Wednesday Morning

It's a lovely Wednesday morning in Connecticut. Well, actually it's not, but what the heck, I can always pretend, right?

Anyway, I am working on day 3 of 3 days of quarterly staff meetings. We do this at work four times a year, rotating between 3 of our 4 major offices. The December meeting is always held in Hartford, as that's where most of the staff in my part of the company work, so the travel burden is, by and large less for the group. That's not to say that travel isn't an issue for those of us who are not from Connecticut, as I'm sure I'll be white-knuckling it during the drive home today. The good news is that we are supposed to be leaving by around 2pm, which means that I should be back around 5:30pm-ish.

These meetings are an interesting mix of pomp, circumstance and useful information. Especially in December, you do learn alot about the direction the company is taking over the next year (this is something that changes...much to my shegrin...every year) as well as hearing how the company is viewing its overall performance for the year...that drives things like raises (which I probably will not get) and bonsues (which I think I'll get, but I expect it to be less than last year). I don't really sweat the money or the performance rating stuff; it's not that I don't care, but rather I've always tried to keep my own personal standards at a level that is higher than what the company expects; this way, if I am satisfying myself, then I'm satisfying the company as well. Now sometimes it doesn't work that way. More times I could could I've had years where I thought I did great, only to get an average review; other years I've had an average year but for some reason the company thinks I did spectacular work. It would be so very confusing, if it were not for the fact that this is a very human process.

So there you have it, my Wednesday morning view. Now I have to go to a breakfast meeting. Damn, that sounds far more important than it actually is, and besides, who the hell would want to eat breakfast with me anyway?