Tuesday, August 28, 2012

I have a Perception

 
Its all about perception. People see you and the gather a perception about how you look, what your doing at the time, and in an instant they make judgement. I truly wish life wasn't like that...but that sad truth is...its true. I have been on both sides of this perception at my work.
I have made judgement on people and have been totally wrong but I based it on a quick glance at a certain moment in time. And I have also heard a few peoples perception of me. So over the years I have learned to get closer before making any type of judgement.

We have new owners at my work and for the first year I thought I was in like Flynn with them. But recently I  had a review. You know how those go right? You sit down with your boss and they tell you how great you are and then you don't get the raise you expected. Well...this one didn't quite go as planned. Our review system rates you on a scale of 0-20 with 20 being the best. There are like seven different categories. In the past my average score was like 16- 17. This review...my average score was 8....yeah....8. I am not perfect but I do know for a fact that I am not an 8.

My boss and both owners were sitting there as my boss read me what he wrote for each category of the review. The owners would then speak even lower of me just to chime in and tell me that I SUCK.
I didn't do anything right. I felt like crying but then I remembered...there is no crying in manufacturing.
After this hell was over I had a chance to speak to my boss about all this.
This is what I said to him:
So...answer me this...am I really this bad? Because if I am...you should have fired me a long time ago.
His reply: No...you are nowhere near that bad...I had you scored here (pointing to the above average category) but the owners wouldn't let me score you that high. We sent your review back and forth like four times, each time they wanted me to change things. My boss and I

It was then that I realised that the owners have a wrong perception of me and what I do.
I also realised that I have to change that perception. They suggested I start at 6 am vs. the 7 am starting time I had been on. And to make a long story short....that is the only thing that I changed in my routine and now all of a sudden I'm the best thing since sliced bread. (maybe not that good but you get the idea) I have heard compliments and the only thing I changed was my starting time. Weird.

But the perception to them is that I am changing to their style of management (which I am still trying to figure out) I call it... "seagull management"...the come in and shit all over the place then they leave. But whatever style it is....its all about perception.
Who knows what the future may bring....I could be fired tomorrow for all I know.
But this experience has taught me a valuable lesson.

Perception is everything.Even though it shouldnt be. Its there and you have to deal with it sometimes.

Oh and just to make the perception clear ...the cat is actually on the stairs but the picture is taken from the upstairs looking down. Pictures arent always worth a thousand words....sometimes they are just a lie. :)

Monday, August 20, 2012

The True Meaning of Bliss

         I have one more year....one more year.... that's it. No the doc didn't tell me that...I did.
Kim and I celebrated our 29th wedding anniversary yesterday. 29 whole years of nothing but blissful marriage. Riiiiight !!  Okay maybe blissful is a bit overkill on describing the whole 29 years. But happy would definitely be an appropriate word. I do remember some bad times but to be honest... 99.9 percent of the time it has been good...very good....exceptionally good...borderline blissful :)
The .1 percent that was bad was her fault (I'm kidding of course....kind of) But those bad times did made us stronger and each and every time we got through them. That tells me that we both gave forgiveness to each other because we knew we were right for one another. Forgiveness is never easy....but our faith in God and commitment to each other did make it easier.
I know with out a shadow of a doubt, I would be a different man had she not taken the money I gave her for shoes and put a down payment on a wedding dress. (yes...that happened) Thank god she did...I was never one for commitment. But marriage has taught me so many things.

Marriage is fun...I just couldn't imaging doing fun things without her.

Marriage is costly...If you knew actually how many purses my wife has...you would know what I was talking about...actually...I don't even know the number of purses she has. One for every shade of color that crayola has...and even ones that they are planning to come out with in the future.

Marriage keeps you humble...lets face it...Kim has a way of keeping me in check, Making sure my arrogant attitude doesn't get out of balance with whats right. Every time my dreaminess gets in the way of doing the right thing, Kim has a way of putting in perspective for me...and although its never easy to hear, I know she always right. (well...not always...but I do listen anyways) :)

Marriage is always evolving...I look back on our marriage and can see the transformations we have went through. And although I know we are not done evolving...I do know that I look forward to the future...because it will only get better.

Marriage is a Journey....I remember our minister told us that when we got married. He wasn't lying and truth be told...its the best journey I have ever been on. (Although the trip to Canada bear hunting in 1999 was pretty awesome) (Kidding again...kind of) But seriously...we have been through the phases of life and death together and I could not imagine going through this journey with anyone else.

She is my rock...I depend on her, cherish her, trust her, love her with all my heart. She is truly my angel and most of all...me beautiful wife. My Kimmy.
(Hows that for some sucking up) (kidding ...kind of)

Oh and about the one year left statement...I have one more year to save enough money to do something really special on our 30th anniversary. I wouldn't say she expects me to do anything special....but she did say" Ian...you better be planning something special for our 30th anniversary. "
See...told you she has a way of putting things in perspective for me. (I am kidding..she really didn't say that.) (not in so many words) (She just gave me "the look")

Love you Honey

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Knowing Your Limits


Hello world...I'm baaaaack !!!!

I took a well needed hiatus from blogging because it was summer and now that all my millions of fans have been beckoning me to write more...I thought I better respond. Oh..did I say millions? I meant to say a few people...you say tomato...I say red yukky thing from the garden.

Speaking of gardens...mine turned out ok...not fantastic...but just ok. My dads garden and probably everybody elses too...has corn that is way over their head, but mine is even up to my neck yet. So either I bought the seeds for the little corn that you get in Chinese food or my soil just doesn't have the right amount of nutrients that it needs to flourish. I am going with the Chinese corn theory because I refuse to do the soil enrichment plan when I don't eat that much corn anyway.( I know my limits) The rest of the garden has produced at least some goodies like zucchini, cucumbers,and those red yukky things and even a few green peppers.

Another reason for my lack of blogging is: ever since I got my phone...I haven't gotten on my computer at all. It is so much easier to write on a computer than on a 4x2 inch phone. And the fact that I put "words with friends" in front of my blogging priorities might have played a part too. My wife and I started playing "Words with friends" and I haven't beat her yet. (emphasis on YET) She always beat me when it came to scrabble so I shouldn't be too surprised. I am a competitive person so the first time I lost to her, my first instinct was to say..."Oh yeah...well lets arm wrestle" but then I remembered that the last time I did that with her it wasn't that easy to beat her at that either. :) So being the good sport that I am ....I graciously asked her if she wanted to see who could stay quite the longest. (I was a shoe in for this one for sure) She denied my request and that was when I realised that she knew her limits too :) It feels good to be back.

Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them
Albert Einstein

Peace my Friends