Coming up for air
We had our general availability release on Wednesday. The pulse at work has slowed a bit. One of the teams I was involved with held a team luncheon at a Thai restaraunt on Thursday to celebrate. The other team pretty much took the day off today.
In good news, it was clarified to me what team I belong to now. It's the Microsoft Integration technologies team though I will still liase with other teams as necessary, joining the scrums, and sizing/design meetings as necessary as some of the work our team is taking on for the next release integrates closely with one aspect of our product. It seems that the work I performed for the last release was good preparation for what I'll be doing.
Since the release, I've been working furiously to produce a document which I own that describes all the interfaces to our product. I always have to wait until the GA to finalise it as things often change in the closing hours as things are fixed or changed. I held a final review on Thursday and all the action items arising took me til this afternoon to get completed. I've gotten consistently good feedback on the improvements I've made on the document since taking ownership last October. One of the consultants said that it has reduced the time to produce it for a customer-specific deployment from days and weeks to hours. That was a nice pat on the back.
I had to go to the county administration office this afternoon to add a lien to the title on my jeep as they failed to do so when I registered in November. Since I didn't bring the receipt from November showing that the mistake was their fault, I had to pay $33 to basically sign the title away to the bank. Annoying but the calls from the bank representative were getting annoying.
One of my daughters-in-law added me as a friend on facebook this week. That was unexpected and pleasant. Maybe she's even reading this :)
A's oldest, J, moved in with us a week ago yesterday. We gave him A's key which he promptly lost so I went to the Ace Hardware store Friday evening after work and had two new keys made -- one for A and one for J. J flew out Sunday evening to Singapore to spend some time with an old high school friend. She bought the tickets so it was quite a nice gift for him.
We have the kids this weekend and again in a couple of weeks. My employer has an annual employee appreciation week that will end on the 16th with an all-expenses day out at the downtown aquarium. That will be fun with the kids.
I bought a 5-show season ticket package at the Alley Theatre for next season. I added tickets to a David Sedaris reading of his new book in October. A was thrilled. When he is very pleased, he exhibits a kind of little boy, clap-your-hands together kind of happiness. We can't really afford it but it was fun to do simply to experience his reaction. He pampers me waaay too much so I like to pamper him now and again.
The third son, I, who spent the latter half of his senior year living with us and then on through summer and into the fall before going into the Air Force last October, has been discharged from the Air Force. He basically got himself drummed out. He's living with his mom and step-dad at present and there's drama going on there (of his own making). A is torn up about it. I think it's time for the boy to learn in the school of hard knocks. I try to simply listen and be sympathetic. I am sympathetic -- I've gone through some experiences with my own sons that I wouldn't wish on an enemy. It's part and parcel of what one signs up for when one takes on the role of parent.
The trip to the UK towards the end of the month and Greenbelt are starting to pop up on my radar. I'm ready for a bit of a holiday and a break from the heat. I can't complain, really -- summer in Houston this year has been fairly reasonable though we're going through a hot spell just now. We'll likely have extreme heat and humidity until October so a 8-day break to the Cotswalds is just the ticket to get a breather. I'm looking forward to being social with many good friends whilst I'm there. I expect that God will surprise me as He always does at Greenbelt as well. I missed last year because of the passport renewal fiasco so I'm very thirsty for Greenbelt this year.
July seemed to go by in a flash what with the musical performances, S&T's wedding, doing the software release at work and last weekend in San Antonio. It's hard to believe that August is already here. It's true what they say about time seeing to go faster as one gets older.
I've not been on GCN very much for going on weeks now -- same reasons apply. When real life gets busy, other things fall by the wayside. I'd like to catch up there.
My sister's youngest and her fiance are getting married in Sioux Falls the last weekend of August. I'll have just gotten back a couple of days from the UK before taking a flight there via the Twin Cities. A is going with me. I don't know who all in the extended family (my offspring) are going. A has been to Sioux Falls for Thanksgiving for a couple of years in a row now and my sister insists that he should come along so I booked the flights and that's what we're going to do. Stay tuned for developments there.
This weekend I hope to get some things done around the house. My personal UPS needs to be set up. I'd like to clean up J's car as a surprise when he returns this week. A and his daughter are going to organise J's room for him as a surprise as well. Muchkin has started football and has scrimmages on the weekends. He wants me to come to his games starting in September. That might prove interesting for all concerned as he lives in a fairly conservative suburb on the north side. I have attended the Military Banquet with the older kids for two years running so I guess this is just another extension of that -- getting melded into the kids lives and landscape.
So now it's off to bed after an evening of watching the Dr. Who Season Finale (part 2) and some Monty Python. We're having Mike (Houston_Catholic) and Peter (edensong) over for dinner Sunday night followed by a film of some ilk. We're planning taco salad and watermelon. A would also like to take the kids to see "Mama Mia" sometime this weekend as well which I'm sure we'll squeeze in somewhere.
Ok, somewhat of a wordy update but I was well overdue.
In good news, it was clarified to me what team I belong to now. It's the Microsoft Integration technologies team though I will still liase with other teams as necessary, joining the scrums, and sizing/design meetings as necessary as some of the work our team is taking on for the next release integrates closely with one aspect of our product. It seems that the work I performed for the last release was good preparation for what I'll be doing.
Since the release, I've been working furiously to produce a document which I own that describes all the interfaces to our product. I always have to wait until the GA to finalise it as things often change in the closing hours as things are fixed or changed. I held a final review on Thursday and all the action items arising took me til this afternoon to get completed. I've gotten consistently good feedback on the improvements I've made on the document since taking ownership last October. One of the consultants said that it has reduced the time to produce it for a customer-specific deployment from days and weeks to hours. That was a nice pat on the back.
I had to go to the county administration office this afternoon to add a lien to the title on my jeep as they failed to do so when I registered in November. Since I didn't bring the receipt from November showing that the mistake was their fault, I had to pay $33 to basically sign the title away to the bank. Annoying but the calls from the bank representative were getting annoying.
One of my daughters-in-law added me as a friend on facebook this week. That was unexpected and pleasant. Maybe she's even reading this :)
A's oldest, J, moved in with us a week ago yesterday. We gave him A's key which he promptly lost so I went to the Ace Hardware store Friday evening after work and had two new keys made -- one for A and one for J. J flew out Sunday evening to Singapore to spend some time with an old high school friend. She bought the tickets so it was quite a nice gift for him.
We have the kids this weekend and again in a couple of weeks. My employer has an annual employee appreciation week that will end on the 16th with an all-expenses day out at the downtown aquarium. That will be fun with the kids.
I bought a 5-show season ticket package at the Alley Theatre for next season. I added tickets to a David Sedaris reading of his new book in October. A was thrilled. When he is very pleased, he exhibits a kind of little boy, clap-your-hands together kind of happiness. We can't really afford it but it was fun to do simply to experience his reaction. He pampers me waaay too much so I like to pamper him now and again.
The third son, I, who spent the latter half of his senior year living with us and then on through summer and into the fall before going into the Air Force last October, has been discharged from the Air Force. He basically got himself drummed out. He's living with his mom and step-dad at present and there's drama going on there (of his own making). A is torn up about it. I think it's time for the boy to learn in the school of hard knocks. I try to simply listen and be sympathetic. I am sympathetic -- I've gone through some experiences with my own sons that I wouldn't wish on an enemy. It's part and parcel of what one signs up for when one takes on the role of parent.
The trip to the UK towards the end of the month and Greenbelt are starting to pop up on my radar. I'm ready for a bit of a holiday and a break from the heat. I can't complain, really -- summer in Houston this year has been fairly reasonable though we're going through a hot spell just now. We'll likely have extreme heat and humidity until October so a 8-day break to the Cotswalds is just the ticket to get a breather. I'm looking forward to being social with many good friends whilst I'm there. I expect that God will surprise me as He always does at Greenbelt as well. I missed last year because of the passport renewal fiasco so I'm very thirsty for Greenbelt this year.
July seemed to go by in a flash what with the musical performances, S&T's wedding, doing the software release at work and last weekend in San Antonio. It's hard to believe that August is already here. It's true what they say about time seeing to go faster as one gets older.
I've not been on GCN very much for going on weeks now -- same reasons apply. When real life gets busy, other things fall by the wayside. I'd like to catch up there.
My sister's youngest and her fiance are getting married in Sioux Falls the last weekend of August. I'll have just gotten back a couple of days from the UK before taking a flight there via the Twin Cities. A is going with me. I don't know who all in the extended family (my offspring) are going. A has been to Sioux Falls for Thanksgiving for a couple of years in a row now and my sister insists that he should come along so I booked the flights and that's what we're going to do. Stay tuned for developments there.
This weekend I hope to get some things done around the house. My personal UPS needs to be set up. I'd like to clean up J's car as a surprise when he returns this week. A and his daughter are going to organise J's room for him as a surprise as well. Muchkin has started football and has scrimmages on the weekends. He wants me to come to his games starting in September. That might prove interesting for all concerned as he lives in a fairly conservative suburb on the north side. I have attended the Military Banquet with the older kids for two years running so I guess this is just another extension of that -- getting melded into the kids lives and landscape.
So now it's off to bed after an evening of watching the Dr. Who Season Finale (part 2) and some Monty Python. We're having Mike (Houston_Catholic) and Peter (edensong) over for dinner Sunday night followed by a film of some ilk. We're planning taco salad and watermelon. A would also like to take the kids to see "Mama Mia" sometime this weekend as well which I'm sure we'll squeeze in somewhere.
Ok, somewhat of a wordy update but I was well overdue.