BashUp

Spent Friday through Sunday sleeping off a horrid head cold, awaking occasionally to watch IndyCars, Daytona Prototypes, Craftsman Trucks and Sprint Cup cars race. Most of it I watched through half closed eyes while dozing on the futon. Trucks and Cup were fun races, Grand Am was a bit of a crash fest, and IndyCar…well, it was Homestead, where a really hooked up car can lap the entire field. Sometimes the racing’s really close there, but when it isn’t, it’s kinda pedantic. St. Pete will be fun next weekend. Meantime, back to bed…

I was pretty sure my annual performance review would be an interesting time, having been written by my former boss on her way out the door. Review time was today, and my new boss has done his homework. It’s pretty clear he’s gotten some perspective on what we were dealing with in the last year. I could see where he’d added details about what he’d learned from my team and edited the review for balance and to soften missed opportunities with the notation that I had not been supported or set up for success. We started out by talking about what did and didn’t go well last year before we looked at the review, and based on the introductory conversation he decided to make further changes to reflect accuracy and fairness. I’ll get to see those changes in the next couple of days.

I haven’t written much about my managerial situation because at least one of my direct reports occasionally reads this blog, but I nearly left my current company on two occasions last year due to a complete lack of support and guidance in my new role as a manager. I had decided in late January I was leaving for sure and started my job search. I was about to apply to a batch of jobs when my former boss gave notice about two weeks later.

In the month since she left, my new boss has worked with me to create a structure I’ll have a real chance to succeed in: cutting my availability for project work from 26 to 16 hours a week, freeing up time to spend with my direct reports. He’s given me tips and pointers for processes I can use to guide my team and prepare them to take on more challenging projects. He also shared some good feedback from my team. They knew I was getting no help (and they would tell me that regularly), but they were understanding and empathetic when talking to my new boss about their experiences. My new boss has attributed that to the fact that I’ve maintained and nurtured good relationships with them. He encouraged me to continue being genuine, open and honest with my team. I had talked about my lack of availability, acknowledging that I knew they needed more of me and that I hadn’t given up on finding a way to make that happen. He held that up as a big success, saying the team could easily feel exasperated and ready to work elsewhere, but my efforts to acknowledge their needs and to do the best I could had prevented hard feelings.

By contrast, my former boss would tell me, “your team doesn’t get the support it needs.” (Uh, thanks for letting me know….)

I’m still pretty exhausted from the stresses of the last year, but I feel myself growing more excited about the opportunities ahead. It could be pretty darned good.

So I’ve been thinking about the new teams and drivers merging into the IndyCar Series from ChampCar and wondering how they will find things on IRL turf. A few of the newbies who’ve tested have commented that their new ride, the Dallara/Honda combo, is down on both horsepower and grip. One sounded a bit frustrated with the reduction of power at his command.

Many of the new drivers have little to no experience racing on ovals, and I have to wonder how long they’ll be doing their best Milka “the moving chicane” Duno impressions. It just follows that when I think of Milka, I think of probation and that led me to wonder what the newcomers will think of IndyCar’s punitive measures. Not having followed ChampCar closely, I still seem to remember one possible penalty was the removal of some or all of a ChampCar driver’s “Push to Pass” allotment. (Without the few seconds of extra turbo boost provided by “Push to Pass,” ChampCar racing apparently had even more bouts of “lockstep” than our own beloved league.) I’m amused at the thought that the former ChampCar drivers will find our punishments as down on power as the cars are. Probation? Especially when it’s IndyCar policy not to publish details? 10 lashes with a feather would hurt worse. Yeah, okay, thanks to such esteemed blogs as My Name is IRL and Pressdog, we eventually learned the whole field was placed on probation about 3/4 of the way into the season. (shhhhhhhh…don’t tell… but Brian Barnhart channeled the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe, faced with so many unruly children that everyone got a swat…just to be safe.) Some drivers could well have been on the much dreaded “quadruple-secret probation” by the end of the season. But we don’t know for sure…

Wonder if the whole field will be put on notice for Homestead? Wonder if the newbies snicker behind driving gloves at the lack of teeth (figuratively. literally?) here in “Down Home Land?” Whatever their thoughts, I hope they eventually come to enjoy their stay. I know I will.

Please help this wonderful organization rehabilitate bald eagles!

The Florida Wild Mammal Association rescues, heals and releases wild animals of all kinds in the area around Tallahassee, FL. Whether an animal is hurt in an accident or has been shot by hunters, Chris Beatty
and her staff care for, heal and release wild animals back in their habitat, protecting populations of native species in the panhandle area.

The organization has a number of small buildings and pens to house animals until they are healed and ready to return to the wild. They can handle almost anything - from marine birds, reptiles and amphibians to squirrels, deer, rabbits and more. Chris and her staff are now raising funds to build a 100 foot flight pen to allow the rehabilitation and release of our national symbol of freedom - the bald eagle - instead of having to turn them over to state authorities.

Please visit their website and follow the Paypal button to make a donation to this wonderful organization. Also, please be sure to check out Judy Cooke’s adorable blog, featuring photos and information about the FWMA’s current patients. Judy’s photos capture the most precious critter faces and her blog reflects the caring and kind spirit of the FWMA’s mission.

When you donate, please include a comment about the flight pen if you want your donation to go specifically to that project. Even a few dollars will make a difference, so please help Chris and her staff today.

Thank you!
Bash

Well, Good Morning to You, Too: I left my apartment at 8:15 this morning, on my way to BART to catch the last shuttle to the office. As I got to the front steps, I noticed my neighbor curled up on them, crying. She’s a nice lady, but has a drinking problem and had just gotten back from a long night’s binge. She said she hurt her knee getting out of the cab and couldn’t get up the stairs. We don’t have an elevator, and I couldn’t just leave her there, so I lifted her to her feet and helped her up three flights to her apartment. It took quite a while to get her up the steps -she was busted on one side and too drunk on the other - and I ended up having to get a ZipCar and getting to work pretty late. I talked to her when I got home this evening…she was mostly sobered up and reporting that the xrays she had this afternoon showed no permanent damage. Glad she’s okay. I managed to pull some muscles in my left shoulder while helping her, but that’s responding well to ice and I don’t think it’s serious.

Speaking of Work: Tough day, but it went well in the end. We got our bonuses, and once we got over the fact that Uncle Sam took about half of it away in taxes, we all enjoyed the company barbeque our leaders arranged to celebrate last year’s successes. And today, I had to do some of those “difficult” manager things for the first time, helping both of my writers and some of their team members with some procedural issues and also clarify roles and boundaries.

Healthwise: Doc has confirmed that my condition has returned and ordered up a repeat ultrasound in early May to keep an eye on things. There’s one treatment: surgery. I need to think about which surgery - some techniques can remove the tumors again, but there’s no guarantee I won’t need even more surgery down the road. Other techniques can guarantee no more tumors, but they have consequences I need to fully consider first. (We’re not talking malignant tumors, just really uncomfortable ones.) My comfort level is what will drive the timing of this - when it starts to get really annoying, we’ll schedule surgery, so I need to make my decision about treatment in the next few weeks.

Racin’: I’m loving all the Indy Car radio programs, and really happy there’s no cab race this weekend to take up all my time. I’m liking it well enough to follow my openwheelers each race (and Smoke - wait, he’s an openwheeler, too!), but the Cup races are such a time suck. A friend from Toronto is visiting family here starting tomorrow, so hopefully I’ll see him this weekend instead.

Update: Just FYI - I’m here. Just swamped at work. I hope to post an update here sometime this week…thanks for stopping by!

Snow?: N’wide qualifying got SNOWED out in Atlanta today. They managed to get the race in. Rowdy was running away with it when his right front blew - heck, there’s been so many blown tires in the first four weeks that I’m scratching my head. Yeah, this is my first full season of following the ‘cabs, but it seems like way too many failures. Smoke’s getting a lot of ink for roundly criticizing Goodyear, but I say “you GO, boy!” Next weekend, F1 starts and all three IndyCar radio shows will be in full swing. By the end of the month, IndyCar starts up.

Sportin’: Am now catching the Giant’s spring training game on MLB.com’s Gameday Audio.  And the World Figure Skating Championships will be held in two weeks. Just too much to follow!

Webbin’: The Florida Wild Mammal Association folks finally had time to survey their entire site and send a lot of new content for me to upload. I’m almost done with the home page, and hope to get lots more new content up tomorrow. Find them in my web links —> thataway —>

Ultra Sound? Prolly Not: Had an ultrasound Thursday - I’ve done these before, prior to my surgery two years ago. This time, they took lots more pictures and called me back to the room to take even more after the radiologist saw the first batch. I’m wondering what they thought they saw, but I’m sure I’ll hear from my doc in the next few days…  Sadly, if the condition’s returned, the only real treatment is surgery.  *sigh*

Sweeeeeeet: Got my ticket - Dario with Jim Clark and and the Borg Warner trophy in the background. Cannot WAIT for May!

Got a second ticket in Tower Terrace so I can try out the location…

Work: My team was merged with the Information Architects and we’ll start meeting with them starting tomorrow. More change, but I see a good bit of potential in this move.

Life: I’m feeling the return of symptoms that led to my surgery two years ago. Went to my doctor on Friday and she’s ordered a couple of tests. Been there, done those, here we go again.  *frown*

Music: Word is Gary Tibbs has left The Fixx and they are now recording with the bassist they had when they became big - Dan K. Brown.  Will miss Tibbs but have always loved Brown’s playing, as well.

Racin’: Smoke smacked the wall really hard today and banged himself up in Las Vegas. Bet he’s gonna be killer sore the next few days, poor guy. Bummed that he wrecked in both races this weekend, and tore up that gorgeous candy apple red Old Spice car in the N’wide race. Carl got his second cup win in a row, so that’s the up side of the weekend. In the next couple of weeks, three IndyCar radio shows start up (Indy Racing Weekly, Trackside with Curt Cavin and Kevin Lee, and a show hosted by Patrick  from TSO on racefanradio.com) and the Formula 1 season gets underway. I’m going to be up to my ears in racing soon, woo hoo!

Beisbol: Spring training is underway, and it’s a tough start for the Giants - but I think we’re expecting a rebuilding-type season. Still good to switch on KNBR 680 and hear Jon Miller and Dwayne Kuiper call the games.

Baking: No fancy dishes lately - have been baking the usual loaf of bread each weekend - Starter Joe the Sourdough Starter is doing well and making nice, tart bread.  Tasty!