First, I must say that I absolutely LOVE Video DownloadHelper http://update.downloadhelper.net/index.html. It is just a must for those of us who have to do presentations or teach classes. There is only so much boring Powerpoint that a person can sit through or present from before brains start to go mushy and eyes begin to close. The app is just an add-on to your browser and when you find a video you like, you simply click the little drop-down menu and choose if you want to download it. Go ahead and get the paid version because that let's you convert the video to a Windows friendly format (instead of that goofy format YouTube uses and some players don't seem to like). By spicing up presentations with video, even the most drab presenter can "kick it up a notch" and get a few laughs, or communicate a complex concept quickly and visually.
Most of you know I am an AVID reader. A fun but informative book that I'm reading right now is "Don't Believe Everything You Think". I'm on chapter 12, so not done yet, but very close. Because I really am a big "gut-check" "common-sense" kind of girl geek, I often struggle with the conflict of how many times my common sense or gut is just spot on right and how many other times it is just dead wrong. This book offers great reasons why this is and how you can be more cognizant of it. Kind of a gut check for the gut or some sense to go with your common sense. Because I work in a field like IT, specifically in forensics and litigation support, and it is changing so rapidly, sometimes there just is nothing else to go on but your gut or common sense. I'm all for anything that can help me get better in those areas!
I just got done an incredible call with a brilliant attorney. She's working on a really scary case with a client where a rogue employee (who also happened to be the system administrator) is in trouble with the law, criminally, from his last employer, in a white-collar crime sort of way. I have to say that every time I work with an attorney like her, I just love project management and my team all the more! This woman gets it. She knows she is the legal expert and that we are the IT experts, and that together, we can be a powerful force to protect her client in a horrific situation. She knows what she does best, and she knows what we do best. In the middle of all that is me. The Geek/Legal interpreter. While she and my team speak the same English language, I prefer to think of it as two different dialects - GeekSpeak and Legalese. Fortunately for the clients of Reclamere, I am fluent in both and I simply love that part of my job. Owning a business with Bob and Joe is way cool. Nice perks and a nice car. But getting to be in the trenches project managing complex e-discovery matters is the absolute coolest thing about my professional life. It truly is my passion. I don't care if we have a hundred on our team and 10 locations, I still want to be in the trenches on this stuff!
Well, Sammy comes home today from St. Francis U. volleyball camp. For 2 days Doug and I have had a glimpse of life when he goes away to college (or military school if the teen years get too much). I missed him tremendously, but I have to say that the freedom to work late and just live in a purely self-absorbed way for 2 days was pretty nice! I'm not going to wish away this amazing phase of our life, raising a kid and being crazy busy. But it was comforting to know that while the empty nest will break my heart, it will only be broken temporarily. Not too long after, it will be replaced by spa days, working late without guilt, and spur of the moment trips to who knows where! The 50's are going to be great in their own way and while I'm not in any hurry to live them, I know for a fact that I won't ever dread them either.
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