Me, News

Dead blog

I haven’t posted on here lately. I’m sorry I’m being such a slacker. But I’ve been on other social media: Facebook, Twitter, Discord, etc. So yeah, I’m around, just not on here. LOL. Feel free to look at my other links (if they still work). You can also see what I’ve been reading lately.

Blah, Me, News, Ponderisms, SharePoint, Technology, Work Drama

Lately, I’ve Been

It’s been a while since I posted anything here. I’m more active in sharing tidbits of thoughts in Twitter, or sharing some funny or thought-provoking pictures/posts in Facebook. If I post a picture up, it will usually be through Instagram (then fed through my Twitter feed) for insta-memorable moments, or Facebook for full-on albums.

Things I’ve been posting here lately are cool technology or interesting gadgets. I’m such a gadget whore. I can’t get enough of it. Thankfully, though, I’ve been keeping myself in check in not getting overboard (but oops! guilty: recently backed this).

However, I figured I should post more here. It would be a waste if I didn’t do anything with this site much, right?

I guess I can start with what’s been happening lately. You probably remember about my promotion last year in July. It’s been going steadily, though our application still hasn’t gone live company-wide. Lots of assessments, tweaks, and the three major reasons: compliance, governance, and budget. I learned these three big words from working on one single application to implement (another big word for me) for the whole company. This is a big deal, though. Such a huge undertaking to be had. This will change the whole company’s thought processes on how we collaborate and work. I’m even praying that I will be able to work from home full-time. Maybe.

So I’m doing all these meetings, doing all these testing, doing work, and everything. Right? Busy? Yes, sometimes. There is, of course, a lull once in a while right now because we are still in the planning process. However, my boss (manager) doesn’t think I’m doing enough. I don’t “have enough drive”. I’m not doing as much as my counterpart (there are two of us in the team) does.

What does he know? My co-worker has 8 years of experience in this. I have only 6 months experience in a product that was only introduced to me in passing due to issues of it when I was in customer support.

What does he know? He tells me he’s helping me get my foot in the door. Okay, so he did get my foot in the door, but c’mon now, give me some slack. I’m still learning. Heck, I don’t even have formal training in this. Send me somewhere where I can get validated.

I’m not aggressive. I do the work on what I’m handed to do. I accomplish things. I’m not just slacking off and doing nothing. I just do my job too fast.

Another thing there: too fast. I came from a world of customer support in the IT world, where “fast” is always the go-to thing we have to do to help the customer. I’m not used to wait-a-week-or-so-before-you-finish regimen when I can do it in less than five minutes. My philosophy was always “Work first, play later.” and from my husband, “Why let someone else do it, when you can do it yourself.”

I do things fast when I know I can do it that fast. It’s just to hard to go slow. But I have to do it. I have to be PC (politically correct), too. I can’t step on anyone’s toes. I have to wait for someone else to do what I could probably do. It’s hard, and it’s quite an adjustment, but I have to — no, will — do it. I’m just going to have to grit my teeth and bear it.

I do admit, there is a lesson on easing off on projects and waiting for a while. I’ve learned a few hard lessons on that, actually. So, it does pay off, and I won’t get my ass handed to me. I just have to slow down…and be zen.

I guess this post turned into a work rant. Heh. Sorry for the rant, just needed to get it off my chest. I feel a bit better now. I’ll just stop now and go back to work.

 

Microsoft, News, Reads, Technology

Office 2016 Is Here!

Today is the worldwide release of Office 2016 for Windows. This marks a milestone in delivering new value for Office 365 subscribers with a focus on collaboration, apps that work for you, a perfect pairing with Windows 10, and security features businesses will love. It also marks a new model for delivery, where subscribers can expect to get more frequent updates with new features and improvements. Along with Office 2016…

Source: The new Office is here – Office Blogs

Adventure!, Creating, Family, Me, News, Technology

So Far…

It’s been a busy couple of months, and the real busy stuff hasn’t even started yet. I’ve been learning a lot about SharePoint. My new teammate has given me a lot of good pointers. And would you believe she has the same birthday as I do? No wonder we get along so well. I’m so grateful I was involved in the hiring process, otherwise I wouldn’t know who I would be partnering with.

In the next three weeks, I will be in meetings all day, planning to get SharePoint implemented in our company. This will be my first time experiencing the pre-planning part of an application that is not live yet. I’m usually at the support end of the application to help the end users, but never at the beginning of a project. This will certainly be an adventure!

In other news, the kids had an easy transition of going back to school. Since I have been getting them to go to sleep early and wake up early during the summer, they didn’t have any trouble. It’s because of my new hours and also the kids had day summer camps all summer. I was happy to learn both L1 and L2 are in GT (Gifted and Talented) classes this year. Yay! I got smart kids. Hope they can keep it up!

This upcoming Labor Day holiday will be the first in a long time I will experience being off on an actual federal holiday. I’m usually working on the holidays when it’s my work schedule. The only downside is that hubby will probably be working that day. Ah well, at least I’ll get to spend time with the kiddos.

That’s it for now. Usually at this time of the day, I am a zombie. Toodles!

Adventure!, Creating, Me, News

New Changes

Yesterday was the start of something new for me at work. A couple of weeks ago, my manager had approached me with a possibility of a new position in his team. This meant leaving the customer support area: not answering phones, troubleshooting issues for numerous applications, etc. It also changes my whole work schedule. I used to work weekends/evenings, but now I will be working weekdays from 9-5. I’m still in transition this week, and then hopefully we’ll start to do more around mid-July.

The new position? SharePoint System Administrator. What is SharePoint? My understanding is that it’s like a hub a company needs for collaboration of documents, calendars, emails, etc. in one place. Here’s a video of SharePoint in Plain English. I will hopefully get in some training in the next few months.

So, the next couple of weeks were busy. I participated in interviewing some candidates that will be my partner(s) for the team. All of the candidates were good; they had great credentials and would prove to be a valuable asset to the team. However, we could only choose two, and we finally started the hiring process for the ones we chose.

It’s been very exciting so far. A really big adjustment (I’m not a morning person), but I’m looking forward to a new adventure!

Adventure!, Are You Serious?!, Blah, Me, News, Random

Shave of the Year

Shaved 4/3/14, with the help of hubby.
Shaved 4/3/14, with the help of hubby.

Well, here I am, telling you why I shaved my head. When I posted something on my Twitter/FB feed a while back, most people have responded with shock and surprise, and asked questions like, “Why did you do that?!” or “What on earth made you think to shave your hair?!”

I can answer with two words: “Why not?”

I’m not as crazy as what Britney Spears did back in 2007, nor am I going to defend it as in observance to breast cancer awareness or even say it is for Kid’s Cancer Buzz Off fundraising. I must admit, though, that I have made that same excuse about the breast cancer awareness thing, and I was planning to do the buzz off event (which isn’t until May 4th), but I didn’t want to give a false impression or even insult those that have actually done the deed for their cause, and I had no time to do the actual fundraising for the buzz off (though I might try it next year if they are having one, and I would be better prepared).

My pixie-style wig. I've been getting some nice compliments on this one. :)
My pixie-style wig. I’ve been getting some nice compliments on this one. :)

Why did I do it? Number of reasons (excuses?). I’ve been complaining of the summer heat (years ago) that I want to shave my hair off. I’ve been wanting to shave it for the sake of getting the thinness of the hair thicker as it grows back. I wanted to see if I had any bald spots, because of the same thinness of my hair. I wanted to see what the shape of my head looks like. I wanted to see what I looked like with  no hair. I just wanted to do it, that’s all.

Many may say, “..but all that hair…”, but I’m reassured my hair will grow back, as it has been a couple of weeks already and my hair has grown almost half an inch. My mother told me hair grows an inch a month, so maybe in 6 months or hopefully less than that, my hair will be back to a decent length.

Bob-style wig, but I think it makes me look like Edna Mode from The Incredibles animated movie.
Bob-style wig, but I think it makes me look like Edna Mode from The Incredibles animated movie.

Don’t worry, I have a couple of wigs to use, a bob style and a very short pixie style. My loving husband actually helped me shave my head before I shaved his for his monthly haircut. He really liked my how my shaved head looked and would rather I not use a wig at all.

Of course, I don’t want to shock many people so I use my pixie-cut wig at work on weekdays. I also use a little cap to cover up if I don’t feel like wearing the wig.

There you have it. I hope this explains why I did what I did. I just wanted to. And for the adventure of it! *winks*