The Big Three-Seven

Okay, so that was sarcasm. On the list of notable birthdays, 37 is pretty close to the bottom, I'm guessing. Other than being a prime number, 37 is as forgettable as, um, you know... whatchamacallit? Hold on, it'll come to me.

On the other hand, I'm at an interesting stage in my life. At work, I've finally reached the point where advancement is not given. Throughout my time at IBM, my strategy has been simple. I figure out what is expected of the band above me and I try to do that job. Eventually IBM realizes that I'm performing at the next band level and they promote me. But now I look at the people in the bands above me and I'm not sure how to do that job. Those folks can be pretty amazing. They are either smarter, more driven, more knowledgeable, more politically savvy, or better leaders than I am - and sometimes all of those things at once. Plenty of good employees end their career at my current band level. To be honest, it's kind of a nice feeling. If I do make it to the next band, it'll be an accomplishment that I'd be genuinely proud of.

(Aside: Speaking on dangling prepositions, it reminds me of a good story. A freshman at Harvard stopped an upperclassman and asked, "Excuse me, can you tell me where the library is at?" The upperclassman sneered back at the frosh and replied, "This is Harvard. We do not end our sentences in prepositions here." The frosh thought for a moment and said, "Okay, well, can you tell me where the library is at, asshole?")

And of course in Real Life, Tyler and Carson are both in school now, which is an exciting and scary time. Exciting because you can see them growing by leaps and bounds, and scary because it's relinquishing a level of control over them, and we all know that kids can be mean to each other (except our kids, who are angels, needless to say). Tyler is almost 8 years old. In another 8 years, he'll be driving. That's hard to get my head around. Time to start saving for the 2014 Volvo Impervio.

So 37 might not be noteworthy, but it's not a bad place to be.