phew

i just finished a superbly busy, but nonetheless excellent week. i'm thrilled that it's over.... mostly because it was so taxing... but it was a really wonderful thing to have been a part of. i participated in an event at my job.. a workshop. i don't want to go into who exactly, some of you know where i work... some don't. it was great. about 16 people, from every level of the company (from a senior VP to me, a lowly processor, and everywhere inbetween) got together for a week of brainstorming and testing ideas to make the workplace better. everyone had different expertise, and those of us who don't normally get alot of credit got the same respect and voice as anyone else. it was so great to be asked what we thought about things, how we thought things could be better. and then when we had ideas of ways to fix them, no one said "no, that can't be done" or "no, that's too expensive, or labor intensive" they just said "ok, let's try it" and we did. it was brilliant. i hope every company utilizes this strategy. any members of the upper or middle management out there, remember to go out to your shop floor.. know what they know. remember that since they do it every day, they will be able to tell you more than you know about that thing, and ask them their ideas... they're the closest to what they're doing, and try their ideas rather than just assuming they won't work. or work together on solutions so they are invested in the outcome.. anyway. it was an eye-opener.. it was great. i'm tired beyond all expectations.. oh yeah.. and next week i start part-time.. sweet. now i can dedicate way more time to my other business.. going to be a busy year of the rooster..