MAL and stuff...
So I'm back from MAL and have been working like crazy since getting home on Monday evening. The project that was supposed to be wrapped up a couple weeks ago is still dragging on but with any luck it will finally get pushed out to our live environment today. There's just a couple small visual formatting issues at this point and data ingestion problems when our statistics servers fall over. Hopefully with last night's maintenance and the new release that was supposed to fix a bug with that it will finally be working the way it's supposed to. I'm not holding my breath since aggregating data from 3 sources into one storage tank has been a pain in the ass since we only control 1 of those sources and the other 2 are services provided by other groups. I just really want this project to be over with since it's been dragging on for way too long.
MAL was very odd this year. Had the boy down there with me and he ended up getting sick which put a crimp in some plans, but nowhere near as many plans as I just had to change because the weather was frigid the whole weekend and the city filled with people there for the other big event going on. Food was a challenge since it seemed like there were extensive waits at every restaurant we went to and not wanting to wait outside in the cold, we ended up opting to get food at Whole Foods and CVS the whole time we were there save lunch when we first arrived and breakfast one day in the hotel. Tensions started setting in by Saturday and some tempers flared up in a big way on Sunday. I doubt either of those things would have happened had the weather been a little better and we could get in anywhere to have real meals on a regular basis. I also think the boy wouldn't have gotten sick had the food situation been better. Still, through all that, we still managed to have some fun.
While I was there, I was wrestling with a very big decision I had to make. Given that my work schedule has been going bonkers lately and the projects I have to complete this year are stacking taller and taller, I realized that the time has come for me to step down from being a full brother in New York boys of Leather. We had 2 other departures of brothers this month already and I was trying to figure out how to put it off for a while longer so it doesn't appear like we're having an exodus from the group. When I got back and saw the stack of what's to come I realized I had to do it and it's the right decision for me. It took me 2 days to write the email to the board since I kept writing and rewriting it to try and get precision on the reason I have to step down. It has nothing to do with the boys and everything to do with the requirements of my occupation in this difficult time for the economy.
Now that I have that down, I have to figure out how to break it to another friend that I cannot work with his party any longer. With all the tensions that have been flaring there the past couple months, I've been treading cautiously on that one because it has nothing to do with drama and is for the same reason I have to step down from my regular involvement with the boys: work. The party is monthly on a Sunday night and being there until 4:30am and crashing out for a few hours of sleep and then heading in to work just isn't going to fly in the face of the major projects I'm being assigned to. I have to figure out how to sit down with him and have a conversation that it has nothing to do with him, the party, or any reason other than work is rough and taking a lot more time this year than it has in the past and my free time is being whittled down quite a bit. I'd rather end my involvement for the sake of preserving the friendship than start becoming flaky about when I'm available and then having that time get nabbed by being sent on a work trip to LA or something else.
I'm still waffling on going to IML this year. I want to go to support one of my best friends who is competing. I want to go to see some friends who will be there that weekend that I don't get to see very often. Alas, there is still work though and uncertainty around project schedules and deliveries.
It's all looking like this year will be a low profile socially and a high profile professionally. I'm adaptable that way I guess...it's been 4 years of slacking professionally and pouring myself into a social life I enjoy but now the pendulum is swinging the other way. Perhaps along with this pendulum I'll also do something about the weight I've been gaining the past few months. I seem to arrive at this place every year, "how did I let myself gain all this weight during fall and winter again?" It seriously has less to do with how I look and more with how my clothes fit...I really don't want to go spend money on that right now and should just stop eating so much junk food. Ugh...why hasn't the caffeine kicked in yet???
MAL was very odd this year. Had the boy down there with me and he ended up getting sick which put a crimp in some plans, but nowhere near as many plans as I just had to change because the weather was frigid the whole weekend and the city filled with people there for the other big event going on. Food was a challenge since it seemed like there were extensive waits at every restaurant we went to and not wanting to wait outside in the cold, we ended up opting to get food at Whole Foods and CVS the whole time we were there save lunch when we first arrived and breakfast one day in the hotel. Tensions started setting in by Saturday and some tempers flared up in a big way on Sunday. I doubt either of those things would have happened had the weather been a little better and we could get in anywhere to have real meals on a regular basis. I also think the boy wouldn't have gotten sick had the food situation been better. Still, through all that, we still managed to have some fun.
While I was there, I was wrestling with a very big decision I had to make. Given that my work schedule has been going bonkers lately and the projects I have to complete this year are stacking taller and taller, I realized that the time has come for me to step down from being a full brother in New York boys of Leather. We had 2 other departures of brothers this month already and I was trying to figure out how to put it off for a while longer so it doesn't appear like we're having an exodus from the group. When I got back and saw the stack of what's to come I realized I had to do it and it's the right decision for me. It took me 2 days to write the email to the board since I kept writing and rewriting it to try and get precision on the reason I have to step down. It has nothing to do with the boys and everything to do with the requirements of my occupation in this difficult time for the economy.
Now that I have that down, I have to figure out how to break it to another friend that I cannot work with his party any longer. With all the tensions that have been flaring there the past couple months, I've been treading cautiously on that one because it has nothing to do with drama and is for the same reason I have to step down from my regular involvement with the boys: work. The party is monthly on a Sunday night and being there until 4:30am and crashing out for a few hours of sleep and then heading in to work just isn't going to fly in the face of the major projects I'm being assigned to. I have to figure out how to sit down with him and have a conversation that it has nothing to do with him, the party, or any reason other than work is rough and taking a lot more time this year than it has in the past and my free time is being whittled down quite a bit. I'd rather end my involvement for the sake of preserving the friendship than start becoming flaky about when I'm available and then having that time get nabbed by being sent on a work trip to LA or something else.
I'm still waffling on going to IML this year. I want to go to support one of my best friends who is competing. I want to go to see some friends who will be there that weekend that I don't get to see very often. Alas, there is still work though and uncertainty around project schedules and deliveries.
It's all looking like this year will be a low profile socially and a high profile professionally. I'm adaptable that way I guess...it's been 4 years of slacking professionally and pouring myself into a social life I enjoy but now the pendulum is swinging the other way. Perhaps along with this pendulum I'll also do something about the weight I've been gaining the past few months. I seem to arrive at this place every year, "how did I let myself gain all this weight during fall and winter again?" It seriously has less to do with how I look and more with how my clothes fit...I really don't want to go spend money on that right now and should just stop eating so much junk food. Ugh...why hasn't the caffeine kicked in yet???