Goat Rodeos and Baby Showers

What a week. First thing Monday morning I have a message from my boss that we have a "fire drill" from the general manager of our group that is to be my number one priority. Our instructions were to provide a "very detailed deep dive" into the workings of our group -- how many people we have, what they all do, how much it costs, the whole nine yards. So I essentially worked non-stop for three days and three nights with some people on my team trying to condense our business into a handful of PowerPoint charts. On Thursday morning at 7:30 am we all got on a teleconference to take him through the culmination of our efforts. He joined the call and immediately grumbled about there being too many people on the call.

"This is supposed to be a high-level discussion among the executives. I don't know why this is even an hour on my calendar -- we can do this in thirty minutes," he barked.

It was a true example of miscommunication, bad leadership, and wasted effort of about fifteen people all wrapped into one -- a classic corporate goat rodeo. Weeks like this past one make me despise corporate America and long to do something else.

Insert perspective here. My buddy Dan emailed me this morning. His unit at Fort Bragg had just returned from being out in the field all week. On Wednesday we had a good rain storm roll through, ushering in a big cold front behind it. Our temperatures have dropped 50 degrees in just a few days. Unfortunately Dan was out in the rain on Wednesday night and stayed wet for the next two days in the cold as the temperatures dropped into the 20s at night. So when I say I had a crappy week, at least I was dry and warm.

Dan came up to Raleigh last weekend to run a 10K downtown. It was his first competitive race and he ran it in under 50 minutes. Here he is with Bill and Turner, two guys in his unit who ran it as well. Amy, the boys, and I went down to watch them cross the finish line.

As for the boys, Gus has developed into the little thief. He steals whatever toy, ring, block or stuffed animal that Owen has. Owen has started to stand up for himself a little bit but mostly he just laughs as Gus stacks all he toys next to him.

Owen has found his voice this week. He shrieks when he's mad, hungry or happy. It's amusing -- for me anyway as I don't listen to it all day like Amy does -- but we try not to draw attention to it or else he just does it repeatedly.

This weekend is baby shower weekend. In all honesty, normally I would moan and groan about having to attend two baby showers in one weekend. But I'm looking forward to these two. Tonight we are going to a shower for our friends Brian and Kelly who are expecting on New Year's Day. We haven't had this particular group of friends together in a long time so it should be a good time. And tomorrow there is one for some friends who just moved back here from New York. It will be good to catch up with them as well. Who knows, maybe as long as I don't have to swing a potato between my legs like I did in a game at the last couples' baby shower I attended, I might be a fan of these after all. ;-)

Owen gave his dad a big grin this week....

...and Gus just chilled out in the car seat. "Wassup y'all?"