Mediocre is the new Fantastic apparently

I've done a great job at work.  You heard me.  Not good, GREAT!  I know it.  I've been killing it.  I work hard, I do my part and then some.  I've learned the material, I present like I pro.  This is in the one thing in my life I am a blatant braggard about.

And I've shot myself in the foot by doing so well.

I've done so well that I have more teaching hours than anyone else in June. . . by 30-40 hours.  That's obviously no small margin.  Work is refusing to pay any over time yet they really think that every class will go smoothly enough that I can have four ten-hour days (that's 8 scheduled contact teaching hours with prep and tears down) and never go over forty hours.  HA I say.  HAHAHAHAHA (wipes tears from eres)

The teachers out there will know what I mean.  How often do things go better than planned?  How rare is the class where everyone is on time, they understand every concept, they don't have any questions, no one needs extra time for their test at the end or want to follow up after?  I think I'd be luck to have one such class in all my 29 classes in June.

I have a coworker who probably makes double what I do, shows up late, does the bare minimum to get by.  How is she rewarded?  She's off every Friday in June and works about 40 hours less than I do teaching. All of this is from the June schedule that we just finally got today, May 31.  What days do I have off for balance so I don't go over 40 hours you ask?  I have three days the entire month - a Wednesday, a Tuesday and a Monday.

I realize today's blog was a massive rant.  I needed it.  I won't even apologize for it.

If anyone out there knows how to reprogram the part of my brain that tells me I have to do a good job, not show up late, be honest about the hours I'm billing for so that I can be a lazy slacker who gets three day weekends every week, please, for the love of Pete, let me know.  Apparently, mediocrity is more than it's rumoured to be.

Lake 22, Granite Falls

It's the end of the day, Memorial Day.  Foremost I'd like to thank a few people: My Uncle Rick, a lifetime Navy man. My Grandpa Joe who served in the Army in WWII. My friends Mateo, Zeb, Chris, Lindsey, Ed and others who served or continue to serve our country.  I'm thankful for what you do not in small part because it's something I can't/won't do, and in large part because it is so important to the fabric of who we are as America.

I spend today hiking.  It was a great way to end a weekend spent mostly in solitude and grinding away at tasks. The weather wasn't nearly as nice today as the last two, but it wasn't too bad either, except at the top of the mountain where is was raining and cold. My drive to a Park and Ride to meet the gang was about 40 minutes.  From there we went on another hour to a small town called Granite falls.  We carried on the Snoqualmie/Mt. Baker National Forest and hiked up to Lake 22.  If there's a Lake 21 or 23 I know not but we found Lake 22.  It's a crater in the top of the mountain.  2.4 miles up we found snow and the lake was still mostly frozen over.  It was about 5.5 miles total. The pictures will do it more justice than I can with words.

First Views Up

So green it almost made my eyes hurt

Christopher and Asa, thinking of you!

Not quite swimming weather

Cold but very pretty.  You can't see that is was raining and I had to put on about four articles of clothing!

The gang went for post-funk food and drink, then I made my way home via the park and ride.  This is the first Memorial Day I've been in the States for in about five years.  My thanks to all our veterans was a thought that was with me all day.

I'm horrible

It took me until this week to realize that I hadn't posted a blog in, well, let's just call it ages. It's been so long that everything here on blogger has changed and it took me ten minutes to get this far.  When I was living in Jakarta, I would usually post my blog entries during planning periods at school.  Now those have evaporated.  Instead I'm teaching eight plus hours in a ten hour work day, then trying to hit the gym or bike before going home to feed the pets and collapse to do it again.  Is it any wonder I'm not getting much else done these days?

There are a few of you who'll read this and put it together with the fact that it took me two to five weeks to respond to your emails.  See?! It's not you, it's me.  I haven't blogged, I haven't emailed, if you look at my facebook you'll see that I've done little more that "Like" stuff. Boy how life has changed from five months ago.

A quick update today with the. . . not promise. . .um . . with full intent to try and squeeze in at least a couple blogs per week.
I've been at my job about seven weeks now.  I got credentialed as an Epic trainer two weeks ago.  It's proven to be a double edged sword. They loved me so now I've been loaded up with work.  I think they'd have me teaching every class if they could.  This week involved a couple of ten hour days and it looks to increase from here.  I though I'd have a couple days next week to update my outlines and prepare.  They're already changed my Wednesday from one two-hour class to two four-hour classes.

I really like the teaching and I think I'm great at it.  Teaching is one of the few things that I'm brazenly, unabashedly proud of.  I'm a fantastic teacher.  I could teach Indonesians to build igloos, though why you'd want to I'm unsure.  I also know why saying involve igloos/ice since so little of life ever refers one to an igloo. For the folks back on the ranch in CGK, you'll know that teaching Indonesians anything can be trying. I can see that during the next several months, the most enjoyable part of work will be that spent in the classroom. That was usually the case at JIKS too.

The catch with EPIC and VMC (my hospital) is that it's a bit like flying the airplane while it's still being built.  The powers that be are still making decisions on what should be taught and how, which Epic uses follow their policies.  Then the analysts have to make the build match what we're going to be doing.  Sometimes the trainers get the change first and the build hasn't changed, occasionally it's the other way around.  It makes every day a new adventure (she says through gritted teeth).  Part of what makes me an above average Epic trainer is that long ago I learned that teaching is part tap dancing.  I make some of it up as I go and learn to keep the show moving, even if it's not what it was yesterday,  or an hour ago (yes, I have had things change between when I checked before class and when we'd gotten then in class).

The feedback from the students trainees has been very positive.  I am happy to hear it and use it to keep the course.

Outside of work life is also a roller coaster.  I'm out hiking every weekend.  It's usually a few of the same people and lots of other folks that rotate through.  I bike after work when the weather is nice, or head to the gym if it's not.  Ten hour work days have put a bit of a kabosh on my social life during the week. I've had a few dates which have precipitated me thinking about if I want to include that part of my life here. No decision yet. For now, I'll leave you with a couple GoPro photos from my first successful  trip out with it hiking, two consecutive days, one on Tiger Mountain (Poo Poo Point trailhead) and one on Little Si.

Out of the gates on Tiger Mountain

I'm explaining something very important about something that's THIS big

Our strategy meetings often go like this: Now where did you want to go for lunch after? 

Nearly back to the car.

On the top of Little Si looking across at Big Si

Winding down Little Si.  You can see the fisheye lens more here.

Two lovely British ladies who stopped me to ask a bout the GoPro. It almost looks like I'd posed them.