Git Along Little Doggie

I was leaving work yesterday in a daze, heading off the to sitters to pick up Nathan and go home when I noticed a odd-looking lump in the middle of the road leading around the building. Turned out it was a turtle taking advantage of the warm weather and hot asphalt. Needless to say, the little guy was in serious danger of becoming road kill.

So I meandered over and picked him up. After he realized he was being forcibly evicted from his nice warm spot, he started thrashing to get away. For a turtle, he sure was lively. If I hadn't grabbed him from the top with one hand, I'm sure he'd have scratched me a good one with his claws.

So we took a walk a few feet away from the road and I set him down in the grass. As soon as his belly hit the ground, he retreated into his shell. Now that he was (relatively) safe, I continued my trek to the car. I glanced back as I was getting in the car and I saw a little lump shuffling through the grass headed into the woods. I hope he found another -- and safer -- place to sun himself.

Times They Are A Changin'

I have on my computer an application for another position within the company. It will probably be more money, more responsibility and more ability to effect change in the organization. I'll be working with some top-notch people who I enjoy talking to and will be able to schmoose with the upper echelons of the company. And I'll have carte blanche access to the heart of the company - the computer room.

It will also be more headaches, more hours and far more stress than my current position. It will mean that I will have to train someone in the department to know everything that I do so they can take over my position and, quite frankly, there's no one here that can (or is willing) to do so. It will mean that I will be on-call for a week every so often which cuts into what little free time I have (even less so when the baby is born). And I'll be working for a man who, while far more approachable than my current manager, is totally disorganized and, in the opinion of some of his current underlings, unfit to manage a department of that magnitude.

And, most importantly, I like my current job. I get oodles of free time (so I can post on LiveJournal ^_^), most of the people I work with are good people to work with and I get the occasional sincere thanks from the people who call. Just today, I've spoken with five different people who know me by name and were sincerely happy to work with me on their problems. I can't say I'll get that same fulfillment out of the new position.

But Cate says I should make more money so she can spend some more time at home with the kids and we could always use some more cash in the coffers. And the skills I'll pick up at the new position will be definitely look better on my resume than trying to pump up my current position to the level of my personal knowledge.

Looking towards the future, this new position is headed more towards what I'd really like to do with my life. However, my current position, while somewhat stagnant in a developmental sense, gives me far more freedom and personal enjoyment than anything I can imagine in this organization. Not to mention the general animosity I might incur when my best friend (who was flat-out rejected for a similar position and he knows more of the required skills for that job than I do) or my co-workers find out I've been offered -- or, God forbid, accept -- a new position in that department. Needless to say, I'm torn.

The application is unfinished and I have until the 17th to turn it in.

Decisions, decisions...