December 3, 2007

It was a typical Monday, by the way.
On Sunday, we installed two new 100 pair entrance protectors and ran new crossconnect to all the stations in building 7. Which brings us to the next day; there are some phones to troubleshoot first thing, I have 4 new guys onsite that need to be shown where/how to be badged. These two hurdles are compounded by the fact that my 2400 new jacks are in a sort of shipping purgatory and you have a perfect Monday morning.

Eh, quitcher whinin'.

I guess what's bugging me is this: Conference Calls. Is it just me, or does a conference call seem to take so much concentration to figure out who is talking and in what context, that it totally distracts from what is being said. After any conference call, I have to roll over and over in my mind each and every detail and then I start to understand. I also think of what I should have said, about 30 minutes too late.

The conference call I just finished wasn't bad, really. I've been on much worse. My boss Mike has a wonderful and pleasant way of working a conference call. He is soft spoken and doesn't overtalk anyone, but he is reassuring and encouraging, and he keeps the discussion on relevant topics. I'm really impressed. Wish I could learn how to do that. Conference calls really stress me out because I can't see the person to whom I am listening, and there are several anonymous voices that I'm supposed to put into context. When is the Engineer talking? When is the Designer talking? Which person am I supposed to give the optimistic answer, and to which do I give the REAL answer?

After each conference call, I always have to sit for a while and think about everything that was said and review my notes. I feel tired, as if I worked all day. Does this get any easier with time?

Funny, but I was scheduled into two conference calls at the same time and I had to pick the most important one. That's never happened before...

Thanks for listening,
MsAmber