Things that make me...

There are things in life that make sad, and there are things in life that make me happy. Here are a few of each.

Things that make me sad...

1. My roommate's cat Aspen. When his kids moved to Colorado, Dave agreed to take their cat in. Aspen is a good cat. He's easy going and just wants a little attention. However, Dave hasn't been home much lately, and I think he's a little lonely. He's just mopes around the house on the days that Dave isn't around.
2. The orphaned pets at PetSmart. Need I say more?
3. The nights I spend without Amy
4. Fighting with Amy over stupid things
5. Seeing my Mom cry.

Things that make me happy

1. Waking up with Amy in the morning
2. Being able to wake up 10 minutes before my first conference call and stroll into the "office" and make it on time
3. My cats - even when they knead my belly and leave clawmarks. Even my step-cat Aspen.
4. Kissing Amy
5. Knowing I'm going to be spending the rest of my life with Amy. Even when we do fight about stupid things.

So I think we are back in Kansas

I had a hard re-entry to contact center account management last night. Chennai was getting hit with the front end of a cyclone that basically flooded the city and surrounding areas. I got the call at around 10 p.m. last night, and ended up working until 2 a.m. waking up my clients in the process to notify them of the potential issues. Went to bed for a couple of hours to get up in time for a 6 a.m. call this morning. My clients were understanding, but I can tell they are frustrated.

It was an adjustment for both Amy and I last night. It's been a while since I was a day-to-day account manager so I'm not used to being on call 24x7 like I was two and a half years ago. It was Amy's first look as well.

In other news, we went to go stand on our piece of dirt yesterday. Very exciting. We even saw the little "sold" house on our lot. Even more exciting.

The road home runs through Long Beach

So it was a very successful weekend. Received the necessary blessings (YAY!) Amy's parents were both gracious and really cut to the chase. Needless to say, I think the pie helped calm my nerves. We also had a really nice evening at Mitch and Samantha's house. The drive home was something of an adventure though. Her Dad sent us south on the 405 before heading north on the 605. We were pretty frustrated. Plus, the directions said 405 east, when the only option of 605 north. Ugh.

On a separate note, we watched Desparate Housewives last night. Saw Felicity Huffman's little table-top dance. All I have to say is William H. Macy is a lucky man.

Is that what that sinking feeling is?

As I sit here unable to go back to sleep thanks to the models of modern technology - my BlackBerry buzzed a couple of times with new e-mail at like 2 in the morning with folks from the UK and India e-mailing me - I'm sitting here thinking about this weekend. I'm going to LA to meet Amy's Dad and we are going to see her Mom. The purpose of the visit is to ask for their blessing. I know that her parents love her and want to see her happy. That's what I want for her as well. I'm just hoping she'll be happy with me as happy as I am with her. I'm just real nervous here. If I ask a yes/no question, they (she) could say no. I don't really want to risk that. In talking to some of my "people" the general recommendation is to avoid the yes/no question but I to present this as if it's a question and make them feel important. I pretty much know how I'm going to approach this. I'm still just nervous, that's all.

Anyway, sorry for the ramble, but what do you expect at 3:30 a.m? I'm going downstairs to have a piece of pie. Chocolate Cream from Marie Callendar's. Yummy. I figure if I'm going to be awake at this ungodly hour I might as well have some pie.....mmmm....pie....

Family building

As Amy and I move forward in our relationship, we are starting to build our own "family." However, the question comes, after being single how do you begin to assert your own "family" or "coupleness" with others? As an example, is it best to decide items for ourselves, and inform others such as our parents of those decisions? Or is it better to continue to include people in our decision making process? I know that people are just trying to give us the benefit of their years of experience and they are only providing input because they love us.

This being said, how is it appropriate to assert our independence in these matters without pissing people off?

Past, present and future

Amy and I had a productive weekend. I'm not going to go into great detail because I don't want to bore you. There are really two key things that I want to share. First, the Bills beat the Miami Dolphins 20-14 yesterday. THANK GOD. I'm not one of those losers who lives and dies with their team, but I enjoy rooting for my teams and like to see them do well. Besides, I really hate the Dolphins. Really, any self-respecting Bills fan does.

The second item is that Amy and I made a number of key decisions about things we've been talking about lately. All will be revealed in due time, but during my workout on Saturday, a buddy and I were talking about signs. How do you know that the person you are dating is "the one?" He's been dating this girl for a couple of years and isn't sure if she is "the one." I told him in my case, I just knew and everyday we are together, I am just more and more convinced of it. I know that my past helped make me the person I am today, and I want Amy in my present and future...

Working from home today...

First, let me get out there and say it - I LOVE working from home. Prior to fleeing, er - leaving, ClientLogic, I worked from home more days than I actually went into the office. It was just easier. I had no real reason to be there. I was more productive at home and I didn't have to worry about finding a matching shirt-khaki combination. Pretty nice gig if you can get it.

However, working from home does create it's own source of challenges. First, other people have a hard time believing that you are actually working. With all the potential distractions folks often assume you are sitting on the couch watching TV. Along with this, people often don't believe you when you say you need to be at work by a certain time. Now in this, I need to be a little more flexible - just ask Amy. I wanted to be up and working by about 7:30. However, both of us overslept and we haven't worked out a decent morning system yet. The process gaps were glaring this morning. And while I love my cats, they are occasionally a distraction. Either walking across the keyboard, sitting on my hands, purring into the phone during a conference call or digging their claws into me at inopportune times.

In the end, it takes the same, if not more discipline to work from home, but I'll take it over going into the office any day...

New places, same faces

So I had my ClientLogic going away party on Friday. The funniest part of the whole evening was that there were more former ClientLogic folks there than current ClientLogic employees. Add to that, I got calls from several former ClientLogic employees to see what the deal was. Add to this that my new boss is a former ClientLogic employee, it makes for a nice little fraternity.

The evening was a lot of fun, and there was even cake, which was cool.

My first day was a long one - day trip to corporate. Not too bad though. Just trying to get up to speed.

That's all for now. I know it's boring. I promise - my bloggings will get better...