I don’t generally think of myself as the boss. I’m a good old fashioned action officer. I get tasks, I churn them out, and then I move on. That’s why it came as a bit of a shock to the system this afternoon that while I was sitting in an impromptu meeting this afternoon someone made an offhand comment to the effect of “you’re the boss.” I demurred with a roll of my eyes and a typical “yeah, right.” No, she insisted, “it’s your project, you really are the boss.” There was no burning bush or anything, but it was like one of those Old Testament moments of revelation… At least in my little corner of the universe, I’m not just the guy who’s supposed to get the job done; now I’m supposed to be using other people to get other jobs done too. Honestly I’m not sure how I feel about that yet. I know I can play well with others when I have to, but my strong preference is to be an army of one. So much for personal preference, I suppose.

I didn’t really make it anywhere fun last spring and have decided to make up for that by taking a rather spur of the moment trip to St. Thomas at the end of the month. A week of sun, sand, blue water, and rum is likely just what the doctor ordered to start getting out of my traditional winter funk. Add in pleasant company and it should be a real event. With only 13 days left in the count, it can’t get here fast enough. I’m not saying I’m the hardest working man in showbusiness, but I think I’m overdue for a break (and no, three week training classes don’t count as a break)!

Today is the six year anniversary of my going to work for Uncle Sam. Like every other recent milestone lately, I’ve been struck by how quickly it came up. Six years isn’t one of the normal milestone years that end up being divisible by five, but it does mean that I am basically one fifth of the way through my career and that I’ve now spent more than twice as long doing this as I spent doing what I was studied to do in college (which also seems like a long, long time ago by the way). I’ve had a good run so far, which is a tribute more to the supervisors and colleagues I’ve had more than to my own native abilities. For anyone who followed my blog on MySpace and now here, you’ll know that I haven’t always been happy with it and I’ve often left the office fuming over some perceived slight or professional failure. Though it’s not always plain from the outside, I can honestly say that despite it all, I’ve always been proud of the job I’ve done. Hopefully the next six will be even better… Although a little less time on the road would be ok too.