Brian Hale-Yeah!'s blog

Back to reality

2nd day back at work and I can't get this sunset out of my mind!

My year so far...

This is not a picture from my work computer...I just had to say that because the last time I posted a screen shot from work I had to sign a form saying I wouldn't.
My blogging has severely dropped off in the last couple months because of this event. We (I can't say who I work for either) got audited one day by our compliance department. Supposedly the guy "googled" me and found my blog.
I work in finance and investments so you can imagine that we are one, if not the most, heavily regulated industries out there. Every email that I send or receive at work goes through my manager's inbox. By a function of his job he has to read so many of them a day. I have a blackberry that I got through work and the text message feature has been turned off. And, I obviously can't check my personal email on either my blackberry or through the internet in my own office.
Blogging is considered "external communication" which can't be regulated by our system, so I had to sign a legal statement saying that I won't blog from work. I understand the security risk of me posting insider information to my oh-so popular blog, but the best thing about blogging is the "what's happenning right now" factor.
I would get an idea, hear a joke, see something funny online and share it with you guys. Now, I have to email myself what I saw and then when I get home, make that email into a post. But, by the time I get home, I'm not feeling it anymore...
I tell you this just to let you know why I've been so random lately and plus I just needed to blow off a little steam. Thanks for listening.
Oh, I also can't leave comments on other people's blogs from work, so no hard feelings!

caffeine won ' t even help me now.

As, you probably know, yesterday was Carlos and Heather's last official day at Sandals Church in Riverside. I drove down on Saturday with my 2 girls and hung out while Jacinda was at a bachelorette party all weekend in San Diego. Saturday was cool. My good friend Bogie and his wife Becca came over, they started blogs (I need to get those web addresses), and we watched "Talladega nights". Shake and Bake!

Sunday, was full of church. I dropped the girls, Heather and their 3 kids off at their children's ministry (sorry about that Janie!) which they creatively call, "flip-flops" and then I headed to Barnes and Noble for some "me time". I went back to the 11 o'clock service because that was the one that the guy from LA Ink was going to be filming stuff. We then headed back to the Whittaker's house, grabbed some lunch with his folks and after Jacinda got there to relieve me of some of the kid duties, I crashed. I slept for about an hour and then we got ready and headed to Sandals, one last time.

It was pretty emotional, which is exhausting in and of itself. We left Riverside by 9:30 and didn't get to Fresno until 2am! That's just when I walked in the door. I can't even remember when I actually got to bed. I wanted to curse my alarm this morning, but I was here, right around 7, but it feels like there is a monkey on my back. In college, I totally could've pulled this off, but now I practically need an IV with caffeine in it. I'm feeling pretty good now, just still sluggish.

Carlos flew to Atlanta last night after the service. Hope you're doing good buddy.

I ' ve been out...sorry.

Sorry I haven't blogged the last couple days. I went up to San Francisco for 2 days to attend an Alternative Investments University Seminar with my company. It was very interesting and I learned a ton, although I don't know how much you guys would want to hear about commodities, hedge funds, or managed futures. It's the new wave of investment strategies though! I'm busy going through my emails, getting back to clients and back into the swing of things. My team here at work is taking me out to lunch though today to my favorite Tepanyaki place. Can't wait!

Funny but true

Don't get me wrong here, I love helping people and I even think that teaching others how to do something is a good way to keep yourself sharp. But, when you don't have time to teach them, you kind of miss out on that and you'll be "helping them" again next week. I think I make it pretty obvious when I absolutely can't be bothered at work, but it still happens. Someday I'd love to say what Dilbert said. "okay, while I'm working on your stuff, go grab me some lunch. thanks!"

overlimit on bandwidth

My office is so Dilbert, it's hilarious. We just got an email from our corporate IT division telling everyone to close their NCAA OD window at work. Apparently there are too many people watching the tournament (or listening) and it's eating up all our bandwidth.

One time I figured I put iTunes on my computer so that I could listen to music while I worked. Someone from our IT dept. called me and asked, "what's up with all the bandwidth?" I told him I was installing iTunes and he's like, "uh, you can't do that". me: "bummer, sorry, I didn't know."

The King and I

In Fresno, there is a small theater company called "The Good Company Player". They have two different venues in which you can go see plays. Roger Rocka's is the more popular and more polished of the two. Last night my office bought 150 tickets that we invited our best clients to. It was a great night. All the wives got to come too, so it's always nice to see who people are attached to.

This guy was the King in the classic story of "The King and I". I'm guessing he's mexican, but he pulled off the king of siam very well. The show starts with dinner, which was a surprisingly good buffet and then they serve dinner during intermission. It's a really cool thing that we have here in our Tower District (artsy part of town) that we definitely don't take advantage of enough. Almost funnier than the show itself was the little old lady who was sitting infront of Jacinda where everytime they danced, she would exclaim, in a surprised way, "Whoa!"

How does your job fare?

I just saw this survey in a trade journal that I was reading. Financial Advisor came in as third best job in America based on, growth, pay, stress levels, and some other factors. I've seen these things before and they are always different, but I still think they are interesting. Here's the top 10.

1. Software Engineer

2. College Professor

3. Financial Advisor

4. Human Resource Manager

5. Physician's Assistant

6. Market Research Analyst

7. Computer IT Analyst

8. Real Estate Appraiser

9. Pharmacist

10. Psychologist

The rest of the list goes like this:

advertising manager, physical therapist, technical writer, chiropractor, medical scientist, physical scientist, engineer, curriculum developer, editor, public relations specialist, sales manager, optometrist, property manager, actuary, and #25...writer.

Did your job fall on the list?

Drowning in Work

Yep, I can barely breathe. The year end is SUPER busy for me, trying to get all kinds of things done by the 1st. I just wanted to let you all know that I am alive and well. I've been keeping up with most of you through my Google Reader, but haven't had the time to blog lately. We are decorating the tree tonight, so hopefully I can snap some pics and get those up. It's Christmas time everybody! Jacinda and I are almost done shopping. Just one more person that we have to "shop" for. Other than that, we just need to either go get what we know we are getting for people or recieve it in the mail from dear old Amazon.com. Clocking in at hour 10 today of work. Hopefully I'll go home soon.

office nap

Top TEN things to say when you're caught sleeping at your desk:

10. "They told me at the Blood Bank this might happen..."
9. "This is just a 15 minute power nap they raved about in the time management course you sent me to!"
8. "Whew! Guess I left the top off the Whiteout. You probably got here just in time!”
7. "I wasn't sleeping! I was meditating on the mission statement and

envisioning the new strategy."
6. "I was testing my keyboard for drool resistance."
5. "I was doing a highly specific Yoga exercise to relieve work-related stress. Are you discriminatory toward people who practice Yoga?"
4. "Darn! Why did you interrupt me? I had almost figured out how to handle that big accounting problem."
3. "Did you ever notice sound coming out of these keyboards when you put your ear down real close?"
2. "Who put decaf in the wrong pot?!?"
AND THE NUMBER ONE best thing to say if you get caught sleeping at your desk........
1. Raise your head slowly and say, "...in Jesus name, Amen."

From Crystal Renaud @ Pink Haired Girl