Hooray!

Today was a very good day.

It began this morning, where I happened upon some free tickets to a performance of a band I really like. Stars is a great Canadian band; Dave bought a CD of theirs some weeks ago, and it has not left our player since. I'm listening to them now, in fact. Anyhow, a colleague of mine was unable to make it to their concert tomorrow, so she offered up her tickets to whoever could use them. Luckily I was able to snag them!

So now, aside from being very excited for the concert tomorrow, I get to contemplate something sweet to do for my lovely friend. Perhaps something involving booze, flowers, or chocolate, or even some combination thereof. Hmm...

After that, I returned my attention to work. The good luck kept on happening -- I finally was able to make progress into some work that had been very hard to grasp. Then, a scary statistical problem came up that, when I solved it, turned out to be all bark and no bite. Phew!

Today was also the day of my skip-level meeting. Basically, that means an annual sit-down with your boss to discuss your career aspirations, etc. I had been a bit nervous about it, since a meeting like this requires me to be articulate... which, lately, has not been too reliable. I often stop midsentence and totally forget the word I need. And it's sometime been words like "spoon". (Karla: "I need... thing... to dig... food.") Or I say "oven" when I mean "fridge". Bad news, man. The last thing I need is to accidentally say "boogers" when I mean "median".

So with all this in mind, I sat down with my chief. Luckily, she's a cool, fun lady, and so our rapport put me at ease quite quickly. In sum, the meeting was a glowing success! Despite the difficulty of not really knowing my way around my survey yet, apparently I'm getting good reviews. Plus, the meeting generated some information that has helped me make a very important career decision. And lastly, we talked over a few issues I've encountered since coming back; her insight and experience brought what had been bothering me into sharp focus. What a valuable talk! I feel I've gained a lot of clarity because of it.

(And I think I went the whole meeting NOT saying "boogers" when I meant "median". Bonus!) ;-)

And, to top it all off, I came home to my beloved Dave cooking me steak for dinner.

Life is good.