All Things Must Pass

Let me first admit that I stole the title of this post from George Harrison's 1970 triple album (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Things_Must_Pass).

Little did I know when I posted Manage This, that two weeks later I would be unemployed. At least partially due to the stresses I noted from having to wear two different hats. Understandably upset at first, I quickly started to look at this as not a door being shut, but as a door being opened. As Romans 8:28 states, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.". Over the last few years at Northrop Grumman as a Unix Systems Administrator for the USPS, I felt that my talents were being squandered. I believed that as I remained, I would fall behind on new and exciting technologies. You see, the work at USPS was divided into different teams. Most of the Unix Admins were there to support various applications. But the team that got to learn, test, and implement new and emerging technologies was based out of a data center in Eagan, MN. Here in San Mateo, the Unix Admins were somewhat subservient to the teams in Eagan. We may have used new technologies, but usually only following procedures and policies set by the groups in the Minnesota office. Yes, there was exposure to new tech. But not a large amount of opportunity to experiment and learn. Staying there, I left that technology was going to pass me by and that the only avenue of growth was the managerial ladder. But I like the trenches, I like the technical challenges and solving puzzles.

So here I am, enjoying some time off. Heck, I'm somewhat mildly annoyed that I already have some irons in the fire with a couple of cool opportunities. My phone and email has absolutely lit up the last couple days after updating my profile on two of the well known job sites. But they will have to wait. My sister celebrates a milestone birthday this Friday, and I am heading out of town to help her celebrate. I'm taking a road trip to meet up with her, my niece, and a couple other people. It's been some time since I had the Challenger on a nice long ride, and I'm sure she'll appreciate the chance to stretch her legs here and there on my drive tomorrow. Funny, that reminds me of a little song Don Imus used to play on AM radio back in the day, I think it was called Plastic Jesus.

The last week was just a minor setback, a small bump in the road. As for my time with Northrop Grumman and the USPS, all things must pass.

Manage this

So in 2010 I became a manager at Northrop Grumman. Rather reluctantly I might add. The organization that NG has that supplies talent to the USPS was changing. Instead of regional managers with dozens if not possibly hundreds of reports, they wanted managers that were also still part of the billable talent in the professional services they provided. I applied and accepted the position because I was played. As I found out later, the regional manager considered a candidate that was no way qualified just to ensure I applied for the position. So, here we are.

What was only supposed to be only approving bi-weekly time cards, and annual reviews turned out to be much more. To save time, I really won't go into it here. But it has been much more stress and responsibility than what was advertised. What makes that worse, is that the promotion came with *zero* monetary increase.

I meant to create a post about this about a year ago, but let it slide. But now is time to say something. I have a rather unpleasant task to execute. Even as I write this, I realize I cannot publish it until Monday of next week. This sucks...

The previous paragraphs were written in August 2012. The unpleasant task was having to lay off a friend. I won't go into details, but it definitely wasn't fun.

So here we are a little more than two years later after being made manager. I'm still trying to get used to this dual hat position. It's tricky thing to be a member of the team but at the same time the manager of my fellow team members. But I'm dealing with it. One thing that I think is a factor in why I haven't totally self-destructed is that my leadership changed. The regional manager that was my boss is now banished to the mid-west. My new manager is a guy who was once part of the technical (but in a different facility and state) team. He has a better understanding of the work we do for the USPS, and because of that he understands the challenges. His management style is worlds apart from the other guy and that helps a great deal.

I'm still trying to reconcile things as manager and team member. There is some good in that. I enjoy rewarding people for working hard and and when postal management recognizes effort above and beyond. But the opposite is quite taxing. Especially when accused of being harassing, even if just relaying the observations of the postal management. To revisit the previously mentioned friend I had to lay off. He understood it wasn't personal, and although that helped soften things for me, it still sucked. A current situation is just the opposite. I am being accused singling someone out when I am just citing concerns of the postal customer. Can you say high blood pressure?

But with that, I think this old draft of a post is ready to publish. I'd love hearing feedback from anyone with similar problems.

October Already

Wow! Is it October already? I wish I had some exciting news to share, but things are roughly the same since I last posted. The hip pain continues to get worse, range of motion in my left leg is diminishing. But we should have some fun this month.

My dear sister hits the big six-oh later this month. So we're Vegas bound. My sister is flying out from the east coast, my niece (and her boyfriend?) are flying down from San Francisco (did I mention she moved out here?), my friend Lynn is flying out from Ohio, and I am driving down in the Challenger. No real plans of what we are all doing, but my sister did think that heading to the Vegas drag strip to catch some NHRA action is a good idea! Whatever we all do, it's going to be a blast.

Reagan, my daughter, turns 12 November 1st. Still trying to decide what to get her for her birthday. She wants an iPad, but after an iPod Touch and a Kindle Fire, I'm thinking that more pricey electronic gadgets can wait until she learns a little more responsibility. I need to ask her mom for some ideas. Gotta say, I'm glad that after all the drama of the past, we can talk as friends.

After the long weekend in Las Vegas, there's my annual trip to visit dad for Thanksgiving. Looking forward to that as well. I always enjoy spending time with the old man. I am grateful that my family has always been pretty close. I hear horror stories from a few friends and acquaintances about their families and feel sad for them. The good Lord has blessed me and for that I am thankful.

I do have some other things I want to post, and there a few draft posts that I have been meaning to complete. But for now I just wanted to put something out there since it's been a while.