The Weekly Wrap-Up: December

Oh my goodness, guys, I have so much to catch you up on! It's been a whirlwind 15 days since we last spoke. I'm lumping everything in together because this month is insane, and if I don't do it now, it ain't gonna happen. Sure, there will be more happening next week. And if it's worth mentioning, I will try to get a post done. But honestly, I'm hoping for a nice quiet week before Christmas. I didn't even want to come in next week, but I'm being a good worker bee and all that.

ANYWAY. That's not why I'm posting now.

So December 1, we had our mentor party here at OMS. I am not currently mentoring anyone, so I got the pleasure of helping to plan the blessed event.

We had a photo booth for folks.

We decorated ornaments for our activity. Mine are still drying.

This is Taylor. She's fun. She was very meticulous in her painting.

We also did a gift exchange. It was a lovely evening!

Then we had our OMS Christmas party on December 4. I didn't actually take many photos of that. Nothing too wild and crazy. I wasn't involved this year. I like it that way. Mostly. It's less fun without me. But I did have a nice time with my table mates. 

On December 5, I went to a radioplay with my friend Carol. They presented "It's a Wonderful Life" as a radio drama with sound effects. Personally, I thought they could have done more with sound effects, especially as a fellow radio afficionado, but I think they did a pretty good job. 

Plus, the theater that did the performance is really nice. If you ever have a chance to go to the Artcraft in Franklin, Indiana, you should take it. 

Last week, I was working on Estonian and some side projects. However, that all came crashing down on Friday morning when my computer literally crashed. I normally like Apple. I work on a Mac, I have a Mac as backup, I have a Mac for a personal laptop. We're copacetic. 

But when Macs fail, they fail hard. And this latest update was bad news bears. It caused all kinds of crazy in my hard drives. I spent four hours Friday morning trying to fix the issue. It was ugly.

And not what I needed in advance of the ECC Retreat last weekend. 

Fortunately, I was able to let go of the anxiety I was feeling about that and just enjoy the time away with my team. We went to a place called Wooded Glen in Henryville, Indiana. 

It's quite a nice place, and they treated us very well. I would recommend it for any moderately sized group for a retreat or team-building opportunity. 

Our schedule was pretty great. Lots of personal and team reflection. One of my contributions was a team puzzle competition. It was more of a collaboration, really. I had to curb some of my more sadistic tendencies. It was a good exercise, though. Even if I don't like puzzles. 

There were some very creative methods employed.

Such intensity!

I did actually finish this one. It wasn't terrible.

I took a walk Saturday afternoon. It's a nice area. Very picturesque.

Probably my biggest achievement was winning a shooting tournament against these guys. We played Big Buck Hunter, an arcade-style game. The objective is to shoot buck. Go figure. Anyway, we took turns shooting, and I ended up with 9 nice buck. My biggest was a 14 point. It was a tough fight, but I'm the winner winner chicken dinner! Go me. 

How pretty is that?

We finished up the retreat Sunday afternoon, and I came back to work on Monday, fully expecting to deal with more computer troubles. Fortunately, a lot of the problems had sorted themselves out. That's another great thing about Macs. It's been doing okay since then, so I'm hoping there won't be any more issues. Back up your stuff regularly, kids! You never know when you're going to need it. 

Finally, OMS announced on Monday that they were having a unique Christmas sweater contest on Thursday. I know, it's not a lot of time. But I'm not one to let that discourage me. I sewed my little fingers bloody each evening. During the day, I was working to get my Christmas letter out to supporters. 

Here's a few of us who participated. 

I tied for first! I'm so happy. There was a tear in my eye, really.

Seriously, though, it was fun. 

And that's my crazy life up to now. I hope you've enjoyed the ride. 

In case I don't see you again in 2017, have a merry Christmas and a safe transition to the new year. 

The Weekly Wrap-Up: November 27 - December 1, 2017

Is it just me, or has this week flown by? Maybe we were all ready to get away from our families and back to the absolute joy of work.

Maybe not.

Regardless, I hope you all had an excellent Thanksgiving. I, for one, had a lovely time. Both of my sisters made the trip to my parent's house for the week, so it was a true Hollopeter Happening. Read into that what you will. It was quite the experience, and one in which I was a willing participant, so I can't say too much against it.

Like always, the first day back started off with a bang. And by that, I mean we had yet another multiple hour meeting. Those are great. Just love 'em. So incredibly useful.

Christmas, as you know, is just around the corner, but before you get to Christmas, you have all of those delightful parties and get-togethers for 50,000 of your nearest and dearest friends. And someone has to plan all of it.

Or part of it, at least. I have one party tonight that I was pretty heavily involved in planning, and then next week is the ECC retreat. I've made a few contributions to that, and I have more to do, but fortunately, most of the planning for that was on other shoulders. It still takes up time, though. I'm trying to curb my most sadistic instincts when it comes to my team-building exercise, but it's proving to be a challenge.

This was a French week for T&M projects. I did two groups in two separate phases, which is confusing, but essentially the same process, so not terrible. Just time-consuming. But today, and next week, I'll be back in Estonian doing two more groups, but in the same phase this time.

Finally, something you haven't heard from me for a while. We did a new radio ad! This is for OMS' new campaign to help North Korean refugees. Very little writing for me this time - just voice acting. It was nice to get back into the studio after a couple months. I hope you enjoy it, and I also hope you consider giving toward this very worthy effort.

I guess that's all for now. Be good.