7 Quick Takes Friday #52

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

It is amazing how much today reflected a composite of the full-range of my life and work activities. I don't usually get quite such a mixture in one day.

1. The day started with a formal briefing that I had to attend at our main headquarters. A very high level leader from our Washington headquarters, new to his position, had lots of questions, especially for me. I spend much of my time in briefings. Sometimes, like today, I attend them and answer questions. Sometimes I present them either in my own conference room or in a conference room at some location where an airplane ride takes me.

2. When I returned, I had the senior managers present me their weekly updates. This happens every Friday that I am in town. Similarly, after lunch I oversaw a two-hour program review of one of our programs. (I complete an annual review on all 51 of the programs under my control, which means a lot of traveling because those programs are located all over the world.)

3. At noon, I attended Mass at a nearby chapel. I feel blessed that only five minutes from my office, Masses are celebrated every Wednesday and Friday noon. Of course, I miss quite a few because of my travels, but when I am there, it makes a wonderful interlude in the middle of my day. Sometimes, I serve as reader. Mostly, I just attend and enjoy some time with God in the middle of a day that is often chaos and stress. On Wednesday this week, my admin assistant, in trying to find time in my busy schedule for a lunch engagement with Greg, someone from another division who needs to talk to me about a writing project, asked if she could replace God with Greg that day. No way! I reminded her that she would like me better in the afternoon if I went to Mass over the lunch hour.

4. I do get to eat lunch -- sometimes more than I should. Today, after Mass, I attended the good-bye lunch for the employee who had tried to blackmail me to keep me from moving him to another division. He was quiet, but pleasant. He hugged me when he left, so all is well now. Yesterday I experienced the epitome of my overbooking silliness: two lunches. I had said good-bye to a departing employee in the morning, apologizing for having to miss his good-bye luncheon because I had a previous engagement for lunch. As I entered the restaurant for my lunch engagement, I saw the reserved table for him and me on the right -- and a group from our division on the left at the good-bye party for the departing employee! During the formal presentations by those in my division, I was able to walk across the restaurant and participate.

5. In the afternoon, after the program review, one of the unit representatives who had presented the anonymous information he had collected from his fellow employees and had presented at the reverse evaluation. I had him repeat the information for his senior manager, because some of it was personal and he had not presented it publicly and because the manager had missed the reverse evaluation due to a family emergency. Right after that, I received a phone call from a distraught employee at our Hawaii site, and I spent 15 minutes or so calming her.

6. The final part of the work day was spent in a meeting with another division; they are preparing support materials for several of our projects, and we needed to make sure that they were what we needed. We have had considerable miscommunication on this task in the past.

7. Arriving home, I asked Donnie what he had done during the day. He is busy finding house insurance and completing a number of other tasks related to the fact that WE ARE BUYING A HOUSE! Everything was approved yesterday. It was so easily accomplished that it has not hit me that we are now home owners. I am sure I will realize what is going on when we have to pack in order to move! In the interim, I have to pack in order to go to Korea on Monday!

Wishing you a great weekend!