Cotter’s Corner

So I wrote a nice email to my friend Chris a little while ago. Just reminding him (like he needed reminding) of the good old days. He and I working at American General and not having any projects so we’d sit there in our cubes and play F-15 Strike Eagle III with the null modem cable between our machines. Then the Novell server dying and us sprinting to the elevators to go downstairs to ressurect the server.

Then it occurred to me how old I am now.

Jesus. When the hell did *I* become old?

I’m used to being the young guy. Not the OLD guy. How pathetic.

Pining for the old days isn’t the way to get things done. But I’ll be damned if I can get past it at this point. Maybe it’s the alcohol, the nostalgia – sucking me into its vortex of good memories and happier times.

Sadly I’m not 22 anymore. Despite the fact that I still feel like I am. I don’t feel ANY different, seriously. I still like to do the same things. It’s wierd – this age thing.

I’ve got to break out of this rut. I really need to take stock in my world over the coming weeks. I’ll be on vacation and I guess I couldn’t find a better time to do it.

I made a OMGHUEG post on Ars about my travels to a Frank Lloyd Wright house in Florence, Alabama. If you are even sort of interested in architecture, you should check it out. It’s really amazing.

Link

I think it’s because of all the changes here. You know, one day we have flex-time and the next we don’t. There are a whole lot of unhappy people here now. My schedule used to be that I was off every other Friday. Now, I’m just a straight eight to five guy. Which is fine and all, but the flex-time was the biggest benefit for me. It was so nice and now, no more. Is it a plot to make everyone leave so the new CIO can bring in (more of) his own people? Well, that’s one of the rumors. It’s pretty sad. Three years of that policy, now just gone. Poof!

So, all of this has really got me thinking about management and management skills in general. You know, I’ve been in this field for like 18 years now. I’ve seen really good and painfully bad management. I guess it sort of pains me to see the bad management here at my present employer. There are all the tell-tale signs. Empire building, Boss interpreters – all the management speak warning signs. And no one sees it. Well, I should say no one who can do anything about it sees it. I don’t wanna be all gloom and doom, but it could very well be the undoing of this place and all the cool folks that work here. And that would be sad.

In other news: T-minus seventeen days and counting until we leave to go to Naples, Florida!

There is an excellent book on management available for free at the following location:

Linky

This book is straight-forward, no non-sense wisdom from someone who knows what they are talking about. I mentioned one of his rules in my last post, but there is another one that bears mentioning here.

Have fun at what you do. It will be reflected in your work. No one likes a grump except another grump!

I cannot emphasize this one enough. It is much more pleasant to spend the many hours you spend at work with people who have a bounce in their step and a smile on their face than with those who mistakenly associate professionalism with being sour and dour.

I’m kind of going to go off on a little rant here, but it should be nice and therapeutic for everyone…

It really is annoying how people are treated in companies. Ineffective management will beg, borrow and steal to stay in management. And usually ineffective management is managed by ineffective management. Always remember that you can’t pick your family, but you CAN pick your boss.

I’m not even going to apologize for not posting in forever. You are just going to have to deal with it. Updates:

Went to a LAN Party over Labor day at my friend Paul’s house. There were about ten people who showed up, only about eight people who played. We played lots of Half Life 2 deathmatch and Capture the flag flavors. It was pretty fun. It would have been more excellent had a few more people shown up, but all-in-all it was tough to beat the grilled out burgers, brats and deep-fried twinkies, oreos, snickers and krispy kreme’s. It was good seeing Paul, Frank, Mark, Wes, Stephen, Jason and Daren.

After the LAN Party I came home and worked on putting up a tiled (or what I’m calling tiled) backsplash for my kitchen. It came out looking GREAT. Used floor tiles with adhesive backing and cut them to fit my area. Also cut holes in them for electrical and phone outlets. Whew, that was the toughest part by far. But, it is now done and I’ll be putting pictures up in the gallery soon enough.

I’ll go ahead and admit to the other big thing that happened too. I didn’t pass the CISA exam for the second time in a row. I missed it by three points this time. Very frustrating. However, I am determined to take it in December and pass it. I’ll actually be making an effort this time. Third time is the charm and all that. Plus I’m motivated to get some things done for the sake of my career.

Speaking of my career. Things are still pretty good at work. There are some changes going on that I can’t say I’m terribly pleased about, but things will sort themselves out. I’m not getting worked up about it at all. I’m just riding this train to see where it leads at this point.