4 more days. I can't believe it. Today was my last day in the Phoenix office - for at least 6 months. It was weird packing up my desk. Nobody told me to pack up my desk, but I figure they are replacing me, so I should clean out my desk, right? Nobody from management came to say goodbye, except Jimmie. Good ole Jimmie. My boss' only communication to me today was from his blackberry. It was a question: when do you leave? I replied Monday. He replied - good, I'm probably going to need you to go to Singapore in the next couple of weeks. No "goodbye" or "good luck." Kinda weird. In fact, for all I know few people even know I left.
My team did a great farewell "soiree" for me though. We had pizza and they bought me a bunch of books on Hong Kong, Lonely Planet China, maps of Hong Kong and some basic Cantonese and Mandarin phrase books. They also go a big picture of my team and framed it with some comments on it. They definitely spent way too much on it. But it was nice. I never feel comfortable in those situations. I don't like being the center of attention (hard to imagine, huh?). Many people said goodbye with teary eyes. It was sweet. One of my employees - a guy from NY - said as he left: "I remember when 9/11 happened and I was on the Tappan Zee Bridge and could see the buildings falling that tears came to my eyes and I knew it was a dramatic moment. Seeing you leave is very similar - but on a lower scale of course." I thought that was very touching. Now there are rumors that all of these people will quit with me gone. I hope not. A good leader shouldn't cause a grand exodus.
So I have no desk, no idea what will happen in 6 months, and an $8,000 ticket to HK on Monday. Here I go...
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Monday, July 23, 2007
Full House, but lonely~~
Well, I guess I wouldn't be lonely if I were still reading Harry Potter! Bret, Jacob and Millie all have their noses plastered to the pages of the last installment of the book. Having already finished the book, it is fun to think about how they may be feeling as they turn the pages and learn the fates of all the wonderful characters in this book.
I will just sit here and think about finishing up the primary program, but will probably go read the book mom let me borrow by Mitch Albom. Or, maybe I will just go rest my eyes. That's right, I will just rest them..........
I will just sit here and think about finishing up the primary program, but will probably go read the book mom let me borrow by Mitch Albom. Or, maybe I will just go rest my eyes. That's right, I will just rest them..........
Friday, July 20, 2007
Hong Kong Bound?
Tuesday morning I went into work after two wonderful weeks of vacation in NY. I still want to blog about that trip. It was fantastic. I had an email on my blackberry from my boss saying to see him first thing in the morning. I was hoping that it had something to do with the new job I had kinda created for myself as I had asked him to work on it while I was out. He said he had some bad news and some good news. Optimistic as I am I thought, "oh great, no luck on the new role!" But the bad news was one of my good friends in the Hong Kong office was leaving Prudential. The good news was that they wanted me to go over and take her spot - at least for a short period of time.
I was almost shocked. For years I have desired an expat assignment and have asked for them and to be honest was close to leaving Prudential due to the fact that I just didn't see a possibility of getting one. I am an international person who went to arguably the best international school in the world. I had started at a company with great international opportunities and in the short time frame of a few months this year my role had actually diminished in the international field as I was asked to help with the US domestic business. Now all of the sudden it was being given to me.
It is amazing when something you have wanted so long, or dreamed about for so long, really happens. It is almost like when something terrible happens: you can't believe it is really happening. All week my mind has been distracted. Work has been tough as I think about what might be in store. I signed my letter stating that my assignment won't be more than 183 days (due to tax reasons), but I know in speaking to my new boss in Hong Kong that his idea is for us to stay longer, if possible. Prudential has provided me great benefits while I am there including allowing my wife and children to come with me.
I am so excited. Hong Kong, from everyone I have spoken to who has lived there, is an awesome place to live. Most people speak a little English, which is helpful. I am hoping to be able to learn some more Mandarin (even though Cantonese is the main Chinese spoken in HK). I am excited to be there with my family and experience a new life for some time. There is a temple there and they even have English-speaking wards. I am hoping we will also get to see other parts of Asia that I have always wanted to see like Japan and Thailand.
Who knows what will happen in the next year or so. If it truly turns into a longer term assignment we may not be seeing too much of the states for a while. We'll be back for Christmas, even our Mexico trip in August. It feels almost like Christmas. It is even hard for me to sleep. I am theoretically going over on July 30 on my own and then will return at the end of August to go to Mexico with the family and then bring them back with me after Labor Day.
I am so excited. I can't wait.
I was almost shocked. For years I have desired an expat assignment and have asked for them and to be honest was close to leaving Prudential due to the fact that I just didn't see a possibility of getting one. I am an international person who went to arguably the best international school in the world. I had started at a company with great international opportunities and in the short time frame of a few months this year my role had actually diminished in the international field as I was asked to help with the US domestic business. Now all of the sudden it was being given to me.
It is amazing when something you have wanted so long, or dreamed about for so long, really happens. It is almost like when something terrible happens: you can't believe it is really happening. All week my mind has been distracted. Work has been tough as I think about what might be in store. I signed my letter stating that my assignment won't be more than 183 days (due to tax reasons), but I know in speaking to my new boss in Hong Kong that his idea is for us to stay longer, if possible. Prudential has provided me great benefits while I am there including allowing my wife and children to come with me.
I am so excited. Hong Kong, from everyone I have spoken to who has lived there, is an awesome place to live. Most people speak a little English, which is helpful. I am hoping to be able to learn some more Mandarin (even though Cantonese is the main Chinese spoken in HK). I am excited to be there with my family and experience a new life for some time. There is a temple there and they even have English-speaking wards. I am hoping we will also get to see other parts of Asia that I have always wanted to see like Japan and Thailand.
Who knows what will happen in the next year or so. If it truly turns into a longer term assignment we may not be seeing too much of the states for a while. We'll be back for Christmas, even our Mexico trip in August. It feels almost like Christmas. It is even hard for me to sleep. I am theoretically going over on July 30 on my own and then will return at the end of August to go to Mexico with the family and then bring them back with me after Labor Day.
I am so excited. I can't wait.
beautiful morning
Sometimes when we are busy, it helps to just sit down. I took my healthy bowl of granola with fresh raspberries from our garden and blueberries from Adams out to the front porch swing at 8am. the beauty of the morning overwhelmed me, and I couldn't help but be grateful for the area we live in, the peace and quiet, the deer walking way back in the distance, the hummingbird that flew over to say hi, the bluebird eating bugs in the front lawn, Tommy raking the grass in the back, Kathy already up and going to Borders to get in line for the 'book', etc. although I am quite busy today throwing a party for the DeMoura's, and have tons to do for trek, this 15 minutes gave me what I needed to cheerfully get ready for the party, and cheerfully work on the trek. Bret, I love my hummingbird feeder! It will remind me of you every time I see it, just like my bluebirds do Jacob. miss you all!
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Booger face
Here are some picts of the lil stink butt! Sorry I'm not very good at getting them out. Maybe I'll have to show Millie how to do it and pass it off to her as her job... maybe as a bimonthly thing! :)
Monday, July 02, 2007
A.R.K.
So Millie and I had a date night last Friday and since there's really not much out in theaters right now worth seeing (in comparison with the anticipation of Harry Potter and Transformers!) we went to Evan Almighty... I had heard mostly bad reviews, but since the source was less than reliable we thought we'd give it a shot; after all, it did look "good."
And it was good. I liked it. It had a great message. I think Millie tends to see most movies/books/forms of entertainment as just that... entertainment (you can correct me if I'm way wrong Bean) but I love looking for messages in almost all that I'm exposed to.
Of course the story is LOOSELY based off of the story of Noah and the ark... and coming out of Hollywood (and considering it starred Steve Carell) they didn't seem to be TOO far off on the POINT of the story. There's even a part where God (played by Morgan Freeman) says to Evan: The story of Noah isn't a story about God's vengeance or wrath, it's about love... it's about the animals walking side by side, two by two into the ark... it's about Noah and his family working along side each other, supporting each other and trusting each other... and that no matter what Even is put through, God does it because he loves him. Another point made was how Evan had been elected to Congress and set out to "change the world"... God (Morgan Freeman) explained that the way you change the world is by simple and small Acts of Random Kindness (A.R.K.).
Which brings me to my next point... The short story "Homeless In Hell", by Orson Scott Card, tells of a man who dies and was not good enough for heaven and not bad enough for hell, and so, like many other "lost souls" was forced to wander the streets of hell. In the streets he meets a man who gives him a "job." His job is to help living children. Mostly to bring them comfort (for those that are lonely or scared or being abused) or to help in anyway they can. The story is a Christmas story so it talks about how the Christmas holiday is the busiest and that's when they try to find ways to "pick the pockets of the wealthy" and find ways to "get the money into the hands of children in need." He explains how being dead and without a body makes this VERY difficult since there are VERY few dead souls that are able to affect the living world, and those who can have VERY limited abilities. The point of the story is this: He explains how it is SO easy for the living to make a difference in the lives of others (children specifically in the story) yet so few take the opportunities to do so. He reflects (as a dead person) on how much more he could have done in life to make a difference and maybe make it into heaven had he just acted once in a while.
My third (and last) point is this: This is really more for me than anyone else, but I call myself to action. Sure I don't see many opportunities to really help someone in "need"... my life is very routine. But I know there are people in the world that could use a hand and I hope to do better at providing that hand and serve. Sure it's just a movie, or just a short story, but I believe truth can be found in all mediums and I support anything that is in line with the gospel of Jesus Christ and serves to make the world a little better. It's easy to be overwhelmed and forget, but truly, by simple Acts of Random Kindness, I think we can change the world.
And it was good. I liked it. It had a great message. I think Millie tends to see most movies/books/forms of entertainment as just that... entertainment (you can correct me if I'm way wrong Bean) but I love looking for messages in almost all that I'm exposed to.
Of course the story is LOOSELY based off of the story of Noah and the ark... and coming out of Hollywood (and considering it starred Steve Carell) they didn't seem to be TOO far off on the POINT of the story. There's even a part where God (played by Morgan Freeman) says to Evan: The story of Noah isn't a story about God's vengeance or wrath, it's about love... it's about the animals walking side by side, two by two into the ark... it's about Noah and his family working along side each other, supporting each other and trusting each other... and that no matter what Even is put through, God does it because he loves him. Another point made was how Evan had been elected to Congress and set out to "change the world"... God (Morgan Freeman) explained that the way you change the world is by simple and small Acts of Random Kindness (A.R.K.).
Which brings me to my next point... The short story "Homeless In Hell", by Orson Scott Card, tells of a man who dies and was not good enough for heaven and not bad enough for hell, and so, like many other "lost souls" was forced to wander the streets of hell. In the streets he meets a man who gives him a "job." His job is to help living children. Mostly to bring them comfort (for those that are lonely or scared or being abused) or to help in anyway they can. The story is a Christmas story so it talks about how the Christmas holiday is the busiest and that's when they try to find ways to "pick the pockets of the wealthy" and find ways to "get the money into the hands of children in need." He explains how being dead and without a body makes this VERY difficult since there are VERY few dead souls that are able to affect the living world, and those who can have VERY limited abilities. The point of the story is this: He explains how it is SO easy for the living to make a difference in the lives of others (children specifically in the story) yet so few take the opportunities to do so. He reflects (as a dead person) on how much more he could have done in life to make a difference and maybe make it into heaven had he just acted once in a while.
My third (and last) point is this: This is really more for me than anyone else, but I call myself to action. Sure I don't see many opportunities to really help someone in "need"... my life is very routine. But I know there are people in the world that could use a hand and I hope to do better at providing that hand and serve. Sure it's just a movie, or just a short story, but I believe truth can be found in all mediums and I support anything that is in line with the gospel of Jesus Christ and serves to make the world a little better. It's easy to be overwhelmed and forget, but truly, by simple Acts of Random Kindness, I think we can change the world.
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Water World
Wednesday I took off of work for my flex day (we have a new flex working schedule where I can take off 1 day every 4 weeks if I work 30 minutes more each day) and we packed up and went to Waterworld, which is a water park near our home. It was a lot of fun. It is nothing like Raging Waters or Seven Peaks in UT (which I don't understand since Utah only has summer for a few months), but for our kids it was a lot of fun. Enok didn't complain all day. Jarek and Malik had a lot of fun. Malik especially enjoyed the wave pool. I enjoyed the weather, being in water, and having a day off with my family. We were careful with the sunscreen so none of us burned or anything. They had a small area where the pool was about 2 or 3 feet deep with little slides for kids to go down. That is where we spent most of our time. It was so much fun.
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