Birthday and Admirer Update

Only a couple weeks until I finish my MBA in International Management! My last MBA was in finance and it wasn’t of interest to me. I hope all of this education will pay off….My company pays for all education, books, tuition etc directly to the school of out choice. We can any degree program. Next I plan to learn Spanish and obtain my Project Management Certification. I’m hoping that I will be able to run large scale engineering projects in South America for a few years. (I am also a chemical engineer), but have to figure out how to use my law degree too. My International MBA cost the compnay 40K without books, and the Project Management Cert. will cost 15K. So I figure I have received over 100K in education! What a great benefit. I meet so many people that have been with the company 25 years and have not taken anything, not even a BS.

I had an awesome birthday weekend. My brother and Bryan got all of our friends together for a party at the Rosarito Beach Hotel (Rosarito Beach, MX) on Wednesday and Thursday. On Friday we had a live band and a party on my brother’s boat and cruised around the Newport Huntington beach area and my mom and other siblings joined in as well as some long-time friends. On Saturday we had a nice lobster dinner, after water skiing for the day. On Sunday we sailed out to Catalina Island and had lunch. All-in-all a great weekend and I received some nice gifts too. My brother gave me a nice gold Seiko Men's Kinetic Coutura Watch that never needs a battery, and the calendar is accurate through 2100 including leap years. Plus it’s water proof. So the perfect watch for me. Bryan bought me a cruise to Alaska (7 day), and my sister gave me the new red 8GB iPod nano. My mom gave me a trip for two to Hawaii (everyone thinks I need a vacation) and my other brother gave me a gift card for REI. Anyway lots of great stuff, and seeing everyone was great.

Update on my Secret Admirer…. I have tried to move my office and have been working out of an open office down the hall, but I had to rife 7 floors down the elevator with her on Friday……I had to pretend I didn’t know it was her and was pretty friendly but it was awkward to say the least. My group may be moving to another building.

My brother is here for about another week, so I will be spending as much time as I can with him. I plan to try to get away a couple weekends a month – either home to LA or just get away so I feel like I have more vacations. It really helps to get away and have some fun and drink a lot……

New OA 2

On Thursday morning I went in to the office and my OA yelled out your sweetie left you another piece of candy!!! At that point I realized my “admirer” must be able to hear. I went into my office and logged in to our corporate network. Then I received an instant message from my “sweetie”…. The message simply said Good morning Handsome, I heard you are spending next week in California, want to go on a date with me? I did not recognize the name and looked her up in the directory. I pulled my laptop out and spent the day in a conference room on another floor…..I told my OA that my network went down and I didn’t connectivity loud enough for my admirer to hear. I spent Friday in conference rooms on other floors too. I am not sure how I should respond, but obviously she is close enough to hear my phone calls from my office and I have been on the phone planning a trip back to So Cal for a few days next week for my birthday weekend.

Maybe by Monday I will be better prepared to react. One more month until I obtain I complete my graduate degree!

Nosy Office Assistant

During the last couple of months “someone” has been leaving chocolates, flowers, plants and other small gifts outside my office door. I’m part of a small and unique team with high visibility within our corporation. As a result we are a much closer team than I am accustomed to working with in the past. Given the fact one of my colleagues is a nut and another recently suffered a major health set back, their personal lives were thrust into our work environment. Generally I am easy going and have a lot fun at work, and try to keep things light with my dry sense of humor. However, I don’t generally discuss much about my personal life and it is a sore point with my colleagues. They have asked a few direct questions, but understand I am a private person.

Several weeks ago I had a new office assistant start and she has a great sense of humor and is funny. She is also the nosiest beatch I have come across in a long time. I have not reacted to the gifts and notes left outside my office. My new OA has been on a relentless hunt for the “suspect” and apparently tracked her down yesterday. As I am standing around her desk with a few guys that work for me, she says I have something to tell you, want me to tell you privately? I laughed it off and asked her what it was. I really didn’t think she would have much to say anyway. She then said I heard it straight from the horse’s mouth, and someone over there wants to date you and is in love with you”. It was one of those awkward moments when I had nothing to say and I can usually hide almost any emotion, but my face turned bright red. I told her I didn’t want to know who it was and laughed and went in my office. All day the team has been all over me and my office assistant has been broadcasting the story throughout the high-rise. So this will go on for a while, and I guess I will just wait it out…….My office assistant is persistent though. Why is it so hard to keep my business private?

Corporate Team Building HELP

Yesterday my co-workers and I had a teambuilding offsite. Why do these corporate HR people and trainers think we want to play stupid games that show how important communication is….Lego, trust games, and shoot me now please. I have always hated these events and I am not really big on communicating my feelings. Playing sick wasn’t an option and as a “leader” I had to tell two stories that were from the heart……

Well it wasn’t as bad as I expected and we went to one of Seattle’s nicest restaurants when we were done. I really let loose and had a ton to drink. Many coworkers have wanted to ask why I’m not married anymore or where my wife is etc., but I choose to keep my business private. That said I did have fun!

The other aspect of the day that bothered me was the Amazing Race game we played. Well needless to say that our corporate environment does not allow or tolerate any sexual, racial, or discrimination. However every “team” pretended to be a gay couple and wow the laughter never stopped. It was eye opening.