• Corners.

    Before you can say you’ve turned a corner you have to have started in one direction and ended up in another. The question is: will there be another turn up ahead that will put me back on the original course, or will the change in direction be more or less permanent? Maybe it’s too much to expect from one afternoon, but it’s been a good day. Even when Beth was standing in front of the congregation at the children’s sermon and announced (completely changing the subject of the sermon) that she had a new book, I was able to take it in stride. The pastor indulged Beth and invited her to get her new book to show everyone. She ran back to her seat, collected her book and showed it to the congregation. “It’s a beginner’s bible”, Beth explained. “Wow, that looks nice Beth!” the pastor exclaimed. “Yeah, but my daddy made me bring it today.” The congregation erupted in laughter, just as my cheeks erupted in an orange glow. (For the record, I did not make her bring it this morning.) In the end I thought it was just as funny as everyone else, even if it was at my own expense. She can be a little out of control, but the pastor did indulge her, so I wasn’t mad. He knows to expect this kind of thing so I figure he had it coming. And it did, after all, bring a little humor and joy to the routine church service.

    Yeah, it was a pretty good day.

  • Four days, a lot of talking, and a little perspective.

    More than once in the last several days I’ve made reference to “stripping away the extra layers of bullshit.” I didn’t do it here because I wasn’t writing much, but I’ve said it more than once. I try not to swear often, but when you are emotional, there is no substitute for profanity.

    I left work early on Thursday. I called in absent on Friday. I spoke to no fewer than three senior managers at my office. I spoke to my wife. I spoke to my pastor. In the mean time, I learned something surprising from my wife. At four weeks along, there appear to be two little egg shaped blurs on the scan. Suddenly everything is not about work. Suddenly there is more to work than just writing code in VBA. Suddenly my problems don’t seem so unique or insurmountable. After four days, It is high time I started living my life again. Life wasn’t sitting around waiting for me, so I’ve got to run – I’ve got some catching up to do.

  • A ray of sunshine.

    It takes a small person to drag everyone else down when you’re feeling blue. Fortunately for my coworkers, I’m not a big person. Ah, but I shouldn’ worry too much, there’s always room for a little more bitter sarcasm. And speaking of bitter, yesterday I unveiled my treatise on software development in DOR. I sent it right to the top, cc ‘ing some of the folks in between. Here’s some of my favorite excerpts:

    “Treat the symptoms don’t euthanize the patient.”

    “Because it (the new policy) seemingly does not distinguish between those that have succeeded or failed in their efforts, it smacks of an indiscriminant ‘policy of no.’ ”

    “I only wish to say that I have been led to believe that I have something I can contribute, and I would like to continue to do so. On behalf of everyone with something to give, let us keep giving of ourselves when we can.”

    It’s a little hard to tell without the proper context, but them is some pretty good stuff. (You’ve got to say the last phrase in a southern accent for the proper effect.) Just take my word for it.

    Alas, I can’t recall a time that I was more frustrated at work.