Zack Bogaczyk – Business Analyst…. Car Salesman??

Having the title of Business Analyst for my company basically means that I do analysis on just about anything the executives can come up with. It is actually a pretty fun job because I rarely do the same thing twice, and I get involved with many different aspects of the business. I do a good enough job with this title that the immediate answer for any question in the mind of the CFO is “Zack can do that.” “What? It is taking you 3 days to process payroll each month? There must be a way to automate that… Let Zack take a look at it.” “You know, if you are struggling to get that to work correctly, have Zack take a look at it. (no lie) “I just blew out the tire of my company car! Have Zack put on the spare and take it down to the garage.” Things get a little crazy sometimes, but it is honestly mostly fun work. My role for this week has been labeled “king of company cars.”

We have about 25 company cars that are driven by various people in our organization. We have decided to stop offering company cars as a perk. I have been put in charge of analyzing what price to sell these cars at, how to reimburse the employee for the loss of a perk, drafting a memo to all of the employees, and physically selling a hand full of the cars. That is right. I am a used car salesman.

Ahhh Lunch Break

Oh that’s right. Three posts in a single week. What could be the occasion you may ask? Boredom. This has been by far the most boring week of work I’ve had since I’ve started my job. Not only do I not have any specific projects to be working on, but half the office has been out of town for a meeting all week. It has been quiet and slow. My boss has only spent about 20 mins in the office this week. When did those 20 mins occur? At 4:40 yesterday afternoon when I was planning on leaving at 4:45 to pick up a car at the shop. I figured I could leave a little early because no one was around, and right after I shut down my computer, bam! The boss shows up. I’m planning on leaving a little early today as well because Liz and I are going out of town. I feel bad leaving and not telling anyone, but I honestly have no one to tell and I doubt anyone would care.

I have officially made in through the week waking up an hour earlier than I used to and running in the morning. It has been tough, but I really enjoy being on this schedule. Mornings have been wonderful because after the run, I get to have a good quiet time, I get ready faster, and I’ve been waking Liz up to make her breakfast and spend some time together before I leave. Work is happening more in the middle of my day instead of the first thing I do in the morning, and that is lovely. The other nice thing has been my lunch break. I used to try to work out at that time, but it has been way too hot and it rushes me too much to get back to work in time. Instead of rushing around to get my workout in, I have been enjoying a good meal while watching tv, playing Wii, fixing bathroom fixtures, or even going for a swim. I love this schedule and hope to stay on it. It is going to be hard not to mess it up this weekend, but I’m going to try my best to go to bed at a normal time and wake up early. I know I will feel much better next week if I do.

That is all I have to say. I’m going to go back to looking busy, and then try to head off an hour early. Have a good weekend everybody.

C.E.H

I woke up early today to go running before work. I find exercising in the morning to be quite miserable, but by the end of the run, I feel great and the morning is very pleasant. I think I’m going to set a goal to continue the practice for a couple weeks to see if the misery in the beginning of the run improves.

At the end of my run, I noticed a huge window sticker on the back of my neighbor’s car. It read C.E.H “Certified Ethical Hackers,” and it listed a website. We all knew there were people out there like this. Those that love computers and hacking into networks, but have no reason to hack into someone’s computer because they are law abiding citizens. How do they get their fix? They hack for good. They are like Dexter killing serial killers, or like Blade who hates vampires but still has a taste for blood.

I don’t mind living next door to an ethical hacker. In fact, I would love to learn more about what that person does, because honestly, it is pretty cool. However, I wonder what he / she thinks about living next door to a family with broadband internet access and a completely unsecured wireless network. I might be too embarrassed to ever talk to this person. I at least need to have the decency to throw on a network password before I dare say hello.

Jabberwocky

There are a lot of things flying around in my head today. I’m pretty bored at work and feeling very tired and run down. Since this blog is conveniently titled nonsense from a bored man, I figured I could get away with throwing some things out there without making much sense. It is time for some old fashioned nonsense, jabberwocky, baloney, claptrap, or just plain gobbledygook.

First of all, I have wanted to make a political post for some time now. I have never taken interest in politics in my life, but figured I should give a go at it since the presidential election is afoot. I’ve tried to do some research on the 2 primary candidates, but always get much too tired / bored / lazy to really follow through with it. It seems we have to vote for either the young new guy screaming about change who may very well change our country to chaos, or the absurdly old guy that will keep things status quo (which most of us aren’t all that happy with) and will most likely keel over in office. It seems to me, and I admit I need to learn some more about these fellows, that we have the typical South Park-ese choice of a douche or a tird sandwich. I understand that I have the political IQ of a kindergartner, but I’m just calling it as I see it. Really what I am driving at is: where are the Jed Bartlets (West Wing) or David Palmers (24) of the world? I know these are fictional characters, but where are the strong leaders boiling over with integrity? Or the leaders that make such wise decisions you wonder if they asked God for wisdom instead of wealth and riches?

This past weekend marked the union of my good friend Justin Doty to his beautiful and well suited wife Megan. The wedding was nice and the reception was spectacular. I was blessed to be counted as one of his groomsmen and got to spend some quality time with him and some other close friends over the past few days. Honestly, Justin and I had a bit of a falling out in our friendship over the last 2 years or so. This was a result of a number of different factors that are meaningless to get into now. It was great to still be counted as a close friend, and the overwhelming thought in my mind by the time all of the set up and celebrating was over was sorrow for all of the foolishly wasted time during our friendship. I wish the best for them as they start out their lives together and this week as they enjoy their honeymoon in Jamaica. I hope that in the months and years to come that Liz and I have the opportunity to spend some time with them as good married couple friends.

The last thought I want to throw into this collaboration of twaddle is the rest of the weekend after the wedding. Liz and I have always been apt to invite people over to our house. I have always enjoyed entertaining guests and that has just increased greatly now that I can do that in my own home instead of my parents or my apartment shared with other guys. The Lord has richly blessed Liz and I with a nice home, cooking abilities, a wii, and the ability to show our friends and family a good time. I write this for two reasons: first to thank Keith for being a great guest, and to invite other people out there to come and visit. Following the wedding, some of us took a trip to G man to keep on celebrating. It isn’t my style to go out to a bar, but I figured “when in Rome.” We actually had a pretty good time and afterward Keith came to stay with Liz and I. We slept in on Sunday and then had some chores to take care of such as taking back tuxes and such. Afterward, Keith got wrapped into a puzzle that Liz was working on and decided to stick around for a while. We got into playing Wii and eventually they sucked me into helping with the puzzle. Before we realized it, it was 9:00 and I had a 10:30 hockey game. Liz asked Keith if he would like to join us for the game and give Liz some company. To our surprise, he quickly agreed and tagged along for the game. Through all of this fun, we were all fairly tired, and Liz started off early in the day trying to talk me into taking a personal day on Monday to rest and enjoy the day together. When the game ended at 11:30 I was convinced. We went home, and instead of going directly to bed we worked on the puzzle a little more and watched some Seinfeld until 2am or so.

The next day we drug ourselves out of bed at a decent time to try to get back on our normal schedules, and we started right back in on the puzzle and Seinfeld. Then I made some breakfast and we finished the 1000 piece puzzle and decided to play some more Wii. After all of this, we started discussing the possibility of going to see “Get Smart.” Needless to say, we ended up out to the movies, then back to pick out another puzzle and some more Wii. We played for a bit and Liz convinced Keith and I that we were too ridiculous to waste such a nice day inside, so we went for a walk. After the walk, we got hungry which afterward led to more Wii and puzzle. This eventually escalated to 10 pm where we realized that we were exhausted and both Keith and I had to work the next day. All good things had to come to an end, but honestly, what a great time and wonderful weekend. Keith, it was a delight to have you as our guest and you are welcome any time. Others that read our blog, you are slacking and know the door is always open.

Thank you for reading.

Four

This weekend holds the wedding of my good friend Justin Doty. He has asked me to be one of his groomsmen, and I am very excited for that opportunity and for all of the festivities ahead. Rehearsals and rehearsal dinners are always a lot of fun, I can’t wait to see some of my old friends, we are going golfing Saturday morning, and of course the wedding and reception.

These activities are filling up my free time this week mighty quick. Liz’s car is in the shop and we will have to pick that up, pick up a tux, a hockey game, bible study, Thursday is Jubilee day in Mechanicsburg, Friday is the rehearsal, and somewhere in there I need to learn how to golf again. Not to mention Liz and I only have 3 episodes remaining of West Wing, which clearly takes precedence to all the aforementioned events.

To be honest, I am more concerned about picking up a golf club this weekend than anything else. I know that is silly because no one cares, and they guys I am playing with aren’t that good either, but I still want to do well. If you don’t golf regularly, than you may be unaware that golf is one of the hardest activities to pick up again when you haven’t played in a while. It is frustrating to no end when you can’t properly hit a ball resting sedentary on the ground, especially when you could at one time do it with ease.

There was a time that I counted myself good at golf. Between the ages of 18 – 20, I could strike a ball pretty well and turned in scores that would make other amateur players fairly jealous. Unfortunately, I’ve only been able to play 3 – 4 times a year for the past 3 years, and I have completely lost my swing. For example, every year my family has a huge (70-80 person) golf tournament. Everyone gets split up into teams of 4 with each team having an A, B, C, and D player. I have been an A player since I was 19. When I was 21, I led a team to first place with a score of -4. At the age of 22, I led a team to dead last with a record losing score of +12. There were a number of other factors that played into those scores, but the bottom line is, I am no longer a good golfer.

That family tournament is less than 3 weeks away and this weekend will surely be the only round I play between now and then. Like I said, I need to learn how to golf again. I hope to get to a driving range at least sometime this week to get some practice in. I don’t think that will do the trick, but at least it will be something. My only other solution is to watch the movie “The Legend of Bagger Vance.” Matt Damon learns from Will Smith how to find his swing and “see the field.” I’m going to focus on the field and take a few practice shots, and I’m bound to be at the top of my game by Saturday.


… Or this could get ugly.

..And That's My Story

Today I have found myself in a bit of a pickle. I really want to blog, but I don’t know what I want to write about. I’ve spent the last half hour quasi doing work and thinking about what I would like the share with the readers of the internet world. I have dove right into writing, but still do not know what I want to say.

Time has been passing by in a spinning vortex of madness lately. It seems like just a couple days ago that I was planning out Memorial weekend, and our anniversary trip, and then BAM! It’s over and long gone. Despite the rapid passing of time, things have been going pretty well lately. Liz and I had a wonderful trip to Cape May. We stayed at a cool place, and saw some very nice things, and got to enjoy some time walking on the beach. It wasn’t so much the substance of the trip that made it wonderful; it was the simple feeling of joy I believe we both shared. In fact, I would venture to say it was one of the top 3 weekends we have had together…. Ever. I was happy to be alive and happy to be with the one I love, and it was purely that simple. We could have gone just about anywhere, and I think we would have had a good weekend. It was just…. Nice.

Immediately following our trip, I had to take a business trip down to Tennessee. This trip came up out of no where as I found out about it merely 5 days before I had to fly out. It made planning very challenging since the trip was supposed to last 5 days stuck between our anniversary weekend in Cape May and a weekend in Beaverdale for a wedding. Despite the inconvenience of the timing, we were able to work out travel plans, and I was mostly excited for the trip. I enjoy traveling and seeing new places, and it is even better when someone else is paying for it. Spending the time away from Liz is challenging, but as long as the trips don’t become routine, I will gladly take them on. My only disappointment in the Tennessee trip is that I didn’t get to see very much. The airport in Nashville is located outside of the city, and I was driving in the opposite direction and really never saw a thing in Tennessee except for small towns and forest. The trip was a bit tiring because I had a 2 hour drive to Baltimore for a 2 hour flight to Nashville, and then had to wrap that up with a 2 hour drive to Crossville, TN. The total 6 hour + airport time travel plans took a lot of energy out of me.

After a full day of butt-kicking productivity, we realized we had finished most of our work and could come home early. This did not work out well for me since I had planned on staying through Friday and flying to Pittsburgh. Liz decided to spend her time while I was gone with her parents, and it worked out well for me to fly in at the same time as her sister coming in for the wedding. I ended up leaving Nashville on Wednesday after only being there for less than 48 hours. I caught a ride home from Balitmore with a co worker and had to be home for 2 days by myself, and drive up a 2nd car to Beaverdale. It was very inconvenient, but I guess that’s the way it goes. To top all of this off, Liz took my keys with her to Beaverdale, which meant that I couldn’t drive my car or get into my house when I got home. This quick trip to TN escalated from inconvenient to just plain funny. Nothing was working out well, but at least I was able to break into my house with only 20 – 30 mins of effort. That was very unsettling. All in all, I would say the trip wasn’t too bad. I did get to rent a sweet car (2008 Eclipse), enjoy some delicious TN BBQ, and try a Goo Goo Cluster which was the first candy bar ever made that added other items to the chocolate (peanuts and marshmallow). Liz mailed me my keys and I only had to ride my bike to work one day. Lucky for me it was obscenely hot and muggy.

Good times, good times. We are back on a normal schedule now, and despite being quite tired, I’m in a pretty good mood. We had a great time with Liz’s family this past weekend, our AC is working correctly, Liz is into her 2nd trimester, I’m mostly caught up on work, and I can partially celebrate father’s day this weekend!

Thanks for reading.