communication breakdown

O Happy Day

Wow - today was a really good day. I had my (first) yearly performance review a month ago, and despite the excellent evaluation I received, I still hadn't heard anything about a salary increase. I had a scheduled one-on-one with my manager today, and I was going to mention something to her about it in case it had slipped through the cracks. Anyways, at our meeting I found out that no one had forgotten, it just took some time to get everything processed. The results were way more than anything I could have expected. At first, she showed me the raise that resulted from my evaluation, which I thought was acceptable. However, she also told me that I was being promoted to Software Engineer! Along with that came another raise (bigger than the first) - all in all, it was over a 15% jump in base salary! Needless to say, I was speechless...

I'm extremely excited about the promotion. It makes me all the more satisfied with the job I've done this past year, and shows me that the organizational managers have taken notice. There's nothing more frustrating than working somewhere that you get ignored or overlooked, and I know that doesn't happen at Medtronic - it might be challenging to move up, but no one can say they don't take care of their employees. I'm also glad the bar has been set higher, because frankly I felt I wasn't being challenged by being considered an "Associate". Now I am expected to be able to work independently, which I do regardless, but I like the fact that I will be challenged and asked to do more. My manager has great faith in me and is always looking for opportunities which can help me grow. I'm definitely looking forward to stepping up and making even more of a difference in the coming year...

After work several of us went out to play some tennis for several hours. The good news there is that I think, at least for the most part, I've moved past this whole back pain ordeal. I've played many hours of tennis in the last week, and I even went to TaeKwon-Do last night, all without any back pain. Admittedly, the TKD class last night was very light, and I'm still a little afraid to do some of the hardcore aerial kicks and stuff, but we'll see how it goes.

Back to tennis though - I've often wondered what it is about that sport that captivates me so completely. I could play or watch it all day long and be fully satisfied. It's not like I've got tremendous talent - ask anyone who has ever played me and they'll tell you that I'm extremely average. But I just love it, everything about it. I love football, basketball, and several other sports - but none of them compare at all. I love the individuality of the sport - one on one, no excuses, no one else to lean on, nothing but your own personl best. I love the feel of the racquet in my hand. I love the sound the ball makes when it bounces. I love to hit passing shots on people who come into the net. I love to hit forehand topspin cross-court winners. The list goes on and on. As a kid I used to go into our backyard, just me, my racquet, and the side of the house. For countless hours on end I would hit the ball against that stucco wall (which isn't easy by the way), imaginging I was playing for real. If I could do it all over again and be anyone I wanted to be, I would want to be a professional tennis player - and just once, to be on Centre Court, Wimbledon, playing for the championship. It's a far cry from what I do now, but they don't call them pipe dreams for nothing...

In my last post I spoke (at length) about ARGs and some of the new "immersive fiction" games starting up. One of them is tentatively called "The Haunted Apiary", and the only site we know (so far) that is part of the game is www.ilovebees.com. Well, some of the game-players today found out that this site is mentioned in the recently-released trailer for the new video game Halo 2! Under the Xbox symbol, in very small letters, you can see the URL - here's a screen capture:

What does this mean, you say? Well, it means big things - if this site is mentioned in some other random trailer, it means that either the company producing the video game, or the company marketing it (Microsoft) has some financial stake in this new ARG. As I mentioned before, Microsoft bankrolled the game based on the movie AI, and it was the best ARG ever - so here's hoping the funding is in place for this new one, and we're about to have a similarly amazing experience! There's plenty of time to join in still - one of the beautiful things about ARGs is you can start when you want, play as little or much as you want - it's all up to you. Again, check out unfiction for more info...

A couple of other random thoughts:

- Tour de France: Lance, I salute you, a great American hero. I needn't say more.

- Quizno's is the best sub/sandwich chain ever. And no, this is not up for discussion or debate.

- 2 great CD's I heard this week:
1. "The Darkness", famous for that song/video "I Believe in a Thing Called Love". These guys are amazing and hilaroius at the same time.
2. "Velvet Revolver, which is one-quarter STP (Scott Weiland) and three-quarters Guns N' Roses. Excellent debut.

- What's up with these people in the Phillipines? When it comes to dealing with terror, the steps are very, very simple:

1. Terrorists make threats on innocents unless demands are met by Country.
2. Country ignores Terrorists.
3. Terrorists either have their bluff called and release innocents, or kill innnocents, but quickly realize that they didn't profit by the situation and start looking for other strategies.

Now - time for a lesson in cause vs. effect. We change #2 - see what happens:

1. Terrorists make threats on innocents unless demands are met by Country
2. Country meets Terrorist demands.
3. Terrorists either kill innocents anyway, or release them. Either way, they realize that the strategy is profitable and start doing it even more.

Come on people, there are three certainties in life: death, taxes, and not negotiating with terrorists. These guys capture a single Filipino hostage and demand that the country's troops are pulled out, and their people take to the streets, demanding immediate withdrawal! And if that wasn't bad enough, the administration agrees and pulls out their troops early! All this does is put all of us at more risk. Americans sure know how to be stupid, but we also appear to be the only ones capable of rational thought at the moment as well...

Posted by sdishman at July 22, 2004 10:30 PM

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