communication breakdown

Pleasure and Pain

Well, I can breathe a sigh of relief. Thursday was my (first) yearly performance evaluation, and it went well. Really well, actually. To be honest, probably better than I deserved, but that's probably just my perfectionism kicking in. I'm thrilled that it went so well, but not just because it means I'll be getting some kind of salary merit increase (TBD until it gets approved soon). More important to me is that I'm being perceived as someone who does good work, and is a good team player. That's very important to me. It's in my nature to be a perfectionist and to leave a good impression on those who I interact with. It really gives me a strong sense of confidence to know that those I work with trust me and don't consider me to be just "the new grad", as is common at many other places. At the moment, I'm extremely happy with my "work life". Now, if I could only get Medtronic to pack up and move down to Atlanta...

In not-so-stellar news, my back is hurting. I was out playing tennis on Thursday, which was a good thing. In fact, I was playing really well, which is a very good thing, since I'm still trying to get back into the swing of things (no pun intended) after a long time without playing. However, about halfway through our time on court, I remember serving and something just didn't feel right. Slowly I started feeling a minor pain in my low back. Being stubborn as I am, I didn't consider it a big problem and figured it would go away. Well, it didn't. It didn't really get worse that night or on Friday, but on Saturday I showed up for TaeKwon-Do training and that was probably my dumbest move yet. I assumed that it was just tight, and that I could stretch it out and make it feel better. Well, after stretching it was hurting more than it had the last couple days, and then I started doing stuff like this:

and then it was hurting even worse. I guess I learned my lesson - don't be a hero when it comes to your back. I'm going to take it easy for a day or two and see if it improves. My main concern is losing a lot of training time, which I can't afford if I'm going to test in November.

I spent a ton of time this week watching Wimbledon, and it once again helped confirm how much I love my DVR. Not only can I record all 10 hours (or whatever) each day, but I can watch it at my leisure, and then fast-forward through the commercials and even past the down-time between points. "Wow, an amazing point - I'm going to watch that again". "Wow, this set is boring - I'm skipping ahead to the next one". Surely this is how God would watch TV if he wanted to.

In other work-related news, I was invited to join the Georgia Tech campus team for the upcoming year. I'll be part of a team of GT graduates that will help recruit new grads to come to Medtronic. I'm looking forward to the opportunity, not just because it will give me a chance to participate in GT-related events (such as career fairs), but also because I think I have a good perspective as a native Southerner who has braved the great North, and I hope I can help bring great minds to a great company. Speaking of GT, Medtronic has more of a GT flavor nowadays - it seems there's been several grads hired lately. All the other guys I work with just roll their eyes when they hear a GT grad has been hired, but we all know why: plain jealousy. Our kung-fu is the best, baby...

My lease is coming up for renewal soon and I've been tossing around the option of moving in with a co-worker who just bought a house. Though the location would be a little better, I don't think I can bring myself to do it - I remember a friend of mine told me right after I moved up here: "If you get an apartment by yourself, you'll never want a rommate again." I think she was right - I'm not sure I can give up the freedom of space and the level of cleanliness I'm used to (exception: marriage). I think I'm going to renew the lease for a year, and after that, who knows? At that point I might be ready to get a house of my own, or I might be ready to leave town and move back South. Only God knows what the future holds...