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Jul. 30th, 2006 09:53 amMy annual review occurred on Friday. I guess it's a good thing that I only found out about it on Thursday; less time to stress about it.
I printed out my copy Friday morning before going in to the meeting and found that I'd rated a five out of ten on every single category, which made me a bit nervous. After talking to my manager though, the full scoop is that she felt that I was exceeding expectations as first level support, but since lack of staff and increased workload had forced me into a de-facto second level position, I'd still been doing pretty well but hadn't "wowed" her enough to rate a really high review. She is apparently looking to hire an additional second-level support type person and have me do first level stuff for a while, but would like to have me officially promoted to second level support by this time next year. She wants to give me more "time to grow" as a first level tech. *shrugs* Could be worse I suppose.
The best thing for me was the $3.50 per hour raise. (Ok, the equivalent thereof; I'm salaried.) She also seemed to indicate that she wished it could be more and that, when I do get a real promotion, the raise in pay would be substantially more than that. Since even before getting a raise I was making the most money I've ever made by a significant margin, I'm pretty pleased. I'm also excited by the possibility of there being a lot of room for me to grow where I am if we keep acquiring more companies, as it seems like we're going to be doing. I just wish it was close to home. I have a feeling that I'm not going to find anything paying nearly as well around Kenosha, but I'm still going to get my résumé up to date and put it out there. Just to see what kind of things find me.
It's been unbearably hot this weekend. The heat wave finally broke this morning as an impressive rain storm rolled through. I woke up about 9:30 saw the weather, and shook Moira out of bed so she could accompany me down to the lake. We got into the truck just as the rain started coming down in sooth, and after driving the few blocks to the lake shore, it was a strong downpour. We sat and watched the rain over the lake until it dissipated, then rolled down our windows and talked for a little while. We talked about wanting to drive out to Madison again. It seems that some of Moira's friends there have a car that might be within the range of what we're looking for, so that's exciting. I love just sitting and watching the water with my sweetie. So often I used to do it by myself, thinking I'd never have anyone to do it with me....
On Friday, Serin and I got off work early as part of the rotating Friday afternoon off that our manager has given the help desk folks. We were supposed to off at twelve, and as the stuff I was in the middle of took me on through quarter after, she actually came in, took the stuff away from me that I had to fax so she could do it herself, and chased us out. I like working for her a lot.
The two of us stopped in briefly at the Goodwill store in Mundelein, which was the cause of my last post about the photo equipment. Afterward, I went up to her place to meet up with Todd until we got a call from Moira saying she was home. I joined up with her, went out to deposit her paycheck, and we looked at a couple of used car lots. Palmen motors was having a sale on Saturday wherein a few of their cars were going to be sold for five dollars. They weren't saying which ones, but it was pretty clear from the condition of the cars in question which ones they were going to be. In fact, after we test drove a little Mercury being held together by duct tape(!), our sales guy found out that he wasn't supposed to let people test drive that one because it was one of the five dollar jobs.
Moira and I thought about it and decided that after the title and licensing fees and everything else, such a car probably wasn't worth the three hundred or so that it would come out to. Maybe if we were looking for a car for our son or daughter to drive to high school and back it would make sense, but for primary daily transportation, we concluded that it would be much better to wait for a while and save up rather than waste a good chunk of money on something that isn't a step up from what we have and may not even last as long. Just as well we didn't too, since, as I noted above, we may have a better option.
We test drove another Daewoo too. I really like Daewoos. They're pretty. I have a feeling the one we looked at in Illinois was underpriced too. This one was, with the sale price, about $4000. It was nice, but quite certainly out of our price range. I went as far as applying for financing, at least half because I'd never done it before and I wanted to see what my credit rating was. The result: not very good. Apparently I'm a little too far behind with some of my bills. The raise I mentioned before should help alleviate that situation.
After getting back home, Moira, feeling a little tired, elected to stay home while I went over to Todd and Serin's place to hang out. The three of us played a round of Trivial Pursuit, while I kept getting distracted by Sneakers playing in the background. I was happily impressed that Serin knew the name of Sherlock Holmes' more intelligent brother. I am amazed to find that I know so many intelligent, well-read, and let's not forget cute, geek-girls. *squees* Moira has been talking about picking up the literary version of the game: that would be so much fun with our circle of friends!
What did we do Saturday? I'm trying to remember. We didn't get up 'till about two o' clock, and the heat was oppressive. Ah, my mate just jogged my brain. We decided to go to the mall, just to walk 'round for a bit. We stopped at a furniture store to ask about a bedframe (we seem to have broken our last one), but they were a bit pricey there. We'll keep looking. I wonder if I could weld ours? I have a welder, but no one has ever taught me how to weld. Incidentally, if there's anyone on my friends list who can do it, I'd love to learn. Or maybe I can get my grandfather to come up and teach me.
Anyway, we got to Gurnee Mills and wandered about for a while. Since I had a little bit more money than expected (my pay increase was retroactive through this period), we bought a couple trinkets like a braided toe ring and a hematite ring (to replace one that broke some time ago) for me, and a pretty triskelion necklace for Meghan. We had a fun time looking around Black Market Minerals; they always have such pretty things, even if they aren't all my taste. I want some more sarongs from there. They'd be perfect for this kind of weather. Moira tells me the cute long-haired guy behind the counter didn't flirt with her as much as he usually does. Probably because I was there with her. I told her she should have flirted with him instead. *giggles*
'Till later!
I printed out my copy Friday morning before going in to the meeting and found that I'd rated a five out of ten on every single category, which made me a bit nervous. After talking to my manager though, the full scoop is that she felt that I was exceeding expectations as first level support, but since lack of staff and increased workload had forced me into a de-facto second level position, I'd still been doing pretty well but hadn't "wowed" her enough to rate a really high review. She is apparently looking to hire an additional second-level support type person and have me do first level stuff for a while, but would like to have me officially promoted to second level support by this time next year. She wants to give me more "time to grow" as a first level tech. *shrugs* Could be worse I suppose.
The best thing for me was the $3.50 per hour raise. (Ok, the equivalent thereof; I'm salaried.) She also seemed to indicate that she wished it could be more and that, when I do get a real promotion, the raise in pay would be substantially more than that. Since even before getting a raise I was making the most money I've ever made by a significant margin, I'm pretty pleased. I'm also excited by the possibility of there being a lot of room for me to grow where I am if we keep acquiring more companies, as it seems like we're going to be doing. I just wish it was close to home. I have a feeling that I'm not going to find anything paying nearly as well around Kenosha, but I'm still going to get my résumé up to date and put it out there. Just to see what kind of things find me.
It's been unbearably hot this weekend. The heat wave finally broke this morning as an impressive rain storm rolled through. I woke up about 9:30 saw the weather, and shook Moira out of bed so she could accompany me down to the lake. We got into the truck just as the rain started coming down in sooth, and after driving the few blocks to the lake shore, it was a strong downpour. We sat and watched the rain over the lake until it dissipated, then rolled down our windows and talked for a little while. We talked about wanting to drive out to Madison again. It seems that some of Moira's friends there have a car that might be within the range of what we're looking for, so that's exciting. I love just sitting and watching the water with my sweetie. So often I used to do it by myself, thinking I'd never have anyone to do it with me....
On Friday, Serin and I got off work early as part of the rotating Friday afternoon off that our manager has given the help desk folks. We were supposed to off at twelve, and as the stuff I was in the middle of took me on through quarter after, she actually came in, took the stuff away from me that I had to fax so she could do it herself, and chased us out. I like working for her a lot.
The two of us stopped in briefly at the Goodwill store in Mundelein, which was the cause of my last post about the photo equipment. Afterward, I went up to her place to meet up with Todd until we got a call from Moira saying she was home. I joined up with her, went out to deposit her paycheck, and we looked at a couple of used car lots. Palmen motors was having a sale on Saturday wherein a few of their cars were going to be sold for five dollars. They weren't saying which ones, but it was pretty clear from the condition of the cars in question which ones they were going to be. In fact, after we test drove a little Mercury being held together by duct tape(!), our sales guy found out that he wasn't supposed to let people test drive that one because it was one of the five dollar jobs.
Moira and I thought about it and decided that after the title and licensing fees and everything else, such a car probably wasn't worth the three hundred or so that it would come out to. Maybe if we were looking for a car for our son or daughter to drive to high school and back it would make sense, but for primary daily transportation, we concluded that it would be much better to wait for a while and save up rather than waste a good chunk of money on something that isn't a step up from what we have and may not even last as long. Just as well we didn't too, since, as I noted above, we may have a better option.
We test drove another Daewoo too. I really like Daewoos. They're pretty. I have a feeling the one we looked at in Illinois was underpriced too. This one was, with the sale price, about $4000. It was nice, but quite certainly out of our price range. I went as far as applying for financing, at least half because I'd never done it before and I wanted to see what my credit rating was. The result: not very good. Apparently I'm a little too far behind with some of my bills. The raise I mentioned before should help alleviate that situation.
After getting back home, Moira, feeling a little tired, elected to stay home while I went over to Todd and Serin's place to hang out. The three of us played a round of Trivial Pursuit, while I kept getting distracted by Sneakers playing in the background. I was happily impressed that Serin knew the name of Sherlock Holmes' more intelligent brother. I am amazed to find that I know so many intelligent, well-read, and let's not forget cute, geek-girls. *squees* Moira has been talking about picking up the literary version of the game: that would be so much fun with our circle of friends!
What did we do Saturday? I'm trying to remember. We didn't get up 'till about two o' clock, and the heat was oppressive. Ah, my mate just jogged my brain. We decided to go to the mall, just to walk 'round for a bit. We stopped at a furniture store to ask about a bedframe (we seem to have broken our last one), but they were a bit pricey there. We'll keep looking. I wonder if I could weld ours? I have a welder, but no one has ever taught me how to weld. Incidentally, if there's anyone on my friends list who can do it, I'd love to learn. Or maybe I can get my grandfather to come up and teach me.
Anyway, we got to Gurnee Mills and wandered about for a while. Since I had a little bit more money than expected (my pay increase was retroactive through this period), we bought a couple trinkets like a braided toe ring and a hematite ring (to replace one that broke some time ago) for me, and a pretty triskelion necklace for Meghan. We had a fun time looking around Black Market Minerals; they always have such pretty things, even if they aren't all my taste. I want some more sarongs from there. They'd be perfect for this kind of weather. Moira tells me the cute long-haired guy behind the counter didn't flirt with her as much as he usually does. Probably because I was there with her. I told her she should have flirted with him instead. *giggles*
'Till later!
