Scorching Summer

Ah...it's so good to be home!

Leo left Houston early Friday morning and was home in Port Lavaca before I even left for work. In the evening, by the time the Houston traffic had cleared out enough for me to head home as well, it was late before I made it in. Still, it was nice to arrive home and find the porch light on and Leo waiting up for me. Home sweet home! I guess I didn't realize how tired I was from the weeks before, but I spent more time "doing nothing" this weekend than I normally do. I think I needed it though, because I feel so much better now.

With the near-miss of Hurricane Dolly behind us, the weather has been scorching hot. Although we haven't hit triple digits here yet (>37.8C), other parts of the state have and I wouldn't be at all surprised to see it here in the next couple of weeks. Of course, the hot weather doesn't have quite the effect on me that it used to as most of my activities, work and play, occur indoors these days. But I can see it sapping Leo's strength as he still has to get out in it on a regular basis.

I continue to have a lot of work waiting for me but it seems to be coming at a slightly more manageable rate now, so I'm not feeling as overwhelmed. Still, I wish I had taken the time a year or so ago to train someone else to work with me. As it is right now, taking time out for training is just not possible. Although I'm hoping to expand the business a bit soon, this business of time-constraints is going to have to be dealt with first. I'm not quite ready for that just yet as there are other fish waiting to be fried including Leo finally getting his orders to show up in Nigeria, Jessie coming home from his travels, and my fulfilling of a handful of current commitments. [Sigh] Life goes on. But that's a good thing, now isn't it!

Short Weekend

Friday found me working at the URC campus on Buffalo Speedway. My part was secondary, or perhaps "tertiary" as there were three of us working, but still a contribution. However, the day had started off all wrong with my sister involved in a little freeway incident that threw us off our schedule. (She's fine, by the way, although the flat tire and minor damage to her car after hitting a large trailer ramp that was dropped on the freeway in front of her will put her car in the shop for a few days.) With all of that inconvenience to deal with, we were forced to meet again this morning to finish up. Hopefully, this little project is complete.

With not enough free time to make it worth a drive home this weekend, Leo and I enjoyed a movie together on Saturday morning. We saw the much raved about Batman flick, The Dark Knight. Gee I hate to go against the experts, but I was not that impressed. (SPOILER ALERT...DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE MOVIE!) When Batman runs from the police at the end of the movie, taking responsibility for a crime he did not commit so that the citizens of Gotham would not know that their latest fallen hero had been responsible, the audience erupted into applause. I guess I was the only one that had a problem with this. [Sigh.] Perhaps I'm just getting old. We also see Alfred burning the letter from Batman's love telling him that she loved someone else. I suppose Alfred was thinking that the truth no longer mattered by this point so burning the letter that she asked him to deliver was no big deal. Finally, I found I kept looking for the face of a man who could take his own life (Heath Ledger) behind the makeup of the movie's antagonist. I have to admit I was a bit depressed by the whole thing.

After the movie, Leo headed home to Port Lavaca for a few days while I hung out at the apartment for the afternoon. Up at 5am, and at work by 6:30, when we finished up our project at 9:30 I took a little side trip to the bookstore. I purchased three books to go with the two audiobooks and one Kindle book that I haven't read yet, so I'm pretty well set up for the next month or so. For those that don't remember, "Kindle" is the cool little electronic reading device that I carry around. It is where I hold everything from my Wall Street Journals, to novels, to business books, to my Bible, all in one convenient and purse-sized device. Can you tell? I really LOVE my Kindle.

Here are the books that are now on my reading list:

• The Winner, by David Baldacci (Kindle)
• Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card (Audible)
• Dune, by Frank Herbert (Audible)
• Project Management Professional Study Guide, by Joseph Phillips (book)
• Professional XML, by Evjen et al (book)
• Nigeria, Bradt Travel Guide, by Lizzie Williams (book)

Looks like I have a busy month ahead!

Running a Marathon as if it were a Dash

After listening to the sermon in our little country church this morning, I think I've figured out part of my problem. Bro. David told a story about running in a race that he had not trained for. When the last lap of the mile long race came, he noticed the other runners really pouring on the speed, so he did too. Curious to see how things were going, he turned his head to look behind. One of his slower teammates, realizing he didn't know how much this action was slowing him down, yelled from behind "don't look back...don't look back!"

The point that Bro. David was really making tied in to the sermon (guess you should have joined us!), but the story made me realize why I am so tired, why I haven't had much time for friends and family, and why I keep feeling like I'm losing the race. For me, the problem is that I keep running this project race as if it is a 50 yard dash instead of the marathon that it really is. When running a short project dash, I have the luxury of pushing everything out of view except for the finish line, and dedicating all of my efforts toward the one task, running at full speed, to the exclusion of all else. In the marathon [yes...I get the irony of using this analogy when the mental image of a woman my size running a marathon is, well, unbelievable...but stay with me on this one, okay?]. Now where was I? Oh yes...in the marathon, if I adopted the same strategy, I'd be out on the side of the road waiting for the pick up car in no time at all.

I'm currently involved in a project that is much more complex (from a data standpoint anyway) than anything I've done in the last couple of years. This week, we really put a ton of work into getting the tool ready to demonstrate to management. We did a good job...they like what they see, but part of our strategy involved putting pieces of the data into place without verification, without clean-up, and without checks and balances. We have a long way to go on this, and if I do not proceed with more caution, then I am at risk of finding myself reworking the data over and over to solve problems that were already solved, but not recorded or shared across the project.

Also, I have been putting off things like answering emails, taking care of other clients, spending quality time with my husband (who will soon be gone for a while!), paying bills, going home for the weekend, and more in order to dedicate all my time, and I mean ALL of it, to the project. So...I've decided the best strategy now is to PACE MYSELF. There is no doubt that 40 hours each week will still go toward this one task, but from here forward, there will also be time spent on other important things.

My first task? Tonight I am going to focus on replying to emails that have gone unanswered. Tomorrow, between my dentist appointment and visiting with our financial adviser, I am going to take my sweetie out to the movies. And when I get back in town on Tuesday, I'll definitely be ready to put 10 hours per day to work on systematically proceeding through my project making sure to document and organize the work as I go.

Gee...the more I think about it now, the more I realize that within 4 weeks, I'm going to get to the end of a very successful project without sacrificing my friendships, my health, my family, or my professional ethics. I'm running a marathon here, and by following a fast-paced but well thought out strategy, I am absolutely going to win this race without sacrificing the important things in my life as I go!

Happy Independence Day!

Our drive home yesterday was relatively uneventful. The corn fields on the way out of town have been harvested, although the ones on our road are still standing. Our yard is still a mess, overgrown beds and construction litter (scaffolding, lumber, etc.) reminding me that I have a "to-do" list a mile long, even before walking in the front door. But walking through that door gave me the same sense of pleasure, relief, and joy as it always does. After several weeks of absence, I am home.

Leo and I decided to go to the movies last night. "Hancock" started off a bit slow and unimpressive, but once the twist was tossed in, it turned out to be not bad at all. "Wanted" in next on our list, but we'll have to drive to Victoria for that one.

This past week had me working on four different projects at work. We finished up the training (a total 78 people attended the four sessions) on the ProSteward database, although I have a very long list of changes, upgrades, and fixes to tackle. I had to rebuild a broken Preventive Maintenance database at URC, after one of the forms failed then refused to allow me to delete it. I continue to struggle with slow but steady progress through the BAR Data Warehouse project which has an important deadline approaching this week. I have one month in which to squeeze in a rebuild of an old OIMS Assessment database, a project that utilizes an intricate merging of multiple databases into a final Word document report. A separate important but time-consuming and detailed Project Management tool is sitting in the wings, waiting for me to have a chance to dedicate some time and effort to it since it is little more than the spark of an idea at the moment. So...I am DEFINITELY not lacking for work these days.

I woke up this morning to the sound of Leo on the lawn tractor, but less than 30 minutes later, we are getting a much needed downpour. I need to put in 8 hours of work today, so the rain is not disrupting my plans at all. Still, I hope to see it rain much of the day, then clear out by evening so the families can have their fun with firecrackers at the boat ramp, and we can watch the show for free.

Fireworks were always a big part of our holidays, growing up, but I abandoned the practice years ago, when the girls were teenagers, after accidentally setting one of my daughter's hair on fire. It's a story oft repeated at family get-togethers amid much laughter and joking, but it is also the reason I stopped participating in such activities (bad luck, and all that).

I've had the good fortune to be in contact with several friends this week, via email. It's a bit odd for me as, with my lifestyle, I can often go for weeks without any personal interaction outside of Leo, my sister, and my daughters. It's a nice thought that I will need to dedicate a couple of hours this evening to updating friends on my recent goings-on and find out more about what's going on in their lives.

Leo's preparations for Nigeria continue to be the primary "diversion" in our lives at the moment. This week he got all his shots, three in each arm and one in that other typical spot. He's just getting over the soreness now. We have purchased all the clothing and work shoes he will need, made sure he is equipped with a laptop and printer, and have practiced all kinds of things to ensure we will be able to keep in touch and that he will be able to carry out all of the technological tasks that I generally handle (file manipulations, document creation, faxing, scanning, photo manipulation, electronic drawings, texting, and more) while he's gone. We are both excited (not nervous) about the work, but both continue to downplay the fact that we would 1000x rather be together for this than apart. That's just something we're going to have to live with for the moment.

Yikes! It appears I have gone ON AND ON once again. My apologies! I'll try to write more frequently and less lengthily in the future!