I so should be working...

I need a few minutes of down time though and it's been a while since I posted.

It has been a long week since I last wrote. There was the planning conference, a chamber event, a day of meetings, and some bad luck for a good volunteer and friend.

The planning conference was interesting. The drive was not scenic. I will not complain, much, about the stretches of nothing in my district. The westernmost county of his service area is like Ohio--there was one stretch of over 20 miles without a gas station on a well-used highway. The resort however was enormous. It was a bloody long walk from our rooms to anywhere else, especially the waterpark. That was huge, but I only went once on the continuing theory that I am not amused by amusement parks. We did get to spend some time getting to know each other better as a staff including an over-competitive scavenger hunt. Overall everyone gets along pretty well, certainly better than my previous experience, but I can see where if we were all in the same office regularly where some challenges would occut. By the time it was over, I was exhausted.

However, there is no rest and I got to attend a really boring United Way meeting first thing the next morning followed by a more interesting Chamber day on diversity. The most unique part of the day was the visit to the synagogue. I didn't know we had one in Sheboygan. The guys all were asked to wear skull caps (I can't spell the Jewish name) in the sanctuary. I also liked the segment on generational diversity--one of my favorite topics. I crashed hard that night after a charter turn-in session.

Overall, things are looking up all around. It seems that with the year-end pressure cooker off, my boss and I are getting along better--not that it was ever really bad, I just was frustrated. The seminal moment this week was talking to him on the phone about a pro candidate from DAC, whom the lodge guys know, that I never liked and only being able to describe him as a "turd". Not something I think my boss was expecting to hear from me. Our projections are doable across the board and we have a good group of folks to work on nominating new members to our team. I am so shooting for Quality this year and actually care this time as opposed to other times in the past.

The other notable event was a tragedy for one of my unit leaders. In an accident at work his right arm was crushed and had to be amputated. He is a really good guy that helps out a lot. He was actually the first unit volunteer to get my cell phone number. Brian and I stopped in to see him at the hosptial Saturday after a morning meeting and he was in suprisingly good spirits for all that he has gone through.

Otherwise, my car (still unnamed) and I are getting along well. She broke 1000 miles on Saturday and is a lot of fun driving on the curves on the Kettle Morraine drive. She also handles very well in the snow. Until I write again.