Tag: security

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 933: Vancouver, BC – Trying Out EAP

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Curtis had an IT onboarding at 09:00 and that went very well! After that, he got settled for the day, got some admin done and took a few of the new tickets that came in and then had a team meeting.

After that meeting, Curtis had another meeting with a software vendor who were there to answer some security related questions.

Curtis then got hungry, so he had lunch and then did some tickets up until having a meeting with someone to talk them through how to do something.

The remainder of the day was tickets and answering people’s questions.

Kim’s Day

To start her day Kim joined meeting with a vendor and broker to discuss a couple of things. It was an interesting meeting and she is looking forward to seeing where this project goes.

She then had an awesome daily check in with her teammate to see if they need any help or direction on a few things. Both of the meetings in the morning overran so Kim was able to get a little admin done now before she joined her team meeting.

She then had a few smaller meetings, one to discuss a new role, the next to chat about a new system to get implemented and finally a one week check in!

Then to finish the day Kim popped out to check out an office space with her colleague. It was so interested and they will be having a trial day on Wednesday.

Once she got home Kim had her first EAP (similar to therapy) session. It wasn’t what she expected, but she is excited to be taking steps for her mental health. Kim will also explore other avenues for support over the next couple of weeks.

She then had another quick call to catch someone up on the meeting that took place in the morning.

Evening

We forgot to take out chicken for dinner from the freezer, so we had chilli we had frozen instead with some rice.

We had a walk and watched some TV, pretty much the same old stuff!

As of tomorrow, some more restrictions are eased here in BC, which may open some possibilities of going further a field over the weekends!

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale

Advertisement
Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 927: Vancouver, BC – Hiring Discussions

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Curtis had just 1 meeting planned for today, which was in the afternoon, so plenty of the day to get stuff done.

There were plenty of new tickets to do and then there was an issue that was ongoing and Curtis had to do some more troubleshooting with that. He eventually got that working, which was really great and he was happy he could get the person working again.

Curtis also setup accounts for a new user and got that all setup and ready to go.

It was more of the same after lunch but he did a long meeting about security and some software.

Kim’s Day

Kim started her day with some admin before joining a first week check in with her teammate to see how they have been settling in. She then joined the weekly meeting and gave an update.

Around midday Kim had another one week check in and had a fantastic catch up with a new starter! She then gave an update to the finance team before having some lunch.

After lunch Kim joined a hiring meeting where they made plans for a couple of roles that are being hired for. She then went straight into a planning meeting that ended up snowballing into several other meetings that lasted a couple of hours.

To finish the day Kim hosted a meeting to discuss hiring needs of a department and see what needs to be sorted.

Evening

We made vegetable couscous for dinner which was actually really good! It was a Moroccan inspired recipe and it was delicious! Had some spiciness to it, as well, which was great.

We went for a walk after dinner and when we got back it was relax and TV time.

We are both out for a bit tomorrow for work, which is the first time we’ve both been out during the day during the week for a while!

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 888: Vancouver, BC – Manicure & Pedicure!

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Curtis had to deal with something frustrating for 2 hours in the morning, which eventually turned into a future meeting to discuss the situation.

After he did that, he had a team meeting for 30 minutes, followed by some tickets and some security work, which was for about an hour.

Curtis had a conversation with his manager about something, just to keep them in the loop, then he did some project work up until lunch.

After lunch, Curtis created a new project and then did some tickets and admin before wrapping up for the day and playing some games with colleagues, as Kim was out getting pampered.

Kim’s Day

To start her day Kim gave some equipment to someone who came to collect it. She then finished getting ready for the day and then joined a meeting that lasted the whole morning. It was a follow on from a meeting a couple of weeks ago, it was very interesting and Kim learnt a lot!

She had a quick break where she made some lunch and then she joined a meeting to kick off the book club for the company! Kim then joined a planning meeting followed by an interview.

To finish the day Kim joined a social meeting where everyone in the company was on the call. She left that meeting and went to a nail salon with a friend, which was masked and distanced. It was so much fun and a couple of hours of a bit if normalcy!

Evening

We ordered Indian food and had that for dinner. It was excellent, as ever.

We watched some TV and relaxed for the evening. We are glad it’s the weekend! Another busy week in the books.

This Time Last Year

Mr And Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 541: Vancouver, BC – Unconscious Bias Training

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Curtis had a training session for unconscious bias which was very enlightening and very good for everyone at the company.

That lastest for 2 hours and Curtis felt very informed afterwards.

Right after, he had another meeting which was all about security and that was interesting.

Curtis then had 30 minutes to get some work done then had some lunch.

After lunch, he had a team meeting that lasted for about 1.5 hours and was all about planning future projects.

After that meeting, Curtis had some work to do from that meeting, so he had to create an plan out an entire large project.

Curtis then did some other work followed by a Norwegian test which he’s doing out of interest.

Kim’s Day

Kim had a much slower day today. She had a quick call in the morning and managed to check back through the week and see the things she had missed. Towards the middle of the day she had a meeting with a couple of people to discuss new hires and a few other projects or topics. It was extremely helpful, interesting and fun!

After that call she had a quick chat with her teammate to go over the week and catch up, which was so helpful again. Kim also managed to give her a heads up on things happening next week, which was fun!

For the rest of the afternoon Kim caught up on work that she hadn’t managed to achieve during the week. Then to finish the day she had a quick call with a colleague. Kim then accidentally worked on the invite, budget and survey for another event coming up. She was super happy with the invite she pulled together!

Evening

For dinner, we ordered from Peaked Pies. We each got a pie with mashed potato and peas. Kim got a chicken, mushroom and leak pie, whilst Curtis got a traditional Aussie pie (ground beef, onion & gravy).

We really enjoyed that and ate it whilst watching To All The Boys: Always & Forever. Nice easy film to watch, and the third in the trilogy.

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 526: Vancouver, BC – Anxiety

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Curtis did some tickets in the morning and then in the late morning he had a training session about a new piece of software for everyone in the company to use to track career development.

Once that was done, Curtis had a bunch more tickets to do, it was a busy day in general!

After lunch, there was a security incident that happened which meant Curtis had to call someone and get some stuff sorted as well as having a chat with his team to discuss what had happened.

This took up most of the afternoon and it was interesting, too.

Kim’s Day

Kim had a busy day today! Her morning was filled with meetings. The first two were with her team and went over plans for the department and the second was about the facilities project. Both were so interesting and Kim is really enjoying learning and experiening new things. Kim also joined a meeting with a potential vendor after those meetings and that went really well too!

In the early afternoon Kim joined the weekly recruitment meeting and went over the current open roles for the company.

For the rest of the early afternoon Kim set up a pickup for a laptop and worked on research and getting ready for another meeting. The meeting ended up not happening so Kim continued her research and did a few smaller tasks.

Kim then went to the doctor where they did a couple of checks on her heart and lungs to see if the breathing is related to an infection or something else.

After a chat and the checks, the doctor discussed the possibility that the breathing issues might be due to anxiety, specifically around COVID.

Kim has had one panic attack before and the feeling is like a less strong version of that. They spoke about what might be happening and Kim believes that she was so worried about having COVID and possibly getting someone else sick that she had a small panic attack on Saturday night. Then due to the stress showing up as shortness of breath, which is also a COVID symptom, Kim worried she had COVID.

As a result of worrying about having COVID due to the fact that the breathing didn’t stop, but it was the worrying that caused the breathing to be strange. Part of the reason for this is that Kim is not actively stressed or worried about anything, so she was questioning how it could possibly be anxiety!

It’s good for Kim to know that it’s an internal thing to deal with rather than a deadly virus. Kim now has an idea of the specific thing that could have bought this on and will just be more mindful of her mental health going forward.

Maybe even soon start talking to someone properly for issues like that!

It’s been a strange day for Kim, but she is very pleased to know that she doesn’t have COVID and has a bit of a better knowledge of what anxiety does, how it can manifest and what might cause it, in this instance.

Kim has been really lucky with a lot of support from her team at work, her family and Curtis.

Kim is very lucky and very thankful to have such wonderful people around her.

Evening

We had nothing in the apartment for dinner, so we walked to our favourite Vietnamese place, now that we are able to go out!

We got ourselves some food and watched some TV whilst we ate.

After that, hockey was on, so Curtis watched that whilst Kim watched a movie.

We hung out together in the late evening and then headed to bed.

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 477: Vancouver, BC – Showing Off Some Projects

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Curtis checked on someone this morning with regards to the email work he did yesterday for them.

It didn’t work! So he scheduled a time to try and fix it for them.

After this, Curtis had another email fix to do for someone, but with a different mailbox. He’ll need to do this with a couple of others too, but he’s testing it with this person first. This one seemed to go well, but only time shall tell!

Curtis then did the fix for the other person from the morning and then he discovered a new project through something someone was discussing in the company.

In the afternoon, Curtis did some security training which is company mandated, which was just watching some videos.

He did some other work and admin and then was done for the day.

Kim’s Day

Today Kim arranged for another chat with someone who had interviewed earlier in the week, as they had a couple of questions that came up after reviewing the interview and their application. So before that happened Kim hopped on a call with her colleague to go over the questions they wanted to ask. They both then joined the call and had a wonderful chat with the candidate.

After the chat Kim and her colleague called again to go over some information needed for the HR software. They updated all the missing fields in one section, which means the software is pretty much set up and ready to go.

Today Kim was also showing the CEO and other executive members the facilities project, so Kim headed out to the location, showed them the projects, informed them of ideas and answered any questions. Kim was so pleased with how it went as everyone seemed to be happy with the options.

Once Kim was home and had eaten lunch she organised the delivery of the laptop thats going out to a new starter. She also sent out some invites for the connect four tournament games next week.

For the rest of the day Kim worked on the quiz for the winter party! She added all the media and answers for the first 13 questions and then added an additional 10 questions! So she only has a few more to do before its finished!

Evening

We didn’t have much of a plan for dinner, so we just had some frozen pizza.

We watched some TV and played some games then Kim watched the remainder of her film she was watching whilst Curtis played some games.

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 454: Vancouver, BC – Facilities Project

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Curtis had a chat with someone right away in the morning as they had deleted a lot of shared files, so Curtis had to work getting those back (which took about an hour).

After that, Curtis had a Norwegian lesson which went really, really well!

After the lesson, Curtis did a few tickets and then had some lunch.

After lunch, the day slowed down for Curtis so he got some admin done and a bit of other work. He had to investigate some quarantined files for someone and see if they are safe to allow.

Kim’s Day

To get ready for the weekly company wide meeting Kim added to her notes she has been making over the past week and checked last weeks notes.

After the meeting Kim joined another meeting that was going over a job description for a potential new role. It was really interesting as yesterday Kim had made a job description template and it was really fun to see the few things she had thought of already and also learn the many things she had forgotten or overlooked.

For the last part of the morning Kim spent some time arranging meetings for Kims facilities project that she will be working on in the afternoon, which was interesting. Then Kim wrote up and sent out the invite for the winter party, which was great as it was something that Kim had wanted to get sorted for a few days!

Before Kim went out for the afternoon she wrote up a lot of the information for the connect four tournament that she will be running over the next few weeks / months. She didn’t manage to send out the information, but she got a lot of it ready!

Kim then went out and met her colleague for the facilities project and attended a few meetings. It was a really interesting and fun afternoon that Kim will be able to say more about at some point!

After all the meetings Kim and her colleague went to a craft store to pick up a few items for an upcoming event. When she got home Kim wrote up a summary of the day and then sent out the information and sign up sheet for the connect four tournament! Today was a long, successful and very fun day!

Evening

Once Kim got back home and finished her little bit of work, we had the final bit of lasagna and watched some TV. That was pretty much all we did for the evening!

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 440: Vancouver, BC – Making Strides With Norwegian

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Curtis was meant to have a meeting with someone in his company and an external support person, but the external person didn’t appear, so it didn’t happen!

Curtis therefore got some other work done.

At 10:30, Curtis had his Norwegian ‘lesson’ and learned a lot, actually, which he was really happy about! He felt he wasn’t speaking very good Norwegian, but learning a lot was a good feeling.

After that, Curtis spent most of the rest of the day getting tickets done as well as some security work that came up.

Kim’s Day

Kim started her day with the weekly company wide meeting, it was great to meet everyone, hear what is happening in other departments and get to know the product a bit better.

For most of the day Kim was researching softwares that might be needed soon. So it was a lot of finding one thing, reading about it, heading to a comparison site and then writing up about it.

In the afternoon, one of the companies got back to Kim so they had a quick call to go over some questions, talk about what Kim is looking for and learn more about pricing. This was a great help and Kim was then able to write a more precise overview as a result. She will start to set up a few more meetings with other companies over the next couple of days.

Towards the end if the day Kim reached out to a friend to see if they would be interested in a collaboration between the two companies that they both work in, so that could be interesting!

Evening

We had chicken chilli with potato for dinner which was delicious and we watched some Bake Off with it.

We played a lot of Need for Speed and Curtis was keeping up on the (far too close) US election.

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 382: Vancouver, BC – Enjoyable Pole Dancing

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Curtis had a pretty good morning which started with a 1 on 1.

Curtis then had his team meeting and then had a few other discussions with his team about a few issues people were having with the new security setup the company rolled out.

After lunch, Curtis did some tickets and then did a bit of reading for his Business Analyst course.

Kim’s Day

Loads of people joined todays midweek catch-up and it was great. They spoke about their favourite music and everyone loved the same kind of music, except Kim, but they all like heavy metal and are used to being the odd one out. So it was a nice switch up for them.

When she arrived in the office Kim worked on a test idea that she had. She out it all together, made sure it works and took lots of photos. She then made a diagram for it and made notes.

Kim found a lot of marketing stuff in her big clean up a few months ago. As part of this she got a lot of hoodies, so she reached out to everyone who should have a hoodie and will work on getting them sent out.

In the afternoon Kim had a meeting with her colleague to go over some facilities communications that need to go out. She also amended and updated a Wiki page to allow for more information to be added to the page. So she reorganised the information on there, added a table and made a new section for more information to go on.

Pole Dancing!

Once Kim got back home, she got ready and went right down to Gastown to do some pole dancing!

The pole classes were amazing! Kim’s first class was tricks based and focused on handstands, which Kim loved! The second class was a lyrical dance class where they did a flowy routine and it was so fun.

Once Kim got back home, we had some leftover risotto for dinner and watched a bit of TV.

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale

Vancouver, BC

Place 72 – Day 376: Vancouver, BC – The Final Fun-Day!

Kim & Curtis Hale

Curtis’ Day

Curtis did some tickets and then had a meeting to discuss some project work which lasted for about an hour.

He then had to ensure that users couldn’t change some certain settings on SharePoint, which took some time.

After lunch, Curtis helped with some more tickets and questions and then his team released a new security product, which people had a lot of questions about so Curtis spent time fielding those questions.

He did some more tickets in the late afternoon and then was done for today!

Kim’s Day

Today is the final summer party! Kim added the answers and media to the final quiz and then had a meeting with her colleague to triple check it and make some edits.

An hour before the party a friend and vendor popped by to water and look after the plants for the last time and handing over to her replacement. It was great to say hello, and Kim had to explain that she collected up the plants as backgrounds for the summer parties and that they are usually spread around the office a bit more!

Then it was time for the final party. Kim collected the few things she needed and then they got started. It went so well! They had someone host the cocktail masterclass, then Kim did the quiz and at the end everyone played a few rounds of Jackbox and it was so much fun!

After the party finished Kim and her colleague went to a rooftop patio to have a little snack and another cocktail, a nice little celebration to end the summer parties.

Evening

Kim was home at a good time today and we played some mini golf, followed by some other games whilst dinner was cooking.

We had a ceasar salad with some corn on the cob on the side, as well as some homemade potato salad.

We watched Lucifer and then some YouTube videos.

We watched some more TV and went to bed.

This Time Last Year!

Mr & Mrs Hale