Bliss!!

Ever have a period of time where you question if life can possibly get any better than the dizzying peak you're at right now? My head is SPINNING with exuberant satisfaction, exciting opportunity, and blissful joy from the events of this last quarter!!

I'm getting closer with some exciting new friends. We took a camping trip, 5 kids, 4 couples, 3 days in Adirondack paradise. We had such a great time with the kids, hiking, exploring, examining the tensile properties of frog legs (oops!) that I'm still warm & fuzzy from the experience a month later! I really missed campfire songs. When was the last time you were out with folks who spontaneously burst into song? (Ok, ok, I live with someone who does that on a daily basis, but it's so much better when you're with 13 people who do it!!!)

Cheryl and I have been streamlining our daily home-time process so cooking and cleaning get done without getting in the way of the massive quantity of playtime we can afford as people with no regular commitments and no housework. A day rarely passes without an exciting new outdoor activity or trip to a fantastic natural playground! (...webster beach for example... there are a lot of rocks out there that need skipping!!!)

Things are going well at work too! I've got the most ridiculously fitting job lined up for next quarter! I'll be doing co-located programming on a massive system using several programming languages. This will fill that void on my resume, giving me enterprise programming experience in not only Java & related techs, but the dark side of Microsoft Visual languages (like C#) and C++!

When I make a life transition, it's usually spontaneous with decisive and swift action following the decision. In this case, the team transition at work was made for me, so I have 2 months of knowing where I'm headed as the business makes preparations for me move. The looming change doesn't feel like impending doom, or even an event to cause mild anxiety... I'm ecstatic about the new team and the work I'll be accomplishing with them! As for the old team... since I know I'm leaving, I'm starting to notice all of the things I love so much about them. It's seriously a 2 month period where I get to savor all of the tidbits, quirks, and synergies that make us so productive, happy, and skillful as a unit!! I really hope this euphoric mindset sticks with me as I move to my new team, so I can revel in the benefits of my comradery even as I'm still in the thick of it.

Ah! I'm living such a great life! I love what I'm doing and love what's coming next.

I go to sleep looking forward to waking up,

I wake up looking forward to the day

I love to work, then love playing at home.

I love the work week then love the weekend.

There's a lot of time to enjoy, and I'm not wasting a moment!

My Bosses

Image Link: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2331948&l=e42767526d&id=722541360

I've had a lot of bosses. This post focuses on the bosses I've had within Thomson Reuters as they are the ones with the notably positive characteristics.

Dave

Details, details, details! Coming out of school, I was a decent programmer, but I made a lot of small errors that the compiler would usually catch. In the testing department, a lot of these small errors in artifacts that didn't have such a robust syntax checker (word docs, XML artifacts, test data), these small errors were catastrophic. Dave drew me in to an appreciation for detail that has caused me to be a very uniquely talented developer. Frank calls me the human parser for my ability to glance at a page and immediately state what will fail where, why it will fail, and how the machine interprets the code. This principle is also manifest in my attention to detail in design. Because of Dave's gift, I'm able to quickly learn and understand design, process, and social patterns because I notice and take the details to heart.

Judy
With a quiet strength and easy guiding hand, she quickly brought me from co-op to fully functional developer in a very passive, laid back manner. She set me in the right direction, then let me take any path to get there. Her guidance set my expectations and opened up my creative potential at Thomson, right from the get-go so brilliant minds like Tod, Mark and Christina could easily and freely add to my potential.

Allison
To this day I miss my one on one's with Allison. She was bold and direct, leaving me free to discuss my musings and emotions regarding the job and positively shaping my motivation to fully unleash the passion I have for the work I do. She got me rolling in the soft-skills arena. This has been improving my marriage (which was already doing well), as well as helping me reach a level of understanding for the emotions that are such a tight part of influencing a project's outcome.

Rich
Research and intrigue. He renewed my passion for development and design half way through my current career, tweaking my interest and opening doors I didn't even see before. I appreciate the projects he had me work on and the constant advice he continues to provide whenever I run into him.

Nik

As my team's 'Fearless Leader', Nik has always kept our deadlines as reasonable as possible. He argues strongly with the intent of finding the best possible solution. The first solution, or the solution he immediately presents isn't the only solution and he is always willing to talk about an alternate solution, and welcomes improvement from any direction. He shines in making sure we have the resources we need and holds high standards for quality in all areas (not just the code).

Matt

Diffuser of all situations, Matt is adept at reading people, understanding workplace politics and finding the best route for everyone. His tips have greatly influenced my career path and his leadership as provided opportunities that have improved my effectiveness as a developer beyond anything I could have imagined even two years ago. His parting gift was a roadmap that will probably affect my career greatly within the next 5 years.

All told, I've never had a boss at Thomson Reuters that I thought I could do without. At every transition point, I've felt like I could never get someone to top my last boss. As it turns out, there are a LOT of really amazing higher-ups here and each one has a unique skill set I admire and from which I can benefit.

2009 United Way Day of Caring

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKS9Udyjf8E

Saturday with the Kashoreks

Album link: http://picasaweb.google.com/ultimadj/SaturdayWithTheKashoreks

"Hey, would you guys like to go for a bike ride?" Kim asked over the phone. "Definitely!" Cheryl replied. And that was that. The rest of the day was biking, playing at the playground, sloppy joes, counter-strike and the movie "Bedtime Stories" with Adam Sandler.

Counter Strike Source Server is up for the evening

My Source SN: Ultimadj

Server IP: 74.74.224.83:27015

Counter Strike Source LAN Party

My father in law is hosting a LAN party this Friday (4/17) starting around 6:45pm. Actual space for the party is limited, but I'll be posting the server IP if you're interested in joining us remotely.

We'll be playing Counter-Strike:Source. 

If you own the game, add me to your steam friends list "ultimadj" and join us this Friday!

Made Up Statistics

Personal thoughts regarding my last month of activities.

Passion for Work

- The awesome 5% of the work I'm given makes up for the other 95%. 

- The awesome 95% of co-worker interactions far outweighs the frustrating 5%.

- The awesome Joe, Vis and Christina completely tip the scales towards joy regardless of circumstance.

Project Scheduling Breakdown

- Tasks where I have enough time: 1%

- Tasks where I may barely have enough time if nothing goes wrong: 70%

- Tasks where I wonder what magic button generates these timelines: 29%

Goods Consumption

- Desire to constantly explore new foods, technology and physical feats: 97%

- Fear of allergy/cancer/disability: 3%

Interactions at Home

- Ecstaticly happy days: 80%

- Happy days:  15%

- Bad Days: 4%

- Really really bad days: 1%

Happiness/Joy Factors

- Cheryl: 40%

- Annabelle: 30%

- Physical activities: 10%

- Computer related activities: 5%

- Friends/Family: 5%

- Work related activities: 5%

- Parties and random occurances: 3%

- Other: 2%