It's been a quiet week. Getting to know the new boss.

The husband and I have been a little under the weather with a cold that's going around.

I had a private lunch with the old boss. He chewed over what happened-- where he went wrong, and why he didn't put two and two together.

Some of this applies to me.

Our boss's boss believes in an "Up or Out" style of organization. No one should stay put in their job for years. There is either a line-of-sight to promotion, or you are being managed out.

There are a couple of people on my team who are long length in level. They are not doing a bad job, but they are not growing. No line-of-site to their promotion. My boss's boss is wondering why I'm not either managing them out, or coaching them to shine.

I must make one or the other happen. Sooner rather than later, or I am not doing my job.

The other problem is that I too am long length in level. The boss's boss thinks I may be plateaued. Eventually the same evaluation will apply to me.

The husband has been traveling for a week. I've been dealing with work and taking care of the pets.

Monday, I left a bag of pepperoni sticks on the kitchen counter. The dog ate half of them and got very sick. When I came home from work, our house smelt bad. The dog had diarrhea on the floor. Thankfully, the dog didn't shit on the carpet. She chose a room with a tiled floor that has the kitty litter box.

I spent hours cleaning up and trying to get rid of the smell. I could just imagine how the husband would react should the place smell like shit when he returns home.

Monday overnight I walked the dog every hour or two.

Tuesday, I had the dog walker walk her extra.

Tuesday night I walked the dog every two or three hours.

Wednesday morning I was exhausted. Fortunately, the dog started to go back to normal.

The husband returns home tonight. I hope the smell is gone and that I just haven't got used to it.

We had drinks with the ex-Boss. He said his boss told him the same story that I had been told-- that his position had been up leveled. That he was no longer qualified for the job.

Even for him it happened quickly. He walked into his regular meeting with his boss. HR was there. They had the talk. He was told he could have the rest of the day off. No prior warning. No recourse.

One of my coworkers has been working the grapevine for reviews on the new boss. So far the gossip is good.

And just like that, my old boss is out. It's shocking really. 

The offical story is that his position was upleveled. That our devisions business is growing with such importantce that we need a revolutionary step forward in leadership. That we don't have time to allow the old leader to grow.

I've met the new boss. He is open and curious  He fully admits to not being part of the decision process, and doesn't know what really transpired.

First, my boss suddenly left for the day. He canceled his appointments for tomorrow.

Second, HR and my boss's boss schedule.a short meeting with my boss's directs. first thing tomorrow morning.

Third, my boss schedules after work drinks with his directs tomorrow evening.

 

BD has been an acquaintance of the husband for years. They have known each other through the rooms of AA. They have worked on a few events together. BD retired a month ago and was planning much travel.

Then BD developed indigestion that that wouldn't go away. He went to the doctor. After much scanning BD discovered that he had pancreatic cancer.

He has about six months to live.

BD is sorting though his life now. His old sponsor has moved back to Seattle to help take care.

We will stay in touch as BD concludes his journey.  

The value of life changes so much when you learn you have limited time.

The new job is not to happen. I got the call from them today. The HR rep said they were looking for someone with a little strong management experience. A little stronger technically.

It smarts.

Having said that, the company released very bad news today. Perhaps this is a blessing in disguise.

Fall is here. It transitioned very quickly. One week we were complaining about the heat and the smoke. The next it's cool and rainy. Seattle normal.

I had the job interview last week. Last Friday. I think it went very well. 

It was a grueling process. Six interviews over the course of the day.

The recruiter warned me before the interview that the deliberations will take time. One week for me to hear their early thoughts. Two weeks before the specifics of an offer.

The husband is away in New Orleans for a week. He is there for work. 

His employeer just announced that there will be a reorg with layoffs. He is anxious over that. He'll land on his feet. Even if he doesn't, it's not like my job doesn't pay enough for both our bills. He doesn't like to rely on that though. He is competative, income wise. 

I appreciate that.

We spent a long weekend on the Olympic Peninsula with an old friend of the husband’s. It rained all the time. Such is life a rain forest. In fact, they get over ten feet of rain in a year.

We toured the four National Park Lodges. I’m very surprised with how nice they are.

We hiked a bit. Saw a few of the largest trees in the world. Spent an afternoon playing cards and watching storms over the ocean. Soaked in the Sol Duc hot springs. Ate good food. Lovely.

We have been talking it easy this labor day weekend, this last weekend of summer. The weather is no longer hot. The smoke has gone away.

We've had dinner with a few friend and gone on a couple of hikes.

At work... I'm contemplating a change of jobs. I have an interview with a different company.

I've worked for my current company for over twenty years. Now, I'm questioning what I want from the last fifteen years of my career. I am in a very competitive position. Do I want to keep pushing here until I retire? If I switched to the other company, there would be more money. It is also a younger company. They are looking for managers with my experience. Or so they say.

So much haze from the forest fires. All day the sun is twilight red. The sky is gray. Cars parked outside get a dusting of ash. 

The air is thick with the smoke from the forest fires. You can see the haze with in feet

We went to an gay mens AA retreat this weekend. We have been to this retreat before. It's  worth attending just to stay at the lodge.

I ran into a very old acquaintance. Twenty-three years ago he was my boss at a small company in Toronto. We lost touch with each other years back, but there he was. It was great to hear from him again and to learn his story of recovery.

At the end of the weekend, the husband and I gave the acquaintance our numbers. We'd both love to stay in touch. Maybe have dinner with him. The acquaintance put our numbers in a swag bag, then packed his stuff into his car, leaving the swag bag behind.

Well... at least the acquaintance knows our mutual friends. We'll  see if he reaches out. 

We went to Erasure the other night. I haven't been to a concert in years. I bought the tickets months ago for the husbands birthday. I spent a small fortune on mediocre tickets.

The husband really loves Erasure.

Erasure did put on a good show. The theater, however, had no air conditioning. During the day Seattle hit 90F. I don't know how hot it was inside the theater with hundreds of people and not air flow.

We left two thirds of the way though because of the heat.

When the husband found out how much I spent on the tickets he said he was very thankful for the gift, but next time let's make this a 'we' decision. 

We are in Coeur d'Alene Idaho for the weekend. The husband is working. The dog and I tagged along. 

This place is nice. There are good parks that the dog and i will explore soon.

Last January, the sponsee crashed at our place after getting kicked out of his house and spending all his money on meth and gambling. We checked him into a six month program at Salvation Army. About half way though his treatment he cut off contact with us. We are not sure why.

He is out now. We hear he has a job at the SA.

For over a month I've been waking up around five am no matter the time I go to bed. It may be the light. It may be the road noise. Who knows.

I've stopped fighting it. I now go to bed at nine pm.

The two extra hours in the morning are changing my life. I never used to do much after nine pm-- watch TV, relax. With the extra time in the morning I exercise, read more and plan for the day.

We are back. It was a fun, but full week.

After spending time with my brothers and parents we had dinner with a few cousins.

I haven't talked to these cousins in years, but we had a great time together. Since I live far away from my cousins, I've never had to tell them I was gay. It was easy for me to avoid them. This is changing with Steven. Steven is friends with everyone and wants to meet my family.

For the most part, I think my cousins couldn't care less that I'm gay. Steven noticed that they didn't ask deeper relationship questions, like how we met. I'm giving them a pass on that. We haven't talked in 20 years. You have to save some conversation for the next time we meet.

We spent a day and a half in Kingston. It's a beautiful older city-- two hundred and fifty years old. It has an old fort built for the War of 1812. The fort is well preserved and has reenactments of 250 year old military operations.

Then we went on to Toronto and caught up with my old college friends. We spent Friday at Wonderland-- an amusement and water park. It was a lot of fun but exhausting.

Saturday night we had a large get together BBQ. 

Many of my Ontario friends have kids who are now turning 18 or 19 and are close to leaving home. Some of the kids are up to the challenge. They are excited about taking on the world. Some still haven't figured out what they want to do. They have problems keeping commitments. This is stressing some of my friends out.

My cousin's kids are a great example. Their daughter is excited about being an event planner. She wants to make things happen and works hard to succeed. She is planning a summer festival for their city and loves challenge.

My cousin's son on the other hand isn't sure what he wants to do, so he's got a part time job mowing grass for the city. He'll use the time to figure things out-- or so my cousins hope.

The husband and I are up near Ottawa visiting my family. Both by brothers and their kids are in town.

Until this trip, I've visited my parents rather tactically-- get in, spend a few days, leave.  I've never explored the place since I moved away 30 years ago.

I didn't have fond memories of my home town. It wasn't a bad place. It wasn't my place. Now that I'm playing tour guide to the husband, I see it through different eyes.

There are many small lakes with small beaches. The water is very swimmable. This is a big contrast t to Seattle where there are few large beaches and the water is on the cold side.

The rivers and the rapids are sight to behold. We spent an afternoon walking along some of the larger rapids.

The local cuisine is based on fries and gravy. There are fry trucks everywhere. Each selling their own variation of poutine. At restaurants you can order sandwiches "hot"-- with gravy. So a hot hamburger sandwich is a hamburger patty, between two slices of bread, smothered with gravy. It will come with a side of fries and gravy of course.

It's good to spend time with my brothers and their wives and kids. When I travel here alone, I feel obligated to spend a lot of time with my parents. There is no break. With the whole family around, it's easy to move from room to room, from conversation to conversation. Spend a little time with some of the wives, then chat with my parents, then chat with a brother, then hang out with the kids who will ignore me why they listen to music or play games.

Both my brothers have lippy know-it-all moments. I wonder where that came from. I wonder how much that is in me.

At the end of the day, I'm really enjoying myself here.

Last Sunday was our one year wedding anniversary. To celebrate, we had a great dinner at the Columbia Tower.

Here is to many years to come!