Okay – Well, That Went Well

Yesterday started out with some extreme drama at work.  I was acting general manager and when I arrived in the morning I found that one of my subordinate managers had fired one of the employees.  He was more than justified based on the employee’s imbecilic behavior but there is a process codified in our union contract that has to be followed in these situations.

Emotions were running high when I told the union business agent I would support the manager and he stormed out of my office.  My subordinate manager was equally emotional when I told him he failed to follow the correct steps. 

Tough decisions are called for daily in the Army and a senior commander once told me, “Nothing I tell you to do is personal”.  That is probably one of the most important things I learned during my service and I’ve taken that approach with me into the civilian world.  You need to remove personal feelings from professional situations. 

This Is Not Personal - It's Business!

While this particular employee made that a very tough standard to meet (he should be drawn and slowly quartered) I eventually convinced the manager he had screwed up by immediately firing the guy.  We’ll bring him back after a healthy suspension and union can brag they saved a guy’s job while they think I did them a favor.  Ain’t politics grand? 

My Son Yesterday

Luckily, all this drama was followed by my weekly lunch with my son which has the effect of making everything seem okay.

I returned home planning on taking my wife out for another date because the previous night’s movie had been such a bomb.  I was a little torn because both the Bruins and Celtics had playoff games while the Red Sox were also playing.  I could care less about the unwatchable NBA but I really cared about the other two.  On the other hand I’ve made a promise to myself to de-emphasize professional sports’ ability to determine my personal schedule. 

Buddy Not Sure He Approves of Planter Location

We took some time to move the planter into its permanent location.  Buddy was a little miffed that we gerrymandered part of his special area.  He doesn’t use that section but it will require him to cut down on the circumference of his sniffing decision cycles.

And Big Cast

We went to see The Big Wedding which had about as big a superstar cast that I’ve ever seen in such a small movie.  The plot involved an adopted Latino son who’s marrying Amanda Seyfried at the home of his adopted father, Robert Deniro and his companion, Susan Sarandon, along with his adopted mother Diane Keaton, in a ceremony officiated by catholic priest Robin Williams.  I did say it had a big cast, didn’t I.  My wife and I really enjoyed the movie because we’ve lived a lot of the inside jokes of combining WASP and Latino families.  Katherine Heigl was finally good in a movie as the rest of the cast seemed to elevate her performance.  While the movie was funny there were almost too many stars because I think the director tried to give everybody their own special moments and the result was kind of a mess.  It was a near miss and one with some really funny moments, as well as a very memorable swimming scene.



Threefer - Sox, Bruins, and Celts All Win

We returned home at breakneck speed so my wife could meet her novella time line.  I apprehensively turned on the television to find Boston was absolutely skull dragging the professional sports teams of Toronto.  The Red Sox were destroying the Blue Jays while the Bruins were dominating the Maple Leafs on the ice, finally showing the ability they’ve kept well hidden for the past month.  Oh yeah, and the Celtics staved off elimination by beating the preening Knicks in New York City.  So it did go pretty well.

Downhill Construction Progress - Windows in Styrofoam