The Progress Is Palpable

With a full notices comes a busy meeting and our stated meeting this month certainly lived up to that. It was a long night, both the meeting itself and the conversations after, but there was a heck of a lot accomplished during the night. It actually made me wish that I had been in attendance last month as there is a palpable difference in the way that the meeting flowed from beginning to end. This year is certainly a welcomed change and I am looking forward to many of the issues that we faced in the past to completely evaporate.

The evening was also full of information of which I was previously unaware. I knew about many of the items discussed but there are always details that are absent from discussions that happen outside of the meetings. Actually, I am not really used to this being the case. Many times, I am the one with the details which usually leads to the dozens of brief conversations before and after the sound of the gavel.

It was obvious that there are things that we still need to work on with regard to the memorization and actual mechanics but there was a huge amount of progress that was on display for both the other members of the lodge as well as a roster of guests in attendance. It is a testament to the work and outright effort that has been put forth by many of the officers between the meetings and I am looking forward to seeing and experiencing the progression of ritual throughout the year.

For the first time in a while, I found myself interested again in learning more about the lodge and some of the other offices… I can only sit as Secretary for so long before I want to start progressing through the chairs and I might as well be prepared for when the time comes because I don’t want to have to cram in order to move throughout the lodge room. And I also know that my memory is not my strength so it might take a while to get everything down cold or at least good enough to pass. But, for now, I have a job to do.

For a while I was filling in some of the holes in the East and, honestly, it really tired me out. The last couple of months have remained hectic but in a completely different way as there have been brethren removing the weight on my shoulders and bags from my eyes. If anything, the way we have started the year has served us well as it immediately brought us together to square everything back to level. There is still work to be done but we are all pulling in the same direction and we are slowly gaining ground.

TMI Tuesday: New School

This seems about right... just give him time.

On the day of our settlement last month we also scheduled a few other appointments because it was going to be one of the few days when both my wife and I were free to take care of things. This is why, before we headed over to the house for the walk through, we had an appointment about five minutes down the road to take a tour of a new daycare. We had a number of issues with the Kindercare where we sent our son and it was time for a change.

Walking through the school it was a completely different experience than what we had been putting up with over the last few months. Even the friendliness with which we were greeted was a welcomed change. By the time our tour was over and having reviewed the curriculum and talking with the teachers, we knew this was a change that was going to have to happen as soon as possible. With little time left in the morning we wrote a check (for substantially less than what we were paying) and took the application with us.

Yesterday, my wife dropped our son off at his new school. By the time I got home from the office I could tell that things had improved tremendously over the previous place. Gone are the days of only sleeping 20 minutes, not being told what was going on during the day, and being challenged with every request that we made. We could tell that he was happier and, having slept for about an hour in both the morning and afternoon, well rested. They gave him his space to fall asleep and they listened to the couple of requests that we had when we started. A completely different experience for us all.

This morning further demonstrated the vast improvement in where our son was spending his day as we looked forward to finishing breakfast, getting in the car, and going to school. Well, at least after he pooped he was looking forward to it. And my wife and I were looking forward to seeing him again at the end of the day knowing that a meltdown wasn’t lingering just below the surface. However, one thing did stay the same between the last daycare and this one… he has quickly become the most popular child in the building will all the teachers knowing his name and constantly feeding his baby ego by telling him how adorable he is. Actually, I have to correct all those people, he isn’t adorable, he’s frickin’ adorable!

It Is (Past) That Time Again

When I first started working at my current company it was outlined that I would have an annual review to go over my performance during the previous year. Of course, the only exception to that policy was the first six months as I agreed upon being hired that I needed some time to get re-acclimated following an extended absence from the industry. This placed my first review in the middle of April 2014. Obviously, this would mean that my second review would occur around the same time the following year. Well, that obviously didn’t happen or you would have read this post months ago.

However, while it would have been nice to have everything move along as planned, we have been busy this year with both new and existing business. A great problem to have and something that I attribute to us all doing our jobs and doing them well. So, months later, we were finally able to find a window in the day to get my review done last week. Thankfully, my company believes in retro pay!

It is still an odd process for me as each of my colleagues completes and evaluation form rating me on a scale of 1-5 (1 being the best) and providing comments on various categories related to the my performance. I have filled this same form out for a few of my colleagues and it can be a bit of a challenge at times especially given the fact that we have to recommend three areas of improvement. While it was difficult to determine these things in others, it was rather easy when completing my own form. Yes, I was also required to take a step back and review my own performance.

By being honest with my own review, the others sounded fantastic as I sat across the desk from the owner of the company. Heck, I would much rather be too harsh on myself and use it as motivation than think I am doing a great job only to struggle with my responsibilities. Seems that my boss feels the same way which made for a great experience going over the previous year and the flattering comments that my colleagues wrote as well as the points where I need improvement. Both were very much appreciated. The salary increase at the end of the meeting was appreciated as well!

It continues to be an interesting process but one that is hugely beneficial in monitoring my performance. I know what to keep doing and where I need to improve my routines. Hopefully I can show the marked improvement that I expect by the time my next review comes around which is still scheduled for April! Of course, you will find out shortly afterward in a few months.