Update on the Day Job Front

As I mentioned here, I made some significant changes (work wise) a couple of months ago.  I never gave full disclosure so allow me to update.

In February, I became the Vice President of National Care Advisors, LLC, a national case management and consulting firm composed of a number of former colleagues.  These are a great group of ladies (and me) who are passionate about case management and nursing (all of the principals are nurses) and who are not only consummate professionals but are just fun people to be around.  They are people I want to work with.  We’ve also enlisted a couple of contract folks (including Charity) to assist with same admin and overflow work.  The best thing about this company is that we are nurse owned (I own a significant stake in the new company).  Owners always work harder.  Let’s just say that this is my retirement.

In my new role, I am responsible for IT, our internet presence and finance.  The first two aren’t such a big deal but the finance piece is a bear.  Fortunately, as we all know I am a geek and therefore prone to love numbers so it’s a good thing.  We did hire Charity to do a lot of the billing and such so that’s a plus.  In addition to this administrative stuff, I still have a case load and am doing a fair amount of traveling (see here, here and here).  Most of my work is in litigation preparation and future cost analysis but I am also doing some workers’ compensation and special needs case management.  There are some other areas such as trust custody and administration which I hope to work on in the future but for now my plate is pretty full.

We have hit the ground running.  We had a good February and an excellent March.  I feel incredibly blessed to have a career that allows me a large measure of personal satisfaction along with the flexibility to be active in ministry.  It is truly the best of both worlds.

 

Good Job News

From this story poached from the Boston Globe.  While software designers/developers are the most in demand profession, nurses are second and accounting and finance professionals are third.  Rounding out the list are sales professionals and administrative assistants.  My position is a combination of two and three so it was welcome news.    The down side is I don’t get to leave the office before 6:00 PM any time soon. 

Speaking of work, I’m spending today in Toledo which means I need to quit blogging and go.  Have a great day.

 

The $81 Burger

On my last trip to New York, I actually partook of this particular burger.  It was divine.  Now the Homestead is ratcheting it up a notch.  Personally, I can’t imagine a better dinner than a 20 once Kobe burger and tater tots.  It was to die for.

 

Two of Me

Via Christianity Today, an excellent article on leadership, burnout, and setting boundaries as leaders in the church.  Who among us in church leadership, because we love what we do, have neglected to say “no” and taken too much on and suffered because of it. 

(I have both hands raised in surrender at this point).

This is a must read for pastors, ministers, and those in church leadership.

 

Dell Responds to the MacBook Air

I visited the Apple Store in Easton yesterday and promptly fell in love (or some approximation thereof) with the MacBook Air. It is light, has a brilliant screen and is not flimsy at all. It is way short on memory and battery power but it would make a cool $1800 toy. Having said that, I love this video, especially since I work at my desk on a Dell very similar to the one in the video. And I wouldn’t mind having one of those envelopes. Enjoy.

PS- It is pretty, isn’t it.

 

Looking for a Blog Host

I am looking for a hosting service for my blog.  I am very happy with the WordPress set-up but the free blog client is very limited as to what you can run in your blog (AdSense, plug-ins, etc.).  So, since I own my domain name I would like to move the blog somewhere with a little more freedom while keeping the WordPress template. 

Any thoughts on who is good for this?  I don’t want to spend a ton of money but am not opposed to a monthly fee.  Please speak up in the comments.  Thanks.

 

Greetings from Pataskala

This is just a short post to check in with all my readers.  We are in Pataskala, Ohio tonight (well, four of us are) after a long day of quizzing and a fabulous meal with the quiz staff.  I am speaking at the First Apostolic Church of Pataskala.  Becky has to teach at home so she is not joining us.  Really looking forward to service tomorrow but right now I’m looking forward to getting some sleep.  I’ve gotten 4-5 hours per night for the last several nights as we’ve been so busy with work/church stuff.  I have another leadership post I’ll put up the first part of the next week and more on viral marketing as well.  Thankfully, I should be home most of next week. 

Until then, have a great Sunday.

 

Greetings from Pittsburgh, Part Deux

One of the groovy things about my job is that I get to travel.  Often, if a case I’m working on is heating up (or on fire), I get to travel to the same place a lot.  That would explain why I am in Pittsburgh for the third time in two weeks.  Fortunately, Charity and the blossoms decided to accompany me on this little junket so it’s good times all around.

Food note- We had dinner last night at Six Penn Kitchen which is downtown across the river from PNC Park and adjacent to Heinz Hall.  The food, in a word, was incredible.  They feature organic and locally grown food.  We started with appetizers of wings (which had a wonderful charcoal grill taste) sea scallops and Charity had the tortilla soup.  For dinner, Charity had a deconstructed rotisserie chicken and biscuits and I had pork shank with sauerkraut bacon mashed potatoes.  Neither meat dish required a knife as they were so tender.  Michael had a very good grilled cheese sandwich and Gabrielle had the best macaroni and cheese I have ever tasted.  Let’s just say we don’t use Gruyere and Fontina cheese in our mac and cheese at home.  For dessert (Oh yes we did) Charity and I spilt a burnt almond vanilla torte and the blossoms went with the white chocolate Oreo pie.  Good Times!

We are again staying at the Marriott City Center which is a great place.  Traffic was a little goofy last night because the Penguins were home was night and the arena is across the street.  This morning, I am finishing up a couple of projects before heading out to meet with the family I’m working with on this challenging case (can’t be all play and no work).  Every else in the room is snoring as I write this (at about 6:30 AM).  If I get done in time, we’re going to take the kids to the Pittsburgh Zoo before coming home.

Yep, most days I really love my job.

 

I’ve been known to do this with CD’s and Books but…

The US Secretary of Defense has ordered a complete inventory of all nuclear weapons and materials.  You know, just in case there are some hiding under the couch.  The money quote:

The order comes in the wake of the discovery last week that four nuclear warhead fuses were accidentally shipped to Taiwan in 2006.

 

You know, I came to Pittsburgh and forgot to pack my hair gel yesterday.  I don’t feel so bad now.

HT: Rick Segal

 

The Definition of Viral

No, I am not talking about a sickness but rather how something spreads on on the internet.  Allow me to elaborate.  As of last week, the highest number of visitors I had to my blog in any one day was 133.  Not bad but nothing to get excited about.  Then I put up this post of a little girl singing the Lord’s Prayer.  That post itself, as I write this, has been viewed 1,011 times (including once while I’ve typed this paragraph).  The vast majority of inbound links are from email servers which tells me that folks are copying the link and emailing it to their friends.  As a side note, my highest daily visits now was yesterday (GMT) at 463 views.  418 of those views came directly to the Lord’s Prayer post.  Right now (10:01 PM EDT) I have had 93 views with 87 coming directly to that post, mostly from email servers.

You can’t pay for advertising like that.