Picture of the Week - 4/9/2020

I think we are on day 28 of the quarantine/social distancing/wierdness of 2020

That's 4 weeks.  

The governor of Georgia just extended our "shelter in place" until the end of April.  This week was spring break for the boys.  Next week I was supposed to take Spencer to Virginia Military Academy for a wrestling camp and college visit.  I got an email from work yesterday letting us know that they have deactivated all our security badges - meaning we can't go back into the office even if we wanted to.  Weird and disconcerting times for sure.

So before all of this stuff happened Bob and I had recommitted to church.  We actually did that before I got laid off and it was honestly one of the best things for my mental well-being during that situation.  Literally weeks before Covid hit we both signed up to participate in small groups.  I've never done anything like that before.  It was well outside my comfort zone...  

And yet, I felt so compelled to do it.  It felt like something I needed.  

The messages we have heard from our church - and the conversations I've had with a group of women who started as strangers in my small group have lead to some additional things.  I've ordered books based on their recommendations.  I've listened to music and podcasts that wouldn't have caught my attention in the past.  I am more spiritually aware now than I have ever been.  It's strange for me to think of it as an awakening, but it's certainly new information that I have learned and has taught me to look at other things differently.  You can label that whatever you want...

All of these things - along with an overhaul of my social media feeds to get rid of people and places that spewed unhelpful, depressing drivel and replace with uplifting, inspirational, and HAPPY - have lead me to some thoughts and beliefs about what's going on with the Coronavirus - and what I should do about it.  I don't know if my approach is the right one for everyone, but I hope it causes anyone who reads this to at least pause and consider.

Because pausing and contemplating is what God wants us to be doing right now.  We have literally been forced to throw plans out the window.  We are riding out these days with our families.  We have had to really prioritize what is important.  

And that's what I have done - started to focus more on what I believe will bring me growth and comfort and happiness.  I've cherished the 28 straight days of family around the dinner table.  I've recognized - and shared - how blessed I am to get to do life with my best friend.  I've noticed how each of my boys has dealt with this and I understand them better than ever before.  I'm so grateful to watch the relationships between brothers grow and thrive.  (Temporary, often daily, spats aside)

None of the above needed a packed schedule full of activities.  It DID need human interaction and connection.  Mother Teresa has a quote that I've always loved and it couldn't be more relevant than it is today.  She said, "If you want to change the world, go home and love your family."  Maybe, just maybe, humanity needed a reminder to slow down and love.  Maybe, just maybe that reminder came from God and the end-result, despite what the main stream media says and what happens in the stock market, is going to be just what we all needed.

Hope hasn't been cancelled.  

Love hasn't been cancelled.

Gratitude hasn't been cancelled.

Faith is alive.

I am at peace with the Quarantine of 2020.

PS - this doesn't mean I don't have bad days, outbursts of frustration, boredom, etc.  I get mad.  I get sad.  I have eaten too many Cheezits.  I am not all rose-colored glasses and Pollyanna viewpoints.  I regularly need to remind myself how I WANT TO think about this just situation.  I have to be intentional.  It's not an accidental perspective because as human's we are FAR more likely to fall into "gloom and doom" thought than to choose to be positive.  It's innate - it's science.  If you don't believe me, spend a few hours on the internet looking at study after study after study digging into the biology/chemistry/neuropsychology of happiness.  

Here's a picture of Beckett chilling in the living room at some point on some day recently - they really do blur together a bit.  He had his dogs.  He was fed, safe, protected and happy.  We all are.  And that is worth stopping to offer up some praise, don't you think?

Take care as we move through what many people are saying will be the peak of this disease.  Stay safe.  Stay sane.  And my hope for you is that you can choose to be intentional about what you will walk away from Covid-19 having learned/felt/decided.  

Have a very happy Easter everyone!  It's going to be one we will never forget.  Make it a great day!

Picture of the Week - 12/19/2019

Next week is Christmas!!!  Who's excited???  I can't wait!

This is the first year in a really long time that I haven't had an extended break/vacation around Christmas/New Year.  It dawns on me that I haven't shared a job-related update with the POTW since I announced that I had lost my old job.  So here's the update...  I got a new job.  :)

While I continue to be bothered (really hurt is probably a better word) about how things ended at Craneware, I really couldn't have asked for a better exit strategy from the situation there than what ended up happening.  It really was (and continues to be) an answered prayer.  

The job hunt is not fun for me.  I'm sure there are personality types out there who love the thrill of the hunt.  They do it without tying too much of the process to themselves and are probably healthier than I am (mentally) because of it.  For me, the uncertainty of not knowing what was going to happen was just awful.  I hated it.  I hated it a lot!

Looking at the situation from the outside, it's probably hard to understand why I hated going through it.  We were not in financial trouble.  The job search net I threw out was very small (and I could certainly have widened it if/when needed.)  And while every encounter didn't result in a positive outcome, the VAST majority of activities I completed during the job hunt ended in success.  I honestly really only had one result that was really disappointing to me - and in hindsight even that was exactly what needed to happen.  And during all of this, I was not working and basically doing what I wanted - during the nicest part of the Atlanta weather-year.

I ended up with the first job I applied for - which is not the way these things normally go!  A bit of background...  going into the WAY BACK machine.

When Bob and I were first starting our careers (a good 20 years ago now - ouch) Bob landed at ADP and I went to work for a small 300 person .com company.  We both grew and matured and moved up in our organizations.  We joked a lot that the personality of a .com company (fast, loose, chaotic) fit Bob more than me and the conservative, stoic nature of a 60k employee company like ADP was really more aligned to my preferences.  It sorta become obvious about 3 years in (this is 17 years ago if you don't want to work the math out...) that someday I should try to get a job at ADP.  

And ADP jobs have been on my radar ever since.  It's just never really been the right time.  

I left Optio after 7+ years and went to work for a healthcare software company which set my career direction for years to come.  In the 5+ years I was there I learned how to be a product manager and grew a huge network of people.  From there I bounced a couple of times - sticking in the healthcare software niche.  The move to Craneware in 2015 was utilizing my network of colleagues, sticking close to home from a market perspective, and something that felt like it could be a good opportunity.  All of the companies I have worked for were small and all of them have had issues.  (Aside, ALLLLLLLL companies have problems...  I know there isn't a perfect work place out there!)  Little did I realize when I joined Craneware that in addition to providing me with some amazing opportunities to travel and learn and continue to build my professional network, I was also walking into a pretty toxic environment.  In a weird combination (clash) of people who grew that company from the ground up and newbies (outsiders?) like me who were trying to come in to help it succeed, an environment of blame and fear and politics flourished.  Clearly I didn't play well there - and so they wiped me out.  

And when they did, they presented me with the right time to go after a role at ADP.  Told ya it was an answered prayer.  :)

Here's the issue that I had to deal with through this situation...  ADP is BIG.  It's SLOW - particularly in HR.  And if there were ever a company where silos of people work side by side and don't know each other - it's here.  Bob, despite working for ADP for nearly 20 years, didn't have good contacts in the Product Management organization.  He reached out to a few people, but none of them were all that helpful.  I happened to have a former colleague that is now in product management at ADP and when I reached out to her to discuss the company, people, work, etc. she was more than forthcoming - but she wasn't at all helpful in getting my resume pushed forward.  So while I applied first to ADP, I didn't hear anything for a REALLY long time.  To be honest, I lost hope that I'd be able to get a foot in the door.  (Sidebar - never lose hope.)

The very day of my final interview/presentation for a job I ended up not getting (despite making it through like 5 rounds of interviews) I had a call with a woman who is now my boss.  To be honest, I was pretty sure I was going to get that other role and didn't really prep for the ADP screening discussion.  I don't actually even remember most of it.  

Fast forward a few days and I got rejected for the job I thought I was going to get and the next day got invited back for more interviews at ADP.  Things work out.  

I am now managing ADP's Talent Management solutions as part of the National Accounts team.  I have 3 solutions under me and work with a number of different teams.  I am literally just getting my feet wet here, but when I heard that there isn't a single person on my team that has a tenure of less than 5 years, I knew without a shadow of a doubt, that I made the right choice to join this group.  Employees don't stick around if they don't feel valued and this group has stuck around for a LONG time.  

I'm excited to see what the future brings.  I'm excited to be a part of the ADP team.  And it's SUPER weird (and awesome) that Bob is in my WORK Instant Messenger system!  

So it's a pretty good trade off to have this opportunity hitting right at the end of the year - which means no PTO time for me this year.  It's a small sacrifice to get the chance to (finally) work for this company that I've had my eye on for such a long time.  And it's a huge relief to have the ordeal of the last 3 months in the rear view mirror.  

Newsy stuff

- Spencer is off to TN this weekend for an individual tournament.  He and Bob are leaving tomorrow morning.  

- Quinn is wrestling in a JV Dual tomorrow night

- Zane and Beck are also wrestling tomorrow night in an individual tournament - it's a divide-and-conquer kinda day!

Sunday we have church and then a Christmas party at the wrestling gym and Monday evening starts the Christmas festivities.  I can't wait to celebrate Christmas this year!  We have SO VERY MUCH to be thankful for!

Thank you for all the love and support you have thrown our way this year (and all the years).  

Merry Christmas to all of you!!!