Month: October 2017

Oh Yeah it’s Been Nine Years (and a Month)

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Today it has been nine years (and a month) of my working at Thomson Reuters. On one hand it does feel like I’ve been here for a long time. On the other hand it’s still challenging to grasp that it’s been eight years. One of the things I’ve learned that’s good about a large company is it changes as well as your role changes so even though it’s been eight years I’m not doing the same thing I was doing when I started in September 2008.

Thomson Reuters for me by the numbers was something I was thinking about in my head the other day. In the eight years that I’ve been lots of things have changed for me. I have managed five different groups. Six if you count the one I had for about a week or so however I don’t. I’ve had six different positions. I’ve gone through four different managers. Funny enough I switched between three of them within a three-month period that started with a voicemail when I was returning from my honeymoon. I have worked out of three different offices as well as working from home however if you really counted out I’ve gone from Office 1, to Office 2, to Office 3, back to Office 2.

On a personal side I have lived in three different apartments. I have dated, got engaged, got married. Oh and I also have two kids within those nine years. In context my life is vastly different than it was on September 8, 2008. On a personal and professional level far better off than where I was. In anti-climactic fashion I realized about a year and a half after it happened that I have been at Reuters longer than any other company.

Note apparently I had a bunch of posts that I wrote last year that were actually submitted as drafts and never public.  This post was one of them.  I updated the metrics on work and the years working at TR however not much else changed in the post.  I missed posting on my anniversary so i am posting on the anniversary and a month.

Drinking Americano

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I started drinking more Americano’s in the morning on the weekends. I usually drink French press since it’s significantly cheaper and tastes pretty good. With our upcoming move I’m not sure (almost positive it can’t) if the Nespresso machine will work so it is on the list of what has to go.

The delicious challenge I have is that I have a bunch of pods remaining I need to drink before we move in December.  I will either drink a single Lungo shot on its own or make an Americano using the single shot pods.  I am running low on the Lungo shots so it will be Americano’s for a while. The delicious challenge was accepted.

The less delicious challenge to finish the decaf will happen later.

You Need A Passport, And You, Every Gets a Passport!

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I am sticking with the title even though I am not sure if the Operah joke goes over well in this context.

The thing about living overseas is you need a passport. M hadn’t renewed her US passport until the summer. It expired sometime last year. We were pleasantly surprised to get the passport back pretty quick versus how long the State Department said it could take.

My passport is good through 2019 however I’m renewing it early. For one thing I look vaguely like the photo on my passport nowadays. It’s almost funny to see how much more weight I had back then. I also think it’s a good idea to renew it now since renewing it while I’m overseas I feel will be more challenging. Since we want to make a trip before we move I sent my request off and paid the expedite fee. Even though MC had hers come back pretty fast there’s no guarantee. I did not want take that chance.

T has a passport however since she got it when she was not yet one it’s expiring the summer. We will likely have to renew it before we go. I think there’s a rule that you’re not supposed to travel if your passport will expire within six months. I’m curious about that however in any event will renew T before we leave.

A and I went one morning this summer to get hers done. I was surprised at how complicated that was for me to go by myself without M. Apparently the governments concerned about people getting passports and taking their kids without telling the other spouse. I needed to provide a notarized letter and proof of ID from MC saying she knows that I’m getting a passport for A. I get the reasons why you have to do this however I was slightly amused, and slightly annoyed that I had to do that. A didn’t really care. She was fascinated with the post office.

Once T is taking care of we will be all set. Next up is the visas. Thankfully work is taking care of those.

Start With Why

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A few years ago a guy I work with sent me a TED talk video of Simon Sinek.  After  watching one of his videos I immediately watched the second one. Both were very fascinating. It inspired me to want to read his book start with why. The reviews however basically said if you watched the TED talk then you really don’t need to read the book. At the time I didn’t.

Over the summer someone at work challenged me to come up with my personal brand. I floundered for a while not knowing what to do since I am terrible at self-promoting or so I thin I asked the same coworker for thoughts on where to star on doing an exercise like that. He suggested going back to start with why He also pointed out that there is or was a course that Simon Sinek offered that helped people come up with their personal why.

What my coworker said made a lot of sense I ended up buying the book even though the reviews suggested I might not need i I’m three quarters of the way through and it’s been pretty interesting It is an easy read however very insightful information.I started reading the book in August I noticed that the course my coworker mentioned was being turned into a book that was published in September.  Once I am done with Start With Why  I hope to get that book and read it next.