I made a quick note in twitter about this, but I think it’s important enought to expand on a bit.  Lily, I hope you are listening…

Almost daily at work I run into the same old phrase: “I don’t know how to [whatever]…”

This is not said in an inquisitive manner.  Rather, it is stated as a fact and a closing statement.  This bothers me.

If you are saying that at work, chances are that what you don’t know is something you have been called upon to do.  With that type of attitude you will stagnate and never progress.  In time you will likely begin to wonder “Why are all of those people getting raises and promotions while I go nowhere?”

The answer is shockingly simple.  Watch the people that progress and you will quickly see a pattern; rather than saying “I don’t know how to…” they ask “How do I…?”

It’s a very small change in your approach to things that can make a tremendous difference in your career and life in general.

By changing these statements you open the potential for a flood of new information and skill which you can use to make your life easier.

Don’t want to ask your peers for help?  No worries…Here’s a tip/confession: I don’t know a lot of things. When run into a situation that I don’t know the answer to I Google it. There. I said it.  I take those 5 minutes out of my day and ask Google “How do I” and 8/10 times I come up with the answer and then I know for next time.  It’s so very simple…

Want to know something else?  You boss or senior team respect people who ask questions.  I love answering my co-workers questions.  It means that they quite likely will not ask me again next time.  If I am discussing the performance of team members with others, the people who positively stand out are the ones that ask questions because it shows that they are generally interested and engaged in their jobs.  There is one caveat to be aware of related to this though.  You need to retain the answers you are given!  Answering a question from a person once or twice is fine.  But if the same question is asked 5, 6, 7 times…you will stand out for all the wrong reasons.

To be content with your ignorance is only a disservice to yourself.  There is really no excuse for it when you are at work.  Whether or not you are in a job you want to stay if for the long term or not, learning and asking questions will never hurt.  It may lead you down a path to where you really want be and it may give you that shining recommendation from your boss that lands you your dream job.

Ask, question, progress…choosing ignorance will only haunt you later.

It’s nice to see my suggestion of a method to make a web app used by a good portion of our company cross browser compatible, implemented.

I’m not in application development, but hey…I like to dabble, and bug our developers with suggestions and code fixes…

The most exciting part of my work week is that I got read only access to a database.
Sad, but yeah, I’m really excited

So my newest toy, courtesy of work is the Blackberry 8800.

One of the newest features of this blackberry over my last, the 8700, is the addition of the built in GPS receiver.  While I generally do know where I am, I have played with GPS before and I do like the idea of having a handheld device capable of giving me my location to within a few metres.  It seems so Star Trek, and being that I am a nerd who grew up wishing he were aboard the Enterprise (any one of them), something that brings me closer to Trektopia is always a welcome addition to my life.  The GPS in this device seems to be quite capable and has functioned well in my limited testing.  It finds the satellites quickly, and promptly tells me where I’m at.

While the built in software doesn’t have the capability of speaking turn by turn directions to me, I believe there are other 3rd party applications that offer this.  I am not too interested in that though.  I find if I have a map, which I always have handy by way of Google maps, and I know where I am on that map…reaching my destination is not too difficult.

Another addition is the voice dialing system.  Now, there have been around for quite some time, but I do like this implementation.  Rather than having to create a specific voice command for each voice dialing entry as I have had to do in the past with other cell phones, this one uses a voice recognition system that will allow me to speak the name of the contact as it appears in my address book without any prior training.   It has been quite good at understanding me so far.  Again, one step closer to the Trektopia. "Computer, tea, earl gray, hot."

And finally, I am glad they finally added expandable memory via a MicroSD card slot.  Now I can use my BB in a similar manner to a USB memory stick, which I so often have trouble keeping track of.  I have yet to lose my Blackberry.

I do love the toys…..

Whilst I cannot talk specifically about the problems at work this week, I can say that it has been one hell of a bad week for us.  Stress is high, the clients are a little dumb, and it just keeps piling on.

It didn’t help much that I was a touch hung over from a round of Beer-Food-Darts at the pub last night.  A few hours out with the boys to clear my head.  (Sort of)

I long for the weekend, but it’s always too short.

It makes me tired just thinking about it….

A few people sat and worked through a fire alarm at work today.  That’s how worried they seemed about pleasing our client that is not too impressed at the moment.  Seriously…If to make the client happy I had to put myself at even a miniscule risk of burning alive, I would quit.  No.  I will not burn for you.  And I  fully intend on convincing the other people I work with to adopt the same attitude.  It’s just work….

He scores free 12th row raptors tickets from the boss….
Perks are nice…

Well, as expected it wasn’t a very trying time for me for my performance review.

I was guaranteed a raise and a bonus within the first 2 minutes. Most of the time was not even spent reviewing me as my manager and I agreed with my own self assessment to the letter.

Makes I feel good I must say.

Not sure how the others are doing, but the reviews have thankfully not added too much stress to the week. So my earlier post thankfully did not become self fulfilling.

There was a time when the disorganization and stupidity that I deal with at my job made me frustrated and angry. Unfortunately since there was so much stupidity flying around this meant I was often frustrated and angry more often than not. I would bring it home with me and it would ruin my whole day. Then one day, I’m not sure when it happened, I crossed some sort of invisible boundary in my mind and have pretty much just replaced the negative reactions with, shock, awe and bewilderment. Maybe even throw in a bit of bemusement. I must say, a change for the better. Now instead of walking around the office red faced and pissed, I walk around, kind of confused and amused, like I’ve just been hit with the stupid hammer. And in fact, I often am hit with the stupid hammer, every time I deal with a project manager, or get a ridiculous request from someone in the organization.

Anyway, just thought I’d mention it.

I’m not looking forward to this week.

It’s the first week in about a month that I’ve had to work an entire 5 day work week. The prospect seems quite daunting and tiring.

It’s also performance review week. The week I have to say to my boss just how gosh darn awesome I am. Not something I’m worried about, despite the fact that it’s my first ever formal performance review. Despite my not being particularly worried about how awesome I am, it still adds a little bit of stress as the other 14 people around me are all being reviewed this week as well. Many of them may have trouble proving their awesomeness, and I have a feeling that stress will affect the group as a whole.

We’ll see. I don’t want to become a victim of a self fulfilling prophecy…

There’s nothing quite like the moment when someone says….
“Hey, you have a big hole in the seat of your pants”

At this moment a few things go through your mind like…

• Am I wearing underwear today?
• How long has this hole been there?
• How many people saw it and decided not to mention it?
• How many people liked what they saw?
• How many people will have nightmares?
• Is my ass really that fat?
• Why didn’t I notice the breeze?
• Who made these crappy pants anyhow?
• Will people make fun of my spongebob squarpants underpants?

Welcome to my afternoon though processes….
 

Laura used to work on the same floor as me.
We never interacted at work, but we were often in the vicinity of one another.
Some days I would sit and listen as she entertained her co-workers on the other side of the cubicle wall. Often times lauging with them because I knew “the rest of the story” or just laughing because anyone who’s met her knows how entertaining she can be.
But now, her job has moved locations and I feel somewhat emptier at work. I never really realized just how much I had gotten use to her presence. Knowing that at anytime if I needed her I could break the vow of secrecy and go to her.
Its not a terribly sad situation, I’ll admit, people obviously have bigger problems they deal with, but it’s noticable and has an effect.

In addition to my Lauralessness at work, I think I have a touch of the post holiday season blues.  No more presents, far less parties, and months of the grindstone ahead.

It’s all left me a little bit depressed.  Sigh…

I am slowly drifting off into an imovane induced stupor.
Going back to work today after the holidays was kind of depressing, and I don’t think I was the only one. The whole office was quiet, lost in their own worlds, perhaps wondering when they will next get to celebrate life instead of squeek through it.

So here I am again…a new year looming on the horizon and I killed my website again.

I just hated my last attempt. It was scetchy fromt he start and I just got sick of it and hit delete. Stuff happens.

So what do you do when someone at work smells a little like pee? A tough situation….I don’t want to smell pee…but I don’t want to say…”hey pee pee pants…what’s the dealio?” Know what I mean? I guess I’ll just live with it.

And why to grown people have to be treated like children? i.e. why should I have to remind people over and over to return a mandatory survey. Why should I hound them for their year end self evaluations? Why should I have to directly tell them “Answer the phone” when it is their ob to answer the phone? Seriously…what’s wrong with people. It makes me crazy. And why do I have to deal with one person who is like a schoolyard bully….again…we are all adults…why should I have to comfort someone who is literally shaking because they are afraid that if they ask the bully a question they will get in trouble and get fired. Why do I have to do that?

Granted, I like my job, and I’m glad I can be there for people to help them and remind them and all…but I never expect anyone to hold my hand, why should they be any different? It baffles the mind. Frak.