Work Update

I fucked up. I'm doing a project for a new client with lots of data and I generated their reports (about 60) and a calculation was off. Fortunately, they wanted to reissue them anyway with some wording changes, but still. I had to pull an all-nighter to get it fixed and I was ashamed. Getting the data right is essentially what they pay me for. The guy I'm working for is a fair person and I believe I can earn his trust back with the next round of reports, but my margin of error is pretty small.

You know those Facebook/e-mail memes that ask about your biggest fear? Most people put something like, "Something happening to my kids." Honestly, I don't worry about anything happening to the HB as my statistical mind knows that's very unlikely and I try not to get worked up about things that aren't going to happen. Screwing up at work is really what I fear. Sure, part of it is economic, but there's a lot of ego involved, too. I built the business and everything rests on me doing it well. I feel that I let myself and the people who hire me down when I make errors. And it's the worse feeling in my gut.

In better news, the project that had me driving 100 mile round trip three out of 4 days went very well. In fact, better than last year. The new guy who heads it up for my client was very pleased as all the changes we made from last year had a positive impact.

I gave a presentation in Northern California on Friday that I was very pleased with. It was the first time I gave it, and it didn't have any nasty surprises. In the audience was the CEO of a company I'm with which I'm trying to get some sub-contract work, so I think I helped myself out. On the way back on the plane I sat next to this guy who was a chatterbox. Usually I'll nod a few times and get back to my work (I almost always work on planes). This worked for a bit. But, we were early getting into LAX and out gate wasn't ready, so there were an extra 15 minutes of time for him to chew my ear off that I'll never get back. He's in his late 60s and he and his wife are getting divorced (could it have been his incessant talking and arrogance? Nah...). He's not too upset about it, but between that and the economy he figures he'll have to make another $3-$4 million to support his lifestyle. That kind of tin ear to reality makes me want to puke. This guy could lose half his shit and quit working tomorrow and still live better than 98% of the country. I'm sure there were people sitting near us who must have been ready to strangle him.

I have presented to this group before and they put on a good conference. This year they hosted which was essentially an open bar and had a couple of Wii setups. It was really a hoot. I'm thinking that one of the conference hosts used to be a stripper. She had a little bit of ink, but it was mostly how she flitted about and knew EXACTLY how to draw attention to herself, even without wearing something overtly sexy. Oh, and the racoon eye-liner.

The every third year project with my utility client kicks into high gear in two weeks. I'll need to get some other things finished up before then or else I'll really be swamped.