Middle MicroManager

I have become what I despise, a middle manager. But it's worse! A micro middle manager. I have been managing the design and installation of our company's new website. I know next to nothing about web design or coding, but I have time and project management skills so it was assigned to me. I have been told to micromanage, in not so many words, the person doing the web site coding. Put a picture there, take a picture out here, change those words to red, leave these ones alone, etc.... It's maddening. You hired talented experts to do this job, let them do it.

merry christmas

cd

Plateaus

I've hit some plateaus, one induced, one I can't escape.

The first plateau, a self induced holding pattern at around 260 pounds. I lost 45 pounds as fast as I could this summer with a lot of biking, basketball, working outside, not eating everything in sight, and playing a lot with the kids. I got here in about three months. I've lost this 45 before, several times. There were always schemes involved, with some sort of false reward system in place. This time things would be different. I need to learn how to stay at a healthy weight (what I am now) before I start to lose some more (I could still lose 20 or 25 pounds). I've been here now for three months. Since the ground became white, my only exercise is friday basketball for around 75 minutes. This self induced plateau has been a good thing. I will never gain that weight back again. Ever.

The second plateau is at work. I work for a company with a hub and spoke management style. The hub makes all of the decisions, and the spokes are the rest of us. We have over 40 employees and they are ALL supervised by the President of the company. There is no vertical possibilities for anyone. The new year will start a new effort to find employment where plateauing isn't possible.

peace
cd

Awkward

How do you tell your boss that his writing stinks? I publish a bi-monthly newsletter that was my initiative. It was supposed to tell existing customers about new services and possibly attract new customers. Through my boss' efforts, it has moved to information dense material to a soapbox for fringe ideas, and it's making colleagues angry now. The writing is unprofessional, inflammatory, and goes against all of the paradigms of our industry.

I need a drink!

cd

Developments

Up late, watching "The Wackness", drinking beer, contemplating life.

Life is good, not what I expected, better than I expected, and getting better.

Getting nostaligic for times I never had.

The blog will be changing. At times it seems like Iam living a version of "The Office". I may be writing a bit of the shenanigans that go on at work. Managing the marketing at a biotech firm for a boss that doesn't understand how business works can be entertaining.

peace

cd

Change I Believed in

So I'm sitting here in Atlanta waiting for my exhibit to open. To kill the time I am watching a documentary on how Barrack Obama's campaing worked to get him elected. I remeber watching him during the race and getting really inspired. Inspired to see our country get better, inspired to see a President work hard for everyone, inspired to not have our country work unilaterally in the global political process. I voted for him because of how he made me feel.

A little more than one year from the day he elected I am concerned. The energy that surrounded him wherever he went is gone. The politics of divisiveness and selfishness are back.

I hope we as a country can find this energy again. We've navigated through the toughest economic setback in the last 70 years. In order to sustain this progress we must find the energy that sustained Barrack Obama's campaign. Energy that his agenda could not sustain.

I'm just sayin.

peace

cd

Update

It's been a while, but I've been busy. The weight loss continues, albeit at a slower pace. I now hover at around 260, and still am losing about a half pound per week. This makes me think I can sustain this when I am done. I just eat less than I used to, and I exercise more than I am used to. It may sound like a "duh" moment. I went old school and it works. I weigh myself every morning and every night, take a mental inventory of what I ate that day to make me heavier or lighter, and I try to adjust intake for the next day. I want to get under 250 by the end of the year and I should be able to get there without much effort.

I have been very busy lately. I was in Honolulu for business two weeks ago, I'm off to Atlanta next week, and maybe Albequerque in the spring. The job has been very busy but exciting. I am getting experience developing a marketing plan, creating marketing deliverables, working tradeshow booths, and I am about to start planning for a new building. Good stuff!

peace

cd

Long weekends

Got two hours in on the Monocog 29er today. Felt fast, nimble, and in control. I remember riding back in May thinking getting in shape was going to kill me. I sit here totally exhausted, sore beyond belief, and in a lot of pain. I haven't felt this good in ages.

Where's the ibuprofen?

peace
cd