Busy Season - Friday

5:40am - I ended up sleeping in a little bit today. My original plan was to get up early and run, but after how tough the run was yesterday I decided it wasn't the best idea to get up less than 8 hours after my last run and try to go again. I will try to make up the run I missed at some point over the weekend. Another day of my normal routine of getting ready for work, packing Alison's lunch, and eating breakfast. Friday is a little bit different because instead of wearing slack we wear jeans. The client I work on has casual Fridays. We don't go dress completely casual, but we do wear jeans.

6:30am - I was out the door at my regular time. Today on my way to work instead of listening to my audiobook I listened to the GE earnings call. I became interested in investing while I was at the University of Utah. While I was still in school Alison and I started investing monthly. I picked a few stocks that I thought were promising. Since graduating and starting work my interest has grown even more. That is why I am currently listing to the book the Intelligent Investor. GE is awesome at investor relations. They send me a good number of emails to apprise me of important events. When I got the email about the earnings call I decided I would listen in. Since GE is headquartered on the east coast the call started at 6:30am Mountain Time. I really enjoyed listening to the call. I had a general sense of many of the things they talked about, and I did gain some interesting insight into the way the management team views the future of GE. So far it has been a solid investment and I plan to stick with their stock buying program.

7:00am - I arrived at work. The call was still going so I listened during the first part of the day, while I worked of course. I was glad it was Friday. I was tired - it has been a long week, and I am still adjusting to this new schedule. Friday can be hard because a lot of people at the client take every other Friday off. This meant a few of the people I really wanted to talk to weren't there. Fortunately, enough of the people I was working with were there to keep me busy. I spent a lot of time meeting with people before lunch because I was worried some of the people I needed to talk to might leave early.

11:30am - We left right on time for lunch. We went to DP Cheesesteaks. It is both close and super fast. This is perfect for a Friday when we want to get done with work as quickly as possible. It is not at all healthy, but it tastes great. Everyone on the team got the exact same thing. A large traditional cheesesteak with provolone cheese. We ate and discussed our plans for the weekends. No one had big plans, mostly relaxing and stuff.

11:50am - We were back to work. I had a few more people to meet in the afternoon. Plus support started coming in. Today it was coming in faster than I could get through it all. That is why it is the busy season - there never seems like there is enough time to get everything done that you want to get done. I worked hard and I was able to wrap up a couple of work papers. Looking back I do wish I could have gotten more done this week. Now it is over and I should focus on making next week even more productive.

5:07pm - We headed out a little early today. We like to try to go home to spend time with our families and relax on a Friday evening. It is a great goal. The downside to leaving around 5pm is that traffic is bad. It took me nearly half an hour to get on the freeway. After I was on traffic was moving surprisingly well. I did have to stop for gas on my way home.

6:00pm - I walked in and Alison said she wanted to get sushi. That sounded good to me. We headed right back out the door to Ichiban sushi. It is a decent sushi place and they have really good prices. We got some edamame and four rolls. We got both of our favorites. Alison loves a roll with salmon and lemon on top. I love the hidden dragon roll. When they bring it out it is on fire, which they put out at your table. This roll has a really interesting smoky flavor. It can be a little spicy, but I love it.

7:00pm - After our impromptu dinner date we headed over to Blake and Debbie's. Blake traveled all week for work so we wanted to stop by and hear about his trip. We love going over and just chatting. After a couple hours Alison was getting tired and it was time to leave. We headed home and watched an episode of 30 Rock before Alison drifted off to sleep. I got an email from the engagement partner asking me if I could help her out with a few software issues she was having. I jumped back online and took care of the issues for her. It only took a few minutes. After that, I joined Alison in bed and called it a night. One week of the busy season down.