New Years Eve

Another lazy day (I woke up just after 12:00! And was still in bed reading at 13:00.

The rest of the day, or what was left of it was a mixture of reading, surfing, food, drink and TV. We have moved from Troy to the Conquistadors, my most hated figures in history! Again Michael Wood is a fantastic, but I cant help but wonder as to what could have been.

As Michael says ‘It is given to few people in history to destroy a civilisation’.

Re & Pre view

Half of 08 was spent in what felt like a never end series of applications, interviews and disappointments. It seems like a distant memory now, but at the time it was a worrying slog. To think that none of the roles that I applied for was a as big, challenging or with as much responsibility has I have now. Its incredible how a leap of faith paid off.

The first half of the year also saw my trip to the US with Dad, which was a great trip, made all the better by being able to see Dad’s face when he won his rosette, and spoke with the ’names’. True I have not returned to the UK and picked up a piece of wood, but it was an education. With hindsight it was the beginning of the up tern, I came back to 5 interviews, and ended up with two job offers. It was with trepidation that I accepted the role, would I be able to do it, and was it big enough for my career. A strange contradiction of emotions, yet it was with concern I arrive at my first day. As you will have read, the following 7 months has been a roller coaster of hard work, growth and challenge.

So what will 09 offer, well firstly some much needed stability. I know what will come in the next 12 months of work. It will be hard, and challenging, but it is within my gift. I will have to learn to be less hands on, be harder with my direct reports, and will need to find something new to generate the revenue needed for growth. I will also need to learn how to us my new report, less hands on, and more directional, could be interesting.

On the personal side I need to find a WLB, which will be hard. I have planned the first 7 months of the year, so there are regular personal things, seeing friends, eating out, holidays and fun. I need to try and establish some rules for working, as the fit it all in 5 days didn’t work in Q4.

This year more than most I am looking forward to the January trip to France, it seems strange just 2 weeks after 10 days off to have another week, but it really works, it gives you two starts to the year, and ensures that come the end of March, you are still only 8 weeks from a holiday, with Easter just ahead of you.

I don’t do resolutions as I see little point in picking a single day to change things. I have some objectives, but I know they will change during the year, so I will keep things fluid.

So, happy new year, enjoy the night, survive the hangover and pursue your dreams.

Mon & Tues Days

So Monday was a day of shopping, we planned to leave at 11:00, but when we awoke at 10:40, that was never going to happen. Belle made scrambled eggs on toast, and we set off at about 12:15. The hope of people being back at work was short lived, as we started to queue in traffic just to park. We decided to park a short distance away from the shops which meant there was a walk but it was only 25p per hour, so that cant be bad. We had a good shop, although neither of us found everything we were looking for. As it was dark and cold I left Belle in Waterstones to go and collect the car, which would have been find, if I had been able to find it. It is a distressing thing not to be able to find the car park that you parked your car it. What do you do? You cant phone your car, or look it up on the internet. Fortunately Belle remembered it being in view of a Jury’s Inn, and so I headed for that, and fortunately found it! Much relief.

Home via a now open Sainsburys, and it was 19:45 before we sat down in the lounge.

Tuesday was a much quieter day, a trip to the bank and the chemist, and PC World to get a larger external drive. I now have a 1T drive, that should store enough music and photo’s!

The evening was more Troy, which has been very interesting, with a tea of home made lasagne and the great Sainsburys rear garlic bread, yum!

Sat & Sun Days

On Saturday we went for the bike ride, and combined it with a few things from Tesco’s, carbon neutral shopping, go us! The rest of the day, was back to resting. I don’t think I have every (well at least since I started working) spent 3 days just relaxing. Obviously when you go away you relax, but in terms of being at home and just resting it feels like a first.

Its interesting that even when resting I still need to plan, so I have most of 2009 mapped out! We need to find out when Belle’s graduation, other than that though we are planned, with regular breaks through until next Christmas. It feels like being in control. This time last year I was in the unknown, out of control wilderness of unemployment. I don’t know why I crave control, but being able to plan has a nice feeling about it.

I know what holidays will (or are allowed to) cost, when they will be, what weekends away we will have, when and again how much. It means that everything is budgeted for.

Not knowing when you will next get paid is a horrid feeling, however being a control freak and a person who has had a financial model for over 15 years its is almost unbearable!

So, this is such a better Christmas break, if only I could get rid of this cold!

Sunday was football day, and after going to bed at 2am I was glad I had set my alarm for 12:00.

The reason for the late night was that I was downloading music (legally). I have found this great web site, which is based out of Russia, and gives you Music tracks for just 9C, and its legal. I have got the full Moody Blues and Terry Oldfield back catalogues + a dozen other albums for under £30, try it out at www.leagalsounds.com

We scored early, then stopped for 50 minutes, scored again, stopped and again, consided and then hung on. Not the best game, but another 3 points, and you have to question if MK and Posh can hang on for much longer.

Martin – 4 – Again the ginger boy from L1 looked at risk every time the ball cam near him. He has the need to punch or slap the ball away, when a good catch would be much safer.
Gilbert – 6 – Ok, not much more to say
Morrison – 5 – Not as secure as you would have wanted, poor distribution
Hobbs – 7 – Strong and secure, still looks scared when he has the ball at his feet, but today he held the defence together
Berner – 3 – Rubbish, when we was sub’d 5 minutes before half time, I hoped it was because he was playing so bad.
Mattock – 5 – Anyone would have looked good after Burno, but Mattock looked what he is short a match time.
Davies – 7 – Showed pace and was great pushing forward, however he does not play as a right winger, which makes us very lopsided.
King – 7 – Finally I have seen 2 or 3 games were King plays well contributes, and scores.
Oakley – 5 – Jackal and Hyde performance again from Matty, needs to be more consistent
Dyer – 6 – good going forward, however not much tracking back
Fryatt – 6 – Didn’t score, but set up Howard and when taken off at half time had done little wrong.
Dickov – 5 – Not the Wasp we remember
Howard – 8 – Good flicks, and scored again. He is a lump, but at this level he is a good lump!

Home via Sainsbury’s which was closed! And another restful evening. Tea was nice with yet more Christmas pudding and cream, and before that Veal. And before anyone gets upset, it was Waitrose, traceable, not feed in crates Veal, and it was very nice.

Tomorrow is shopping in MK, so lets hope people are back at work!

Boxing Day

Two days without working, or really moving to be honest.

Lots of food, drink, and chocolate

Tomorrow we may go for a bike ride, to try and get some exercise!

Its Christmas

Today after getting up at 10:00 to see Mum off to Liverpool, we headed back to bed.

Another 1 ½ hours sleep and we got up for scrambled eggs on toast, before presents.

We both got lots of great things, books and music mainly which is just what we like. We also got some money which after getting a water butt will enable a shopping trip to MK later this week!

Then we spent the rest of the day in the lounge reading, watching tele and surfing. Very relaxing. We had prawn and scallop parcels for tea (we will save the Pheasant for tomorrow)

The last week has been a good one. Work was the usual, but that’s ok, cos that’s what I am good at. LCFC won 4-0 against POSH which was one of the easiest to watch games I have ever seen.

The biggest downside of the last week has been yet another cold! I need this holiday, rest, rest and more rest.

Mum has been up for several days, and although it feels like I have not seen her, it has been good to see her in the evenings, and yesterday we had a nice 3 course meal and then exchanged presents.

Belle got a Venice DVD for Christmas, which we have watched in full, and both want to go back there again, looks like the Italy tour holiday will be on this summer.

I have started planning breaks for 09, after the interesting year 08 has been I want to get a structure scheduled early. Regular breaks, and things to look forward to.

Money, Work, Money, Sleep, Work, Sleep, Fun? Balance?

Today's entry was going to be the usual long day at the office, left at 20:00, so didn’t get home and have tea until 21:00. It was another day of frustration spoon feeding people through to the right decision. A day when a good friend solved a major technical issue, not one of my staff, and when I needed to make technical suggestions as part of an investigation into a customer fault. But then I read my sisters entry and its makes the constant moaning were seem self inflicted. She asks the million pound question, no not Anakin good or bad, but money a necessary evil or a drug?

I am not sure I agree with her view of me. I agree with her view of her, she is working hard, and applying a level of self control that is incredible to get to the right money point. She as set things she is prepared to spend on, and a plan for having more based on structured debt reduction. I am very proud of what she has achieved, and I know she will enjoy the benefits all the more for having done it herself!

As for me, she has the view that I work hard for the money, but I don’t think that is true. I work hard, and do what I do, because I am good at it, and despite the above, and most days ranting I enjoy it. I cant deny I enjoy the benefits that the money brings, and it would be hard to adjust if things changed, but I do what I do, because I need intellectual challenge. Shaping the team, fixing the business, helping customers, making things better give me self actualisation. The money is the reward, but the truth is it is only recently that we have really thought about how to enjoy it.

Yes we have nice cars, and good holidays, but ask me to spend £40 on a pair of trousers and I would faint. I needed to be bullied into spending money on me. So now we try and do something nice each month. We are going to the theatre, gigs, or out for a meal. We have bought a painting for our anniversary for the reasons we first bought pictures, because we love it. Its not an investment, it’s just for us.

The key thing for me is that I have always planned my money. I had a spreadsheet from my uni days, and finished debt free. I worked through the hoidays, and some weekends. I got a job and changed the spreadsheet. As the jobs grew the rows became more and the duration longer. It meant my wife could give up work and go to Uni, and I could get her a Jag when she graduated. Yes I have been paid well for the work I do, but I have always lived within my means and as such I am comfortable, with a few luxuries.

One of the key differences between me and my sister, is I am doing what I am good at, and what I enjoy. She is great at her job, and could do more if she wanted, but she gets a buzz from different things. She is the creative talent. I am luck that I enjoy something that pays well.

So what does this all really mean, well this blog is meant to be cathartic, so I will continue to rant about the frustrations of the day. I will continue to park my day in words so I can sleep and move on, without the baggage on over analysing it all.

Do I have money, yes, does it create a lovely life, yes, would I like to be fitter and less tired, yes. But life is about compromises, and as I get older, I am getting better at the balancing act.

Tomorrow is a WFH day, so hopefully a bit more WLB. At the end of the day, I only know one way to work, flat out!

Funday Monday

Ok, so it was long and work filled, but hay, there were some good bits.

Had 2 121’s with newer members of the senior management group. They are both doing well, and it was nice to be able to give praise and support rather than try and understand failings.

Despite the best of intentions it was still 19:15 before I left the office, but I left the machine in the office, and have had a relaxing evening.

And I am really excited about tomorrow, we are going to plan the restructure roll out, and it will be great to get into the detail, and shape our future. I have a strong management team, it has taken time to re-shape them, remove the under performers, and get some strong and passionate individuals. It is going to be a challenging first quarter of 09, but that’s what we need!

So a long day again, but only 7 working days til Christmas and a much needed break.

The day was only spoilt by Derby getting a 94th minute draw against Charlton. We 8 Derby.

Anyone missed me????

Its been a while since I managed to create the time to blog, following my holiday sickness, caused by to much work it has been straight back to, to much work!

So a quick review of the highs, lows, and stressful activities over the last three weeks.

So holiday -3 days and it was a call to one of my new direct reports following the take over to tell him he was at risk, ahead of a call to 24 people to tell them they were all at risk. It was one of the worst things I have had to do, and was the start of an unpleasant process. Don’t get me wrong, I take the money so I have to do the bad as well as the good, and it is easier on my side of the table, but after the year I have had it was a bit close to home!

Carrcassone was a lovely citadel and the meal on Friday night was fantastic, but it was still a long drive back home.

Monday was the first of the 121’s with the at risk staff, 15 in a day and it was as you would expect. There was a mixture of anger, upset, failure to understand it was not personal and the rare understanding individual. The day ended with the 3 hour drive to Sale. Actually it was a 3 hour drive to see Drips, who kindly feed me and put me up. It was nice not to be in a hotel after the day. Tuesday saw the remaining meetings including a very aggressive individual, more about him later.

We then kicked into team meetings, 121’s (not @ risk) and the finance cycle.

There was a trip to see Fish in Buxton with PASH, great gig and an interesting car park incident!

One of the things I have been trying to do is make sure we do things, so Monday 1st Dec saw us head down to London after work to see Mr Izzard. The theatre held about 300 people, he did a 2 hour set and was fantastic. He is great, and shows that whilst Russell Howard was very funny he has a way to good, before he can compete with the Banana god!

This week also saw the 2nd set of 121’s for the at risk staff. Less people this time as I only needed to see the members of my team, but they were heavier meetings. The high was being able to retain 2 placement students, who would have had to re do the year if we had made them redundant. The low was two fold, firstly a lovely guy who just does not get, that it does not matter how good he is, he does not have the skills we need moving forward. The second was a very aggressive Muppet who accused me of lying! I know this is a hard process for people to go through, however I will not tolerate people questioning my integrity!

The end of the week saw use go to see another gig, this time Belle and I went to see Fat Freddies cat for the 2nd time. The guitar player is a colleague (he is now a direct report, but again more about that later). We had a meal with my boss and his wife and had a throughly good time.

Saturday saw the super foxes score 3, all by Fryatt who now has scored 22 so far this season, at that rate he could beat Ronaldo’s total of last season.

Sunday was out on the bikes, and although it was very cold, it was good to get out in the fresh air for the second day in a row.

So we are almost up top date.

This week has seen more finance, so major customer complaints including to field trips to pacify customers. It was a bit scary to tell the second customer that within our business there was no-one with more authority to draw resources to ensure their project succeeded than me, as I ran a £40m business with 120 staff (ooooooooooh). We succeed in turning the customers around and subject to delivering things will be ok. We also had two major issues with our two major clients, again problems solved but a bit of a time sink.

I had my 121, which after doing over 40 in 3 weeks, was nice. And I took a deep breath and said I had to much work and needed help! It felt horrid to have to ask, however the outcomes was perfect. I will have a bag man from the 5th Jan . Someone who’s only job is to do the things I give him. I feel les pressure already! I am also being bullied towards a PA, not sure I can cope with that, but you never know!

We also had a result where a member of staff we expected to sack next week resigned saving us significant time!

Finally I had a day working from home, it was great not to have to travel, and meant we were able to finish the day with a trip to Waitrose for some posh bits for Christmas.

So that’s me up to date, I apologise to anyone who I missed out in the last 4 weeks, and promise to be back to a more regular pattern moving forwards.