The idea had been floating in my head the last few days and by the time Thursday rolled around, I still didn't have it solidified. So I go into the one-on-one, I report out on the main things going on. Then I just jumped feet-first into the suggestion. I told my boss that the idea wasn't fully baked, but I knew they were looking for efficiencies. After I dumped the idea, my boss reacted quite well - they liked it! They told me to keep working on it; to work with a few other people and that by the time my new assignment rolls around (in June or July), it should be off to a great start. By my calculations, the savings gained will be around $500K.
Health
Another idea I've had floating around in my head is this motto of 6:1:4.
6 - six miles of walking or running
1 - one meal
4 - four days a week
I kind of did this last week. It might have been 3 days instead of 4 days. Anyway - I did a pretty good job. My weight went from around 217 down to 210 over the course of the week. So, I'm trying to drill that motto in my mind 6:1:4
NCAA Tournament
I won my family's bracket challenge. This was the 11th year of our family doing this, and I finally won!
Friday, March 28, 2014
WIR 2014 3.24-28
Not much to report on this past week.
Health
My wife and I got to walk pretty much every day this week. My son B and I were only able to play basketball once this week; one day was really nice, the other day it rained. The pine pollen finally got washed away with a nice rain storm. I ate pretty good this week and tried not to stuff myself.
My new shoes came - they are nice! My feet and knees feel much better now that I have some cushion under them.
This is the 5th year in a row I've bought Brooks and the 3rd year in a row I've got the trail running version of the shoe (Brooks Adrenaline ASR).
Work
Pretty average week. The big event was writing the retirement eulogy for my boss. It was his last day at work today. So I had to write up some praises for him as well as some "stats" about him. My new boss was very impressed with the write up. Today, she delivered the "retirement eulogy" at the end of our big weekly and monthly meetings - it was really good.
News
Still no word on the missing airliner. The news stations are all over the road guessing what happened. A big mud slide in Washington killed 10 people. A huge fire happened in Houston - a video went viral of a construction working barely escaping the flames. Obama and Pope Francis met this week.
Food
My wife's good friend came over the other day to cook Venezuelan food. It was really delicious - that was all I ate yesterday. Tonight, wife and I are going out to dinner - probably Chuy's.
Not much else for now. The weekend should be relaxing - some yard work, soccer game, NCAA basketball games.
My wife and I got to walk pretty much every day this week. My son B and I were only able to play basketball once this week; one day was really nice, the other day it rained. The pine pollen finally got washed away with a nice rain storm. I ate pretty good this week and tried not to stuff myself.
My new shoes came - they are nice! My feet and knees feel much better now that I have some cushion under them.
This is the 5th year in a row I've bought Brooks and the 3rd year in a row I've got the trail running version of the shoe (Brooks Adrenaline ASR).
Work
Pretty average week. The big event was writing the retirement eulogy for my boss. It was his last day at work today. So I had to write up some praises for him as well as some "stats" about him. My new boss was very impressed with the write up. Today, she delivered the "retirement eulogy" at the end of our big weekly and monthly meetings - it was really good.
News
Still no word on the missing airliner. The news stations are all over the road guessing what happened. A big mud slide in Washington killed 10 people. A huge fire happened in Houston - a video went viral of a construction working barely escaping the flames. Obama and Pope Francis met this week.
Food
My wife's good friend came over the other day to cook Venezuelan food. It was really delicious - that was all I ate yesterday. Tonight, wife and I are going out to dinner - probably Chuy's.
Not much else for now. The weekend should be relaxing - some yard work, soccer game, NCAA basketball games.
Friday, March 21, 2014
WIR 2014 3.17-21
So, I'm going to try something new and see how I like it. It's called Week In Review, in which I talk about the big things that happened this week; the big things I learned and made an impression on me. I'm also gong to try what I'll call Weekend Postmortem; same thing as the WIR, only it'll cover the weekend. The WIRs will be on Fridays and the WPs will be either Sunday night or Monday morning.
Tech
I recently posted about my new VPN. So, last Saturday, my internet went down hard again. After a few reboots, it seemed all back in order, but by Sunday night, I was only getting 0.1 or 0.2 download speeds. The technician was going to come out on Monday, but then my speeds returned to normal. On Tuesday, they were back to a trickle. Finally the technician came out on Wednesday and found the modem was broken. It was an old 2.0 protocol modem; he replaced it with a 3.0 protocol modem which could handle 50mbps as opposed to 15mbps. After it was up and running, I tested speeds again and I have consistenly been getting 30+ speeds. Today I was able to download several files quite fast :-)
News
The big news lately has been the missing 777 airliner which left Kuala Lumpur on March 7 and never arrived at Bejing. They have still have not found the plane nor any debris. The story is truly odd.
Work
I got recognized at work 3 times this week - by three different managers! One of them sent me a thank you note with a $25 Amazon gift card. The other two "sung my praises" in various meetings I had. I feel really on top of things right now at work - and I'm busier than ever.
Shopping
Along with that $25 gift card, I had another $30 in Amazon gift cards sitting around. I finally decided what I was going to use them on - a new pair of running shoes. I have bought my Brooks running shoes directly from the brooksrunning.com site the last 4 years or so. I learned this week that Brooks also sells their shoes on Amazon. So I was able to knock off $55 from my new shoes. I'll post sole pictures when they come. Old Navy had a polo shirt sale this week - I bought two Jersey Polos - my favorite kind of polo.
Health
The weather has finally warmed up this week. My son B and I have started a new tradition. Every Tuesday and Thursday we go to the middle school outdoor basketball court and play 3-5 games. We play by ones and go to 11. He then practices his one-hand shooting while I go on a short run. I then finish with 10 pushups. I have a new secret goal. I am starting off with doing 10 pushups, twice a day. Each week I will increase the number of pushups by 1. In a couple of years, I should be to 100 pushups. We'll see how it goes. Also, I'm going on a little 2 mile jog 2-3 times a week (at night); along with my 4 mile walk with my wife in the mornings.
Wednesday Night
I help plan activities for my church youth group. This Wednesday they did floor ball hockey. They boys had tons of fun.
March Madness
It started yesterday. The games are all streamed via the NCAA app. So my question is: why can't all the stations (local / free) do this? How hard would it be to stream all the local 2, 5, 8, 11, 13 channels to any device?
Books
Still reading the Immortal Game. Once I finish, I'll post the book review to rockyrook.blogspot.com
Food
My wife made corned beef and cabbage this week. My mom used to make that all the time, but this is the first time my wife made it. I love corned beef. My favorite sandwich is the Reuben at Jason's Deli.
Tech
I recently posted about my new VPN. So, last Saturday, my internet went down hard again. After a few reboots, it seemed all back in order, but by Sunday night, I was only getting 0.1 or 0.2 download speeds. The technician was going to come out on Monday, but then my speeds returned to normal. On Tuesday, they were back to a trickle. Finally the technician came out on Wednesday and found the modem was broken. It was an old 2.0 protocol modem; he replaced it with a 3.0 protocol modem which could handle 50mbps as opposed to 15mbps. After it was up and running, I tested speeds again and I have consistenly been getting 30+ speeds. Today I was able to download several files quite fast :-)
News
The big news lately has been the missing 777 airliner which left Kuala Lumpur on March 7 and never arrived at Bejing. They have still have not found the plane nor any debris. The story is truly odd.
Work
I got recognized at work 3 times this week - by three different managers! One of them sent me a thank you note with a $25 Amazon gift card. The other two "sung my praises" in various meetings I had. I feel really on top of things right now at work - and I'm busier than ever.
Shopping
Along with that $25 gift card, I had another $30 in Amazon gift cards sitting around. I finally decided what I was going to use them on - a new pair of running shoes. I have bought my Brooks running shoes directly from the brooksrunning.com site the last 4 years or so. I learned this week that Brooks also sells their shoes on Amazon. So I was able to knock off $55 from my new shoes. I'll post sole pictures when they come. Old Navy had a polo shirt sale this week - I bought two Jersey Polos - my favorite kind of polo.
Health
The weather has finally warmed up this week. My son B and I have started a new tradition. Every Tuesday and Thursday we go to the middle school outdoor basketball court and play 3-5 games. We play by ones and go to 11. He then practices his one-hand shooting while I go on a short run. I then finish with 10 pushups. I have a new secret goal. I am starting off with doing 10 pushups, twice a day. Each week I will increase the number of pushups by 1. In a couple of years, I should be to 100 pushups. We'll see how it goes. Also, I'm going on a little 2 mile jog 2-3 times a week (at night); along with my 4 mile walk with my wife in the mornings.
Wednesday Night
I help plan activities for my church youth group. This Wednesday they did floor ball hockey. They boys had tons of fun.
March Madness
It started yesterday. The games are all streamed via the NCAA app. So my question is: why can't all the stations (local / free) do this? How hard would it be to stream all the local 2, 5, 8, 11, 13 channels to any device?
Books
Still reading the Immortal Game. Once I finish, I'll post the book review to rockyrook.blogspot.com
Food
My wife made corned beef and cabbage this week. My mom used to make that all the time, but this is the first time my wife made it. I love corned beef. My favorite sandwich is the Reuben at Jason's Deli.
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