Arontius of Bygelswade

.....Just trying to clean up the Computer Room and am taking a break as I organize and file away the stack of papers collected over the past year of studying for my 'rank' of Planning Manager. Even though last week was tough (it was a 55-hour week of which I was paid for 46-hours of it), I'm still in a pretty good mood as it went my way in most cases.

.....On Monday I was absolutely slammed as it was my first day back from a week back east in Norfolk. The paperwork piled up on my desk was EPIC. And management, in its infinite wisdom, scheduled that very day for my final Oral Board to test my knowledge and readiness to be a 'certified' Planning Manager. This is a program I've been working on for almost a year and a half now which involved classroom time, interviews, LOTS of reading, a handful of test, practical assignments, shadowing of others in the trenches, etc. A really in-depth program, more so than I imagined when I signed my 'contract' for it in February of 2008.

.....I pass my final written test a couple of weeks ago with a score of '91'. Written tests are fairly easy for me, mainly because I can stare at the question and plod my way through the logic process on it, and generally come up with a logically correct answer. So while a big deal, being the 'final' step in the learning process, was not really a big deal for me.

......But, an Oral Board, NOT my specialty. It was scheduled for 1PM on Monday. And as I sat outside the meeting room where the Board Members gathered, I found myself incredibly nervous. In fact, I was so nervous that I caught my hands shaking. At that point I wish that I hadn't noticed that as I could have gone through the whole process, and THEN realized how nervous I actually was. :-)

.....There were four Board members. Two current Planning Managers, a Project Superintendent, and a Nuclear Branch Manager. As if that wasn't enough, there were two Program Managers in attendance as 'observers'. Gee, thanks guys. As if I wasn't nervous enough. :-)

.....Two observations immediately. One was that all the Board Members came from and engineering background. The other was that all of them had college degrees (two Bachelors, one Masters and one PhD). This could have gone in a couple of different ways in my case. I only have a two year, Associates, degree. I also came from a Production side background as versus an Engineering. Definitely a different perspective, and a definite different mindset on how to approach everything. Thankfully, I can say, now that it is over, that I do not believe that any of them held my 'lack' of 'real' degree against me.

.....It is interesting in the Shipyard how the 'caste' system works. The Engineering caste and the Production caste are constantly at odds with each, but manage to work together at the same time. Engineers tend to think that they know more because of their education background. Production tends to think that they know more because of their experience background. In reality, I see it as somewhere in the middle and more dependent on WHO the person is, rather than any other criteria. I know some really good engineers and managers, and I know some of the 'other' type as well.

.....But I digress. After everyone formally introduces themselves (making me even MORE nervous by the formality of the thing :-)), the moderator started the process by asking me a question on the Project Planning Process. It was a fairly straight forward question, but it opened the flood gates as all four of them started shot-gunning questions at me. There were times I was on the verge of panting from the speed and severity of the questioning. Some of the questions were complex and required a real in-depth answer. There were at least three times I was really caught off guard. Two of those times I forced myself to slow down and put out a 'logical' best response. One time I was forced to say 'I don't know'. I almost felt defeated at that point, but kept going.

.....I didn't notice in the middle of all this, but later, that the Board was really on my side. Those times when I was forced to give a 'logical' answer, or say 'I don't know', they stopped, slowed down, and asked the question in a different way. In every case I was able to come up with something good.

.....The other cool thing that I didn't realize in the middle of this, but was pointed out to me later by the moderator, was that even though my background was not 'typical' for a Planning Manger (90% of Planning Managers come from an engineering background) and that my experience was not typical (most Planning Managers come from a large scale Project background whereas I have spent the past ten years planning emergent work, single use, off-station stuff), I was still able to hold my own.

.....After an hour and some change of this, the moderator closed the session and asked me to step out of the room while the Board debated my session. I was drained dry at this point and absolutely sure that they were going to bounce my ass back to a GS-12 and tell me to try again.

.....Ten minutes later the moderator opens the door and motions me into the room. We sit down and we stare at each other for about ten seconds. I couldn't tell if they wanted something from me or not, but the moderator finally breaks out into a grin and says, 'Mike, it was unanimous, we all gave you a passing grade.' Then he extended his hand for a shake. They all shook my hands and congratulated me. I was a real-live, certified, manager. :-)

.....The other cool thing that was pointed out to me later was that as of late, the three others who have qualified as Planning Managers this year all had 'look-ups' to do after they passed their Board, specific requirements that they had to research and write a paper explaining, before they received their official documentation. I was given no look-ups.

.....When you work around a lot of very smart people, and a lot of people with degrees (which seem to give them license to have HUGE egos), it is easy to think of yourself as 'not-as-smart' as 'they' are. When you prove you have a few brain cells of your own and can use them on occasion? It's a really good feeling.

.....I'm still in a state of shock. I still can't believe I passed. That feeling of elation carried me through the whole long week, which was good as it was a tough week.

.....But it also means no more studying long tomes of government-speak. No more interviews and classes of boring instruction.

.....And when someone comes up to me and tells me that I'd make a good GS-14 Project or Program Manager? That I should take that 'next step' on my career path? I'm going to kick their freakin' ass! :-)

.....Aaron / Arontius.

.....Wow! What a week! It was my first full week in my new position as Project Engineering and Planning Manager (PEPM) for Miscellaneous and Off-Station work at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. Actually, it is just a fancy title for 'Professional Babysitter'. Most of the job consists of putting out brush fires and ensuring that others do their own jobs. Rates a GS-13 though. Not as much of an increase in pay as I had originally thought, but every little bit helps. :-)

.....If I thought I was busy before I just had it easy! The big boss has now decided that he can dump all of his miscellaneous go-and-do's on me. By the end of the day every day this week my brain has just been absolute mush by the time I make it home. I'm sure that the Beloved Tamm must think that she married a mentally unstable weirdo by now. :-)

.....Things are getting a little better in dealing with The Big Boss though. I'm finally starting to get an idea on how to handle him. He is one of those people who is totally into details. He wants to know the minutiae on everything we touch. His questions used to drive me absolutely insane at times with their intensity and depth. But, I hit up on a trick. I give him MOST of the information on any particular job about which he wants to know, but I hold back on a few of the almost obvious details. Details of which I KNOW the answer and are relatively easy to follow through. So when I'm done talking about a job, those are the questions that he asks first. So he feels that he's 'directed me accordingly'. I feel very Machiavellian for doing it, but you know, if it works, and keeps me from having to do extra research on everything I touch, I'm all for it. :-)

.....Today is an entire day of training though. Things will pile up on the desk, but I'm O.K. with that for a day. :-) I'll probably regret saying that on Monday.

.....There is a Sheep-To-Garb class on Saturday, but with the Great Estrella Pilgrimage next week, I'm kind of torn. There are things to get done at home. Especially packing. For me, that is a huge deal as I'll want to take EVERYTHING, but am not allowed to take everything. It will be difficult. :-)

.....I'm almost done winding up my next cardweaving. I'm using this cotton string that absolutely sucks. It tangles up if you look at it wrong. Plus the fact that I warped up waaaayyyyy too much of it. But at least I'll get to actually weave on it this weekend. Wish I could bring it to Estrella with me. But the loom it is on takes up too much space. Damn!

.....Enough randomness for a day. Hope everyone has an easy Friday!

.....Aaron / Arontius.

.....Monday at the new job was very much like Monday at the old job. Oh, wait, that's because I'm doing BOTH jobs. :-) The government is nothing if not predictable in this department. I was very naive to think that things would be different in this case. :-) But be that as it may...

.....There is a lot to learn about the new job. There are aspects of it that I cannot wait to sink my teeth into. Already making my lists and checking them twice. :-) Already looking forward to the next two installations, with the very next one being in King's Bay, Georgia. Probably will mean a road trip sometime in August or September, but it'll only be for a couple of days.

.....The hard part will be even faking like I really give a damn about keeping up with my old job of supporting emergent work in San Diego. Which, of course, I do care, but it is as busy as ever. I'm going to give my supervisors two weeks to make the transition themselves before I tell them that I'll do ONE or the OTHER, but NOT BOTH, and that they have to make up their minds as to what they want me to do. :-)

.....Reviewed the updated resume yesterday. I liked what I received. But, you know, as I read it I kept finding myself saying, 'I could have written this myself.' or 'I would have said this just a little differently here.' Not that I'm complaining. But I should have just buckled down and done it myself. Would have felt better about it having my own personal touch. And it had been at least five years since I touched it last, so of course it needed a major overhaul.

.....Crier archives are now in Cassie, awaiting delivery to Angharad. Just the working files remain in the house. Oh, boy, am I itching. :-) Sometime next week or the week after I'm going to sit down with Angharad and review how to lay out The Crier in Publisher. She'll be almost ready to go at that point. The living room had space in which to walk and I felt a little better for having removed the boxes from the area. I felt bad for mucking up the Beloved Tamm's working space. Hopefully she'll feel better for having more room in which to work today.

.....I was tired when I got home last night, and somewhat grouchy. I tried very hard not to take it out on Rhys when he acted like a 10 year old, but I did snap at him a couple of times. I can see that this parenting stuff takes a lot of work. But I was able to see it happening and can work on developing strategies to work AROUND it in the future. I would have had a much more difficult time doing this in my 20's. Being in my 40's now is something of an advantage in this department. :-)

.....Yakked long enough, time to get to work. Have a good Tuesday all! :-)

.....Aaron / Arontius.