~!woosh

It’s 3AM Wednesday night.

The day started with me dragging myself out of a warm bed after six hours of sleep, tossing myself into the shower and some hazelnut coffee down my throat. I met Dub-A on the way to the shop and he was far more bubbly than I was feeling, but I humoured him. We rolled in and he was still chirping away enough that Jordan (new Shark) commented on it.

A positive start. Aaron put me in the right frame of mind.

So while Jordan settled in to figure out where our numbers actually come from I started cranking out content for the new Millstone website… as well as the usual daily routine responding to email and maintaining various campaigns. Jordan had lots of questions and I felt really good about his lightning progress. Imagine being on the job for five days and tackling stats that none of us have had the stomach to touch with any determination in over a year? Really good to have him aboard.

I grabbed Ryan for a quick parley with Grant and Nick about GeoIP, an outfit that we’re going to use to let us run ads regionally- a huge advantage for us over the competition if we can move our butts. The chat went really well and this little gem I’ve wanted for about two months is actually happening. This was added on top of his assignment to build name-seeding for SuperTAF, a project that’s been wallowing for most of a year.

Grant and I had a quick meeting to figure out some details for the coders to work with and then I got to work on the specs. I love working with Grant. He’s got a wicked infectious positive energy and a sharp mind. Things Get Done.

Ryan had most of the GeoIP thing built before I had the spec done, and never mind that I kept getting distracted by other work, it was still only about an hour later. The lad is on fire! And it looks like the name-seeding thing is pretty much done too. AND he’s a likeable lad. Good to have him aboard. ;) I was worried about him- he sorta got tossed straight into the middle of it last weekend. He’s a little tarnished now, but he certainly came on board with panache.

I managed to get the spec out, as well as another for some automated emails that will make our jobs a lot easier, and I continued hammering away at the Millstone content, with frequent friendly stats questions from the blazingly inspired Jordan.

Occasionally I would hear the guys from the other division, People-Match (more on that another time) upstairs. They are flashing along at a mad pace too. Nick and Greg are ahead of schedule and I just love hearing that vibrant sound of progress up there. I haven’t had a chance to get to know Greg much at all, but Nick is awesome. I really like him.

Shannon seemed a little more relaxed today knowing the US bank account would survive the day. It’s good to have her back, and I don’t just mean her physical presence. She’s a cornerstone, alright. We love her. And you can tell she loves us back.

Judd was deep in the AdHawk project today. We hardly saw him come up for air. The man is brilliant, and solid gold. He’s stepping up. We’re so lucky to have him. Hell, I’m lucky to count him among my friends. Jason and I are fond of saying we’re damn lucky Judd’s so shy or we’d never get any action.

Ah, Jason. Doubly fascinating. He’s a social dynamo- the right guy in the right job in the right place. His sensitivity is invaluable, and we put his… organizational fanaticism to good use. I love this guy. I say doubly fascinating because in his own right his personality demands a certain noteworthiness (a graceful understatement, you will agree) but also because I’m fascinated by this unique relationship that I can’t describe at all well. Umm… we know we really like each other, we have lots in common (a darker edged soul that we don’t share too openly with the rest of the world as a general rule) but usually we don’t seem to connect too deeply on a social level. See? I’m not making sense. We don’t have long conversations about the foundations of the universe or about his latest crush. We just have a great time working together and hanging with the same crowd. Nevertheless, there are all these moments of understanding, catching each other’s eye across the group. We can be at a party and not say ten words to each other all night, but every once in a while there’s the practically telepathic nod that means you’re on the same wavelength.

*sigh* I dunno. Maybe I’ll try this again some other time. *whew* All I’m trying to say there is that he’s a really cool d00d. He’s added a depth of meaning to working at the Mill, perhaps just by virtue of loving it there himself. We saved him from a really tedious job at Travellers Inn. Now THAT would have been a waste of skillz.

Where was I, anyway? Right, the day. Jason has been working like a madman organizing the quarterly retreat. It’s this weekend, and we’re going to a very retreat-oriented resort type place on Pender Island. Organizing the itinerary for this is not within leagues of being an easy thing to do. Anyway, he and Aaron were off talking about that and other stuff for a good while.

Jordan seems to have figured out a lot of the logic behind our numbers, and it’s data we’ll be putting to good use right away. He’s definitely justified his wage so far. Did I mention he closed his first sale on his fourth day at work? Yeah, our training manual says you can expect to begin working on deals after about two weeks of orientation. ~!woosh

The office more or less cleared out around six, leaving Jason and I to keep slogging forward. Stuff To Do.

I posted my latest update for the Millstone content and I’m hoping for some useful input from everyone by two tomorrow. Normally we’d give that about a week. Things are definitely changing around here.

And then Jason came over to chat for ten seconds about what was on his mind. We talked for almost two hours. Two hours? Really? I think so. We talked pretty much for the whole time we had the office to ourselves while Aaron was at a philosophical discussion on silence. Don’t ask.

Two hours. That’s probably equivalent to the total length of one-on-one conversation Jason and I have had in the past six months.

Well, I really enjoyed the talk. I’m in favour of more. I like knowing we’ll all be around long enough to have that chance.

I’d love to have more opportunity to spend real time with all these people. I’ve never been in a situation like this, where everyone is such Good People. I’ve known Grant and Judd for almost a year and a half and I’m still nowhere near as close to them as I’d like to be. I can feel their value as good friends and I want to encourage it, but for me these things happen slowly and I accept that with maybe too much resignation. I’m slow to make friends. I don’t let too many people in. It’s not a fear thing, or some kind of defense mechanism. I’m just picky, and that slows everything down even with Good People. No more Melrose scenarios for this boy.

So after I have this awesome conversation with jesteR, Aaron returns almost right on cue (he IS in improv, after all). We eventually head off to the gym after bidding adieu to J, who had to catch a bus. The gym was good, and we managed to keep it down to an hour even with our inevitable gabbing.

And the gabbing just kept on going. We walked into James Bay, decided to hit Mac’s for a hot chocolate, and Aaron was averse to walking home from my place later in the cold, so we sat on a bench right there… in the cold… *shrug* And we kept on talking. After about an hour of that Aaron relented so far as to accept going to my place and we kept on talking. Now it’s almost 3:30 and I’m writing about the talking.

The man is my brother. I don’t know how else to get the idea across in less than another thousand words. The world would be a dimmer place without him in it. And I guess I’d be working somewhere else… *grin*

Hey Talktalk- Dub-A wants to know why we don’t see enough of you. I blamed the chick, but he’s pretty sure you just don’t like him anymore. I’m thinking you should meet us for lunch next week. The three of us. Your turn to wear the skirt though. I don’t shave my legs in the winter.

So, what a day. A communication deluge. Is anyone out there half so lucky as me? Is anyone out there getting tired of hearing me go on about it? hee hee!

I’m going to attempt to post everyday, even if it’s just to say hi. I guess y’all could encourage the dj by posting comments whenever you get the urge. Just click the “Converse Here” button and gab away.

mp3 of the mo’- Leonard Cohen – “Ain’t No Cure For Love”.

Yes, really.