A Week to Remember
February 1st, 2008
This is, without a doubt, the best week I’ve had so far this year. Somewhere between the muscle soreness, the celebrations, the accomplishments and the random positive things sliding across my desk it all just glommed into one big ball of slightly manic awesomeness, and now as I sit here at the end of it I’m allowing myself a well-deserved pint to toast a life well lived.
“Life well lived”… that really is the goal, isn’t it. It’s all well and good to accomplish goals and acquire assets that match with some socially acceptable norm, but when in the end you look back and realize you were miserable trying to achieve all that you can’t exactly say it’s time well spent, can you? No, this week has been proof positive that for me I not only love reaching my destination, but that the journey on the way there is taken in a way that makes it all worthwhile. The goal is merely the capstone to an amazing experience, and while I do work hard I do so because I want to, rather than a misplaced sense of martyrdom.
So lets recap, shall we?
Saturday I went to see the Floorwalkers with a bunch of people whom I barely know but whose company I really enjoyed. The sound mixing could have used some more vocals, but Crystal’s recommendation was right on. Rumba, Swing, general Rock and a couple of Blues numbers that… well, lets just say a talking guitar is much, much, MUCH better live.
Sunday I ran a practice 10K, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday I ran a 5K each, and I’m well on track for pushing up to 7 miles in two weeks. The weather’s starting to improve, and it looks like early March I’ll be able to start skipping the gym entirely in favor of running to work.
Monday night I was privileged to DJ a Balboa practice session. I know I must have seemed a little weird since I didn’t actually dance, but with my presentation to the AUG the next day due I had to get work done, and I took the time to get a little more comfortable around the members of the swing crowd.
Tuesday I hosted the first of hopefully many spectacular Presentation Nights for the Adobe Users Group. There were a few missteps like the lack of a DVI to VGA converter and the coincidental BlueJackets game (may they forever lose to the Penguins), however overall it was a really good event. Wes, Phong and Chip made an excellent set of presenters, and the material was of such high quality that I was blown away. Additionally, I managed to get the AUG into a special RIA Promotional Event whose signup date had already passed.
Wednesday I had a spectacular work meeting which I think went really well. If I’m right about that, then I’m about to give a good third (or more) of our company yet another way of achieving their potential. If not… well, I bounce back faster than a superball, so I’ll just move on to the next challenge.
Wednesday and Thursday I had my Ballroom lessons, both of which I nailed. We covered Tango, Foxtrot and Waltz, and while I’m still an intermediate bronze I’ve reached the level where we’re making fine tune adjustments rather than drilling overall technique. There are the chronic habits I still have to break (and without a consistent partner that’ll take a bit longer), yet as long as I stay mentally present rather than let muscle-memory take over I can keep those under control. I tend to raise my right shoulder, and I still have trouble leading from the hip on a heel lead. Plus my posture can always use work.
Thursday night I also caught up on my Tivo, taking some well-deserved relaxation time.
And then today happened, which was Resource Interactive’s annual meeting. I’ve only been working here for 5 months, and… alright, this might be a little hard to describe, but many of you might get this (especially those at Google and/or Bethesda). Imagine yourself sitting in a theater, and spectacular work is being played across in front of you, and you are increasingly intimidated by the crazy amazing stuff that’s being displayed. Like, crazy amazing stuff. You’re thinking: “Damn, if that’s what’s out there, how am I ever going to measure up,” and you slowly slide into a little pit of self doubt and defeatism…
…and then your teams’ project is displayed. On par. With everything else. Crazy Amazing.
Can you imagine how that feels? Can you imagine how in love I am with my team right now? With my work? With my Company? Can you imagine how grateful I am that the Mortgage Industry’s implosion left me looking for work when they were hiring? How glad I am that I didn’t move to Boston? That I insisted on an in-person interview rather than take the consulting offer, and that I trusted my gut enough to accept a full-time position rather than take the much higher paycheck from the contracting firm?
So yeah. Best week so far. Now, lets trump it, shall we? Next week I’m starting a 4-week Argentine Tango class, the Randy’s are playing tomorrow night, I’d like to release two libraries I’ve been working on for a few weeks now, and maybe get some of these blog drafts finished (stay tuned for a slew of updates). And if that doesn’t happen… well, there’s always another week 
.
Though, I should probably do laundry.
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