In an effort to be quantitative, I've compiled some statistics:
# of days I didn't want to get out of bed and go to work: 0
# of times someone has raised their voice at me in anger: 0
# of weekends worked: 3
# of compliments received: 8.4 X 1023
# of people who have outright said they think I suck: 1
# of 12 hour or more days: 3
# of formal performance reviews: 2
# of times phone has rung on weekends/evenings: 3
# of times the multi-layered support system has failed 0
As you can see, it's a pretty good gig. It's not that my last gig wasn't... I learned a lot, it kept a roof over my head, and when we had fun, we really had fun. I love those folks and miss them still.
But the numbers are what speaks here. And the numbers are good. Sure, people still say "irregardless" and for some reason, I think people are getting a commission every time they use an apostrophe, but I guess I can run but never hide from all that.
Emily commented about how it's nice that the "honey-do" list is being kept up on and someone else can clean up the dead animals Atticus brings in as prizes from the latest hunt.
I eat better, exercise more, get more and better sleep, drive less, and am generally finding this to be a really good fit.
Now, everything has it's downside. My boss' boss told me the other day if we all kept a list of things we didn't like about where we work, we'd do nothing but develop and edit the list... and if we change jobs, we may as well take the list with us, because in the end, a lot of those things are internal.
One major downside it that I am constantly throttling back because I spent so long being a scrapper. It was a requirement of the job and culture from where I came. And I am good at it, accustomed to it. But everyone here is so... nice.
They don't think they are, but they are. The corporate culture really is "people first" around here which is great until you realize that if people are first, what you want is at best second.
My mom on our recent vacation, turned to me the second day and said without a hint of irony: "You're used to getting your own way, aren't you?" When the shoe fits, pick it up and fling it across the room. Mama, I can't tell a lie. So... moving on.
Also, it's big. You get a sense of just how big when you go to a regional or national meeting and you see over 2,000 others with the same name tag as you. And that's just a small group of people performing certain functions... there's a whole lot more where that came from.
18,000 people in the U.S. and I'm used to knowing almost everyone's name. I've got a lot of memorizing to do!
Lastly, my office is a little small. Actually, maybe it's that my desk is a little big. But, I have overcome this by spending vast swaths of time on the phone, looking out the large picture windows to see the wildflowers, pond, geese, occasional snapping turtle and even a tree frog that comes to visit me by sticking to my window from time to time.
In sum (with apologies to John Lennon) - I like it, Emily likes it, they like me, and are all together...
___________________________
It's nice to see plucky little Pluto back in the news. I made no secret that I felt like the littlest kid in our neighborhood got a bum rap when it was demoted to a "dwarf planet".
Really, when we take the time to get to know it, we see 11,00' soaring mountains! and on its moon, six mile deep canyons! Take that, Earth!
Far from some dumb rogue ice cube bumbling along in its own eccentric orbit as the IAU would have had us believe, Pluto is clearly geologically active and has an intriguing young history, with much of the activity having just recently, (in geological terms anyway), begun. And there's a lot still going on!
Emily and I were talking as the discoveries were unfolding. It takes an almost unfathomable 248 years for our little buddy to make it around the sun. You can almost hear it shouting, "C'mon guys, wait up!!!". It has a funny, eccentric orbit, spinning around with all the grace of a newborn fawn. Mercury by contrast orbits the sun each 88 earth days. It orbits the sun nearly 1,008 times for every once that Pluto flies by.
Imagine your obituary, all things being equal, on Pluto:
Bill Uebbing, lived to the ripe old age of 3/8 of a year and accomplished much...
It's the perfect place for procrastinators. "Mom, I said I'd take out the trash tomorrow!"
Seriously, one Plutonian day is 6.4 Earth days. Imagine missing a deadline on Pluto. It's probably punishable by death... or at least a good, stern talking to. "I just wish there were more than 153.6 hours in a day! When am I going to get this laundry done?"
Pluto deserves to be in our consciousness. Pluto deserves to be the Pizza in the mnemonic that helped even the most dimwitted second grader pass that section of the general science test. Without Pluto, it's like a David Lynch movie. There's no discernible ending...
My Very Elegant Mother Just Served Us Nine....
Nine what?
Somebody tell my, what did my very elegant mother just serve us nine of?
Why won't you tell me?
It's over?
What do you mean it's over?
It's no secret that Pluto would be picked last for every backyard sports team and maybe it isn't going to known for its fiery disposition, but what ever happened to sure and steady wins the race?
Pluto has proven it's not a laughing stock. It is a character all on its own worthy of our study and interest.
One day, our sun could explode, (not likely given its size and composition, but you probably don't know that for sure and this is my blog), and if so, we'd all be dead nearly instantaneously. By contrast, Plutonians would have 5 minutes to get their affairs in order, kiss their weird little children or knock over a liquor store for old times' sake and know they were all alone in the solar system before the cosmic shit hit the fan.
Then the last shall be first. Or something. I don't know. Lunchtime is over.
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