My mid-year job review

Mid-year Employment Review

A week and few days ago, I had my mid-year employment review. It went okay. My boss rated me as Meets Expectations.

There are 3 possible ratings Below Expectations, Meets Expectations and Exceeds Expectations.  My understanding of the way it works is that 20% of the team gets Below Expectations, 20% gets Exceeds Expectation and the remaining 60% gets Meets Expectations.  The Exceeds Expectation grade means you get bigger raises, higher salary and less likely to get laid off or downsized. Now this system is so ridiculous. It gives incentives to not help others on your team. Every time I help someone on my team it reduces my OOEE. (Odds of Exceeds Expectation).

Part of the review process is to do a self review, meaning you rate yourself and write something about what you did. After you submit this to your boss you meet in person. Near the end of my review iew my boss tells me that another group at my company has an open position, would I be interested in it?  I said sure. Recently, I started running a weekly company meeting on Tuesday's. He said that they would get someone else to run the meetings.

So now I'm wondering why would my boss want me to work somewhere else?

Our department isn't doing that well as we don't have a budget. A couple of senior managers have been moved out of the department.

My boss went on vacation the following week so I could think about it.  I spent a lot of time figuring ways to get an Exceeds Expectations which I'll list later in this post.

When he came back he sent me a job description for the job. I did an analysis for the job and the result came up to not pursue it. I used a spreadsheet and rated a number of items.

I usually say that it always pays to go on interviews to improve your interviewing skills. So I decide to proceed.  Now while I'm proceeding I realize that I should be also looking for a new job to get more leverage and see if there's something better than this one. So at first I'm having a little stress from this process. But now I'm getting excited about doing something new, making more money and having more excitement on the job.

What have your experienced been with employment reviews? Please let me know in the comments below.

Problem Solving In Excel The macro may not be available in this workbook or all macros may be diabled

I get the following error message while trying to run some code I've developed. I just made some changes to this subroutine so odds are that it's missing.

The first thing I do is check if other macros are working. I have one that inserts a blank cell and shifts all the other cells down within the active column. I try it and it works.

I did move the macro from ThisWorkbook to a module so it can be called by other routines.

I press Alt+F11 and search for the string in the error message "book.on"

Private Sub Workbook_Activate()  Application.OnKey "^+{RIGHT}", "ThisWorkbook.OnCtrlShiftRightArrowKeyPress"  Application.OnKey "^+{LEFT}", "ThisWorkbook.OnCtrlShiftLeftArrowKeyPress" End Sub

I modify the code to the following:

 Application.OnKey "^+{RIGHT}", "OnCtrlShiftLeftArrowKeyPress"

I run the code via F8.

and then try the function again. It fails with the same message. I check the change I made and see that I did it wrong and fix it. Another test and the the fix works.

I save and back up the code.

My view at Yankee stadium

Daily 5 Minute Journal - July 24, 2016

Today I mowed the back yard and cut up some branches, went food shopping and took my wife to train station and took dog on a play date.

It's 2:23 pm and I'm a little tired.

I've been into Scott Adam's blog lately, which I find very interesting

I was at the Yankee game with my son. We left at 12 PM and got to the gate a 1 PM for a 4:05 PM game against the SF Giants.  I got a spot on the street and saved $30.

There was no batting practice and we got there 3 hours early to see it. Amazingly, my son still got a ball.  He's up to 47 balls now.

Unfortunately the Yankees lose in extra innings. Brian McCan could have won the game with a long fly ball, a walk or a grounder past the infielders. He got up with bases loaded and he swung at the first pitch and blooped a short fly ball which was caught. The man on third couldn't tag up.

Also, no Arod. If you do go to a Yankee game the best seats are in the grandstands behind home plate as these seats are in the shade.

I'm having pains in my arms, I think from lifting weights. Almost feels like my tendons/ligaments are injured. I have to rest them or take it easier at the gym.

This is the 3rd time +Tim Ferriss  advice didn't work

1. His slow-carb diet failed
2. His 30 gms of protein within 30 minutes of awakening failed
3. His suggestion to gaining strength failed as I injured myself

Daily 5 Minute Journal - July 11, 2016

I'm on vacation today and I've spent most of the day reading through Scott Adam's (Dilbert creator) Blog on Persuasion.

I've started working on the outline for a book called The Persuasion Bible.

I've always been interested in the subject and have read a number of books on it. Recently I've seen new reasons to use it in my daily life. 

At work some of his suggestions appear to have been useful to get others to help me out..

I'm also re-reading his great book How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big.



Yesterday I was at the Sands Point Preserve and had a nice time. Lot's of dogs.

My weight this morning was 169.2 which is higher than I need to reach my daily goal.  I'm going to try to limit my calorie intake to 1500 calories. 

Another thing I tried as suggested from Tim Ferriss' 4 Hour Body was to take pictures of what I ate. I've been unsuccessful at doing this. I'm not sure why. 

Today I went to the Dermatologist for a checkup and everything was okay.

I already took my dog for a walk and find she's very lethargic. Yesterday I read about dogs eating garlic and it's one of the symptoms of poisoning.  I noticed that the Trader Joe's treats I've been giving her has garlic in it.

Even though I'm on vacation I have to do my self-review and send out an email for others to follow up. I've been procrastinating on this.

Are you underappreciated?

If you are, tell me in the comments below, because I can help you be appreciated more and feel your pain.

The most common places to be underappreciated is at home and at work.

I help people all the time and feel underappreciated. The worst was when they gave a co-worker an award at work and not me. I did at least half of the work if not more.

Ask yourself are you under-appreciating someone?  If you are the person might:

• quit
• leave
• get even
• stop working hard
• find someone that appreciates them
• perform poorly

Joe Rogan and Sam Harris

Found a new great podcast today from Joe Rogan via Sam Harris.



 JRE #453