Leading the Team
So over the last few weeks I have been acting as Team Leader at work. I think that as this time is wrapping up, I will be glad for the break back to normality.
The position isn't that much different from what I was doing in my "pleb" role, but I was responsible for more of the "fixing" problems, than actually "telling people that we know about" problems. Some problems were easily fixed; you would make a phone call, talk to the system administrator, and the issue would be resolved. Others require more finesse, where you make 5 phone calls to work out who would be responsible for the system, then find out they are away that day.
You are also responsible for the communication to the senior staff. That's the scary part. A problem is raised, it is completely up to you if you send communications or not, how you send them, when you send them etc. And if they aren't right, someone gets in trouble. Luckily, this only really happened two or three times, and in those times, I only made a poor decision once. And my Manager (who got the blame) was ok with it. He is a great guy.
Long story short, it has been a stressful month-and-a-bit. This has impacted on my home life and my side-projects a bit as well. StationeryReview.com has suffered from lack of reviews, and while I have been working on TheLeek I haven't put as much time in to it as I should have.
In the coming weeks, Skyrim is coming out, and I am hoping to make the most of it. I might even get a review posted (depending on how much I can play, and if I have the time.)
Have Fun Y'all,
Andrew
The Stationery Business Isn’t Too Stationary
So my side project for the last few weeks / months has been www.stationeryreview.com which I started towards the end of last year. Basically, I review pens, paper, diaries and pretty much anything else that might be considered stationery.
A few weeks ago I took some time to send emails to a number of stationery manufacturers who I quite liked, and received quite a positive response. Pepople like my website and want to send me items to review. It's amazing.
So far, I have recieved 3 notebooks, a Filofax(!), a 40% off to a stationery retailer and I am expecting more in the near future. It's been so encouraging, and I hope I am able to keep it up.
My previous post about the Meta Game was a nice mind-experiment, however it hasn't panned out yet. I haven't had any time to work on making a website, and I haven't heard hide nor hair from the other involved party. Perhaps it was just a good idea, and not quite worth the effort. We shall see.
The next few weekends are going to be crazy-hectic. I have numerous parties, weddings, events, barbecues and funerals (heh, joking) to go to, and Patrice is on placement at the hospital, so next week I am going to be getting up at some crazy hour of the morning, and getting to work in the city by 7am. At least I will build up a butt-load of time off.
Till next time, keep on trocking (trucking, and rocking)
- Andrew