Another day at work. Nothing bad, but it is getting routine. I spent most of the day talking to the agents and seeing how everything was going. The new person is still studying and should become an agent by the end of next month. He has a good attitude and should do well on team specific training.
After picking up the kids from school, we all did our household duty when we arrived home to get it out of the way. Once we were all done, we played Mario Wonder. That is a fun game to play.
Headed to be to catch up on some reading resumes. Tomorrow I am going to help conduct an interview. Hope we find someone. The last two didn’t know much about IT at all or what was on their resume’.
The morning is getting considerably cold. You can feel the winter coming. I’m getting my bike ready for winter bike rides up into the mountains. Its fun and I really enjoy being out there.
Today I had a good day at work. The transition from a four-person crew to three went without notice. Everyone did their part, and it went smoothly. I went around talking to the team members to find out what was going on and joked about work topics. Everyone was happy, healthy, and enjoying their jobs and it shows in the work. Everyone’s scores are high including customer surveys. We are at an all-time high four out team and are leading everyone by 10 points. I am not sure how long we can sustain this, but everyone looks loose and confident at their jobs now. We will see at the end of the month if all the changes we have made over the past 3 months is sustainable. We know it is working, from a 36 score at the beginning of the month to 83 score as of today. My goal was sixty for this month and seventy for next month then sustain it at 70 or slightly above. Our big push was remarkably successful.
We went on a trip to see the rest of the Trolls around the Puget Sound area. It was a fun little road trip taking 3 ferry rides and a few side geocaching hunts to complete. It was fun. The kids were tired at the end of the trip. Me and my son woke up at our usual time and bought way too many snacks for the trip. The day held up with no rain, just overcast. The minivan was stocked with games and two bean bags to relax while we waited for the ferries at the docks.
What a crazy day at work. The person that was leaving the company didn’t come to work today and two team leads from the East Coast went on a 2-week vacation starting today. I had lost one person and inherited 3 agents. I can see the differences between how my team operates compared to theirs. They need instructions for everything they do, while my team are self-sufficient. They have the power to do what they feel is necessary to resolve the issue. If it is questionable, they will ask me or another team member. They have been doing this job for 2 or more years and should know what the rules are. I also don’t want to make every decision for them. They are all able to make decisions for themselves.
I dropped the ball earlier this morning and caught the eye of the CEO. But it was all correct by Noon.
Just a crazy day. After picking the kids up from school, we went to Costco to pick up Mario Wonder and pick up some items for cleaning. Tomorrow I am planning a trip to get to all the Trolls around Puget Sound.
A smooth day at work. I got everything done without feeling rushed or behind. I will need to add more projects to my list to fill in the gaps. The PARA system works very well for my job and life. I am glad I am using it now.
I am planning the Puget Sound Troll trip for the weekend. It should be fun with about 5 – 6 hours of driving. Going to make a day of it and hit some restaurants and a ferry ride back home. Looks like the weather will hold up and not rain over the weekend.
I had a long day at work. Meetings and interviews filled most of the day. My weekly presentation went well. I am getting much better and it feels more natural in front of everyone and being webcast to two other locations in the world.
Other than my workday, it was an average day. I played Uno with the kids and ROBLOX with my son. It was fun.
I had my first exit interview with a team member. He is leaving the company for a job closer to where they live. He drove 3 hours a day and it wasn’t sustainable. I hope he does well at his new job. He was a good person and worker. I talked to the IT Director, and he said they are happy with my performance. The team’s performance has dramatically increased since I became their manager. They are still improving, and I am proud of them. I will be training 2 new employees soon. So, we should get back to normal within 6 months. It takes 3 months of training before you can assist customers.
I took a walk after work in Issaquah to check out a Troll. These are made by an artist named Thomas Dambo. So far there are five (West Seattle, Issaquah, Ballard, Bainbridge Island and Vashon Island) scattered around Puget Sound area. The material is made from recycled material. This is the first one I went to, and it looks amazing. I didn’t stay exceptionally long since it was getting late, and the rain was heavy. I should go and check out the rest of them this weekend before they are gone. I’m not sure how long they will be in place for.
Started the morning to today repairing my phone. The back of the phone on my Surface Duo 2 cracked. While removing a plate so I could add some resin to stable the cracking, I made it worse and caused the whole back to crack. I had to cover the whole panel. It looks okay. I placed a skin over it to cover it up. It works but the only thing I could find was black textured skin. Not ideal but works.
At 10 am I watched the Seahawks lose to Cincinnati. It was close and would have been exciting if they had pulled it off on the last play.
I spent the rest of the day watching tv and taking a nap. I started to help my daughter clean out her room. We started with the old books she had already read. This helped a lot. She is at the age of reading harder books and started to read off a Kindle or just simply gets books from the public library. There is a lot to still clean out, but it helps a bit.
Started the day at 5:30 am to get ready for the busy day. The sky was full of dark clouds and rain. I woke the kids up at 6:30 am to go grocery shopping and head home before the solar eclipse starts. Shopping went uneventful, got this week’s shopping done quickly with no lines to deal with.
Once home, the skies cleared, and I was able to see the sun. We grabbed the chairs and went to the front yard to watch the eclipse. The weather held up until just after the peak of the eclipse. I got some good pictures of it. The clouds started coming in at the end, but I was grateful to be able to see it.
Afterwards we went to drop off the bikes and unwanted items at Goodwill. Once we dropped the items off, we headed to a phone repair shop to see if they could fix my phone. They said it wasn’t possible (due to the part not being available) but gave me some ideas to repair the phone. I am going to fill the cracks up with resin and allow it to harden. Once done to put a skin on top of it and call it good. Tomorrow I will start the process.
In the afternoon, my daughter and I made Halloween cupcakes. They came out perfect. We used to do it when I was working full time at home and was with the kids 24/7. I’m not sure why we stopped doing it but will continue to bake with the kids. It’s fun and a fantastic way to learn about cooking.
I watched TV and played Uno with the kids before bed. Tomorrow I will start work on the phone and the staging area in the garage. I’m going to help my daughter clear out her room. She has too many things in her room. I can’t even walk in there because the floor is littered with stuff.
Life in the Pacific NW 