Sheepshead & Other Stories: A Strange Jumble of Odd Topics

My life right now consists of work, work, little sleep, fast food, and work. Then there is the occasional karaoke night. So, in preview of what is to come in this posts, most of these things relate to work.

At karaoke on Sunday night, DM pointed out that Andrew's hair (a new mohawk with the sides growing back in) resembles Steve's (team lead) hair. How did I manage to hire the guy and never notice that he has a semi-mohawk? Am I that oblivious to men's hair? Steve walked up today and I looked at him and said, "Oh my. You do seem to have a mohawk." What got me was his response. It was so factual. "Yeah. I tame it down for work a little." I learn more and more about my team lead daily and I'm finding that he's a pretty fun person. He's a rock star. Okay, he's a drummer in a band that hasn't hit it famous yet, but he's a rock and roller. Funky.

Another Steve story. His previous manager (who just so happens to be Keem and DM's roommate and an AWESOME person) has his annual review ready. Part of the review is a development plan. Since Steve is no longer a banker, Jeff thought it would be good for me to write up the development plan. Sounds like a good plan (that Jeff - he's brilliant!) and I believe in employee participation and empowerment so I asked Steve to think about areas where he'd like to improve to help his career. His response, "My biceps." For some odd reason, this led to a conversation trying to justify a business need for Steve to work on his biceps.

I only had to go to two meetings today. One was a teleconference (where the goofball manager managed to distract me long enough that I didn't even realize the meeting was over) and the other was the meeting I get to have with new bankers when they graduate from training. Starting Sunday, our team is doubling in size. There are six new bankers joining us from the training queue and I'm excited about all of them. This group is extremely talkative (not great for call handle times but fantastic for a learning and sales environment) and their questions are amazing. The meeting with them, which is scheduled for a normal 30 minutes to an hour (including time for them to set up their new desks), managed to last over an hour and a half (without the time for them to set up their desks). I gave each of them probably 30 pieces of paper and worried that it was too much. They loved it! I was just thrilled by the positive energy.

I'm getting to the point at work where it's not a struggle every day to get the team to perform. The bankers are learning more and retaining more each day and the hand holding is decreasing. That, plus the fact I'm almost back to nights, has me filled with more energy all the time.

On Monday, I went over to my mom's for dinner. I played with Chip, Pepper, Smoke, and Mac (which my mom loves because sometimes she doesn't know how to play with each of them. She knows how to feed them and give them attention, but flat out playing games escapes her a bit). She made lasagna for dinner and it was delicious. She is rather excited right now. Acceptance of Grandma's passing has sunk in and Mom misses her terribly, but understands it was time. Grandma's estate has been settled and Mom got a bit of change sent her way. She's paying off her mortgage, about 15 years early. This is good for Mom.

Char is on vacation from work. She and Tom left today to get Tom to Texas. She'll be back, but it may be only for a couple of weeks. She is moving to Texas with Tom for the year and I'm going to miss them both terribly. It's already hard to know that Tom is gone for a year. They have both been begged to start blogging so that DM and I can keep up with their lives.

The girl who replaced me at work as Andy's lead is having reality sink in. The old team is trying to adjust to a different personality type than me. I feel a bit good about the fact they are all still so loyal to me but I really don't want to see her struggling. The bankers on that team still approach me with their successes, looking for praise. They also still come to me if they are concerned about certain things. They want me to be the go-between for her and Andy.

I went shopping on iTunes again tonight. The highlights of what I purchased were:

You Had Me - Joss Stone
Viva Las Vegas - Elvis Presley
Mama Told Me Not to Come - Tom Jones & Stereophonics
Redneck Woman - Gretchen Wilson

Not bad for $4.

About a week ago I bought a new album off of iTunes. It's called, "The Vanity Project" by "The Vanity Project." It's actually a project by Stephen Page, one of the lead singers for BareNaked Ladies. The feel is different than a BNL album, but I do enjoy it. My mom has also become recently addicted to iTunes and I brought over 50 albums to her house to see if any of them held music she'd like. She wanted about 25 of them.

Friday night holds a bit of fun for me. One of the bankers who left our call center called me up to see if we could get together. Jay is going to join Andy and I for our Friday night pool night. A few of the other bankers may join us too. I miss Jay and I was bouncing when he called.

And, if there are any lurkers out there that have not said hello in a bit, I would welcome news of what's going on in your life. Dude, I miss you. You know who you are.