Let's Talk Shop...

I don't know if you're this way, but I rarely talk about what I do at work. I mean, why should I? When I'm away from work, I need to be totally away... right?

Well, today was something a bit different... so I guess I'll share.

Some of you know this, but about a month after I returned to work, I changed roles. I wasn't too thrilled anymore with the path I was heading in my previous role, and I definitely wanted a change.

In the IT world, there is a role called "Business Analyst." That term is used rather loosely... you have to wear a lot of hats and deal with a variety of issues.

As a B.A., my job is to be the middleman between the business and the developers (programmers) in terms of projects... i.e. "Project Manager."

Typically in my world, a B.A. will manage multiple projects during a period of time. These projects could last a few months to over a year. And, a "project" is usually someone on the business side wanting a new addition to our web-based application... be it screens, reports, etc... that the developer would need to program.

Am I boring you yet??? See... that's why I don't talk about this crap... :-)

So for the developer to program, the B.A. needs to have dozens (if not more) of meetings with the business to understand exactly what they want/expect when their project goes "live." We then design, spec out, write up, document, and flow just about everything in a manner that the developer will understand. Specifically, mapping everything to the table/field the item is stored at in our massive database.

I can see you getting "Tired Head" right now... hang with me!!!

OK, so as I said, I usually have several projects. Well, one project started last April (right before the knee exploded!) and finally went live last Friday. The project was to redesign an external website... the site which is currently being used by our Borrowers to track their payments, transactions, documents, etc.

Well, not to toot my own horn (because I was just a piece of a larger group of people who contributed), but it went off without a hitch. The site looks great, we're going to continue to enhance it this year, and hopefully it will help the company save money in the long run.

Which brings me to today... Hello? Is this thing on? Hello???

Every other month, our office has an "All Staff." In our environment, that means "everyone" comes to a meeting and different people stand up and talk about different things. Usually the people speaking are Vice Presidents and Directors. (Now you know where this is going)

I was asked last week to present this new website... and oh, by the way, keep it to about 10 minutes.

Now I'm not typically prone to nervousness when it comes to public speaking. I was a teacher. I used to also teach Sunday School to a large class each week. In the company, I typically speak in small to medium sized meetings... and I've trained trained trained throughout my career. I can speak with the best of them...

But, this was my first "Big Meeting." When everyone shows up, we're approaching the 200-person mark... especially if we have out of towners.

So today was my day. Yippee.

Do you ever get that feeling of "can't catch my breath/why is my heart racing" just before you're introduced? Well, that happened to me. Uugh.

Just as I stood up and turned to face the SEA of eyeballs glaring at me, I said to myself "Do NOT produce shakey-voice, OK! Self... are you listening!!!???"

However, some tricks of the trade I've learned is to stare directly at people near you and when you have to "go the distance," look at the back wall. That way, you're just talking to a person or a wall, right?

Anyhoo... after I got started, things were fine. The only thing I noticed was that I became very aware of how dry my throat was! Note to self: Drink some water about an hour before speaking! In my preparation, I hadn't consumed any fluids in at least 3 hours before the meeting. Not good.

I got a lot of compliments afterwards, both regarding the project and the fact that I can stand up in front of a group like that and complete my sentences. Who knew?

I guess it's a lot easier when you know the subject matter... and you know what? I had almost a year of preparation if you think about it!

Well, our story doesn't really end just yet... tomorrow the company is splitting up into different meetings, and I will have to speak to 2 different groups of roughly 50 or so people in the room. And it won't be just about this project... it will be about an additional one that they will use internally.

Piece of cake...

Strength Training...

It pains me to say this... I mean, it REALLY pains me... but I'm trying to build muscle again in my leg.

A few things led up to this...

First, I'm getting really tired of favoring one leg over the other. I'm also tired of being "nervous" while going up or down stairs.

However, I noticed that when I went up some stairs last week, my leg felt a little stronger. Hmmm... maybe I need to be doing something to take advantage of this "new found strength???"

Last week, I mentioned this to someone and they said, "Why not put your stationary bike in front of the TV? Maybe that'll force you to ride."

Then on Saturday, my brotherinlaw calls me up and does his best to convince me to get my butt to the gym. (No... I'm not ready yet... ahem!) But it still got me to thinkin'...

So with all of those forces at play, I moved the bike into the living room. And looked at it...
a long time...

I thought, "Well, if it doesn't kill me it'll make me stronger. Or both."

I then hopped up on it. Now, I don't know what I can do... so I figured I'd just pedal and see what happens. I thought, "Hmmm... maybe I'll ride for 30 minutes." (Insert laughter)

Well, here's what happened: After a minute, I was already looking at the clock wanting to know how long it's been... "Only 1 minute! Geez Louise!!!" The next minute wasn't any better. In fact, it felt worse. I could feel that pain throughout the entire quadriceps muscle... and it was not happy!

After a few more minutes, I'm feeling it in my knee. Believe you me... that sucker was swearin' at me! I pushed and pushed and now I'm at about 8 minutes and thinking, "My gosh... this is ridiculous how weak I am... how winded I am... uuugh." And the crazy thing was my OTHER knee started hurting, too. Awesome.

I decided to end it at the 10 minute mark. I know... not much... but I challenged myself and I felt better for accomplishing that. Baby steps.

I have since ridden 3 more times. Today, my knee/leg is pretty sore... so I'm giving it a break. I'm still riding at 10 minutes, but I've noticed it's not as bad as the first ride. Maybe things are getting better...

You never know what you can accomplish until you decide to hop up on that horse, huh???

Incredible...

From 2010-03-21-0802-38

Well, we added to our record snow total overnight!

I awoke this morning to see this: Several inches of snow!

What makes this even more amazing is the "experts" said we "may receive 1 inch but it will mostly be on the grass." If you're familiar with the Metroplex, they said it wouldn't dip any further than McKinney, too. Well, I have at least 3 inches and the news this morning shows Plano with about 5. Good grief!

If you want to see more pics, as well as some I took on Thursday when it was in the mid-70s, click here: Link

New Sink...

OK... so yeah, I haven't been writing/blogging.

When I told one of my friends today that I just don't have anything to write about, she suggested the new sink.

So, here you go... Ta-Dah...

A few weeks ago, I noticed my faucet was really loose. When I went underneath to check the nut, it corroded into my hand. I guess that's what happens to stuff when it's 15 years old...

What started out as, "Oh, I just need to fix this faucet" turned into "Replace the faucet" and ultimately, "Hey... how about a new sink???"

I did quite a bit of research. I joined Consumer Reports... not just for this purchase, but for several coming up in the near future. I first thought a black sink would look great. Well, it would have... but the reviews said the "scratch-resistant" products (cast iron, acryllic) still scratched. So I settled on stainless steel.

I also asked a bunch of chicks what they looked for in a sink, what appealed to them, etc. I gotta say... that was a good move. I never thought about getting a "deeper" sink... or larger on one side... etc.

So along with the faucet and sink, I also bought a quieter disposal. You can test them right there in the store. By the way, the sound of a disposal is one of my little "pet peeves." Having one that is somewhat quiet is awesome!

Today the installer came... and immediately the price jumped up. It turns out that my pipes needed to be replaced (because he had to move them), and the hot water turnoff didn't work. Cha-ching... but, glad to have all of that upgraded.

Anyhoo... after a little over 3 hours, he had it all installed. I think it looks great, although I have to wait 24 hours to use it while the caulk dries.

Snowmagedden 2...

This is what it looked like this morning when I got up...

DFW Airport reported 12.5 inches.

Luckily, I never lost power... but I have friends who haven't had power since 7pm last night.

Snowmagedden!!!

OK, I can't take credit for that saying... but it's an incredible snowfall we're getting!

I woke up around 5:30 and walked out to the living room... and immediately saw a "glow." I thought, "Did I leave a light on? My TV?" Nope... it was the brightness of the snow coming from my patio!

I immediately discovered that the day would be perilous - I slipped a tad going out to get the paper.

My "commute" was a drive through the pouring snow/rain, and then a "careful" walk from my truck to the train.

Up on the 25th floor, it was an awesome sight! Watching the HUGE flakes come down, as well as the sheets of snow fall off the buildings (crashing to the ground), was an impressive (and distracting!) day.

We closed the office around 4, but I left before that. Overall, not too bad... although I slipped several times while walking on the slushy mess. THAT would have been an event had I fallen!

One thing I'm thankful for is my antennae. Last year, I got tired of my DirecTV going out during storms. So, I hooked an "over the air" antennae up in the attic (with the help of a friend) so I could always get the broadcast channels. Well, today we're having "one heck of a storm" because I'm using that instead of the dish.

So the snow is awesome... wet... big flakes... but that's it - just snow. No ice. However, tonight we're supposed to dip below freezing and it's will be a terrible commute in the morning. My office is already opening at 10AM... and I'll be working from home!

"How's Your Leg?"

Remember my blog last year about losing my Baylor QB to a torn ACL for the year?

He started running last week...

I think right there I realized what a different injury a torn ACL is compared to a broken kneecap.

I've read several stories of "players" having knee injuries... but until you drill down into it, there aren't a lot that have the broken kneecap. In fact, I've just seen it happen with basketball players. This leads me to ask, "How in the heck do you recover from this? How do you go back to playing?"

Honestly... I don't know.

As for me, this "recovery" has been a lot more painful than I ever imagined. Let's travel back a few months...

Before my 2nd surgery, I couldn't wait to get those dang wires out of my knee. It hurt just to walk... the grinding and limited mobility really wore on me. Or if I was walking, sometimes I'd have to stop because I honestly thought a wire got "caught."

Then I met "Nurse Ratchet" (OK, really a Physician's Assistant) who told me the week before the surgery that I had a painful recovery ahead of me. She even said that it would take me several months to get through all of this.

Well, next week I hit 3 months since my last surgery... and it still hurts.

So, here's how I can possibly describe what is going on. I'm assuming everyone reading this has a good knee. Go ahead and lift your lower leg. Or touch your knee... feel how the bones are shaped under your skin. Stand on it... probably doesn't hurt to put weight on it, does it?

Mine feels like a clenched fist. I'm serious. First, it's still swollen. It's large and in charge... probably a size and a half compared to my other knee. Second, you can feel the bumps... almost like little grains of gravel... on the bone itself. It's not smooth like the other one... it has ridges and hard edges.

Oh yeah, and have I mentioned that it still hurts? All the time. It hurts to lightly touch it. I think it's due to the swelling... so I put ice on it quite a bit, but it's always sore. I wake up and it's sore. I walk and it's sore. I put it up when I get home... and it's sore. Sore. Sore. Sore.

Stairs: Still a problem. I can go up about one flight and I'm done. Going up more than that... not a fun time. I tend to stick to elevators and escalators whenever I can. Going down is even worse... I don't have the support to go down with my left leg without holding onto a railing.

So... that's life as I know it in the land of the "recovery zone." I'm trying... I'm pushing myself to walk farther or take on that flight of stairs or to lift more. But, it's a long process.

Last fall, I was wondering if I could be running by January 1. Honestly, I don't know if I'll ever be able to do that again. Just stating the facts...