I am now an employee of Imagine Communications. I did not start work with a new company. This is just the latest in a whirlwind of company names I have worked under in the last ten years. I started with Optimal Solutions, Inc. (OSi) back in January 2004 as their twelfth employee. In April 2006 our company was sold to the massive Harris Corporation. In May 2012 Harris decided to sell the division that OSi was a part of, as well as another project that I was spending some time on. Our division would be bought by the Gores Group and renamed to Harris Broadcast. A new CEO for Harris Broadcast was hired last year and yesterday he announced that Harris Broadcast was splitting into two new companies, Imagine Communications and GatesAir. It’s been a wild ride!

Dang! Work has really been keeping me busy lately. My employer (Harris Broadcast) hired a new CEO a few of weeks back. I was able to meet him a couple of weeks ago during his quick stop in our Mason, Ohio office. He seemed like a genuinely nice guy, but he did promise that some changes are going to happen within the company. Fortunately the project I am working on now is one of the biggest producers in the company and we are definitely a “go forward” product. However, it is always scary when reorganization and restructuring are talked about. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for now.

You may have noticed a lack of posts last week. I spent the majority of last week in Kansas City for work. The project that I was working on the last three years hasn’t taken off like our leadership team thought it would. So I am back working on the project that brought me to Harris Broadcast in the first place many years ago. With this change I had to spend some time in both Denver and Kansas City the past couple of weeks to get back up to speed.

Returning to my old project includes some night and weekend work. I don’t mind the night work as it can be done after the kids have gone to bed, but the weekend mornings have been a little difficult so far. A nice bonus to the off hours work is that I am able to take some time away from the desk during the day and spend time with Kim and the kids since she is still on maternity leave. Last week we spent a couple of hours down at the police memorial parade.

Police Memorial Parade

The police memorial parade honors fallen officers who lost their lives in the line of duty.

Color Guard

Honor Fallen Officers

The parade marched to the Police Memorial, where Police Chief James E. Craig presented the Cincinnati Police Medal of Valor awards. Chief Craig will soon be leaving the Cincinnati Police to take the same position in his home town of Detroit, so it was also a sort of farewell event for him as well.

Officer Trey

My sister-in-law is currently on the mounted patrol, but it sounds like that program is going to be eliminated soon in an attempt to close holes in the budget. Originally she was on a list to be laid off in a couple of months, but it sounds like that has changed and she will either retain her position in district 1, or be reassigned to another district if necessary. I wish the mounted patrol could stick around for many reasons, and I know it always makes Trey happy to see his aunt riding on the back of Justice. Let’s hope the next chief has some answers to these budget and personnel struggles.

Interesting times may be ahead. On Tuesday it was announced that the division of Harris that I work for (Broadcast Communications Division) is now for sale. According to the press release, “the business is no longer aligned with the company’s long-term strategy.” The interesting thing for me is the current project that I work on is very closely tied to another division of the company. I’m not sure how this announcement will affect our project, but I would have to think that regardless of what happens someone has to be interested in the potential of what we are working on. I guess only time will tell.

Earlier this year I mentioned an award that I received at work. At the time it was just a certificate that I filed away with other paperwork. Today an actual award plaque arrived in the mail. It appears to be made completely of glass with gold etching for the drawing and text. It should look nice in my cube even though I am hardly there.

Lately I have been working on a project that requires working with a couple of servers that are off of the network. To do so I have to sit in a secure lab in our building for most of the day. As much as I am enjoying this project, I hope that I can get back to spending some time working from home, or at the minimum from my cube with views of the outside world.

I had a really busy work day today, and for that matter yesterday too. Fortunately I’ve started running before I login for the day, since it is much to hot outside for lunch time runs. As a bonus, I can stay focused on days like today without stopping for lunch. This new routine was in effect for both today and yesterday. My legs are little sore this afternoon so tomorrow will be a relaxing day off, at least in the running world. Who knows what tomorrow brings as far as my job goes.

Kim wasn’t looking forward to moving from her corner office in Denver complete with views of the mountains into a cube in the new Great American Tower but I think it has worked out okay for her.

She sent this photo to me on Monday after texting, “I take it back. My cute rocks! I can see inside the ballpark!!” Though likely not as good as the view from the 41st floor, her 21st view sure beats what I can see out of my new office building.

Yes, that is the Eiffel Tower way out in the background but not the one in Paris. My new office is in Mason, Ohio about a mile and a half from Kings Island. I guess I don’t have much room to complain though, since I am able to work from home around half of the time, which is really hard to beat.

I received this email today from an executive at work:

I am pleased to inform you that you are a recipient of an Engineering Award from Harris Corporation for your work on the Virtualized FAME Enterprise Solution for the NGA for Deployment in the NEA Architecture Project. 

This award is quite prestigious within Harris – you were personally nominated within BCD; this nomination was ratified by the Cross Divisional Selection Committee; and then approved by BCD President Harris Morris and Harris Corporation Chairman, CEO and President Howard Lance.

We take great pride at Harris in the strength of our Engineers and Scientists and believe this creates differentiation and high value for the company.

Thank you for your contribution, and congratulations!

I’m not sure if there is an actual award or just a certificate that I can add to my collection.  Either way I’m pretty pumped!

The delayed post today probably has a few people thinking that Kim has gone into labor, but that is not the case.  I’m just having a busy day at work trying to tie together the loose ends for a release that is going out Monday.  Work has definitely been busy but I’m still enjoying it, so bring it on!  Once the baby comes I will likely take a week off to help Kim.  I wish I could take more time, but I don’t have any more vacation days to use.

Today at work was another day spent nearly entirely in our lab.  That means limited access to the internet, close working quarters with others, and lots of things to do.  Normally I’ve written my blog during my lunch break, but today that was interrupted by some critical issues that were happening at one of our client sites.  With all of that said, I am still enjoying working on this newer project.  It does mean lots of hours at work, but at least I feel like I’m accomplishing something useful and the challenges have been very rewarding once solved.  With that said, it’s late on a Friday.  Time for me to get out of here and enjoy the weekend.