Friday, April 17, 2009

Jetsettin'

It's been a few months since I took my new job. I've spent the time working on-site for one of our clients. It has been a good experience for me. The company is quite large -- we were drawn a small part of our org chart one time and it took up the entire wall. Based on what I've heard, I should be working for this client for a while to come.

I guess they have been pretty happy with my performance. My keen senses have picked up on that when they frankly told me so. They have assigned me to be the lead programmer for the upcoming project (which is based on the one I've been working on thus far). Then this week they asked me to travel out-of-state for two days to meet and work with the other departments we work with.

All in all, I am very excited about it. I'm glad that I've been able to earn their trust and demonstrate my ability. This kind of work isn't my #1 favorite -- I'm not actually writing or designing code -- but I'm doing my best at it. When I switched jobs a little while back, one of the main reasons I did it was to increase the breadth and depth of my experience. I think it is working.

The biggest drawback of it all is that I'll be away from my sweetheart. I suppose that these two days will give us a taste of what her upcoming Science Fair trip will be like. Separation-wise, that is.

I'll miss you while I'm gone sweetie!

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

STOP!

Yesterday morning after I dropped my wife off at work, I ran a stop sign.

I didn't mean to... I was just distracted somehow. Or maybe I didn't notice the sign (although I have driven on that road many times and should know by now that a sign is there.)

It freaked me out. Especially since it was a 2-way stop crossing a busy road. And just as I realized I had done it, I saw a police car up ahead on the other side of the road. Apparently he didn't notice my crime, because he just drove on by casually.

Everything turned out fine, I suppose. I wasn't pulled over. Even better, I wasn't in an accident. But I couldn't help thinking about how easily I could have been in trouble. The last thing I need is to be paying for causing a wreck.

Overall, I think I'm a pretty good driver. I try to be observant and obey the traffic laws. But this incident caused me to wonder how often I'm not paying attention while driving. It also gave me pause to consider that maybe the stupid drivers I often see on the road aren't really stupid after all. Perhaps they are just having a lapse of attention. Perhaps.