Review Of The Week.

[arontius]

.....I enjoyed the Kingdom Arts & Sciences and Bardic Championships immensely last weekend, but if the decision to go had been based on what I should have done I probably shouldn't have gone. Our customer at NAVSEA visited us for a Program Review this week. There was more than a little anxiety on the part of management and I spent the first couple of days of the week putting together all kinds of data, adding much information and changing the Powerpoint countless times.

.....In the end the presentations went rather well. We learned much of what is happening at a higher level in the NAVSEA Battery Community, their plans for the future and the challenges they face. The customer had a good look at what we face on the ground level and the whys behind the processes we used. They were able to see how every dollar was spent and why it was and ways they could make it easier on us.

.....The reductions of budget which have been a mantra for many years now have progressed beyond mere slogans to rather drastic and sometimes unexpectedly large cuts. Our program at the NAVSEA level had to absorb millions of dollars of cuts for the next handful of years. Installations still have to happen, so every dime is being examined closely. Every expense questioned more than ever before. In some ways, not necessarily a bad thing. But in others it makes progress painfully slow and research difficult at best. Problems that come up have to stay unsolved at some level for longer time periods than they would have in the past.

.....The meetings were intense and I had to drag myself home as a zombie a couple of times this week. But then I had to put that Silver ring on my head and support the Barony. I love Dragon's Laire, don't get me wrong. But sometimes when given the choice of supporting the Barony and crawling into bed, that bed looks pretty damned inviting. :-)

.....Tuesday night was the Social and was rather well attended. Several people have really taken up the cause of Kingdom largesse and are producing material by the gross. It is heartening to watch and I encouraged everything I could. TBT is seen as the artist though, so it is her approval that is generally sought in this category. I don't mind at all. :-) I had my own issues of supporting heraldry and answering Serjeantry questions. Being a Jack-Of-All-Trades (Master-Of-None) keeps one rather busy. :-)

.....But I did score one nice victory. THL Mateusz agreed to wrangle the Dragon's Laire encampment at May Crown in Omak. This is a score as he is meticulous in his mapping and lay-out and has a good feel for placing people. He is organized and thorough. I will put this out of my mind and not even worry about it, which is rather a relief.

.....Wednesday was Fight Practice at the OSSC. A rather decent turn-out. People we don't see elsewhere always show up for activities like archery and fight practice, which makes a good reason to attend as often as possible. Also makes me glad that Fight Practice and Social are coming back together at the same location and same day in a handful of weeks.

.....TBT cleaned the kitchen on Friday and I worked on backfilling with another load of dishes, laundry and cat boxes. It always amazes me how housework goes chaotic in a hurry. The minute you turn your back the gremlins turn your house into a disaster area. :-)

.....Saturday was a busy day. Started off with a June Faire Site Walk-Through with the Board at 10AM. The major placement of activities was decided, as well as combat formats. Things are really starting to come together. The Board were interacting well and solving issues fairly easily. We ended the meeting on a good note. Plus, we had the opportunity to have good Bar-B-Que on site. Always a plus.

.....Then it was off to the Regional Pelican Meeting at 1PM. A better turn out than I expected, to be honest. Plus many others in the Region who could not attend sent me notes to be included into the overall set of notes from the meeting.

.....There is a lot of pressure from outside the Region to move us in particular direction. The Region itself has its own perspective on things. It can sometimes be interesting to be the Regional Secretary. I actually enjoy the job itself as I learn a lot about many people I might not otherwise interact with. But I find the balancing act a little difficult at times. Maintaining a certain level of neutrality is important to me, especially on some occasions where I think that things are going in strange directions. But, ouch!

.....The notes I publish as the Regional Secretary take up a lot of space. To the point where I have ended up editing far more than I would like. I took a tour of the notes from the other Regions last night to gain some different perspective and was frankly rather surprised at the lack of details contained therein. Our notes definitely fall on the side of being thorough. But even then I think they lack detail. Even though JL has increased the size of the database, I think the notes are going to come off of the database server and reside on the computer (with back ups) and will be e-mailed upon request. That way they can be as large as necessary.

.....Contributing to the candidates database is much better anyway. It's much easier to pull from there to put together presentations. I encourage everyone to do this anyway, but I need to push it more.

.....The whole thing is going to come to a head at some point. Culturally, I find it amazing how differently the Regions act and process information. How do you manage a 'standard'? I'm not totally sure that is possible, but...we'll see what happens.

.....Then it was off to birthday parties. I enjoyed the conversations and interactions. It was fun to just relax and laugh for a while. TBT tired out by 9PM, but I still was having too much fun. She stayed for me until 10PM and then had to call it. I felt bad for essentially forcing her to stay out later than she wanted. We probably should have taken separate cars. But when she called it, I left and didn't argue.

.....Moving the clocks all forward an hour, slowly. I have to get TBT out of bed sometime soon if we're going to do a Starbucks run before the retinue meeting at 10AM. Then it is off to an Arion meeting at 1PM. Sometime today we have to do our shopping run as well. Another busy day. I'm glad nothing is scheduled for next weekend. :-)

.....Aaron / Arontius.