Weekend Getaway

I pretty much jumped right into my new position w/ no time off; I opted to reap the benefits of a few larger fulltime checks-paired w/ my large bank of vacation time left from RC. But my new schedule gave Alex and I an opportunity to take an extended weekend trip out to Colorado.

Alex is to the age where if you tell him you're doing something exciting, he'll ask about it continuously until we do it; so I opted to not tell him what we were doing until the Thursday before we left. We flew out Friday night after work, and it was nice that the Mischo's booked a hotel in Denver so we didn't have to hop in the car for another hour. We got up and enjoyed the pool, then headed to the Denver aquarium. After that we headed to our destination near Fort Collins. The weather was 55-70 while we were there, so a very nice change of pace. The kids were able to play outside, and just enjoy the fresh air. We visited a few places while we were there, but Alex preferred to just stay at Fritz'ies and play which was perfectly fine for all of us.

I was really just looking for an excuse to go out and see my sister and her family for a few days, and Alex loves to play with Ari and Maddie; which was exactly what we did. Thanks again for the great hospitality Mischo's, hopefully see you and new baby Mischo in the spring!

A New Adventure

I've had a number of people ask me how my first week at my new job went, so I thought instead of replying to each and every inquiry I'd post on here. So far the first week has left me feeling excited, and that's really the only adjective I can come up with at this point.

All of the people I've met so far have been friendly and helpful, they've created my training schedule so that I get a very clear understanding of the infrastructure that goes behind the particular network I'm responsible for supporting. I relayed my appreciation to my new boss about how great the informational sessions have been from the different departments-and while I hate to compare old jobs, this is definitely an aspect where in the past if I wanted information-I had to ask. My bosses response was that "we want people to succeed here, and giving them a complete understanding of as much as we can is a large part of that".

I've also been asked, what exactly do you do? All law enforcement officials throughout the state access a proprietary software to the state of WI managed by the Crime Infomation Bureau (CIB). This software allows them to query multiple databases for whatever information it might be that they are searching: federal, CIB, DNR, DOT, information from other states, and a few others. It's my job to make sure that the network for these databases is up and running properly. I also help law enforcement officials if they are having issues w/ the software itself; and one of the other pertinent jobs is posting APB's (all points bulletins) to law enforcement throughout the state when necessary. Other duties include ensuring backups are scheduled and running properly, and filling in as a call center for the state crime lab during the weekend.

Lots of exciting stuff, and as I said-the fact that they've done a wonderful job training so far only helps my competency in the position. In an effort to get a jump start on training, I worked all last week on days, and will this Thurs and Fri as well; then I'll begin my weekend shifts.