The four and a half weeks since arrive have been a whirlwind of "what seemed to be" headless chickenesque efforts at work, tiptoeing captain obvious project risks, adjusting to paradise (it IS an adjustment), endless partying, and, leading the marathon events, establishing new friends in this isolated place. But, first, here is a quick run through of events:
- August 16th-Arrival
- August 17th-20th-Work (Observations, process flows, team meetings, blah)
- August 20-23rd-Party too hard w/ Jeff Barlow (Meet Tommy Nordingling; He is a solid guy)
- Auust 23rd-24th-Work/Project Kick Off/Summit
- August 24th-Red Eye to Portland
- August 25th-Old Client visit
- August 26th-27th-Conference in Portland
- August 28th-Chris Cole's Wedding
- August 29th-Fantasy Draft/Lunch with Family
- August 30th-Flight/Dinner with Tommy, Jeff (Introduced to Ken)
- August 31st-September 3rd-Bday/Work/Team Context/Work
- September 4th-Hang out with Jeff
- September 5th-Jeff at KoO'lina/Lagoons/Tommy (Introduced to Kristina!)
- September 6th-No Jeff; Tommy/Kristina and 'Secret Beach' in KoO'lina (Introduced to LeAnne/Aaron Stinar), Snorkel, Turtles
- September 7th-10th-Work/Invited to Tommy/Kristina's for Vikings game
- September 10th-Invited to Driving Range, Dinner with the Stinars (Meet Josh Stinar, Charlie,Kumi); Other notable attendees include: LeAnne and Kristina
- September 11th-Group Barbeque at the Condo (Stinars, Charlie, Kumi, Ashley A (Co Worker), Tiffany (Co Worker), Jenn (Tiffany's Friend), Kristina)/Coconut Willies/Early Night
- September 12th-Kraig Day
What subjects am going to write about: 1) Work 2) Friends 3) Girls (what type of Kraig Olson blog wouldn't be complete without this one, right?
Work is going to be interesting here and I am slowly dusting off the cobwebs, itching, ready to sprint as if I am regaining feeling in my legs. But unfortunately, you can't sprint before you can walk and I am working on progressing to a speedwalk right now. By Tuesday, I will be sprinting and the work pace/dedication/effort WILL be back to normal. More to come next blog.
Perhaps the most intriguing piece about the time I have spent here shifts towards connectors. Malcom Gladwell wrote about connectors. Take a second and see if you can already begin to think of what the subject of the following paragraphs will be.
Jeff Barlow is a connector: Contagious personality, positive attitude, never ending smile, wide eyed deer in headlight look, and a genuine love for people (BTW, Jeff might be more fickle than I am folks).
It's true; Time flies. Two years passed since I last partied with Jeff and we picked up where we left out...Out of Control. No details necessary here, but the nights have been a blast. No, no women, no silly hook ups, no overly unusual antics, but just pure fun.
Somewhere in the midst of all the fun, however, Jeff is the center point for 12-15 additional, non work, friends that I now have as part of my inner circle. I listed them above (Tommy, Ken, Kelsi, Kelli, Kristina, Aaron, Josh, Leanne, Charlie, Kumi, Katie, just to name a few). It's incredible and I only look forward to the days, weeks and months to come.
It would be one thing to rant and rave about Jeff's ability to connect people to people, but the most important thing to bring up is Jeff's ability to connect Quality People to Quality People. Each of these people's is unique, varyin backgrounds, life paths, but at the core of each of them is a specific trait...Caring. Sure there are spin offs of the word: generosity, sincerity, honesty, etc., but it ultimately comes down to the fact that each person, each male, each female appears to care about the individual first.
That's it, that's some of the moments and recurring items on my daily, weekly plate. These blogs are going to become more frequent. Ideally daily, but if I fail to live up to this expectation, well, wait patiently for the next journal entry.
Love Everyone.
Oh yeah, watched Pay it Forward today; interesting show, neat concept. Let's start.
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