7 Quick Takes Friday #44

See more 7 Quick Takes Contributions at Jennifer Fulwiler's Conversion Diary.

1. The week started out with a mild but continuing annoyance: every time I answered my cell phone, the call would drop and the phone would take a picture of my ear. At least, I thought it was my ear until logical Donnie told me that this is not possible because the camera faces outward. The phone was taking a picture of my hand. So, okay, I don't know my hand from my ear. That does not solve the problem, though. For now, since I don't have time to deal with that, I have solved the problem in a different way: I have stopped answering the phone. I have an adequate number of pictures of my ear (or hand), already.












2. Halloween was a fun evening. Lemony did a great job on the grandkids' costumes (Above, Nathaniel as Dr. Who is on the left and Nikolina as a little lamb on the right). Doah bought himself an Ironman suit, and I took him around to a few houses. He has not grown up in that respect. Then he came back and helped Donnie and me hand out candy (we have two accessible doors -- each on a different street), so that was very helpful. Then Donnie took him home. It is a different world for all of us now that he lives nearby -- so many more possibilities for interaction.

3. November 1 was Donnie's birthday. It was also voting day (about which I have already posted). After voting, we wanted to celebrate Donnie's birthday at a Grilling and Chilling restaurant before going to a movie. Unfortunately, everyone in town had the same idea. We would have had too long a wait, so we went where the lines were short: Jack in Box, where I ended up with some inedible tacos (no worse than my own cooking, though). There were only a handful of people at the cinema, so we had some excellent seats for Hereafter, a movie I had wanted to see but ended up not really liking. Oh, well, the important part of the day was that we got to celebrate Donnie's birthday and spend some quality time together.

4. After Donnie's birthday, however, the week turned grueling. We had two rehearsals with the big boss for a presentation that we four senior managers will be making at the Pentagon on Tuesday. A Congressional advisor, whom I have known for years, was in town and helped out our boss by listening to the first rehearsal and murder-boarding it (providing ruthless feedback). A truly debonair gentlemen from a nearly bygone generation, he is not capable of ruthlessness. I was second to present and left after that to deal with other work issues. As I departed, I held out my hand to shake goodbye with the advisor; instead, he held it and kissed it. Indeed, a nearly by-gone generation... [image from Tine Kameer gallery; click on image for link to some fine art work]

5. In spite of a crushing workload this week, I did, for the most part, leave my office door open, which is an indication to employees that my open-door policy is in effect. It seemed a big week for a little problems, and getting my regular, introversion-required work done was difficult. I did ask one employee to come to me if he would. His first-line supervisor was about to give him a letter of reprimand for refusal to do a particular task for a short period for another program manager, and I knew him to be an excellent, cooperative, and diligent employee. I asked if he would talk to me if there was some justification for his behavior that he felt he could not share with his immediate supervisors. He came, revealed having been egregiously abused through false and pernicious rumors started by the program manager for whom he would be working, and then said, "If you personally ask me to do this, I will." Wow! Of course, I would not ask for that. I talked to his first-line supervisor and got the letter of reprimand cancelled, and I will be talking to the other manager's supervisor this week. I did talk to the other manager about having to find someone else without revealing the confidential information given to me, but if he is smart, he will figure it out, and if he is not, he will be counseled by his own immediate supervisor. I very much dislike finding out that these kinds of things continue in spite of a servant leader orientation that I insist upon among managers. I have two managers out of about 40 (this one is one of the two) who just don't get it. Both those managers, who otherwise do an excellent job, received negative comments from me about these things on their annual appraisal; I am hoping that those comments will get them to listen to their boss and to me more actively.

6. Speaking of appraisals, they are one reason it has been hell week at work. I had nearly 400 to turn in, of which I was the first-line rater of only six (yes!), but second rater of a couple dozen. The remaining I just had to ensure were completed. Of course, these being all computerized, we had a number of recalcitrant computers (I negotiated with the Personnel Office to turn in some the old fashioned way: hand-signed on paper) and, by the end, we were down to one functional photocopier and that one would take only feeds one page at a time laid on the glass. Everyone should be happy this weekend: hell week is over until next year!

7. Hell week, though, did not end with the appraisals for me. We had four sets of materials to get into the office in Afghanistan where I visited last month. It was a promise, and I always meet promised deadlines. Three teams turned in their materials either early or by COB (close of business). One team told me that they would finish either next week, or if I insisted, on Saturday. "No," I told them, "neither alternative is an option. They are due COB today, and your business day will close when you hand me the materials." They worked until 9:45 p.m. Their managers stayed, and so did I. So, our COB today was very, very late, but the materials did get to Afghanistan within the promised November 5 deadline. I have a half-hour drive home, so I am now truly, truly tired. All I want at the moment is to tumble into bed. My eyes are drooping even as I write, trying to keep them propped open long enough to finish.

I hope that you have had a much easier week than I and that your weekend will be just a whole lot of fun. (Mine will continue in a similar vein: ball for work on Saturday and red-eye to Washington on Sunday -- and a journal to edit before I go. I dream of sleep, but it appears not mine to have for a while!)