Wednesday saw the craziemob heading off to see Despicable Me 2. If you've not seen the first Despicable Me yet, you've missed out. It's a very funny, if rather silly, movie. Despicable Me 2 is more of the same but better in pretty much every way. I think one reason is because all of the character introduction was in the first movie.
More minions !
My movie of the year so far.
Don't tell anyone (bad for my image) but I had tears in my eyes by the end. Tears of laughter. In fact, it was so good, I'd happily see it again if the right person asked.
So for today.
Today was a travelling day ... meetings down in Portsmouth. I don't mind the travelling. It's not so much the meetings you go to, more the business you can do around the meetings. Being personally present is much better than conversing over email or messenger. Purely text methods (even the phone) don't allow you to see what's going on behind the words. I can convey honesty much better in person than on messages.
And when you don't have much to tell, then it's good to have a method of conveying that as honestly as you can.
Oh and it also lets me talk about stuff off the record. Emails have a habit of travelling further than you intended them to. But enough about that. Today's side business (yesterday's was the infrastructure guy) was talking to the support lady.
Support is a massive deal where I am. Or it should be ... For most major organisations, it's not the cost to buy which is most significant. Sure, it's big but it's not nearly as big as the whole life support cost. We try to keep the support cost down where I can. You can easily put too much attention into the "buy" and end up with something that costs silly money to run. Whereas, if you'd paid attention to the "support", you could save enough to let you have better shinies (upgrades!!!!) later.
So keeping the support lady on side is very important. It does help that she's : highly intelligent, very cute and in possession of long dark hair. You know, the type I go gaga about. Seriously though, when we do the bits and pieces that set up the support plans, this little lady will help turn it from best guess into something supremely polished with everything considered and nothing out of place.
I know someone else who does that and she also fits that type. There's a rare intelligence behind those twinkling eyes and I miss having the chance to natter or just see if I can get the boost that comes with seeing a smile light up that face. It's things like visiting one team, seeing someone who has switched to that team from the old team and wishing you had the excuse to visit the old team where this lady works.
Where was I ? Working relationships are very important. I like to work in the background. There's people who make a lot of noise about how they work. That sometimes has benefits, except when they flit from hot topic to next hot topic, without actually achieving anything except for annoying everyone. Unlike today and yesterday where I quietly give the important people a personal update to let them know why I've been quiet. And in return, I'll get Stuff from them that'll help my work no end. There's still a few more people I need to chat to though. Maybe next week.
Today's long day was finished off with a trip to Lexus in Cheltenham, where they were having a launch party for the new IS300h.
Opinion ? Very shiny. My CT beats all the cars my family's owned, which includes things like Granada Ghia's, Senators, Mercs and a few more decent marques as well as those. And the new IS is better again than the CT. It's got some seriously shiny bits to it and it'll be very tempting to switch to one.
But not just yet. Cos of a moratorium on pay rises, I'm going to be looking for a payment holiday from car loans so Plan A is that my CT is with me for at least 5 years.
So the next car is for another time.
For now - instead of cars, I'll be thinking of a real someone and hoping that she comes through her current trials and tribulations with the same carefree joyous spirit that made her the heart of my last team.
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