top o' the mornin® 12/12/2013

[earendel]

It's been a while since I've posted a TOTM - it's been quite hectic around our office. We have been told that our Business Oversite Branch, originally scheduled to go live in October and then pushed back to February 2014 is now going live next week and we've been trying to get a handle on the immensity of the tasks that we've been assigned. The good news is that we have hired someone who knows her way around a database (she was a system administrator at Ft. Drum) and can do almost everything that I currently do, meaning that I have backup now. Of course I've had to work with her to familiarize her with the "Corps way" of things, specifically reporting, but since she knows the basics this hasn't been difficult.

Last night elwing and I went to a TSO concert, courtesy of my oldest son (and, indirectly, a local radio station). Here's the deal - a couple months ago my three elder sons bought tickets to the concert. Then oldest son won a pair of tickets in a Facebook contest sponsored by a local radio station, so he gave us those tickets as an early Christmas gift.

And if there was a Paul Hornung award for handbell ringers, I'd be in the running. For the Christmas music program I'll be playing in all 3 of our church's handbell ensembles - the children's group, the adult beginners, and the regular handbell group. I'm filling in with the children to play the large bells required for one of their pieces, and I'm filling a position in the adult beginners group because they need me to be able to have a full 2-octave group.

I start my winter "vacation" tomorrow - I have what's called "use or lose" leave to burn, and next week was the time to do it. No special plans, but just a chance to kick back.