And then it was December
Time flies with these little monkeys.
Sona, the best mother-in-law in the world, has just returned home after being with us for yet another 6-week period, and she already has her next visit booked for mid-January. That works out great as it turns out I'll be in Seattle for a big training event (and some awesome skiing with the guys) for 1.5 weeks, and another week for the Windows Vista Rapid Deployment conference (and some awesome skiing with the guys).
Meanwhile, Alica continues to work on her dissertation, getting VERY close to being done with the number crunching phase and starting the final write-up of results. The kids are still in daycare during the week when they're not sick, letting her get some work done, but it's slow when Sona is gone (nearly nothing gets done on the weekends). Jobs are going to be over a year away given the PhD won't come until this Summer 2006, but that's okay and gives us some options on the house remodel and potentially a move.
In my world, work progresses fantastically on the customer front. We're doing REALLY challenging and impactful work, and as mentioned earlier I'll now be leading this customer through an early adopter program for Windows Vista, meaning we will deploy 1000 desktops on Vista by June... And there are tons of side projects I'm involved with that are stretching my skills, including app/dev architecture, large-scale database design, and some significant political challenges. Tons of fun.
On the work front at MSFT, I am skipping vacations and otherwise doing whatever it takes to hit the measurements they are using, regardless if I agree with them. I'll take my top review this year and get another job within the company; as I found out from the last round, I've got to have that good review to leave. The good thing is I have a much better understanding of where I stand, have very frank discussions with my manager regularly (and in writing), so there won't be any surprises. On track for 50% bonus for the year, good stock, etc.
Finally, the house decision keeps varying depending on the news of the day. With the Leskos getting a 3-month sweet gig in Seattle, I keep thinking of moving, and we wouldn't want to invest a ton if we're leaving. On the other hand, even more houses are doing massive renovations on the street and one has even listed for $789k, so we can DEFINITELY make money with even the full remodel and likely with the teardown. We're considering a smaller remodel that will be MUCH less expensive, MUCH less intrusive - just adding an office and master-suite where our garage currently is, maybe converting the current half-bath to a full, and do the basic repair work (siding, roof, some windows, gutters) that the full renovation would have had to do as part of the project. We can live through that easily, get 700 sq. ft. more, add 2 bedrooms and 1.5 baths, and still do the front porch and rear deck to complete the place.
Definitely staying busy and having fun. Gotta blog more than once a month, these monsters are rough :).
Sona, the best mother-in-law in the world, has just returned home after being with us for yet another 6-week period, and she already has her next visit booked for mid-January. That works out great as it turns out I'll be in Seattle for a big training event (and some awesome skiing with the guys) for 1.5 weeks, and another week for the Windows Vista Rapid Deployment conference (and some awesome skiing with the guys).
Meanwhile, Alica continues to work on her dissertation, getting VERY close to being done with the number crunching phase and starting the final write-up of results. The kids are still in daycare during the week when they're not sick, letting her get some work done, but it's slow when Sona is gone (nearly nothing gets done on the weekends). Jobs are going to be over a year away given the PhD won't come until this Summer 2006, but that's okay and gives us some options on the house remodel and potentially a move.
In my world, work progresses fantastically on the customer front. We're doing REALLY challenging and impactful work, and as mentioned earlier I'll now be leading this customer through an early adopter program for Windows Vista, meaning we will deploy 1000 desktops on Vista by June... And there are tons of side projects I'm involved with that are stretching my skills, including app/dev architecture, large-scale database design, and some significant political challenges. Tons of fun.
On the work front at MSFT, I am skipping vacations and otherwise doing whatever it takes to hit the measurements they are using, regardless if I agree with them. I'll take my top review this year and get another job within the company; as I found out from the last round, I've got to have that good review to leave. The good thing is I have a much better understanding of where I stand, have very frank discussions with my manager regularly (and in writing), so there won't be any surprises. On track for 50% bonus for the year, good stock, etc.
Finally, the house decision keeps varying depending on the news of the day. With the Leskos getting a 3-month sweet gig in Seattle, I keep thinking of moving, and we wouldn't want to invest a ton if we're leaving. On the other hand, even more houses are doing massive renovations on the street and one has even listed for $789k, so we can DEFINITELY make money with even the full remodel and likely with the teardown. We're considering a smaller remodel that will be MUCH less expensive, MUCH less intrusive - just adding an office and master-suite where our garage currently is, maybe converting the current half-bath to a full, and do the basic repair work (siding, roof, some windows, gutters) that the full renovation would have had to do as part of the project. We can live through that easily, get 700 sq. ft. more, add 2 bedrooms and 1.5 baths, and still do the front porch and rear deck to complete the place.
Definitely staying busy and having fun. Gotta blog more than once a month, these monsters are rough :).
posted by Bootay at 12:33 PM
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