Friday, December 12, 2008

Great job, Great people and a Great time was had by all......

I went to work on Tuesday. Our group had the Christmas luncheon and Gift exchange. We have been doing this for years and it is a real blast. I work with the best people. I have been there over five years and the group is a very tight group. We all work for the FAA and our division is Seattle Aircraft Certification Office (SACO) and we are the 103S Electrical Branch. I work in the Systems and Equipment area and as a Program Manager on a large project. In a nutshell, we certify airplanes for flight.

This group is awesome in the fact they are very passionate about their jobs, are very ethical and are caring and compassionate people. The FAA has been dinged in the news media as of late, but our group is very ethical and passionate about their jobs. You couldn’t get a better group of people to work with.

We got a new manager for a bit since out regular manager is on special assignment. Our new guy is Rob and he is an ex-Marine and has been in the trenches like us. Everyone really likes him and he is held in high regards.

I have been out on medical leave since July and have only gone back once. This was my second foray and I had to sign out some papers by the end of the year and wanted to make our luncheon. I had run out of sick leave and my co-workers donated enough sick time so I could recover and not stress. Apparently when they heard that I had run out of sick time in our group meeting, they donated time so I could recovery and have my third surgery. People like that are people that I am proud to have as friends. Much thanks to them for their generosity. Tony, my lead has been keeping me posted on work and making sure the proper paperwork gets down. We talk almost on a daily basis.

I got there about 9:30 and it was rush and rush. I had to go and visit everyone and then get caught up on work and then we blasted off to lunch. We ate at the Kegs. The food has gone downhill and was pricey. I was not impressed by my prime rib sandwich. It had lots of gristle and the bread was very chewy. The hamburgers were different than last year and the impression that I got was that they were not very good. They certainly didn’t look too appealing. The service was excellent though and they handled out group of 30 people with ease.

Then we had the gift exchange. Everyone gets a number and picks a gift or can steal a gift. The gift can be stolen twice. Some of the coveted gifts go quickly. It was fun and we all had laughed and had a good time. A couple of years ago, there was a couple of bottles of wine and this year, most of the gifts were wine. In case you asked, we did not drink the wine. I got a bottle of Sauvignonand gave it to Getty when I got home.

We all went back to work and I then finished up more paperwork and downloaded work to my laptop to do at home. Then I headed home and made a short stop to get Getty a Christmas present. By the time I got home, I was wiped. That was the most activity that I have done in a long time. I did have to take a nap when I got home. But it was a great day and I had a good time. I am grateful to my co-workers. They have to be the best folks in the world. I look forward to going back to work in January, even though it probably will be on a part time basis until I am fully recovered.

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