Today was my VP’s quarterly all-hands meeting and much to my surprise, I was
honored with an award. Apparently an elf, or several elves, thought that the
work I had done since joining the team 7 weeks ago was exceptional and nominated
me for being an exemplar of the corporate culture we seek to foster in my
organization.
I admit, there was a second where, as the introduction was read, I thought: “Hey
this person is doing a lot of work like I do, that’s funny.” But then it dawned
on me, the person reading the description was my manager’s manager, my director;
wait, was that suggestion from my manager that I ‘be sure to be at the all-hands
on Monday’ more than just a pull for team turn-out at the big conference
facility…”
And there it was, I was called up, I shook hands with people whose names I read
in the industry press. I had a photo taken and was given a sharp-looking
certificate and a new Flip camera UltraHD (Cisco owns Flip). I was lucky enough
to be sitting next to my friend Jason who’s known me, at work, for 8 years now.
It was really nice to be among so many friends and smiling faces. I got a lot
of congratulations (not to be confused with the ‘alot of congratulations’)
thereafter and it felt really good to know that people in the organization think
I do good work, that I make a difference.
What more could make a Type-A happy?
After the meeting was over I went back to my building, back to my desk and
opened the email box and I found dozens of congratulatory emails waiting.
One of my co-workers said something so awesome to me it made my week (possibly
my year).
[The award is] for those who Collaborate, Learn, Execute, Accelerate, and Disrupt.
I think you did all of them and it is a well deserved award.
I have to say that while meeting the senior leaders was great, knowing that my
peers think I add something to their every-day world, made me feel so
appreciated I can only be humbly silent.
I’ve never been a team captain or the guy who made the 3-pointer at the buzzer,
but today I knew the truth that they always say at the end of the championship:
it’s not about me, it was the team that made it happen. Those wonderful people
I work with who tolerate my questions and ignorance are the reason I happened to
have had a bit of glory today. I thank them for their esteem.
At my megacorp we now have Crystal Light in the breakroom. These ‘single use’ crystal packs are to be added to bottled water ( boo bottled water! ) so that instead of having another bullet of brown sludge you can have a nice lemonade.
I, for one, welcome this change.
In that spirit, I provide an advertiser’s wet dream by repeating this mantra:
“I believe in crystal light / I believe in me.”
What a party city!
Now I see why Bostonians are always going on about what a great place Boston is to go out in.
Last night after the conference my boss and I and another colleague headed to Fanueil Hall area of Boston.
It was kinda like an outdoor mall ( see Stanford Mall ) but set among old colonial buildings ( Ye Olde Brookstone: Thy Pillowtoir since 1668 ). After being given several opportunities to buy tourist schwag we went in hunt of a place to eat.
After walking around in the area we settled on the Bell In Hand tavern on Union Street.
I sampled the local draught, Bell In Hand Ale. It was dark and strong and tasty. The Bell in Hand has the distinction of being the oldest pub in the colonies as well.
Funny to think that bastards in redcoats breeches had tromped about in the alleyways where I stood. Lining Hennessey street were several other pubs.
In this area the pubs generally have glass-front panels which are folded and pushed to the side creating a large, open breezeway that keeps the bar cool and lets the din of music, bottles, and singing waft out into the street.
After a bit of a walk around this area we settled on visiting “The Tap”, which Yelp! seems to regard as an “OK bar for out of towners to get a bit of the Boston bar experience”. Lured to it by the sound of live, acoustic music, we went in and grabbed seats at the bar.
Now, if you read the Yelp! reviews, many of them make reference to a guy with an acoustic guitar….well he was there and this gentleman is known by the monniker of Bruce Jacques. Bruce is a rubber-faced, frenetic, comedian-musician who plays covers often with props or costumes that gets the crowd laughing.
A few songs in, plain musician Bruce changed into the ringleader / circus show that was to dominate the rest of the evening. Noting some men coming down the street with a bundle from Mike’s Bakery, he jumped through the window portal, microphone-in-hand and, still singing, worked in a request for cannoli which – to my surprise – he got!
Shirtless, Bruce bit the cannoli, and then proceeded to paint his nipples in cream filling much to the bar’s amusement and the young cuties’ embarrassment. After teasing them ( what young studentette can resist a bald hairy man with filling on his chest? ) he stepped on their table, stole one of the girls’ beer, and proceeded to gulp it down, and then ran back to the stage.
With these antics a few passers-by were ready to come in for a drink and see some more antics. Within 30 minutes Bruce turned the pub from a few dozen people idly watching the Sox close in on victory ( Spanked Atlanta, horribly ) to a body-packed bar of chaos. The virtuous crowd-attraction cycle continued until tons of young girls, salryguys, tourists, some locals started to fill the space.
Bruce channels Eddie Vedder
I love Bostonians. They were so fun and so relaxed. The singing was loud and raucous, unrestrained and blissful. These were people out to have a good time.
And I learnt an Irish tune: “Wild Rover” whose chorus involves clapping and involvement from the audience.
And it’s no, nay, never, (4 × clap)
No nay never no more,
Will I play the wild rover
No never no more.
And I swear the bar was literally moving side to side during this tune.
From this point on the night falls hazily into trading gifts of Jägermeister, beers, talking about where we were from and what the “good bahs ahh” in San Francisco. This friendliness makes me think that this is how “everyone’s Irish on St. Patty’s day” – there’s a friendliness and an openness that everyone is entitled to the right to sing, drink, and have a good time with good friends.
If you’re interested in my un-scientific theory on happiness and the fuller-figure of Boston girls, you may want to see more below.
We left before closing time, but it was an excellent evening. There is but only a certain amount of sloshed beer that one can take in a given night.
Thanks for making Boston feel like home for one night for this tourist.
(more…)
When my friend Mice had his first child I christened her in the language of hip-hop:
“DJ So B. Real”
Today I proclaimed his son’s name
“Mike Check 1-2”
May this family continue to drop only the freshest of rhymes to only the fattest of beats for many years to come.
Next week I’ll be travelling to Research Triangle Park, NC to visit my corporate benefactor’s other home base outside the Valley. The funny thing is that I have been to our sites in London, Sydney, and Amsterdam: all the sites that are > 10 hours, by air, from SJ, but never the one that’s roughly half that.
Well that era ends clap next week. I’m catching a mid-morning flight out to the East coast. A conference is being hosted internally on uhm, well, Web 2.0 in IT. Wait, wait, before you start thinking that I’m talking vaporware nonsense ( “Hey Steven, didn’t you mock this ‘Web 2.0’ term just a few posts ago?” ) let me say that there are real differences in the conceptual framework.
Here’s a few:
- Death of singular iconic data sources ( Web-old: cnn.com, Web-new reddit.com )
- Folksonomony ( del.icio.us versus taxonomy ( Yahoo Directory ) )
- Multi-path conversations
- Liberation of the Dark Internet
So, even if you’re catchphrase-cynical, it’s a very progressive step for an enterprise to be weighing these decisions at this time.
Unfortunately, this falls right in the middle of the final 2 weeks of my classes, so I’ve got to work double-time on being ready to turn everything in, take all the tests, etc. the week after my return. Not really ideal, but I’ve sandbagged enough points in the semester to not really be worried. This also, lamentably, puts me out of having any chance to hang out over on that side of the country and doing any exploring.
Maybe next time, and maybe next time won’t be 6 years.