Catching up on da haps

New Job:
I (finally) heard back from the peeps with the new job who say they are looking to go to the next step (interview #2) within the next two weeks and they will contact me then. Okay. That’s cool. I can hang out and wait. Especially since things have improved at current place of employ.

No More Wire Hangers, er, Negativity at work!
Since the departure of my former boss, things have been strangely placid at work. It made me realize that as much as I liked him personally, he really was spreading some wicked negative karma around. He was really unhappy with how things had turned out at the company and for the past year or more, he’d been disillusioned (as we all are there) and pretty much on a work slowdown. Like many, he did what he had to do to get by.

His resignation somehow breathed new life into some people and re-energized others. It’s very strange and definitely not the way I thought things would go. In fact, I was almost positive that this was the beginning of the end for this department and it’s become quite the opposite. Granted, it’s still run by a megalomaniac and seems to exist in a vacuum making its own rules but for now, it’s not a bad place to be.

(That is if you aren’t in customer support. I feel for them – over 1100 emails in the queue to be answered. In fact, yours truly will be helping them out a bit over the next few days to try and get that down to a manageable amount (say, 637 or something) They are getting over 300 calls a day divided up by 2 or 3 people (I’m not joking) in addition to doing email – or in this case, not doing email. JD and I were amused by the irony that when we started in CS, we had 20 people (again, I’m not kidding) answering maybe 30 calls a day. Now, 4 years later, we have 3 people (at most) answering 300 calls a day. You do the math and then tell me how stressed these poor people must feel.)

Caps contine their not losing streak!
The game ended in a 3-3- tie but it was a MOST excellent effort by the Caps last night against Calgary. 6 goals in 5 minutes at the end of the 3rd period and Jagr gets the tie goal with .01 seconds (yes, I said POINT OH ONE SECONDS) on the clock! The place went wild. Hell. *I* went wild here in my house. Max was ready to call 911 I was hooting and hollering so much. (no opposable thumbs make dialing difficult, he said) I really think my not watching is helping the team (I only watched the 3rd period last night), so I’m going to continue that by NOT watching them against the NJ Devils (Ha! and poops to them!) on Saturday afternoon.

Treats :
Gingerbread lattes are done for the season. Damn it.

Philanthropic:
My buddy and fellow Izzardite, Kevin, is participating in the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation walk in August. If you would like to sponsor him (as I did) just click on this link and make a pledge right online. He’s walking from Washington DC to Baltimore MD (hon!) over a three day period. H and I were contemplating doing the Avon walk the beginning of May. I am not sure I can make a 12 mile walk (you can do it over 2 days) but it’s something to think about. If anyone feels compelled to join us, that would be BIG fun!