Category: Work

The reasons for my masochism

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

People occasionally ask me why I’m doing an MBA. Recently I’ve found it difficult to answer that; I’ve been down in the weeds of it for so long that it’s sometimes hard to remember why I signed up in the first place. So today I decided to write this, partly to explain it to people, and partly to remind myself. The major reasons:

Colleagues and managers told me I should. This wasn’t a reason so much as a driver. I actually wouldn’t have even considered it if a colleague, one of the first people I worked with when I returned to my company, hadn’t suggested I get into the program (my company has a special MBA program set up through a particular university). She was just about to finish hers and suggested I look into it. A couple of years later my new manager suggested I apply, and this time I did.

To assuage a bit of guilt. Yes, I have a business degree, and yes it’s from the same university from which I’m now seeking an MBA. However, my brain just wasn’t geared for learning in those four years, and what little sank in atrophied in the following five years as I took on a series of technical jobs. Around the time I signed up for the MBA I was back on the business side of things and starting to use those parts of my brain again, but I always felt like I hadn’t used those years as well as I could have. Signing up for the MBA helped me make up for that.

To create a good network of colleagues. Networking isn’t something I do well, or easily. It’s anathema to an introvert. My afore-mentioned colleague (and other people I’d since met who’d gone through the program) talked about the benefits of being thrown into a group of 30 people from all over the company and the networks that develop just by dint of being locked in a room with them. So far it’s worked pretty well; I know more people in different parts of my company (and country) now, and I’ve developed some pretty good friendships too.

I just always feel the need to learn something. Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, Dan’s gotta learn something new. I’m not happy unless I’m learning something on a semi-regular basis. As much as I’m looking forward to finishing this thing, I know that two months after I graduate I’ll take for German lessons or teach myself Python or sign up for digital photography classes. Actually, maybe I should delay the education for a little longer and sign myself up for a 10k…

Any of those strike you as weird? I’ve had people tell me they wouldn’t have signed up for four years of lost evenings and weekends for any of those reasons.

[tags]mba[/tags]

Ow! Yawn. Hooray!

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

I’m very excited, Internet. I finished my latest assignment this afternoon and, while I’m sure I’ll have to fix a few problem following my review in a few minutes, that’s it for me for the MBA for a little while. OK, only eleven days, but still…I’m looking forward to not reading finance for a week and a half like you can’t believe. Should give me time to finish up some shopping and knock off a few other niggling tasks.

.:.

Last night was my company’s year-end party, so we had some folks over for a pre-event drink or two, then had mingling & dinner & such just a few blocks away, and then back here for another drink or two. T-Bone somehow managed to get home even though standing seemed a struggle, and I somehow managed to knock over a pepper mill which knocked a martini glass off the counter which sent glass shards flying in all directions. Oy. In my haste to extract a cat from the glass minefield and clean it all up I got a piece stuck in my foot. I couldn’t reach it so I had to sleep (not very well, mind you) with it stuck there until Nellie woke up enough to pry it out with some tweezers. On the plus side I managed to clear some room in the liquor cabinet by finishing off the lingering drops of two different bottles of scotch: a 10-year-old Macallan fine oak and a 10-year-old Bruichladdich. So yeah, a fun night. Looking forward to next year.

[tags]walkin’ on, walkin’ on broken glass[/tags]

"You let the database go down while masturbating to Mexican donkey porn. Fix it."

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

I know the language issue in Quebec is contentious, and I’m all for a strong francophone culture, but when the Globe reports on lawyers and priests throwing around sentences like “respect the rights of Quebeckers to be served in French” and suggesting that ‘driving [Quebeckers] away from their traditional religious beliefs will only aggravate social tensions toward other religions and cultures’, it sounds to me like xenophobia and the desire for cultural purity. I doubt these gentlemen are representative of Quebec, but they do have very big soapboxes.

I also find it funny (and by funny, I mean tragic) that Saku Koivu has become the poster child for their criticism. Captain of Montreal’s beloved hockey team, cancer survivor, local philanthropist…insensitive jerk. At least his teammates stuck up for him.

.:.

My esteem for Radiohead has dropped a few notches.

.:.

Once again, I agree wholeheartedly with the Angry German:

Now, I learned that the proper way to say this is: “I know you are really busy, but I cannot continue my work while the database is inaccessible. If you don’t mind, could you look into the problem and let me know if there is a chance you can rectify it? Sorry to be a bother.” No wonder shit doesn’t get done in time when you have to write a freaking novel for each simple thing.

Seconded.

.:.

How wonderfully ironic that justice has fucked the Rev. Fred Phelps directly in the ass.

[tags]quebec, language laws, saku koivu, radiohead, angry german, fred phelps[/tags]

Another lost weekend

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

That was a pretty cool work thing I attended yesterday and today. Got to put faces to names, laugh my fool ass off and even get a little inspired. Hopefully that enthusiasm carries over into the weekend so I can get this infernal paper finished off.

I’m off to locate some dinner with Nellie. We’re both pretty wiped so it won’t be much of a night…or much of a weekend, obviously. Argghhhhjjgorijeg.

I know, I know…suck it up, princess.

Hey…300 days left!!

[tags]mba[/tags]

What I did today

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment
  • Downloaded the new Radiohead album;
  • Restructured a troublesome division of my company on the back of a napkin;
  • Voted in my provincial election;
  • Put out some work fires;
  • Ate some minestrone;
  • Doused more work fires;
  • Got soaked in a downpour;
  • Met some folks for drinks and a very odd tapenade;
  • Made plans to meet up with M2 tomorrow evening;
  • Watched the Canadiens beat the Penguins in Carey Price’s first NHL game.

Not a bad day.

[tags]radiohead, in rainbows, ontario election, minestrone, canadiens, penguins[/tags]

I want off

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

I left work about 90 minutes ago. I ran down to Volo to meet Nellie and a friend, but the service was so slow I had to cancel my food order. I got plain M&Ms, the first thing I’d eaten since a croissant at 9:30. Now we’re waiting for the Simpson’s movie to start.

I’m not having fun.

[tags]simpsons movie[/tags]

Like sand through the hourglass, this is irritating the shit out of me

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

I’ve been too busy to blog lately. Sorry, devoted readers, but work is intruding like a mother. I’m on my way out the door now to meet Nellie, head home, eat something and do another 3 or 4 hours of reading. I won’t come up for air again until Friday evening, probably, when I visit Fieramosca with some friends. Awesome food, downtime and non-work conversation…I’m not looking forward to that a bit.

On an unrelated topic, does anyone have a time machine?

[tags]aaaarrrggghghjhtrphtjrhrhotyhnryoh[/tags]

Serendipity

Dan DickinsonLeave a comment

Why, you may be asking yourself, is Dan blogging at 3:43 AM? Well, I’m up for work. Implementations happen overnight and I’ve been up since about 2:20.

So here I was, sitting quietly in the living room with my laptop, when all of a sudden the fire alarm goes off. Now, fire alarms at 3 AM in a high rise are never calming events, but at least I was already awake. There’s nothing quite as jarring as being ripped from your sleep by a warning that you’re about to be immolated.

So, we check the hallway and it’s going out there too. Not much activity on our floor, but I can hear people in the stairwell. By this point Nellie’s roused herself and starts to get dressed. We see fire trucks coming up the street. We stuff the cats into their bags, gather wallets & keys and debate whether to start the long trek down. Then the fire department comes on the intercom and tells us it’s a minor situation (not even a fire, I’m guessing) on the 43rd floor (above us…a good sign) so we wait a few minutes, let the cats out of the bags and go back to work/sleep.

My implementation’s almost done, so I should be going back to sleep myself pretty soon. Fingers crossed.

[tags]fire alarm[/tags]