Most days, I leave work with a fairly high stress level and a sense that I didn’t get “enough” done. So today I’m writing everything I do, in painful detail, to hopefully get some traction on where my time is actually going. Hope it’s not too boring.
4:57 – time to meet and greet. should be fun to meet some cal students and try not to let them know how challenging this job is sometimes.
4:41 – getting nervous about presenting, can’t really focus any more. maybe i’ll update my address book to pass the time.
4:32 – helped another PM with his estimate on a much bigger project. finished my deliverables list, now to track down the originators and get the QA/QC forms signed. almost time to head downstairs to meet with future employees.
3:50 – helped field a call from a subcontractor who “really wants to join our team” for a couple projects. unfortunately, those ships have sailed. how do these people get our numbers, anyway? in this case, they actually cold called the office.
3:29 – filled out my timecard. downloaded the latest bridge inspection report from our florida office. almost done figuring out what our deliverables to date have been on this project.
3:21 – just helped a GIS pro translate some existing ground surfaces from .dtm to .xml. these surfaces are for the california high speed rail. really wish i could do some of the engineering for them!
3:07 – also, got sidetracked by this site (haven’t found a US equivalent yet), which tracks government spending and opens that information up in nice summaries to the public. this i like.
3:05 – just got word that one of our project reports has been approved! this document has taken about 30 months to complete, including public circulation and comment, and it means we can now move ahead with design. we got the final approving signature today!
2:51 – shooting the breeze. gossiping about the RFP intel. my e-mail now got forwarded to other offices – hope it was good intel. also, active for life conference call was good. some people are really doing cool things with this program!
2:35 – call finished. check out this quote from earlier linked article: between the dawn of civilisation and 2003, we only created five exabytes; now we’re creating that amount every two days. holy wow.
2:13 – spaced out and forgot to join a 2:00 conference call. just joined, hope nobody notices. got sidetracked by an e-mail that gave away some intel about how quickly the RFP will come out for a major project that we want to win. looks like it might come out next week, which could make me very busy.
1:46 – back on the estimate. got a revised one from one of our subs, updated our estimate. still need to cut a lot more.
1:30 – back at my cube after an extended lunch. some days i feel privileged to work where i do, and today is one of those days. we have a great leader who takes the time to mentor people.
12:00 – lunch. love lunch. vegetarian double-stuffed baked potato today!
11:30 – starting from scratch creating a deliverable list for a pretty large project is really awesome! just got a call that another person I’m having lunch with is here early, so I need to go kill some time with him before noon rolls around.
11:16 – sidetracked into monitor shopping. still watching the radar. now it’s time to fill out a spreadsheet with deliverables and track down the QA/QC forms for each one.
11:03 – here’s the link for how heavy the rain is. now, on to other things. having lunch with the regional manager today, need to come up with a few specific things i’d like to discuss. would salary be too obvious a choice?
11:00 – rain has been coming down really hard this morning. checking weather and river status sites, and yes, we have an urban and small stream flood advisory.
10:52 – discussion with PM and others, important project document might be approved today by important approver. also, celebration mugs that were ordered have shipped already. this is important stuff.
10:34 – I am like a quantum particle. When I observe my own behavior (by writing this post), my behavior changes to meet the expectations of the observer.
10:33 – ok, sent very watered-down e-mail asking for estimate reductions. i think i like negotiating. hopefully this will get us to where we need to be.
10:20 – about to lay the smack down via e-mail over this cost proposal. well, probably won’t actually, but I really would like to.
10:11 – updating cost estimate for upcoming BART project. trying to get our fee (and everyone else’s fee) down to a level that they can accept.
10:01 – just finished previous article. outstanding! our company puts an extremely high priority on safety, so I actually forwarded the blog to our safety officer. work accomplished? yes.
9:51 – loving this article (via schvin). reminds me of this blog.
9:44 – responding to e-mail and twitter about this post. *STILL NOT WORKING* 🙂
9:33 – discovered http://thinkquarterly.co.uk/ via twitter trending topics. looks interesting!
9:28 – checked facebook on my phone (blocked on company internet), linked to this post from twitter. must. do. real. work. now.
9:23 – finally, actually got around to putting presentation on thumb drive. procrastination strikes early and often, it appears.
9:18 – read strangers’ comments on blog posted by our wedding photographer. got warm fuzzies remembering the weekend.
9:13 – checked college basketball bracket, discussion about the possible fate of Arizona in tonight’s game. Consensus: Duke wins.
9:05 – finished presentation edits, saved to thumb drive.
8:55 – first hear about 6.8M Myanmar earthquake (3/24), read news, USGS site.
8:50 – start updating powerpoint to use at tonight’s student open house in our office.
8:44 – finished reading new work e-mail, surf internet.
8:38 – glance through shared magazines, initial and pass on.
8:35 – log in to my computer, open web browser, log in to work e-mail.
8:30 – arrive at work, stop at restroom.