Wow! Whatta week!

I made it through my first week at the new job, and my brain is still spinning. I thought I was reasonably computer literate. Yeah, right! The guys I work with make me feel like I was using an abacus.

I spent the first two days just learning how to navigate the computer system. Everything, and I mean everything, is done on your desktop. Hell, you even answer the phone through your computer (I'd read about VOIP....I'd never used it). I finally started feeling a tiny bit productive on Wednesday, and then on Thursday, I got to dive headlong into customer relations, trying to save a major bid that is teetering on the verge of going to a competitor. Plus planning for a couple of upcoming trade shows, working on branding a new service offering, and making arrangements with a local weekly paper for my boss to write a tech column. And all the while, trying to learn all the new acronyms. VAR, SAP, NAS, MSP (I won't bore you with the translations) not to mention such things as application virtualization ( I think I know what that one is, but I'm not entirely sure) . It quickly became apparent that most people in the office use all those terms, so if I wanted to have a clue about what anyone was talking about, I had to take a crash course.

I'm EXHAUSTED! And I haven't enjoyed work this much in years!

Jim Lawson hurt in accident

An old friend and co-worker, Jim Lawson, was seriously injured in a car accident this past weekend. Jim is the operations manager/AM drive at KDKD in Clinton. I guess he got screwed up pretty bad -- a bunch of broken bones and a shattered leg. His wife, Glenna, was also seriously hurt. He's in Columbia, she's at St. Luke's in KC.

My thoughts are with both of them as the long process of recovery begins. Godspeed.

Doing the right thing.

I always had a complex relationship with my late father. Well, not really complex, I guess. We just didn't have anything to do with one another for the past fifteen or twenty years. So I was suprised to find out after he died that I was indeed to share in his estate, along with my sister and his adopted son from his second marriage (who I have never met).

What I really didn't expect was what I found out last week. When he died, his wishes were already laid out and were followed to the tee. There was no obituary, no funeral, no nothing. His remains were cremated by the funeral home and that was the end of it. Or so we thought.....

Seems his ashes are at the attorney's office along with his personal effects. And since I'm the only heir that lives here....guess who has to deal with them???

I'm kinda ashamed to admit that I had some really evil ideas at first. I won't even go into specifics. But after talking to my mom and my sister, we're gonna do the right thing. I'm trying to track down exactly where his parents are buried. I know they are in one of the local cemetaries...just not exactly where. But since my sis will be in town later this month, I agreed to find out, so we can scatter his ashes on his parents' graves.

I don't really know how I feel about it. But I guess that's consistent. I never really knew how I felt about him, either.

Gainfully employed!

After five weeks of glorious (and beginning to get boring) inactivity, I start my new job on Monday. I'm an account manager for a local tech service company. Of all the jobs I applied for, this is the one I really wanted!

I'm working for a guy I've known for years, doing something I think I'm gonna really enjoy. The hours are great (8 to 5 and NO on call work). The pay is good, the benefits are good, and most importantly, the morale of the place seems to be fantastic. I'll be the oldest person there, by far, but to me, that's not a bad thing. The propeller heads are all in their twenties, and the management types in their late thirties or early forties.

It's a little scary to be starting a new job. I haven't done that in a LONG time. But its also exciting and I think it will be a good (and long term) opportunity to not only use all the varied skills I've picked up over the years, but to learn new ones on a daily basis. I'm already learning about hardware and capabilities that I didn't even know existed. And I think what excites me the most is that, if I had known what this company does and how well they do it, I would have contracted with them at the radio station several years ago. My god, how that would have taken an immense load off my shoulders back then! But I didn't know what they did. And the important thing is -- NOBODY ELSE DOES EITHER! What a marketing opportunity!!??!!

In any event, the past five weeks have been good for me. I am more rested and relaxed than I have been in literally decades. I've had time to reflect on what I want out of the rest of my life, and to get the groundwork in place for some other things I really want to do (like finish that elusive degree....time off for classes does NOT seem like it will be a major stumbling block. This place WANTS its people to get training and education on a continuing basis). Self-examination is not always a pleasant experience, but ultimately, it is an important aspect of growth. And it's nice that something besides my waistline may be growing!

Soooo, Monday morning, its up and back into the world of the gainfully employed. Here's hoping it turns out to be everything I expect and hope -- and more!