What a game tonight

So, I just finished watching the Caps game this evening against the Rangers. What a great game it was. I felt the Caps outplayed the Rangers the entire game this evening. The Caps penalty killing was on, however, the power play was not, giving up a short handed goal and not converting on any of their opportunities.

It was classic the way the Caps got a measurement on Jagr's stick this evening at the beginning of overtime. I can't count how many times, when Jagr was with the Caps, his stick was measured and we went shorthanded because he was using an illegal stick. Well, he got burned again tonight, still, didn't convert, but it was great nonetheless.

The shootout went 15 rounds this evening. I'm still not convinced I like the shootout yet, but this evening, it was exciting, and that move by Marek Malik to put the nail in the coffing was tight. A great move, at least the Caps got a point this evening out of the hard effort.

Another complaint about the game tonight, I don't see how anyone that subscribes to MSG can watch Ranger games. The feed was awful this evening, not sure if it was just a bad camera angle, or there was a different crew working, but I can see better from my 400 level seats at MCI Center. I'm looking forward to the game tomorrow against the Sabres.

Odds N Ends

I cannot believe that I'm still up right now. It's now 1 am my time, and I'm still up working on my project for my organization theory and design class. Thought I would take a quick break. This is a group project, and we need to have the inputs all in by the 5th, as I am going out of town for an exercise on Thursday, and this will give us time to get it to the grad school's writing center (professor's requirement). Somehow, I got stuck with one of the largest sections of the project. I'm still not entirely sure how I got suckered into that, but it's too late for that now.

I also took a little time for fun for myself this evening, and I made my way up to MCI Center for the final Caps pre-season game. I must say, for the first two periods, the Caps ROCKED! However, the Flyers took over in the third. It turned out to be a Flyers win in an OT shootout. Hopefully our young team took a very valuable lesson from this loss tonight. Time will tell, there is still a lot of time left to development and learning, so this will be a continuous process for not only this season, but the next two as well. At least they didn't mail it in.

Ok, back to work on the project.....

Last Night At MCI Center...

Last night I was MCI Center for the first time since April 2004, the final Capitals home game of the 2003-2004 season, which was an OT loss to the Rangers. Last night was the first home pre-season game. It felt different being back. For the first time since I started going to Caps games, I could not pick up who was who because of all the new players during this rebuilding effort. Sure, Olie, Witt, and Halpern were on the ice, along with the kids, Ovechkin, Aulin, Schultz, but I did not recognize their numbers. The affair was a penalty haven. Everything was called in accordance with the new rules the NHL has adopted for this season. Hooking, clutching, grabbing, the Caps spent a lot of the first period short-handed. Of course, we got thumped, 4-0, but the Sabres did not play much better, they just had luckier bounces. They also demonstrated the new shootout, which, we lost as well, but at least Alex Ovechkin scored. I hope to see many more goals from him in the future. =)

It was also different because this is the first season where I'm going to be attending games solo. David relocated to Phoenix since the Caps played last, so it's going to be different for awhile. Sometimes, change is good, sometimes not, time will tell.

I do know this is going to be a long year for my favorite NHL team, we probably won't even break the 20 win plateau this year, but, hopefully, the guys will play with a lot of heart and will pull one out every now and then. It's good to have hockey back, let's hope the Caps can successfully rebuild.

What A Day Yesterday Was

Yesterday was such a great day for our family. Yesterday my father's retirement ceremony was conducted, outside, in Alexandria, VA. What a beautiful day for such a ceremony to take place. I would have to say aroune twenty-five people showed up for it. The only life I can remember my father ever having was that of being an officer in the air force. Now that is all over. My father will now begin his post-military life tomorrow when he starts his new job. He's going to be a beltway bandit like my brother and I are. I for one, could not have been prouder yesterday morning. My father has accomplished a lot in the military, served during Vietnam, Desert Storm, and now during the 'War on Terror.' He's going to do just fine out here. Welcome to the club, dad.

Two Week Road Trip & Odds 'N Ends

Today is my last day at home for the next two weeks. I'm heading on down to South Carolina for a couple of weeks. We are conducting a functional exercise in Darlington, SC, on Wednesday, and a full scale exercise in Columbia June 1-2. The highlight of this trip is going to be Memorial Day weekend, as I'll be spending that in Myrtle Beach. I hope it will be a good time, I've never been there before. It will be a long road trip, but hopefully, it will be a successful trip. Once these two exercises are over, I will be a happy camper, both have caused some undue stress, that, on days, I could've lived without. One thing is for sure though, it will be good to be out of DC for a couple of weeks. My hope is both exercises go well though.

On a different note, things seem to have gotten a little bit more interesting on the homefront. My brother is intent on marrying his girlfriend, which is all fine and dandy, I'm quite happy for him, as a matter of fact, however, the rents, in particular my mother, is showing their dissatisfaction with this course of action. I can understand why they are concerned, but I really think she should lay off a little, as my brother has already made his mind up on this matter, he truly wants to marry the gal, and I don't think she should be giving him so much grief about it. That's one reason that I'm glad that I'm going to be out of town for the next two weeks, so I won't have to hear too much about this, so that will be nice.

Grad School Has Begun

This week I started up with my graduate program to get my MBA. I'm taking a business ethics course as one of my undergraduate pre-requisites. It's going to be quite a bit of reading for the next eight weeks. It appears to be an interesting class, just based on what the discussion topics are going to be. The downside is that the class meets twice a week for three hours at a time. We got out early on Monday, so it iddn't seem too long. However, yesterday's class seemed to go by quickly, it didn't seem like we were even in there for three hours. I'm going to miss the next two weeks of class though, as I'm going to be out of town for work for two exercises in South Carolina. The plus side to all this is the professor is being quite accommodating to me in this regard. I'm going to be permitted to take the quiz that is next Wednesday when I get back into town, and she is going to permit me to turn my paper that's due on the 1st electronically and give my presentation the first day of class that I'm back in town.

Both exams are going to be administered online, and we can take those at home, and they are open book open note. Hopefully, with that being said, I won't have too many difficulties in getting an A in this class. We shall see though. I know, David, you're going to say that I don't have anything to worry about. This is my first class in five years though.

Great News!!!!

I know that I haven't posted anything in quite some time. I've actually been quite busy with work, I can't count how much I've been on the road the past 30 days. However, today is a day for celebration. I found out this morning that I got accepted into grad school! I will start classes up later on this month. I'm very thrilled about this prospect. Right now I'm enjoying the elation without worrying about how much hard work this is going to entail and how much it's going to cost. I'm just letting this soak in for a bit.

Baseball Is Here!

Finally, after a long winter, it's baseball season again. This winter has seemed longer than most, I think this mostly is a result of not having the NHL this season. It was noticeably missed by myself this season, and all the rest of the NHL fans and especially my fellow fans here in Capitals land. This baseball season is going to be special though. This season is the inaugural season for the Washington Nationals, known as the Nats here in the DC area. As a whole, people are very excited to have baseball back in our nation's capital. I'm one of those thankful people for baseball in Washington. Tickets to the home opener at RFK Stadium sold out an hour after they went on sale on ticketmaster. I didn't get tickets for the home opener because the day before I managed to come across opening day tickets for the Orioles. I'm really excited. The home opener is tomorrow, and I've never been to a season opener for baseball before. The game is at 3:05 in the afternoon. I'm really looking forward to it. Adding to the nostalgia of opening day tomorrow is the fact that the birds are taking on the Oakland A's tomorrow. This is a nice added touch as the first games I went to as a kid were to Oakland A's games when we were stationed in California in the mid 80s. I'll be rooting for the O's of course, but it will be nice to see my second favorite team in the AL playing tomorrow. Here's hoping for a wonderful season this year, Let's go Orioles and Let's go Nationals....

Home On A Saturday Night

I'm sitting here at home watching Star Wars Episode II Attack of the Clones on a Saturday evening by myself with my dog, Bismarck. I can't help but think though that there is something better that I could be doing on a Saturday night. I'm not sure if it's the combination of being on travel this week or that I've been working so much lately that I'm feeling fatigued and don't really want to go out and stay out late. At any rate, I think what I'm feeling most is that I'm here all alone, for the most part. Everyone seems to be gone, most likely for the Easter holiday. It's a mixed bag, however, it's good to be able just to relax. So I should be somewhat grateful for the down time.

On a brighter note, however, I have managed to acquire a ticket to the Orioles' home opener against the Oakland Athletics on April 4th. I've been wanting to go to the Orioles' home opener for the last several years and I have never been able to get tickets, but this year I have, and I'm so excited this year, especially seeing on how I think the O's are going to make things interesting in the American League this year. Well, back to my movie and paying attention to my pooch.

School Application In

Earlier this week, before I went to South Carolina for business, I mailed my application for graduate school. I was very happy to have gotten this done well in advance of the application deadline. The application deadline is April 1st. I should hopefully hear something in the next few weeks. It would be nice if I got in without any trouble whatsoever. I'm optimistic that I'm going to get in, but I'm wondering if I'm just going to get in provisionally with the condition of taking the GMAT. I'm prepping for the GMAT, but I really don't want to take it, for obvious reasons. The application is in, and that's all that's important right now.

Marine Corps Marathon Training Blog

As I have previously mentioned here, I am running the marine corps marathon in October. As such, I have decided to document this journey with its very own blog. You can view it by clicking here or by pointing your browser to http://usafbratmarathonrunner.blogspot.com

Thanks!

GW Is in the NCAA Tournament!!!!!

On Saturday, the GW Men's Basketball team received an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament by vesting St. Joe's University in the A-10 Conference Tournament final. All that remained was to wait until Sunday evening to discover when, where, who, and what seed the GW men were going to be. We received a 12 seed in the Albuquerque region. The Colonials will be playing Georgia Tech in Nashville on Friday evening. Hopefully GW will be able to beat GA Tech on Friday evening. Hail to the buff and blue!

At Columbia Airport and Being Reflective

What an interesting trip down here to Columbia, SC this evening. The line to check my bag at National Airport, of course, was quite long, but it didn't bother me too much. The flight here wasn't too bad at all, I can't complain, even though we left a few minutes late, but we still got here early, go figure huh? So I arrive here in Columbia to discover that my colleague's flight from Atlanta was going to be delayed due to mechanical problems. So I get the car and my bag, and then I come back into the terminal waiting area, and here I am now, connected to the net wirelessly on the airport's free internet access. It's something else, it runs quite fast here, I'm pleasantly surprised.

There is something that occurred today in Washington that was quite disconcerting to me. After such a wonderful day yesterday temperature wise, it starts to snow! Well, it started out as rain when I got to the Fredericksburg train station this morning, but by the time I reached Crystal City, it had turned to snow! Perhaps I'm one of those traditional sort of people who feel it really shouldn't be snowing in northern Virginia in March. Perhaps I've gotten spoiled over the course of the last 10 years I've been living here, I don't know. The last time I saw snow in March though, I was living in Oklahoma City, and even then, it only happened once in the four winters I spent in Oklahoma. I'm sitting in my office thinking, it's March, spring training is going on, baseball season is right around the corner, and it's snowing. I don't know, I guess it put something of a damper on the day today. It is my hope that it will be much nicer temperature wise in Washington when I return on Friday. I know the weather isn't exactly going to be nice and balmy here in Columbia throughout the duration of my stay here this week.

Speaking of spring training, I actually have some optimism for my favorite team the Baltimore Orioles. And no, I don't have these optimistic feelings due to the off-season trade we made with the Cubbies for Slamming Sammy Sosa. We already had a potent lineup before the addition of Sammy, for crying out loud, the O's led the league in hits last season. I actually think our pitching staff is going to be much improved this year. With Ray Miller, who I might add is a great pitching coach, not a great manager, for those of us in O's land, you know what I am referring to, but the pitching staff in the second half of last year made some great strides to becoming better, not great, but better. And hopefully Kurt Ainsworth will be over his injury, as will Erik Bedard. I would like to think that the O's will make the AL East race a little more interesting and give those ESPN types another team to talk about in the AL East other than the Sox and Yanks. The pitching staff has got a lot to prove this season, and I hope they have matured to the point where they are somewhat improved upon from last year.

Graduate School Application Process Update

I must say, after the past couple of days, I'm most pleased with how my application for graduate school is coming along. On Thursday, before I left for Columbia for another business trip, I managed to mail in the necessary form to GW to request copies of my transcripts. While I was in Columbia, I finished my goals statement for my application. I thought it came out pretty well, I had it proofed and it's now looking better than what it was when I originally wrote it. And then, this morning, I got the last recommendation forms filled out by my last recommender. As soon as I receive those transcripts, I can go ahead and get the first all important application in. I'm definitely going to get it in prior to the April 1st deadline. At which time, a few weeks from now, it is my hope, to proudly announce I will be beginning my graduate program in the summer. I hope this all comes to fruition. It seems that with everything going so well in my professional life at the time, that this will enhance that success even more. Just another month tops before I find out. It will soon be the waiting game.

It's Official.....

That's right, it's official..... I officially HATE DC traffic now. For those that know me, they know that this doesn't come as any surprise to them. This morning, just really irked me for some reason. For the last week and some change, while my brother was taking a vacation from work, I had been riding the train to and from work everyday. I found this to be quite a relaxing commuting option. The Fredericksburg VRE train station is about 10 minutes from the house, I hop on the train, grab a seat, and wait until we get to Crystal City a little more than an hour and fifteen minutes later. That being said, I decided to try this out for a bit longer, say, by purchasing myself a monthly pass for March to see if it just wasn't some sort of honeymoon.

Well, since I have to go out to Dulles International Airport to catch a plane this afternoon to Columbia, SC, for work, I had to drive in this morning. It didn't take me long to get around 35 miles up the road, however, about 10 minutes away from the 234 commuter lot, my father gives me a call to tell me that there have been 4 accidents on I-95. I'm thinking, swell.... I took it as a bad omen of things to come. When I dropped by the 234 commuter lot to pick up some slugs, there were no people and a line of 15 cars... Strike two...... After waiting about 20 minutes to pick someone up. Then, when I do get on the HOV lanes and get up the road about 10 minutes, the thing is slammed, both lanes, all the way up to the Pentagon.

HOV lanes in Northern Virginia are a fantastic idea, especially on I-95, it's HOV-3, and until hybrid vehicles started being mass produced, you could get up and down the freeway with smooth sailing. However, VDOT, in it's infinite wisdom, decided to grant an exemption to the HOV-3 rule to those who drive clean fuel cars, in order to give people an incentive to buy them. Well, guess what?!?!?!?! People are buying these things like hotcakes now. At the middle point of the year last year, VDOT, once again, in it's infinite wisdom, decides to extend the exemption until the end of 2006. Granted, this was a great idea at the time, but, when I see 5 out of 6 cars, like I did this morning, are hybrids with only 1 person in them, that gets me going. It tells me the exemption needs to be terminated.

This is just another great reason why I think I should continue to ride the VRE to and from work, so I don't have to put up with the wonderful traffic on I-95..... What a terrible morning to drive in.......

Marine Corps Marathon

For those of you who don't know, I decided a couple of months back, to run the 2005 Marine Corps Marathon. I'm in the process of training for it, and I'm happy to say, it's going exactly how I've been wanting it to go. I've been running quite a bit more than I have in the past several years. It took me quite some time to get over a few things, such as shin splints, but now I'm running without any difficulty or pain in my legs. I need to be running more than what I am currently, and I plan on rectifying that situation very soon. I'm going to see about running a few times a week now, so I can get even better. One thing I'm having some difficulty with though, is choosing a training program to sign up for. I was originally going to run on the multiple sclerosis team, however, they aren't putting together a marathon training program this year. So, I'm down to two choices, either the AIDS Marathon Team or the St. Jude's Team. Both are great causes, but I'm having difficulty choosing what I want to raise money for. Perhaps some of you out there might have an idea, or could even point me in the direction of some other teams. This is something that I definitely want to do this year, and I'm going to do it.... I'm also losing some of this excess weight I've picked up over the last couple of years so I can run a little faster. It's going to be grand, but a lot of work, work that I'm definitely looking forward to. I will keep posting updates with my training for the marathon.

Graduate School Application Process

My new year's resolution this year was the start graduate school. It's now been five years since I graduated from George Washington University, and I've had that itch to get back to school for quite some time now. I'm looking at getting into a local MBA program here in the northern Virginia area. It's definitely going slower than what I thought it was going to. I still have a few essays left to write, and I need to acquire my transcripts. I'm also preparing for the GMAT as part of the process. I'm a little more than half-way through prepping for the GMAT. I'm confident that I'm going to blow this test away, now that I know some good tips to get through the questions on the test. I think I might have some difficulty with the math portion of the test, but I'm taking extra time to prep for it.

I have one application deadline of the 1st of April. I'm confident that I'm going to meet that deadline. This is to start for the summer session. If I get into this particular program without a GMAT score, I'm going to go there, plus it's the closest program to my home here in Fredericksburg. I'm optimistic that I'm going to get everything accomplished on time, it's just slow coming, that's all.

What A Much Better Day, Thusfar

I must say, today has been a much better day by far, than yesterday was. I'm feeling much more motivated today than I was yesterday. Today, a couple of things have gone well. For starters, I managed to get two 40 page reports finished and off my desk to have them reviewed. Hopefully there will only be minor changes to both documents. I'm also just in a much chipper mood than I was yesterday, perhaps because it isn't as gloomy as it was yesterday, I have no idea.

Today, more good news has been coming out on the NHL labor front. Today, the NHLPA agreed to a salary cap of $52 million, whereas the NHL wants a cap of $40 million. As far as I'm concerned, this is a breakthrough, as the players were staunchly anti-cap. I think this might be the major concession that was needed to get a deal made. The deadline is still at 1 pm tomorrow afternoon, I have a little bit of optimism that something will get done prior to that.

Also, today is the first day of spring training. Pitchers and catchers reported today. Exciting stuff is ahead.... And the best thing of all, today, the workday has gone by quickly. So quickly in fact, that I feel like I've missed it.... Bright days are ahead.

Glimmer of Hope??

I was just checking out TSN's website, and I see that Gary Bettman's press conference that was originally scheduled for tomorrow afternoon has been pushed back to Wednesday at 1 pm. I wonder if there is a glimmer of hope in the negotiations. I have been reading this blog on hockey rumors and there appears to be a glimmer of hope. I'm just a little more optimistic than I was a few hours ago, but I guess we'll have to see what happens. To be perfectly honest, I would be shocked if anything is worked out by the deadline. It shall be an interesting next 24 hours.

What A Dreary Valentines Day

I must say, with today being Valentines Day, I thought it was just going to be another ordinary day, another day, and that's all that I wanted to recognize it as since I'm currently very single. No parties, no nothing, just to be able to watch 24 this evening like I do every Monday. However, this Valentines Day will go down in history for me. It will go down in history because it is the eve that Gary Bettman, the commisioner of the national hockey league, will cancel the NHL season tomorrow afternoon at a 1 pm eastern time news conference from New York. When this happens tomorrow, barring any significant changes between now and then, it will be the first time in the US that a professional sports league would've canceled an entire season and playoffs due to labor differences. It will also be the first time the Stanley Cup will not have been awarded since 1919, and that only occurred because of an outbreak of the flu. I must say, this is most depressing to me, it makes me sick that both sides seem to not be able to come to any semblance of an agreement and a new CBA. I'm also disappointed as I am a Washington Capitals full season ticket holder. Granted, I have been very busy with work during the course of the season, and I might not have been able to make it to some of the home games, but at least hockey would've still been played. Instead, we have to go off what ifs. And, when the season is canceled tomorrow, I'll owe my coworker a beer.

I'm most displeased with both the owners and the players. The NHL does not have the fan base, nor the lucrative television deals that the NBA and MLB had, and don't have the financial resources to recover from a canceled season. I'm not even sure if the NHL has the wherewithal to recover even if there is a shortened season, of say, thirty games. The damage to the sport, if there isn't any semblance of a season, would be irrepairable. I guess we'll have to see. In my dream world, I would like to see Bettman announce a new CBA and that the season will be starting in a couple of weeks. But that will only be in my dreams. I suppose I can only hope.

There is one bright side to tomorrow though, especially if the season is canceled. Tomorrow spring training starts, with catchers and pitchers reporting. That means we have little more than a month to go before baseball season starts. Spring is almost here! Baseball is almost here! It will certainly break up the boredom of basketball. Well, I hope we'll have hockey, but at this point, I'm not very optimistic at all.

It's Monday....

Yes, it's another wonderful Monday. Today hasn't started out the way I would've liked it to. I overslept for the first time in a long time. And then, I woke up to it drizzling outside, and then, almost instantaneously, I heard the traffic report, that there was an incident in the HOV lanes near the 14th Street bridge. I'm thinking how grand this is going to be getting into work this morning. And, of course, without fail, the traffic was terrible on this Monday morning, due to the rain. I must say, the traffic backs up because of the dumbest things around here. It drizzles, or rains, an extra 45 minutes to an hour to get anywhere you need to be, the sun shines bright, same thing. Perhaps it just needs to be dark all the time here for people to drive with some sense of intelligence. It would appear to me, that once people get behind the wheel of the car, and poof, you immediately lose all common sense and intelligence.

I don't know why I'm feeling in such a sour mood today. Perhaps it's because of what today is, I don't know. I know one thing is for sure, I'm not feeling all that motivated this morning to do much of anything here at the office. Is it the rain? Is it because it's Valentine's Day? That I can't be absolutely certain of. Today must just be an off day for me or something. Today is not a day though, that I shouldn't be losing my focus and motivation for work, as I have a lot that I need to get accomplished. I know the stress is getting to me, but I didn't think it would be getting to me THIS much. I'm thinking a vacation is in order, but I'm pretty sure I would never be able to get the time that I would require to recharge my batteries. Definitely, there is no rest for the weary. Plus, it's only a matter of time before the big bombshell happens and I'm asked something of me at work that I'm not going to particularly like very much. We'll see.... One week done, just another to go, I would gather before I'm asked. We'll see what happens. Back to the grind......

Debate with myself....

Last night, I was watching Star Wars episode ii, Attack of the Clones, with my father. Immediately afterwards, I stuck in one of my Star Trek the Original Series second season dvds. It got me to thinking if whether or not Captain Kirk could take on Darth Vader successfully. I realize that Darth Vader has the use of the force and a light saber, but I can't help but think that Captain Kirk could still successfully take on Vader. Captain Kirk, after all, has his enormous fighting skill, and a phaser. But could Darth Vader deflect a phaser blast? I know in Empire Strikes Back, Vader successfully deflected a blaster shot from Han Solo in Bespin. But Kirk has great fighting moves and has more maneavourbility than Vader does. As much as I would like to say Kirk could take Vader, but I can't be sure. One thing is for certain, even though the outcome can only be speculated, it would be a fight worth paying to see.

This Is So Stupid.....

Last night, I believe it was, I caught the end of a report on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams about some state that was trying to impose a fine on individuals whose pants showed any part of their boxers/underwear. I thought to myself at the time, without hearing the entire story, which state would be stupid enough to try to get such a bill passed into law. To my dismay, I see that it was the House of Delegates, in my home state of Virginia, that passed the bill. In it, a person would be fined $50 to anyone who publicly and intentionally displays his below-waist undergarments, intended to cover a person's intimate parts, in a lewd or indecent manner. I know this was geared to those teenagers whom I have seen wearing their pants like that.

I have to admit there wasn't very much of this in my high school, but there was some of it. I began to see more and more of it though in the years after I graduated, more specifically from the time period of 1998-2000. I saw this, and was wondering, "Why would people want to do that?" I thought it was a little too revealing, but it was something that I just looked at at being just a fad nothing more. And, it really didn't bother me very much. But to introduce a bill to make it a fineable offense? Come on. This is ludicrous. This is one of those stupid things that shouldn't have even made it into committee. The Commonwealth of Virginia has too many other problems to tackle. Plus, this is a fad that has been going downhill for quite some time now. In my opinion, this is just another instance of the Republican conservative majority in VA of being utterly stupid, and wasting the valuable session time of the legislature. Fix the other problems first, like all the potholes on major roads in northern Virginia!!!! If you would care to read this stupidty yourself go here.

There Is Something Bothering Me This Morning

I woke up this morning with something nagging me in the back of my head, and it's really starting to bother me. I have pretty much pinned down what the source is, and its source is a comment that my manager made to me yesterday. We've been having some issues with this particular client on this project. Some of it due to our own mistakes, and some to their mistakes. However, the comment that's bothering me is this "There have been some things that have been said that have driven the state into a frenzy, yourself included. They said you said something couldn't be done because project 'x' was more important." I'm pretty sure I know why I'm bothered by this statement. I wasn't chewed out for it, which is a good thing, but I'm really bothered by it because I know I didn't say anything like that. My father told me that the only thing you have in the contracting business, or even in your professional life, is your credibility. I've taken this advice, cause I know he wouldn't lead me wrong, and realize there is a lot of truth to that. More than anything else, I am bothered by the fact the client would say something like that, especially when I'm 99% sure I didn't. This shows me that this client will do anything to ensure they are right 100% of the time. I'm willing to give some benefit of the doubt, but not when it comes to something concerning my conduct. I feel this has compromised my credibility to a certain degree. This client has been stressful, and I'm debating whether or not it's really worth all this agony and stress.

Update to previous post...

So, before I left work today, I had a discussion with the manager I'm going to be reporting to very soon, within the next couple of weeks. I brought him up to date on a few things concerning the exercise project we're working on, and a few of the complexities of the project. I also wanted to discover what he was expecting from me. I just wanted to ensure that I was on the same sheet of music that he's playing from. I was glad he asked me if I had any questions or concerns, this way, I was able to find out if the VP of my division was kidding around with me. I got the information that I was looking for, that they are looking to hire someone that already lives in South Carolina, preferably, the Columbia area. This comes as a relief to me, as I'm pretty sure that I don't wish to relocate to Columbia. I just feel, deep in my heart, that a move to Columbia isn't the right thing for me. I was asked, however, that if no resumes were coming in, if I would entertain the idea of going down there for 3-4 months. I did say I would entertain the idea, but I didn't accept, because I don't want there to be any expectation that I will move down there for any length of time. So I left work for the day feeling much better than I did yesterday when I left work. So it's going good, for now. I'm sure there will be more to come on this issue in the upcoming weeks though. It's nice that I won't be forced into a move, that's the one thing I was dreading.

Interesting Thoughts.....

I tell you what, it definitely has been an interesting week this week. For work, on Tuesday, I needed to go to Columbia, SC for a meeting. Prior to this meeting however, a group of managers from where I worked, had a meeting with the client to discuss a slew of issues. The one issue, which very well could effect me, is what I would like to concentrate on for right now.

Apparently, our client, wishes to have a local point of contact located there in Columbia. The managers I went down with were discussing what type of person this particular individual should be. I found it quite curious, as I'm sitting there with them, that the person they were describing was none other than, yours truly. I was slient during the course of this conversation. However, after we arrived at the meeting location, the division VP, who was there as well, asks me where I'm living at at this current period of time. At this point, I immediately knew what was going through his head. After our meeting, which seemed to drag on forever, I might add, we're all sitting in the car when the same VP asks me if I like it down in Columbia, as there is a whole bunch of open space and everything. One of the other managers chimes in and tells me about the attractive women and all, and how Atlanta is a short ride down the road. Of course, I'm not finding this very amusing, not in the slightest bit, I might add. I'm also not a dummy, so I realized, at that point, that I'm being considered for this particular slot. Today, I found out, talking with another manager in the chain, that they're looking for someone down there to fill the position, but my name is indeed on the list.

This proves to be an interesting quandry for myself. This project, to say the least, has been quite stressful on me. The client, isn't, as we would say, the best clients you could have. Plus, I'm finding the whole moving to Columbia aspect of this quite troubling for me. Now, I have no great love for Washington, but I have spent the last 10 years of my life here, I feel, that after moving around my entire life, I have finally settled down. My family is here, my friends are here, in general my life is here. Perhaps I have grown too comfortable here, that could be an underlying issue in all this. There are definitely benefits to this, if it were to come to fruition. 1. It would be a promotion at work. This is something that I've been striving for for quite some time now, I would like to see a promotion, and this is, obviously, the quick and easy way to that route. 2. It would definitely be more money, which is never a bad thing. 3. A new city. I would have that opportunity to start anew, from a blank slate. I would know no one there. A fresh start, which can sometimes be a good thing. 4. It would get me away from Washington for awhile. I must admit, this is something that I have been thinking of for quite some time now. The traffic is really starting to annoy me, the pace, the number of people. Of course, I have been saying this for years and have done nothing, this is an opportunity to get away for awhile. A sidenote to this though is, I wasn't thinking of Columbia when I was pondering this particular issue. There are some definite cons to this as well. 1. The client, they are quite stressful, I must say, and I don't know if I would be able to handle all that pressure. 2. I do have no one down there, I would be alone, well not totally, I would bring my dog with me, but you get the point. 3. I would have to move. This is the biggest qualm I have about the whole situation, if it were to present itself. Even though I moved the entire time I was growing up, I was never a big fan of it. It's such a pain in the butt to pick yourself up and move. Plus, moving is a major decision that shouldn't be taken lightly.

I know, some would think that I'm over-reacting about nothing, I haven't even been presented with the possibility, but I know, that you aren't asked these things unless you're being considered, and I think I would be naieve, if I didn't think I wasn't being considered, so, in my opinion, the option needs to be considered. I think I might have a pretty good idea of what it is I would want out of a situation like this. I'm not even sure if I want to move, I'm reasonably sure I don't want to, but then again, I might be made an offer I just can't refuse. I would be closed-minded to not consider anything that was offered to me. We'll see.... It's definitely going to be an interesting next couple of weeks, to say the least.

Welcome & First Post

This is my first posting on my blog. I really haven't done one of these before, and I thought I would try something new. Hopefully this will turn out to be a good thing. More to come later...