Bad News

Well after a year or so battle with the bureaucrats RB was told that she lost her battle and will not get a letter of no objection. This simply means that she is not eligible to stay in the country beyond her original work authorization. So as of the end of August she will be back Russia. Now to all those who would ask… Why not get married? Or can’t she this? Or can’t she that? The answer is simply.. It doesn’t matter what she does at this point she has to either go back to school or back to Russia. Since she can’t stay in school her whole life it is going to be back to Russia. The reason for this goes back to the original program she came to the states on. It was crafted after the fall of the Iron Curtain and was designed to help westernize the former Soviet style communist countries. So the intent was that young people would come over, learn the American ways, go home and teach or influence change to bring about or help along reforms to create similar systems.

Now does it matter that the program was designed more than a decade ago. No. The requirement remains. She has to spend 2 years back in Russia before she is eligible to come back to the states regardless of her martial or any other situation. So while it is a ways off it looks like I/we will have to start planning what we will do for the 16 months she still needs in Russia to fulfill her requirement. The good news is that with my current occupation I have several different options available. It is also fortunate that the time she has to spend overseas does not have to be concurrent; therefore the time she has already gone back counts towards the requirement. However that doesn’t mean there won’t be challenges in getting her back, and we have to hope that her current employer will want her back. A fact I have no doubt of though.

So what then are the options then? Well the first and best option is if I can get on an international project. This would allow me to visit at least monthly and still come home on a semi-regular basis. I would continue to gain experience and move up, and best of all continue to collect a pay check! I hope that with a certain amount of persuasion I can work with my councilor at work to make this a reality. A process in fact I have already started. Of course with this options I would have some details to work out with my house and paying bills. Most bills are now online, but other I would still need to get back to take care from time to time. But these are small issues I’m sure will be easily ironed out as the time comes up.

The second option, one that I am willing to do but that RB doesn’t particularly like, is for me to travel from time to time to visit her the first and last few months she is away and then to take a leave of absence and join her in Russia for the bulk of her stay. I actually already have leads on a job or two in Moscow and have talked to some friends in the firm about this process. So I think it is very doable and would be a great adventure. The problem is that six months off may put me a year behind in my career, and I of course would not be making any money on regular basis (unless I did pick a job while in Moscow). So for these negative career related reasons RB is against the idea. Of more concern this route is also what I do with my house. If I am gone for 6 months I would have to rent it out and I would need people to take care of it for me. Bills shouldn’t be an issue because I would most likely just cancel any service that I can’t take care of online.

The third option is to try to see RB on a regular basis for the 16 months she is gone. While I don’t like the idea of a long distance relationship it would be doable. I have already figured out I could spend 3 years of vacation and spend 6+ weeks over there, of course spaced out to make it worth while. I could also see her for long weekends about every month and a half. While this would cost more than the other two options with the alternate travel through my work, NWA world perks miles, and a bit of frugal airline ticket shopping it certainly isn’t out of the question. It would leave me with a normal career track, regular paycheck, and I wouldn’t have to worry about my house or bills. The problem is that I would be in a very, very long distance relationship. So if I can find a way to see RB more often I’m going to take it.

My firm always plays up that they are flexible and willing to work with people to get through any situation and I should be consultant by the time RB leaves. So we will see if they put the effort up to back up their big talk! I am really hoping I swing the first option. However I maybe become even harder for friends and family back home to get a hold of for quite sometime starting in August. We shall see.

To-Do Lists

For the last few months due to the crazy schedule that my current project is on I have less and less time to take care of personal stuff. As I think I have mentioned a few times in previous blogs. Not that I am complaining. I really enjoy being busy and having a lot to do. But I find it funny because my life is beginning to look like a series of To-Do lists. During the week I have a to-do list of client service activities, consulting activities, and a few personal activities. On the weekends I have to-do lists for social activities, things to do around the house, honey dos, and personal to-do lists. I have so many lists of things to do I actually started keeping online to-do lists on Google. The problem is that they never seem to move.

This is amusing because, as anyone who knows me, I like to plan. But lately my plans have just simply been to knock a couple things off the list at a time! So what do these wonderful lists look like? Well for a typical work day I will have to, run reports for the management team, administer the testing software we are using (make changes to accounts, problem solve, maintain the overall structure), build plans and schedules for the day/week/month/cycle of work, train people, create process documentation, attend meetings to make general project decisions, analyze a data for a number of reasons, change values in various tables, and so on.

The activities above are the client service activities, at the same time my firm requires I do a certain number of firm activities so I general have a parallel list to work from that includes things like: time and expense, arranging my travel, setting up my hotel, filling out evaluations (of myself, of others, of firm initiatives, of firm resources, etc), filling out administrative paper work for benefits, create materials for the knowledge management system, create materials for local groups, recruit, make presentations about the firm or firm activities, network (though this is normally more fun than a bother but it does take time), respond to requests for information, create materials for pursuit work (sales), taking online trainings, etc.

All of the items above are constantly being rehashed on a weekly basis and I have to manage the lists separate as Client service always comes first, but a lot of advancement hinges on firm activities so they can not be neglected. So after 50 hours of client service work I can generally expect 5 – 10 hours of firm administration.

On the weekends the do lists are normally better. Mostly consisting of people to try and visit with, things to do, and house work. I wonder though if this is how many other people manage their own lives, with a list of things that need to be taken care of. I don’t remember having lists until I bought a house, or if I did they weren’t very long. I also wonder if other people have a list of things they want to do in their lives as well. I always have in my mind a long list of places to see, things to do, and activities I want to try. I have never writen it down have heard of very famous people that have. I might have to start. I know I'll add that to my list of things to do... Hah

It does seems though that the older I get the more I have to do and the less time I have to do it! Though once this project winds down and I get another night at home and a day in the local office things should be easier to maintain. But doubt that my lists will disappear anytime soon!

I Hate eLearning

In today’s world many businesses have learned that continually providing education opportunities for their employee’s – especial firms that provide in knowledge based services – to grow brings many advantages to the company. For instance providing Harvard Management materials allow employees to go out and learn some of the most up to date techniques to improve their workgroup, department, or whatever organizational group they belong. Sending employee’s to industry seminars helps to bring new ideas into the firm. Having people take classes on a product, system, or industry related certifications helps to improve the productivity of employees. In fact most forms of education that are related to the business create returns to the business beyond the cost of providing the training.

There is at least one huge exception to this though. While not a wide spread problem these programs are not uncommon. I have run into them at two of my employers. The biggest waste of time, waste of education money, simply the big waste are eLearnings (the new version of CBT or computer based training) who’s sole purpose is to train employees on matters of policy. I’m talking about web or computer based programming that go over the latest rules based on C-Level knee jerk reactions to the latest corporate scandals covered by CNN. The point of these programs is not to help the employee do their job, it is not to help educate the employee about important policies that help the firm operate, it is not to help improve productivity, or keep employees up to date on the latest and greatest of industry methods. No the sole purpose of these huge waste of corporate resources is to limit the companies liability in case of a scandal. In essence the company wants to create a device so they can say “we told them so” and get out of responsibility.

My current employer is a very, very, very conservative firm. Always has been for more than a hundred years. So they actually plan to have at least one mandatory training a year that focuses on such issues. These are painful. I can not even explain it. Last year thanks to all the corporate criminal cases going through the courts we had a two part Ethics Training. Wow, it included discussion groups, business cases, and a series of simulations. It was incredibly long. You can’t skip chapters because there are exams at the end of each chapter so you have to do every activity. It lasted close to 3 hours per 1/2. This year because so many companies have lost their client’s personal data we got a training to explain a new – and overly complicated – data protect policy for client personal data. It included a new set of terms that were awkward to use and not really applicable to my job. Again it took about 3 hours and had the end of chapter exams.

Even skimming the material and running through the activities at a break-neck half hazard speed it took an entire night of my free time after working for the day. I have yet to determine what, if any, value the company has gained from me spending almost an entire day participating in the project. It was a complete waste of time really. I suppose next year I will get another one and it will be the bane of my working experience. Of course if that is the worst thing I have to contend with – it isn’t but if it were – I think I will be ok.

Some what caught up, New Car, and RB's B-day

Well, I haven’t really been keeping up on this Blog lately. So I will have to get back in the habit again. I’m behind mostly because of all the changes happening lately. My roommate moved out of the house and two new people moved in. I am trying to get a deck built and hopefully will be wrapping up a few projects in the next month or so. The other big reason I don’t feel I have time to write is simply my schedule as of late. My project at work has gone from 3-4-5 (were I fly home Thursday) to 4-4-5 (were I fly home Friday). This gives me one less day a week to get things done with more things to do. Also add helping my parents move and I feel there really isn’t time for much else.

Not that I’m complaining I like to be busy. Just don’t feel I have time to get anything completed. That’s ok at least I don’t get board either! One of the other things I did recently was to take RB out for her birthday. We decided at the last moment to invite other people so we happy that four other people could come with us. We went to Bennihana’s – one of her absolute favorites – and then to Major’s sport bar over off of 394. It was a lot of fun. I had fun keeping her guessing about what her present was and she was totally surprised. I had gotten her a pair of rollerblades. She has never done it before and had mentioned months ago that she would like to, so she had no clue it was coming. Which was great. We we’re out pretty late though and stuff to do the next day so as usual I ended up getting less sleep than I would have liked! It was easy years ago when I would just not get out of bed until noon on Saturday. Haha.

The next day we went to look at a couple of cars. RB decided that she wants a Ford Escape. I think this is my fault because I talked them up a lot a year or so ago. But it’s all good because they are really pretty good cars. Actually the first one we looked at was a Mazda Tribute. It was in really bad shape though. It had scrapes along the side, a dent in the hood, and other major body issues. Beyond that it ran horribly. Some sort of problem with the fuel system I think. I was dumb founded because it was at a dealer. You would have thought they would have tried to get it into showable shape before trying to sell it. I guess not. It was also amazing because the car only had 39k miles on it and was only 3 years old. It ran and looked like it was 10 years old. In fact my mother’s old sable with 140k runs better. So that is defiantly a no go.

The next car we looked at was at Apple Valley Ford. Not the cheapest dealer to go to, but all in all – they have great service and reasonable prices. Sometimes it pays to pay a little more. Just not too much. The Escapes they had were impeccable. Both were 2005s so it make sense. They were about 6k cheaper than buying new, Limiteds, and had all the options, leather and so on. They ran like they came right out of the factory. Now granted they cost 5k more than the Mazda but some times it’s better to pay it up front then later. It will be a few months before she buys anything however. She wants to pay off her credit card and other debt first. I think that is a good thing. I just 2 months ago paid off my Truck and I still have yet to make a dent in my credit card.

After testing driving some cars, and I think reinforcing her choice to an Escape, we went to my folks house for a b-day party. My sister’s b-day is 1 week before Ruzana so this year they had to share one party. It was nice. I ended up moving stuff to good will for my dad and helping with some other moving items. Then we had a nice dinner, cake and ice cream, and that was it. Got home and rented a flick. Because I owed her for Talladega Nights and it was her b-day we got a chick flick. As usual I guessed 95% of the plot in 10 minutes. But what the heck. Sunday I got to watch a little football, worked in the basement, and got ready to fly out again. But at least the major work on the house is done for the year. So I am kinda caught up for now.