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| Saturday, January 3rd, 2009 | | 1:53 pm |
2009 Resolutions
This year I resolve to... 1) Plan and/or execute a wedding. I got engaged in September and have had no time to plan anything. We can't even agree on a continent, because Andy's family lives in England. For awhile we agreed on Hawaii, but the cost of getting his family there is just too much. So now considering Austin again, but I REALLY don't actually want to plan anything. Was hoping to just call some hotel in Hawaii and set a date and then show up and have fun. 2) Quit smoking. For reals. My brother and sister-in-law are also on board, and I proposed a wager that will hopefully hurt sufficiently to make this stick - $500 per person, paid to the last man standing, with payout next NYE. 3) Exercise more. I KNOW what works for me, that I'm way more likely to exercise if I sign up for something and work out with other people, preferably with a race (finishing) goal in mind. Unfortunately, work keeps getting in the way, which leads me to my next resolution. 4) Travel less. I traveled like crazy last year. I counted it up the other day and I spent 89 nights away on business trips last year. Several of the trips were 3-4 days trips for while I left early the first morning and arrived home late the last night. 16 of the days were spent on two trips at sea. 27 nights were spent at the same Hilton in Guam over 3 different trips, so it began to feel like a second home. The last trip required me to be away from home and working for 21 days straight, getting 5-6 hours of sleep a night. Which leads me to my next resolution. 5) Get a big raise. I got a huge win for my company in December, leading my team to probably the biggest success in the company's history, if I do say so myself. During that time, I also found out that our new hire whose job is somewhat comparable to mine is making $15-25k more than me. We get our raise letters at the beginning of the year, so I should find out Monday. 6) And if I don't get the raise.. or even if I do.. consider taking on less responsibility. Consider a new job. I just don't know. My job can be extremely satisfying. I almost crave the responsibility, the being in charge, the little successes every day. But it was also nice to have these last two weeks off to do absolutely nothing - my first two weeks off in four years, and the first time I've spent more than three days doing nothing in four years. I notice that my coworkers who don't know what's going on half the time seem a lot happier than me. ==== It sounds like I might have had a bummer of a year, but it was actually pretty damn good, both personally and professionally. I ran a marathon, went on an Alaskan cruise, got engaged, and got a promotion. | | Saturday, October 11th, 2008 | | 9:38 am |
complete stupidity
My coworkers and I have been in FL since Sunday doing an insane amount of difficult work in a very short schedule. This required working 16+ hour days in the office and working on documentation at the hotel, resulting in getting about 3-4 hours of sleep per night (and just 2 last night). This morning we had an 8:20 flight and arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare. We sat down to relax and eat breakfast, finally able to relax and enjoy some leisure time. Apparently we relaxed too much, because when I looked down at my watch I suddenly realized it was 8:20, not 7:20! Now we're on standby for a 12:50 flight. We keep alternating between being depressed, feeling stupid, and laughing hysterically. I think it's time to invest in one of those time zone watches and to appoint one member of the team on each trip in charge of making sure we get on the plane on time. | | Sunday, September 28th, 2008 | | 3:37 pm |
| | Tuesday, February 19th, 2008 | | 7:31 pm |
| | Sunday, February 17th, 2008 | | 9:00 pm |
I am a marathoner!
I finished in 6:40:39. I went into this with three possible goals: 1) finish, 2) finish within the 7 hour time limit, and 3) reach mile 9.7 before the 9:45 AM cut-off time. We had some idea that there would be a cut-off time like last year, but Maura and I couldn't find it published anywhere until we picked up our marathon programs this weekend. At around mile 10, I decided I had a new goal of finishing with 15 min miles, putting me at a 6:33 finish time (I didn't actually know what the total would be until I calculated it just now). When the sun came out and it started to get hot at mile 12, I decided it would be ok to just finish, but I kept pressing on for several more miles and I'm pretty pleased with my time. I was sad to see that one of the members of my running group, who has MS, must have not made it to the cut-off point in time. Thanks to everyone who sent encouraging words my way - especially Amy, who listened to my good and bad times with genuine interest and assured me that they were all perfectly normal! Maybe tomorrow I'll write a more detailed report, but tonight I just want to RELAX. | | Sunday, August 26th, 2007 | | 4:34 pm |
| | Monday, August 6th, 2007 | | 10:15 am |
yoga n chicken
I'm thinking about trying the Yoga with Lunch classes through Yoga Yoga and was wondering if anyone has any experience with them. I think I remember Xa saying something about the food, but I don't even know if this is beginner Hatha or advanced something I can't even spell. And speaking of food, I was wondering yesterday.. who has the best chicken salad in town? I recently tried the Whole Foods varieties (both the tarragon and the blackened) - I like them better than HEB's, but they're TWELVE dollars a POUND. | | Tuesday, June 26th, 2007 | | 8:42 am |
| | Sunday, April 15th, 2007 | | 5:57 pm |
new experiences
This weekend I did a few things for the first time: 1. Had a bra fitting. I thought this would be uncomfortable and embarassing, and it kind of was, but it didn't involve any measuring tape. The saleschick just had me try on a new bra that was the size I wore, took a look at it, and said I needed a different size. So I bought 5 new undergarments. The word on the street is that Wacoal, Natori, and Chantelle are the best brands. 2. Ran on the BCG trail near the 360 access, experienced "the chain," and most surprisingly - waded through waist deep creek water. I thought it was strange enough the first time I got my feet wet while trail running. Turns out there was a way to cross without submersion, but since Leah and Deb were already halfway across I decided to give in to peer pressure. 3. Bought a road bike - the Cannondale Synapse Alloy Féminine. I probably should have done more research, gone to more shops, and tested out more bikes, but I don't really enjoy that sort of thing. Fortunately Deb offered to come along to share her knowledge and offer a second opinion. I rode around the neighborhood this afternoon and I feel pretty unsteady and unsure about gear changing. Also, it makes me nervous that you can't get the best braking action when your hands are on the uh, top bump things whose name I can't remember. I put my old pedals on for now and when I get more comfortable then I'll put on my clipless pedals. I can tell there's less resistance from the tires and a lot more from my back, so it's probably a good time to take up some core exercises. | | Wednesday, April 4th, 2007 | | 9:05 am |
Spring Workout Schedule
I think I've finally got my schedule worked out for the Spring. I wanted to do triathlon training, but was also enjoying my trail running class, so I figured out how to do both! Iron Chicks has a new way of structuring classes this year. Last year you got to pick and choose individual classes, and this year you choose your run and bike class together - either "Off the Couch," "First Tri," or "Tri Again," and then north or south. The general consensus seems to be that people are torn about which group to join because we've done tris but maybe aren't that athletic, but I decided to do Tri Again. I talked to one of the coaches about my options and she's allowing me to split up the locations do the run at Riverside with Lorrie my HM coach, and then do the bike north with Joey. So, my new schedule will be: Tues - run Wed - trail run Thurs - bike Sat - trail run Sun - swim Somewhere in there I'll have to fit in a bike and maybe swim on my own time. I'm going to end up missing some Iron Chicks activities that happen on Saturdays, such as a brick, practice tri, some seminars, etc., but I do plan to attend the 2 open water swims, and will get some sort of discount on the class fee. | | Wednesday, March 7th, 2007 | | 10:56 am |
social butterfly
I don't know if it's the training, the weather, or chance, but I sure have been busy this week. Last Saturday was trail running and aquarium goodies hunting, Sunday was girls' brunch and lunch with the fam and Music and Lyrics at the Alamo (I ate a lot that day), Monday was IC running followed by dinner and 24 watching at my brother's house, last night was IC biking and followed by dinner at my friend's house, tonight is dinner out with another friend, and tomorrow night is so far just core, but I might get down there early to do some running. I still haven't gotten around to doing the laundry I was planning to do last weekend. Usually I'm pretty much a homebody, but when I know that I can't go home and veg after work then I'm more likely to agree to other social events. I think it also helps that I don't have to worry about what to wear to the social events, because I just show up in my workout clothes. At some point I need to figure out how to structure my self workouts. My group workout days are Saturday (trail running), Monday (running), Tuesday (biking), and Thursday (core). I should probably get in at least another run and bike each week, so perhaps I can do that by running on Thurs and biking on Sunday - maybe I can even find a cool Sunday ride to show up for. | | Tuesday, March 6th, 2007 | | 11:08 am |
back at it
I just sent this email to my friend Don, and then figured I might as well share the information with my LJ readers. I took a good solid 2 weeks off after AT&T and now I'm trying to get back into the swing of things and figure out what I want to do this summer. === I signed up for some stuff and did some work outs! Before I forget, here's some info about the swimming 101 class that starts this week: http://www.roguerunning.com/program_details.php?ptid=26Last Saturday morning I started the trail running 101 class, and I'm one of the worst runners in the class, but it forced me to run pretty constantly which is good. I didn't fall down yet, but our coach says the longer it takes you to fall down then the worse it's going to hurt, so you might as well get it over with. I also signed up for Iron Chicks prep, which is a 5 week course to ease you back into tri training. I was originally going to sign up for just the bike (and the core class that comes with it), but then it wasn't any more expensive to sign up for the run so I went ahead and did that. Tonight is my bike class and I haven't ridden in 6 months or even checked to see if my bike still works, so I'm a little bit nervous about it. Last night was running and it was awesome because I was one of the better runners instead of the worst! Don't know how long that will last, but it was a pleasant change and showed me that I've made some good progress. I'm going to use the bike class to decide if I want to continue on with the 8 week Iron Chicks course, if I want to buy a new bike, etc. I'm kind of torn between training running and triathlon. For now trail running just meets Saturday mornings, but after this 101 class it goes to Wed nights and Sat mornings. I think that Iron Chicks is going to have bricks on Saturday mornings, so I couldn't do both, but maybe I'll end up hating trail running. So.. it might be on. Not sure about a half ironman by the fall, but perhaps an Olympic distance? === Don was trying to goad me into the half a few weeks ago but I really doubt I have the ability/time to train for something like that. I'd really like to improve my running so I can maybe do the marathon next year, but I'm afraid I'll get injured if I focus too much on one thing. I also think I'll feel like I'm missing out if I don't do tri training when everyone else is. But I'm not thrilled about biking again, and I'm not sure which Iron Chicks group I should join for the 8 week course. | | Wednesday, February 14th, 2007 | | 10:20 am |
Non-Compete Update
The agreement is 6 pages long, with a place on pg. 5 for the employee, company representative, and witness to sign. The changes I made are to the bottom of pg. 3 and top of pg. 4. Our security officer (witness) had mentioned something to me earlier about printing out extra copies of the agreement for people and then just making a copy of the signature page, leading me to believe they weren't expecting anyone to modify the document. When I made my changes, I crossed out the portions I didn't agree with and initialed them. Then I made sure to make a copy of the pages I modified and then staple everything together so that they wouldn't just keep the signature page and throw away the rest. She just came in and brought me a copy of the signature page with her and our business manager's signatures on it. This means they either didn't see or didn't mind my changes, but I'm guessing they probably didn't see them. As long as I have the copies of my pages then I should be ok, right? Do I actually need THEM to initial my changes, too? | | 9:24 am |
More Non-Compete
I forgot to mention something. My company only has 7 people - the president, secretary/business manager, secretary/security officer, 3 engineers, and a student. I asked one of the other engineers what he thought about the agreement and he said he signed it without even reading it! I told him what the document said, and he said our boss would be a fool to try to hold him to that, and that he'd never even try. The other engineer most likely didn't read it and if he did then he would never find issue with it. The secretary types won't care, because they probably won't be kept from doing similar work elsewhere. Which leaves me as looking like the asshole, because I'll be the only person who crossed anything out. If I get fired here, will I be asked to sign the same shit at my next job? My boyfriend used to work for a video game company and his agreement didn't really say anything about not competing. | | 8:56 am |
Non-Compete
The other day at work we received copies of a new "NDA" and were instructed to sign them in preparation for a security audit. I was immediately suspicious because we already sign a document for the DoD stating that we won't reveal classified information. The title of the "NDA" is actually "Employment, Confidential Information, and Invention Assignment Agreement." The primary sections of the document are: * At-Will Employment = I can be fired at any time (whatever) * Confidential Information = I'll be given company confidential information to perform my job (ok) * Inventions = I won't use my prior inventions in company products, and if I do then the company can use them without a license; nothing I do on my own time belongs to the company, EXCEPT if it even remotely has something to do with "anticipated research or development" of the company (hmmm) * Conflicting Employment = I won't work for someone else while employed here (fair) * Returning Company Documents = I won't keep stuff (fair) * Notification of Employer = We can call your future employer to notify them of this agreement! (hell no) * Solicitation of Employees = I won't hire my coworkers for 18 months (fair) * Interference = I won't interfere with current contracts, or prospective contracts, for 18 months (I suppose, but what are prospective contracts and relationships?) * Covenant Not to Compete This is the good one. "I agree that during the course of my employment and for a periood of 18 months immediately following the termination of my relationship with the Company for any reason, whether with or without good cause or for any or no cause, and the option of either the Company or myself, with or without notice, I will not, without the prior written consent of the Company, (i) server as a partner, employee, consultant, officer, director, manager, agent, associate, investor, or otherwise for, (ii) directly or indirectly, own, purchase, organize, or take preparatory steps for the organization of, or (iii) build, design, finance, acquire, lease, operate, manage, invest in, work or consult for or otherwise affiliate myself with, any business in competition with or otherwise similar to the Company's business. The foregoing convenant shall cover my activities in every part of the Territory in which I may conduct business during the term of such covenant as set forth above. "Territory" shall mean (i) all counties in the State of Texas, (ii) all other states of the United States of America, and (iii) all other countries of the world, provided that, with respect to clauses (ii) or (iii), the Company derives at least 5% of its gross revenues from such geographic area prior to the date of the termination of my relationship with the company." The rest of the document deals with where litigation will take place in the event of a lawsuit, etc. My problem with this covenant not to compete is that it doesn't describe AT ALL what is deemed competition or otherwise similar. Is the line drawn at buoys, which has been a major area of my career? Is it any military projects? I did some research and found several ways in which the agreement would not hold up in court. One thing I read is that companies have to offer you some benefit to sign an agreement - like a bonus or raise. Apparently confidential information is one of those benefits, but people have been released from non-compete agreements if they received confidential information prior to being asked to sign the agreement. I've been here for 16 months, so I fall into that category. I also read that the court will dismiss if the company asked you to sign the non-compete after you already quit your previous job for them. One biggie is that the non-compete cannot be so broad as to be undefinable in geography, time duration, and scope of activity. I find it interesting that geography is so carefully defined but activity isn't at all. Even though I could probably get out of the agreement, most people say not to sign it at all for the mere fact that a new employer may not want to hire you. Apparently new employers may ask you in an interview if you have signed any non-compete agreements. Not only that, but this document gives my current employer the right to notify them of it. I can't help thinking that this whole thing is just plain rude. I've worked for this guy for years, and put in quite a few hours for free both prior to and since accepting this job. And I've been here for 16 months - why ask us to sign this now? It's also interesting that this agreement is binding even if I get fired or laid off. Therefore, we could run out of money, but I may not be able to get a job. My boss has recently picked up this answer to everything - this is a right to work state, if you don't like it, you don't have to work here. I'm not sure why he's become so cocky but it's certainly not due to success and I really don't like it. We used to all be in this together, and but lately he's trying to be a dictator. So... I decided to cross out all of (i) and part of (iii) of the non-compete agreement. I know he's going to give me shit, and maybe say that if I don't want to sign it then I can just not work here. If that's the case, then I don't want to work here. If he wants to fire me then I'll collect unemployment and find another job. Is this the norm for employee agreements? | | Saturday, February 3rd, 2007 | | 11:26 am |
| | Wednesday, January 17th, 2007 | | 8:37 am |
| | Wednesday, January 3rd, 2007 | | 9:55 am |
serenity
Last night Andy was watching Winged Migration while I was reading my gossip stories. I got sucked in during the part when the Canadian geese were soaring over a beautiful lake surrounded by trees, presumably in Canada. And then BLAM BLAM BLAM a hunter shot them out of the sky and totally ruined it for me. I read somewhere that you should write down 5 things you're thankful for each night before you go to bed and it will make you a generally happier person. I didn't write them down but I thought of asome.. as near as I remember, last night's were baths, good books, Glen the coworker creating a diagram for my presentation, Andy the coworker figuring out how to set up a DMZ for my CM database, and Andy the boyfriend's mashed potatoes. He made my family's customary New Year's day meal of pork chops, sauerkraut, and mashed potatoes, and the leftovers last night were super good. Andy makes the best mashed potatoes, with mayonnaise. | | Tuesday, January 2nd, 2007 | | 11:48 am |
New Year's Resolution
This year's resolution is to like my job. I'm not sure if that means learning to be more tolerant, or delusional, or making changes at my current job, or getting a new one. All I know is that it pretty much sucks the life out of you to hate your job. One idea I came up with during my vacation (which would have been painfully short, as we only get Christmas and New Year's Day off, but I supplemented with vacation days on the two Fridays before) was to try to drop my hours to 35/week. That seems unlikely, but I sure enjoyed only working 30/week during our funding issues. I actually had time to work out, see my friends, do stuff around the house, and do NOTHING. I think getting accustomed to that extra free 10 hrs is why I'm so exhausted lately. Having 5 free hours would make me immensely more happy without being too detrimental to my salary. Right now I probably work 43-45 hrs/wk, and it seems like I get the stink eye from my boss if I leave before 5:30, even if I've worked more than my 8 hrs for the day, even if I worked until 7 the night before. I discussed some problems I had with this company on our last trip together a couple of weeks ago, and I think I'll bring this one up on our trip next week. I often go home around 5:30, work out, and then work some more, and I don't think my evening emails are enough to make him understand. I also want to do more management and less engineering. Work is much more enjoyable when you can pass off lame tasks on other people. More importantly, I think I'm actually pretty good at it. If I was to find a new job, I wouldn't mind having it be non-DoD, but that's not a strict requirement. I also wouldn't mind it having nothing to do with engineering, but that might be too big of a leap. Coincidentally, when I told my coworker about my resolution, he laughed and said that his was the same thing. | | Tuesday, November 14th, 2006 | | 1:52 pm |
gobble gobble
I just signed up for the Turkey Trot. Five miles seems like a really long distance to attempt for fun, but I will so enjoy my guilt-free mashed potatoes afterwards. I need to not think about time goals too much or I'm sure to end up disappointed. |
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